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Shell to Sea Ireland solidarity action
Aidan - 15.02.2006 14:43
International call for Shell-To-Sea Solidarity Action
There is a small group of people organizing a Solidarity Action in
Amsterdam for this Friday February 17th, with a plan to take flyers and
information to the Shell Headquarters (across from Amsterdam Central
Station), raising awareness about this campaign and issue.
We are asking you to spread the word of this action through your
networks in The Netherlands, and if you're interested in participating
come to the final prepatory meeting Friday February 17, at 10:30am at
the European Youth For Action (EYFA) office, Minnahassastraat 1, 1094
RS, Amsterdam (Oost). see www.eyfa.org
If you're not yet aware of the campaign & the court cases happening in
Ireland surrounding a shell-pipline being built visit:
 http://www.corribsos.com
In Rossport a peace camp has been established since June and we are currently recruiting volunteers to visit and help out on the camp, a brief summary of the camp is as follows:
Rossport Solidarity Camp was born in June of this year. It is the first protest camp around an ecological theme to take place in Ireland for several years.
The camp began after local opponents of Shell’s plan to build an unprecedented high pressure gas pipeline through the hamlet of Rossport invited us there to back up their struggle.
The main activities of the campers have been picketing the Rossport compound, building and maintaining the camp, and helping the families of the prisoners.
The campaign has won significant victories:
* June 18th onwards there have been no deliveries of construction materials to the compound at Rossport.
* June 30th onwards pickets closed the Rossport compound and the refinery construction site at Ballinaboy.
* In August Shell was forced to cancel the arrival of the Solitaire, one of the world’s largest pipelaying ships, due to a planned blockade by fishermen.
* On September 30th the Rossport Five were released, because of popular pressure.
In Spring we are into a new “construction season” when Shell again will try to build this pipeline and refinery, and we need to get the maximum number of people on the ground in Mayo ready to help stop this. Bear in mind most of this development was supposed to be built this year.
In March Rossport Solidarity Camp will be re-launched for the 2006 “construction season” - late Spring, Summer, early Autumn. From March onwards we are looking for more people to come to the camp, be it for 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months. All are welcome, you don’t need to be an “expert”, everyone can take part in this, most people who have been on the camp have had as their previous sum total of camping experience the occasional trip to the likes of Witness. Many also have had no previous experience of campaigning
Older Camp Stories:
* The Rossport Solidarity Camp
* Photos from a Summer of Resistance in Erris
* A Few Days of Struggle in North West Mayo
* Rossport Solidarity Camp
* Shell bus blockaded in Glengad
The Story So Far…..
Rossport Solidarity Camp was established in the middle of June this year, at the request of local residents, including those subsequently imprisoned. It was born out of the Solidarity Gathering held in Rossport on the first weekend in June. That weekend over two hundred people, from every corner of the island and beyond, gathered in Rossport to learn about the issues first hand.
As one of the organisers of that Gathering I had initially envisaged developing out of it a national network to support the community struggle in Rossport with pickets of petrol stations, protests and such like around the country. The idea for the camp came more from the locals.
Personally I was somewhat hesitant about the camp, partly from the point of view that it is somewhat difficult to get people to such an out of the way place, all protest camps in Ireland previously, to my knowledge, have been near major cities. But mostly that hesitancy was down to the fear that the inception of the camp would launch a “eco-warriors live in bog” feeding frenzy in the media, fortunately very little of that has happened. Such a perception would not be conducive to promoting the idea that people can take power over their lives into their own hands without the intercession of politicians, lawyers or professional activists. That being the very idea we need to spread should we wish to see radical social change.
We got the call to return to Rossport on June 18th, after residents had begun a particular action.
This action related to the virtual absence of a traffic management plan for Rossport, despite the fact that Shell aimed to put 60 to 70 trucks a day on a narrow country lane. Basically if you are driving up that wee road, going from your house into town to do the shopping or pick up the kids from the train station, and you meet a lorry carrying pipeline to build a unprecedented high-pressure pipeline next to your house, then you have to turn around and leave the road, that road being too narrow for both cars and the Shell lorries. This despite the fact you have right of way. So began a lot of car parking, and a 12 day, 24 hours a day, vigil by the roadside, as Shell couldn’t remove the lorry the road being too narrow for it to pass parked cars. Ordinary traffic could continue as normal.
At this stage there were only 3 or 4 “campers”, who were actually staying in a house. Some days before this Shell made an attempt to access the farmlands adjoining peoples’ houses, having been refused access, on the basis, later shown to be correct, that they didn’t have ministerial permission. They then sought, and were later to be granted, the imprisonment of five men from among those who refused them entry, Willie Corduff, Brendan Philbin, Vincent McGrath, Philip McGrath and Michael O’Suighin.
