tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32587211824673796902024-03-13T16:31:37.149+00:00éirígí SligeachFor a Socialist Republicéirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.comBlogger370125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-15228450448313124682011-10-14T17:06:00.000+01:002011-10-14T17:06:12.653+01:00Dublin conference remembers 1981 hunger strike<div> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">A large crowd assembled at Dublin’s Liberty Hall on Saturday October 1to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike. The strike was formally called off on the 3rd of October that year. The meetings recalled the events of that momentous year both in the H-Blocks and Armagh women’s prison as well as on the streets. It also addressed the current situation in Maghaberry prison where republican prisoners continue to be denied political status and basic human rights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Máire Drumm and Tommy McKearney both provided powerful personal testimonies of their time in Armagh and the H-Blocks respectively, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Máire recalled how the arbitrary date of 1 March 1976, which marked the ending of political status, resulted in considerable differences in the treatment of those sentenced before and after that date. The withdrawal of political status that year resulted in an epic prison struggle involving hundreds of republican prisoners engaging in the blanket and no-wash protest, culminating in the hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">One of those who participated in the 1980 hunger strike was Tyrone man Tommy McKearney, author of the recently published and well received book <em>The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament</em>. Tommy chose to focus on how republican prisoners displayed staggering levels of ingenuity, simply in order to survive the brutal conditions then pertaining in the H-Blocks. He recounted numerous stories of how the republican POWs maintained their morale during this time and the close bonds that still hold the community of ex-blanketmen together.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mandy Duffy from Lurgan, active with the Family and Friends prisoner support group provided a comprehensive update on the situation in Maghaberry, drawing parallels with the treatment of republican prisoners in the H-Blocks. She urged people to support the prisoners in Maghaberry, who continue to be forcibly strip searched and beaten, and called for the implementation of the deal agreed earlier this year with the prison regime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other speakers on the day included éirígí general secretary Breandán Mac Cionnaith, who looked back at the events that precipitated the hunger strike and the lessons that can be drawn from that momentous year. Also keen to draw lessons from the past was F Stuart Ross, author of a new study <em>Smashing H-Block</em> – which assesses the movement that was built on the streets in support of the prisoners. Ross posed many pertinent questions for his audience, arguing it wasn’t enough simply to look back at the events of the past, rather it is crucial that we learn from it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mháistir, who chaired several of the discussions on the day, thanked all of those who participated in the event at Liberty Hall and paid tribute to the men and women of the H-Blocks and Armagh. “Today was about paying tribute to the tremendous sacrifice and selflessness of the H-Block hunger strikers. It was also an opportunity to discuss the lessons to be learned from that period of our history. Given the level of participation in the discussions throughout the day it is clear that there still exists considerable interest in the events of 1980 and ’81.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Prison struggle of this kind is not unique to Ireland, as news emerged this week that Palestinian prisoners of the PFLP, left with no option, have embarked on hunger strike in order to assert their rights. It is also clear that the mistreatment of republican prisoners in Ireland is by no means a historic event. Mandy Duffy powerfully illustrated Britain’s continued attempts to deny political status to republican prisoners in Maghaberry. Solidarity to the prisoners on hunger strike in Palestine and republican prisoners in Maghaberry fighting for political status was expressed from the meeting.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Daithí continued, “We also extended solidarity to Basque political prisoners. Many of the flags on display at the meeting here today expressed support for an end to the Spanish state’s oppressive dispersal policy, which sees the many hundreds of Basque political prisoners sent to prisons hundreds of miles from their home. The plight of the Cuba Five, victims of US imperialism, was recalled and people encouraged to support the demo at the US embassy in Dublin.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">“So today’s event presented an opportunity to look back at the past, to cherish the memory of the H-Block martyrs and crucially to learn the lessons of that period. The struggle in the prisons was not simply about the five demands, it was, in the final analysis an assertion of the right of the people of Ireland to national self-determination. As Bobby Sands wrote on the first day of his hunger strike:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>“I believe I am but another of those wretched Irishmen born of a risen generation with a deeply rooted and unquenchable desire for freedom. I am dying not just to attempt to end the barbarity of H-Block, or to gain the rightful recognition of a political prisoner, but primarily because what is lost in here is lost for the Republic and those wretched oppressed whom I am deeply proud to know as the ‘risen people’.”</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Daithí concluded, “Those sentiments were at the core of the politics that drove ten young IRA and INLA volunteers to withstand the torture of the H-Blocks and to place their bodies on the line in defence of the republican struggle. Thirty years on, imperialism both at home and abroad continues to be challenged in the prisons and on the streets. The ‘risen people’ continue to assert their rights whether in Ireland, Palestine, the Basque Country or Cuba. We salute all of those who struggle to end the tyranny of imperialism.”</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-45003538614393967642011-10-14T16:57:00.000+01:002011-10-14T16:57:39.893+01:00Candlelit Vigil for Palestinian Hunger Strikers<div style="text-align: justify;">On Wednesday evening [October 5] éirígí held a successful candlelight vigil in support of Palestinian prisoners who have embarked on a hunger strike in protest against the way in which they are being detained and treated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Around 50 activists gathered outside the Israeli Embassy on Pembroke Road to express both their solidarity with the protesting prisoners and their revulsion at the treatment they are being subjected to. The hunger-strike was initiated by prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] on Tuesday 27th September but has now been joined by prisoners aligned to other Palestinian groups. Details are sketchy but it appears that the protest has spread right across the Israeli prison system and now involves hundreds of prisoners. The prisoners are protesting principally against the extent of the isolation and solitary confinement to which they are subjected.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="" height="307" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/pal_hs_dublin_5oct1.jpg" title="" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem, Palestinian prisoners are routinely subjected to far more widespread mistreatment that involves <em>“sleep deprivation, tying a detainee to a chair in painful positions, beating, slapping, kicking, threats, verbal abuse and humiliation, bending the body in extremely painful positions, intentional tightening of handcuffs, stepping on worn manacles, application of pressure to different parts of the body, forcing the detainee to squat in a painful position, choking and other forms of violence and humiliation (e.g. spitting and pulling hair, solitary confinement, exposure to extreme heat and cold, continuous exposure to artificial light, and confinement in inhuman conditions.”</em> The truth is that what this ‘treatment’ amounts to is in fact systematic torture.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="" height="307" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/pal_hs_dublin_5oct2.jpg" title="" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking at the protest, éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac an Mháistir took the opportunity to express the party’s solidarity with the protesting prisoners and the PFLP. He noted the gravity of the situation and appealed for progressives to do all they can to bring attention to the plight of the prisoners.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mac an Mháistir referred to the “long and painful history of hunger-striking in Ireland” and stated his “fervent wish that no Palestinian prisoners would have to die in the face of Israeli government intransigence just as happened in Ireland in 1981 when 10 men died on hunger-strike.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="" height="307" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/pal_hs_dublin_5oct3.jpg" title="" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He concluded by reiterating éirígí’s support for the “ending of the occupation of Palestine, which is the primary reason why an estimated 7,000 plus Palestinian men and women are in Israeli jails in the first place.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-73083990612259945772011-10-04T23:29:00.000+01:002011-10-04T23:29:43.393+01:00Vigil for Palestinian Hunger Strikers at Israeli Embassy in Dublin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Palestinian prisoners associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) began a hunger strike last week on September 27 against conditions imposed on detainees by the zionist regime.</div><div> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://eirigi.org/images/palestine_hsoct11_cover.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://eirigi.org/images/palestine_hsoct11_cover.gif" width="292" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prisoners are calling for an end to the humiliating treatment and abuse of prisoners, and of those trying to visit them. They are also demanding an end to the solitary confinement of Ahamd Sa’adat, general secretary of the PFLP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Sa’adat was arrested in January 2002 by Palestinian Authority security at the behest of Israel. He was held without charge or trial at Jericho prison until March 2006, when Israeli forces laid siege to the prison and kidnapped Sa’adat and several comrades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The zionists eventually tried Sa’adat, convicting him of membership of a prohibited organisation [the PFLP], of holding a post in a prohibited organisation, and of incitement. For these ‘crimes’ he was sentenced to 30 years in December 2008, and has been held in solitary ever since. He has now joined the hunger strike as well.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCz3BcUhGT-gAYNRDBB3XxrnnJUFXMWSuVYFECuR5tjU3fG0VE0YKOun1ATkTjRQz4-rWrNTJjpHTvUjrEMXbvEWhTO0XMHZbL8ZA2Ke9weIIcJL7SPi-PZw1YyHaony0nTpkeEzjlQj8/s1600/free-saadat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCz3BcUhGT-gAYNRDBB3XxrnnJUFXMWSuVYFECuR5tjU3fG0VE0YKOun1ATkTjRQz4-rWrNTJjpHTvUjrEMXbvEWhTO0XMHZbL8ZA2Ke9weIIcJL7SPi-PZw1YyHaony0nTpkeEzjlQj8/s320/free-saadat.jpg" width="236" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Israeli prison regime responded immediately by threatening to increase repression against striking prisoners, by moving them into isolation or to other prisons entirely. This prison transfer tactic has been used frequently by the regime to break up comrades and to disrupt the organisation of resistance within the prison system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">The prisoners answered by announcing that they will escalate their campaign by rejecting all prison orders and refusing to wear their uniforms.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">As republicans mark the 30th anniversary of the ending of the 1981 Irish hunger strikes, we in éirígí extend our solidarity to the Palestinian prisoners who have been steadfast in their resistance to the attempts of the zionist regime to subjugate them. We also once more pay tribute to our comrades in the PFLP, who have taken this action for the sake of all prisoners of the Israeli occupation, and for their families and friends as well.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>On Wednesday 5th October, éirígí will hold a candlelit vigil in support of the prisoners on hunger strike outside the Israeli embassy, Pembroke Road, Dublin. The vigil will begin at 6.30pm. Bígí linn.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">We print below the prisoners’ statement announcing the commencement of the hunger strike.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWMZ0ySkwhNcnRxl-sCqttBR4xKFEQL8PrEWDFzm-EpX44_e9Yb7vD7L9aAz1lOZLm-1hiBeCKYdPRd11IFLuFXpjMWXBV_knXzW6tDXdOzu1vwtDU0X8Kcz69aphW2r4ZwOv9feG7uU/s1600/Gerry+Casey_1308538629295.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWMZ0ySkwhNcnRxl-sCqttBR4xKFEQL8PrEWDFzm-EpX44_e9Yb7vD7L9aAz1lOZLm-1hiBeCKYdPRd11IFLuFXpjMWXBV_knXzW6tDXdOzu1vwtDU0X8Kcz69aphW2r4ZwOv9feG7uU/s320/Gerry+Casey_1308538629295.png" width="320" /></a><em> </em></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><em>“We, the comrades of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Zionist prisons and detention centers, declare to the steadfast, struggling brave masses of the Palestinian people and to all free people in the world:</em></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <em> </em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>We announce that we will begin an open-ended hunger strike on Tuesday morning, September 27, 2011, in response to the official policies of the Zionist government and its fascist prison administration. We demand our rights and our dignity, as we struggle for the victory of our values and ideals.</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><em> </em><em>Our goals for this hunger strike:</em><br />
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<em> </em><em>1. End the solitary confinement and isolation of our comrade, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the PLO Central Council, Ahmad Sa’adat, Abu Ghassan.</em><br />
<em> </em><em>2. End the policy of isolation for all prisoners;</em><br />
<em> </em><em>3. End the policy of systematic humiliation by the occupation army against the Palestinian people at checkpoints and crossings, particularly targeting visitors to prisons, and end the arbitrary denial of visits to the prisoners, especially the prisoners from the Gaza Strip. End the humiliation and abuse of prisoners during transfer.</em><br />
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<em> </em><em>The principles of our revolution include the rejection of all forms of injustice, and for us to struggle and confront the occupier in all areas and places in our own manner. Accordingly, we call upon all of the Palestinian and Arab people, political forces and institutions, human rights and civil society organizations, to raise their voices for us, so that we do not become easy prey for a vicious occupier. </em><br />
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<em>We promise to all of our people, and to the legacy of the martyrs of Palestine, that we will continue on our path until victory.</em><br />
<em> </em><em>Great glory to the martyrs ... <br />
Victory to the revolution ... <br />
Victory is inevitable.”</em><br />
<br />
