éirígí Tir Chonaill

2012-02-19T03:57:00.000Z

Save Our DEIS Schools

19/02/2012

The recent decision by the Fine Gael and Labour government to implement cuts to the DEIS school initiative, while continuing to fund the elitist private school system, can only be seen as a direct attack on working class people in the Twenty-Six County state and proves that these government parties, despite how they might try to convince us otherwise, are in fact no better than the band of crooks that they replaced.

The DEIS initiative is designed to ensure that the most disadvantaged schools benefit from a comprehensive package of support, while also ensuring that other schools continue to get support in line with the level of disadvantage experienced by their pupils. Not only will these cuts lead to more job losses – teachers, classroom assistants and special needs assistants – the loss of these much needed DEIS funded schemes are an indictment of the education system and will have a huge impact on our society as a whole.

In Cork alone there are thirty-seven schools under the DEIS scheme, and of these nineteen schools will see a combined loss of 88 teaching posts which will inevitably lead to higher class numbers. This is not acceptable. Pupils in smaller classes are proven to achieve better results and receive a better standard of education. Therefore there is no logical reason for cutting such vital services as this can only lead to negative social problems for future generations.

éirígí members were among a crowd of over 300 parents, teachers and pupils that braved the wet conditions recently to march through Cork city to voice opposition to these cuts. Parents and teachers took to the stage and made their feelings known about the seriously negative effect these cuts will have on our youth and to plead with Twenty-Six County education minister Ruairí Quinn to reverse the proposed cuts. Quinn has recently admitted he had not fully researched the DEIS initiative before deciding to make these cuts and has promised to review his decision.

Although this ‘review’ is welcomed, it must be noted that Ruairí Quinn has a history of breaking promises with regards to the education of our youth. Before the 2011 general election Quinn had promised not to reintroduce college fees if Labour were to get into government, but within 100 days he had reneged on this pre-election promise thereby ensuring that less students from working-class backgrounds will be able to benefit from the ‘privilege’ of a higher education.

Speaking at the march Labhrás Ó Tuama of éirígí Corcaigh said, “The 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic that James Connolly died for stated “The Republic guarantees… equal opportunities to all its citizens”. So for the Labour party, which claims to carry on the legacy of Connolly, to be the ones to cement further the huge class division within our education system proves conclusively that they have betrayed the working class and sold out all of the principles they claim to stand for and.

“éirígí is calling on all parents, teachers, students and anyone who wishes to see a publicly-funded, high quality and widely accessible education system to resist these cuts in any way they can. Contact your local TD to let your opinion be known, come out and march to show your opposition, but most importantly never be fooled by the lies and deceit of those in power.

“The Young Irelander Thomas Davis once wrote, “Educate that you might be free”. At a time when the Twenty-Six County state provides the private school system with annual funds of over €100 million we implore you; resist these attacks on our civil liberties, resist the education cuts! Beir bua!”

2012-02-12T04:14:00.000Z

Vigils Held in Solidarity with Palestinian Hunger Strikers

12/02/2012

éirígí held vigils in Belfast and Newry yesterday [February 11] in solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan.

Adnan has been on hunger strike since his arrest by Irsaeli military forces on 17th December 2011. He is protesting against being held in administrative detention – internment without charge or trial for up to six months, which can be repeated indefinitely. He is shackled to a bed and is being tortured and interrogated, and is also not permitted to wash or shower. Khader Adnan has now been joined on hunger strike by his comrades.

Palestinian prisoners have for years experienced degrading treatment and humiliating conditions at the hands of the Israeli Prison Administration. Their friends and families on the outside have to also endure shameful treatment just to get to visit their loved ones, and sometimes even this can’t happen as detainees are routinely moved from one prison to another with little notice.

Speaking at the Newry vigil, éirígí’s Stephen Murney said, “The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine called upon all Palestinian and international organisations and activists to join in a campaign of solidarity with the hunger striking prisoner and to launch protests and solidarity actions in support of Khader Adnan.

“So here we are here today to show solidarity with our comrades in Palestine who are currently on hunger strike. We have deliberately picked this location, Ray McCreesh Park, for obvious reasons. Over thirty years ago Raymond McCreesh and his comrades also embarked on hunger strike and paid the ultimate sacrifice in doing so.”

Murney continued, “Unsurprisingly the PSNI made a very deliberate and obvious decision that they would target today’s vigil and those taking part in it. This morning, several hours before the vigil, I was stopped and searched in the Derrybeg estate by the PSNI. I was searched for ammunition, wireless apparatus and transmitters, they then attempted, unsuccessfully, to question me about the vigil we would be having. The zionists would be proud of the actions of this militia today.

“éirígí will continue with our local, national and international campaigns. Internationalism and internationalist solidarity have always been a central theme of Irish republicanism. éirígí understands that now, more than ever, the struggle for an Ireland free of the twin fetters of capitalism and imperialism is integrally linked to the wider international struggle of the poor and oppressed against the rich and powerful.

“For this reason éirígí is committed to building links with progressive organisations and individuals internationally as well as assisting various solidarity campaigns based in Ireland.”

2012-02-09T11:09:00.000Z

Cearta Gael á n-Éileamh i Rith an Ama

09/02/2012

(English version below.)

Ba bheag an t-iontas a bhí ar phobal Gaeilge na Sé Condae nuair a rinneadh tagairt d’Acht na Gaeilge i gcuimhní cinn Peter Hain a foilsíodh ar na mallaibh,Outside In. Maidir le cainteanna Chill Rímhinn in 2006, admhaíonn iar-státrúnaí na Breataine nach raibh aon rún ag rialtas na Breataine an tAcht a rith, ag rá gur ‘sheafóid’ a bhí ann ach gur chuir siad é i gComhaontú Chill Rímhinn ar scor ar bith.

Níl an chaimiléireacht neamhiontach seo ag cur aon bhac ar Ghaeilgeoirí a gcearta a éileamh áfach. I ndiaidh stocaireacht agus cruinnithe le habhcóidí Gaeilge, mhol Comhairle na hEorpa le déanaí go bhforbraíodh na húdaráis reachtaíocht chuimsitheach ar an Ghaeilge sna Sé Chondae agus go ndéanaidís beart le cearta teanga phobal na Gaeilge a chonsaint agus a chur i bhfeidhm níos éifeachtaí. Mhol siad chomh maith go ndéanadh na húdaráis tuilleadh le ceist chomharthaíocht phoiblí agus chraoltóireachta a réiteach.

Dúirt Janet Muller ón eagraíocht Pobal, “Tá sé an-suntasach, mar gheall ar an raon leathan de cheisteanna a dhéanann an Coiste Comhairleach trácht orthu a bhaineann le Sasana, le hAlbain, leis an Bhreatain Bheag agus leis an thuaisceart, gur dhírigh siad ar an Ghaeilge mar bhuncheist go réiteofaí láithreach bonn.”

Cé gur tábhachtach é reachtaíocht a bheith ann chun an pobal Gaeilge a chosaint, is léir nach sin tús deireadh an scéil. D’ainneoin go bhfuil sé leagtha amach i gComhaontú Aoine an Chéasta go ndéanfadh rialtas na Breataine “dualgas reachtúil a chur ar an Roinn Oideachais chun oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge a spreagadh agus a éascú”, tá sé soiléir go bhfuil lucht leanúna na caipéise úd i Westminster agus i Stormont ag déanamh a bheag den Ghaeloideachas go fóill.

Nuair a thug an mheánscoil Ghaeilge Coláiste Feirste roinn oideachais na Sé Chondae os comhair na cúirte anuraidh as seirbhís bus a dhiúltú don scoil, rinne dlíodóirí na roinne iarracht cinneadh an aire a chosaint as rá nach raibh sa Chomhaontú ach ábhar ‘mianaidhme’.

Bhí sampla eile den drochiompar seo le feiceáil díreach seachtain ó shin nuair a dhiúltaigh aire oideachais Stormont John O’Dowd do mholadh naíscoile reachtúla in iarthar Bhéal Feirste. Rinneadh iarracht an cinneadh a chosaint trína rá nár chóir an naíscoil dheonach a chur in áit naíscoile reachtúla, ach tá foireann dheonach na naíscoile ag streachailt leis na deiche míle punt a thiomsú gach bliain i gceantar díothach Lóiste na Móna leis an scoil an chothú. Pé scéal é, tá an fhoireann tiomanta chun leanúint le deachaighdeán oideachais a chur a fáil trí mheán na Gaeilge sa naíscoil.

Ní thiocfaidh deireadh ariamh leis an streachailt chun cearta Gael a chosaint, ach ní féidir bheith ag brath ar fhreagraí reachtúla nuair is léir go ndéanann na húdaráis neamhaird orthu agus iad míchaoithiúil. Is ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann an pobal Gaeilge agus is é an pobal céanna sin a chosnóidh agus a chuirfidh an teanga chun cinn i ndeireadh an dála.

Ní neart go cur le chéile.

Irish Speakers Continue to Demand Rights

There was little surprise in the Irish language community of the Six Counties when the Irish Language Act was referenced in Peter Hain’s recently published memoirs, Outside In. In regards to the St Andrew’s talks in 2006, the former British secretary of state admits that the British government had no intention of passing the Act, saying that it as“nonsense” but they included it in the St Andrew’s Agreement at any rate.

However this unsurprising duplicity has not prevented Irish speakers from demanding their rights. Following lobbying and meetings with Irish language advocates, the Council of Europe recently recommended that authorities “develop comprehensive legislation on the Irish language in Northern Ireland and take resolute measures to protect and implement more effectively the language rights of persons belonging to the Irish-speaking community”. They also recommend that the authorities do more to resolve the issues of public signage and broadcasting.

Janet Muller of the organisation Pobal said, “It is highly significant, given the broad range of issues which the Advisory Committee have commented on throughout England, Scotland, Wales and the North, that they have focussed on the Irish language as a key matter for immediate resolution.”

Although it is important that there be legislation to protect the Irish language community, clearly this is not the beginning and end of the story. Despite it being laid out in the Good Friday Agreement that the British government would “place a statutory duty on the Department of Education to encourage and facilitate Irish medium education”, it is clear that the supporters of that document in Westminster and Stormont are still making little of Irish-medium education.

When the Irish-medium second-level school Coláiste Feirste took the Six-County department of education before the courts last year for refusing the school a bus service, the department’s lawyers attempted to defend the minister’s decision by arguing that the Agreement was merely “aspirational”.

Another example of this negative attitude could be seen just last week when Stormont education minister John O’Dowd rejected a proposal for a statutory nursery in west Belfast. There was an attempt to defend this decision by saying that a voluntary nursery should not be replaced by a statutory nursery, but the voluntary staff at the nursery is struggling to raise tens of thousands of pound every year in the deprived Turf Lodge area to maintain the school. Nonetheless, the staff is committed to continue providing a good standard of education through the medium of Irish in the nursery.

The struggle to defend the rights of Irish speakers will never end, but legislative solutions cannot be depended on when it’s clear that the authorities ignore them when they are inconvenient. The Irish language community prospers by its own initiatives and achievements and ultimately it will be that same community that will defend and develop the language.

Ní neart go cur le chéile.

2012-02-07T04:07:00.000Z

Vita Cortex Workers Keep Her Lit

07/02/2012

Since December 16th last, the resilient workers of Vita Cortex have braved the undesirable conditions of having to squat in the cold, damp and poorly ventilated warehouse of their former employers in order to demand their just rights from millionaire boss Jack Ronan, and to expose his betrayal of the workers to the public.

As anyone that has visited the workers can assure you, this is not a decision they have taken lightly. Yet despite the inconvenience of their new residence, the agony of being apart from their families and the obvious stress and strain the situation has brought upon them, they remain determined with their spirits unbroken.

But these thirty-two workers, with a combined 847 years of service to the company are not making any unjustifiable demands from Mr. Ronan. All they are asking for is 0.9 weeks pay for every year worked, with the Twenty-Six County government having committed to paying the extra two weeks per years service as agreed to in the Labour Relations Court late last year.

In addition to Vita Cortex, which operates on eight sites in both the Twenty-Six and Six Counties, Ronan has a 300-acre stud farm, two crèches, various plots of development land, a piggery, an extensive residential property portfolio, a retail park, forestry, a couple of supermarkets, a furniture factory in England, and a boar station. He has 27 directorships listed with the Companies Registration Office and won the Irish Field “breeder of the year” award last August for a racehorse called Cape Blanco. With such a vast amount of wealth, the €1.2 million he agreed to pay the workers will undoubtedly not cause him too much hardship.

Over the past few weeks the Vita Cortex 32 have upped their campaign, and began to confront Ronan and fellow shareholder (and father-in-law) Seán McHenry by picketing their homes. Mr. McHenry was quoted as saying, “It’s not very pleasant for my wife and family… But we’ll see it through.”

Commenting on the workers’ situation, Labhras Ó Tuama of éirígí Corcaigh stated, “I’m sure the inconvenience of having the reality of the workers’ struggle brought to your doorstep pales in comparison to the hardship that the workers themselves, and their families, have to endure. Such shameful remarks prove that these men that have benefited from the labour of others are completely out of touch with reality, and are incapable of showing any empathy to the working classes.

“éirígí will continue to stand in solidarity with the Vita Cortex workers, and all other workers who seek to reap the fruit of their own labour, and we urge all working class people to support them in any way they can.

“100 years ago, William Martin Murphy and fellow Dublin capitalists crushed the workers’ struggle with the force of the state and law. Great men like James Connolly and James Larkin became icons of labour movements worldwide, and today it is the Vita Cortex 32 that are inspiring workers in similar situations to stand up for their rights and to rally the cry of Connolly and Larkin, ‘The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us arise’.”

2012-01-30T04:04:00.000Z

Protest Greets Colombian Vice-President Garzón

30/01/2012

On Tuesday [January 24], trade unionists and members of the Irish Colombia Solidarity group Grupo Raíces/Grúpa Fréamhacha, including members of éirígí, held a protest outside Leinster House to coincide with the visit to Ireland of Colombian Vice-President Angelino Garzón.

As the protesters displayed a banner with the words ‘Gilmore: Don’t back human rights abuse in Colombia – Demand a ceasefire and talks’ on the street outside, inside Leinster House Garzón held talks with members of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Apart from the obligatory ‘war on terror’... ‘evil FARC’... ‘give peace a chance’ etc. etc. etc. propaganda that the Colombian Government passes off for a considered update on the political situation in that country, the real motivation for this meeting is that Garzón is currently lobbying for the position as head of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Although there are no Irish votes in the election to determine who becomes director-general of the ILO, Garzón is keenly aware of the not inconsequential influence that Irish trade unions have at times been able to exercise with regard to Irish diplomacy vis-a-vis Colombia. Garzón’s real interest here is in trying to exert subtle influence on the perception of Colombia at an EU/European level.

The notion that a representative of the Colombian state might assume a position of such importance to debates on the condition of labour internationally would be laughable if the situation for trade unionists in Colombia wasn’t so critical. Humour however is not something that trade unionists in Colombia can afford – Colombia is the most dangerous country on the planet in which to be a trade unionist. Violence and death are an everyday reality for those who are involved in the struggle for workers’ rights in that country.

In the Colombia section of its 2009 ‘Freedom at Work’ global review the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) paints a grim picture of the conditions experienced by workers, trade unions and union activists in Colombia when it the states that“roughly 4,000 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered in the past 20 years, more than 2,000 of them since 1991.... 2008 saw a disturbing 25% rise in cases of anti-union violence due to increased paramilitary activity. A total of 49 trade unionists were assassinated in 2008 and 2009 has seen a similar labor homicide rate.”