In a short space of time, and in a fairly ad-hoc, spontaneous and improvised manner, the camp was to get ready to respond to these imminent jailings. Cooking equipment and experience came from the Bitchin’ Kitchen Collective, who were to be at festivals and protests around Europe, but fortunately didn’t get much further than a field in Mayo, a marquee was donated by Dissent, one of the groups organising the G-8 protests in Scotland, some tents were borrowed from here and there, some bodies came from NUI Galway Ecology Society, some from environmentalist group Gluaiseacht. All this was put together early in July, on Philip McGrath’s land and right on the supposed pipeline route. A further camp, or more of an off-host from the main camp, was set up on the other side of the estuary from Rossport, in Glengad, where the supposed land fall for the off-shore pipeline is to be.
From June 30th the main activity of the camp has been picketing the construction compound in Rossport. This is done from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with two people on three hour shifts keeping watch. No work has been done in this compound since then.
For two months there was a round the clock Garda presence there as well, but this has recently ceased.
Weekday numbers at the camp have ranged from 3 to 30, with about a dozen being typical.
The camp is organised through nightly meetings, wherein each participant has equal voice, these meetings allot tasks for the next day, and formulate policy for the day to day running of the camp.
At the end of August Rossport Solidarity Camp organised the solidarity week, culminating in the Tenth Grassroots Gathering. A lot of people from England travelled over to join the camp at this time.
The solidarity week featured a social night for campers and residents, some workshops, a Rossport Five street theatre in Castlebar, and a blockade of a Statoil depot in Ballina.
At the Tenth Grassroots Gathering there were speakers from, or speaking about, Derrybrien Development Society, the Woodland League, Galway for a Safe Environment, Gorleben anti-nuclear protest camp, anti-pylon groups from Roscommon and Donegal and the campaign against Merrill Dow in Cork in the late 80’s.
There were also skills share workshops. Over one hundred people attended the Gathering that weekend, with
Rossport Solidarity Camp briefly blossoming into three camps on the pipeline route.
Recently the camp disbanded as a camp, but a number of campers are staying in Erris over the winter to prepare for the new years’ new construction season, starting next March.
Shell have been prevented from doing any work on their pipeline this summer, most work they cannot do over the winter due to the climate, so our main goal now has to be to get more people to the camp next spring.
We aim to make the camp much bigger next time around. Rossport Solidarity Camp is now recruiting for the 2006 construction season.
The camp needs people to come for 3 days or 3 months. It doesn’t just need experts, though they come in handy, everyone can take part in this, most people who have been on the camp have had as their previous sum total of camping experience the occasional trip to the likes of Witness. Many also have had no previous experience of campaigning. The only requirements are passion, a sense of justice, and a commitment to see shell to sea.
Why?
Solidarity does not mean helping, solidarity means fighting alongside someone because their struggle is your struggle.
What is being done in Erris is the suppression of human needs (health, safety, sustainable environment) in favour of capital. Furthermore the deal for the exploitation of our natural resources, with its low tax rate, privileges the profits of big business over working class needs (e.g. for an efficient health service).
This is the same as Irish Ferries, as GAMA, as the proposed construction of incinerators in Ringaskiddy, as homelessness amid a Celtic Tiger, and ultimately the same spending all week working for someone else, receiving back a fraction of the wealth you have created, while your environment goes down the tubes in a process you have no control over.
In the Rossport case the state, in the form of the courts, facilitates the private interests controlling our natural resources off the Irish coast, just as those courts defend the military use of Shannon, and hence facilitate the private interests controlling our natural resources in the Middle East. The state exists to serve capital.
From an ecological perspective Erris is everywhere.
While one set of corporations and one state seek to tear up Broadhaven Bay and the lives of the people who live by there, they are just one part of a social system doing the same to the whole of the planet and its inhabitants.
For just one example consider Greenpeace International’s description of the imminent affects of global warming:
“Imagine a world in which 17 million people are fleeing sea-rise in Bangladesh. A world in which villages that rely on glacial melt for their water supplies become ghost towns as the last of the ice disappears. A world in which polar bears are extinct in the wild. A world in which entire seaside economies and livelihoods are wiped out by a rise in sea level that is measured in meters. Now imagine that aspects of this world could be upon us within the lifetimes of children being born today -- and in some scenarios, in our own lifetimes.”
Even if this were just about Shell it still would be an international struggle, as communities battle that corporation in Louisiana, in South Africa, in the far-east of Russia, and many other places.
