Catholic Worker Defendants Take a Break, Friends Try to Keep the House Going! by Ciaron O'Reilly - Dublin Catholic Worker/Pit Stop Ploughshares
Looking for Sympathetic Renters- Give Us a Call!
After 3 1/2 years of activism - 3 of which have been spent on bail & in legal jeopardy - Dublin Catholic Worker defendants are taking 6 months off! The length of the legal process, absence form family & friends, limited resources have all taken their toll and demand that most of the defendants have to leave Dublin for a time. We'll be back at the beginning of June organizing around our third trial and in opposition to continued Irish participation in the U.S invasion of Iraq.
We are hoping to keep our house going and are wondering if there are any sympathetic folks interested in renting in a shared house with an anti-war orientation and solidarity with the ploughshares defendants. If interested phone 087 918 4552. Nov. 29th was the 25th anniversary of our founder Dorothy Day's death.
The Catholic Worker Movement was founded by French soapbox philosopher Peter Maurin and New Yorker journalist activist Dorothy Day in New York City in 1933 (www.catholicworker.org). A radical christian-anarchist-pacifist movement it compromises of approximately 130 autonomous communities in the United States, a dozen in Canada, a couple in Mexico and also communites in Brisbane/OZ, Auckland &Christchurch/Aotearoa, Glasgow, London, Oxford, Amsterdam, Dortmund, Hamburg & Dublin.
The movements themes remain the practise of the Acts of Mercy, nonviolent resistance and community life.
*DUBLIN CATHOLIC WORKER 2001-2005!
A SUBJECTIVE HISTORY
We landed in Ireland 2001 when Treena Lenthall formerly of the Liverpool CW took up residence.
Treena hooked up with Reclaim the Streets and scored work with a homeless charity. I landed in Ireland a couple of days before the 2002 May Day Dame St. Garda Masacreeee when the cops went crazy on a bunch of peaceful folks reclaiming the street. Somehow I ended up on police liaison with Treena at Pearse St. as the riot cops ran out of the station and the wounded protesters and bystanders limped in.
I remember trying to chill out the desk sergeant as he lept over his desk and threatened to bash us all. His Robo-Cop baton-wielding son was to become a media icon on the street that day. Over three years on, there still hasn't been a satisfactory investigation into the well-televised events of May Day '02.
I spent '02 house & dog sitting for a friend who had gone to East Timor for the Independence celebrations and started to get relief work at a shelter for young people using heroin. We began a weekly peace vigil and house liturgy with Mike Schorsm, a Catholic student from U.S. and Buddhist Danny, Situationist Fergus and Action Faction Cathy.
In August '02 our profile was lifted with the visit of Fr. Dan Berrigan SJ who did a speaking gig forus. 1,000 people turned up! On the strength of this, RTE did a 'Would You Believe' documentary and Catholic Anarchist Pacifism had landed on the Irish political landscape. We began to meet locals with past U.S CW experiences, Paul & Benny at LACW, Fr. Steve & Caoimhe at NYCW, Mary at Milwaulkee CW and Petria at Oregon CW and a lot of folks who had heard something of the tradition.
By the end of 2002 the world was fast tracking to war and the U.S. war machine had transformed the civilian Shannon Airport into a militarised pitstop on its way to the invasion, occupation and plunder of Iraq. In the last two months of 2002 I met Deirdre Clancy, Damien Moran, Nuin Dunlop and was reacquainted with Karen Fallon.
By the first week of February 2003 we were all together in Limerick Prison after enfleshing the prophecy of Isaiah to beat swords into ploughshares disarming a U.S. Navy war plane(www.peaceontrial.com). The reaction to this action was immense - the government deployed the Irish Army & Navy to secure the airport, three U.S. companies transporting some of the 10,000 troops a month through Ireland pulled out within 3 weeks. It was warm friends cooling as the moderate peace movement distanced itself, and oppressive bail conditions banning us from County Clare and demanding we sign on at a Garda station daily were put in place.
In '03 the Catholic Worker was based in Rialto Cottages at the back of Fatima Mansions.
The subsequent two years were a Kafkaesque ride though the Irish prison and judicial system as we awaited trial. Minimally resourced & it was a struggle to hang together as a community and to continue to confront Irish complicity in the escalating US/UK war on Iraq.
On Ash Wednesday 2004 we burnt $US at the Dail marking the entrance with ash and proceeded down to the Aviation Authority which we also marked. We kept a daily vigil outside the Authority throughout Lent. At Easter, Damien and I went to England to complete the 50 mile walk from London to Aldermaston Nuclear Weapons Factory. We kept vigil throughout the night outside the Israeli Embassy as Justin went to Ashkelon prison to welcome the release of Mordechai Vanunu after 18 years incarceration. Each Dublin court appearance is preceded by a peace vigil and walk through town. We continued weekly anti-war vigils at the GPO, helped out with the Speakers Corner in Temple Bar and established rhythym of anti-war gigs at Mother Redcaps & later the Lower Deck.
In 2004, Damien, Treena and I moved into a house in Kimmage to explore CW life and action. In the backyard we casted for "MacBush" - a show we took on the road to Dromoland Castle when King George was ensconsed meeting the Euro Heads of State. CNN & the New York Times credited our witch with "driving George Bush out of Ireland". Our gatherings have always been multi faith and celebratory of all traditions that bring us together to nonviolently resist this war.
At the end of 2004, Damien & I moved into a house on the South Circular Rd in Rialto hoping to experiment with hospitality for folks freshly released for prison. Unfortunately this objective wasn't realised. Our "at home hospitality" has been limited to crash space for Irish & international activists visiting Dublin. Our solidarity with the poor took the form of hospital & prison visitation and work at more mainstream charities. We were able to initiate informal memorials for some of the homeless we knew who died where friends could gather informally, pay their respects, celebrate their lives & denounce the institutions that marginalised them. We were also able to hook up with other efforts like "Food Not Bombs", Street Scene, "Residents Against Racism" who were demanding justice for the homeless.
We have run a weekly home Sunday liturgy and a Sunday evening open house. Solidairty with others before the courts for peace and justice has remained a focus - from the May Day squatters to the Good Friday Shannon Potato planters & Halloween Banshees and the Rossport 5.
Throughout this period, the war on Iraq escalated and expanded. Irish complicity in the U.S. invasion of Iraq deepened. There are now 35,000 U.S. military toing and froing from Iraq through Shannon each month. CIA flights involved in kidnapping and transporting people to torture chambers use Shannon regularly.
Our energies in 2005 were pretty much taken up with our March and October trials at the Four Courts. Both trials collapsed and we now face a third trial on July 5th. 2005. Both trials were surrounded by celebrations of nonviolent resistance and solidarity offered by local artists & activists and many international anti-war folks who travelled to stand with us.
At this point we are putting out a call for solidarity to keep the experiment rolling. If you would consider moving in to keep our Rialto House for the next 6 months
Phone 087 918 4552 for details