With regard to the complicit role of big business, right-wing paramilitaries and the Colombian State and its legal system the ILRF report continues that “U.S. corporations such as Coca-Cola, Chiquita, Dole, Nestle and the Drummond mining company have been complicit in such egregious union rights violations. The International Rights Advocates (comprised of ILRF’s former lawyers now part of Conrad and Scherer law firm) have brought a number of lawsuits against these companies. The lawsuits charge that companies’ practices of hiring right-wing paramilitary groups to kill and intimidate union leaders is a violation of the Alien Torts Claims Act, a law meant to hold U.S. corporations accountable for human rights violations abroad...

“Workers are also intimidated through the use of death threats, attacks, disappearances, black lists, arrests, dismissals for organizing and widespread contract labor arrangements which limit collective bargaining rights. Only 1.2% of workers in Colombia are covered by a collective bargaining agreement and the rate has been declining over the years as workers see the danger in organizing. Paramilitary groups such as the AUC (United Self Defense Forces of Colombia), which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, are responsible for the majority of the violence targeting trade unions. There is also a pervasive culture of impunity for crimes targeting unions. The ITUC estimates that over 99 percent of the cases were unpunished and/or not investigated and not a single person/organization to order a labor homicide has ever been convicted”.

The words of Tarciscio Mora, director of Colombia’s Confederation of Workers, might help explain the reality that trade unionists experience in the Colombia of 2012 for those who might be tempted to suggest that times have changed and that the new Santos’ administration of which Garzón is a senior member is qualitatively different from the previous administration of ex-President and right-wing paramilitary associate Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

Mora is categorical in his assertion that today in Colombia “trade unionists are still being killed” and therefore the candidature of Garzón for ILO director-general is inappropriate. Indeed the latest trade unionist to be murdered in Colombia died on Thursday January 19th. Mauricio Arrendondo of the USO petroleum workers’ trade union and his wife, Janeth Ordoñez Carlosama, were murdered at home by two gunmen. Their murders followed on from deaths threats issued against USO activists in December by right-wing paramilitary death squads.

In a statement released by the USO in the aftermath of the murders the union stated: “We blame this on Colombian State and Ecopetrol for their negligence and slow action in preventing aggression and attempts against our union. We are asking human rights organizations and trade unions both national and international to reject these crimes, and we ask the national government and Ecopetrol to answer for the security of USO members.”

Speaking at the protest éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac an Mháistir said, “The fact of the matter is that the Colombian economic and political system is anathema to the rights of the overwhelming majority of Colombians. The wholesale, relentless and unimpeded slaughter of those who would seek to organise in defence of the rights of the Colombian working class bears testament to the nature of the Colombian state.

“For Angelino Garzón to be elected head of the ILO would be to profane the memory of the thousands of dead trade unionists whose blood has flowed in the streets of Colombia for no reason other than that of securing the continued accumulation of profits and power for that country’s oligarchy, of which Garzón is a member. On behalf of éirígí I would like to take this opportunity to extend solidarity to the workers and trade unionists of Colombia, and in particular to the families of Mauricio Arrendondo and Janeth Ordoñez Carlosama at this time of great sorrow for them.”

2012-01-27T03:54:00.000Z

Campaign Against the Austerity Treaty Launched in Dublin

27/01/2012

A press conference to launch the Campaign for a Social Europe’s ‘Campaign against the Austerity Treaty’ was held in Dublin’s Mont Clare Hotel on Tuesday [January 24]. The Campaign for a Social Europe is the successor organisation to the Campaign against the European Union Constitution (CAEUC) group that campaigned for a No vote in both Lisbon Treaty referendums.

The proposed Treaty on Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union is the latest initiative of the European Union elite to the end of furthering their ultimate goal of economic, political and monetary union.

Speaking at the event éirígí Councillor Louise Minihan said:

“The proposed treaty on ‘Stability, Co-ordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union’ is in reality an Austerity Treaty. The goal of those who are pushing this treaty is to force the further erosion of our national and economic sovereignty. Their aim is to remove our hard fought for democratic rights. Ireland is now in a position of total colonial occupation. We are a colony. British Imperialism continues to illegally occupy the Six Counties. In the Twenty-Six Counties we are once again under the rule of European imperialism in the guise of the EU/ECB/ IMF troika. The terms of the proposed treaty would see the 26-County State become nothing more than an economic province of Europe, a far cry from the vision of sovereignty and independence as envisioned in the 1916 Proclamation.

“As a republican I believe in ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’. The terms of this austerity treaty are anathema to this notion; this treaty will see democratic decisions on Ireland’s future taken out of the hands of the Irish people and placed into the hands of faceless unaccountable bureaucrats who serve the agenda of the powerful and wealthy.

eirigi councillor Louise Minihan

“The terms of the treaty will see high levels of unemployment persist for decades to come as well as social welfare provision driven further down. Combined with ongoing cuts to health and education, acceptance of this treaty will drive many Irish families further into poverty. We all remember how we were promised the Lisbon Treaty would ensure jobs for our unemployed yet since that treaty was been signed the dole queues have continued to grow.

“In the interest of democracy, the Fine Gael/Labour Government must put the terms of this treaty to the people by way of referendum. Not to do so would be to grossly insult the people. The consequences for all of our futures arising out of the terms of the proposed treaty are too great to be made by political parties, particularly by parties who have shown they do not have the interests of the Irish people at heart.

“We are demanding a referendum on this issue and will not settle for anything less. We will campaign for a No vote in that referendum. A No vote is a vote against austerity. It is a vote against the cutbacks which have inflicted widespread hardship on families up and down the country; it is a vote against the anti-worker policies that have been pursued by successive governments for too long.”

2012-01-16T17:46:00.000Z

Ahmad Sa’adat – Ten Years a Hostage

16/01/2012

Yesterday, January 15, marked the tenth anniversary of the abduction and imprisonment of Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Below we carry a statement by the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat marking the anniversary and giving advice on how to support the struggle for Sa’adat’s release.

January 15, 2012 is the 10th anniversary of the abduction of Palestinian political leader Ahmad Sa’adat by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah at the hands of the PA intelligence services headed by Tawfiq Tirawi. Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been imprisoned for ten years – first by PA security, then under US and British guard in a PA prison in Jericho, and now, for the past six years, inside Israeli jails alongside thousands of other Palestinian political prisoners after a siege on Jericho and the kidnapping of Sa’adat and his comrades in 2006.

The kidnapping of Ahmad Sa’adat on January 15, 2002, was emblematic of the deep damage of the crime of “security cooperation” to the Palestinian people and their national cause. “Security cooperation” has meant nothing but attacks on the Palestinian resistance at the behest of Israel, committed by Palestinian Authority hands. The abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat, and his imprisonment – and that of his comrades – in the PA prison in Jericho, under U.S. and British guard, was a clear example of the PA’s status as fundamentally beholden to the interests of Israel, the U.S. and other international powers, at the expense of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian resistance.

The abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat has come to symbolize the thousands of Palestinians who have gone through the jails of the PA because of their loyalty to the Palestinian people, cause and resistance, and the impunity of PA officials – like Tawfiq Tirawi – who continue to find lucrative and influential positions within the Authority despite their shameless acts of betrayal, imprisoning, and abducting Palestinian leaders and activists.

This complicity with Israeli demands for the subjugation and suppression of the Palestinian people led directly to the Israeli assault on Jericho prison in 2006, where Ahmad Sa’adat and his comrades were immobilized in the face of Israeli occupation aggression. Sa’adat had never been charged with a crime throughout his four years in PA prison; his release had been ordered by the PA’s highest court. Yet the PA refused to release Sa’adat, respecting the dictates of Israel, the US and Britain above Palestinian legitimacy; it claimed that it “could not guarantee his safety” outside the prison. Yet it simultaneously guaranteed that he and his comrades could not be safe from Israeli aggression, their locations known at all times by Israel and under the watchful eyes of U.S. and British guards, directly in collusion with Israel. (It should be noted that, forewarned of the attack, the U.S. and British guards absented Jericho prison at the request of the Israeli occupation army.)

Since his second kidnapping, from a PA prison to the heart of the occupation’s jails, Ahmad Sa’adat has remained a leader of the prisoners’ movement. Today, he has spent nearly three full years in isolation at the hands of the occupation. He was an inspiration - and his release from isolation a key demand of the prisoners’ hunger strike that galvanized the Palestinian prisoners’ movement and the prisoners’ cause in October 2011.

Just as Sa’adat’s kidnapping is a symbol of the crime of security cooperation, Sa’adat’s imprisonment in the hands of the occupation is a symbol of the steadfastness of the nearly 5,000 prisoners inside the jails of the occupation – like his fellow prisoners, resisting isolation, refusing rights violations, and not allowing their will and strength to be broken by the actions of the occupation jailers.

Ten years after the abduction of Ahmad Sa’adat, this anniversary is a reminder that we must continue to organize, act, and demand the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners, and expose the complicity of the U.S., British, Canadian and other international governments in the enforcement of “security cooperation” and the abuse and mass imprisonment of Palestinian political leaders and activists by the Israeli occupation. While the Quartet pushes the Palestinian Authority to return to bogus negotiations with the occupation (while the occupation continues settlement expansion, ethnic cleansing, land confiscation, home demolitions, isolation, solitary confinement, and mass imprisonment), it is urgent that we form an international popular basis of support for the Palestinian people and their activists and leaders inside the jails of the occupation, rather than those complicit with the occupation at the table of negotiations.

2012-01-11T17:41:00.000Z

One in Five Children Live in Poverty

11/01/2012

Over 80,000 children in the Six Counties are living in poverty, according to a new report published yesterday [January 10].

The report, produced by the Campaign to End Child Poverty, found that over 1 in 5 children in the statelet live below the poverty line – the point at which families struggle to pay for basic necessities such as food, heating and clothing.

That figure rises to over 2 in 5 in West Belfast (where 46 per cent of children live in poverty) and North Belfast (41 per cent), with Derry close behind at 36 per cent.

The report also reveals that there are now more children in households without work, and in households where only some of the adults have jobs.

Commenting on the report, éirígí representative John McCusker condemned the dire situation in which more and more families are finding themselves.

He said, “It’s disgraceful that families are being forced to choose between feeding themselves or heating their homes, and it’s a situation that’s more common than many people are willing to admit.

“In my local area in West Belfast, the figures for child poverty given in the report are appallingly high – 64 per cent in Whiterock, 63 per cent in Falls, 56 in Clonard and 53 in the Upper Springfield.

“This already intolerable situation will only worsen as our communities feel the bite of the Tory cuts agenda. People in work are having their pay frozen or reduced and, and people in receipt of benefits are finding these slashed. Add to this that more people are finding that their income cannot keep up with inflation and it’s clear that many families are struggling to afford even the basics.

“The cabinet of millionaires in Westminster will not have to face these circumstances, neither will the Stormont politicians who are just getting by on their £43,000-a-year ‘poverty’ pay.”

John concluded, “The most vulnerable are suffering the most from the regressive economic policies of the Tories. This sorry state of affairs will continue only as long as people allow it. Workers are facing further attacks on pay and conditions, and people on benefits and tax credits will see all of these schemes cut as the British government and its Stormont administration continue with their austerity economics. Now is the time to say ‘No more’ so we don’t condemn yet another generation of children to a poverty-ridden existence.”

2012-01-02T20:57:00.000Z

Ráiteas Athbhliana 2012 éirígí

(english version follows)

02/01/2012

Tapaíonn éirígí deis na hAthbhliana chun aitheantas agus ómós a thabhairt dóibh siúd go léir a thacaaigh leis an streachailt ar son Éire shaor in 2011. Agus an Bhliain Úr linn, ba mhian le éirígí a dtiomantas a athmhaíomh do shárú fhorghabháil na Breataine ar na Sé Chondae agus an chórais shoch-eacnamaíochta chaipitligh atá ar dhá thaobh na teorann.

Do na milliúin daoine ar fud na hÉireann, cuimhneofar ar Éirinn 2011 mar bhliain de chiorruithe, déine, dífhostaíocht, eisimirce, bochtanas agus éadóchas. Agus an ghéarchéim chaipitleach dhomhanda ag dul in olcas, thromaigh an lucht ceannais sa dá stát a n-ionsaí ar na daoine is laige sa tsochaí, ag cinneadh go n-íocfadh an mórán as saint an bheagáin.

Chuir pleidhcí fonnmhara i dTeach Laighean agus Stormont orduithe frith-shóisialta de chuid a máistrí i mBeirlín, Washington agus Londain i bhfeidhm go sona. Lena mbeart tá éagóir déanta ag na riaracháin sa dá stáitín teipthe ar mhuintir na hÉireann; ag ualú na glúine seo agus glún le teacht le díobháil agus fiacha gan áireamh. Ar mhaithe le scothaicme ceannais na n-airgeadaithe, forbróirí réadmhaoine, baincéirí agus polaiteoirí.

Rinne stát na Breataine iarracht a chumhacht mhailíseach a mhéadaú in Éirinn in 2011. Sna Sé Chondae lean póilíneacht pharaimíleata na Breataine lena feachtas ciaptha agus imeaglaithe ar an phobal náisiúnach go ginearálta agus ar ghníomhaithe poblachtacha go háirithe. Baineadh úsáid as sciuirdeanna tí, stad agus cuardach, baitíní agus piléir phlaisteacha chun imeaglú agus ionsaí a dheánamh ar dhaoine atá go fóill ag cur i gcoinne na forghabhála. Thug na gníomhaíochtaí seo de chuid an PSNI tuilleadh fianaise ar nádúr doleasaithe phóilíniú na Breataine in Éirinn. Glaonn éirígí orthu siúd a dúirt go raibh a leithéid de leasú indéanta glacadh le réaltacht an scéil agus a dtacaíocht a aistharraingt ó phóilíneacht pharailmíleata na Breataine agus córas dlí na Breataine.

Sa bhliain ina dearnadh cuimhne ar an tríochadú bliain ó chinn Stailc Ocrais 1981 ar fud na cruinne, lean rialtas na Breataine ag iarraidh caitheamh le cimí polaitiúla poblachtacha mar choirpigh, a raibh an agóid intuartha agus inchosanta ag na cimí céanna mar thoradh air. Athdhearbhaíonn éirígí a dtacaíocht leis na cimí ar agóid i bPríosún Mhaigh gCabraí in 2012 agus éilíonn ar na riaracháin i Stormont agus Westminster stádas polaitiúil iomlán a thabhairt dóibh gan mhoill.

Sna Sé Chondae Fichead bhí éirígí ar thús cadhnaíochta ag eagrú chur i gcoinne do chuairt stáit Elizabeth Windsor. Bhrúigh an cur i gcoinne sin rialtas Átha Cliath chun an obráid shlándála is mó le linn cuimhne a chur i bhfeidhm, ina measc bhí cur faoi ghlas chuid mhaith de Bhaile Átha Cliath ar feadh seachtaine. D’ainneoin áibhéil na meán chorparáideach agus an stáit, dhaingnigh máirseáil Windsor trí chathair bhán nádúr mínormálta an chaidrimh idir an Bhreatain agus Éire. Lean na daoine bhí páirteach sna hagóidí sráide agus i bhfeachtas leathan an chur i gcoinne do chuairt Windsor coiscéim Connolly agus Markievicz, a bhí i mbun cur i gcoinne don chuairt dheireanach chuig Baile Átha Cliath ag monarc Briotanach. Moltar iad as a gcalmacht agus a smacht in aghaidh neart saighdte.