In Louisiana where such was the impact of ill-health and disease on people living near a Shell refinery that the community fought for their own re-location away from it.
In South Africa where a Shell refinery dumps 19 tons of sulphur dioxide a day into the air people breath, producing chronic asthma among children.
But it is not just about Shell.
In Rossport Solidarity Camp we are fighting alongside the working people of Bolivia as they try to gain the profits of that country’s gas industry, alongside Chinese villagers rioting against polluting factories, alongside
any fight against capital and the state anywhere.
Rossport Solidarity Camp is organised on a day to day basis through nightly meetings in which each person has an equal voice, these meetings formulate policy and allot tasks. The fact we organise this way and are in Rossport is not an accident. We are in Rossport because we believe that what happens in peoples’ lives should be decided collectively by the people affected, not imposed from above by hierarchal institutions be they headquartered in Castlebar, Dublin, London, Holland or Norway. We organise this way now because this is the way we want to see the world organised, and because we believe like begets like, and you cannot proceed to freedom through un-freedom.
In March Rossport Solidarity Camp will be re-launched for the 2006 "construction season" - late Spring, Summer, early Autumn. From March onwards we are looking for more people to come to the camp, be it for 3 days, 3 weeks, or 3 months. All are welcome, you don't need to be an "expert", everyone can take part in this, most people who have been on the camp have had as their previous sum total of camping experience the occasional trip to the likes of Witness. Many also have had no previous experience of campaigning.
A basic summary of the wider shell to sea campaign is as follows:
"Shell, Statoil and Marathon, with the support of the Irish government,
are building one of Europe's biggest gas refineries on sensitive bog
land in a North Mayo Gaeltacht. Fiver farmers have been imprisoned for
objecting to a dangerous pipeline on their land. There is an estimated
20 Billion Euros worth of gas in the Corrib gas field. Under deals
signed by Ray Burke the Irish people will have to buy back the gas at
market prices. Explorations are also taking place from Kerry to North
Donegal and a similar environmental, health, safety and economic
disaster could occur again. People of all walks of life are getting
involved in the campaign to free the farmers, renegotiate the gas deal
and send Shell to Sea."
In Mayo Shell and Statoil, with the approval of the Irish government, are planning to:
Take land from local residents and build a high pressure gas pipeline that will go past their houses:
The pressure inside the pipeline will be up to four times greater than that of the biggest Bord Gais pipelines. The pipeline will be going through boggy land with a history of landslides.
Construct a gas refinery on unstable bog:
This construction will be using previously untried methods to stabilise the bog surface and involve a massive amount of traffic. Emissions from the refinery will affect the nearby Carrowmore Lake, source of the regional water supply.
Pump toxic waste into Broadhaven Bay:
A U.C.C. research team found that Broadhaven Bay was an important breading and rearing area for dolphins and whales. They recorded over 220 sightings of seven whale and dolphin species, plus sightings of two seal species, in Broadhaven Bay and north-west Mayo waters.
The government is giving them our gas for practically nothing and then we will have to buy it back:
From 1975 for oil and gas companies there was a tax rate of 50%, an automatic 50% state stake in any commercial well, and royalties of 6 %– 7%.
In 1987, after lobbying by the companies, Ray Burke got rid of the 50% state stake and removed royalties.
In 1992 after further lobbying Bobby Molloy reduced the tax rate to 25% and 100% tax write offs were introduced, meaning that the companies can subtract their costs from their tax bill.
In other places in Europe the state take can be 55% or even 79% of a field.
Shell have been given permission by the High Court to start work on the on land parts of the pipeline in about a months time, construction is due to start on the landfall, where the off-shore pipeline hits the beach, on May 31st.
If you are interested in showing solidarity please meet at the EYFA office on Friday morning, i have never been to the office but the directions are bellow, alternatively, meet at the Shell offices (over the river behind central station) in the afternoon, the time has yet to be specfically decided.
Take any East-bound train from Amsterdam Central one stop East to
Amsterdam Muiderpoort Station. It is also accessible by tram 3, 7.
It's just a short distance around the corner from Muiderpoort.
Look it up on this map website if it's still unclear:
http://www.maporama.com
For more information please e-mail:
 anitya@eyfa.org
or call the EYFA office 020 665 7743
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| Read more about: globalisering | | supplements | | International Press Release | Aidan, WSM personal capacity - 15.02.2006 18:50
INTERNATIONAL ACTION AGAINST SHELL
Supporters of the Shell to Sea campaign will be
conducting pickets and protests around the country and
overseas on the 17th and 18th of February aimed at
highlighting the continuing resistance to the building
of an onshore refinery and pipeline near to homes in
North Mayo. Actions will take place in Dublin, Cork,
Kerry, and Clare as well as in Scotland, England,
Sweden, and in Holland. There will
be a large-scale lunchtime protest at the Department
of the Marine, Adelaide Road, Dublin 2, on Friday the
17th, beginning at 12:45pm. Camp spokesperson Bob
Kavanagh will be available to speak to the media at
this demonstration.
