Ireland Dispatch
April 10th, 2009
I have a new piece up at The Nation concerning a land-use conflict in remote northwest Ireland. Royal Dutch Shell wants to build a raw-gas pipeline and refinery. The small coastal community effected wants Shell to process the gas offshore. The elements and dynamics of the story are familiar enough, but the tenacity with which the locals have been fighting this one for a decade is truly inspiring. The activists have suffered prison, police beatings, and constant electronic surveillance since they began their resistance in 2000. They are some of the toughest bastards you will ever meet, in the best possible way.
Photo by Andrew Beardsworth.
