Galway Alliance Against War

by Niall Farrell - Galway Alliance Against War Fri May 29, 2009 12:54

Irish Public Paying The Insurance Bill For Obscene Event
Britain’s Royal Air Force has been compelled to bring the Red Arrow war show a half an hour forward to avoid the 99 Red Balloon Peace Event in Galway tomorrow. Both the war show and the peace protest by the Galway Alliance Against War were due to begin at noon. Now the RAF killers, all of whom have been involved in military combat, will take to the air at 11.30am.
One of the main reasons why the Salthill War Show had to be cancelled was insurance costs. In 2007 an RAF helicopter door fell off and injured two spectators. It is presumed the war show’s insurance premium soared, although the organisers blamed GAAW for the cancellation of the obscene event. The peace group gladly took a bow. One of the reasons given by an organiser was that GAAW had got “Niamh Comiskey to oppose the show” – he meant Noam Chomsky!

When Let’s Do It Galway, the organisers of the race events, applied for an events licence they were quizzed about the Red Arrows invite by Councillor Colette Connolly. The council meeting was told that an anonymous grouping called Fáilte Salthill had invited the RAF killers not the stopover company. This now appears to be untrue. According to information Cllr Catherine Connolly received yesterday from Galway Corporation the Red Arrows appears on the management plan linked to the stopover events licence, which was deliberately not shown to the city council.

This is not surprising. The gombeens of Salthill who clamour for the return of the war show would never dig into their deep, deep pockets to pay for anything. So it will be the Irish public that will be paying the huge insurance premium. How much it is we still do not know.

There is little doubt, however, that the gombeens are aching to see a return of their “moneyspinner”. GAAW will have a battle on its hands to prevent this criminal event from polluting Galway’s skies in the future.

At tomorrow’s peace event there will be poets, including Fred Johnston, traditional musicians Mary Staunton and friends as well as the US singer David Rovics. And then there are the balloons. Approaches have been made to the GAAW committee about the dangers to wildlife from the balloons and this will certainly be taken into consideration tomorrow.

The RAF in its statement claims it respects the right to protest – we can be sure the Iraqi and Afghani people would have a different story to tell.

by Fred Johnston Sat Aug 08, 2009 16:00 fred.johnston at rocketmail dot com

In the light of recent shuffles in Galway City Council and the determination of the FF/FG Coalition of The Swilling to reinvigorate the Salthill Airshow, I was brought back to a song I composed several years ago in protest against the Salthill Airshow and the culture that supports it. I hold no claims to art, here, but I thought I had to write something at the time.

by Lefty Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:37

The GAAW are the only group in Galway consistently to get up the noses of the business class in Galway city, who would turn a mass display of murder weapons such as the Galway Air Show into an entertainment; might as well bring in a few Christians and lions and we'll have great fun. Naturally, they are being attacked. We should support them in their efforts and be proud to have such vigilance in the West of Ireland.

by Fred Johnston Mon Aug 17, 2009 12:43

"Two Russian air force jets rehearsing aerobatic manoeuvres collided today near Moscow, killing one stunt pilot and sending one fighter crashing into nearby holiday homes, a military official said. Two Russian air force jets rehearsing aerobatic manoeuvres collided today near Moscow, killing one stunt pilot and sending one fighter crashing into nearby holiday homes, a military official said.

The Su-27 fighters were part of the elite Russian Knights flying group preparing to perform at the MAKS-2009 air show, the largest and most important showcase for Russia's aerospace industry. "

This should sound some bells with those in Galway who, for commercial reasons, would support the return of the Salthill Airshow and possibly put members of the Galway public at risk for financial gain. Or does that sort of thing matter in City Hall?

by Galway Independent Mon Aug 17, 2009 13:06

FYI: The Soviet Union ceased to existed in 1991

by Fred Johnston Mon Aug 17, 2009 15:39

OK. Russian 'planes fell out of the sky, which, since they weren't Soviety, must have been an enromous consolation to all concerned. I don't think it would make a lot of difference if it was falling on my head. Like helicopter doors, for instance, of which Salthill has some experience already.

by REAL US Patriot. Mon Aug 17, 2009 16:29

The SU-27 hails from the Soviet era:

http://www.aviastar.org/russian-aircraft/flanker/index.html

It is still an awesome killer machine.

