RightsBase

human rights news & views

Ploughshares Five acquitted!

The 5 Catholic Worker pacifists who in February 2003 disarmed a US Navy warplane at Shannon airport in the ‘neutral’ Republic of Ireland have just endured their third trial for 10 counts of criminal damage and were today acquitted on all counts. Their principal defence was that they had ‘lawful excuse’ to damage the plane, […]

Five pacifists prepare for trial

Norman Aisbett wrote a terrific profile of Australian-Irish pacifist Ciaron O’Reilly in the ‘Weekend Extra’ section of The West Australian newspaper on 20 May 2006 (which unfortunately is not available online, but I quote it below).  He describes how in 2003 O’Reilly and four fellow activists broke into a hangar at Shannon Airport near Limerick […]

Close Guantánamo

The Cuban hit song Guantánamera celebrates the women of the seaside town of Guantánamo.  The lyrics speak of seeking refuge in the mountains in preference to the seashore.  There are about 460 involuntary Guantánamero (men) who might echo that sentiment. That such a place as the US detainment camps at Guantánamo exists at all, when […]