Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Summit of the Hypocrites

Oread Daily | 07.04.2003 20:43

zzzz

SUMMIT OF THE HYPOCRITES
President Dumbya arrived in Northern Ireland of all places today for a Summit of the Hypocrites. The agenda of the Bush-Blair meeting at Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast is to include besides the War on Iraq, the israeli-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Northern Ireland. Not surprisingly massive protests will greet him and his buddy Tony Blair as anti-war activists from throughout Ireland, and Britain are congregating in Belfast

Anti-war actions will include everything from boycotts of the visit by political and labor leaders to die ins. Anti-war organizer Davy Carlin says protesters from all over Ireland and Scotland will converge on Hillsborough at 6.00pm tonight. "We are calling on all the antiwar politicians not to meet Bush, we believe that after 30 years of war here it is ironic that they are coming to plot war while talking peace. Bush is cynically exploiting the peace process here to show himself as some sort of international statesman. There is no support for his war here and we want to tell him that, his visit is just blatant hypocrisy. Bush is talking peace while subjecting the people of Baghdad to an horrific war."

Ailsa Keane, development education officer for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, described the meeting between President Bush and Tony Blair as a "war summit". She added: "We acknowledge the role of past American administrations in the Northern Ireland peace process. But this administration has shown no shame. To hold a war summit in a city ravaged by conflict is the ultimate hypocrisy. We know that peace can only come through dialogue and Bush has shown a complete disregard for this. We have to question why he is visiting Belfast at this time. It is more to do with the widespread opposition to war in the UK. He thinks it is impossible to visit anywhere else in the UK without massive protest." Carmel Gates, president of the Nipsa trade union, added: "If our parties meet Bush they will be shaking hands with someone who has the blood of the Iraqi people on his hands. We are calling for all-inclusive protests. Bush has no right to use Northern Ireland as a platform. He has done nothing for the people of Northern Ireland."

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said this morning it was inappropriate to hold such a summit where the peace process would be addressed "in the margins…We would be wrong not to point it out ... the insensitivity… of having a war summit which then discusses peace in the margins, of having a war summit which appears to be trying to use the Irish peace process as a stage or as a prop," Adams said. "We're for peace in Ireland, we're for peace in Iraq, we're for peace in the Middle East and I certainly will look for the opportunity to convey that when I speak to Mr Bush. I have no problem meeting him of course on the issue of peace in Ireland but I do see a contradiction in both the British and US position."

The leader of the nationalist SDLP Mark Durkan also expressed disquiet about the war summit in Belfast being combined with discussions on the Irish peace process. However, Durkan confirmed that he would be leading his party into the round table discussion with US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Taoiseach Mr Ahern on the peace process tomorrow. Durkan said: "What I'm uneasy about is this mixed summit - co-locating discussions about the war in Iraq with discussions about our peace process.... I am determined to take part in whatever talks there are about our situation but I'm not going to be dishonest or hypocritical enough to pretend that I do not have misgivings about the circumstances in which they are taking place," Durkan said.

However, many in Northern Ireland think nationalist leaders should boycott the meetings. Paul O’Connor of the Derry based Pat Finucane Center said he would try to ensure nationalist politicians did not attend the meeting. "Gerry Adams and Mark Durkan aren’t going to want to arrive on the back of a huge PSNI (Police Services of Northern Ireland) baton charge. If they insist on attending this meeting, we will do our damnedest to ensure they can’t get there," he said.

In Derry the Derry Anti-War Coalition has called for mass walkouts from schools and workplaces tomorrow in protest at the Bush visit. A spokesman said: "As the world witnesses unprecedented levels of barbarity and brutality perpetrated by US and British forces in Iraq, the Derry Anti-War Coalition believes it to be a staggering hypocrisy that a man of war should come to this country to masquerade as a peacemaker."

Ulster Unionists, meanwhile, were said to be considering a pro-war rally to demonstrate their loyalty to the British military.
Sources: Andersontown News, Belfast Telegraph, Irish American Information Service, Irish Republican News and Information

The Oread Daily provides daily (Monday-Friday) progressive, left, anti-racist, anarchist, commie, activist, environmental, Marxist, revolutionary, etc. news and information from around the US and around the world.
Web Site Address/URL:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OreadDaily/
Subscribe:  OreadDaily-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe:  OreadDaily-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Oread Daily

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech