Showing posts with label Afghan War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Afghan War. Show all posts

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Irish Poll shows increased Anti-War sentiment:


NEW IRISH POLL SHOWS
NEAR 80% SUPPORT FOR
NEUTRALITY OF THE STATE
AND SIMILAR OPPOSITION
TO WAR AGAINST SYRIA:

ALMOST EIGHTY PER CENT of Irish people say the Government should not support military intervention in Syria without a UN mandate according to a new poll.

The poll carried out by Red C polling organisation was commissioned by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) and also showed that an almost identical number of Irish adults believe that Ireland should have a policy of neutrality.

The 1,000 respondents were given a number of different options as to what extent they agreed with a variety of statements with Red C using the information to gauge sentiment.

SEPTEMBER 2013:
Irish people support a policy of neutrality and not sending military supplies to anti-government groups in Syria according to a poll:

The
Red C poll commissioned by the Peace & Neutrality Alliance shows:

1.        78%  of the Irish people support a policy of Irish Neutrality

2.        67% of the Irish people are opposed to Ireland & the EU sending arms and military
supplies to anti-government groups in Syria. 
3.        61% of the Irish people are opposed to sending Irish troops to Syria

4.        79% of the Irish people do not support a war on Syria without a UN mandate
Neutrality
When asked whether ‘Ireland should have a policy of neutrality’ there was 78 per cent agreement. 61 per cent said that Irish troops should not now be sent to Syria.
Support for Neutrality was strongest in the 18-34 age group = 85%. General support for neutrality has increased since a previous poll which registered 69%.
PANA Chairman Roger Cole said that the poll results show that support for neutrality is now “deepening rather than weakening.” "Irish people fought in the national war of independence against an empire. And one of the consequences of that was that we don't want to become part of a military alliance - we don't want to get involved in other people's wars," he said.

"We're a small country - we should get a grip on what the real world is, and in the real world small countries shouldn't get involved in other people's wars."
“Approximately 8 in 10 Irish people are now in favour of neutrality which is roughly the same number of people who believe Ireland should not support a war on Syria without a UN mandate. This Syrian conflict has displaced millions with the UN describing it as the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly twenty years,” he said.
"PANA has campaigned for the right of the Irish people to have a foreign policy with a commitment to Irish neutrality at its core. This poll shows that we have the support of the massive majority of the Irish people. It shows that like the people of the USA and the UK they are tired and fed up with the doctrine of perpetual war on offer from the political leaders of the UK, the USA and France" Mr Cole stated.
The poll result so shocked the warmongers and pro-US, pro-NATO forces in Ireland, including the rabid anti-neutrality bloc in the government Fine Gael party that they arranged with corporate media to suppress the information last week when it was announced at a press conference organised by Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Ireland's leading Peace Group. Only one newspaper group, based in Cork, carried the story with the main Dublin papers and the public broadcaster RTE failing to carry any reports.

This shows both the contempt and fear of the warmongers against democracy and the people's right to say no to their vicious schemes of permanent warfare. The defeat of the US/UK war plans against Syria last month by massive popular opposition was a hugely significant event contrasting with the way they got away with imposing the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
The Irish poll of rejection of war and imperialism was manifested in spite of the billion-dollar propaganda campaign against Syria and Iran by the US and its boot-lickers in Europe. A great victory for democracy, peace and mutual security based on international law and the UN Charter.
 The full poll details may be downloaded from the PANA website here, or from the link in the sidebar:






Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Afghanistan Peace Conference, Bonn, Germany, 2012




AFGHANISTAN PEACE CONGRESS, 
BONN, GERMANY, OCTOBER 2012:


International Peace Congress 2012 on Afghanistan


 Organisations  of the German Peace Movement, as well as Afghans living in Germany, are preparing an International Peace Congress on Afghanistan

The initiative goes back to Petersberg II Protests in 2011 (documentation PII Protests)

At that time there was already the idea to convene a Peace Congress, which is being organised at the moment.

The Peace Congress "Stop the war - Roads to peace in Afghanistan" will take place in Bonn on 13th and 14th of October 2012.. The location is the LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn,(Colmantstr. 14-16, 53115 Bonn), 5 minutes away from the main railroad station, Hauptbahnhof.

The entire Congress will be translated in English, as well as in Dari and Paschto.
In case you have a question or you want to apply for the congress please contact : 


THE COST OF WAR:


The enormous cost, and waste of resources, apart from the shocking casualties
and loss of life, over 750,000 Afghan civilians killed and millions displaced, can be seen here:






Irish governments shameful collaboration with US Imperialism:

Ireland, a supposedly neutral country, has been implicated in this vicious war by successive
Irish Governments allowing the US Military to use Shannon Airport, near the city of Limerick on the Atlantic coast, as an airbase for transhipment of troops and equipment to Afghanistan and later to Iraq and other Middle East destinations such as Israel, in defiance of Irish and international law and against the will of the Irish people expressed in many opinion polls since this shameful collaboration with US Imperialism began in 2002.

The current Irish government continues the same unacceptable policy by allowing 600 armed US troops a day to pass through Shannon on their way to and from Afghanistan. Furthermore, by supporting sanctions against Iran and closing the Irish embassy there, this government seems intent on supporting the same terrible mistakes that led to millions of deaths in Iraq.

It was truly appalling that the Government of a supposedly neutral country like Ireland supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq nine years ago. It is even more appalling that the Labour Party Ministers who opposed the invasion of Iraq back then are now presiding over Shannon Airport’s use as a hub for US military occupation forces.

Irish Peace Groups, notably Shannonwatch and Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA)
have maintained a monthly protest gathering at the gates of Shannon Airport since these Imperialist wars began:




Irish police outnumber 80-year-old protester, Margaretta Darcy, at the gates of Shannon Airport
as Dennis Halliday,former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations intervenes.



FearFeasaMacLéinn
Áth Cliath/Dublin
Meanfhomhair/September 18 2012