Click <a href="http://eirigisligeach.blogspot.com/2010/04/annual-palestinian-prisoners-day-april.html">here </a>for previous coverage of the issue of Palestinian prisoners including Video footage from a demo outside the Israeli Embassy in Dublinéirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-62096521548748441792011-09-21T13:28:00.000+01:002011-09-21T13:28:53.706+01:00MacCionnaith Condemns Lurgan Raids<div style="text-align: justify;">éirígí general secretary Breandán MacCionnaith has condemned the continuing harassment of Lurgan republicans after three homes were raided <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT202"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT203">this morning</span></span> [<span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT204"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT205">Wednesday</span></span>] by the PSNI.<br />
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The PSNI arrived at the homes at 7am and were continuing with one raid this afternoon. Among the homes raided were those belonging to relatives of imprisoned Armagh republican Colin Duffy. Around 100 PSNI officers were involved in the searches.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqE-4cgxcVOo5IN-h2UOp_hXnkTNsYwdFxUQrJmpMMVDseShWYBec-ptHroO9EmrZiKIZnU4e-4DPD3DDBkwOM6nLKQaDlP6lJzh3470cwu8XcT52j0WCvMLmsepICHswNgaxhRmJPyY/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqE-4cgxcVOo5IN-h2UOp_hXnkTNsYwdFxUQrJmpMMVDseShWYBec-ptHroO9EmrZiKIZnU4e-4DPD3DDBkwOM6nLKQaDlP6lJzh3470cwu8XcT52j0WCvMLmsepICHswNgaxhRmJPyY/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">MacCionnaith said: “Early morning raids are something that republicans in the Lurgan area are unfortunately very used to. However, that in no way lessens the trauma caused when a family finds its home invaded and their possessions being rifled through.<br />
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“<span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT206"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT207">This morning</span></span>, not only did the PSNI place massive strain on children by demanding they be taken from their beds so armed strangers could trample through their homes, they also confiscated harmless equipment being used for school projects and homework.”<br />
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MacCionnaith added: “These raids are about one thing – persecuting republicans for their political beliefs and activities. The ongoing harassment of the Duffy family is an extra malicious element that has been added by the PSNI.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_d-2eCaQ9UGCmij2I64Q9aHbdCfvkY0PSujLHQy_ZcE1xnHRZ5qoSTFvDI5oW9CvCNucOQed5VvLWyDJ459vy5MmKLXNmtXax23FvWpHCNt9rE98IMPRKZXj3NoTW1gbipIajaEpJlSM/s1600/PSNI" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_d-2eCaQ9UGCmij2I64Q9aHbdCfvkY0PSujLHQy_ZcE1xnHRZ5qoSTFvDI5oW9CvCNucOQed5VvLWyDJ459vy5MmKLXNmtXax23FvWpHCNt9rE98IMPRKZXj3NoTW1gbipIajaEpJlSM/s320/PSNI" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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“éirígí and the wider republican community in Lurgan and elsewhere will not remain silent while the political police attempt to isolate and criminalise those who dare to stand up to the status quo.<br />
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“The families targeted <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT208"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT209">this morning</span></span> should be left alone to get on with their lives in peace.”</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-1879907817304747042011-09-18T13:58:00.000+01:002011-09-18T13:58:49.705+01:00Sligo Protest Demands Fracking Ban<div style="text-align: justify;">Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has re-iterated the party's continued opposition to the giveaway of our natural resources. He also expressed support for calls to ban the process of extracting natural gas called hydraulic fracturing, also known as 'fracking'. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Casey was speaking following a protest on Saturday night (September 17) outside the Sligo Park Hotel where the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte was attending a function.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMhGFqJPVX6KY9BWCAhtC6LY3jMawR5hwE4MTbbnKBSbse4Iemjr_LFCMuHt2pDvLBvQ0tAXe6OpcENWqeidEvPrKaVJEofVVjU2q0yTfSp1WOftCkc-9lL8oqjugPwXceTNZuvwrY7Vo/s1600/DSCF5923.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMhGFqJPVX6KY9BWCAhtC6LY3jMawR5hwE4MTbbnKBSbse4Iemjr_LFCMuHt2pDvLBvQ0tAXe6OpcENWqeidEvPrKaVJEofVVjU2q0yTfSp1WOftCkc-9lL8oqjugPwXceTNZuvwrY7Vo/s320/DSCF5923.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Between 40 and 50 protesters braved the heavy rain to make their concerns known to the Minister. They made clear their total opposition to fracking and called on the Minister to impose an immediate ban on its use in Ireland similar to bans imposed in other countries and in some states in the USA.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This is just the latest in a series of protests and public meetings organised by residents throughout the north-west. It follows the commencement of exploratory works to discover commercial gas by Australian company Tamboran Resources in what is known as the Lough Allen basin. </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">The Lough Allen Basin covers parts of counties Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Tyrone, covering an area of 8000 square kilometres in total.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8nPU59wtRr9SoaQJa5xoUuSRr105M0rqsLzwWGj4VXjCa7bHgPwn-FgE7_SMyNr1Awdh8bmdUVmKrBzofe5IxEswFQfcq-t9AGZgYycUUjzH4_N84E28TQY6NTh7BdRiqwY3ZdccP_4/s1600/DSCF5921.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8nPU59wtRr9SoaQJa5xoUuSRr105M0rqsLzwWGj4VXjCa7bHgPwn-FgE7_SMyNr1Awdh8bmdUVmKrBzofe5IxEswFQfcq-t9AGZgYycUUjzH4_N84E28TQY6NTh7BdRiqwY3ZdccP_4/s320/DSCF5921.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking following the protest, éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey who was among the demonstrators, said:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"An immediate halt must be called to this entire process. Despite paying lip service to it, there has been no meaningful consultation by the Dublin government or by Tamboran with the communities set to be affected by this exploration and extraction of natural gas despite the massive dangers involved. More importantly the communities affected have not given their consent for it." </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiglmR_kCUHLyXCO1VtqaUzx9iKP0ql5FEVwctgfpdOWzrQmtsVA7YFb_ctN9JyuazslfPesQnHRh5CB84hyWYO-igdjJZFduUkzpLua3q-Za0uQIj02wsoWFHQ0tbJ1a558zioTn_eons/s1600/DSCF5929.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiglmR_kCUHLyXCO1VtqaUzx9iKP0ql5FEVwctgfpdOWzrQmtsVA7YFb_ctN9JyuazslfPesQnHRh5CB84hyWYO-igdjJZFduUkzpLua3q-Za0uQIj02wsoWFHQ0tbJ1a558zioTn_eons/s320/DSCF5929.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He added: "Once again éirígí supports the call for the process known as fracking to be banned. The potential for grave environmental damage and the dangers posed to human and animal health and safety are too great and cannot be ignored. The health and safety of the people of the region must be put before the quest to amass profits by private exploration companies."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Casey also called for the nationalisation of all our natural resources. He said:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEorE4Mmts2xUhW-MS56Mgj8bOahHuJfUvf4XF3mbfH_okT9eLfBIYZk2smJm_8PQilN5-1pvvUVICuVcixey0Q71XR4GgUIPnxC-_xbikr0roNH7vt2tQdl1iUkWm4iQpIib8Jkq_wu4/s1600/DSCF5925.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEorE4Mmts2xUhW-MS56Mgj8bOahHuJfUvf4XF3mbfH_okT9eLfBIYZk2smJm_8PQilN5-1pvvUVICuVcixey0Q71XR4GgUIPnxC-_xbikr0roNH7vt2tQdl1iUkWm4iQpIib8Jkq_wu4/s320/DSCF5925.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The decision by Pat Rabbitte and his colleagues in the Fine Gael/Labour coalition to continue with the shameful policy of giving away valuable natural resources begun by Fianna Fáil can only be described as despicable. These resources, whether it is the Corrib gas off the Mayo coast or the onshore gas in the Lough Allen and Clare basins, should be taken into public ownership. If, and only if, those resources can be safely extracted without damage to our environment and to health and safety then the wealth created should be used to benefit the people of Ireland not the shareholders of private exploration companies."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Casey concluded: "Let Tamboran Resources as well as Pat Rabbitte and his colleagues be fully aware that the people of this region will not roll over and accept the current situation. If they ignore the massive opposition that there is within this region to this process, then just as Shell and the Dublin government discovered in north Mayo over the past decade, they too will meet fierce and determined resistance here."</div><br />
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</a></div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-57762250055053316892011-09-17T14:33:00.000+01:002011-09-17T14:33:49.066+01:00Minister Rabbitte to face Anti-Fracking Protest in Sligo Tonight<h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">An Anti-fracking protest will take place tonight</span> <span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">(Saturday 17th</span></span>) <span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">at 8.30PM outside the Sligo Park Hotel on Pearse Road in the town.</span></span></h6><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6aWJHT_51mc8roQERnOS8iP5XCtbdd3dG9G9xqwg2ahnKYLT-q0jPGGNXO43bWCIu_nHgJ6lqtpXCUDBLFwHMg332pnu3vtdRfIijft5kSe79zruH_LIiuPeCpqtNchpCZgutvlKoKs/s1600/fracking-safe-is-fairy-tale_pa.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6aWJHT_51mc8roQERnOS8iP5XCtbdd3dG9G9xqwg2ahnKYLT-q0jPGGNXO43bWCIu_nHgJ6lqtpXCUDBLFwHMg332pnu3vtdRfIijft5kSe79zruH_LIiuPeCpqtNchpCZgutvlKoKs/s1600/fracking-safe-is-fairy-tale_pa.jpg" /></a></div><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">Minister</span><span class="st"><em></em> for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources</span></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"> Pat Rabbitte is the guest of honour at a dinner in the hotel which starts at 8.30 p.m.</span></span></h6><h6 class="uiStreamMessage" data-ft="{"type":1}" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">People are asked to assemble in the hotel carpark at 8PM.</span></span></h6><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC6aWJHT_51mc8roQERnOS8iP5XCtbdd3dG9G9xqwg2ahnKYLT-q0jPGGNXO43bWCIu_nHgJ6lqtpXCUDBLFwHMg332pnu3vtdRfIijft5kSe79zruH_LIiuPeCpqtNchpCZgutvlKoKs/s1600/fracking-safe-is-fairy-tale_pa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}">For previous articles on fracking and the giveaway of our natural resources please click <a href="http://eirigisligeach.blogspot.com/2010/04/eirigi-warn-of-potential-conflict-over.html">here</a> & <a href="http://eirigisligeach.blogspot.com/2011/06/fracking-in-lough-allen-clare-basins.html">here </a></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.enviroment.fulldocumentary.com/default.asp?action=listing&id=483"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN4DO9yIZBPXzNSWCsD1frmugyvCNYQRsglKDNoYdk6JBQxPHnK0lhyf8U5Ag5wsNTDhd0-cKlgwUVzP-UHkbzblwbT3y6PbIjnjZcczKK1NBu6gYj4PVUcavETtr1OSw2E6zVMG9SQ9I/s320/gasland_dvd.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"></span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Gasland is an American documentary film written and directed by Josh Fox. The film focuses on communities in the United States impacted by natural gas drilling and, specifically, a stimulation method known as hydraulic fracturing. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Click on the image above to watch the documentary in full. </span></div><div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"> </span></span>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-89132420592086251142011-09-16T12:03:00.000+01:002011-09-16T12:03:16.667+01:00RIR Stunt Will be Opposed<div style="text-align: justify;">éirígí general secretary Breandán MacCionnaith has revealed the socialist republican party will be actively opposing the Royal Irish Regiment’s event in Belfast next month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqE-4cgxcVOo5IN-h2UOp_hXnkTNsYwdFxUQrJmpMMVDseShWYBec-ptHroO9EmrZiKIZnU4e-4DPD3DDBkwOM6nLKQaDlP6lJzh3470cwu8XcT52j0WCvMLmsepICHswNgaxhRmJPyY/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqqE-4cgxcVOo5IN-h2UOp_hXnkTNsYwdFxUQrJmpMMVDseShWYBec-ptHroO9EmrZiKIZnU4e-4DPD3DDBkwOM6nLKQaDlP6lJzh3470cwu8XcT52j0WCvMLmsepICHswNgaxhRmJPyY/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The Royal Irish Regiment will be holding a ‘review’ in Belfast’s Kings Hall in October.<br />
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In 2008, éirígí organised significant opposition to an RIR parade through Belfast city centre.<br />
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MacCionnaith said: “The Royal Irish Regiment is a sectarian unionist militia that has a played a disgraceful role in conflicts in Ireland, Afghanistan and elsewhere. The people involved with the RIR should be taken to task for the crimes they have committed, not be congratulated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOb1MLCn100pKqB8fX200Fj3yE18E5qPv5aHoxF9wjQx7WN1DT-pCYjXDcICj__Qg19IDlva5M-rKDgbmaxEj1cGwagYgBSOVcV_MsV_0xZzeE0zyyZ1jZmJuJ-8zfAAMAmzTM8_jEv-A/s1600/rir_protest_banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOb1MLCn100pKqB8fX200Fj3yE18E5qPv5aHoxF9wjQx7WN1DT-pCYjXDcICj__Qg19IDlva5M-rKDgbmaxEj1cGwagYgBSOVcV_MsV_0xZzeE0zyyZ1jZmJuJ-8zfAAMAmzTM8_jEv-A/s320/rir_protest_banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
“Files that have recently been recovered from the British government’s Kew Gardens archive provide conclusive proof that the RIR, under its previous name of UDR, was up to its neck in colluding with the unofficial unionist death squads. It is insult to the victims and their families that this event is being held.”<br />
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MacCionnaith added: “éirígí will be actively opposing this insensitive stunt. Details will be released in the coming weeks.”</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-68682718535545759062011-08-04T12:22:00.000+01:002011-08-04T12:22:56.765+01:00Lillis a Victim of Sick System<div style="text-align: justify;">éirígí general secretary Breandán MacCionnaith has slammed the indifference of Six County justice minister David Ford to the plight of Maghaberry prisoner Brendan Lillis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Following a meeting with Lillis’ partner, Roisin Lynch, <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT184"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT186">yesterday</span></span> [<span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT185"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT187">Wednesday</span></span>], Ford again claimed there were no grounds for his release.<br />
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MacCionnaith said: “Brendan Lillis is a critically ill man interned in prison on the word of a British secretary of state – if David Ford can see no grounds for his release he is willfully blind.<br />
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“Brendan Lillis has already suffered enough at the hands of the British state. He spent 17 years in prison as a result of the conflict and has now been confined to a bed in a cramped prison cell for more than 600 days due to a crippling bone disease. He is in no way mobile, he cannot eat and he has failing eyesight. It is absurd for anyone to suggest this man is a threat to the public.”<br />
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MacCionnaith added: “Over the last few months, David Ford has proven beyond doubt that any commitment he claims towards human rights is a sham and a lie. Like many who went before him charged with implementing British injustice in Ireland, he is capable of acting only callously and ruthlessly.<br />
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“Every week that passes produces further evidence that the institutions at Stormont are incapable of delivering equality and human rights for nationalists and republicans. The case of Brendan Lillis is but the latest example.<br />
