fighting the good fight
Jul. 19th, 2005 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chelidonJailing of Irish villagers sparks anger as farmers defy Shell in Battle
of the Bog
Support swells for opponents of gas pipeline imprisoned for contempt of court
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Monday July 18, 2005
The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk>
It began as a hopeless mismatch: a handful of villagers in remote
north-west Mayo taking on the multinational Shell. But the Battle of the
Bog has turned into one of the biggest protests against Shell in Europe
after five villagers were jailed for refusing the company access to
their land because they feared a proposed gas pipeline was unsafe.
Subsistence farmers from Rossport accuse Shell of turning them into
"human guinea pigs" by building a £600m high-pressure gas pipeline near
their homes.
While the men and women stood on their land and refused the company
entry until their safety concerns were met, the Celtic Tiger Ireland
looked the other way. But when Shell took five villagers to the high
court in Dublin and saw them jailed "indefinitely" for obstructing the
company's work, the country was outraged.
Now the Bogoni - named after the Ogoni people who fought Shell in
Nigeria - have spent 18 days in jail and seen their support swell.
Thousands of people have gathered at demonstrations, including the
novelist Jennifer Johnston.
Hundreds more have picketed garages, signed petitions and urged a petrol
boycott. Shell has agreed to temporarily suspend work in north Mayo,
where crowds were protesting every day and the government has ordered a
health and safety review of the proposed pipeline. But the jailed men
refuse to back down.
Three are small-scale farmers, eking what living they can from
poor-quality peaty land in Rossport in the Bog of Erris.
Two are retired schoolteachers, including a pensioner who has had a
triple heart bypass. They represent the Gaelic-speaking community
decimated by poverty and emigration, which the government has vowed to
protect. According to their MP, they are "decent people" with no
previous criminal records.
A high court judge jailed them indefinitely, until they "purge their
contempt" and agree to let Shell on to their land after compulsory
purchase procedures. But the standoff continues.
Broadhaven Bay in Mayo is wild and unspoilt, a breeding ground for
whales and dolphins. Gas was found off the coast nine years ago and
Shell's plan is to land the gas on the beach at Broadhaven and pipe it
five miles inland for processing, through the peat of the Bog of Erris.
Residents describe the bog as "wobbly as blancmange". Two years ago
there was a big landslide which locals blamed on the construction of a
radar station. The protesters want the gas processed on an offshore
shallow water platform instead.
"This is not about protecting land, it's a question of protecting our
basic right to live safely," said Mary Corduff, whose husband, Willie,
has been jailed.
Shell says the majority of Mayo residents and businesses had supported
the pipeline during extensive consultation schemes. But protesters argue
that in this part of Ireland, people cling to any scheme they believe
will bring jobs. In the 70s, a priest campaigned to have a nuclear power
station built on the Bog of Erris, believing it would bring health and
prosperity.
"Community spirit here was torn apart by Shell," Mrs Corduff said. "But
the imprisonment of villagers has galvanised everybody back together
again. Shell doesn't understand community or neighbourly life. They
thought jailing people would weaken us, it has strengthened us."
Werner Blau, a physics professor at Trinity College, Dublin, and
part-time Rossport resident, told protesters the pipeline would not
comply with US standards which were "pretty lax".
In August 2000, a gas pipeline exploded in New Mexico and killed 12
people. Last year an explosion in a natural gas pipeline in Belgium
killed 15 and injured 120.
One of the imprisoned men, Micheál Ó Seighin, 65, told the Guardian
before he was jailed that villagers felt "like Chicken Licken: we are
waiting for the sky to fall down on our heads".
Jerry Cowley, the independent MP for Mayo, said: "The small man is being
trampled into the ground."
Michael Ring of Fine Gael said Ireland was now living in a "dictatorship
within a democracy".
Some local workers on the project have downed tools in protest. One
security guard who resigned his post with Shell said: "I didn't agree
with the company being able to send critics to jail because they got in
its way."
A Shell spokesman said the company was certain the project had met all
the stringent health and safety, planning and environmental requirements
to build the pipeline to "world-class standards".