Go hidirnáisúnta thug an streachailt in éadan tíorántacht an impiriúlachais, na margaí agus an nua-liobrálachais talamh leis le bliain anuas. Bhuail na milliúin daoine ar fud na cruinne na sráideanna le dúshlán a thabhairt dá scothaicmí ceannais, ag solathár fíordhóchas do fhéidearthacht na haistroda domhanda. Sna Stáit Aontaithe, san Eoraip, sa MheánOirthear agus eile thug oll-léirsithe agus gníomh stailce spléachadh de na féidearthachtaí ar féidir le hollghluaiseacht dhomhanda ar son ceartais a tháirgeadh. Ag aithint an ghá le freagra sóisialach domhanda ar fhadhb chaipitleach dhomhanda, tapaíonn éirígí an deis le beannachtaí dlúthpháirtíochta na hAthbhliana a chur chucu siúd go léir atá ag troid in éadan éadulaingthe, leithcheala agus dúshaothraithe.

Leis an Bhreatain i gceannas ar na Sé Chondae agus an IMF/EU/ECB i gceannas ar na Sé Chondae Fichead tá Éire trína chéile anois faoi fhorghabháil eachtrannach den chéad uair le beagnach céad bliain. An rud nár féidir a bhaint amach le tancanna agus gunnaí, tá sé déanta anois le conraí agus tarrthálacha. Ta clár na gcomh-fhorghabhálacha seo soiléir – cruthú ord polaitiúil, sóisialta agus eacnamaíochta nualiobrálach atá éagórach – ord ina mbeidh líon síorardaithe cumhachta agus maoine cruinnithe i láimhe líon síorlaghdaithe daoine.

Agus 2012 ag tosnú is mó an gá le gluaiseacht phoblachtach réabhlóideach Éireannach athspreagtha. Tá na smaointe ag croí an phoblachtachais Éireannaigh chomh ábhartha inniu agus a bhí siad nuair a tháinig siad chun cinn den chéad uair sna 1790s. Tá codarsnacht shuntasach idir fís Éire shaor rialaithe ag na daoine ar mhaithe leis na daoine agus Éire éagothrom, ghafa agus críochdheighilte an lae inniu. Is í Poblacht Shóisialach Dhaonlathach uile-Éireann nua an t-aon mhalairt inmharthana agus inbhuanaithe ar an deighilt, bhochtanas agus anord atá déanta ag an chóras reatha.

Tá tógáil gluaiseachta coiteanna a chuirfeas a leithéid de phoblacht nua faoi seoil cheana. Sa bhliain le teacht tá sé de rún ag éirígí an tógáil sin a luasú, trína bhfeachtais chur i gcoinne gníomhach do fhorghabhálacha na Breataine agus an IMF/EU/EBC a threisiú.

Molann éirígí do na poblachtóirí sin a chúlaigh ó streachailt ghníomhach chun athmhachnamh a dhéanamh ar a seasamh agus bliain úr ag tosnú. Is annamh a raibh dhúshláin ní ba mhó os comhair mhuintir na hÉireann ná na cinn atá ann faoi láthair. Tá géarghá le bhur scileanna, taithí agus croí sa tréimhse seo inár stair. Agus dóibhsean nach raibh riamh gníomhach i streachailt tugann éirígí cuireadh le bheith linn in seasamh a ghlacadh in éadan fhorghabhála agus éagóra. Le chéile is féidir linn gluaiseacht phoblachtach réabhlóideach a thógáil a bheas ábalta stát uile-Éireann nua a chruthú – ceann a ráthós i ndáiríre cearta polaitíochta, sóisialta agus eacnamaíochta chách, neamhaireach ar a n-inscne, a gcreideamh ná a gcine.

éirígí New Year Statement 2012

02/01/2012

éirígí takes the opportunity of the New Year to recognise and pay tribute to all those who supported the struggle for a free Ireland in 2011. As the New Year dawns, éirígí also wishes to restate its commitment to the overthrow of the British occupation of the Six Counties and the capitalist socio-economic system which exists on both sides the border.

For millions of people across Ireland 2011 will be remembered as a year of cutbacks, austerity, unemployment, emigration, poverty and despair. As the global capitalist crisis deepened the ruling class in both states intensified their attacks upon the weakest in society, determining that the many should pay for the greed of the few.

Willing fools in Leinster House and Stormont happily implemented the anti-social dictates of their respective masters in Berlin, Washington and London. By their actions the administrations in both failed statelets have committed a great wrong against the people of Ireland; burdening this and future generations with untold debts and deprivation. And all in order to protect the ruling elite of financiers, property developers, bankers and politicians.

2011 saw the British state attempt to further increase its malign influence in Ireland. In the Six Counties Britain’s paramilitary police continued with their campaign of harassment and intimidation of the nationalist community in general and republican activists in particular. House raids, stop and search, batons and plastic bullets were all used to intimidate and attack those who continue to resist the occupation. These activities by the PSNI provided yet more proof of the irreformable nature of British policing in Ireland. éirígí again calls on those who claimed that such reform was possible to accept the reality of the situation and withdraw their support for Britain’s paramilitary police and Britain’s legal system.

In a year that saw the thirtieth anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike remembered across the world the British government continued to attempt to treat republican political prisoners as criminals, resulting in an entirely predictable and justified protest by those same prisoners. éirígí reaffirms its support for the protesting prisoners in Maghaberrry Jail in 2012 and calls upon the administrations in Stormont and Westminster to grant them full political status immediately.

In the Twenty-Six Counties éirígí was to the fore of organising opposition to the state visit of Elizabeth Windsor. That opposition forced the Dublin government to mount the largest security operation in living memory, including the lock-down of much of Dublin city for up to a week. Despite the hype of the state and corporate media, the parading of Windsor through a sterile ghost city did little but reinforce the very abnormal nature of relations between Britain and Ireland. Those who joined the street protests and wider campaign of opposition to the Windsor visit followed in the footsteps of Connolly and Markievicz, who in their time led opposition to the last visit to Dublin by a British monarch. For their bravery and discipline in the face of ample provocation they are to be commended.

Internationally the struggle against the tyranny of imperialism, the markets and neo-liberalism gained much ground over the last twelve months. Countless millions across the globe took to the streets to challenge their respective ruling elites, providing real hope for the possibility of a global fight back. In the United States, Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere mass demonstrations and industrial action gave a glimpse of the possibilities that a global mass movement for justice could produce. Recognising the need for a global socialist solution to a global capitalist problem, éirígí takes the opportunity to send New Year’s solidarity greetings to all of those who fight against intolerance, discrimination and exploitation.

With Britain in control of the Six Counties and the IMF/EU/ECB in control of the Twenty-Six Counties all of Ireland is now under an effective foreign occupation for the first time in almost a century. What could not be achieved with tanks and guns has now been realised with treaties and bailouts. The agenda of these joint occupations is clear – the creation of a deeply unjust neo-liberal political, social and economic order – an order which will see an ever increasing amount of power and wealth concentrated into the hands of an ever decreasing number of people.

As 2012 begins the need for a reinvigorated Irish revolutionary republican movement has never been greater. The ideas at the core of Irish republicanism are as relevant today as they were when they first emerged in the 1790s. The vision of a free Ireland governed by the people for the people stands in stark contrast to the partitioned, occupied and deeply unequal Ireland of today. A new all-Ireland Democratic Socialist Republic represents the only viable and sustainable alternative to the division, poverty and chaos that the current system has produced.

The building of a popular movement that will deliver such a new republic is already underway. Over the coming twelve months éirígí intends to accelerate that build, by increasing its campaigns of active opposition to the British and IMF/EU/ECB occupations.

éirígí encourages those republicans who have withdrawn from active struggle to reconsider their position as a new year begins. The Irish people have rarely faced greater challenges than those that currently confront them. Your skills, experience and heart are badly needed at this juncture in our history. And to those who have never been active in struggle éirígí extends an invite to join with us in taking a stand against occupation and injustice. Together we can build a revolutionary republican movement capable of creating a new all-Ireland state – one which will genuinely guarantee the political, social and economic rights of all, regardless of their gender, religion or race.

2011-12-22T20:44:00.000Z

Minihan Condemns Ballyfermot Local Drugs Task Force Cuts

22/12/2011

éirígí councillor Louise Minihan

éirígí spokesperson Councillor Louise Minihan has described cuts of 2.4 per cent to the Ballyfermot Local Drugs Task Force [BLDTF] as a disastrous decision.

Cllr Minihan, who is a member of the BLDTF, said the ‘slash and burn’ cuts are yet another savage attack against local community.

Speaking from Ballyfermot, Cllr Louise Minihan said, “The Ballyfermot Local Drugs Task force provides a vital local service, tackling issues related to the scourge of drugs, and provides much needed funding to a number of important community projects in the Ballyfermot area. That the Fine Gael/ Labour Coalition would cut the funding to such an essential service demonstrates how they have absolutely no concern for the welfare of the people of Ballyfermot or the Irish working class.

“At a time when Ballyfermot has one of the highest rates of drug users in this state, and when drugs abuse is on the rise, cuts to funding for community drugs services has a real potential to cost lives.

“This decision could have disastrous consequences, and must be reversed.”

Minihan concluded, “éirígí in Ballyfermot are in the middle of a campaign against cutbacks, organising resistance to austerity at a local level. In the coming weeks and months we will bring the anger in our community to the doors of Fine Gael and Labour, who have acted against the interests of the people they claim to represent. The people of Ballyfermot will not take attacks on our community lying down.”

2011-12-13T19:12:00.000Z

éirígí Ard-Fheis November 2011 – Full Report

13/12/2011

Saturday, November 26, saw upwards of 150 people participate in Ard-Fheis éirígí, November 2011. The daylong event, which took place in the Teachers Club on Dublin’s Parnell Square, saw activists from across the country come together to rededicate themselves to the struggle for a free Ireland.

An Ard-Fheis opened with an organisational report for 2011 delivered by Runaí Ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnatith. Reports then followed from Daithí Mac An Mháistir, Ciaran Heaphey and Pádraig Ó Meiscill, the respective heads of éirígí’s Membership, Finance and Publicity Departments. A question and answer session then completed the organisational section of An Ard-Fheis.

Next on the clár was a discussion on the issue of abortion, which saw many members give their views on this potentially divisive issue. The hour-long discussion was particularly useful as it gave party activists the opportunity to hear the views of comrades from all parts of the country. The issue will now be discussed further within the party’s local Ciorcal (branches) before the membership will decide éirígí’s position on abortion.

The head of éirígí’s Irish language department, Ursula Ní Shionnain, then presented a comprehensive draft Irish language policy paper to An Ard-Fheis, before taking questions and comment from the floor. A number of activists took the opportunity to stress the importance of the Irish language in the wider struggle for a free and independent Ireland. As is the case with all important policy and strategy issues the draft language paper will be further discussed within local Ciorcal before a vote will be taken on the adoption of same.

The second item but one before lunch saw An Ard-Fheis discuss, and vote on, motions covering a wide spectrum of issues including International Solidarity, the British occupation of the Six Counties, the current economic crisis and the cutbacks to vital public services on both sides of Britain’s border in Ireland. The full text of all motions carried by An Ard-Fheis can be accessed here.

The final business of this morning session saw the seven national party positions filled as follows, Brian Leeson (Cathaoirleach), Rab Jackson (Leas-Chathaoirleach), Breandán Mac Cionnaith (Rúnaí Ginearálta), Ciaran Heaphey and Micheál Mac Neighill (Cisteoirí x 2), Pádraig Ó Meiscill (An tOifigeach Caidrimh Phoiblí) and Daithí Mac An Mháistir (An tOifigeach Ballraíochta).

After a short lunch break An Ard-Fheis resumed with the first of three external speakers, Hugh Corcoran of Na Croisbhealaí workers’ cooperative café in Belfast. Hugh spoke of the process of establishing a co-op, of the role played by co-ops in wider political struggles internationally, and of the importance of supporting such grassroots’ worker-led initiatives.

Daithí Mac An Mháistir then took to the stage to give a short presentation on the establishment of éirígí’s new supporters organisation, Clann éirígí. Daithí explained that Clann éirígí had been established to provide a relatively easy access point to the struggle for people in Ireland and overseas. He went on to detail how membership of Clann éirígí will targeted at four main categories of people, namely, those living outside of Ireland; students in universities and colleges across Ireland; those living in Ireland in areas as where there is no established éirígí organisation and finally those who wish to formally align themselves with éirígí but who are not in a position to commit to full party membership. More about Clann éirígí will follow on this website in the coming weeks.

The second external speaker addressing the packed hall was Phil Ferguson from New Zealand. In his contribution Phil explained his own background as a political activist who came to Ireland in the 1980s to play an active role in the Irish republican struggle. He talked about this, the developments and setbacks in republicanism over the past 30 years and how pleased he was to see a new socialist republican party emerge to carry on the struggle.

The second éirígí presentation of the afternoon saw John McCusker give the rationale behind the recent launching of a fundraising drive for an éirígí national headquarters building. He explained that the party intends to purchase a premise which will become the physical centre for a resurgent militant Irish republicanism, a base within which a wide range of administrative, campaigning, publicity and educational activities can take place. Further details of éirígí’s National Headquarters Fund will follow on this website over the coming weeks.

The third and final external speaker, Irish language activist Tomás Ó Conghaile, then spoke to An Ard-Fheis. He spoke about the work of the Irish language movement, and the importance of the language in the context of the struggle for the reconquest of Ireland.

The final speaker of the day, Cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson, was then introduced to An Ard-Fheis by éirígí Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan. In his address, Brian looked back on the local elections in the Six Counties and the state visit of Elizabeth Windsor, both of which took place in May of this year. He congratulated and thanked those who voted for éirígí and those who took to the streets of Dublin to oppose the British royal visit.

Brian then went on to talk about the current state of republicanism and the socio-economic crisis that is gripping all parts of Ireland. He asked those present to consider the possibilities that the current situation might hold for the building of a revolutionary socialist republican movement and the role that they might play in realising that potential.

When Brian’s speech completed a rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann brought a memorable and successful Ard-Fheis to a close.

2011-12-09T19:34:00.000Z

éirígí challenge McGinley over Support for Savage Budget Cutbacks

09/12/2011

éirígí Tír Chonaill spokesperson, Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig, has challenged the Fine Gael TD for Donegal South West, Dinny McGinley, to publicly explain his reasons for supporting the savage cutbacks imposed by Fine Gael and Labour in Budget 2012.

Fine Gaels Micheal Noonan presenting
Budget 2012

Mac Giolla Easbuig has demanded that McGinley, the Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs, hold a public meeting to explain his actions to the people of Gweedore, Gortahork, Falcarragh, the Rossesand the wider constituency.

Mac Giolla Easbuig said ‘At a time when this community is suffering from mass unemployment, mass emigration and ever increasing poverty levels, Dinny McGinley must explain why he supports a budget that will add further injury to communities and cripple the most vulnerable in our society.'

‘It is totally unacceptable for an elected representative of the people to support a budget which acts against the interests of those same people. I am calling for McGinley to hold a public meeting, where he can put his case before our community in a public forum and be held accountable. I would further call for him not to hide behind radio interviews, as has been the case in the past.’

Mac Giolla Easbuig concluded: ‘Now is the time for the people of this area to make their anger heard and to demand that McGinley explain why he has voted to pay faceless bondholders and private banks in place of defending the interests of the communities he has been elected to represent.'

2011-12-05T03:27:00.001Z

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

05/12/2011

In one of many actions taking place across the world, éirígí activists took to the streets of Dublin on Tuesday 29th November to mark International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

As internationalists we are committed to do all we can to bring attention to and help keep focus on the reality both of the ongoing occupation of the historical lands of Palestine and the day and daily oppression of the Palestinian people.

Posters bearing the slogan ‘Freedom for Palestine’ and the image of Comrade Leila Khaled of the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) were erected at various locations across the city, with particular attention being paid to the areas immediately adjacent to both the Israeli and US embassies.

