Hot Press joins the War on War

With George W. Bush’s administration currently making such a comprehensive mess of the situation in Iraq, now seems as a good a time as any to reactivate the grand rock ’n’ roll tradition of anti-establishment agitation.

In Dublin, this comes to a head on June 19 at Vicar St., where some of the country's finest musicians will come together for a night of protest through song. For more information on When Bush Comes To Shove, click here.

In the meantime, Hot Press talks to event organizer Richard Boyd Barrett, who explains the premise of the gig in the context of Bush's upcoming visit to Ireland. Read the interview here.

Over the next few days on hotpress.com, a selection of participating artists and prominent politicians articulate their reasons for opposing Bush's 'War on Terror'. The viewpoints are diverse but the message conveyed by all participants is simple and profound – by registering your opposition to the war, you can make a real difference.

Damien Rice:
"For me, doing the show is more about supporting an energy where people are coming together and saying ‘We live in this country, it’s supposed to be a democratic country and there’s so many people here who do not agree with what the Bush administration is doing’.
I just want to register a positive protest, it’s a simple thing of standing up peacefully and saying ‘I don’t agree with this’. I think it’s a little sad, we’ve always been doing it, human beings have always been killing other human beings. We’ve always been at war – someplace in the world there’s always a war going on.
I was at the protests in Dublin and I went down to Shannon as well. I kind of do these things out of curiosity because I really like people, and I’m curious about human behaviour and relationships on all levels – whether it be a personal level or a country’s relationship with another.
I’m not one of those people who likes to hate people – I don’t feel that the energy of hating people is a positive or useful thing, and I certainly don’t feel that the energy of hating a nation – any nation – is a positive thing. I have no problem with the States at all, it’s an amazing place and there are some amazing people there. People may have, in the past, looked at Ireland in a certain way because of the IRA bombings. It’s unfair to generalise about any single place.
Doing this gig is a personal thing for me, it’s a peaceful way of saying ‘I live in a democratic country and I’d like to make my voice heard and help others be heard, and say we don’t agree with something’, simple as that. Letting people know we don’t agree.

Rossa O Snodaigh:
"The band have been tied in with the anti-war movement pretty much from the start. We went to the first demonstration at Shannon and these lads started playing our music over a makeshift PA. It went out on Sky News and we thought, there you go, the sound of the resistance!
What bothers me is war from the oppressor’s point of view. It’s always happened, the strong will oppress the weak and it’s always outraged me. If it catches on that the US have been refuelling here, which it probably will do, then we’re a target. We’ve been aiding the war effort, the killing of thousands of Iraqis, the torture of people, we’re part of the war effort. We should have stuck to our neutrality. If they have to refuel they should go to the UK, that’s their ally. They shouldn’t be bringing us into their war. The Irish government was bought. We feel it is very important for this concert to happen and for Kíla to be involved. Musicians and poets have long used their medium to question and argue the motives and actions of politicians and leaders along with lamenting the wreckage these decisions can leave in their wake.
This situation is no different and we as musicians and people feel very strongly about voicing (as loudly as we can) our opposition and disgust at the actions of the current American and British led coalition in Iraq and their poorly camouflaged tactics to occupy and oppress. To use the instrument of war and weaponry of mass devastation under the banner of democracy and freedom will damage for ever the benefits and freedoms our western society has struggled long to cultivate, and if allowed by us to continue will spell dark days for our children (and that’s putting it mildly!!!).
The world needs now a large dose of humanity and kindness."

Rory Gallagher (The Revs):
"Obviously we’re not the most politically lyrical band in the whole world but over the past couple of years we’ve really been getting into the whole thing. We wrote the last album around the time of the invasion of Iraq.
Now we feel that there’s a mood on the streets where people don’t believe the bullshit anymore and it’s relating back to people like ourselves. You can’t help but notice there’s a general feeling about the place. People are starting to see behind the façade of the media. We’ve always been anti-capitalist on the music side anyway. I saw a guy called Rory Hearne from the Globalise Resistance group on Primetime and he’s the same age as myself and he was wearing a Radiohead t-shirt, so he grabbed my interest straight away. I met up with him a couple of times and had some very interesting conversations. Then we did a gig a couple of weeks ago in Dublin were we’d sing a couple of songs, then there’d be a speaker, then we’d do a couple more songs and so on. It worked really well. It was quite an eye opener for us and I’m sure it was for some of our younger fans who were there. Politics isn’t just for old men in suits."

