However, five members of the peace camp decided to strike a blow against the US war machine. On February 3rd 2003, two weeks before the US military started pounding Iraq, the “Pit Stop Ploughshares”, armed with wire cutters and a mallet, cut their way into Shannon, walked the runway and damaged a plane that was being repaired in one of the airport’s hangars. The aircraft had already been damaged a week before in a hatchet-attack by another peace activist.

First imprisoned, they were then released under strict bail conditions. They had to report to the police once a day, were told to stay out of County Clare (where Shannon is located), and not to come within one mile of the US embassy. They were charged on two counts of criminal damage of €100 and US$2.5 million and if convicted would have a maximum of ten years imprisonment.

The five described themselves as members of the pacifist Catholic Worker organisation. But they had clearly adapted the techniques of the ploughshares movement. Founded in the US in 1980, its aim is to provide activists with “training in safety and non-violence and form groups for long-term support. Ploughshares is an enactment of the Biblical prophecies to ‘beat swords into ploughshares’.

However, it is not a Christian organisation anymore, accommodating people of “all religions and none” according to its UK chapter’s website, which campaigns against British Trident nuclear weapons. They gained notoriety in 1996, when four women caused £1.5 million worth damage to a British Aerospace Hawk jet that was about to be exported to Indonesia to contribute in the repression of the East Timor population.

Thus when the five activists were acquitted last week, it was with a sigh of relief that they welcomed the jury decision. After all, the trial had lasted for a tortuous three years, with frequent media and government distortions about the facts. First, it was claimed that they had overpowered a policeman at the airport causing him to be hospitalised, allegations which proved to be unfounded. Then, the government started a mini propaganda campaign, claiming that the taxpayers will have to foot the bill for the damage to the aircraft, designed to turn the population against the activists.

Since the economy of Clare is largely dependent on the airport, the implicit message was that, if the US military stopped using the airport, there would be job losses and other countless financial disasters. All these proved to be false, since Shannon continues to serve as a stopover for US planes and soldiers, while it is reported that the CIA uses it as a transit point for its ‘rendition’ operations.

The non-guilty verdict was reached by the jury after the trial was moved from Clare to Dublin. The defence lawyers had argued that since the people of Clare naturally regard the Shannon stopovers as a major part of their economy, they might be biased against the peace activists. It must also be noted that the trial twice collapsed. On the second occasion, the judge was forced to stand down after the defence had shown that he had attended Bush’s inauguration in 2001 and was invited again in 2004. He had also been photographed with George Bush in 1995 when he was Governor of Texas. The ‘Pit Stop Ploughshares’ had hoped to show solidarity with the Iraqi people, but they also wanted to raise public consciousness about the use of Shannon for a war of aggression by the US.

The problem is the Irish government’s attitude towards the US. It is afraid to offend its US counterparts. This is a situation that will remind many Mauritians about our own government’s behaviour.`

The nature of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) prevents the Mauritian government from criticising US foreign policy. However, on a diplomatic level, the country is trapped in the US orbit, such that it has even failed to condemn the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and its continued brutal occupation of Palestine. Meanwhile, US planes continue to refuel at Shannon, and further its imperial ambitions in the Middle East.

<B>Diren VALAYDEN</B>