Nuclear Age Peace Foundation

Tag: Northern Ireland

  • State Violence and Killing Is Not the Answer

    OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA, NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE
    PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
    FROM:  MAIREAD CORRIGAN MAGUIRE, NOBEL PEACE LAUREATE.
    20th JUNE 20ll.


    DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,


    ‘STATE VIOLENCE & KILLING IS NOT THE ANSWER’


    Mairead MaguireAs you know, on lst May, 20ll, the NATO forces tried unsuccessfully to assassinate the Libyan Head of State, Moammer Gadaffi.  This attempt to assassinate the Libyan Head of State under US Army law, was a war crime and punishable as an International crime in its own right. During the attack by NATO forces one of President Gadaffi’s sons, and three of Gadaffi’s grandchildren were killed by NATO forces.


    The following day, 2nd May 20ll, the extra-judicial killing and assassination of Osama Bin Laden, and killings of a woman and two men who were with him, by the US Navy SEALs, continued the State Terrorism of the US Government. After the assassination you, Mr. President, addressed the media and attempted to make acceptable the idea that such violence is just and acceptable. Do you and your Government and Allies who support you, really believe that the vast majority of men and women around the world have lost all sense of what is right and what is wrong?  Do you really believe that we have all abandoned all sense of decency and ethical values exchanging them in support of your endorsed illegal, killing of unarmed civilians?  Do you really believe we will all remain silent whilst under your warrior leadership the US Government and its allies dismantle basic human rights and international laws, so long fought for by brave, courageous men and women (including Americans) replacing these with extrajudicial killings, torture and assassinations?


    Three months into the French, English, Italian led NATO/US campaign (never sanctioned by US Law) and shamefully agreed by U.N. (who identified the purpose of the operation to be for the protection of citizens!) people of conscience are horrified to hear that, yet again, on l9th June, NATO has carried out more air attacks on Libya, killing 15 unarmed civilians, including women and children.


    After 9/ll the whole world shared the grief of the American people, and many hoped that those who carried out such horrendous acts would be brought to justice through the Courts. We were moved by many of the families who lost loved ones on 9/ll when they started ‘Families for a peaceful tomorrow’ and called for justice not revenge. However, violence and revenge was the chosen path of the US Government and its Allies, who for ten years embarked on a path of violence and war.  In this time over 6,000 USA soldiers have needlessly died and countless thousands injured physically and mentally.  Wars in Iraq (over l million Iraqis killed) and Afghanistan (over 50,000 Afghans killed) were carried out by the US in their pursuit of vengeance.  The US-led so-called ‘war on terrorism’ in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan has ‘terrorised’ unarmed civilians by carrying out aerial bombardments, night raids, death squads, extra-judicial killings and drone attacks killing many unarmed civilians, including women and children, and tragically they continue to this day.


    In a world struggling to birth a new consciousness, it is not incredulous that the best the US Government, NATO and its allies can offer as a model to world citizens, is the outdated example of violence, militarism,  and war, destroying humans and their environment?


    I believe real change and leadership is coming from the people’s movements and what is happening around the world amongst the masses of extra-ordinary men and women rising up, mostly peacefully and non-violently, in country after country for human dignity, equality, freedom and democracy and against violence, oppression, injustice and war, is the real force for change. We all take great hope and inspiration from the ‘Arab Spring’ and join in solidarity with our courageous Arab brothers and sisters in working for change.


    A new dawn, a new age of civilization is coming. It will be an age of solidarity, of each person dedicated to ‘protective love’ of each other and our World. It will be an age of nonviolent evolution which shows we can solve our problems as the human family by peaceful means not by violence, nuclear weapons and war.


    The peoples of the world are sending a clear message to you Mr. President, to NATO, and all our Governments, and armed opposition groups, that there will be no military solutions to these ethnic/political/economic problems, but only through ending occupations (USA -Iraq/Afghanistan,   Israel/Palestine) declaring ceasefires (Libya, etc.,) and entering into dialogue and negotiations with all parties to the conflicts, can we begin to solve these problems, the roots of which are inequality and injustice.


    Mr. President, you came into office promising change and gave the world hope. You lit the passion in the hearts of many men and women longing for change, for dialogue and negotiation, to move beyond destructive militarism, nuclear weapons and war. That passion remains in the heart of humanity as can be seen in the mass nonviolent movements for social and political change taking place around the world. Will you, Mr. President, take this great opportunity in human history and help lead ,the world to a new beginning, so we can in the words of the late President John F. Kennedy ‘begin again the quest for peace?’ 


    Yours in Peace,  


    Mairead Corrigan Maguire
    (Nobel Peace Laureate)

  • Mairead Maguire’s 10-Year Deportation from Israel

    Press Release – 8th October, 2010

    Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire was deported from Israel at 4 a.m., on Tuesday 5th October, 2010 and arrived back in Belfast later that afternoon. Maguire had arrived in Israel on Tuesday 27th September, to attend a Nobel Women’s Initiative visit, and support those working in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories – particularly women groups – for human rights and justice.