On this day of international solidarity éirígí once again takes the opportunity to express its sincere and continued support for the people of Palestine in their struggle for freedom and self-determination.

From the centre to the sea, Palestine will be free!

2011-12-01T03:22:00.000Z

éirígí Pre-Budget Protests Announced

01/12/11

For the first time in history the Twenty-Six County Government will announce its annual budget on two consecutive days. The details of the latest ‘slash and tax’ budget will, therefore, be revealed on Monday December 5th and Tuesday December 6th. Despite the change of format the budget is certain to continue in the same vein at the last number of normal and ‘emergency’ budgets, delivering crushing blows to workers, their families and their communities.

éirígí has organised a number of public protests in advance of the budget. Announcing details for three such protests Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan said, “Since the last budget the government may have changed but the policies have remained the same. The Fine Gael/ Labour coalition, despite election promises to the contrary, are committed to a programme of austerity, designed to make the working class pay for a crisis they did not create.

“Funding for communities, healthcare, education, social welfare and other important public services are all in the firing line in what promises to be a savage attack on our standards of living and our quality of life.

“The fight back against the austerity measures and the agenda of the Dublin government and their masters in the EU and IMF must be built street by street, community by community right across this state. People need to mobilise in huge numbers to show that they cannot and will not take Budget 2012 lying down.”

Below are the details of three upcoming éirígí anti-austerity protests. All welcome. Bígí linn.

Constituency office of Catherine Byrne, Fine Gael TD, Inchicore Village, Dublin, 4.30pm Friday December 2nd.
Constituency office of Billy Timmins, Fine Gael TD, Main Street, Arklow, 5pm, Friday December 2nd.
Northside Shopping Centre, Coolock, Dublin, 11am, Saturday, December 3rd.

2011-11-24T22:45:00.000Z

Building for November 30

24/11/11

Twenty trade unions representing around 175,000 public sector workers in the Six Counties have voted to strike next Wednesday, November 30. They will join million of workers in Britain for what union leaders there believe will be the biggest strike action since 1926.

This mass strike has been declared in response to the assault by the Tory-led government in London on the pensions of workers in the public sector.

This assault has come in a number of ways. The first is that the Tories wish to change the way pensions are adjusted each year for inflation. They want to change the way this is measured from the retail prices index (RPI) to the consumer prices index (CPI), which will cut 15 per cent from the value of public sector pensions.

The second is that the Tories will increase the pension contribution public sector workers make by 3.2 per cent by 2015. This is taken from workers’ wages and amounts to a new tax directly solely at public sector workers. Traditionally pension contributions are agreed through negotiation but in this instance the British government has decided to ram it through unilaterally.

The Stormont executive voted in September to follow the Tory line and introduce this measure to the Six Counties, though its Scottish counterpart has opposed the increase as long as the pay freeze remains in effect in the public sector.

The third measure is that the age of retirement in the public sector will be increased. So, the Tory-Lib Dem plan for the future of pensions is that workers will have to work longer and contribute more for pensions that are worth less.

Attacking the conditions of public sector workers is merely the thin edge of the wedge. The agenda of the Tories is ultimately to attack all public services – health, education, public transport, social welfare, and more – services that are of no use or importance to the millionaire-filled British cabinet and their capitalist masters.

November 30 will see teachers, classroom assistants, lunchladies and principals stepping out of school to join other public sector workers in rallies all over the Six Counties. Marches and rallies will take place in Belfast, Derry, Newry, Ballymena, Cookstown, Downpatrick, Magherafelt, Omagh, Portadown and more.

These rallies will send a strong message, but more will be needed. The trade unions have all voted in favour of further action beyond the strike on November 30. This ongoing campaign will include work-to-rule actions, lunchtime protests and more, with the possibility of more all-out strike action in the future.

In the end, only a concerted effort by public sector workers and the working-class communities who depend on their services will defeat the anti-social policies being implemented by the London government and its Stormont administration.

2011-11-23T22:42:00.000Z

The Experience of Unemployment in Ireland

23/11/11

In August 2011, The Geary Institute at University College Dublin published a discussion paper entitled The Experience of Unemployment in Ireland: A Thematic Analysis.

With unemployment standing at 14.4% in the Twenty Six Counties and continuing to rise, this paper could not be more relevant. The Authors explain their aim in writing the study is to examine “how material, emotional, psychological, social and physical well-being is being affected by unemployment”.

As the Fine Gael/ Labour Coalition prepare to cut an estimated €700 million [£600 million] from the social welfare budget for the coming year, this well researched and hard hitting paper takes an axe to the root of an idea, popular amongst the government and its cronies, that living on social welfare benefits is a lifestyle choice.

Parts of the paper make for harrowing reading as the authors document the sense of social isolation, political powerlessness and depression experienced by many unemployed people. The paper highlights how demoralising struggles to pay rent or mortgages, battles to find money for food or to pay household bills, combined with a guilt associated with spending money, all to often lead to a range of physical and mental health difficulties for the unemployed. This is the daily reality of life for the almost 510,000 Irish people on the dole, North and South.

Despite the Dublin Government constantly raising the idea that those on the dole are out to cheat the tax payer through rampant welfare fraud, participants in the study reveal how they are regularly faced with the choice of whether to eat or pay bills, whether to attend the doctor or to suffer in pain as they cannot afford the medical fees.

The experiences of life on the dole documented by the paper exposes the sick nature of the ruling class in Ireland that would attack the most vulnerable sections of our society to maintain their own comfortable position.

The testimonies of participants in the study serve as a stark warning to the Dublin government that cutting the social welfare budget will only result in the further impoverishment of hundreds of thousands of Irish Citizens and their families who are already struggling to survive. The type of cuts widely expected under this year’s budget are highly likely to have an all to real human cost.

The Experience of Unemployment in Ireland: A Thematic Analysis is a must read for all concerned about the issue of unemployment in Ireland and the impact it is having on wider Irish society and can be read in full at:

www.ucd.ie/geary/static/publications/workingpapers/gearywp201116.pdf

2011-11-19T21:11:00.001Z

éirígí Condemn Attacks on Education System

19/11/11

éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mháistir has slammed the Dublin government’s plans to cut funding to the education system. Speaking ahead of last Wednesday's (16th Nov) student demonstration in Dublin Mac An Mháistir said:

“The last number of months has witnessed a steady drip-feed of leaks from the government about its intentions for the education system. As recently as last weekend we had media stories about plans to cut grant and maintenance funding for post-graduate students. It is clear to the dogs on the street that the Dublin government are preparing the ground for major changes to the entire education system in this state. It appears that these changes will see class sizes at primary and secondary level increase whilst those attending third and fourth level will be forced to pay astronomical sums of money to complete their studies.

“When taken together these attacks on the education system represent a very significant blow to the very idea of free education for all. Without such a system the inequality gap in Irish society will continue to widen. Without access to a high quality free education system those from less well off backgrounds will face very real difficulties in attaining secondary level education, never mind third or fourth.

“The reason behind all of these attacks on the education system is, of course, the IMF/EU deal which the government has signed up to. The very idea of a free lifetime education system is anathema to the neo-liberal ideologues that run the IMF and the EU. They claim that austerity measures, including the slashing of education spending, are necessary for economic recovery – something which even the densest of Fine Gael and Labour ministers must be able to see through. How can the downgrading of an education system help with economic recovery? Where is the much talked about ‘smart economy’ going to come from if only the rich can access the higher levels of the education system?

“Cutting the budget of the education system is an act of social and economic vandalism which will be regretted for generations to come. A quality education system isn’t like a tap that can be turned on and off at will. It takes years of proper funding and planning to build the appropriate physical infrastructure and to develop the necessary pool of skilled and experienced teachers, academics, administrators and so forth. Cuts that take one budget to introduce could take decades to recover from.”

Mac An Mháistir concluded: “We in éirígí believe that a state-funded lifetime education system is an essential element of a just and stable society. We believe education to be one of the key drivers for the breaking down of class barriers as well as the ending of discrimination and inequality. We commend those students that are willing to bring the fight for a free education system directly to the government and encourage students and non-students alike to join the fight-back against the cuts to the education system.”

Students March Against Attacks on Education

At least twenty thousand students took to the streets of Dublin during Wednesday's protest against government plans to drastically increase third level student fees in Budget 2012.

The government intends to reintroduce tuition fees and decrease the student grant, as well as further increase the registration fee which presently stands at €2,000 [£1,720]. Just last weekend further government plans to cut grant and maintenance funding for post-graduate students were revealed.

Increased fees will mean that fewer people will be able to continue their education into or beyond third level. Families are already struggling with job losses and cuts; many will simply not be able to find the money to support someone in college.

It must be reiterated that cutting education funding will not lead to economic recovery. We will not achieve growth by frustrating the potential of young Irish people and consigning them to emigration and the dole.

The attack on education funding is being driven by the EU/IMF. The commercialisation and privatisation of education is a key component of their neoliberal creed.

By taking to the streets, Ireland’s students showed they would not simply be another passive victim of EU/IMF ideology.

The body of students marched from Parnell Square towards Leinster House. The atmosphere was upbeat and assertive. Members of éirígí walked behind a banner with the slogan ‘Education: Your Right – Your Fight’.

At Merrion Square a section of students broke away from the march and made their way towards the Fine Gael Headquarters on Mount Street. This section was made up of students who had become disillusioned with the passive and meek tactics of the USI [Union of Students in Ireland] leadership over recent years. Under the banner of the student group FEE [Free Education for Everyone], this group of students staged a sit down protest outside the Fine Gael HQ.

After this short protest the students found their route back up Mount Street blocked by lines of USI Stewards. The USI stewards stood with linked arms in front of lines of Gardaí, and refused to allow the students to proceed up the road without confrontation.

Members of the Special Branch wearing USI t-shirts were also spotted among the crowd.

The USI leadership choose to work with the Gardaí to ensure that the student march remained merely a passive speechmaking affair for the USI leadership rather than a real expression of student dissent. The attitude of the USI leadership is nothing short of disgraceful, especially when one considers the number of students who were injured by Gardaí during last year’s march against fees.

The USI leadership would do well to reflect on the words of the Salvador Allende: “to be a student and not a revolutionary is a contradiction.”

Nevertheless, regardless of the position of the official union leaderships, Irish students and teachers will continue to resist the ever increasing attacks on education. Education is right, not a privilege.

2011-11-14T11:46:00.000Z

Resistance to Shell continues – Shell to Sea Day of Solidarity

14/11/11

Last Friday [11 November], over 100 people gathered at the gates of the Ballinaboy gas refinery in Erris, County Mayo in solidarity with the local community and in memory of Nigerian activist Ken Saro Wiwa and his eight comrades, executed in November 1995 by the Nigerian dictatorship for resisting Shell’s destructive operations in the Niger Delta.

In the early hours of 10 November 2006 Gardaí baton charged campaigners at Ballinaboy bridge who had gathered to protest against the building of the gas refinery. It was a violent illustration of the nature of the state and its defence of corporate interests. Young and old were beaten, flung into ditches and trampled underfoot. It was a harrowing experience, particularly for those who until then had believed the state would act in the interests of the people.

Having handed over the people’s resources to multinational oil corporations; sold 400 acres of state forestry for the building of an onshore refinery to process high pressure raw and odourless gas; legislated for corporations to compulsory acquire private land; ensured planning permissions were granted for a highly dangerous and environmentally destructive project and jailed those who dared to protest at this affront to democracy, the state resorted to deploying its police force in an attempt to violently quell continued and determined resistance.

At the time, Bertie Ahern, the mafia like Don who led a government in the pocket of corporations, not surprisingly, defended the gardaí’s violent actions and cheered on Shell, “the negotiations are over, the rule of law has to be implemented and the work goes on. And if there are those who try to frustrate that, they’re breaking the law and it’s a matter for the gardaí to enforce it.” His comments displayed the arrogance of a government that oversaw rampant corruption in the banking sector and took bungs from property speculators. ‘Laws’ it seemed were for the ‘little people’ while corporate corruption was supported and facilitated.

The cracking of heads on the bridge at Ballinaboy was simply an extension of that belief. If considered necessary, the interests of Shell would be enforced at the butt end of garda batons. Yet five years on from that violent attack, the community and the Shell to Sea campaign continues to resist the corporate takeover of our gas reserves and the environmental destruction of Erris.

The Day of Solidarity commenced at 7am with several dozen activists, many of whom had travelled from Dublin to stand in solidarity with the local community, standing on the road at Aughoose to block workers accessing the site. Having remained in place for several hours and forced numerous work vehicles to turn back, activists made their way to the gates of the Bellinaboy refinery. Here they were joined by dozens of local people. Carrying crosses bearing the names of the Ogoni Nine: Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barinen Klobel, John Kpuinen, Baribor Bera, Saturday Dobee, Felix Nuate, Nordu Eawo, Paul Levurah and Daniel Gbokoo; the crowd walked from the gates of the refinery to the Bellinaboy bridge where the garda baton charge of 2006 was recalled.

On return to the refinery gates, and in solidarity with the global Occupy movement, an Occupy ‘Shellenaboy’ camp was erected and banners hung from the fencing surrounding the refinery site. The crowd was addressed by local Shell to Sea activists Terence Conway and Maura Harrington with proceedings monitored by the garda Special Branch and IRMS, Shell’s private security goon squad.

In a powerful address Maura thanked all those who attended and emphasised the fact that the campaign has always been about local, national and international concerns, illustrated by the fact that many had travelled from different parts of the country to stand with the local community and the remembrance of the Ogoni Nine. Maura highlighted the importance of defending place, recalled that the community had been resisting this project for eleven years and castigated the corrupt ruling elite in the Twenty Six Counties for its continued support of corporate interests. Those who had passed away during the course of the campaign were recalled some of whom had died as a result of the toll the campaign had taken on them. In conclusion, Maura vowed that the resistance to state and corporate power would continue.

Since its inception, the Twenty Six Counties has been dominated by powerful private interests whose every need has been catered to by a pliant state. The recent issuing of 13 licencing options for exploration in the Atlantic Margin, where vast oil and gas reserves lie, demonstrates that the new government is simply an extension of the old. The great oil and gas giveaway continues and will do so until sufficient numbers actively resist the corporate takeover of our natural resources.

The Erris community and Rossport Solidarity Camp have been to the forefront in resisting Shell and the corrupt corporate state of the Twenty Six Counties. But they cannot do it alone. The demand that our oil and gas reserves are utilised in the interests of the people must be central to the campaign of opposition to austerity and the EU/IMF takeover. The people of Erris need your support to continue their 11 year campaign of resistance. Their struggle is our struggle. For more information on the campaign and how to get involved check www.shelltosea.com andwww.rossportsolidaritycamp.org

2011-11-05T17:55:00.000Z

Colombia: the new wave of social protest and the dirty war against the people

05/11/2011

While much is known about the shocking human rights situation in Colombia, little is known about the Colombian resistance movement and popular struggle against neo-liberalism and imperialism. This year has witnessed a dramatic increase in popular struggles all over the country: students, oil workers, peasants, poor communities, indigenous groups. As a result, the dirty war waged by the system has become even dirtier. Massacres are on the rise and so are military actions all over the country.

In February 2010 a human rights delegation from Asturias visited Colombia for the sixth time to record the humanitarian crisis in the country. They were harassed by the army and were denied access to interview political prisoners in the infamous prison of Valledupar, La Tramacúa, where a number of political prisoners have died this year out of ill-treatment, torture and deprivation. They did manage to cover the situation in the departments of Antioquia, Caquetá, Cauca, Cesar, Putumayo, Bolívar y Cundinamarca. In all of these places, they corroborated the dramatic humanitarian situation and the systematic abuse of the military and their death squads against the population. Most importantly of all however, they give a voice to those who day to day struggle for a just Colombia, for a new country which belongs equally to all of its offsprings.

