Peace Activist to Contest European Election in East Constituency

national | eu | press release Friday May 07, 2004 16:23 by Eoin Dubsky info at votedubsky dot com Whitewalls, Ballymoney, Gorey, Co. Wexford (087) 6941060

Long-time Indymedia contributer on the run

Eoin Dubsky (24) from Ballymoney, Gorey in north Wexford is to contest a seat in the European Parliament elections for the East (Leinster) constituency as an independent candidate. The young peace activist and environmental campaigner helped throw Ireland's role in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq into the spotlight when he spray-painted a U.S. warplane at Shannon Airport and took the Irish government to court later the same week in 2002.

Launching his election campaign today, Dubsky said: "The European Parliament is the only directly elected EU body. Citizens around Europe - some 470 million of us together - can vote next month for MEPs that will fight for our interests and our highest aspirations. The governments who have ignored with contempt our opposition to their wars and arms trade, their incinerators and their nuclear reactors, will have to face a greater, more powerful than ever European Parliament after the June elections."

Commenting on the way that the European Elections have been used like a retreat by some politicians, Dubsky continued: "An MEP should be a campaigner and a communicator, and I pledge that I will do my very best as your MEP to be both. I will keep you informed of developments in the EU with public meetings and outreach through the press, email and web. More importantly, I will seek your views, and will be a valuable resource for citizen's groups and NGOs campaigning for human rights, the environment, social, and development causes. I have helped manage environmental projects like the 'Wexford Wetlands Project' with my mother Karin Dubsky, Coastwatch and Wexford County Council. I helped start the radical youth network 'Gluaiseacht for global justice', and the Shannon Airport plane-spotting and plane-stopping campaign 'Refueling Peace' with like-minded people around the island of Ireland."

Speaking to the challenge for Europe of combating terror, Dubsky said: "As the EU has grown, so too unfortunately has NATO and the European arms trade. The world doesn't need another rogue military superpower. To reduce the amount of terror in the world we need to do something quite straightforward in the EU, namely stop contributing to it. Stop the manufacture and sale of weapons and weapons technologies. Stop rewarding Israel and other human rights abusers with preferential trade deals and other support. Redirect public funds to programmes which actually support life and respect for human rights."

Calling on voters, especially younger people, to support him, Dubsky said: "Come out on June 11th, and when you mark your First Preference,
vote for your most deeply held beliefs and your highest ideals for Ireland, for Europe, and the rest of the world. You can still register to vote, if you haven't already. Pick up and fill out an RFA2 or RFA3 form at your local Gardai station and send it to your Local Authority to register."

Eoin Dubsky was born in Dublin to Karin and Paul, and lived there with his brothers Stephan and Paul and younger sister Julia until 1992, when they moved to the Czech Republic. He returned in 1996 to do his Leaving Certificate in Newtown School, Waterford. In 1999 he began studying Multimedia in DCU, where he met his girlfriend, Nina, who is currently doing a postgraduate diploma in European Studies in Paris. Mostly Continental by blood, but Irish by birth, Eoin Dubsky will also be campaigning to defend our birthright to citizenship in Ireland.