    On arrival she was detained in Ben Gurion Detention Centre, Tel Aviv. The Israeli security tried to forcefully deport Maguire the following day but she peacefully resisted sitting quietly on the tarmac beside the plane refusing to be forcefully deported. The KLM pilot refused to allow her to be forcefully taken on by Israeli guards, so she was taken back into detention, where she remained for seven days in solitary confinement under harsh conditions causing her to be hospitalized at the end of a week. During the seven days she had three court appearances to appeal her conviction of 10-year deportation from Israel.   

    At the Supreme Court appeal, Maguire spoke to the three judges saying that she loved the Israeli and Palestinian peoples and was saddened by their suffering. However, she insisted that peace will not come to Israel until the Israeli government end Apartheid. She also made in the Supreme Court an appeal, through the media, for the Israeli government to end apartheid and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

    On arriving home Maguire said:

    “I am sorry to be deported for 10 years from Israel and have asked my attorney, Adalah, to challenge this order on my behalf, as I very much wish to return to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to support all those working for change.   I do not feel I have been treated justly by the Israeli Court.  In June 2010, I and my colleagues on the “Rachel Corrie” boat were illegally hijacked in international waters by the Israeli navy, whilst trying to break the siege of Gaza and bring humanitarian aid to people suffering under illegal collective punishment by Israel.  I am not a criminal and ask, “How can I be deported from Israel when I had been taken at gunpoint and forced to come to Israel against my will in June, 2010?” I wish the three Supreme Court judges had been braver and upheld their proposal to the Israeli state prosecution that I be allowed to stay for a few days and join the NWI. However, they showed how little independence the Israeli judiciary have, and obeyed the Israeli security authorities that were determined to uphold my 10-year deportation from Israel, a form of silencing those who are critical of Israeli policies.

    “Sadly also, the Israeli media were very selective and negative regarding me, carrying misrepresentations such as reporting that I was in a plane and shouting and creating a scene, clearly Israeli propaganda against me. In truth I went to Israel in good faith, with nothing but love for Israelis and Palestinians, and wishing a good future for both peoples to live in justice and peace.   Being a voice critical of the Israeli government policies does not make me an enemy of Israel or her people, but an upholder of an ethic of human rights and nonviolence, and a believer that peace is possible between both peoples when justice reigns. It is my sincere hope that I can return to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories to meet my friends soon again.”

  • Choose Peace – End the Siege of Gaza

    Choose Peace – End the Siege of Gaza and the
    Occupation of Palestine

    On Saturday June 5, 2010, thirty-five heavily armed Israeli Navy Seals
    commandeered our boat, the MV Rachel Corrie, one of the Freedom Flotilla, in international
    waters (30 miles off the coast of Gaza). 
    As they did so, we eighteen humanitarian activists and crew, sat on the
    deck.  We were quietly anxious, aware of the solitary figure in the
    wheelhouse with his hands held high against the window. He was in full view of
    the three Israeli warships, four approaching zodiacs and two commando carriers,
    whose guns were pointing in his direction.  I personally wondered if the
    courageous Derek Graham would live to tell the tale, conscious of what happened
    on the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, earlier in the week.

    On Monday May 31, 2010, we heard via satellite phone that the Israeli
    Commandoes had boarded the Turkish Ship, MV Mavi Marmara, in international
    waters from a helicopter and Zodiacs killing and injuring many people.  It
    was later confirmed that eight unarmed Turkish civilians and one Turkish-American
    civilian were shot (two were shot in the head and several were shot in the back).
    During Israel’s attack, which
    injured over forty people, all six boats on the Freedom Flotilla were commandeered
    by the Israeli Navy and were taken to back Israel.  

    The killing of unarmed civilians was unexpected and devastating news to us all. Everyone
    participating in the Freedom Flotilla was there because they were moved by the people
    of Gaza
    suffering.  The people aboard the Freedom Flotilla were not terrorists;
    they were human beings who cared for others who were suffering.  Gaza is land locked and
    sea locked as its port has been closed since the Israeli occupation. If the
    Free Gaza Rachel Corrie cargo boat had been able to enter Gaza, it would have been the first cargo boat
    ever to do so. Gaza has rightly been described
    as the largest open air prison in the world, with Israel holding all the keys for its
    one and a half million people living under a policy of collective
    punishment.  Under siege for over three years now with a shortage of
    medicine and basic building materials, the twenty-two day bombardment by Israel in December 2009 and January 2010 left Gaza and its people in a
    place of suffering and isolation. The Flotilla’s purpose was to not only to
    bring humanitarian aid, books for children, toys, and writing materials, but also
    to help break the siege of Gaza
    which is slowly strangling its people.

    Israel
    violated international law and the incident is well documented by the UN and
    many independent human rights bodies. These violations of international
    law were committed under the guise of ‘national security’ and a policy of isolating
    Gaza to weaken
    Hamas.  It is a policy that is clearly not working.  As we have
    learned in Northern Ireland,
    violence never works. So why not try talking to Hamas just as the British
    Government had to talk to representatives of IRA and Loyalist paramilitaries in
    order to move toward peace.  