Hence the need for the Free World's even better killer machines.
.

by ArmyDreamers Tue Aug 18, 2009 09:43

REAL us patriot:
It can't be Ireland or the US thats for sure. Nothing is free here (unless you are a FF developer or banker). However life is quite cheap, judging by the old people on trolleys in hospital corridors.
Perhaps you are living in Cuba. It's a poor country on account of the unofficial state of war and blockade by the US, but even so, the basics seem to be quite accessible there. Everyone can get a free education, food medical care and a roof over their heads, and they don't have to work themselves to death to do it.

Our greed driven elitist capitalist nightmare is what these menacing warplanes are built to safeguard, not the people. It's quite evident that as far as the establishment is concerned the actual people can go fuck themselves.

Pray your paltry military pension doesn't run out. If you have one.

by Fred Johnston Tue Aug 18, 2009 14:19

Far enough, but let's get on track with the main topic, which is that elements in Gaway City Council more concerned with making money than the morality or lack of it around fighter aircraft, are moving slowly with a modicum of local media support to reinstate the Salthill Airshow. The media will get behind any organisation that promises to provide advertising revenue, so it cannot be said that they are impartial. One regular local paper columnist waded in with his very first column to attack, scurilously, the character of protestors. Naturally, he - advertised as a leader in business consultation and the rest - thought nothing of slamming people of whom he knew nothing and made no inquiry. So one may expect this sort of 'educated' propagandising. It plays into an undercurrent of xenophobia never totally absent from such discourse in Galway: everything would be well if pesky 'outsiders' stayed quiet. This ignores, conveniently, the local opposition to the Airshow and rubbishes the national opposition. The FF/FG coalition at City Hall was, in the absence of any cultural awareness, designed to mobilise a distinctly Right-wing ideological assault upon perceived 'Left' intervention in their plans to develop and in some cases wreck Galway's heritage. Whether Galwayegians are put at risk by the mad screeching of the Salthill Airshow is not their concern; already there are multiple instances of children and the elderly being frightened and disturbed by the event. But tere is a view amongst some of them that they have an unassailable right to do whatever they wish in Galway in terms of planning, project management and even festivals, and the money will fall into their laps. This belief has no place in the current financial and social atmosphere. The 'old boys' network which scours through politics and the arts in Galway city like bleach down a lavatory bowl has to be exposed and diluted. So perhaps the Councillors who advocate this exhibition of killing machines should be lobbied intensely by their constituents.

by Galway Independent Wed Aug 19, 2009 02:58

Very few people in Galway City ever supported or now support the Iraq war or rendition or any of that. Yet most are okay with the airshow. It's clear that despite the noise it makes GAAW is losing the argument. Their PR has mostly been aimed at preaching to the converted and is backfiring quite seriously right now. Lose the self-serving conspiracy theories about how the city is run and that might be a first step in a better direction.

by Fred Johnston Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:56 fred.johnston at rocketmail dot com 087.2178138

I didn't author the notion of Galway being an 'old boys' club' politically and culturally, I learned it from Councillors and others and over a long period of time. The mercantile interests in Galway, and more particularly in this case, in Salthill, are not interested in culture but in making money - that is, making money only! The GAAW have been foremost in the opposition to the Airshow on moral and ethical grounds; notably, some City Councillors have supported them. As for conspiracy theories, if anyone is interested in my own experiences, they may contact me at the above address. Full address, please, and phone number - I'm sure you'll agree we have to keep the mad and bad a bay.

by Galwegian Businessman Fri Aug 21, 2009 16:42

"I didn't author the notion of Galway being an 'old boys' club' politically and culturally, I learned it from Councillors and others and over a long period of time"

We have standards Fred.

By your constant griping It seems you don't pass muster to be an upper class Galwegian.

How horrible.

by Fred Johnston Fri Aug 21, 2009 18:08

The man actually agrees with me! He describes, no doubt with tongue in cheek, the antics of the boys' club as 'standards' held in Galway. A Swiftian touch! Nice one. I can't ever be a true member of the top notches of society in Galway, as I am not a Galwegian. These 'standards,' of course, have produced bad planning, lack of knowledge of or interest in heritage preservation, and a must-be-related-to-someone-we-know culture in the arts here. Very 1940s Ireland, I should have thought.

by non-aligned Sun Aug 23, 2009 10:44

Is there an actual concrete proposal as of yet for the return of the Salthill Airshow in 2010? Or is it in the pipeline?

by Fred Johnston Sun Aug 23, 2009 12:48

It's in the pipeline and remarks which accompanied the FF-FG City Council alliance indicated that this event was to be brought back; as witness too a rather blustering column in The Galway Advertiser which also attacked the Airshow's detractors. The tactic is to paint the protestors as outsiders or unrepresentative of Galway city, which denies the facts and this sort of murmurring preparation has been ongoing.