Workers Solidarity Movement

A regular bulletin that brings news from the struggle against Shell in Mayo. The list of rumors about what has happened to Shell's TBM is recommended.

Contents:
Izzy is Free!
Celebration in honour of Niall Harnett 23rd March (Dublin)
Good Friday Walk March 29th
Corrib project update and actions
Accommodation update
More events
Come to Mayo on 21st of June

Izzy is free!
… and the west’s awake…

After a week and a half in custody, Shell to Sea activist Izzy Ní Graidim left Mountjoy prison 24th of February at 1.30pm.

Here’s the full story: http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org/?p=1308

Celebratory gathering in memory of Niall
Saturday 23rd March, Kielys in Mount Merrion, Dublin:
Niall was a person special to us all in different ways, a friend, a leader, an organiser. Great company and much missed. In order to pay our respects and remember the man, we are having a night of celebration in Kielys in Mount Merrion at 8.30pm.
There'll be music on the night so if you want to play a tune in Niall's honour, please give Jim Conway or Greg Manahan a shout. Ciaran Myler and Gerard Litster are organisers in chief so if you want to get involved in any other way, they can help.
https://www.facebook.com/events/468537506533088/472456399474532/?ref=notif&notif_t=plan_mall_activity

Good Friday Walk and Easter weekend mini-gathering
Start Glengad 12 noon 29th March
The Good Friday walk (now in its 8th year) is where the campaign remembers the Ogoni 9. We'll do the lovely walk between Glengad and Aughoose along Sruth Mhada Chonn estuary. We'll have tea and snacks afterwards at Aughoose where we'll probably start new rumours about the TBM being stuck...
There will also be gardening and camp work to get involved with throughout the weekend, it'll be great to meet up again. Bring camping gear - read the accomodation update below for details...

Corrib project update and actions
Shell are busy destroying the fields in Glengad. Please see here for latest news:
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103296
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/103304
It's the field we used to walk down through to get to the 2006/2007 camp in the dunes. Someone was down in Glengad earlier taking photos so there'll be a special Glengad article up at some stage on indymedia to show people what's going on.
In Aughoose rumours abound that the TBM is stuck in the "Dóib" - the mysterious clay-like substance underlying much of the blanket bog in the area. Dóib is well known and understood locally but Shell are always getting stuck in it.

Latest rumours:
The grout that the TBM injects to solidify the material around it as it advances won't mix with the dóib and so the machine is stuck.
They are bringing in new chemicals to mix in the grout to see will it help mix with the dóib.
They are organising to borrow a machine from the army in the Curragh, Kildare to pull the TBM out again.
The tunnel is flooding.
The German tunnelling engineers don't know what to do.
They are looking at abandoning the tunnel and going overland again
It was just a hydraulics failure - the problem has been solved and tunnelling is underway again and will last another 13 months (rumour circulated by Shell)
Special rumour just in! Last week the Gardaí were called into the compound to break up a fight between the German and Irish engineers over who is to blame for the TBM being stuck.
The German engineers want their own security

Interestingly there had been no official weekly update to Minister Pat Rabbitt's DCENR published since the 10th if January up until a couple of weeks ago. It seems like they then put up a month and a half's worth of reports once they had the story on the TBM straight. It's telling though that even though the machine definitely broke down (and may still be for all we know) there was no mention of this in any of these weekly reports.

Hopefully they are stuck - but usually the environment is the collateral damage for Shell mistakes - they are going through what is supposed to be a nature reserve.

Update on accommodation
The camp house is closed for the time being, but people are most welcome keep visiting and staying in the area to support the campaign. There's been a steady flow of people coming to stay short and medium term at the house over the winter, but we don't have the enough long-term people at the moment to facilitate the open ended accommodation as we have until now. This could change in the future, but it would take commitment from enough people to organise it and make it happen. If you are interested in getting involved in the camp email us - rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com
There are still plenty local accommodation options:
Fritz & Betty's Hostel: Kilcommon Lodge, Pullathomas (+353) (0)97.84621    info@kilcommonlodge.ie  

Mc Grath's B&B,  Pullathomas - 097 84626
There are also a number of locals who have offered to host visitors/ have a place to pitch a tent but it may not always be possible to arrange this.
If you don't know people well enough here to arrange you're own stay with them, email rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com in advance of your visit to see if we can organise a place to stay. The set up would obviously be different to the camp house – please remember that this would be someones home and it's a really busy time of year with farming so be independent. You can easily hitch lifts to Belmullet to buy food and although its packed away now, some of the resources of the camp would be available. It would be important to offer to help out with any jobs in-exchange for your stay if it can be arranged.

More upcoming events

Campaign Talks
More dates and venues to be announced shortly. If you can set up a talk in your community/college let us know.

There are a number of planned weekends in Mayo where it would be great to have visitors!
29th March is the Good Friday walk (now in its 8th year) where the campaign remembers the Ogoni 9. There will also be gardening and camp work to get involved with throughout the Easter weekend.
27-28th April is a preparation weekend for the camp in June - Please come and help out with lots of practical tasks to get ready.
Watch this space for further events. If you would like to organise a weekend up here, please get in touch. Possible ideas could be an art weekend of sign and mural painting, gardening work, music sessions etc
As many of you will already be familiar with how the camp functions and have contacts with the local campaign, it would be really great to have groups of people visiting who are able to be autonomous in terms of cooking etc.....
Local people are so happy to see people come, especially those they have met over the years and there's always plenty to do! The Gardaí are thin on the ground and so it is easier to have successful actions. Some of them are feeling a little touch of the blue flu, perhaps in it's early stages.

Come to Mayo on the 21st of June
This year it is planned to have a shorter camp, but to attract a large number of people.
Basically we'll be building the camp from the start of June to be ready for Mid-June.

Build camp  1 - 15 June
Solidarity camp from Friday the 21st to Sunday the 30th June

The G8 is to take place 17-19 June in Co. Fermanagh. The camp in Mayo takes place after the G8, for those who would like to have an active month in June!
We are also encouraging groups to come and engage in actions at this time, but if you can only come once this summer, then the last week of June (21st-30th) is the time to be here - get organising.
New posters, leaflets, youtube videos and speaking tours are being organised/made to promote the campaign and summer camp. Contact us if you can help organising or promoting the events this summer.
Hasta la victoria siempre,
RSC