    The brutal and illegal attack of aid ships in international waters on May
    3lst and the subsequent boarding of the MV Rachel Corrie, also in international
    waters, is a symptom of the culture of impunity under which Israel
    operates. The Israeli government was quick to blame the activists on board the
    MV Mavi Marmara, claiming they attacked the Israeli Navy first and that they
    were members of terrorist groups. They also claimed that the HLL, the Turkish humanitarian
    group who organized the Mavi Marmara, had terrorist links.  The HLL is not
    a banned organization in Turkey
    and has no links to terrorist organizations.  It was disappointing to see
    how many international governments and media outlets immediately accepted Israel’s
    version of the story without further investigation.  While there have been
    calls for a ‘prompt, impartial, credible and transparent’ investigation into
    the events of May 3lst by the United Nations Security Council, the United
    States and others still seem to think that Israel can conduct such an investigation
    on its own.  In the words of my colleague, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams,
    this is like “the fox accounting for the number of chickens left in the
    henhouse”.  Such a response cannot stand, and nothing less than an independent
    investigation will be acceptable to the international community.

    The attack on the Freedom Flotilla is a tipping point.  It is time for
    the international community to finally stop allowing Israel to act with blatant
    disregard for human life, human rights, and international law.  The
    partial lifting of the siege shows what international pressure can achieve, but
    it is not enough. Only a full lifting of the siege can bring real freedom to
    the people of Gaza.
    It is time for Israel
    to choose peace.  It is time for world leaders and the international community
    to join together and call on Israel
    to lift the siege of Gaza completely, end the
    occupation of Palestine,
    and allow the Palestinian people their right to self-determination. We can all
    do something to help bring the day of reconciliation closer to reality. Supporting
    the BDS campaign, calling for an end to EU special trading status with Israel, and insisting that the USA end its economic and military assistance to Israel
    until it upholds its international commitments, are important initiatives in
    the steps toward peace. Palestine is a key to
    peace in the Middle East. If everyone refuses
    to be ‘silent’ in the face of Israel’s
    continued apartheid policies, we can move closer to ending all violence in the Middle East.

    Mairead Maguire (Nobel Peace Laureate)

    www.peacepeople.com

    19th June, 2010  

     

  • Time to Give Thanks

    For many of us in Northern Ireland, and our friends around the World, the TV pictures on Monday 26th March, 2007, of Dr. Ian Paisley, and Gerry Adams, sitting at the same table, and agreeing to share power, starting May 8th, was wonderful, and, I believe, was indeed a time to give thanks. The event was historic and will have given hope to not only many people here in Northern Ireland, but people living in violent conflict situations, such as the Middle East, Iraq, etc., that peace is possible, even in the most complex, dangerous and dark situations. The message sent out from the Stormont Meeting on 26th March, was that even those who have widely different cultural, religious, and political viewpoints, can with compromise and courage, through patient all inclusive dialogue and negotiation, begin to solve their problems and work together. Both Dr. Paisley and Gerry Adams, showed leadership and courage, and gave an example of how we, the people of Northern Ireland, can move forward together and build a shared future. I personally wish all the Parties involved, and everyone who has helped bring this process about, every good wish for the future.

    The way ahead will not be easy. Transforming the old politics of division, dissent and destruction, into the politics of reconstruction and reconciliation, will take all our energies but it can be done together. We have been practicing for some years now to learn to embrace the diversity and otherness we encounter here, and practicing too how to heal the ancient divisions and misunderstandings of the past. We have been practicing how to give and accept forgiveness, of ourselves, and of each other, and we have been practicing how to begin to live nonviolence, in our lives, and in solving our problems. These have been hard things for us to learn, and we have only just begun to transform ourselves and our communities through love and action, into a nonkilling, nonviolent society. We have a long way to go, but this is a time to give thanks, for the long way that we have come. This is not only a political journey it is also a spiritual journey. We have the framework in the Good Friday Agreement, and on May 8th a devolved Assembly, power sharing executive, and new First Minister, Dr. Paisley and Deputy Minister, Martin McGuinness, so the institutions are in place to build equality, human rights and justice for all. But what is also needed is that we build trust between not only the politicians, but also all the people. To do this we need to bring the values of love, forgiveness, compassion and reconciliation. It will not be easy, especially for many who have lost loved ones, but what a great testimony to those we have lost, will be the joy of building a future where no one else will suffer the pain of death through violence.

    To build in Northern Ireland a nonkilling, nonviolent, integrated, society is the task now facing us all. To move beyond tribalism, and nationalism, to a larger identity deeply linked to the wider human family and the environment, is indeed a great journey. We cannot leave this only to our politicians, but we as citizens can each take up this challenge to change.

    Many people from other counties in conflict will come to see how the Peace Process works. So perhaps the new Assembly would consider setting up a Ministry of Peace and Nonviolence, so that we can share the lessons of conflict resolution with others in more dangerous situations, and thereby return some of the help we have been given in our long journey to peace.

    I am full of hope for the future as I believe, in time we can be transformed into individuals and communities of love and forgiveness, which will be an example and give hope in a world crying out for peace.

     

    Mairead Corrigan Maguire is a Nobel Peace Laureate and member of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Advisory Council. www.peacepeople.com