S.F. activist jailed in Ireland for anti-war protest
Santa Fe activist jailed in Ireland for anti-war protest at airport
An 82-year-old Santa Fe man is behind bars after authorities charged him and another American with trespassing and committing criminal damage during an antiwar protest at an Irish airport.
Police arrested Kenneth “Ken” Mayers of Santa Fe and Tarak Kauff, 77, of Woodstock, N.Y., on Sunday at Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland, after the pair entered the airfield to inspect an aircraft they believed was contracted to the U.S. military.
They were being held in Limerick Prison without bail, said Pam Gilchrist, Mayers’ partner. “It’s pretty dire,” Gilchrist said. Mayers, a longtime peace activist who was named a Santa Fe Living Treasure in 2013, and Kauff had joined five other members of Veterans for Peace to protest Shannon Airport’s policy of allowing U.S. military planes to stop there en route to and from the Middle East.
Though Ireland has long positioned itself as neutral when it comes to international military conflicts, it has offered Shannon Airport as a stopover for U.S. military aircraft for years.
Mayers and Kauff spotted the suspected U.S. airplane and left the other five protesters to approach it, hoping to either inspect it or prod Irish police to do so, said Ellen Davidson, Kauff ’s wife and another of the protesters.
Speaking by phone from Ireland, Davidson said that after unfurling a banner on the runway urging Ireland to honor its neutrality pledge, Mayers and Kauff were taken into custody by local authorities.
“Whenever you do an action like this, you know arrest is a possibility, but that’s not your goal, ” Davidson said. “You do what you need to do to try to get to the truth or stop what is a bigger crime. If you get arrested in that process, you get arrested in that process.”
The Irish Times reported that Mayers and Kauff appeared in Ennis District Court on Monday in front of Judge Marie Keane, who told the men they were facing very serious charges.
Davidson, who said she watched the court proceedings, said Mayers and Kauff both pleaded not guilty through their defense solicitor, identified in press accounts as Daragh Hasset.
According to the Irish Times, Hasset told the judge Mayers and Kauff were “men of honor who have served in the U.S. defense forces and will return to Ireland for their cases.” But the judge still ordered them held without bail.
Gilchrist said she understands the court’s point of view. “As U.S. citizens they could be considered a flight risk, I guess,” she said.
The defendants plan to appeal the judge’s decision to a higher court, a process that could take 10 days or so, Davidson said. She said she is optimistic the men will be released within two or three weeks.
The Irish Times reported that the men were charged with causing criminal damage to the perimeter fence at Shannon Airport and unlawful trespassing after police found a wire cutter and a pair of gloves near a hole in the fence.
Santa Fe attorney Jeff Haas, a friend of Mayers who said he is trying to contact Irish authorities to see how he can hire a lawyer, said he found it unlikely that Mayers tore down a fence.
In 2013, Mayers, who was born in New York City, told The New Mexican that he felt the need to protest because, “There’s a chance — and I grant it’s a slim chance — that over time we will effect change. I’ve been at this 45, 46, 47 years. I can’t say I’ve seen a hell of a lot of progress. But I feel like I have to keep doing it.”
By that time, he had taken part in local and national efforts to push for a nuclear weapons freeze, end sexual assault in the military and break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. He also has visited classrooms to talk with local students about his experiences.
Mayers estimated in 2013 that he had ended up in jail at least 20 times in connection with his political activism. Gilchrist said this is the first time she could recall that he was held without bail.
In 2002, Mayers, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the 1960s before resigning in 1966, co-founded the Santa Fe chapter of Veterans for Peace. Davidson said Kauff served in the U.S. Army from 1959 to 1962. Gilchrist said the national Veterans for Peace association is accepting donations for a legal defense fund for the two men.
Davidson said that although she was not allowed to visit Mayers and Kauff in prison, where they share a cell, she did talk to her husband by phone.
“Their spirits are really good, “she said. “They feel that the fact that they are being held without bail for such a nonviolent and small offense is going to encourage more activism.”