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“Brendan Lillis must not be allowed to die in jail. It is imperative that all those with an interest in human rights act now to increase the pressure on the Stormont regime.”</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-14474910509520425022011-07-29T21:08:00.000+01:002011-07-29T21:08:58.255+01:00éirígí Activists Among Four Injured By Shell Thugs in Mayo<div style="text-align: justify;">éirígí Chairperson Brian Leeson has condemned the thuggish behaviour of Shell security personnel and Gardai who injured a number of anti-Shell activists in Mayo earlier <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT121"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT122">today</span></span>. At least four protesters required medical attention for their injuries, whilst a number of other people suffered cuts and bruises.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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One of the injured, éirígí’s Joe Keegan, required stitches to a head wound following an attack by a number of IRMS personnel (IRMS are the private security firm employed by Shell in Mayo). Joe had gone to the aid of a female activist who was being manhandled by IRMS boss Jim Farrell. Another activist, Gary Ronaghan, required stitches to his mouth after he was struck by a large piece of steel fencing which was pushed at him by IRMS staff.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Leeson said, “<span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT123"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT124">Today</span></span> we have seen yet another example of violence from the Gardai and Shell’s hired thugs. Those who are opposed to Shell’s operations in Mayo have a fundamental right to protest without fear of assault. For years that right has been deliberately and systematically suppressed by the Gardai, a fact which they haven’t even tried to hide. Superintendent Joe Gannon has publicly declared that there is a ‘no arrest’ policy in relation to the Shell protests. Instead of arresting people the state are using brute force to facilitate Shell’s robbery of the Corrib gas reserve.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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Leeson continued, “The oil and gas that lies off Ireland’s coast has the potential to secure Ireland’s energy needs for decades to come and to address many of the financial challenges we now face. Corrib and the other oil and gas reserves belong to the people of Ireland, not to a handful of politicians in Leinster House. They don’t have the right to give away that which is not theirs in the first place. Those who took part in the protests and direct actions in Mayo <span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT125"><span class="Object" id="OBJ_PREFIX_DWT126">today</span></span> are acting in the interests of the people of this country. For that they are to be applauded.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFMjR3MwTkhxgAMCz42D9FCllUCljSwyBW-nSWXXAufsfw5R8t0l2eqB4tB_OO7d5VnAwBiCPh7hQvZDB14UD6r1qtD1jrjFPwrvQw8M8jfV7JlfhPS6bSu9Xuiqfb95ZmRLgY-iDzab3/s1600/DSCF2384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNFMjR3MwTkhxgAMCz42D9FCllUCljSwyBW-nSWXXAufsfw5R8t0l2eqB4tB_OO7d5VnAwBiCPh7hQvZDB14UD6r1qtD1jrjFPwrvQw8M8jfV7JlfhPS6bSu9Xuiqfb95ZmRLgY-iDzab3/s320/DSCF2384.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
Leeson concluded by re-committing éirígí to the battle for Corrib: </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> “Through corruption, manipulation, bribery and brute force Shell have succeeded in tapping the Corrib reserve, in building their refinery in Ballinaboy and in laying their offshore pipeline. But they have not succeeded in laying the onshore section of that pipeline and without it they cannot extract the gas. We in éirígí are committed to fighting the laying of every inch of that pipeline. To fail to do so is to surrender countless billions of euro’s to Shell and the other private energy companies.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/jul2011/2011_0728_all_day_road_occupy_081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/jul2011/2011_0728_all_day_road_occupy_081.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shell to Sea Spokesperson Terence Conway also condemned the assaults on peaceful protesters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said: "The injuries inflicted today indicate an expectation of impunity on the part of those assaulting Shell to Sea campaigners. It is clear that individual Garda and private security personnel feel confident that serious assaults on campaigners will not lead to them being prosecuted. The level of violence we have seen today against Shell to Sea campaigners engaged in civil disobedience is confirmation of how little has changed in the policing of the Corrib project." </div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-20507741994906076972011-07-09T10:57:00.001+01:002011-07-09T10:58:15.215+01:00Newry Protest Against PSNI Harassment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz4APH_H1SHKL-BgHXVrEixl9U4--DDUIW_zaz50IMF-kPcFHmbp9r3-mCXKwJlx91PDmDNw_oshTohyWLemw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once again republicans have been forced to take to the streets to stand up against MI5/PSNI harassment in Newry.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over 70 people took part in yesterday’s [July 2] protest at Ardmore PSNI barracks in Newry, in direct response to a relentless campaign of harassment and intimidation directed towards republicans in the area by the PSNI.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The protesters were met with a large presence of PSNI thugs in several cars, armoured landrovers and on foot around the barracks, obviously fearful of éirígí’s intentions. For the duration of the protest the PSNI videoed and recorded everyone, including children, some of whom were stopped and searched last weekend.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="Protest against MI5/PSNI harassment" height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/psni_newry_2jul1.jpg" title="Protest against MI5/PSNI harassment" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking at the protest éirígí’s Stephen Murney thanked all those who attended.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Just a few months ago we were forced to come to this barracks to protest against harassment, now here were are again with double the numbers. At a time when people are being persecuted by the PSNI and MI5 it’s heartening to see so many people, young and old coming here to confront the thugs responsible for harassing them. Last week we announced that we would intensify our <i>Different Name, Same Aim</i> campaign, this protest is only the start of things to come,” Murney said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The main speaker at the protest was rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="Breandán Mac Cionnaith addresses the protest" height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/psni_newry_2jul3.jpg" title="Breandán Mac Cionnaith addresses the protest" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In his speech Breandán highlighted the unchanged nature of the force.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“In November 2001, amid much fanfare, the British government re-branded the discredited Royal Ulster Constabulary with a new name. And with that new name, the occupying power promised ‘a new beginning’ to policing in the Six Counties.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Almost a decade later, it is now abundantly clear that, instead of delivering a ‘new beginning’, the PSNI has simply continued with the same failed anti-working class and anti-republican agenda of the RUC and Royal Irish Constabulary before them. The lie of ‘community-based’ policing has been exposed by the reality of increased draconian legislation, harassment and brutality,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="Protest against MI5/PSNI harassment" height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/psni_newry_2jul2.jpg" title="Protest against MI5/PSNI harassment" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mac Cionnaith continued, “éirígí activists in Newry are no strangers to Crown Force harassment. Our activists, along with other republicans are being stopped under the draconian British Justice and Security Act. It’s clear that our activists and supporters in the area are being singled out for special treatment because of their political activities.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The PSNI are only proving by their own actions that they are an unchanged, unaccountable paramilitary force. The PSNI remains a British police force, enforcing British law in support of the British occupation.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“No amount of PSNI harassment, in Newry or anywhere else, will prevent éirígí activists from continuing the work of rebuilding the republican struggle.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img alt="Surveillance" height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/psni_newry_2jul4.jpg" title="Surveillance" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Breandán concluded, “Despite what those constitutional nationalist parties who sit in Stormont may claim, that move has neither affected the function or the form of the PSNI. Nor has it placed manners on them, as one prominent apologist for British policing once claimed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The PSNI remains a British police force, enforcing British law in support of the British state. Like police forces across the capitalist world its primary aim remains the protection of the state and the protection of the interests of the ruling class; interests which run in direct contradiction to the interests of the working class and of republicans.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Republican Newry will be seeing a lot more actions in the coming weeks and months and we urge all those who oppose British policing to join us in our struggle.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-81927535962385806382011-07-05T12:10:00.000+01:002011-07-05T12:10:00.725+01:00We Only Want The Earth!<table id="archive1"><tbody>
<tr><td></td> </tr>
<tr> <td class="dots"><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr align="justify"> <td><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="article" style="color: black; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span class="head3"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">“...we declare that the nation’s sovereignty extends not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to all its material possessions, the Nations soil and all its resources, all the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes within the Nation...”</span></i></span></div><div style="color: black; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="article" style="margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="head3"><i style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Democratic Programme of the First Dáil 1919</span></i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img align="right" alt="éirígí - defending Ireland's natural resources" height="259" hspace="3" src="http://eirigi.org/images/at_st_lukes.jpg" vspace="2" width="294" />When the women and men of the first Dáil Éireann adopted the Democratic Programme quoted above they could not have foreseen the rise of transnational corporations whose annual turnovers would dwarf the gross national product’s of all but the wealthiest of the world’s countries. Nor could they have foreseen how some of those same transnationals would trawl the earth for its natural resources with little concern for the wellbeing of the people or the environment of their target countries.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They did, however, understand the inherently predatory and anti-social nature of capitalism. They sought from the earliest days of the new thirty-two county Irish Republic to uphold the right of the people of Ireland to be the primary beneficiaries of the natural resources of Ireland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">éirígí believes this right to be inalienable and to be as relevant today as it was ninety years ago when the Democratic Programme was unanimously adopted by the first Dáil.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Ireland of 2008 an ever increasing portion of the ‘wealth and the wealth producing processes within the Nation’ are being concentrated in the hands of an ever smaller portion of the population. Ireland, both north and south, now ranks as one of the most unequal societies in the so-called ‘developed’ world.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">éirígí launched its campaign for the nationalisation of Ireland’s natural resources in the summer of 2006. Named ‘We Only Want the Earth’ the campaign has primarily focused on the Dublin government’s oil and gas giveaway in the Twenty-Six counties and the London government’s attempts to introduce domestic water charges in the Six Counties.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">‘We Only Want the Earth’ has seen éirígí activists take part in countless public protests and meetings, civil disobedience and non-violent direct actions. Despite the verbal threats, physical assaults, arrests and spurious legal proceedings that have resulted, éirígí activists will continue to campaign for public control of Ireland’s natural resources.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Click the link below to find out more about...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
<a href="http://eirigi.org/campaigns/naturalresources/we_only_want_the_earth.htm"><img alt="We Only Want the Earth!" border="0" height="90" src="http://eirigi.org/images/button_weonlywant.gif" title="We Only Want the Earth!" width="450" /> </a></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><table id="archive1"><tbody>
<tr> <td><br />
<b><span class="head3"><span style="font-size: small;">Oil and Gas</span></span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><img align="left" height="84" hspace="4" src="http://eirigi.org/images/oil_rig.jpg" vspace="2" width="123" />The price of energy has dramatically increased since the turn of the millennium. This pattern will continue over the coming decades as demand for hydrocarbons (oil and gas) increases while at the same time the supply of those same reserves run out.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The human cost of these increasing energy prices is already apparent. Billions of people across the world are suffering from the effects of the current global energy crisis. In Ireland hundreds of thousands are already struggling to heat their homes as the reality of ‘fuel poverty’ takes hold in post ‘celtic-tiger’ Ireland. Almost 3,000 people die each year in Ireland due to preventable, cold-related illness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In recent years a number of substantial Irish oil and gas reserves have been discovered which are potentially worth hundreds of billions of euros. These reserves could guarantee much of Ireland’s energy requirement as the ‘oil age’ comes to an end. Despite the obvious strategic importance of these reserves the Dublin government has handed over the rights to all Irish oil and gas explorations to the private sector.</div><br />
<br />
éirígí is calling for:<br />
<ul id="bullet"><li id="bullet">The ending of all ongoing negotiations in relation to further oil and gas exploration, pending the introduction of new terms for same</li>
<li>The renegotiation of all existing oil and gas exploration contracts on the basis of returning ownership of all oil and gas reserves to the Irish people.</li>
<li>The establishment of a new state-controlled oil and gas exploration company.</li>
<li>The development of a new set of terms for all future oil and gas exploration. Such terms would include the participation of the state-controlled oil and gas company as the major partner in all exploration projects. Where it is necessary to include private energy companies on such projects appropriate rates of taxation shall be paid.</li>