The results of the mission and many interviews were recorded in a documentary (subtitled to English for the first time). This will be screened to open up a debate on the situation in Colombia.

The coordinator of this commission, Javier Orozco, a person with a deep knowledge of the Colombian conflict and with an international reputation for his work for human rights, will present the documentary and will be available for questions and answers from the public.

Javier Orozco Peñaranda (50), is an ex-member of the national executive of Colombia's main trade union (CUT), ex-member of the national council of peasant and indigenous organisations of Colombia. He has been a refugee in Spain since 2001 (after a death squad put a price on his head) and now he's the coordinator of the programme for temporary asylum for Colombians victims of violence in Asturias.

Derry: Saturday 5th November. Sandino's bar, Water Street, 7pm
Belfast: Monday 7th November. Red Devil bar, Falls Road, 7pm
Galway: Tuesday 8th November. Galway Public Library, Augustine Street, 7pm
Cork: Wednesday 9th November. Solidarity Books, Douglas Street, 8pm
Dublin: Thursday 10th November. Pearse Centre, Pearse Street, 7pm

2011-11-01T02:14:00.000Z

Zionists Resume Isolation of Ahmad Sa’adat

01/11/2011

Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, revealed on Thursday October 27 that an Israeli court has decided to extend the isolation of PFLP general secretary Ahmad Sa’adat for another year.

The ruling is in direct violation of an agreement between Israeli prison authorities and Palestinian prisoners a week earlier that ended a mass hunger strike by detainees held in zionist jails.

The Israelis had promised that detainees would be released from isolation immediately after 477 prisoners were freed in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit on October 18. A further 550 detainees are to be released in the near future.

Around 20 prisoners continue to be held in isolation, and several prisoners have been in isolation for a number of years, including Sa’adat.

Sa’adat was transferred to Ramle prison hospital when his health deteriorated after three weeks on hunger strike. He was brought to the court in Bir Saba on Thursday for the ruling.

éirígí representative John McCusker said, “We’re disappointed but not at all surprised by this recent development. It’s no shock to hear that the zionists have increased the punishment of Palestinian prisoners after the deal was struck to release 1,000 detainees.

“We welcome the release of the prisoners but we can’t take our eyes off the fact that over 6,000 Palestinians continue to be held captive by the Israelis, and they are susceptible to punishment and torture.

“We in éirígí reiterate our call for the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners held by the zionists, and we say again that ultimately only a free Palestine offers a just solution to the prison issue.”

2011-10-27T21:01:00.000+01:00

Lives Will Be At Risk

27/10/2011

Donegal spokesperson for éirígí has criticised the HSE for its plans to reduce the NoWDOC service in the county, stating that the plans will endanger the lives of people in Donegal. The plans by HSE management would see a redeployment of NoWDOC staff to other HSE work in Ballybofey in a further cost cutting measure in the health services in the county.

The NoWDOC service which was set up in 2007 provides access to GP doctors outside of normal practice hours and operates in the North West region. Working on a rota system of GP's in the area where one doctor covers specific areas at any one time, the service caters not only for large towns like Letterkenny, but also for outlying regions from four centres such as Derrybeg and Carndonagh. If the planned reduction is implemented it could see the service reduced to one centre operating out of Letterkenny meaning only one vehicle covering the whole of the county.

Speaking in relation to the planned cuts, éirígí spokesperson Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig called for the cutbacks to be abandoned immediately. “These planned cuts are a disgrace and should be roundly condemned by everyone. The setting up of this service was itself a cutback from previous access people had to their GP outside of practice hours and now we see more plans for further reductions purely as a cost cutting measure.

“People living across the whole of Donegal, many who live in very remote areas, rely on having access to a GP outside of practice hours. Such cuts in a service like the NoWDOC are a direct attack on the people and families of Donegal and most importantly on the most vulnerable in our society such as the elderly, infirm and those with babies and young children. It is not sensationalism to suggest that a move to reduce this service will endanger the lives of many people in the county."

Calling for action against any proposed cuts the éirígí spokesperson said “The HSE managers clearly have no regard for the well-being of the people of County Donegal when they can plan cutbacks which will endanger life purely in the interest of saving money just so the government can redirect that money to paying off the debts of reckless bankers and a greedy elite. These plans must be resisted and it is important that the ordinary people act now by contacting their local HSE offices to voice their objections and by asking their GP if they support such cuts. People need to put pressure on both to resist further reductions to healthcare services in Donegal. If such cuts are allowed to go ahead the HSE and the government will continue to put more lives at risk in the interest of saving money.”

2011-10-26T13:44:00.002+01:00

Plight of Palestinian Prisoners Highlighted in Belfast

25/10/2011

Members of éirígí erected a camp at the former Andersonstown barracks site in Belfast over the weekend of 21-23 October and engaged in a 48-hour fast in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners who had undertaken hunger strike action against conditions in Israeli jails.

The solidarity activities also included two evening vigils and the distribution of leaflets to raise awareness of the current situation, especially that of PFLP leader Ahmad Sa’adat who was moved to Ramle prison hospital after three weeks on strike. Despite the poor weather, hundreds of people visited the camp over the course of the weekend.

2011-10-20T23:20:00.000+01:00

Solidarity Call for Hunger Strikers in Palestine

20/10/11

The socialist republican party éirígí has announced it will establish a camp at the former Andersonstown barracks site in Belfast and engage in a 48-hour fast in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons.

Prisoners began a hunger strike on Tuesday 27 September. They are calling for an end to the policy of isolation for all prisoners, for an end to the three-year-long solitary confinement of Ahmad Sa’adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and for an end to the systematic humiliation of Palestinians at checkpoints and crossings as they visit the prisons.

Over 500 Palestinians are currently on hunger strike in jails scattered throughout the Israeli state.

éirígí representative and former Belfast chair of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign John McCusker said, “Republicans recently marked the 30th anniversary of the end of the 1981 hunger strike, and now we find it necessary to draw attention to what is currently happening in Palestine.

“Palestinian prisoners have for years experienced degrading treatment and humiliating conditions at the hands of the Israeli Prison Administration. Their friends and families on the outside have to also endure shameful treatment just to get to visit their loved ones, and sometimes even this can’t happen as detainees are routinely moved from one prison to another with little notice.”

McCusker continued, “While we engage in our fast in support of our comrades in Palestine, we will also engage in a leafleting campaign to raise awareness of the situation, and our camp will be open to anyone who wants to come and find out more about the hunger strike.

The solidarity fast by members of éirígí will commence at 1pm on Friday [21 October] and will conclude at 1pm on Sunday with a rally at the barracks site. The rally will be addressed by former protesting Irish republican prisoners, as well as veterans of the Turkish hunger strike solidarity campaign and Palestine solidarity activists. There will also be candlelit vigils at the site on Friday and Saturday evening at 7pm.

2011-10-16T15:39:00.000+01:00

Féile Dlúthpháirtíochta na mBascach i mBÁC

16/10/11

(English version follows.)

Tar éis rath an imeachta anuraidh, tá Coiste Dlúthpháirtíochta na mBascach in Áth Cliath ag tabhairt Fhéile Dlúthpháirtíochta na mBascach ar ais chun na hardchathrach don dara bliain i ndiaidh a chéile Dé Sathairn 22 Deireadh Fómhair.

Tugann an fhéile deis do rannpháirtithe fáil amach faoi ghnéithe éagsúla de shaol na mBascach, ó spórt agus ceol traidisiúnta, go bia, agus ar ndóigh go dtí an streachailt pholaitiúil leanúnach ar son na saoirse ón stát Spáinneach.

Tosaíonn sé ag 4in i gClub na Múinteoirí, Cearnóg Parnell le taispeántais ar chultúr na mBascach agus ar chur faoi chois polaitiúil agus frithbheartaíocht. Beidh bia agus deoch ar fáil freisin agus roinnt stalla eolais.

Ag 7in beidh caint ar an scéal polaitiúil faoi láthair i dTír na mBascach agus ina dhiaidh beidh daoncheol traidisiúnta Bascach ag 8in le Taberna Ibiltaria. Leanfaidh an ócáid ar aghaidh don oíche le rogha de cheol punc, ska agus rac Bascach.

Dé Domhnaigh [23 Deireadh Fómhair] beidh kantupoteo (raimleáil cheolmhar thraidisiúnta) ann, ag tosnú ag 12.30in agus faoi stiúr Taberna Ibiltaria.

Is annamh a fhaigheann ceist na mBascach aird ó na meáin, ach cé go bhfuil cur faoi chois stát na Spáinne dian go fóill, tá an iliomad bealach nuálach aimsithe ag na Bascaigh le frithbheartú agus le haistroid. Tá Fhéile Dlúthpháirtíochta na mBascach i mBaile Átha Cliath ag ofráil deis den scoth chun tuilleadh a fhoghlaim faoi streachailtí na mBascach agus chun dlúthpháirtíocht a léiriú le muintir aiséirithe eile san Eoraip.

Basque Solidarity Festival in Dublin

Following the success of last year’s event, the Dublin Basque Solidarity Committee is bringing the Basque Solidarity Festival back to the capital for the second year running on Saturday 22 October.

The festival gives participants the opportunity to find out about various aspects of Basque life, from traditional music and sports, to food, and of course to the ongoing political struggle for independence from the Spanish state.

It begins at 4pm in the Teachers’ Club, Parnell Square with exhibitions on Basque culture and on political repression and resistance. There will also be food and drink available and a number of information stalls.

At 7pm there will be a talk on the current political situation in the Basque Country followed at 8pm by traditional Basque folk music with Taberna Ibiltaria. The event will continue on into the night with a selection of Basque punk, ska and rock music.

On Sunday [23 October], a kantupoteo (a traditional musical pub crawl) will take place, beginning at 12.30pm and led by Taberna Ibiltaria.

The Basque question rarely gains attention from the media, but while Spanish state repression remains severe, the Basque people have found diverse and innovative means of offering resistance and fighting on. The Dublin Basque Solidarity Festival offers a great chance for finding out more about the Basque struggles and for expressing solidarity for another of Europe’s risen people.

2011-10-14T21:27:00.000+01:00

Dozens join éirígí anti-EU/IMF Protest

14/10/11

Up to forty people last night joined an anti-EU/IMF protest outside the 26-County Department of Finance in Dublin. The picket was organised by éirígí to coincide with the latest visit by representatives of the EU/IMF/ECB ‘troika’ to Ireland’s capital city.

The colourful protest attracted the support of passing motorists and pedestrians alike. The presence of the republican protesters cannot have been missed by the troika delegation staying in the exclusive Merrion Hotel directly across the road from the Department of Finance.

Speaking at the protest éirígí Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan said,

“When the EU and IMF first arrived in Ireland many people welcomed them in the vain hope that they might represent a better option than the then Fianna Fáil/Green Party government. But with every passing month more and more people are coming to the realisation that this is not the case. The so-called troika are nothing more than a pack of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

“It is a simple fact that the EU and IMF are now in complete control of economic and social policy in the Twenty-Six Counties. And they are using this position of power to implement a draconian neo-liberal agenda of cutbacks, privatisation and increased taxation. That agenda needs to be steadfastly resisted in the workplace, in the community and on the streets.”

Louise continued with the promise of further protests against the EU and IMF, “Irish republicans have resisted foreign interference and aggression for centuries. The fight against British imperialism is the same fight as the one against EU and US imperialism. There are now clear signs that the honeymoon period for the EU and IMF is coming to an end.

“Tonight’s protest put down a marker for future opposition by éirígí and the wider socialist republican community to the dictates of Brussels and Washington. I would encourage anyone who cares about the very notion of Irish self-determination to join with us in building mass opposition to the politics of the EU and IMF.”

2011-10-12T23:31:00.000+01:00

Reactions to Pat Finucane inquiry rejection

12/10/2011

Relatives of murdered human rights solicitor Pat Finucane met with British prime minister David Cameron yesterday [October 11], who rejected holding a public inquiry into the killing as recommended in the 2004 Cory Report. Below we carry statements from the Finucane family and from the Pat Finucane Centre [PFC] responding to this latest development...

Finucane family statement

The Finucane family met the British Prime Minister David Cameron and NI Secretary Owen Paterson at 10 Downing Street today to hear the Government’s decision on an inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane in Belfast in 1989. The family was asked to come to Downing Street by the Prime Minister following a re-appraisal of the case in order to assess whether holding an inquiry remained in the public interest.

Speaking after the meeting, Geraldine Finucane said:

“My family and I were invited to Downing Street by the Prime Minister to hear the decision of the Government about holding a public inquiry into the murder of my husband, Pat Finucane. I have been to meetings in 10 Downing Street before but this is the first time I have been invited by a Prime Minster. I was hopeful and optimistic about today’s meeting. I thought David Cameron intended to show courage and leadership on this issue. I thought he would confirm that his Government would establish a public inquiry. I dared to believe we might finally get the inquiry recommended by Judge Peter Cory in 2004.

I now know that courage and leadership on the issue of Pat’s murder remains absent. The Prime Minister said he did not intend to hold a public inquiry. Instead, he proposed a review of the case by a senior QC selected by the British Government.

After 23 years of campaigning, 23 years of questions, 23 years of travelling the world gathering support for a public inquiry into Pat’s murder, the offer of a ‘review of the papers’ is nothing less than an insult. My family and I were lured to Downing Street under false pretences. We thought we were going to be given the inquiry that was promised. Instead, the Government intends to do even less in Pat’s case than in the other cases that were part of the Cory process.

My family will not be allowed to participate in this review. We will not be permitted to question witnesses. We will not be given copies of documents. In short, we are being asked to accept the result of a process from which we are completely excluded. We are being asked to trust the British Government. We were told that we should accept Mr. Cameron’s assurance that this ‘review of the papers’ will get to the truth.

After 23 years, my family and I are beyond taking any British Prime Minister’s word for anything. We have no hesitation in rejecting this sham proposal and will not be participating in it under any circumstances. It is a shoddy, half-hearted alternative to a proper public inquiry. It is not what we have sought for the last 23 years. It represents yet another broken promise by the British Government who still fear a public inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane and cannot bring themselves to uncover or confront the truth.”

PFC Response to Finucane meeting with Prime Minister

Reacting to the outcome of the meeting this afternoon with British Prime Minister David Cameron the PFC shares the shock and concern of the Finucane family at the news that no Public Inquiry is to be held into the 1989 murder.

“The family have campaigned long and hard for an inquiry into the murder of Pat. They were told that a Public Inquiry would be set up by the British Government. The Irish Government was told that a Public Inquiry would be set up.

Instead the PM has told the family that a QC, Sir Desmond da Silva, will be asked to ‘review’ the available papers and then brief the family. This is an extraordinary turnaround which we find incomprehensible and unacceptable. We understand that the family will not cooperate in any shape or fashion with this ‘review’.

At the meeting they were told that this was the “best way forward”. This may be true for the security forces and agencies who wish to conceal the truth. It is certainly not the best way forward for the family.

It was claimed that witnesses are not ‘available’ and that this would negate the effectiveness of any inquiry. This is a shabby and scandalous excuse.

It is absolutely vital that any inquiry be allowed to delve into the involvement of the British Army Force Research Unit, RUC Special Branch and the Security Service MI5 in the murder. Britain is failing to honour the commitment it made at Weston Park to implement the recommendations of Judge Cory, the Canadian judge appointed by the two governments to evaluate the evidence in a number of contentious cases. He recommended a Public Inquiry into the murder.

Pat Finucane received death threats from members of the RUC. Using parliamentary privilege only weeks before the murder a Conservative Government minister accused members of the legal profession of being close to the IRA thus setting the scene for loyalist attacks on lawyers. Both RUC and FRU agents were involved in the murder of Pat Finucane. On February 12 1989 Pat was murdered in front of his family.

