Critical Mass For Peace

galway | anti-war / imperialism | press release

Tuesday March 16, 2004 21:23

by Maratist - Galway Grassroots

CRITICAL MASS FOR PEACE
This Saturday, March 20th, forming the critical mass wing of the march for the international day of action one year on from the start of the latest Anglo-American assault on Iraq. Meeting at the Garden of Remembrance, Dublin, at 1pm. Look out for the Green and Black flags.
All welcome – bring something with wheels and without a motor.

CRITICAL MASS FOR PEACE
This Saturday, March 20th, forming the critical mass wing of the march for the international day of action one year on from the start of the latest Anglo-American assault on Iraq. Meeting at the Garden of Remembrance at 1pm. Look out for the Green and Black flags.
All welcome – bring something with wheels and without a motor.

WHAT'S A CRITICAL MASS?
Critical Mass is often described as an 'unorganised coincidence'. It happens when a lot of cyclists happen to be in the same place at the same time and decide to cycle the same way together for a while

WHAT'S THE PURPOSE?
"Everyday, all over the world, people are resisting the problem culture of the car by getting on their bikes and riding, instead of driving.

Critical Mass is a celebration of the alternatives to cars, pollution, accidents and the loss of public spaces and freedoms.

Not an organisation or group, but an idea or tactic, Critical Mass allows people to reclaim cities with their bikes

WAR FOR OIL PROFITS.

Thomas Friedman, right wing pro-war columnist with the New York Times wrote:

“Is the war the Bush team is about to launch in Iraq really a war for oil? My short answer is yes. Any war we launch in Iraq will certainly be – in part – about oil. To deny that is laughable…I say this possible Iraq war is partly about oil because it is impossible to explain the Bush team’s behaviour otherwise. Why are they going after Saddam Hussein with the 82nd Airborne and North Korea with diplomatic kid gloves”

But this is not a resource war, a war-for-oil-because-America-needs-oil. Only ten percent of oil consumed in the United States comes from the Persian Gulf. That’s $11 billion dollars worth, meanwhile $50 billion is spent out of the American “defence” budget – every average year – on bases, ships, and military “aid” in the Middle East.
This continual war, – the first American intervention in the region was in the 1950ies, is to control the profits of the oil buisness, to make sure oil is traded in dollars, to make sure that oil profits creamed off by local elites are re-spent on American products.

POLLUTION FOR OIL PROFITS

Climate change caused by emissions from cars and industry is already happening:
“The 12 months up to March 2001 were the wettest in Britain since records began in 1730. Scientists argue that it was the wettest in at least 500 years.
The US winter of 1999-2000 was the mildest since records began. The winter of 2000-2001 was the coldest since records began. This is an example of the "flip-flop in extreme weather.
Mozambique in 2000 had the worst floods in 50 years displacing 100,000 people
Northwest India had the worst dought in 100 years in 2000”
(Rising Tide)

This isn’t a tree huggers conspiracy theory:

“Over 2,000 scientists are directly working on the United Nations to study this problem and its impacts. This is one of the largest mobilisations of scientific research ever undertaken. All the scientists agree that we have a huge problem. In 1997 3,000 scientists signed a Statement on Climatic Disruption. Also in 1977 1,500 scientists including 110 Nobel Prize winners, signed a letter to US President Clinton calling for immediate action. In 1999 the 35,000 scientists in the US Geophysical Union adopted a position calling for action. In May 2001, the national scientific academies of 17 nations including the UK Royal Society signed a statement calling for action.”
(Rising Tide)

In late March 2001, US President George Bush announced that the US was abandoning the international Kyoto protocol on countering climate change. It self only a very weak start on what is necessary, if even that.

”The influence of the fossil fuel industry on US Government energy policy has been divisive and fundamental.
The industry's financial support during the election campaign is now paying off for its policies, which are extremely damaging to the climate. The biggest offender is Exxon.
While the rest of the world is trying to stop global warming and protect the planet for future generations, Exxon is denying the link between fossil fuel emissions and climate change as well as busy drilling for more oil and polluting the atmosphere.
What's worse, Exxon is doing its best to stop other countries' attempts to prevent the world from heating up.”

Meanwhile Ireland’s ‘National Development Plan’ aims to build more and more motorways, when what is needed is sustainable development of public transport and bike friendly cities.