If you can't speak the truth - Recite It
clare |
anti-war / imperialism |
feature
Friday February 08, 2008 01:04
by The Rhyming Subversives
A breach of warport security?
Masked Poets Seem to be unstoppable in Shannon Warport
wags and activists may be unseen and silent in modern ireland
but na filid gather crowds to hear their message even in 2008 Shannon
“O come all ye travellers & give ear to what I say:
Where do you go and why, upon this St Bridget’s Day?
… Let me carry my tale
To the horrors that lie here,
Here, here, behind the veil.
How many planes
Full of captives in chains?
Where will they go?
To the cages of Guantánamo?
Will government try
To discover where and why?
… What would Bridget have said, had it entered her head
That this would be the destiny of the land where she lies dead?”
The Shannon Rhyming Subversives
They engaged with travellers in the restaurant by the simple method of going round each table wishing them a happy feast day, giving them a flyer as a memento of the day, and asking if they would like a recitation of some verses. Most tables agreed and then were given their own personal recitation: --
“O come all ye travellers & give ear to what I say:
Where do you go and why, upon this St Bridget’s Day?
… Let me carry my tale
To the horrors that lie here,
Here, here, behind the veil.
How many planes
Full of captives in chains?
Where will they go?
To the cages of Guantánamo?
Will government try
To discover where and why?
… What would Bridget have said, had it entered her head
That this would be the destiny of the land where she lies dead?”
Afterwards, in the main booking hall, a continuation: a Ryanair attendant smiled with delight when she saw a small cluster of people gathering, “Oh good,” she exclaimed, “a poetry reading.” No-one complained; no security anywhere; just a brief moment in the warport for words to be given to travellers. A small benign gesture but nevertheless for an hour Shannon had become a civilian airport where people can talk and discuss the morality of militarization of peaceful travellers’ space in a country that still insists it is not party to the war.
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Comments (7 of 7)
Jump To Comment: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1on a very creative action:))
A small group of people each week doing small acts of resistance like this would keep the airport police on their toes and remind people that there is no mandate amongst the Irish public for the US war in Iraq.
Next Saturday I will give a presentation on disarmament/ploughshares actions at Shannon in Berlin at an anti-militarist conference organised by supporters of Militant Group who set ablaze German military trucks, were initially charged with terrorism but charges then dropped to arson. They still face a lot of time in jail if they go down.
http://de.indymedia.org/2007/08/191286.shtml
We hope to challenge Polish arms trade profiteers in Warsaw on March 15th and 2 weeks later (March 29th) will stage the first protest at the proposed site for the US missile defence shield. The US military is a mutant octopus with its tentacles spread wide and afar.
Solidarity protests declared so far at Polish embassy in Prague, Czech Republic and Fylingdales, Britain. If anybody can hold a short demo. at Polish/U.S. embassy in Dublin that would be great. Let me know here if you are interested and we can correspond
"Quod scripsi scripsi," growled the poet Skelton, sending his rhyme-doggerel to those who might best receive its meaning. "Have enough and cry ho!" bawled Wat Tyler to the revolting peasants, and they knew what he intended. "The French are on the sea," cried the Shan Van Vocht, spying strange sails off the coast of Mayo. Could you read S. Heaney or the deep Muldoon in an airport lounge to coffee-drinkers full of anxiety as to their journey, and expect them to instantly grasp your point? Don't be a crop-headed begrudger, forget about the irrelevancies of hair, think of where the verses were used and ask yourself this question: "Can I do likewise?" If not, with a blush retire.
"The file is to be regarded as in the earliest times as combining in his person the functions of magician, lawgiver, judge, counsellor to the chief, and poet. Later, but still at a very early time, the offices seem to have been divided, the brehons devoting themselves to the study of law, and the giving of legal decisions, the druids arrogating to themselves the supernatural functions, with the addition, possibly of some priestly offices, and the filí themselves being henceforth principally as poets and philosophers. The division seems to have already existed in Ireland at the time of St Patrick, whose preaching brought him into constant opposition with the druids, who were evidently, at that time, regarded as the religious leaders of the nation, though there does not seem to be much sign that they were, as they undoubtedly were, even at an earlier age in Britain and Gaul, sacrificing priests."
well done to those involved, really great idea and i'd imagine alot more effective than many other forms of protest,
just wish they hadn't called her st. brigid, she's just brigid...see related link
Please return for a vigil on Sunday 17th of February 5pm to 6pm.
action! Bridget would have been proud. Great way of getting the message to travellers.
Well done.
Good work done there! A direct & friendly action to inform Shannon's travellers of ' what's the deal we're dealin' in'.