NOW MORE THAN EVER WE MUST FIGHT TO DEFEND OUR NEUTRALITY AND INDEPENDENCE.

AGM OF THE PEACE AND NEUTRAILTY ALLIANCE (PANA)

Roger Cole, Chair of PANA said:


"PANA is really only an idea, as with an annual income of less than €10,000, what else could it be. The idea is that Ireland should be a United Independent Democratic Republic with its own Independent Foreign Policy with neutrality at its heart."

It is an idea that originated in 1790 with Wolfe Tone. Throughout the 19th and early 20th century the Irish political elite gave their allegiance to the British Union and its imperial wars until the 1916 Rising broke their power over the Irish people. It took some time before the Irish imperialists regrouped and the Fianna Fail/Fine Gael/Labour elite gave their allegiance the European Union and its Battle Groups. However, as between 50,000-100,000 Irish people cheered on Saturday 27 as once more the 1916 Proclamation was read outside the GPO, as a clear majority of the people in the Donegal by-election voted for supporters of the Proclamation, we can realistically ask, has the time for that idea come again? As Admiral Mullen, Chair of the US military Joint Chiefs of Staff and the real boss of the US/EU/NATO military axis states war with Iran is being considered, will the Irish political elite be able to sustain their power over the Irish people as they are drag! ged not only into mass poverty but yet another war? PANA has resisted these Irish imperialists since our foundation. We are part of a tradition that has resisted imperialism for 220 years. We shall never surrender."


The PANA AGM will be held in the Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 on Saturday December 4 from 11.30am-1.00pm with reports from the Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and International Secretary followed by elections. There will then be a public meeting with Alan Mackinnon, Chair of Scottish CND,
Jill Gough, National Secretary of CND Cymru and David Hutchinson Edgar, Chair of Irish CND




Roger Cole
Chair
Peace & Neutrality Alliance
www.pana.ie

Peace and Neutrality Alliance Annual Conference

Peace & Neutrality Alliance Annual Conference


The Annual Conference of the Peace & Neutrality Alliance will be held on Saturday December 4 in the Ireland Institute, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. It will start at 11.30am with reports from the Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, International Secretary and resolutions followed by the elections to the NEC. It is open to the public, but only paid up members can vote.
The second session will be a public meeting commencing at 2.30pm. Speakers are John Macinnon, National Secretary of Scottish CND, Jill Gough, National Secretary of CND Cymru and David Hutchinson Edgar, Chair of Irish CND.

I hope everybody interested in learning more about these three peace movements attend.

Since 1996 PANA has worked to build a broad alliance throughout Ireland to oppose the neo-liberal militarist ideology that offers the people of this country nothing but war and mass poverty. While we have won some major victories, in particular the winning of the first referendums on the Nice and Lisbon treaties the Irish corporate media and all the mainstream political parties have continued to support their wars and their neo-liberal economics.
However the desire of the leadership of Fianna Fail/Fine Gael/Labour Party to continue to support the use of Shannon airport by US troops, the acceleration of the process of the militarisation of the EU and massive cuts in a four year period will absolutely inevitably mean a total transformation of Irish politics. This will however will not necessarily be a "good thing". When Obama got elected with the help of the peace movement in the US he ignored them and did the exact opposite by escalating the war and maintaining then neo-liberal economic ideology. By opposing change, Obama has opened the way for the US Republicans that offer the same but even more of it. In Ireland those that appear to offer change like TASC and Claiming our Future deliberately make no mention of Irish participation in the Imperial Wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Pakistan or the militarisation of the EU. But there can be no option for social justice in Ireland or elsewhere wh! ile supporting Imperial wars. It is the job of PANA not just to attack the blood soaked warmongers in Fianna Fail but ensure at every stage that opposition to Irish involvement in these horrific wars be an integral part of the emerging political alternative. Neither can this process be achieved in isolation which is why we have invited speakers from Scotland and Wales, taking part in the NO to WAR NO to NATO conference and have continued to build stronger links with other peace groups in the US and other countries. Let there be no mistake. As war and poverty grows, so will the resistance. They will be defeated.

Roger Cole
Chair
Peace & Neutrality Alliance
www.pana.ie

US cannot afford it's Empire

Received this from Roger Cole of the Peace & Neutrality Alliance

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The US cannot afford its Empire. President Obama has asked the US Congress for $3.8 trillion for the fiscal year 2011 to run the Empire, only
33% of which will be paid for by taxes resulting in a $1.3 trillion deficit. This at a time when more US citizens according to Prof. Warren of Harvard are going bankrupt than getting divorced and the middle class of the United States is being destroyed.


According to Winslow Wheeler of the Center on Defence Information the annual cost of running the military-industrial section of the Empire is well over $1 trillion a year. The simple realist fact is that the US Empire is destroying the lives of its own people to maintain itself. It is also destroying the lives of the people who live its vassal states like Ireland where the cost of guarding its de facto US Airforce base at Shannnon Airport is nearly €10m to date. The simple realist fact is that those of us on the Peace & Neutrality Alliance by opposing Ireland's participation it these wars are the only people offering an alternative to the massive economic crisis caused by this neo-liberal militarist ideology that has dominated the corporate media for decades. On the 14th of February 2010 PANA will be supporting the Shannonwatch BLACKHEART vigil at Shannon Airport. We will be holding a conference on Wednesday 10th of February at 11.00am to encourage the med! ia to give the event coverage prior to the event.

It is nearly 7 years since PANA, the NGOPA and the IAWM organised a massive demonstration against the war and Ireland's participation in that war. Yet at the last election Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Labour Party all made it crystal clear they supported the war and Ireland's participation in the war thus endorsing the neo-liberal militarist agenda that has caused Ireland's economic meltdown. Only a clear and decisive break with this ideology will restore peace and economic stability, starting with the termination of the use of Shannon Airport in the war and the withdrawal of the 7 Irish soldiers taking part in the occupation of Afghanistan.

Roger Cole
Chair
Peace & Neutrality Alliance
http://www.pana.ie/