Katell Keineg:
"Gigs like this won’t change George Bush’s mind about anything but they let people know that we’re registering dissent at the situation. Do people care what musicians think? I don’t know. There is a lot of fear about saying anything, especially in Ireland because there are such strong links with the US and no-one wants to upset them."

Image: 'Bush after Bacon' by Sandy Kennedy

Glenda Cimino: Americans for Alternatives to War
Dublin-based poet Glenda Cimino explains that not all Americans see war as the best solution...

As an American who loves her country and its people, I will be demonstrating on June 25 and 26 against the Bush visit to Ireland, for many reasons.
Firstly, I do not recognise Bush as a legitimately elected president of the United States. The way in which his crooked supporters stole the election by cynically depriving many American voters of their right to vote, as well as miscounting and not recounting votes, has been well documented. It was an attack on American democracy.
Secondly, Bush and his cronies lied to the American people about the reasons for invading Iraq [and Afghanistan]in the first place, using fear as a tool of persuasion, and they have been lying ever since. I agree with Michael Moore, they must despise the American people to do this to them.
Thirdly, in their thirst for world domination and corporate profits they have robbed American cities, many of whose city councils voted against the war, of vital money for education, housing, healthcare and jobs, and used it to carry out the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq. So many died and are continuing to die, needlessly. They are damaging a whole generation of young Americans, at the least by teaching them that violence, not dialogue and negotiations, are the way to ‘solve’ problems. They are cynically betraying America’s youth, those they have sent to kill, and be killed, or maimed physically and psychologically for life.
They are destroying a generation of young Iraqis. What have they done to a country where 50% of the population were children, with their inhuman sanctions and bombs? I believe that the sickening revelations of torture and sexual abuse in the known prisons, not to mention what may be happening in the secret ones, and the trumped up nature of the war itself, perhaps even foreknowledge of 9/11, will one day stop at the doorstep of the White House, and help to condemn Bush, Rumsfeld and cronies for their unspeakable war crimes, crimes against humanity and against peace.
The people of the United States must and are taking a stand against the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq. Now that polls show that American people are increasingly turning against the war, it is critical that the antiwar movement at home and abroad act to keep up the pressure.
On June 5, many Americans are converging at the White House and marching to the Pentagon to demand Bring the Troops Home Now! Antiwar protests will also take place that day in San Francisco, Los Angeles and many other cities.
I, and many other Americans in Ireland, support all peaceful Irish demonstrations against the war, Bush’s visit, Bush’s support of Sharon and the crimes against Palestinians, and the use of Irish airspace and airports by the US military. We must all do what we can to stop this sleazy, criminal attack on the Iraqi people. Who wants the ‘new world order,’ the military/ police state they plan for all of us? Not me.
And who will forgive us in future generations, what will we say when they ask, ‘what did you do about it?’ We must speak out. We must not remain silent in the face of injustice, greed, and cruelty.

Presented by the Irish Anti-War Movement in association with SIPTU and hotpress, the When Bush Comes To Shove gig at the Point in Dublin on June 19th is the latest in a number of huge events designed to protest against the war in Iraq, but the first to feature predominantly music. Its targets are two fold – to raise awareness of and funds for the protests at George W. Bush’s visit to Ireland the following weekend and to highlight the opposition to the Irish government’s decision to allow US military airplanes to refuel at Shannon. Headed by Christy Moore, the bill also includes Damien Rice, Mary Black, Kíla, The Revs, Katell Keineg and Barry Murphy from Après Match, all of whom have agreed to perform free of charge. The concert is aimed at raising awareness of the issues involved in the protests against Bush, particularly highlighting opposition to the US war and occupation of Iraq. Tens of thousands of leaflets and posters advertising the protests against Bush on June 25th and 26th will be available from stalls at the gig. The funds generated from the gig will be used to finance the costs of organising and advertising the STOP BUSH CAMPAIGN protests taking place the following weekend. Any surplus funds will go to the Irish Anti-War movement to finance its on-going anti-war work.
As well as an important political event, this will be a great musical event in the great tradition of anti-war and protest music going back to the 1960s and beyond. There has never been a more important time for musicians and indeed all sectors of society to make their voices heard against war and the dangerous direction in which George Bush is trying to take the world.

