No Russian tanks on the M50, but we still protested

IN his letter (August 13), Emmet Dunphy asks where were all the Irish anti-war protesters when Russiaattacked Georgia?

Obviously, he was not protesting outside the Russian embassy in Dublin. If he had been, he might have noticed some other people who were rightly protesting against the carefully prepared Russian invasion of Georgia. — the transit point for a recently completed pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey carrying one million barrels of oil per day, until last week.

Perhaps Mr Dunphy didn’t even notice the snippets in the news telling us that about 100 people protested outside the Russian embassy in Dublin last weekend. This is more than three times the number who protested at Shannon at the same time. Despite these facts, he decides to accuse Irish peace activists of being one-dimensional anti-American hypocrites. I’ve met the same type of people before who asked why they hadn’t seen me protesting against, for example those Chinese politicians when they visited Dublin.

My answer: “Because you were not there, mate, but I was.”

As to why the anti-war groups in Ireland might make the Iraq war a priority, Mr Dunphy neglects the obvious factors.

In their invasion of Iraq, the US used Shannon airport as a refuelling hub for its troops, weapons and CIA aircraft, a situation that is ongoing but no longer very newsworthy.

The loss of an Iraqi life or a Georgian or South Ossetian is equally bad, but at least we can’t blame Fianna Fáil for assisting in the deaths in Georgia.

No Russian tanks used the M50 for a short cut. If we had directly aided the Russians, then you can be sure more people would have been on the streets of Dublin in outrage.

Likewise, it’s easy to pick on a small group of peace activists for the wars they don’t have the time or energy to protest against, or to call them “serial protesters” if they try to spread themselves over every single conflict. It seems those who never protest against anything prefer to ease their consciences by mocking those who at least raise their voices over something.

So, Mr Dunphy, now that you know where some of the peace activists were, do tell us where you were?

Tim Hourigan

12 Cedar Court

Kennedy Park

Limerick