Afri March in Shannon
February 1st, Lá
'le Bríde 2003
From the River to the
Planes
Nearly a thousand people
walked from the River
Shannon to the warplanes
at Shannon Airport on
February 1st, Lá
'le Bríde 2003.
This imaginative event,
initiated by Clare O'Grady
Walshe and supported by
Afri and the NGO Peace
Alliance gave participants
an opportunity to express
their opposition to war
and to the use of Shannon
Airport as part of the
war machine. It was a
colourful event with banners,
buggies, blue ribbons
and even blue skies between
the blustery showers!
When the walk reached
the perimeter fence at
the Airport the crowd
listened to Denis Halliday
saying that the Government
had brought shame on Ireland's
name by participating
in preparations for war
on Iraq. They heard Luka
Bloom and Eithne Ni Cathain
singing 'I am not at war
with anyone'. They heard
Fiona Nolan, a young person
from Portarlington calling
for an end to war and
preparations for war.
They heard the Shannon
Colleens, in the persons
of Sorcha Fox, Darina
Gallagher and Sinead Murphy
sing a song written by
Donal O'Kelly and first
performed at Féile
Bríde in Kildare
the previous week-end.
The song was performed
in the style of the Andrews
Sisters and suggests a
far better use of military
aircraft than carrying
the weapons and the soldiers
that are visiting death
and destruction on the
people of Iraq. Other
performers included Glen
Hansard of the Frames,
Nóirín Ní
Riain. The walk also coincided
with the launch of a postcard
campaign directed at Taoiseach
Bertie Ahern and calling
on the Irish Government
to 'stop fuelling the
war.'
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