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Roger Cole of Peace And Neutrality Alliance pictured at a press conference last year. Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland

Irish anti-war activists to hold meeting ahead of planned protest

The Peace and Neutrality Alliance will host Ian Chamberlain of the UK’s Stop the War Coalition and Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairéad Maguire at the meeting in Dublin this afternoon.

IRISH ANTI-WAR CAMPAIGNERS are to hold a public meeting today to drum up opposition to military intervention in Syria and plan to protest at the US Embassy if any air strikes take place.

The Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA) will host Ian Chamberlain of the UK’s Stop the War Coalition and Irish Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairéad Maguire at the meeting in Dublin this afternoon.

Organisers claim that Stop the War Coalition played an instrumental role in the ‘historic’ decision by the UK parliament not to give Prime Minister David Cameron a mandate to engage in military action.

PANA say that opinion polls in both the UK and France have shown a majority opposition to military action and the group say they have commissioned a Red Sea poll to gauge the mood of the Irish public.

Roger Cole was the chair of the organisation during the protests against the Iraq war in 2003 and says that he feels that the majority of Irish people will oppose action. Cole says that previous interventions by western forces in the Middle-East should serve as a warning for world leaders:

If I was them I’d have a really good look at what’s happening in Iraq and look what’s happening in Libya, the place is falling apart. If you look at the real world that I live in, these interventions don’t work. They leave the situation having intervened much worse than they were.

Cole says that the Irish government’s  position is not too far removed from that of his organisation in accepting that the UN is the only authority that can provide the legal basis for a war. He says however that the Irish government should make a clear statement that they will not support action in Syria if it is not supported by a UN resolution:

This war will be an illegal war. I haven’t heard anyone ask Eamon Gilmore, “In the event of this war, do you accept that this is an illegal war and will you stop the United States of America using Shannon Airport?” Armaments will be passing through Shannon Airport on the way to this war.

The PANA public meeting will take place at Connolly Books on Dublin’s Essex Street at 3.30pm.

Read: G20 fails to heal rift on Syria at Russia talks >

Read: Anti-war protest planned outside OSCE dinner at Dublin Castle >

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39 Comments
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    Mute Daffy the Bear
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:00 PM

    I’m counting at least three UFOs in the picture…
    They’re here… and not a moment too soon…

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    Mute Chopstix
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:09 PM

    If you have identified them are they still technicaly ufos

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    Mute Daffy the Bear
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:34 PM

    I only spotted them, still don’t know what they are; ergo UFOs…

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    Mute Chopstix
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:41 PM

    I can only see two ufos and a smudge
    I’m certain the smudge is swamp gas tho

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    Mute Jazz O'Gorman
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:09 PM

    Up above the streets and houses
    Rainbow flying high
    Everyone can see it smiling — over the sky.

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    Mute Ger
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:25 PM

    Thanks Jazz, now the rainbow theme tune is stuck in my head. Paint the whole world with a RAINBOW

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    Mute Jazz O'Gorman
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 6:54 PM

    Sorry Bungle.

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    Mute Jason Chan
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 3:58 PM

    Quick get the pot of gold

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    Mute Matt
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 7:56 PM

    Looks like it’s coming from Berties house.

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    Mute Shane Walsh
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 3:56 PM

    Some great views from the Ulster bank building all the same.

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    Mute Kevin shaw
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:04 PM

    Buildings

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    Mute Shane Walsh Pics
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:07 PM

    Go jump off one ;)

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    Mute Gerard Carey
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 7:02 PM

    Keaneland. Thats the custom house building. Not the 4 courts.

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    Mute Conor Farrell
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 4:02 PM

    Anyone know why some rainbows appear flattened? Is it to do with the shape of the raindrops?

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    Mute Keaneland
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 6:06 PM

    Nice symbolic image for litigious Ireland, there is always a croc of gold to be found in the courts.

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    Mute Matt
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 5:43 PM

    Rainbow coming from Berties house.

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    Mute Suzanne Bell
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    Oct 22nd 2013, 11:20 PM

    First I thought u were talking about the big UFO shaped cloud on the left but then saw the 3 shapes, is it just a blurry pic?

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    Mute Frank Biggar
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    May 28th 2015, 6:33 AM

    Yes, it really is magical. So magical that even though it was taken on May 23, 2015 (the day the result of Ireland’s Marriage Equality Referendum was announced), not only did it travel all round the world to places as far away as America, where it was seen as proof that Nature and/or ‘god’ approved of the result (see here at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/23/1387196/-Best-photo-on-the-Internets-today ), but it somehow also got magically teleported by Time Machine all the way back to The Journal in October 2013. Strange and mysterious indeed are the ways of The Great Joker in the Sky :)

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