Σπάζοντας ειδήσεις | Φόρουμ | Βρετανικές ειδήσεις | ΑΜΕΡΙΚΑΝΙΚΕΣ ειδήσεις | Παγκόσμιες ειδήσεις | Πολιτικές ειδήσεις | Ειδήσεις sci-τεχνολογία | Ειδήσεις πολέμου & τρομοκρατίας | Αθλητικές ειδήσεις | Πολυμέσα | Καθορισμένη αρχική σελίδα

Δευτέρα, 2η Ιουνίου 2008

Από Σοσιαλιστικός εργαζόμενος | Το Eamonn McCann είναι ιδρυτής της μετακίνησης αστικών δικαιωμάτων της δεκαετίας του '60 στη Βόρεια Ιρλανδία, έναν σοσιαλιστή παλαιμάχων και έναν συνδικαλιστή, και ένας από τους διαβασμένους δημοσιογράφους της Ιρλανδίας ευρύτατα. Είναι ο συντάκτης Πόλεμος και μια ιρλανδική πόλη, Η αιματηρή Κυριακή σε Derry: Αυτό που συνέβη πραγματικά και άλλα βιβλία.

Το 2006, ως απάντηση στον άγριο πόλεμο του Ισραήλ στο Λίβανο, Eamonn και άλλα μέλη του αντιπολεμικού συνασπισμού Derry οργάνωσαν ένα επάγγελμα μιας τοπικής δυνατότητας Raytheon, οι ΗΠΑ - βασισμένος κατασκευαστής όπλων και παγκόσμιος μεγαλύτερος παραγωγός των καθοδηγημένων βλημάτων. Εννέα ενεργά στελέχη συλλήφθηκαν και χρεώθηκαν με το κτήριο. Είναι στη δίκη τώρα, και θα μπορούσαν να αντιμετωπίσουν το χρόνο στη φυλακή εάν καταδικάζεται.

Ιουλίου 2006, τα μέλη του αντιπολεμικού συνασπισμού Derry οργάνωσαν μια διαμαρτυρία, ένα επάγγελμα και έναν αφοπλισμό της τοπικής δυνατότητας Raytheon εκεί. Γιατί αποφασίσατε να λάβετε μέτρα;

Το κίνητρό μας ήταν να αποτρέψουμε τα πολεμικά εγκλήματα. Ο βομβαρδισμός του Ισραήλ προκαλούσε τη σφαγή και την καταστροφή στο Λίβανο, και ξέραμε ότι χρησιμοποιούσαν Raytheon κατασκεύασαν τις βόμβες.

Προσβληθήκαμε ιδιαίτερα με το βομβαρδισμό της πόλης Qana. Το Ισραήλ έριξε μια βόμβα στο ένα σύνθετο εκεί, που σκοτώνει 28 ανθρώπους, η πλειοψηφία τους γυναίκες και παιδιά, που συντρίφθηκε και που ασφυκτιήθηκε κάτω από τα ερείπια.

Πιστεψαμε ότι αυτό απαίτησε μια άμεση απάντηση. Αποφασίσαμε να λάβουμε μέτρα να αναστατώσουμε, να καθυστερήσουμε και να παρακωλύσουμε τη δυνατότητα Raytheon, με ο, τιδήποτε τρόπο πιθανό, να παραδώσει τα όπλα μαζικής καταστροφής στο Ισραήλ και να συμμετέχει στα πολεμικά εγκλήματα.

Καθώς ο αριθμός νεκρών και ακρωτηριασμένος στη Μέση Ανατολή τοποθετεί, Raytheon ανήγγειλε πρόσφατα μια περαιτέρω αύξηση των εισοδημάτων και των κερδών. Πώς βλέπετε τη σχέση Raytheon στα πολεμικά εγκλήματα;

Raytheon, όπως όλες τις επιχειρήσεις όπλων, κέρδη από την αιματοχυσία. Και σε τελευταία ανάλυση, εάν δεν υπεάρξε κανένας πόλεμος, κυβερνήσεις δεν θα αισθανόταν την ανάγκη να αγοραστούν τα πυρομαχικά υψηλής τεχνολογίας που Raytheon κατασκευάζει.

Το Raytheon είναι μια από τις πολλές επιχειρήσεις που τροφοδοτεί τον πόλεμο για το κέρδος. Αλλά η επιχείρηση Raytheon έχει επίσης μια πολιτική ημερήσια διάταξη. Adam Cherill, ο επιχειρησιακός διευθυντής Raytheon, εάν η μνήμη μου είναι σωστή, έχει πει ότι οι παλαιστινιακοί άνθρωποι δεν έχουν καμία σύνδεση στο έδαφος Παλαιστίνη-αυτό που δεν έχουν κανέναν πολιτισμό, καμία κοινωνία και κανέναν ιστορικό δεσμό στο έδαφος. Τώρα, αυτή δεν είναι μια εμπορική δήλωση. That is a political statement.

The Raytheon company is closely tied to the top brass of the Pentagon. So they are complicit in everything that happens in the Middle East. In particular, they are complicit in war crimes committed through the use of Raytheon munitions.