Rossport Solidarity Camp which is co-ordinating these
actions has called campaigners to come out on the 17th
and 18th of February to remind Shell and the Irish
government of the huge opposition which exists to the
Corrib onshore pipeline project and to mark the
re-opening of the camp, which takes place on the 25th
of February.
Bob Kavanagh, a spokesperson for the Rossport
Solidarity Camp says, “There are many reasons to
object to this project; beyond the obvious health and
safety risks posed by the pipeline there would be
irreversible environmental damage affecting both the
human and wildlife population. Furthermore, the
project is of no economic benefit to the ordinary
people of Ireland, either at regional or national
level.”
“We want to send out a strong message to Shell,
Statoil and the state that the opposition to this
project is not going away but rather growing
stronger,” commented Kavanagh.
The Shell to Sea campaign, which opposes the building
of an onshore gas refinery and pipeline in North Mayo,
anticipate a renewed attempt by Shell to force their
project through this year. The campaign, now in its
sixth year became a media focus last year as a result
of the imprisonment of five men from the village of
Rossport for their resistance to the project, which
would see a high pressure unrefined gas pipeline
running 70 metres from their homes.
Bob Kavanagh further commented “What is happening in
Rossport is only one aspect of the exploitation of
people and the destruction of the environment carried
out by multinationals and government for their own
profits.”
FEB 18th INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION
- Events in Ireland, Sweden..............
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=547
OTHER EVENTS:
Clare, Kerry, Cork, Dublin, Belfast, Sligo..
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=547
SHELL ATTACKED IN NIGERIA
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=547
ROSSPORT FIVE MAY FACE PRISON RETURN
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=546
BUILDING UP THE PRESSURE
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=545
EAMON DUNPHY WITH MICHEAL O'SHEIGHIN
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=543
EXPLOSION IN THE U.S
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=542
ROSSPORT FIVE PRESS RELEASE
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=540
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=541
ROSSPORT FIVE SUSPEND INVOLVEMENT WITH MEDIATOR
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=538
STATOIL SELLING SERVICE STATIONS
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=538
SHELL TO SEA CALL ON MINISTER TO ACT
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=537
GO WEST - GO OFFSHORE
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=536
SHELL SHOCKED EXECUTIVES
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=533
SHELL EXECUTIVES CONFRONTED IN MAYO - GREAT PICS!!!
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=531
SHELL TO SEA AT WORLD SOCIAL FORUM, VENEZUELA
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=530
OPPONENTS OF PROJECT MOUNT
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=529
HIGH POWERED SHELL DELEGATION VISITS MAYO
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=527
SHELLNEWS.NET UPDATE
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=525
CORRIB OPERATIONS ARE A FARCE
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=523
SHELL TO SEA PICKETS COUNCIL OVER WATER QUALITY
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=522
SHELL DIRECTORS MEET TDS
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=520
SHELL SHAREHOLDERS ASKED TO SUPPORT RESOLUTION
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=519
BELLANABOY UDPDATE - JAN 10
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=518
ROSSPORT FIVE HAVE ONLY MET MEDIATOR ONCE
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=517
PROPOSED CHANGES IN CONNECTIONS
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=516
CALL FOR COMMUNITY CONTROL
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=515
JUDGEMENT ON ROSSPORT FIVE DUE SOON
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=514
LOCAL INPUT REQUIRED TO ORGANISE MEETINGS
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=513
OIL WORKERS KIDNAPPED IN NIGERIA
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=512
GAS THE WHOLE WORLD ROUND
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=511
OBSERVATIONS AT BELLANABOY
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=510
RUSSIA/UKRAINE ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS CONTROL ON GAS
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=509
ADVANTICA REPORT TO COST TAX PAPERS 70,000
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=507
SHELL TO HELL
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=505
REMINDER OF SHELL'S HISTORY
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=504
SOLIDARITY CAMP ON TOUR
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=503
ACTION IN ECUADOR
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=502
CONTEMPT CASE FOR SHELL OVER GAS
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=501
AN TAISCE WANTS REVIEW OF PIPELINE LOCATION
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=500
ENVIRONMENTALISM, CLASS AND COMMUNITY
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=499
BUILDING FOR THE REOPENING OF ROSSPORT SOLIDARITY CAMP
http://www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=498
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