Michael D. Higgins
The illegal war in Iraq, its dreadful aftermath, the brutality of militarism and the degradation of humanity involved in the treatment of prisoners and civilians makes it a moral challenge to all of us. The best way of indicating not just our outrage, but our defence of a better version of the world, is to demonstrate in numbers that are even greater than when we opposed the war from the beginning.

Mary Lou McDonald (Sinn Fein):
One of the striking things in terms of the opposition to the war in Iraq is the extent that it has engaged young people with politics. That’s been a very significant aspect of all this. It’s probably true that young people are looking to musicians and artists for guidance above politicians on issues like this but we have, due to a number of things, reached a general level of disillusionment in politics from people in general. That’s maybe more acute with younger people because they want a politics that’s effective, that’s meaningful, that delivers things. In the general run of things younger people maybe feel a bit more alienated from politics so they link in with people who are creative and visionary. I would hope that this will turn out to be one of those watershed moments, I really hope that’s the case. When 100,000 people marched the streets of Dublin in February, it was absolutely the most powerful political message that I can recall. It had an energy and a vibrancy about it and people related to it. I hope that can be sustained in some way and that it would encourage people to take an interest in political matters and actively participate in the political life of the country.

Ivana Bacik (Labour)
I think there will be a political fall-out from this here. I’m hearing that from young people, especially that they’re really angry at the government’s refusal to come out and condemn the war and their decision to allow the use of Shannon. I think there will also be a backlash from younger voters and also from George Bush’s visit, the imposition of him coming here and the fact that we seem to be bending over backwards to facilitate him. It seems he invited himself, that he suggested to the Irish government that he come here. It would have been more honest if the government had come out and said that they supported the war but it probably wouldn’t have been feasible because they knew that the mood was against it. They pretended to be against it while at the same time clearly facilitiating it and being Bush’s great friend. The Shannon issue was swept through. There was a challenge but the courts said that our neutrality is only a policy rather than a binding legal document. The government can do this because there isn’t any constitutional or legislative protection for Irish neutrality.

Patricia McKenna (Green Party)
The Irish people are owed an apology for the way in which Shannon was used in the Iraq war. The Government should now withdraw the right of the United States to use facilities at Shannon and give the public a guarantee that they will not be used for the purposes of a war conducted by a foreign power ever again. Why is Bush coming here? Is it because there are not many Irish-American votes to be had in Brussels? We want to close off any possibility that Mr Bush’s visit to Ireland can be exploited and used to gain the Irish-American vote later this year. In the interest of peace and global security it is vital that President George W. Bush is not re-elected. We must come out in force to register our strong opposition to President Bush, his policies and the appalling human tragedies he leaves in his wake.

Jack O’Connor (SIPTU President)
From the outset the war in Iraq was based upon perverse logic and fabricated evidence. Over the past 15 months, each of the spurious reasons has been exposed ; the weapons of mass destruction that could not be found and the role of Al-Qaida which was inconsequential before the occupation but has proliferated since. But perhaps the most bogus of all was the human rights issue because Saddam’s brutal dictatorship only became a problem for the west when he ceased to be an ally. Until then, they had tolerated even funded his excesses. And of course, the double standard has continued as the recent revelations of the abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Baghdad have demonstrated. Throughout all of this, the real victims of this war are the ordinary people of Iraq in the first instance - but also young mainly working class men and women from the US and Britain who are being sacrificed for political vanity and corporate greed.