Those who would argue that the above facts are a not a matter for Public Inquiry should consider the words of Geraldine Finucane,

“I believe that it is a mistake to ignore cases of serious concern just because they are in the past. I believe the only way our society can move forward into a peaceful future is by examining the controversies of our past and exposing them fully for all to see. I believe this creates foundations of confidence, upon which a lasting peace can be built.”

2011-09-30T15:32:00.000+01:00

Newry éirígí Activist Arrested & Beaten

30/09/2011

Rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith has said yesterday’s [Wednesday] assault and arrest of a party member in Newry is the culmination of a long campaign against republicans in the area by the PSNI.

Stephen Murney, éirígí’s Newry area representative, was held for seven hours and charged with a string of offences after he intervened to check on the welfare of a neighbour who was having his car searched by the PSNI.

Mac Cionnaith said: “Republicans in Newry, including éirígí activists and supporters, have been suffering incessant harassment at the hands of the PSNI for some time now. This harassment has included assaults, arrests, house searches and constant stop and searches. In the last number of weeks, the PSNI has decided to add to this list the policy of harassing parents outside schools when they are dropping their children off or picking them up.

“Yesterday, the PSNI began yet another day by raiding homes on the Derrybeg estate and, later, searching cars in the area. éirígí representative Stephen Murney was present in both instances to offer solidarity to the affected residents. However, the PSNI decided to take exception to his presence and moved to arrest him, punching, kicking and threatening him with further violence in the process.

“After seven hours in custody in Armagh barracks, in the course of which the political police demanded unsuccessfully that he document political activities in Derrybeg, Stephen was charged with a string of spurious offences. We will be challenging these charges and are confident they can be beaten.”

The charges are:

Two counts of assaulting PSNI officers
Two counts of resisting arrest
Two counts of disorderly behaviour
Two counts of obstruction
One count of fraud, as the date of birth on his provisional driving license was wrong

Mac Cionnaith added: “There is no longer any doubt that the PSNI is both incapable and unwilling to transform itself into a civic police service. The force is nothing more than a sectarian unionist militia, dedicated to protecting the British occupation.

“While incidents like yesterday’s are habitually greeted with silence and indifference by the PSNI’s nationalist cheerleaders on the Six County Policing Board, people in working class communities are increasingly willing to stand up to these thugs in uniform. This was witnessed in Derrybeg yesterday when many residents left their homes to challenge the PSNI when they were assaulting and arresting Stephen.

“éirígí will not take the mistreatment of its membership by state forces lying down. The PSNI should be aware that the party will not be deterred by any amount of harassment or beatings. Anyone who is suffering similar behaviour at the hands of the PSNI should contact their solicitor or éirígí.”

Below is Stephen Murney’s account of yesterday’s arrest.

“At roughly 9am, a large convoy of armoured landrovers and cars descended on the Derrybeg estate. They raided a home in the area and took the usual from the house, including a child’s X Box. I visited the victims during the raid to see how they were and to see if they needed anything.

“At 12pm, I was in Main Avenue, Derrybeg when I observed a neighbour getting his car searched by the PSNI. A small crowd of residents had gathered to watch and I went over and asked my neighbour if he was okay.

“The cops came straight over and told me to “Fuck off up the street” and mind my own business. I told them I was concerned at the treatment my neighbour was receiving as well as them tormenting the residents of Derrybeg on a regular basis and that I would stay to observe what was happening.

“I was then grabbed by both arms by two of the thugs, who then assaulted me. They took me over to a wall and pushed me into it with such force one of the coping stones came off. They twisted my arms up my back and placed the handcuffs on me. I was then punched in the ribs several times and kicked in the legs while I was handcuffed. On two occasions, one of the officers told me he was going to break my jaw.

“This happened in full view of numerous residents, including my mother and sister, who were all disgusted with the cops and challenged them. The PSNI then aggressively pushed and shoved them out of the way. The residents of Derrybeg should be commended for challenging them.

“I was then taken to Armagh barracks where I was photographed and had my fingerprints and DNA taken.

“At the barracks, a doctor examined me and noted cuts, marks and swelling to my wrists and arms and bruised and sore ribs. I was held for roughly seven hours, during which time the PSNI attempted unsuccessfully to conduct an “intelligence interview” with me. I was then released on bail to appear in court on October 26.”

2011-09-29T14:30:00.000+01:00

Palestinian Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike

29/09/2011

Palestinian prisoners associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine began a hunger strike yesterday [September 27] against conditions imposed on detainees by the zionist regime.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The prisoners answered by announcing that they will escalate their campaign by rejecting all prison orders and refusing to wear their uniforms.

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.

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.

We print below the prisoners’ statement announcing the commencement of the hunger strike.

“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:

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.
Our goals for this hunger strike:
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.
2. End the policy of isolation for all prisoners;
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.
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. 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.

Great glory to the martyrs ...
Victory to the revolution ...
Victory is inevitable.”

2011-09-19T21:17:00.000+01:00

Sligo Protest Demands Ban on ‘Fracking’

19/09/11

éirígí Sligeach 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’.

Casey was speaking following a protest on Saturday night [September 17] outside the Sligo Park Hotel where the Twenty-Six County minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte was attending a function.

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.

Casey, who was among the demonstrators, said:

“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.”

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.”

Casey also called for the nationalisation of all our natural resources. He said:

“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 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.”

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.”

2011-09-13T15:25:00.000+01:00

Newry & Mourne District Council Maghaberry Delegation Refused

13/09/2011

éirígí in Newry have expressed their deep disappointment and anger at the decision by the British prison service to decline a request by Newry & Mourne District Council to send a delegation to visit republican prisoners currently on protest.

In July the council unanimously agreed to send a delegation to Maghaberry to investigate the prisoners’ concerns, the instigator of the successful motion was Independent republican Councillor Davy Hyland who has expressed his disappointment at the decision.

Davy said, “It’s disgraceful that the NIPS, under the auspices of the so-called ‘Justice’ minister, have refused the councils request with no reason being given. It would have been an important opportunity for councillors and council officials to hear at first hand what republican prisoners have to endure. I will continue to highlight the situation in Maghaberry and promise to do everything in my power to make people aware of the human rights abuses being carried out against republican prisoners in the gaol on a daily basis.”

His sentiments were echoed by éirígí’s Newry spokesperson Stephen Murney.

“When it was first announced that Davy’s motion was passed we, and the families of the prisoners, were jubilant, and were of the opinion that this would bring more attention to the issue as well as more pressure on British minister Ford. However it soon became clear that David Fords office were dragging their heels on the issue and didn’t want the council delegation to go to Maghaberry.

“The British prison service didn’t even give a reason for refusing the councils request. I would personally like to commend Councillor Davy Hyland and also former Councillor Martin Connolly who both raised the issue in the chamber. If it wasn’t for them it would most likely have never been mentioned in the council chamber.”

Stephen concluded, “éirígí extends its solidarity to the protesting prisoners in Maghaberry and pledges to continue supporting their struggle and that of their families until political status is secured. All those with an interest in human rights should do likewise.”

2011-08-31T18:21:00.000+01:00

Coolock Remembers the Hunger Strikers

31/08/2011

The 30th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike was marked by the éirígí ciorcal in Coolock with a series of events last Saturday [August 27].

The day commenced with a public meeting at the Le Chéile community centre in Donneycarney. The meeting was chaired by Ursula Ní Shionnain and was opened by local éirígí member Eoin Quinn who read the Bobby Sands poem ‘The Rhythm of Time’. Belfast man Pádraic Mac Coitir then delivered an enthralling personal account of his time in the H-Blocks from 1978 to late 1980 during which he participated in the blanket and no-wash protest.

The several dozen people in attendance were enraptured as Pádraic took them through his life journey from a teenager battling the British army on the streets of Belfast to his eventual arrest, interrogation, torture and imprisonment first at Crumlin Road jail and then the recently built H-Blocks. It was an intriguing and brutally honest account of the life of an IRA activist incarcerated during the epic prison struggle of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The conditions experienced by republican prisoners in the H-Blocks were brought to life as Pádraic recounted the regular beatings, the forced mirror searches, the privations of the no wash protest during the brutally cold winter of 1978. While conditions were bleak, there was also much humour and a great sense of camaraderie forged by the brutality of the H-Block regime. It was a story of the life of a Blanketman and it was evident that Pádraic is rightly proud to be amongst their ranks.

What was at stake in the H-Blocks was summed by one of the H-Block martyrs Kieran Doherty:

“The British and Maggie Thatcher won’t break me or my comrades. We are not criminals, we are Irish Political Prisoners of War and we will win in the end. Defeat is unthinkable after all that has passed. It is not just the 5 demands; the Republican Movement is at stake.”

Following the meeting it was off to the Inis Fáil GAA club in Balgriffin for a football match between éirígí teams from the Northside and Southside of Dublin. Prior to the match there was a tightly contested Poc Fada which was won by Scott Masterson. During the combative but generally good natured football encounter that followed, the Southsiders were given somewhat of a footballing lesson by a slick, well organised Northside team managed by the wily tactician Patrick Burke. The Northsiders ran out eventual winners 8-12 to 2-5 with several of the team surely staking a claim for a place on the Dublin panel for the upcoming all-Ireland final against Kerry.

Chair of the local éirígí ciorcal Ciarán Heaphey presented the winning Northsiders with the Hunger Strike memorial trophy, which will be held with pride until the return leg next year.

Speaking after the event, he said, “Today was an opportunity for the local ciorcal to pay tribute to the Hunger Strikers and we are delighted it went so well. The courage and selflessness of the Hunger Strikers continues to inspire. They are remembered with pride by freedom loving people around the world. On behalf of the local ciorcal I would like to thank Pádraic Mac Coitir for sharing his memories with us and for speaking with such humility about what was an epic prison struggle. The struggle to achieve the aims for which the hunger strikers sacrificed their lives continues.”

2011-08-24T16:16:00.000+01:00

Cherry Orchard Community Clean-up

24/08/11

On Saturday [August 20] more than 30 people took part in a community clean-up in Cherry Orchard, which was organised by the local éirígí Ciorcal. In what was a great demonstration of community spirit more than 50 bags of litter, broken glass and other material were filled by local residents and éirígí activists.

In recent weeks a number of residents from Cherry Orchard had been in touch with éirígí to raise concerns about the lack of street cleaning and general maintenance work being carried out by Dublin City Council in the area. Following discussions with residents, éirígí agreed to organise a community response to the issue and the ‘Cherry Orchard Community Clean-up’ was launched. Following the success of the first clean-up it has been agreed this event will be organised on a monthly basis.

Speaking from Cherry Orchard local éirígí Councillor Louise Minihan said:

“Following requests from local residents I contacted Dublin City Council to raise concerns about the lack of maintenance work being carried out in the area. Due to cutbacks the council are now cleaning only the main roads. This represents a further abandonment of working class estates and communities by the state.

“In response éirígí organised a community clean-up which local residents made into a great success. In fact the clean-up has been such success that we are making it a monthly event. We aim to build on what has been started here today and spread the clean-up to other areas of Cherry Orchard. Everyone is welcome and I invite all residents to come along to next month’s clean up and take part in what is a great way of showing and indeed building community spirit.”

Minihan continued: “Today’s successful clean-up shows it is possible for communities to stand up for themselves and fight back once they organise together. For our part éirígí is committed to working with communities to organise and to make this fightback a reality.”

2011-08-21T22:13:00.000+01:00

A Look at the European Financial Crisis

21/08/11

Last Saturday [August 13], the Progressive Film Club in Dublin held a screening of the documentaryDebtocracy, a Greek film about the European banking and financial crisis.

Debtocracy looks at the origins of the Greek and wider European crisis in terms of the development of capitalism under the auspices of the European Union. It charts the development of the EU as an economic system wherein the ‘core’ countries such as Germany and France have used their considerable political power and influence to benefit greatly at the expense of the working class peoples of the ‘peripheral’ countries that include those countries that make up the PIIGS, i.e. Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain. What clearly emerges from the economic and political overview provided by this film is the fact that the EU has been very good indeed for the ruling political elites and big-business interests in Europe.

The film also looks at the experience of a number of countries where the IMF has intervened. The cases of Argentina and Ecuador clearly show, in the former, how the IMF is used to deepen the penetration of neo-liberal policy and further the interests of the oligarchy, and in the latter, how a principled government can actually resist this plan and use the fact of intervention as a means to mobilise people against the excesses of capitalism.

What this film also does particularly well is explore the concept of ‘odious debt’. It looks at the historical precedent that exists for countries to repudiate debt that has been accumulated by the political and ruling classes in the name of the people but in contrary to their interests.

The issues tackled in Debtocracy make it a ‘must see’ film for all of those people who wish to better understand the nature of the crisis prone and contradiction-ridden economic and political system that is capitalism.

2011-08-09T23:41:00.000+01:00

Ballymurphy Massacre – Set the Truth Free

09/08/11

Thousands of people took to the streets of Belfast on Sunday [August 7] to mark the 40th anniversary of the Ballymurphy Massacre and to demand an independent international investigation into the killings.

As internment without trial was introduced to the Six Counties in August 1971, soldiers from the British army’s Parachute Regiment ran amok in the Ballymurphy area, killing eleven people and injuring dozens more. Five months later, the same regiment would be responsible for the murder of fourteen civil rights marchers in Derry.

Although the events of Bloody Sunday were filmed by the international media, and the horrors perpetrated were obvious to all but the most wilfully blind, it still took thirty-eight years of tireless campaigning for the relatives of those killed to receive some measure of closure through the long-delayed Saville report.

There were no media crews present in Ballymurphy in August 1971, and the victims were quickly written off as republican gunmen and forgotten about by all but their grieving families. They were left with deep pain and hurt, but also a strong desire that the truth of those events would see the light of day.

Around 100 éirígí members and supporters participated in Sunday’s march, which began in Springfield Park at the spot at which Father Hugh Mullan and 19-year-old Frank Quinn were gunned down.

Local youths carried banners bearing the images of the two from that spot and when the march reached the Springfield Road more banners marked the spot where mother-of-eight Joan Connolly and father-of-thirteen Daniel Teggart were killed. It was also the spot where 19-year-old Noel Phillips and father-of-twelve Joseph Murphy were injured by British gunfire – Noel was taken away by British soldiers and summarily executed while Joseph died a few weeks later from his wounds.

The march then made its way to the top of the Whiterock Road, where father-of-seven Joseph Corr and 20-year-old John Laverty were shot and killed, before making its way through the Ballymurphy estate, where local workers Paddy McCarthy and John McKerr were killed. The march then passed the spot on the Whiterock Road where father-of-four Eddie Doherty was shot dead before concluding with a rally at the nearby O’Donnells GAC.

Speaking at the rally, cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson said, “It’s clear from the march today that the Ballymurphy Massacre families and their supporters will not be deterred in their quest for truth.

“They have not been deterred by the British government’s attempt to pawn their campaign to the discredited HET or by the same government’s desire to stifle any new inquiries in the aftermath of Saville.”

Leeson continued, “The British government must be well aware that any real investigation into the Ballymurphy massacre will only serve to topple the convenient myth of Saville – the myth that responsibility for Bloody Sunday lay with British soldiers on the ground alone and not with any of their superior offices.

“The myth that the Parchute Regiment lost control on the streets of Derry would be revealed to the world as a lie if the British government were to admit that the very same regiment had carried out a very similar massacre just a few months beforehand. The British government does not want the truth of Ballymurphy to be revealed; however it’s a truth that must and will come out in the end.

