Community activist Maura Harrington enters 10th day of Hunger Strike: Support needed!

Community activist Maura Harrington on 10^th day of Hunger Strike: Support needed!

Last week on Organized Rage I carried a piece about the start of community activist Maura Harrington’s hunger strike, which is now into its tenth day. Maura is a 55-year-old mother, grandmother, school principal, native Irish speaker and community and environmental activist. She has long opposed, often at great personal cost, the multi national Shell Oil's operation to gain access to the massive gas reserves in the Corrib natural gas field off the coast of County Mayo, Ireland. 

She has vowed that the pipe line will not destroy the beauty of the Gaeltacht in which she was born and raised, and that Shell will not steal the Irish peoples natural resources without a fight!   Her demand to end her hunger strike, which began on September 9 are simple: The ship the ‘Solitaire’ that Shell has commissioned to lay their underwater piping in the area, must leave Irish territorial waters. She has said that her hunger strike will not end until that demand has been met. Pressure must now be put on Shell Oil and the Dublin government, which forces them to reassess their destructive policies in northwest Mayo. 

The people of Erris can’t build that pressure alone. For example in Belfast activists are constructing a solidarity camp on the old Andersonstown Barracks site to raise awareness and extend solidarity to Maura. The Shell to Sea campaign is asking for your support to lobby politicians, trade unions or any groups and individuals of influence to bring pressure on Shell to make the ‘Solitaire’ leave Irish waters and save this woman’s life. 

Everyone has their part to play.

MH

For more info see the Shell to Sea web site and below,

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest170908.html

HUNGERING FOR JUSTICE.

The great oil and gas robbery: 

Shell Oil, for the best part of a decade, has been trying to get access to the massive gas reserves in the Corrib field off the coast of Mayo.These reserves are estimated to contain close to 90 billion worth of natural gas. Shell, with the permission of the Twenty-six County government, intends to exploit this gas and sell it back to the Irish people and others for a sizable profit. Shell has been involved in countless operations of this nature in many countries and has been complicit in the destruction of many communities, most notably the Ogoni people in Nigeria, whose leaders were executed at the behest of the ruthless multinational giant.

Fuel poverty: 

Thousands of older people die in Ireland every winter because they can’t afford to heat their homes. The current economic crisis and energy price rises have made this situation immeasurably worse. Yet, we have a natural gift resting off our shores which could end all of that for decades to come. The campaign for the public ownership of Ireland’s natural resources affects us all. The war on Iraq is a perfect example of the lengths to which the rich will go to control fuel reserves. The only way to stop resource wars like this and to protect our own vulnerable citizens is to use our natural resources wisely for the benefit of people, not profit making companies.

Shell to Sea: 

Shell to Sea was set up by the residents of northwest Mayo to oppose Shell’s dangerous on-land refinery project in the area. For exerting their right to peaceful protest, the people of Mayo and their supporters have faced the wrath of An Garda Síochána. People have been arrested, beaten and jailed. The local way of life has been turned upside down at the behest of Shell. The only government intervention has been on the side of Shell. The campaign against Shell’s on-land refinery and for the re-negotiation of their contract holds the potential to change all this.

We appeal to anyone who believes in the principals outlined above to join with us or show support in whatever way you can.