As an introduction to the video from the Neutrality or NATO forum put on by Afri (Action for Ireland) and as a response to Ann Wright and Medea Benjamin who were in Ireland to speak on neutrality and who asked us for a statement, we offer this. One of our editors was honored to be included among the speakers on the Afri panel on Neutrality or NATO. – The editors.
It was the morning of St. Patrick’s Day 2019, when two of us, retired U.S. Marine Major Ken Mayers and former U.S. Army paratrooper Tarak Kauff, crawled under one fence, cut through another and the barbed wire beyond it, and made our way onto Shannon airfield. St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Our aim was the same, only this time the snake was the US war machine. Like others before us, our intention was to inspect a plane that we believed carried US troops and weapons and expose the criminality of the US war machine and the complicity of the Irish government in allowing Irish neutrality to be so blatantly breached since the year 2001.At present, as some Irish politicians look to enhance their status as allies of the US and NATO, there are moves to militarzse Ireland and eventually bring it into NATO. The Irish people will in no way benefit from this, and the country as a whole will be in a more dangerous position. The drums of war are beating. The sons and daughters of Ireland will be sent to fight and die in NATO’s wars. This is the horror.
Now more than ever, the world needs Ireland to use its powerful voice as a neutral country to advocate peaceful resolutions to conflict. Ireland needs to unequivocally say NO to war, NO to the US/NATO war machine, and NO to proxy wars. If the Irish people and their government stand up to the war-bully, that voice, formed from centuries of resisting British colonialism, that treasured voice standing for peace, justice and freedom will resonate all throughout Europe and the entire international community. Proactive neutrality from Ireland will encourage people and countries of the world to stand resolutely for peace and this precious planet.
One of our heroes, Mairead Maguire, said, “After violence and war many people never recover. They are like the walking dead, wanting every moment to escape from the suffering, pain, and harshness of life. If people allowed themselves to feel compassion for and empathize with the suffering of those who have been injured or had someone killed, they would not so glorify war and militarism, or offer their young to do their killing or dying for others. … Our world is at a very dangerous crossroads and we as the human family must choose. Do we continue on the road of NATO, weapons and war or do we choose the world of Peace and Nonviolence?”
The hope we have is that the global community will take heart, stand up for peace and say to the war machine that is literally destroying our very planet – “Enough! Silence the Drums of War!”
– Ellen Davidson, Ken Mayers, Tarak Kauff
Ken Mayers and Tarak Kauff on the Shannon airfield March 17, 2019. Photo: Ellen Davidson