“éirígí supports the families and survivors of the Ballymurphy Massacre in their quest for the truth and completely endorses the families’ demand for an independent international investigation into the deliberate murders of eleven unarmed civilians. It’s a case that no-one can genuinely argue with.”

2011-07-30T23:24:00.000+01:00

International Brigades Remembered on 75th Anniversary of Spanish Civil War

30/7/2011

It was standing room only as almost 200 people packed into the hall of the Teachers’ Club in Dublin on Friday 15 July to mark the 75th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War.

On 18 July 1936 General Franco, supported by the Catholic Church and wealthy landowners, led a fascist revolt against the left-wing Popular Front government. Backed domestically by powerful institutions, Franco was also supported by the international fascist states of Germany and Italy.

Support for the Spanish Republic came from thousands of volunteers who joined the International Brigades, including over 200 from Ireland who joined the international fight against fascism. The éirígí-organised event celebrated the role of the International Brigades, remembering their sacrifice and honouring their struggle.

The meeting was opened by éirígí’s Siobhán Curran who commenced proceedings with a quote from Dolores Ibárruri’s farewell tribute to the International Brigades as they departed Barcelona in 1938:

“For the first time in the history of the peoples’ struggles, there was the spectacle, breath-taking in its grandeur, of the formation of International Brigades to help save a threatened country’s freedom and independence… Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, Republicans – men of different colors, differing ideology, antagonistic religions – yet all profoundly loving liberty and justice, they came and offered themselves to us unconditionally…

“Comrades of the International Brigades! Political reasons, reasons of state, the welfare of that very cause for which you offered your blood with boundless generosity, are sending you back, some to your own countries and others to forced exile. You can go proudly. You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy's solidarity and universality in the face of the vile and accommodating spirit of those who interpret democratic principles with their eyes on hoards of wealth or corporate shares which they want to safeguard from all risk. We shall not forget you; and, when the olive tree of peace is in flower, entwined with the victory laurels of the Republic of Spain – return!”

The meeting was addressed by historians Emmet O’Connor, author of Reds and the Green, a fascinating insight into the role of the Communist International in its attempt to establish an Irish communist party in the early decades of the twentieth century, and Harry Owens, who co-authored Brigadista with the late Bob Doyle. Both men provided fascinating accounts of the political conditions in both Ireland and the Spanish state in the mid-1930s. Emmet focused on conditions in Ireland and the profile of the Irish who joined the International Brigades while Harry Owens detailed the political situation in Spain and how the war progressed.

The meeting also heard an account of the very full life of Frank Ryan by éirígí members Ursula Ní Shionnain and Joe Keegan. Delivered in both Irish and English, the two éirígí member outlined his life as IRA volunteer, Irish language activist, radical journalist and socialist republican leader who led approximately 80 Irish volunteers as part of the Connolly Column, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of democracy. Ryan was a founding member of the Republican Congress, many of whose members joined the International Brigades.

Prior to their departure to Spain, Ryan outlined the reason why they were travelling –“It aims to redeem Irish honour besmirched by the intervention of Irish fascism on the side of Spanish fascist rebels. It is to aid the revolutionary movements in Ireland to defeat the fascist menace at home, and finally, and not the least, to establish fraternal bonds of kinship between the Republican democracies of Ireland and Spain.”

Those fraternal bonds remain strong and several dozen people from various parts of the Spanish state joined Irish republicans, socialists, anarchists, communists and anti-fascist activists on an evening that proved to be a fitting tribute to the memory of the International Brigades and the struggle against fascism.

2011-07-27T15:01:00.000+01:00

Minihan Slams ‘Bank Welfare Tax’ and Calls for Campaign of Non-Payment

27/07/11

éirígí Cllr Louise Minihan

éirígí Dublin City councillor Louise Minihan has slammed the new Twenty-Six County household tax and called on people to join a mass campaign of non-payment.

Speaking from her Ballyfermot constituency this morning, Minihan said: “Yesterday, the Dublin government confirmed its intention to introduce another regressive tax, which will once again hit working families the hardest. Instead of calling it a household charge, the Dublin government should come clean and call it a Bank Welfare Tax because that is exactly what it is.

“In any normal society, taxation is used as a means to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor but, in this state, it does the direct opposite. Millions of people are being forced to endure very real hardship to fund a welfare system for the private banks. This generation and generations to come are being asked to pay hundreds of billions of euro of debt to protect the golden circle that has ruled the Twenty-Six Counties since the foundation of the state.”

Highlighting the unfair nature of the new household tax, Minihan added: “Phil Hogan’s new tax is being introduced at a flat rate, regardless of the financial status of a household or the value of the property in question. So a low-income family in Ballyfermot will be expected to pay the same amount as a millionaire banker living on Shrewsbury Road. Then, the revenue raised will be used to fund an unjust bailout of the private banks. Everything about this tax is unfair and unjust.

“The household tax, along with the other austerity measures that are being foisted upon us, will further widen the gap between the rich and the poor in this state. A just and stable society cannot be built upon such fundamental injustice and inequality.”

Encouraging people to refuse to pay the new household tax, Minihan said: “We in éirígí are encouraging people to resist the new household tax. The people of Greece have shown that organised mass resistance can produce results. We in Ireland need to take our lead from them and get onto the streets to challenge those who think they can impose endless austerity measures without sanction or resistance from the people.

“Unlike the previous tax hikes or cuts to public services, people have a very effective means of resisting this new tax – they can refuse to pay it. If sufficient numbers of people join the campaign of non-payment, the Dublin government will have no choice but to scrap the whole idea. Over the next few months, éirígí will be working with other progressive groups and within working class communities to build a mass campaign of non-payment of this tax.”

2011-07-15T14:54:00.000+01:00

Wicklow Says No to Water Tax

15/07/11

On Wednesday [July 6] éirígí activists from Wicklow staged a “No to Water Tax”demonstration at the Father Murphy 1798 remembrance statue at the Parade Ground, Arklow.

The protest coincided with the visit to Ireland of the ‘Terrible Troika’, which is made up of officials from the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank [ECB]. The troika arrived in their capacity as dodgy money lenders and to spearhead more cuts to public services. They are also here to push ahead with more austerity measures such as domestic water charges, taxes on homes and to implement around €4 billion [£3.6 billion] in severe cuts in the next Twenty-Six County budget in December.

Speaking after the demonstration, éirígí Cill Mhantáin activist Adrian O'Reilly said, “éirígí will be upping the pressure on the FG/Labour 26-County government on a ‘No to water and home taxes’ platform as the communities across Wicklow are being asked to continue to pay for the greed of bankers, developers and foolish politicians.”

Adrian continued by stating, “The protesters received enthusiastic support at Wednesday evening’s protest. Many people complained about the promises that were made and then rolled back on, and the policy U-turns that this government has made. A lot of working people highlighted the fact that the USC [universal social charge] is crippling their households, while others called for a decent chance of employment and to get off the depressing 400,000 lined dole queues.

“éirígí will continue to organise with the local communities in County Wicklow and further afield to fight against the Troika of the IMF, EU and the ECB, and the Thatcherite poll taxes they and their lap-dogs in FG/Labour will try to implement.

“What we need to see is all strands of our community step together in a ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay’ campaign. These stealth taxes affect all walks of life and what is clear is that the working and unemployed people in Wicklow are being placed on the rack yet again while the rich 1-per-cent elite get away scot free.”

Adrian concluded, “It must be continually stated that 1 per cent of the population of the Twenty-Six Counties control up to 40 per cent of the wealth. These leeches swan about in top of the range cars and new helicopters while the majority of the Irish people are forced to bail out the rich elite’s business partners and friends. The time to get organised and to act is now.”

2011-07-12T19:45:00.000+01:00

Newry Protest Against Harassment

12/07/11

Once again republicans have been forced to take to the streets to stand up against MI5/PSNI harassment in Newry.

Over 70 people took part in the July 2nd 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.

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.

Speaking at the protest éirígí’s Stephen Murney thanked all those who attended.

“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 Different Name, Same Aim campaign, this protest is only the start of things to come,” Murney said.

The main speaker at the protest was rúnaí ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith.

In his speech Breandán highlighted the unchanged nature of the force.

“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.

“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.

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.

“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.

“No amount of PSNI harassment, in Newry or anywhere else, will prevent éirígí activists from continuing the work of rebuilding the republican struggle.”

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.

“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.”

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.

2011-07-02T19:35:00.000+01:00

Coolock Says No Water Tax

02/07/11

The No Water Tax campaign message was brought to the streets of Coolock last Saturday [June 25] as local éirígí activists gathered at Northside shopping centre to distribute leaflets and collect signatures for a petition against the tax.

There was a hugely positive response to the idea of building a local campaign against the proposed water and home taxes. Almost 300 people signed the petition, with many pledging that they could not and would not pay the tax.

Activists met a well of anger as local people expressed both their disgust and dismay at once again being asked to pay for the gambling debts of bankers and developers. There was strong opposition to the idea that households should be charged for their water supply and a determination amongst many not to pay this unjust tax.

One local woman contrasted the fact that bankers had got away scot free while ordinary people picked up the tab and were being burdened with job losses, pay cuts, extra taxes, and cuts to public services. Another compared the proposed new taxes with the poll tax in Britain, which hastened the end of the Thatcher’s rein of power in the early 1990s, while many remarked somewhat caustically that “they’ll be charging us for the air we breathe next”!

Speaking afterwards, Ciarán Heaphey, cathaoirleach of the local éirígí ciorcal, said, “Today marked the launch of our local campaign against the water and home taxes. Over the coming weeks and months we intend working with the local community here in Coolock to build a solid campaign of opposition to these unjust taxes.”

He continued, “Many of the people we met today rightly posed the question “why are we being asked yet again to pay for the greed of bankers and developers?” During the course of this recession hundreds of local people have lost their jobs, while those in work have been forced to pay additional taxes, including the punitive Universal Social Charge. At the same time local services are being run down or closed. This crisis is not of our making and we cannot and should not be paying for it.”

Concluding Ciarán Heaphey commented on building a campaign of opposition, “If the parasites of the IMF/EU/ECB think they can continue to suck the life out of proud working class communities such as those in Coolock, to pay the gambling debts of bankers and developers, they are gravely mistaken. Today we met hundreds of local people who expressed their determination to fight the imposition of these unjust taxes. This is tremendously encouraging as the process of building the No Water Tax campaign commences. The local éirígí ciorcál here in Coolock intends playing an active role with both the local community and our colleagues in the No Water Tax campaign in building a vigourous campaign of opposition to these unjust taxes.”

2011-06-28T17:33:00.000+01:00

Call For Rejection of Water Tax Welcomed

28/06/2011

éirígí Tir Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig has welcomed the decision by Donegal County Council decision to support a motion calling for a rejection of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition's proposed water tax.

"Contrary to the spin from the government, the proposed water tax has nothing to do with environmental concerns or water conservation." Mr Mac Giolla Easbuig said. "The EU/IMF programme seeks to extort additional money from already hard pressed households through the imposition of a tax on our domestic water supply. It amounts to a corporate shakedown to pay off the gambling debts of bankers and developers.

"Rather than spending millions of euro on the installation of water meters and charging householders for their supply of water, the state needs to provide significant investment to fix the creaking water infrastructure and so prevent the loss of over half the treated water through leaking pipes.

The éirígí spokesperson went on to say "Experience elsewhere has shown that the introduction of utility charges is the first step towards the privatisation of the service. Domestic water supply is now a big global business. Water utility companies in England and Wales, which were privatised by the Thatcher government in Britain in the early 1990s, are now owned by big corporate investment banks and pension funds. Households there pay on average over €400 for their domestic water supply.

"While the passage of this motion is an important development, it is crucial that a mass campaign of opposition to this unjust tax is now built. Households cannot afford to pay and should not pay a tax that is being introduced to pay off private banking debt. As part of the No Water Tax campaign, éirígí is committed to working with local communities and other parties of the left in building a campaign of opposition and non-payment to defeat this tax and ensure the domestic water supply remains in public hands".

2011-06-19T23:35:00.000+01:00

Social Welfare – The Real Fraud

19/06/11

A recurring, and generally unchallenged, theme that emanates from the political and media establishment is the notion of widespread social welfare ‘fraud’.

If we were to take at face value the claims of politicians, employers’ groups, right-wing economists, journalists and commentators, the cost to the state is colossal. If we were to believe them, there would have been no need for social welfare cutbacks in the first place if it wasn’t for this ‘fraud’.

Over the past week in the Twenty-Six Counties, as the Social Welfare & Pensions Bill 2011 has been debated in Leinster House, speaker after speaker from the Fine Gael-Labour coalition made reference to this ‘fraud’.

The Twenty-Six County minister for social protection, Labour’s Joan Burton, said that“every euro saved on fraud is money that could be given to legitimate social welfare beneficiaries and to pensioners who need income support”.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Patrick O’Donovan was preparing the ground to justify another u-turn by his party on more social welfare cuts, saying that “if the area of social welfare fraud was adequately tackled it would be possible to leave social welfare rates as they are”.

It is an appalling but clever tactic to avert the gaze of people from the true causes of the economic crisis and the savage cutbacks that are causing so much hardship and poverty. It is a long established, deliberate attempt to paint an image in the public’s mind of every social welfare recipient as being somehow a sponger that doesn’t want to work or a downright fraudster. This is then used to justify cutting social welfare rates, pushing people even further into poverty.

The corporate media, as on so many other issues, are willing accomplices in keeping this narrative of ‘widespread fraud’ circulating while refusing to properly question or analyse the accuracy of the claims being made. But is there the widespread fraud they suggest or is it a different kind of fraud and deception, one directed by the politicians in Leinster House and the Twenty-Six County Department of Social Protection itself?

For example, a recent article in the Donegal News, entitled “Over €6 million detected in social welfare fraud” quotes the Twenty-Six County Department of Social Protection as saying that these ‘savings’ resulted from anti-fraud measures and reviews carried out by welfare offices and inspectors. Such newspaper articles and TV programs as the recent TV3 documentary and the RTÉ Prime Time programme in the run up to the Budget in 2009 when welfare cuts were to be first introduced are commonplace in highlighting this supposed widespread fraud.

There are a number of problems with assuming that all this, or even a significant amount of it, is fraud-related. What the department, or the corporate media, doesn’t tell you is how many of these people will, in all likelihood, have their payment returned to them following appeal. In other words, they don’t tell you how many of them have had their payment stopped unfairly in the first place.

They don’t tell you how this will impact on people who are already struggling to survive on pitiful social welfare rates. They don’t tell you the hoops these people are forced to jump through and the lengthy delays they will endure to eventually get what they were entitled to all along.

Closer analysis of the department’s claims of fraud and fraud detection tell a very different story to the official narrative.

Over the past decade, of those who have had their welfare benefits withdrawn, cut or refused in the first place, every year between 40 and 50 per cent of those who appeal that decision have those decisions overturned in their favour.

In other words, the fraud and deception taking place is that by those in government trying to portray these people as fraudsters when, in fact, it was the department defrauding those people entitled to benefits. In 2003, the numbers of those who appealed who won their cases was 44 per cent. By 2009, the numbers had risen steadily, year in year out, to 48 per cent.

Successful Social Welfare Appeals 2003–2009 (%)
2009 – 48%
2008 – 47%
2007 – 47%
2006 – 46%
2005 – 47%
2004 – 46.5%
2003 – 44%

This is clear evidence of something fundamentally rotten with a system that, year after year, gets virtually 50 per cent of such potentially life changing decisions wrong. Yet, year after year, the only reforms we see implemented are those that make it harder for people in need of and entitled to benefits to secure those benefits.

Many of those who initially have their claims refused or cut do not appeal the decisions for a variety of reasons. In many instances, people believe that, having been refused, they are not entitled to their payment, even though in reality they are.

