Open Letter from Irish Civil Society Organisations representing over 1 Million People to US President Joe Biden
Neutrality Or NATO – an online book launch & conversation
The online launch of A Force for Good? Reflections on Neutrality and the Future of Irish Defence took place on Tuesday, June 20th 2023. The book is a collection of essays by people with long and deep experience of working for peace and against militarism on this island and in the wider world.
Contributors include Nobel Peace Prizewinner Máiréad Maguire; Thomas Pringle TD; UCC Emeritus Professor John Maguire; Dr Karen Devine of DCU; Carol Fox of the Peace and Neutrality Alliance; and Tarak Kauff, former paratrooper with the US Army and now active member of Veterans for Peace.
The book is available from Afri for €10, including postage.
Good Friday Agreement reminds us war can end when peacemaking begins
There are many extreme dangers associated with the war in Ukraine, some too obvious to refer to, but the danger of groupthink around the war is one that is perhaps not sufficiently in some people’s awareness. Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conform or the belief that dissent is impossible. Continue reading “Good Friday Agreement reminds us war can end when peacemaking begins”
THIS CANNOT GO ON
As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, growing more vicious and destructive with each passing day, it is increasingly clear that it is a war in which there are no winners (except the weapons industry) Continue reading “THIS CANNOT GO ON”
‘BRIGID’ CALLS FOR PEACE ON ST. BRIGID’S DAY
On February 1st, Brigid of Kildare joined members of the anti-war alliance StoP (Swords to Ploughshares) to deliver a St. Brigid Cross Continue reading “‘BRIGID’ CALLS FOR PEACE ON ST. BRIGID’S DAY”
Afri at Shannon Peace Vigil
On November 13 2022 Afri joined other activists and peace groups to protest the US military presence at Shannon airport.
Afri Statement on PESCO and the Commission on the Defence Forces
The debate on PESCO in Dáil Éireann on 5th July has revealed the undemocratic and damaging approach of the Government to the role and future of our Defence Forces.
For decades now, governments have been entering into ever deeper military engagement with an increasingly NATO-directed EU ‘defence’ structure, while claiming that something they call ‘military neutrality’ allegedly hovers unharmed above the fray. Continue reading “Afri Statement on PESCO and the Commission on the Defence Forces”
“Who are we afraid will invade us?”
The war in Ukraine has continued for nearly half a year with the shocking consequences clear for all to see: the deaths of innocent civilians; the destruction of homes and cities; the hundreds of thousands driven from their homes as refugees. And of course this is just one of the wars currently waging as more than a dozen other horrific wars rage around the planet with the same suffering, the same upheaval and the same destruction of lives and livelihoods.
Taoiseach Sups with NATO Ignoring the Will of the Irish People
Afri deplores Micheál Martin’s eagerness to sup with NATO, a nuclear alliance, at the recent summit in Madrid. An Taoiseach insists that it is necessary to join in such ‘conversations’ with the high and mighty, while dithering about the right moment to engage with the Irish people at last on defence policy.
This is merely the latest stage in a process of furtive acquiescence in NATO-inspired EU militarisation. Continue reading “Taoiseach Sups with NATO Ignoring the Will of the Irish People”