</ul>Click the link below to find out more about...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://eirigi.org/campaigns/naturalresources/oil_and_gas.htm"><img alt="The Great Oil and Gas Robbery" border="0" height="90" src="http://eirigi.org/images/button_oilandgas.gif" title="The Great Oil and Gas Robbery" width="450" /> </a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b><span class="head3"><span style="font-size: small;">Water Charges</span></span></b><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;"><img align="left" height="110" hspace="4" src="http://eirigi.org/images/water%20tap.jpg" vspace="2" width="82" /> Water is chief among the fundamentals necessary for all life on planet Earth. More than light, food or shelter humans cannot survive without water for more than a short number of days.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The development of human society has been intrinsically linked with the provision of abundant, high-quality water supplies. From Roman times the provision of a public water services has been seen as a basic requirement of a ‘civilised’ society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, in the world of neo-liberal capitalism, water is just another commodity to be bought and sold to the highest bidder. Throughout the world private capital are replacing government as the provider of this most basic of services.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Recent years have seen attempts to introduce ‘stand-alone’ water charges in both the Six and Twenty-Six Counties. The Fine Gael/Labour coalition have announced plans in install meters in every house in the twenty six counties and to re-introduce water charges once more. Such charges are part of a broader strategy of ‘creeping privatisation’ which will ultimately lead to the imposition of domestic water charges and the privatisation of all the water services. In such a scenario the role of the state will be reduced to that of a ‘regulator’.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><br />
éirígí is calling for:<br />
<ul id="bullet"><li id="bullet">The immediate shelving of plans for the introduction of ‘stand alone’ domestic water charges.</li>
<li>The exemption of schools and other essential service providers from the payment of water charges.</li>
<li>State investment in the upgrading of water distribution networks to reduce the levels of water lost through wastage and leaks.</li>
<li>State investment in a major education programme to encourage end-users to practise water preservation.</li>
</ul>Click the link below to find out more about...<br />
<br />
<a href="http://eirigi.org/campaigns/naturalresources/water_charges.htm"><img alt="Thirsting for Justice" border="0" height="90" src="http://eirigi.org/images/button_water.gif" title="Thirsting for Justice" width="450" /> </a><br />
<div style="margin-top: 0pt;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-25763756148902475272011-07-03T20:24:00.004+01:002011-07-03T20:24:00.540+01:00From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come<div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;"><img align="right" alt="éirígí" height="200" hspace="4" src="http://www.eirigi.org/images/logo1.jpg" title="éirígí" vspace="0" width="136" />When éirígí was established as a campaigns group in April 2006 it did so as an avowedly socialist republican organisation, founded upon the principles of that champion of revolutionary socialism in Ireland, James Connolly.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">The activists who ultimately founded éirígí had first asked themselves two questions: Was the objective of a socialist republic still relevant in today’s world? And if so, was there a need for a new political organisation to fight for the creation of that republic? With the answer to both these questions being a definitive yes, éirígí came into existence.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">Back in December of last year, the party reached another significant milestone with the publication of a major ideological policy paper. <i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i> is not only an important development for éirígí as a political party; it is also an important for the development of socialist republicanism in Ireland.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;"><i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i> does not simply reject capitalism in all of its forms; it also sets out éirígí’s vision of an alternative society based upon the public ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">Over the course of the last century many Irish republicans have come to the conclusion that an Ireland which remained capitalist post a British withdrawal would not really be free at all. And éirígí is proud to follow in that tradition, to follow in the footsteps of organisations such as the Irish Socialist Republican Party and the Republican Congress and of individuals like Peadar O’Donnell, Liam Mellows, Constance Markiewicz, Frank Ryan and Mairéad Farrell.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">However, <i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i> is not just about éirígí taking its place in Ireland’s revolutionary tradition. It is also about changing the parameters of debate in republican Ireland and beyond. It is about building the theoretical foundations for a powerful movement in Ireland that will be uncompromisingly republican and socialist. A revolutionary republican movement that has class politics at the core of its analysis, a movement that will never again commit the mistakes of militarism, constitutionalism or the pernicious notion that labour ‘must wait’.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">The process by which éirígí developed and adopted <i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i> was itself an example of the type of participative democracy that éirígí wishes to see at the heart of a new socialist Ireland. This process saw an initial draft debated by the entire membership within their respective local Ciorcail (branches). Each individual member was afforded the right to suggest deletions, additions and amendments to the document.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">Once the first round of discussion had been completed a second draft of the paper, based upon the feedback received from the membership, was drafted. This second draft was then circulated to the entire membership and again debated within the local Ciorcail. The feedback from this second round of discussions informed the drafting of the third and final draft of <i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i>.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">For the first time a dispersed voting procedure was used which saw members voting at meeting of their local ciorcal on whether to adopt or reject the paper. As with all major strategic and policy issues each member of the party had an equal vote. The result of this vote saw the paper being unanimously adopted.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">While the process of developing and adopting <i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i> took a number of months to complete, it was time well spent. éirígí’s unique decisions-making process, as contained within Bunreacht éirígí, places consensus building at the heart of a <i>process</i> of decision making.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">Many Irish republican and socialist organisations are based upon outdated and anti-democratic ‘top-down’ models of decision-making. Such models are inherently unstable, leading to leadership cliques and internal divisions. Organisations which use delegate based organisational models, pressure cooker conferences and artificial deadlines to make decisions are invariably corrupted by leaderships who think they know better than their memberships.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">Announcing the public launch of <i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i>, cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson said: “Ireland today is at a crossroads. We can continue down the path of capitalism and imperialism that has partitioned our country, exploited our population and impoverished our communities or we can strike out for a better future based upon national independence and socialism.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">“From <i>Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i> correctly asserts that the only option that will work for the vast majority of the Irish people is that of independence and socialism.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">“There can be no compromise between the exploiter and the exploited. It is a matter of their prosperity or ours – the slave owner and the slave cannot be prosperous together.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">“éirígí is under no illusions as to the mammoth scale of the task that has been set out in this document. It is the same task that confronted the men and women of 1916 and it is the same task that confronted the thousands of republicans who fought the struggle over the last 40 years – it is about nothing less than the re-conquest of Ireland by the working people of Ireland.</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">“We need to start small while thinking big. We need to organise in our communities, in our workplaces, in our places of education, in our homes and on our streets. We need to make the argument with every single person who has no vested interest in the current rotten system that there is a better way and a better destination. There is a system that the working people of Ireland can have a stake in – that system is socialism and the time to start fighting for that system is now.”</div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;">To read <i>From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come</i>, <span class="style5"><i>click on the image below</i></span></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.eirigi.org/pdfs/socialism.pdf"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtwAa_j07C76ll4Z0RXdIm1Xvc-m1RwWLckkJwzTpkmACfn77orN2f7OtTHJn9U135jHb7PBG4sGljpNrK4IvWzOmZ1fSpB7C6wmcozJQOcGmD4zuFN-hKYJzLkWcHdukTK7MCbuxnfE/s1600/socialism_cover.png" /></a></div><div style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 20px; margin-top: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span class="style5"><i> </i></span></div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-84430381093549613462011-07-01T12:01:00.002+01:002011-07-01T12:01:01.683+01:00Say No to Water Tax – Keep Our Water Public!<div style="text-align: justify;"><img align="right" alt="Louise Minihan" height="200" hspace="4" src="http://eirigi.org/images/louise_minihan.jpg" title="Louise Minihan" vspace="0" width="200" />éirígí Dublin City councillor Louise Minihan has slammed the confirmation that the Dublin government intends introducing new water and family home taxes from early next year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Minihan said: “The coalition's confirmation that water and family home taxes are to be introduced is yet another attack on hard pressed working people already burdened with privately accumulated banking debt."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The diktats of the IMF/EU are being implemented with vigour by a Fine Gael/Labour coalition that promised change but is simply delivering more of the same neoliberal policies that created the economic crisis."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The imposition of a water tax is simply the first step on the road to the full privatisation of the domestic water supply and will be resisted by working class communities across the Twenty-Six Counties.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The water charges announcement was made last month at a conference in Dublin which discussed the installation of domestic water meters across the Twenty-Six Counties. It was addressed by Twenty-Six County environment minister Phil Hogan and representatives of private business interests seeking to profit from the installation of a water metering system and the inevitable privatisation the domestic water system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Water supply has become a major global business, with multinational corporations amassing enormous profits from the privatisation of domestic water supplies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Amongst those addressing delegates at the conference was Darren Bentham, director of universal water metering with the Southern Water Company in England. The recent history of that company demonstrates how global financial interests are profiting from the commodification and privatisation of domestic water supply.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The company has passed through the hands of various private investors since the Thatcher water privatisation programme in 1989. In 2007, Royal Bank of Scotland sold the utility company to a consortium of international investors for £4.3 billion. The Greensands consortium, made up of a fund advised by JP Morgan investment bank, bought a 32 per cent stake, the Australian Challenger Infrastructure fund took a 27 per cent stake, while merchant bank UBS took 18 per cent. The remaining share of the company is divided between an Australian pension fund and infrastructure investor Paceweald.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2010, Southern Water declared pre-tax profits of over £300 million, while domestic users paid an average of £330 in water charges per year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2007, OFWAT, the water regulator in England and Wales imposed a £20 million fine on Southern Water for supplying false customer service data. The data supplied by the company suggested it was performing better than was actually the case and resulted in higher domestic water charges for its customers. In 2008, the British Environment Agency named Southern Water as Britain’s second biggest polluting water firm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img align="left" height="224" hspace="4" src="http://eirigi.org/images/water_charges_protest.jpg" vspace="5" width="320" />According to OFWAT, domestic water and sewage bills have increased on average 44 per cent since the privatisation of the domestic water supply and sewage treatment system in England and Wales in 1989. In 2008, the average household bill in England and Wales was £330. However, the water regulator has since approved increased tariffs and households in England and Wales will face higher bills this year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Minhan, the experience of households in England and Wales will be repeated in the Twenty-Six Counties.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Despite the establishment propaganda, the introduction of domestic water charges has little to do with water conservation and everything to do with creating a profit boon for global corporations and the privatisation of public services,” Minihan added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The 2008 Local Government Management Services Board on Service Indicators in Local Authorities revealed that two-thirds of local authorities in the state lost 40 per cent of water through leaking pipes."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“In order to conserve water, the Dublin government needs to invest in fixing the creaking water infrastructure and introducing genuine water conservation measures. Instead, householders now face the prospect of charges for their domestic water supply in order to pay off the debts of rich bankers and developers."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“While Phil Hogan claims that householders will get a free allocation of water before charges are imposed, a similar yarn was spun when Dublin City Council introduced the bin tax almost 10 years ago. Yet, from next year, low income householders in Dublin City Council face a charge for bin collection of €208. In addition, the household waste collection service is being increasingly privatised.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Minihan concluded: “éirígí is part of the No Water Tax campaign and is committed to playing its part in building a vigorous campaign of opposition to water tax across the Twenty-Six Counties and to ensuring the domestic water supply remains in public hands.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-84399951793400824132011-06-30T18:44:00.001+01:002011-06-30T18:44:00.329+01:00Newry Protest against Ongoing PSNI HarassmentProtest against ongoing MI5 and PSNI harassment of republicans, organised by éirígí.<br />