Special reports
Oil and petrol <http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/0,11319,608464,00.html>
of the Bog
Support swells for opponents of gas pipeline imprisoned for contempt of court
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Monday July 18, 2005
The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk>
It began as a hopeless mismatch: a handful of villagers in remote
north-west Mayo taking on the multinational Shell. But the Battle of the
Bog has turned into one of the biggest protests against Shell in Europe
after five villagers were jailed for refusing the company access to
their land because they feared a proposed gas pipeline was unsafe.
Subsistence farmers from Rossport accuse Shell of turning them into
"human guinea pigs" by building a £600m high-pressure gas pipeline near
their homes.
While the men and women stood on their land and refused the company
entry until their safety concerns were met, the Celtic Tiger Ireland
looked the other way. But when Shell took five villagers to the high
court in Dublin and saw them jailed "indefinitely" for obstructing the
company's work, the country was outraged.
Now the Bogoni - named after the Ogoni people who fought Shell in
Nigeria - have spent 18 days in jail and seen their support swell.
Thousands of people have gathered at demonstrations, including the
novelist Jennifer Johnston.
Hundreds more have picketed garages, signed petitions and urged a petrol
boycott. Shell has agreed to temporarily suspend work in north Mayo,
where crowds were protesting every day and the government has ordered a
health and safety review of the proposed pipeline. But the jailed men
refuse to back down.
Three are small-scale farmers, eking what living they can from
poor-quality peaty land in Rossport in the Bog of Erris.
Two are retired schoolteachers, including a pensioner who has had a
triple heart bypass. They represent the Gaelic-speaking community
decimated by poverty and emigration, which the government has vowed to
protect. According to their MP, they are "decent people" with no
previous criminal records.
A high court judge jailed them indefinitely, until they "purge their
contempt" and agree to let Shell on to their land after compulsory
purchase procedures. But the standoff continues.
Broadhaven Bay in Mayo is wild and unspoilt, a breeding ground for
whales and dolphins. Gas was found off the coast nine years ago and
Shell's plan is to land the gas on the beach at Broadhaven and pipe it
five miles inland for processing, through the peat of the Bog of Erris.
Residents describe the bog as "wobbly as blancmange". Two years ago
there was a big landslide which locals blamed on the construction of a
radar station. The protesters want the gas processed on an offshore
shallow water platform instead.
"This is not about protecting land, it's a question of protecting our
basic right to live safely," said Mary Corduff, whose husband, Willie,
has been jailed.
Shell says the majority of Mayo residents and businesses had supported
the pipeline during extensive consultation schemes. But protesters argue
that in this part of Ireland, people cling to any scheme they believe
will bring jobs. In the 70s, a priest campaigned to have a nuclear power
station built on the Bog of Erris, believing it would bring health and
prosperity.
"Community spirit here was torn apart by Shell," Mrs Corduff said. "But
the imprisonment of villagers has galvanised everybody back together
again. Shell doesn't understand community or neighbourly life. They
thought jailing people would weaken us, it has strengthened us."
Werner Blau, a physics professor at Trinity College, Dublin, and
part-time Rossport resident, told protesters the pipeline would not
comply with US standards which were "pretty lax".
In August 2000, a gas pipeline exploded in New Mexico and killed 12
people. Last year an explosion in a natural gas pipeline in Belgium
killed 15 and injured 120.
One of the imprisoned men, Micheál Ó Seighin, 65, told the Guardian
before he was jailed that villagers felt "like Chicken Licken: we are
waiting for the sky to fall down on our heads".
Jerry Cowley, the independent MP for Mayo, said: "The small man is being
trampled into the ground."
Michael Ring of Fine Gael said Ireland was now living in a "dictatorship
within a democracy".
Some local workers on the project have downed tools in protest. One
security guard who resigned his post with Shell said: "I didn't agree
with the company being able to send critics to jail because they got in
its way."
A Shell spokesman said the company was certain the project had met all
the stringent health and safety, planning and environmental requirements
to build the pipeline to "world-class standards".
Special reports
Oil and petrol <http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/0,11319,608464,00.html>
