Shannon Peace Forum - 21 March.

The following is the programme for the Shannon Peace Forum to be hosted by PANA on the 21st of March. All are welcome. Anyone interested in sticking around for the protest that will follow this event is welcome to participate in this too.





Location: Park Inn Hotel, Shannon Airport

Date: Saturday 21 March 2009, 1pm – 5.30 pm



Forum themes and objectives: Peace, Justice and Accountability



12.00: Press Conference – Neutrality and the Lisbon Treaty rerun



13.00 to 13.30 Forum Registration: (Admission waged €15, unwaged free – Lunch available at Park Inn at about €10)



13.30: Opening address: The human rights of one million Iraqi dead –

Dr Sawsan Assaf, Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway.



14.00: Irish Neutrality-the Lisbon Treaty - Role of Shannon Airport in Iraq and Afghan wars. Panel: Roger Cole, PANA, Michael Youlton, IAWM, Prof John Maguire, AWI.



15.00: Extraordinary Rendition – Irish Complicity in abuses of international law –

From Bush to Obama – from Guantanamo Back to Bagram?

Noeleen Hartigan, Amnesty International, John Lannon, Shannonwatch.org, Professor Gernot Biehler, TCD.



16.00: Plenary Session – Accountability and the Way Forward –

Panel to include contribution from Political Parties including: Patricia McKenna Green Party, Jan O’Sullivan TD labour Party and Theresa Ferris, Sinn Fein

Objective – a frank and open exchange of views.

Peace activists attending the Forum are invited to make written submissions, both before and after the Forum on various aspects of the two main topics, Neutrality and Torture Rendition, and on the additional topic of the way forward for the Irish peace movement.



17:30 Close of Forum - Accountability is the Way Forward



For more information contact Ed Horgan Tel: 086-3539911

edward_horgan@hotmail.com.

May I suggest that you sign the petition for this initiative, concerning a possible US government move to set up a Commission of Inquiry to look into Bush's 'War on Terror' tactics.

It might help to make the Irish Government, especially the Greens, think about what they're doing.

soubresauts wrote:

May I suggest that you sign the petition for this initiative, concerning a possible US government move to set up a Commission of Inquiry to look into Bush's 'War on Terror' tactics.

It might help to make the Irish Government, especially the Greens, think about what they're doing.

Will it work though - are those online petitions any way effective at all ?

Auditor #9 wrote:

Will it work though - are those online petitions any way effective at all ?

I believe Avaaz has some influence. Anyway, they're right.

I don't know how effective online petitions are. But they don't hurt and they can bring issues into the public domain for discussion. Also, many folks don't have the resources to launch national or international resources to launch petitions, particularly if they are unaware as to whether the public cares or not. Online petitions might provide an indication that it may be worthwhile to devote one's meagre resources into launching a petition.

The recent Gaza online petitions spring to mind as being successful in showing that widespread disgust was the result of the bombardment.

Is a big crowd expected in Shannon?

Auditor #9 wrote:

Is a big crowd expected in Shannon?

It's been a while since we had a big crowd in Shannon. It's hoped that we get a big crowd. Aim high and allow for the drop as they say.

I doubt that the crowd will be bigger than a hundred and that's only because all the different organisations will be pushing for their members to come. Personally, I'd prefer to see the general public turn up. Otherwise most of the event will be about preaching to the converted. Some of the event will be interesting to me though. We have Michael Youlton giving a talk on behalf of the IAWM (Irish Anti War Movement). He's a buddy of mine and it's been a while since the IAWM have been to Shannon officially. And of course there'll be discussion of future tactics and strategies. That'll be interesting if for no other reason than the various groups rarely agree as to what constitutes a proper approach.

Personally, I'm more looking forward to the protest afterwards. This event will be widely advertised so the Gardaí will probably turn out in numbers. It'll be fun trying to spot the plants at the conference. It'll be more fun to see the reaction of any 'newbies' who come along to the demonstration and see how close to a police State Ireland actually is.

Hermes wrote:

Auditor #9 wrote:

Is a big crowd expected in Shannon?

It's been a while since we had a big crowd in Shannon. It's hoped that we get a big crowd. Aim high and allow for the drop as they say.

I doubt that the crowd will be bigger than a hundred and that's only because all the different organisations will be pushing for their members to come. Personally, I'd prefer to see the general public turn up. Otherwise most of the event will be about preaching to the converted. Some of the event will be interesting to me though. We have Michael Youlton giving a talk on behalf of the IAWM (Irish Anti War Movement). He's a buddy of mine and it's been a while since the IAWM have been to Shannon officially. And of course there'll be discussion of future tactics and strategies. That'll be interesting if for no other reason than the various groups rarely agree as to what constitutes a proper approach.

Personally, I'm more looking forward to the protest afterwards. This event will be widely advertised so the Gardaí will probably turn out in numbers. It'll be fun trying to spot the plants at the conference. It'll be more fun to see the reaction of any 'newbies' who come along to the demonstration and see how close to a police State Ireland actually is.

That can be quite a shock to the offspring of the downtrodden middle class, there's no denying that.