<br />
Saturday 2nd July. Ardmore PSNI barracks, Belfast Road, <b>Newry</b>, 2pm<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNt6AOafqJ8WiFUuNrfnTracKY0LEbHjGhi2LC5_y7aAQpaq6cdLKKkm-GhgsYkVkiIIsPuCjTuCk7n-U71zmY4PgrgB5ayDhOvtUUrLwtp8zQNlAKI0PTOvI9RcL5Y2ETz8-MHAgCjlw/s1600/Stiof%25C3%25A1n+%25C3%2593+Morna_1309110403369.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNt6AOafqJ8WiFUuNrfnTracKY0LEbHjGhi2LC5_y7aAQpaq6cdLKKkm-GhgsYkVkiIIsPuCjTuCk7n-U71zmY4PgrgB5ayDhOvtUUrLwtp8zQNlAKI0PTOvI9RcL5Y2ETz8-MHAgCjlw/s1600/Stiof%25C3%25A1n+%25C3%2593+Morna_1309110403369.png" /></a></div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-69814947703339554512011-06-30T12:01:00.000+01:002011-06-30T12:01:00.692+01:00The Political Face of the Gardaí<div style="text-align: justify;"><img align="right" alt="" height="213" hspace="4" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/royalvisit_dublin_18may4.jpg" vspace="2" width="320" />In the weeks preceding the visit of Elizabeth Windsor to Dublin in May, it was made quite clear that the Twenty-Six County state would not tolerate any form of political protest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In fact, anyone expressing any dissenting view from the official line that the commander-in-chief of Britain’s armed forces was welcome was to be regarded as a subversive troublemaker.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It began with the national media’s campaign to inform the Irish people that anyone who had the least objection to Windsor’s state visit was a political dinosaur. We were treated to warnings of doomsday scenarios in which crazed republicans, mad mullahs and members of the flat earth society would burn down or bomb our capital city to the ground. But, lest we panicked, we were assured that An Garda Síochána had a masterful plan to protect the peace from these nihilists intent only on rapine and destruction.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This plan involved the Gardaí instigating a campaign of political repression to a level not previously witnessed in the state for many years. Those who attempted to raise awareness of why Windsor should not be made welcome in Ireland were to be intimidated off the streets.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the days and weeks before the visit, political activists were followed around Dublin and stopped and questioned on every street. Personal possessions were confiscated, as well as political leaflets, flags and banners. Activists were body searched and photographed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite being shown a council permit, which allowed for the erection of political posters, Gardaí began to rip down the same posters, at first, only at night but, later, in broad daylight.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Gardaí behaved extremely aggressively; there was plenty of charming comments to political activists such as “<i>Just clear the fuck off home</i>” and “<i>We are going to sort ye out tomorrow</i> [the day of the Windsor’s arrival].” Responses to activists who spoke in Irish included <i>“I don‘t speak Polish”</i> and <i>“Just speak fucking English”</i>. A number of Gardaí would not give their name or number.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img align="left" alt="" height="240" hspace="4" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/royalvisit_dublin_18may11.jpg" vspace="4" width="320" />It has been remarked that, when needed, the Gardaí are nowhere to be found in certain, invariably working class, communities in Dublin. Therefore, the scene of thousands of Gardaí crowding our streets to squash any political dissent before and during the Windsor visit demands explanation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The short answer is that the Gardaí, just like police forces the world over, are a political organisation. Their first duty is the protection of the state and the protection of the interests of those who run the state. The promotion of crime-free environments in working class communities is way down the list of obligations, if on the list at all.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The measures taken by the Gardaí over the past weeks is a worrying sign and raises concerns for all citizens in the Twenty-Six Counties who value political freedom. Now Windsor has been and gone, what next might the state declare offensive or a threat to public order? What campaign or opinion might they next attempt to close down or silence?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now that the Gardaí have discovered that they can suppress civil liberties without any outcry from the public, how far will they push their new found powers?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There has long been an attitude among political activists to simply accept whatever harassment they receive from the Gardaí as ‘just the way things are’. This attitude has got to change.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Republicans and socialists made a clear demonstration during the Windsor visit that the streets do not belong to the Gardaí. They belong to us, the citizens of Ireland. Irish citizens have every right to organise and express their views without harassment. People must become educated on their rights. They must learn to stand calm and firm in the face of state intimidation and to challenge it at every opportunity.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We cannot allow a situation to develop in this country where those in power believe that they will be able to close down any political activity that they wish.</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-41341819053275244742011-06-29T10:58:00.000+01:002011-06-29T10:58:00.594+01:00Anti-Racism World Cup 2011<div style="text-align: justify;">The Anti-Racism World Cup (ARWC) will take place again this year at Donegal Celtic FC in West Belfast from Friday 22 July through to Sunday 24th. For the last five years teams have travelled from across the world to play against teams from various ethnic minority groups and from local communities in Belfast and across Ireland.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.antiracismworldcup.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Banner.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="74" src="http://www.antiracismworldcup.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Banner.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last years tournament involved over 500 local people and 100 international guests and was a showcase for Anti-Racism against a backdrop of an upsurge of racist attacks in Belfast.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This year the ARWC intend to bring more teams to Belfast, including for the first time a Palestinian youth team, and to make the tournament the largest anti-racist event in Ireland in 2011</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxDyym-sTOkJfRxtjIaWyp9aES2PGDYT7SsrJMeD6MwcdoO2QmgYrstWSRl9HQ1-Wwa5ULs7f8dwRb7X_AT3Q' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">The Teams and their supporters take part not just in a weekend of football with local Irish Teams but also participate in political talks, exchanging ideas and talking about their experiences with local groups and individuals, and of course there’s the top class international and local music line-up and the family fun fair. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If your organisation would like to become part of the ARWC come along to the launch or contact <span style="color: blue;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="mailto:stevearwc@hotmail.com">stevearwc@hotmail.com</a></u></span></span> or alternatively log on to their website for more details by clicking <a href="http://www.antiracismworldcup.net%20/">here <span style="color: blue;"><span lang="zxx"></span></span></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkKn-r9U3wRB6y9sqLeUfhZAWp1Gylx-KNCHdiojeWnrOTSoQvTRM_iqRKXMNffJpzzcTMqpMWliQguTdznscrTfJjDEcknbKVe328mEWayn-NDAQh7HWeE46ChehTTWRuNbwO4W_UjzY/s1600/264033_2135923719750_1295816101_32581462_1569942_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkKn-r9U3wRB6y9sqLeUfhZAWp1Gylx-KNCHdiojeWnrOTSoQvTRM_iqRKXMNffJpzzcTMqpMWliQguTdznscrTfJjDEcknbKVe328mEWayn-NDAQh7HWeE46ChehTTWRuNbwO4W_UjzY/s320/264033_2135923719750_1295816101_32581462_1569942_n.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6V0zYePe4lfyx8I3F2i5YKeS65rQJCLBUDiLjZVZqiDyc2iBktdXXcSUacQGw-RGb6oqYlHMb9N9nAuJM_VZtidHV-fs0B7m1GfxbWEWxBQHHuou-FdQfbtf-KbwvSXtJ_2CBa3jx_A/s1600/264033_2135923759751_1295816101_32581463_4750270_n.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL6V0zYePe4lfyx8I3F2i5YKeS65rQJCLBUDiLjZVZqiDyc2iBktdXXcSUacQGw-RGb6oqYlHMb9N9nAuJM_VZtidHV-fs0B7m1GfxbWEWxBQHHuou-FdQfbtf-KbwvSXtJ_2CBa3jx_A/s320/264033_2135923759751_1295816101_32581463_4750270_n.jpg" width="230" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-76246181283611539382011-06-28T22:35:00.012+01:002011-06-28T22:35:00.382+01:00Saor Éire 2011 – A gathering for socialists and republicans: Video Essay<div style="text-align: justify;">On May 7th of this year, éirígí held a day long conference in the Aisling Hotel in Dublin entitled <i>"Saor Éire 2011 – A gathering for socialists and republicans"</i>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Below are a number of video's of addresses made to the conference by a variety of speakers on a range of subjects.</div><br />
<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/mqf-2jwvyu0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/79eu_tBBujw/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/79eu_tBBujw&fs=1&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/79eu_tBBujw&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-71324744888530354672011-06-27T16:26:00.002+01:002011-06-27T16:26:00.778+01:00PSNI - Different Name, Same Aim<div style="text-align: justify;"><i>The following article was written by former Republican POW and Blanketman Alec McCrory from Belfast. It was written following a recent protest at Maghaberry prison in support of the Republican POW's</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Returning from the protest several cars and a minibus were stopped on the Miora Road by the RUC/PSNI. There were 8 to 10 land rovers present and a few dozen of the meanest looking cops dressed like something out of a Star Wars movie. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">All the passengers on the minibus, including children, were ordered out of the vehicle onto the hard shoulder where they were searched and asked for their personal details. This was the second time in an hour that the bus had been stopped; the first being on the Donegal Road as it was leaving Belfast. In total upward to thirty people were stopped and searched in what was clearly an intelligence gathering exercise. The protest at the jail, attended by 500 people, was peaceful and orderly throughout. It now appears that anyone, regardless of age, participating in peaceful protest will be targeted by the state.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vww9EM_pEkzvnJzcQeejMWI_80ZA73LhDGdl2zI8POLKxfwZBAMlEfiolbN4xM3L7UWS9gLkTa14Pvg_JePQUfL9HicXo6nS8RgyhMDZORT6tfB9uO0MMJoXT28O02FHd71SuaoI59Z7/s400/365.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vww9EM_pEkzvnJzcQeejMWI_80ZA73LhDGdl2zI8POLKxfwZBAMlEfiolbN4xM3L7UWS9gLkTa14Pvg_JePQUfL9HicXo6nS8RgyhMDZORT6tfB9uO0MMJoXT28O02FHd71SuaoI59Z7/s320/365.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier in the afternoon I was stopped on the Anderstown Road. Two land rovers and an unmarked police car were at the scene which makes one wonder whether Baggot's claim to be under resourced isn't just a gimmick to squeeze more money from the public pot. Any time I am stopped there would appear to be an abundance of resources on the ground. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As I stood on the road watching them going through personal documents, which they are not entitled to do under the legislation, I noted the interest being shown by passing motorists and pedestrians. A crowd of onlookers stood at the entrance of the Felons watching the proceedings with an enquiring gaze. Long gone are the days when people would stop to show their disapproval of such policing tactics, however, a few horns were sounded as a small gesture of solidarity. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> Is there a growing tolerance within our communities for this type of policing? Do people really believe that certain republicans deserve to be targeted by the state because of their political beliefs? Felon setting is alive and well in some quarters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Those who make excuses for political policing would do well to remember the not too distant past. When the IRA was the nemesis of the British state thousands of republicans were imprisoned under emergency laws designed to crush dissent. Under the guise of the international "War on Terror" laws protecting the human rights and civil liberties of citizens have been grossly undermined. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mFsjJc-dB3Z-F7tpSXCBU0l7kVaifTmIlyKz4lXh07J3ttPSFwQvC6UdVh5ISC2Buty5xAe_-0SdYJFL1sP9zADanJbSCt44LWhGjYA6H7jOuUe97TrnKdthPEhU_4_LTEh778pEJVjf/s400/RUC-PSNI_firing_plastic_bullets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mFsjJc-dB3Z-F7tpSXCBU0l7kVaifTmIlyKz4lXh07J3ttPSFwQvC6UdVh5ISC2Buty5xAe_-0SdYJFL1sP9zADanJbSCt44LWhGjYA6H7jOuUe97TrnKdthPEhU_4_LTEh778pEJVjf/s320/RUC-PSNI_firing_plastic_bullets.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The RUC/PSNI has greater powers today than before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Anti-terror legislation is so wide-ranging that Marion Price was re-imprisoned for "encouraging support for terrorism". It is no longer necessary to commit an offense to find oneself in prison. The repressive arm of the British state will be used to silence all who continue to swim against the tide of normalisation. </div><br />
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Beware of the wolf in sheep's clothing.éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-27407901079712445792011-06-26T19:09:00.000+01:002011-06-26T19:09:27.366+01:00Fifth Anglo Irish Protester’s Case Thrown out of Court<strong>Justice – Twenty-Six County Style</strong><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Those attending Court 17 of the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin on Friday June 17 were given a master class on just how ‘justice’ in the Twenty-Six Counties is dispensed. It took District Court Judge McDonnell less than ninety minutes to throw the case against éirígí’s Daithí Mac An Mháistir out of court. Under normal circumstances this verdict would have been a cause for celebration for the accused, so why was it that it was the Gardaí in Court 17 that had smiles on their faces?</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/anglo7_dublin_18jan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/anglo7_dublin_18jan2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">And why was it that a crucial piece of defence evidence - in the form of a tape recording from inside of Pearse Street Garda barracks – was handed by the courts to the Gardaí, despite the fact that the tape recording had not been played in court?</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
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</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><strong>Anglo Irish Bank Protest May 15th 2010</strong></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