We know that towards the end of the Israeli-Lebanon conflict in the summer of 2006, Raytheon rushed so-called bunker-buster bombs. They delivered a rush-order, of these bombs just a short time before the war ended so that Israel could continue bombing.

Israel had dropped so many bombs over southern Lebanon, south Beirut and elsewhere that they were actually running out of supplies. Raytheon rushed two Airbus transport planes from the United States to Israel in order to replenish supplies, even though, at that point, it was known that their munitions were being used to bomb civilians, to target ambulances and civilian infrastructure. So this is a company which is knowingly involved in war crimes.

The trial of the Raytheon 9 began last week in Belfast. The trial was moved from Derry, and the presiding judge imposed a media gag on all discussion of the case. Why?

The trial was moved to Belfast because the judge reckoned that there would be sympathy for the Raytheon 9 in Derry, because the defendants were well known to a wide range of people in Derry.

Now, there also could have been hostility to the defendants in Derry. I wouldn’t rule this out, because all the main parties in Derry and in the local area were all sharply condemnatory of the Raytheon 9.

But anyway, the judge transferred it to Belfast and imposed a media gag because, he said, the coverage of the case would in itself have the potential to prejudice the jury’s decisions.

This was complete nonsense. Cases trialed in Northern Ireland are regularly covered in advance of the actual trial. It was completely out of order. So it was an absolutely meaningless reason for imposing the media gag. What it did was take the issue of the Raytheon 9 and anything controversial for the Raytheon company itself out of the public arena. And it meant that the media didn’t even report on developments at the Raytheon plant, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the case.

The Raytheon 9 has received tremendous support in Ireland and around the world. Among the many who have spoken out in your defense are Noam Chomsky, George Galloway, Tony Benn, Christy Moore and George Monbiot. Yet none of the local political parties or their representatives have come to your defense. This is no surprise from the right-wing parties, but Sinn Fein, especially during the 1980s, prided itself on support for national liberation struggles in Central America and the Middle East, viewing itself in solidarity with all anti-imperialist struggles.

None of the mainstream parties—none of the four parties which form the new executive of Northern Ireland—has supported the Raytheon 9. And this is despite the fact that Sinn Fein, in particular, has always presented itself as a socialist organization, as an anti-imperialist organization.

But the truth is that the closer Sinn Fein got to power, the more they ditched their supposed socialist principles that would involve any anti-American activity.

Sinn Fein is determined to maintain the friendship of the Bush administration. Indeed, Martin McGuiness, the vice president of Sinn Fein, personally invited George Bush to visit Northern Ireland in June this year, in a couple weeks’ time. And he has publicly described George Bush as a “friend of Ireland” and “a man of peace.”

So the Sinn Fein party is not just compromised on its supposed anti-imperialist, socialist credentials, but it seems to have moved to the other side. Not really an uncommon thing for a nationalist organization once achieving office.

In 1968, you helped spark the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and resistance to the British-supported sectarian state. Today, you are still fighting against injustice.

There’s a straight line from 40 years ago to what is happening today. In 1968, we were outraged by the U.S. war in Vietnam and inspired by the Black struggle for civil rights. We were moved by this. In Ireland, we were fighting against local injustices, but we viewed ourselves and our struggles as part of an international struggle.

Today, we continue to fight against local injustices in Ireland, but we also see it as connected to a global struggle. There’s never been a contradiction between fighting local injustices and fighting injustice in the world.

The U.S. is attempting to violently dominate the Middle East and control the oil there. Iraq and Lebanon, as well as Palestine, are at the frontline of this struggle. The location of struggle may have changed, but the struggle for liberation and justice continues.

For information on how to support the Raytheon 9 and for daily updates on the trial, visit the Support the Raytheon 9 Web site.

Eamonn McCann’s article “Qana, Derry: The dead lie in familiar shapes” describes the activists’ trip to Lebanon and the action against Raytheon the visit motivated. He also talked about the case in a You Tube video.

See More:UK News Warfare 

Have Your Say: On Trial for Protesting a Weapons Maker
Please note, only selected comments will be published.

Or discuss this report in our new forums

RSS TrackBack URL

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under Activism News, General . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Loading ...

ADVERTISEMENTS

SITE MAPS

7/7 Afghanistan Alternative Energy Art BBC Big Brother Bilderberg Biometrics Bush CIA Climate Change Cover Up Cults Culture Database State David Hicks David Ray Griffin Democrats Demos Drugs Education EU False Flag FBI Fraud Free Speech Freemasons G8 Globalization Guantanamo Health News History ID Cards Internet Iran Iraq Israel Law Marches MI5 MI6 Microsoft Military MoD Money Music NASA Neocons NSA Oil Pakistan Podcast Police State Propaganda RFID RINF Rumsfeld Science Secrecy Security Space Sports Spying Stephen Lendman Technology Terrorism Tony Blair Torture TV UK News UN USA News Video Voting Warfare White House Wolfowitz World News Yahoo
2003 - 2005 Archives | 2005 - 2007 Archives | 2007 - 2008 Archives | Current Archives | Past Version