To fully understand what happened on Friday 17th one has first to go back to May 15, 2010 when four éirígí activists staged an early morning protest on the roof of the front porch of the Anglo Irish Bank building on Dublin’s Stephens Green. Five hours into their protest the four, Ursula Ní Shionnain, Daithi Ó Riain, Robbie Fox and Eoin Ó Se were violently removed from the porch by the Gardaí.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">In the minutes that followed a further three people, John McCusker, Pádraig Ó Meiscill and Daithí Mac An Mháistir were arrested by baton-yielding Gardaí on the ground. All seven éirígí activists were then brought to Pearse Street Garda barracks before appearing in the Bridewell Court on a range of public order charges. While six of the accused were immediately released on bail, McCusker spent forty-eight hours in Clover Hill Prison at the behest of the Gardaí who claimed they were not satisfied that McCusker was who he said he was. Click here for a full report on the Anglo Irish protest of May 15, 2010.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
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</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><strong>McCusker and Ó Meiscill – Convicted and Appealed</strong></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
On January 18th 2011 the case against McCusker and Ó Meiscill case was heard by Judge Watkins in the District Court in the Criminal Courts of Justice. Both men were charged under the controversial Public Order Act 1994, a piece of legislation which has attracted widespread criticism since it was introduced. In its prosecution the state failed to produce any video or photographic evidence, or any non-Garda witnesses.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">In effect the case boiled down to whether the judge believed the word of the Gardaí or the word of the defendants. Despite the many inconsistencies and contradictions contained within the Garda evidence Judge Watkins chose to believe the Gardaí. But before convicting the two Belfast men she took the opportunity to call them liars and repeatedly question what business people from ‘outside the jurisdiction’ had attending a protest in Dublin. Both men immediately appealed their convictions, which have yet to be heard.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0YneqZlYIo-5E7AmM6gFeiRSLhG0wOjKR5SB1NbFnxJGnGAjxcB7dblWjau4b-Bl9pzqIbA6iaoHcY_GtY140CrAhR_CO429x8hGFssVe88Bg6K_oHWg7wBM5od9lXh7W8rZAj2eiuf_/s400/DSCF3078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN0YneqZlYIo-5E7AmM6gFeiRSLhG0wOjKR5SB1NbFnxJGnGAjxcB7dblWjau4b-Bl9pzqIbA6iaoHcY_GtY140CrAhR_CO429x8hGFssVe88Bg6K_oHWg7wBM5od9lXh7W8rZAj2eiuf_/s320/DSCF3078.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><strong>Ní Shionnain, Ó Riain, Fox and Ó Se – Case Thrown out of Court</strong></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
On April 4th 2011 the case against the four people who had taken part in the protest on the roof of the porch of Anglo Irish Headquarters was heard. On this occasion the state alleged that Ní Shionnain, Ó Riain, Fox and Ó Se had breached Section 13 of the Public Order Act, by trespassing on the roof of the porch of the Anglo Irish Bank headquarters in a <em>‘manner as causes or is likely to cause fear in another person’</em>. In reality the four had climbed onto the roof and erected a large banner with the words ‘People of Ireland Rise Up!’ emblazoned upon it.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">During their trial a number of Garda and civilian witnesses gave testimony that was simply untrue, variously claiming that the protest represented a safety risk and that the four were aggressive, abusive and threatening. The opportunity to fully refute these untruths was denied to the defendants when the judge threw the case out of court before the defence had even begun.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">As the prosecution presented its case it emerged that the porch roof constituted a ‘common area’ which all tenants of the building had the right to access. While the state brought representatives from Irish Life Assurance, which owns the building, and Anglo Irish Bank, which part occupy the building, it failed to bring a representative from ESB International, the second co-tenant of the building. Without a representative from ESB International in court to deny that the company had given the four éirígí activists permission to access the porch the judge had no option but to acquit the accused as the state had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were in fact trespassing.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
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</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><strong>Daithí Mac An Mháistir – The Prosecution, May 9th, 2011</strong></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
Accused of breaching Section 6 of the Public Order Act, Daithí Mac An Mháistir was the last of the seven éirígí activists who had been charged on May 15th 2010 to be brought to trial. His trial was conducted over two days with the prosecution presenting their case on the afternoon of May 9th and the defence refuting the charges on June 17th.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may24.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">The case against Mac An Mháistir was, like the cases against Ó Meiscill and McCusker, based exclusively on the testimony of a number of Garda witnesses. Despite the alleged offence having taken place at the rear of a bank headquarters on one of Dublin’s busiest streets the state failed to produce any video or photographic footage from Anglo Irish Bank, Dublin City Council, adjacent buildings or any other source. Stranger still the state failed to produce any Garda video or photographic evidence despite the fact that a number of Gardaí were using both video and stills camera’s throughout the May 15th protest.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Nor were any civilian witnesses brought in to back up the Garda allegations, even though the alleged offences took place on a bustling city street on a Saturday afternoon. So when the state accused Mac An Mháistir of <em>‘threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace or being reckless as to whether a breach of the peace may be occasioned’</em>, it did so solely on the basis of the word of three Gardaí.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">As is so often the case with Garda witnesses each of the three provided a strange mix of testimony, which was at times very definitive and yet at other times very vague. For example all three Garda witnesses recounted hearing the defendant shouting a range of colourful obscenities at the Garda line. And yet the same witnesses couldn’t hear, or couldn’t recall, what words Superintendant Joe Gannon had used when directing the protesters to move out of the way just minutes later. When asked if Gannon had used the correct formula of words when invoking Section 8 of the Public Order Act, or had Gannon just told people to get out of the way the Garda witnesses previously excellent powers of recall hit a convenient blind spot.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"> </div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Another example of this schizophrenic recall saw each of the three Garda witnesses give a very precise recollection of seeing Mac An Mháistir step out of the line of protesters and ‘push’ or ‘shove’ Gannon, before running away. Yet the same witnesses had very vague recollections of if, when, why or how the Gardaí had drawn and used their batons against unarmed protesters.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">One witness, a Garda O’Brien, who was capable of remembering that he had drawn his baton, was incapable of remembering why he or any of his colleagues hadn’t subsequently completed the requisite baton report form. Nor had he any recollection of hearing Superintendant Joe Gannon of Pearse Street tell him that there would blood spilled at the éirígí protest in the days before May 15th.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">In previous cases involving éirígí activists, Garda witnesses have revealed special powers to rival those of the X-men, with extraordinary powers of recall and x-ray vision being the most common special powers. On this occasion the super-human hearing of Templemore’s finest was on display, when Garda O’Brien revealed that he was able to hear things that weren’t even said. He told the court that one of the four protesters on the porch roof had threatened to jump off if the Gardaí came any closer – a ridiculous claim that was met with open laughter from many in the public gallery.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">In relation to the defendant’s arrest and the sequence of events directly prior to his arrest, each of the three Gardaí recounted near-identical versions of what they had claimed to have seen. Those sitting in the public gallery could have been forgiven for thinking that these testimonies had been scripted and rehearsed. The striking similarities between each of the Garda accounts were all the more remarkable when one understands that they collectively bore little resemblance to what actually happened, as borne out by contemporary photos and videos.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">A Garda O’Riordan, the arresting officer, testified that she had witnessed a line of protesters and a line of Gardaí in a standoff; that the defendant had stepped out of the line of protesters to push Superintendant Gannon; that she had chased the defendant and grabbed his arm; that he had pushed her backwards and that Garda O’Brien had come to her assistance to effect the arrest.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">When it was put to O’Riordan that the defendant had been put to the ground on three separate occasions by the Gardaí, she denied that this had happened. When it was put to the O’Riordan that she had put the defendant in a headlock she denied that this too had happened. And yet video footage from the protest clearly shows the defendant on the ground on three separate occasions and also shows the O’Riordan putting the defendant in a headlock.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">By the time the prosecution had completed its deeply flawed case it was late afternoon, meaning that the defence could not be heard. Following a lengthy discussion June 17th emerged as the next available date that Judge McDonald, the state prosecutor and the defence were all available to complete the case.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">But before the court rose the defence moved to admit an important piece of evidence on the basis that the relevant witness would not be able to attend the court on June 17th. When it emerged that the witness, Robert Sevcik was in possession of a tape recording from inside of Pearse Street Garda barracks the atmosphere within the court shifted dramatically. Now it was the turn of the state prosecutor and the Gardaí to start sweating.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">When he took the stand Sevcik explained that he had taken part in an anti-fur protest outside of Barnardos furriers at the bottom of Grafton Street on the afternoon of May 15th 2010. During the course of the protest he had been arrested on public order offences by Gardaí based in Pearse Street. Prior to his arrest Sevcik had switched on a digital recording device which was subsequently taken from him when he was taken into Garda custody. When the device was returned to Sevcik a number of months later he discovered that the recording device had continued recording for a significant period of time inside of the Garda barracks.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Despite the best efforts of a clearly flustered state prosecutor to establish what exactly was on the tape the judge ruled that he would allow the tape recording to be played at the next court appearance on June 17. The disk which contained a copy of the recording was then placed in the care of the court registrar who was directed to lodge it in the court safe until June 17th.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
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</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><strong>Daithí Mac An Mháistir – The Defence, June 17th 2011</strong></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
Those who are familiar with court procedures know that it is normal practice for all parties to be present in the court before the judge enters the chamber, which usually occurs on time. On the afternoon of June 17th, however, Judge McDonnell and a number of Gardaí witnesses were almost half an hour late arriving in court, an unusual occurrence which set the tone for what was to follow.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may04.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">McDonnell aimed his first salvo at the defence, unusually demanding that any legal submissions be made at that point – prior to any element of the defence case being heard. When the defence questioned the legal basis for such a requirement he was instructed to leave the court to take direction from his client on the matter. Twenty minutes later the defence team and the accused returned to the court and informed the judge that they would not be making any submissions at this point, whilst reserving the right to make such submissions later in the case. If the judge thought that the defence were going to be bullied into making a submission which would allow him to throw the case out of court he was sadly mistaken.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Having failed to force the defence to make premature legal submissions McDonnell turned his attention to the state prosecutor, questioning the legal basis for the case being taken against the defendant. In a bizarre twist the Judge began to question at what point the defendant had been informed of the reason for his arrest.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">It should be noted that this issue had not been raised at any prior point by the prosecution or the defence. In effect the judge was introducing an entirely new element to the case – an element which legal experts believe would have been instantly dismissed by McDonnell or any other District Court judge had it been introduced by the defence. Having himself introduced the issue of when the defendant was informed of the reasons for his arrest, the judge went on to dismiss the arguments of the state prosecutor and use the issue as the basis for throwing the entire case out of court.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2010/nama_dublin_15may07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Having stopped the case before the defence had even started; Judge McDonnell produced the disk which Sevcik had brought to court on May 9th, allegedly to ensure that it could be returned to Sevcik. A disk that contained recordings of conversations between Gardaí inside of Pearse Street barracks on the day of the Anglo Irish protest. A disk that the Gardaí had not heard and did not have access to. A disk that had been submitted by a defence witness who had himself been the victim of Garda harassment and abuse.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">So how did Judge McDonnell propose to return the disk to Sevcik? By entrusting the disk to the Gardaí that were present in court – the very same Gardaí who had policed the protest at Anglo Irish Bank; the very same Gardaí who had forcibly removed the four éirígí protesters from the roof of the porch; the very same Gardaí who had attacked unarmed protesters with batons; the very same Gardaí who had arrested the seven éirígí activists; the very same Gardaí who can be heard on the tape recording from inside Pearse Street barracks.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Those sitting in the public gallery could hardly believe what was happening in front of them. And neither could the defence who informed the judge that the tape recording was to be used in two other cases at the Circuit Court and should therefore not be handed over to the Gardaí. A plea that fell on deaf ears.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">And with that the disk was handed to Garda O’Brien, the baton-happy cop who had told the court that he had heard an éirígí activist threaten to jump off the roof during the May 15th protest. One thing is for certain – he won’t have needed his super powers to figure out which of his colleagues can be heard on the Pearse Street recording.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Before Judge McDonnell finished his day’s work he took the opportunity to take one final swipe at the defence when he declared that it had conducted itself in an ‘improper’ manner and that it was his belief that the case was to be used for ‘collateral’ reasons. Strange that he was able to draw these conclusions when the defence had been denied the opportunity to utter one word of a defence or outline how it intended to refute the charges that had been brought against Mac An Mháistir. Nor had the judge heard the Pearse Street recording. Yeah, sure he hadn’t!</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-5933804823799464822011-06-25T13:05:00.000+01:002011-06-25T13:05:58.820+01:00Emigration Continues to Rise<div align="CENTER" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">We have all got it wrong and we should be thankful for the great opportunities we are now presented with. That's not the view of éirígí but it appears to be the thinking of former Progressive Democrat (PD) Minister Liz O'Donnell.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.lizodonnell.ie/filestore/images/2nd%20photo%20without%20background.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.lizodonnell.ie/filestore/images/2nd%20photo%20without%20background.JPG" width="239" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">She was speaking on national radio last week following the release of a report showing a massive increase in the numbers emigrating from our shores once again. According to the document from the British governments Department for Work and Pensions, more than 13,000 people moved from Ireland to Britain in search of work in 2010. This is a massive increase of 25% on the 2009 figure of 11,050. The numbers have been steadily increasing since 2006 when the figure for emigration to Britain was 9,500.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">As far as Liz is concerned however, this is just one great adventure for these people to enjoy. She tried to equate it with a student or some other young person taking a year or two out to travel the world and possibly work abroad before they return home to finish college or pursue their career. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">But these are not the same things. They are in fact totally different. The stark reality is that the tens of thousands of Irish people who are now leaving our shores and heading for Britain, Europe, Australia, the US and elsewhere are doing so not out of choice. This is not an adventure for them. This is forced emigration from which many of these people will never return.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">While the economic collapse and the lack of government action to secure and create employment is the main reason for this exodus, it alone is not the full story. As thousands and thousands of workers started to lose their jobs in recent years, both the previous Fianna Fáil led administration and now the current Fine Gael/Labour coalition have set about introducing measure after measure to try to humiliate them and make life as miserable for them as possible.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://electryanstewart.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dole-queue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://electryanstewart.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dole-queue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">And it is no co-incidence that the vast majority of those who emigrated to Britain, more than 6000, were in the 18 – 24 age bracket. While social welfare cuts have been imposed right across the board, this age group has been particularly singled out for harsh treatment.. Under 21's had their dole reduced to €100 a week while those in the 22-24 year old bracket had theirs reduced to €150 a week making it virtually impossible for them to survive on the dole in this country. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-weight: normal;">So what we seen was young people either losing their jobs or unable to get a job through no fault of their own when they finished their education. As if that was not bad enough, they were then forced to wait up to 16 weeks to receive their pittance of an entitlement, all the time being forced to jump through hoops needlessly. As we previously highlighted (click <a href="http://eirigisligeach.blogspot.com/2011/06/social-welfare-real-fraud.html">here</a>) many were refused what they were entitled to and would then possibly have to wait up to twelve months for their appeal against that decision to be heard.</div><div align="LEFT" class="western"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Responding to the emigration figures, éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey said the massive increase was shameful but comes as no surprise.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.myguideireland.com/images/stories/Ireland/dublin%20airport/Dublin%20Airport-departures2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.myguideireland.com/images/stories/Ireland/dublin%20airport/Dublin%20Airport-departures2.jpg" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">He said: <i>“The upsurge in the numbers of people, particularly young people, emigrating from our shores is an indictment of the political classes and their bankrupt capitalist ideology.”</i></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">“<i>As unemployment skyrocketed, the previous Fianna Fáil led administration introduced measures which were calculated decisions to make life here unbearable for the jobless. In particular their cuts aimed at 18-24 year olds were undertaken specifically to force these young people to emigrate in order to hide the true extent of unemployment in the twenty six county state. These policies have shamefully now been adopted by the new Fine Gael/Labour coalition despite pre-election promises to protect the most vulnerable.”</i></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Reacting to the recent comments of Liz O'Donnell, Casey described them as <i>“despicable”</i> and said that she is not alone among the political classes in attempting to portray forced emigration in a positive light. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Casey said: <i>“Last year former Tanaiste Mary Coughlan of Fianna Fáil told BBC radio how she thought that emigration 'wasnt a bad thing'. Now this tells us one of two things. Either these politicians have no idea whatsoever about the hardships and deprivation that they have caused and how their decisions have torn families apart – or – they know exactly the misery that they have and are continuing to inflict upon working people and the unemployed. Either way, it is indefensible and unforgivable.”</i></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.sligotoday.ie/st-panel/openwysiwyg/uploads/barmy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.sligotoday.ie/st-panel/openwysiwyg/uploads/barmy.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">“<i>Indeed not content with just forcing our young people to emigrate, this state and its agencies also felt it appropriate to act as recruiting agents for the British army. Last April it was revealed that Fás had written to unemployed people in the Limerick region advising them of 'careers' in the British army. Aside from the fact that in doing so they were acting illegally, that they considered it justifiable to recruit young Irish people as cannon fodder to advance British Imperialism around the globe shows their contempt for their own citizens.”</i></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-49971123250171882812011-06-22T17:22:00.000+01:002011-06-22T17:22:46.641+01:00Short Strand defiant in face of Sectarian Attacks<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <br />
Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has said the response of the RUC/PSNI to the ongoing loyalist attacks on the Short Strand area of Belfast is yet further evidence of a force not to be trusted by nationalists. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Casey was speaking following the second night of attacks by hundreds of loyalists on the homes of families in the small nationalist enclave of the Short Strand in East Belfast.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9DtuJXbjbAfcZA6XrXz2HlreBY9WSey4pvU9EjLXYeTPMGYQxZ6s_g9r3aK1S58qPSGQnhNDWcJHLAkqYCR5g6iCQhyiaHQwM2R3h-I4b1sEOuhsCCfgloJjirf4L6-v7OcNoRrLpk4k/s1600/Short+Strand+1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9DtuJXbjbAfcZA6XrXz2HlreBY9WSey4pvU9EjLXYeTPMGYQxZ6s_g9r3aK1S58qPSGQnhNDWcJHLAkqYCR5g6iCQhyiaHQwM2R3h-I4b1sEOuhsCCfgloJjirf4L6-v7OcNoRrLpk4k/s400/Short+Strand+1.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Casey said: “As loyalists continued to fire missiles at people's homes, the RUC/PSNI made no meaningful effort to stop them or protect residents. Many local people were injured, some seriously, while dozens of homes were damaged during the attacks.”</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">“Only for the bravery of the local residents who defied and fought off this UVF led attack on their area, there would have been even more widespread carnage and destruction.”</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">“We have all seen the speed and brutality with which the RUC/PSNI act against nationalists and republicans engaged in peaceful protests, the protests against sectarian marches through Ardoyne last summer being a prime example. Yet here we had masked and armed UVF thugs violently attacking a small isolated nationalist enclave causing injuries and destruction with the RUC/PSNI effectively standing by allowing them to do so. When they did intervene, they fired plastic bullets injuring young nationalists attempting to protect their area from further attack.”<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI67tDyuItA2xudu-0yklTd8Bxa61su0DeXG2xedWH7fUNdzmHFRuYSc4aMv22IbPfQa4dN57nRkrr5sQBwc040n8MP_hzy41gCbS4zDqE3Qd-48lNgW1RfbEXz_Z6DQXmkh7iywMVeJQ/s1600/shortstrand_20jun2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI67tDyuItA2xudu-0yklTd8Bxa61su0DeXG2xedWH7fUNdzmHFRuYSc4aMv22IbPfQa4dN57nRkrr5sQBwc040n8MP_hzy41gCbS4zDqE3Qd-48lNgW1RfbEXz_Z6DQXmkh7iywMVeJQ/s400/shortstrand_20jun2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<br />
"Also reprehensible has been comments from the RUC/PSNI in the media portraying this as 'clashes' between two rival sets of rioters. Many media outlets have also swallowed this line and have reported it as such. The reality is that once again the Short Strand is under siege by sectarian loyalist thugs who want to rid East Belfast of all nationalists. These are unprovoked sectarian attacks on a small vulnerable community. They should be described and reported as such and the people of the Short Strand should be commended for their determined resistance and assisted in any way possible."</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">éirígí national vice-chairperson Rab Jackson and the party’s Upper Falls representative Pádraic Mac Coitir visited the Short Strand on Tuesday to show solidarity with residents and to meet with local éirígí activists and community workers.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMoYNplU__ucgd2Lf9p0jrur_kauvc2ZrQyL5WtnwjbP0i3uu1DLog8mGqjf0skP09_MItiWXfQy7T-i8Cbsc34CpU6Ejo4J3ZpuGCu1ZsybSZhXqeJM426uSRun2DjE8cXcdHQy4fNjk/s1600/easter_5apr_belfast4.jpeg.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMoYNplU__ucgd2Lf9p0jrur_kauvc2ZrQyL5WtnwjbP0i3uu1DLog8mGqjf0skP09_MItiWXfQy7T-i8Cbsc34CpU6Ejo4J3ZpuGCu1ZsybSZhXqeJM426uSRun2DjE8cXcdHQy4fNjk/s400/easter_5apr_belfast4.jpeg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pádraic MacCoitir & Rab Jackson</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western"></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">The two were shown some of the most badly damaged houses and talked to residents who said they had experienced the most terrifying night in a long time."<br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Jackson said: “Nationalists are sick, sore and tired of the fact that every time there are difficulties within unionism, this manifests itself in violent sectarian attacks. Ultimately, what we witnessed last night was the cranking up of a unionist mob – at the behest of the UVF – that simply doesn’t want a catholic about the place in east Belfast.”<br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">“The attack on the Short Strand is also an indicator of the total failure of what is called the peace process and those who police it to protect nationalists in vulnerable areas.”<br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">Jackson added: “The people of the Short Strand are to be commended for their bravery in confronting the UVF and eventually forcing them from the area.”<br />
<br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western">“The Short Strand community has a long and proud history of defending their area from British and unionist aggression, éirígí is confident that the current generation of residents will be no less determined.”</div><div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-81898429984724187642011-06-20T21:53:00.000+01:002011-06-20T21:53:09.240+01:00Labour Party Hypocrisy Exposed with Water Tax Vote<div style="text-align: justify;">The hypocrisy of the Twenty-Six County Labour Party was further exposed at the monthly meeting of Dublin City Council on Monday last [June 13].</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite that party’s pre-election posturing as defenders of the working class, its councillors voted against a motion opposing the introduction of both a domestic water tax and a new ‘household charge’. And so Labour made explicit its commitment to the introduction of two new regressive taxes which will hurt the poorest and most vulnerable the most.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/watercharges_dublin_13jun1.jpg" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The motion, which had been submitted by éirígí Councillor Louise Minihan, read:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>That this council condemns the decision by the Minister for Environment Phil Hogan to introduce: </em></div><ul id="bullet" style="text-align: justify;"><li id="bullet"><em>Water meters to every home in the state;</em></li>
<em> </em>
<li id="bullet"><em>A flat rate household charge which is a property tax in all but name.</em></li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;"> <em> </em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Both measures outlined by the government are in reality, unjustifiable stealth taxes. The notion that the government hands are tied on these matters exposes that it is the EU/IMF that is in total control of this state.</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <em> </em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em><img height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/watercharges_dublin_13jun2.jpg" width="460" /></em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <em> </em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>This council also recognises that at the end of 2010 45,000 households were in mortgage arrears, 443, 400 people are unemployed and the introduction of these charges and will only serve to push struggling families further into poverty and hardship.</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <em> </em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>At a time when the communities we represent are suffering from the effects of an economic crisis that they were not responsible for creating, it is the role of elected representatives to use their platform to serve the interest of the people, and not the agenda of a wealthy elite, or the greed of EU/IMF - which is the only agenda that can be served by the imposition of unjust stealth taxes, that will hit hardest those, who can least afford to pay it.</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> <em> </em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><em>Dublin City Council is committed to opposing any introduction of water charges, the so-called ‘interim household charge’ and the eventual introduction of a property tax.</em></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Following a debate that lasted close to an hour, 27 Labour and Fine Gael City Councillors voted against, while 13 éirígí, independent and Sinn Fein Councillors voted in favour. Fianna Fáil and a single Labour councillor abstained, meaning that the motion was defeated by 27 votes to 13.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/watercharges_dublin_13jun3.jpg" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prior to the commencement of the City Council meeting, 20 éirígí activists took part in an anti-water tax / household charge protest outside of City Hall.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Speaking at the protest Louise Minihan said, “Prior to the general election the Labour Party told people that they would moderate the most extreme right-wing policies of Fine Gael. There is little doubt that many people voted for the Labour Party because they believed those pre-election promises. But now, just weeks after the election, the Labour Party are showing their true colours. Instead of opposing the introduction of a domestic water tax and household charge they are instead acting as apologists for their senior coalition partners.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Over the course of the next few years the right-wing establishment will attempt to introduce a domestic water tax which will ultimately lead to the privatisation of that most necessary of natural resources. The only thing that will stop the introduction of a water tax is a mass, community-based campaign of opposition. The building of that campaign must now begin in earnest. Tonight was just the start of éirígí’s contribution to the campaign to defeat these unjust taxes – a start upon which will build into the future.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-30148366523853763492011-06-20T19:36:00.000+01:002011-06-20T19:36:39.040+01:00Protest Highlights MI5 & PSNI Harassment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzQZLuwag5TvfDNAXvjYg_ZxrLNQg4ogU9icT5Y8Tsl1gR1ckiLN0QV_8Oj3ZURY0GFQlRHapUVgJd0Ir4J4A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="text-align: justify;">+ </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 70 people gathered at Grosvenor Road Barracks in Belfast on Saturday [June 18] to demonstrate their opposition to the ongoing harassment of republicans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The protest, organised by éirígí, was called in the aftermath of an upsurge of intimidatory behaviour by the PSNI and British intelligence agencies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Among the crowd were many éirígí activists, republican ex-prisoners, family members of serving political prisoners, community workers and others.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In recent weeks, both the PSNI and MI5 have upped their harassment of republican activists and ex-prisoners, in the process often tormenting young families and placing huge strain on many individuals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img height="307" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/psni_belfast_18jun1.jpg" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Towards the end of the demo, the protestors gathered at the entrance to the barracks where they were addressed by éirígí’s representative for the Upper Falls area Pádraic Mac Coitir.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">As Mac Coitir began speaking, a number of PSNI landrovers attempted to drive through the crowd of protestors at high speed. However, the protesters refused to be cowed and the PSNI were forced to wait until the proceedings had ended before entering the base.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mac Coitir encouraged anyone who has been on the receiving end of harassment to immediately contact their solicitor and inform other members of their community so assistance could be forthcoming.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith commended those who attended the protest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img height="345" src="http://eirigi.org/images/2011/psni_belfast_18jun2.jpg" width="460" /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">“At a time when anybody who is seen to be out of step with the establishment point of view is deemed suspect, or worse, being outright ciminalised, it is encouraging to see that so many Belfast republicans took the time to attend Saturday’s demonstration."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“It is important to show the British state and its agencies that we will not be intimidated nor will we allow republicans to be isolated and marginalised.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mac Cionnaith added: “The most depressing aspect of the current campaign of harassment is that the nefarious activities of MI5 and the PSNI are completely legal, according to British law, under the Justice & Security Act of 2007. At the time, éirígí were the only party to point out that the Act was about normalising repression in the Six Counties and giving it a permanent legal footing – there is now abundant evidence to support this position.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“éirígí will continue to campaign against political policing and the activities of the British intelligence agencies. It is time all those who claim to uphold the human rights of nationalists began to do likewise.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-35345127702570291352011-06-20T11:30:00.012+01:002011-06-20T12:36:38.840+01:00Fine Gael & Labour Treat Cancer Patients with Contempt<div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Fine Gael Minister and TD for Sligo/north Leitrim John Perry has been accused of treating cancer patients and their families with contempt in order to further his own political career.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpl2Qeo-TxPM53kvT5LTuCQTi1SUD1vR6fA8Bx-64XJ3j26x__yMvTKBUDWJs04a0v26CGjm7VWpPGWt5exT6eTw8Fv0ddQJJKb2zubKnHEOqO5t4pTplE-QswcRTdcyTlORDgyYLdHQ/s1600/Enda+keeps+cards+close+to+his+chest+-+News%252C+frontpage+-+Sligochampion.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJpl2Qeo-TxPM53kvT5LTuCQTi1SUD1vR6fA8Bx-64XJ3j26x__yMvTKBUDWJs04a0v26CGjm7VWpPGWt5exT6eTw8Fv0ddQJJKb2zubKnHEOqO5t4pTplE-QswcRTdcyTlORDgyYLdHQ/s1600/Enda+keeps+cards+close+to+his+chest+-+News%252C+frontpage+-+Sligochampion.jpg" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sligo/north Leitrim FG TD's John Perry & Tony McLoughlin flank their leader Enda Kenny in Sligo</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">In a scathing attack éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey also accused Perry of gross dishonesty and of engaging in a deliberate deception to dupe people into voting for him and Fine Gael at the general election.</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">Casey was speaking following a press conference held on Friday (June 17) in Sligo Park Hotel by Perry relating to his pledge to have breast cancer services returned to Sligo General Hospital (SGH) within 100 days of Fine Gael taking power. Friday marked the 101st day of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">At the press conference, cancer care campaigners from the north-west called on Perry to resign his seat as promised by him if the services were not delivered within those 100 days. This is just one of a series of U-turns carried out by the Fine Gael/Labour coalition since assuming power. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">(Below is a video of Friday's press conference courtesy of <i>Sligo today</i>. The second video below, also courtesy of <i>Sligo Today</i> shows the pre-election commitments given by John Perry, Susan O'Keefe, Tony McLoughlin and other politicians in relation to restoring breast cancer services to SGH)</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/OoMrPyu8N2A?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">In a statement released after the press conference the </span>Save Our Cancer Services - North West campaign called on Fine Gael and Labour representatives to resign their seats.<br />
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<i>"This is a profoundly disappointing and disturbing day, not only for the North West region and healthcare provision, but for the image and integrity of politicians and the democratic process itself. It is very clear that both Fine Gael and Labour gave unambiguous commitments to restore cancer services to Sligo General Hospital on assuming power and those promises and commitments were predicated on the reality that to leave one half of the country denuded of these services was not only very bad governance regarding the running of a health service but it was grossly unfair and discriminatory."</i></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><i><br />
"These commitments and pledges are well documented and it is disingenuous, to say the least, for anyone to suggest now that there may be some valid excuse or explanation for reneging on them. To do so merely adds to the growing and dangerous disconnect that is emerging between the electorate and politicians."</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Expressing his support for the cancer care campaigners, éirígí activist Gerry Casey said: </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">“Perry's pledge to the people in the north west was unequivocal – the return of breast cancer services within 100 days or he would resign. There was no ambiguity, no room for any fudge.”</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">“The time is up and Perry and his colleagues have not delivered on their promises. All the Fine Gael and Labour TD's and Senators in Sligo/north Leitrim should now live up their pre-election commitments and resign their seats. ”</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">“In the days before the general election, Labour Senator Susan O'Keefe went to great lengths, including erecting posters, outlining her and Labours pledge to return breast cancer services and indeed make SGH a ninth centre of excellence."</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">"During that whole campaign she made much of her so-called 'integrity'. People can now see clearly for themselves how little integrity O'Keefe actually has. She refuses to resign her seat or resign from the Labour party despite it supposedly being a 'red line issue' for her and Labour when she was looking for votes at the start of the year. Now as she collects her fat salary and generous expenses as a Senator, the suffering of cancer patients and their families in the north west have been quickly forgotten.”</span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuPCIvs5ZB-803NszulVbBLGgoLKrGj6KJzFkiQ7uKt3PKIjmgfA&t=1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTuPCIvs5ZB-803NszulVbBLGgoLKrGj6KJzFkiQ7uKt3PKIjmgfA&t=1" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan O'Keefe & Labour leader Eamon Gilmore making bogus pre-election promises to cancer care campaigners in Sligo City Hall</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div align="JUSTIFY" class="western" style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: small;">Casey concluded: “These broken promises show the true nature of our so-called democracy. Relying on electing politicians every five years is to a large degree meaningless as we have no control over what they do, what decisions they make once they get their grip on power. Occasionally putting a mark beside a candidate on a ballot paper is designed not to enable change or allow people's participation in decisions effecting their communities or country. It is designed to give people that illusion while the decision making processes remain firmly within the grip of the political and business classes that control this country."</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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</div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3258721182467379690.post-31875197261321166622011-06-17T10:00:00.000+01:002011-06-17T10:00:00.633+01:00Water Tax Will Be Resisted<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><i>Below is a letter which was published in this weeks edition of the Leitrim Observer (June 15). The letter, from éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey, was a reply to an editorial in the paper the previous week relating to the planned introduction of domestic water charges.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">A chara</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Please allow me reply to your editorial relating to the imminent introduction of water charges by Fine Gael and Labour.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">You say that “there is a great deal of water wastage in this country”. You add that “this charge will hopefully tackle the whole issue of water conservation and see a pro-active attitude towards water leakage and burst pipes”.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The vast majority of water wastage has absolutely nothing to do with domestic households, the people who will pay this new charge. Burst pipes, water leakage and industrial usage account for the vast majority of water wastage. For a fraction of the hundreds of millions they are to spend having water meters installed in every household, they could upgrade the water infrastructure, eradicating leaks and accompanying wastage.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Fine Gael and Labour are using the fig-leaf of “water conservation” as a cover to introduce a new tax, which will impact hardest once more on social welfare recipients and low and middle income earners. It is also the first step towards privatising another essential public service, the domestic water supply.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">And while talk of waivers for the less well off is occasionally mentioned, this is an attempt to deflect opposition from this double tax. Whether or not there is a waiver when water charges are introduced, you can be sure it wont remain in place too long. Remember the waivers with refuse charges? They are now a thing of the past, as the millionaire pays the same amount to get rid of his rubbish as the poorest family does.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The focus of all these cutbacks are the less well off not the wealthy. So while the government target Joint Labour Committee's to cut wages and conditions for low paid workers, and while carers and welfare recipients have endured cut after cut driving tens of thousands into poverty, there is no mention of targetting the rich. No mention of a 'wealth tax' or of nationalising our natural resources, moves that would generate hundreds of billions of euro's for the public purse.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">We did not create the crisis and should not pay for it, either through water charges or other wage or welfare cuts. It is not our debt or the debt of this state. It is the private gambling debts of a number of greedy bankers and developers. </div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">If the government proceed with their plans éirígí will, as part of the No Water Tax campaign, play its part in building a vigorous campaign of opposition to defeat this tax and ensure the domestic water supply remains in public hands.</div><div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Is mise</div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Gerry Casey</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13i5nMuzttjY_u-XFpgFsOhH3XARUgQiUVY1HQ3nq9-RX17tLWZSdgvz5uTD8vbJCsd8DqgM6O_zNMLdToydWl2FyXA-FZn9ELrjcNB4v34_Uml5IRvP1JE5TnTtqecYzDs6ITj5fGcE/s1600/000000Lobserver.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13i5nMuzttjY_u-XFpgFsOhH3XARUgQiUVY1HQ3nq9-RX17tLWZSdgvz5uTD8vbJCsd8DqgM6O_zNMLdToydWl2FyXA-FZn9ELrjcNB4v34_Uml5IRvP1JE5TnTtqecYzDs6ITj5fGcE/s320/000000Lobserver.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>éirígí Sligeachhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02263343837749507078noreply@blogger.com0