Between 10 and 15 per cent of those who appeal withdraw that appeal before it is heard. This is hardly surprising considering social welfare appeals can take anywhere between six and 12 months to be heard.

For many people, their circumstances will have changed. For many others, it is the final straw. Fed up and in financial difficulties as a result of being unemployed yet being denied their entitlements, many have opted for emigration, a situation that the department and the Dublin government as a whole won’t lose any sleep over.

The reality is that the vast majority of people on social welfare would much prefer to have a job, despite the best efforts of the political and media classes to suggest otherwise. During last week’s debate, Fine Gael TD Andrew Doyle said that the Twenty-Six County government needed to “give people an incentive to stop relying on social welfare”.

The clear implication of that is that people are on welfare either by choice or due to lack of motivation or ‘incentive’ to find themselves a job. It is part of a pattern of efforts by the establishment to demonise those forced onto social welfare through no fault of their own, and to justify cutting welfare rates and benefits. It is also complete nonsense as there are no jobs out there for people to be ‘incentivised’ to secure, as more than 460,000 unemployed people can attest to.

The statistics for employment growth and long-term unemployment also expose the lies that the unemployed don’t want to work or need to be pushed and cajoled into taking up employment. Throughout the Celtic Tiger era, from the mid-1990s right through to 2007, employment grew annually in the Twenty-Six counties. At the same time, long-term unemployment fell to very low levels and remained at those low levels right up until 2007.

More recently, throughout 2009 and ’10, growth in employment plummeted. As a result, long-term unemployment has soared to record highs. What it reveals is that, when there are jobs for people to take up, they will do so.

High unemployment has nothing to do with people being lazy and not wanting to work. It has to do with a lack of jobs. But should we be surprised at successive governments and the corporate media promoting this notion of ‘laziness’ and ‘fraud’? Of course not. It suits them to put the blame for unemployment on those unfortunate enough to lose their jobs rather than those who are actually responsible for the job losses and unemployment crisis – the business class and the politicians.

Before the recent general election in the Twenty-Six Counties, Fine Gael and Labour promised real change from the politics of Fianna Fáil, who had held the reins of power for more than a decade. Less than 100 days into office, it is crystal clear that the Fine Gael-Labour coalition is more than happy to jettison its pre-election promises.

They are proceeding along the same path as that of their predecessors in bowing to their masters in the IMF and ECB, scape-goating and targeting low paid workers and social welfare recipients, while protecting the assets of the wealthy. The agenda remains the same. All that the general election has changed is the names and faces implementing it.

2011-06-14T16:46:00.005+01:00

Anti Racism World Cup 2011

14/06/2011

ANTI RACISM WORLD CUP 2011 is set for launch. The Anti-Racism World Cup takes place annually at Donegal Celtic FC. Over the last 5 years the event has grown from humble beginnings to being the largest annual community anti-racism event in Ireland.

Teams travel to the ARWC from across Europe and beyond, from Dusseldorf to Palestine, Congo to Manchester, representing Anti Racist/Anti Fascist campaigns, Community Groups, Youth Groups and more. 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.

If your organisation would like to become part of the ARWC come along to the launch or contact stevearwc@hotmail.com or alternatively log on to iour website for more details at www.antiracismworldcup.net

The event takes place this year at Donegal Celtic from 22^nd– 24^th July and will be formally launched at Donegal Celtic FC, Suffolk Road on Monday 20^th June 12.30pm. All are welcome

For more information please contact Seán Brady on 07747776036.

The Windsor Visit & The illusion of Change

2011-06-08T10:16:00.000+01:00

The following is an opinion piece written by éirígí Tír Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig

If we were to believe our politicians and the corporate media, the recent Windsor visit was about the Irish people 'maturing' as a nation, 'putting the past behind us' and normalising relations between the people of Britain and Ireland.

What they did not tell us is how welcoming the head of state and commander in chief of an army that still occupies part of our country is 'putting the past behind us'? Or how spending tens of millions of euros at a time of widespread unemployment, emigration and poverty to host lavish banquets in honour of an anti-democratic sectarian monarch is a sign of us 'maturing' as a nation.

They didn't tell us because it is manufactured spin produced by a cosy consensus of political and corporate media elites. Instead of reporting news and analysis of this visit the media acted as cheerleaders for it.

What they produced was a one-sided commentary full of gushing praise for the Windsors which bore no relation to the reality of this visit or what they represent. It resembled a fashion magazine social diary column rather than coverage of a visit by the Commander in Chief of an army that has one of the worst human rights records in the world.

In order for us all to 'mature' sufficiently, Britain's crimes had to be ignored. The families of the victims of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings were snubbed once more with Britain again refusing to open its secret files in relation to Britain's involvement in those murderous attacks.

Here was the Head of State and Commander in Chief of an army which continues to commit human rights abuses, torture and murder around the world being fawned over by our politicians. Nobody dared mention the 'occupation', whether it be Afghanistan or the one nearer to home, in case it might offend the Windsors. Reporting on Britain's human rights abuses and crimes are apparently in the minds of many journalists of far lesser importance than reporting the colour of Windsors outfit.

The main aim of this visit was 'normalisation'. But it was the normalisation of partition and the occupation of the six counties, not normalisation of relations between the people of Ireland and Britain.

But there is nothing normal about five thousand British troops remaining in Ireland, backed up by 9000 of the human rights abusing paramilitary RUC/PSNI and hundreds of MI5 operatives. There is nothing normal about their systematic campaign of intimidation against those who dare challenge British rule in Ireland. There is nothing normal about their thousands of illegal stop and search operations which are in violation of European human rights legislation.

There was also nothing normal about the Garda response to protests against this visit. For weeks éirígí activists and others opposing the visit, endured intimidation and threats at the hands of the Gardai. On the eve of the visit, as myself and other éirígí activists legally erected posters in Dublin advertising protests, we were stopped and interrogated. And while Windsor was praised for using cúpla focail, only for the arrival on the scene of a TV crew, I was set to be arrested for speaking my native language.

Gardai tore down and stole posters off activists. They effectively banned the tricolour in Dublin city centre, confiscating and dumping them in refuse trucks while the union flag flew above government buildings. A number of banners including one that read 'fund communities not royal visits' was siezed by Gardai who deemed it 'offensive' during a search of a car belonging to éirígí Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan.

These bully boy tactics underlines the fundamentally anti-democratic nature of the state. It exposes the lie that this state allows freedom of assembly, freedom to engage in peaceful protest and freedom to organise political activity. As a socialist republican and someone who has witnessed Garda policing of anti-Shell protests in Mayo, this behaviour is no surprise. Peaceful protest in this state is tolerated only if the Gardai and their political masters say so.

But there was also another agenda at play here. Many of those pushing for this visit to happen in recent years wish to see this state re-enter the British commonwealth. And while some might say this could never happen, the same would have been said ten years if it was suggested that this visit would ever happen. People were accused of scaremongering when they suggested this states neutrality was under threat, yet now Shannon airport is virtually a US military airbase, while Irish troops operate regularly alongside NATO.

It is vital that people dont allow their politicians to sleep-walk them into re-entering the British Commonwealth. So I am calling on the government's two TD's in this county, deputies McGinley and McHugh, to publicly declare where they and their party stand on this issue. We need to be ridding this island of the final remnants of British rule, not seeking to be re-conquered by Britain.

The last visit of an English Monarch to the twenty six counties took place 100 years ago. Opposition to that protest was led by socialist republicans like James Connolly and Constance Markievicz. While the majority of the political establishment led by Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore were bowing and scraping before the Windsors, and others weren't too sure whether they were actually for or against this visit, once again it was socialist republicans that led the resistance and protests against it.

To conclude, let me reiterate our opposition to any 'British royal' being welcomed to any part of Ireland. In the aftermath of the Windsor visit, it has now emerged that invites have been extended to Charles Windsor to visit the north-west. In the event of any such visit, éirígí will organise resistance and demonstrations against it here in this region just as we did in recent weeks in Dublin.

2011-06-04T15:06:00.002+01:00

Say No to Water Tax – Keep Our Water Public!

04/06/2011

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.

Minihan said: “Today’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.

“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.

“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.”

The water charges announcement was made yesterday [Tuesday] 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.

Water supply has become a major global business, with multinational corporations amassing enormous profits from the privatisation of domestic water supplies.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

According to Minhan, the experience of households in England and Wales will be repeated in the Twenty-Six Counties.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“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.”

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.”

2011-06-03T20:05:00.000+01:00

The Mavi Marmara Massacre One Year On

03/06/2011

A year ago last Tuesday [May 31], the Israeli military intercepted the International Freedom Flotilla in international waters as it headed for Gaza.

On board the various boats making up the convoy were pro-Palestine activists from all around the world, including Ireland. They were attempting to break the illegal siege of Gaza and were carrying shipments of humanitarian aid which they intended to deliver to the besieged strip.

What followed was a massacre. Nine activists on board the Mavi Marmara were murdered by Israeli troops, while many more were seriously injured. Those who survived were kidnapped and forcibly brought to Israel against their will where they were interrogated, beaten and tortured in many instances. Their passports were seized and other properties stolen. This was an act of naked unprovoked aggression, international piracy and state terrorism.

So, a full year on from the massacre aboard the Mavi Marmara, many questions remain to be answered.

What efforts are being made by the ‘international community’ to bring to justice those who ordered and carried out this slaughter and other Israeli war crimes?

What efforts are they making to bring an end to the inhumane and illegal siege of Gaza?

What efforts are they making to force Israeli compliance with international law, whether in relation to illegal settlements, its apartheid wall or political repression?

What efforts are they making in relation to the kidnapping, internment without trial and abuse and torture of prisoners, including hundreds of children?

Twelve months on and the answer to all the above is a shameful ‘none’.

The reality is, despite Israel’s claims to have eased the siege last year and despite the opening by Egypt of the Rafah crossing last week, Israel continues to illegally blockade Gaza. While the opening of the Rafah crossing is welcome, it relates solely to the movement of people and does not address the core issue of free movement of goods to and from Gaza or the movement of people between Gaza and the West Bank, which Israel continues to ban.

A UN report published in March this year said that Israel's restrictions continue to prevent any improvement in people's lives and violate international law [Click here to read the report in full].

According to the report, “As an occupying power, as well as in every instance in which it exercises control over Gaza and its population, Israel is bound by international humanitarian and human rights law obligations.

“This legal framework prohibits Israel from imposing restrictions that are detrimental to the rights and needs of the population and which are not strictly required by legitimate security needs. Such restrictions may amount to collective punishment, which is prohibited under any circumstances.”

The report adds: “Israel must fully lift the blockade. This includes a removal of restrictions on the import of construction materials and the exports of goods, as well as a lifting of the general ban on the movement of people between Gaza and the West Bank via Israel.

“Additionally, Israel must remove to the fullest extent possible the current restrictions on the access of people to areas in the vicinity of the perimeter fence and to sea waters along Gaza’s coast. When resorting to the use of force, it must ensure that civilians and civilian objects are not targeted, and that all necessary measures are adopted to prevent or minimize the negative effect of attacks on the civilian population and its property.”

As you read this, the former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic is in custody awaiting extradition to face charges of war crimes committed during the Balkans wars. The International Criminal Court has said that the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has a case to answer for war crimes committed by his troops bombing civilian areas. The US and British military are currently involved in a bombing campaigning of Libya supposedly to protect Libyan civilians and bring Gaddafi to justice for his alleged crimes.

But no such effort has been made to bring Israel’s leaders to justice for their crimes. In fact, much effort has been made to bolster the zionist regime and protect their war criminal leaders. The British government introduced measures to prevent the arrest of Israeli leaders when in Britain, while Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu only recently addressed the US Congress, where he was treated to a hero’s reception despite the atrocities he is responsible for.

Despite condemning the attack on the flotilla last year, the European Union has steadfastly refused to break off diplomatic and economic links with Israel, with moves currently underway to start upgrading those links even further. The Dublin government, despite saying there would be “serious consequences” for Israel if they harmed any Irish citizens, have also refused to take any meaningful action against them. Both the previous and current administrations in Leinster House refuse to countenance shutting down the Israeli embassy and severing all diplomatic and economic links with the zionist state.

It is this shameful lack of action in defence of the rights of the Palestinian people by governments and other institutions whose duty it allegedly is to uphold human rights and international law that forced activists to organise last year’s flotillas and other such actions. Indeed, a second flotilla will now set sail for Gaza in late June. This will comprise of more than 1,000 activists, including an Irish ship with many Irish activists onboard.

Outlining the reasons for the second flotilla, Irish Ship to Gaza coordinator Fintan Lane said: “Israel has no right to treat the people of Gaza as inmates in what has become the world’s largest prison. This amounts to collective punishment, and as such is a violation of international humanitarian law. Irish Ship to Gaza is part of a broad-based, grassroots international movement of concerned citizens who are committed to peacefully uphold the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people in the face of continuing inaction by our governments.”

Already, Israel has issued threats to use military force once again to prevent the flotilla getting through to Gaza. With this threat of piracy, kidnapping and other violations of international law, as well as the events of last year in mind, you would think that the ‘international community’ and governments around the world would be intervening to hold the Israelis to account and ensure safe passage for this humanitarian flotilla.

Their response, however, has been truly shameful. Rather than ensuring Israel complies with international law and insisting that they will be held to account for their crimes if they attack the flotilla, various governments and institutions such as the UN have ceded to pressure from Israel and are instead trying to prevent the flotilla from being able to depart for Gaza at all.

It is the warped logic of ignoring the crimes of the perpetrator and shifting the blame onto the victim of those crimes. Indeed, if the UN took meaningful action and ensured the ending of the siege there would be no need for this or any other flotilla.

The bottom line is that the Palestinian people continue to live under a brutal military occupation. Peaceful protests continue to be attacked by Israel. Palestinian civilians continue to be murdered by Israeli troops. Palestinian land continues to be stolen as illegal settlements and the illegal apartheid wall continues to be built.

While Palestine remains occupied, it is our duty as Irish socialists and republicans to give whatever practical support and solidarity to the Palestinian people.

Over the coming weeks let us all redouble our efforts and help to end the siege of Gaza, to bring an end to the apartheid Israeli regime and to secure freedom at last for the Palestinian people.

For more information on the upcoming flotilla, go to www.irishshiptogaza.org.

For more information on the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), go towww.ipsc.ie.

2011-05-29T00:31:00.001+01:00

Restaurant Workers Demonstrate to Defend Conditions

29/05/2011

Members of the Restaurant and Catering Workers Forum held a demonstration at the Annual Irish Restaurant Awards on Wednesday [May 25]. The Awards are hosted by the Restaurants Association of Ireland, which is behind an attack on the wages and conditions of workers in the industry by calling for the abolition of the Catering Employment Regulation Order.

2011-05-27T11:42:00.002+01:00

James Connolly, Monarchy and Labour Party Hypocrisy

27/05/2011

The tweet below was posted by Labour party TD for East Galway Colm Keaveney on the first day of the Windsor visit and was reproduced in the Galway Independent newspaper the following day in its May 18th issue.

Below is the contents of a letter from éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey in response to Keaveney's remarks which was published in Wednesday's Galway Independent (May 25th). Just click on the image below to read the digital edition or click here to read it on the papers website.

The following text is the full content of the response to Deputy Keaveney.

A chara

Please allow me to respond to the Labour TD Colm Keaveney's ill-informed tweet relating to the Windsor visit published in last weeks Galway Independent. In it he describes the socialist republican party éirígí as 'thugs'.

So what merits such a tag in Deputy Keaveney's eyes?

Is it upholding our right to organise a series of protests against the visit of the British head of state, all of which were peaceful despite huge provocation from Gardai? Is it our refusal to be intimidated by persistent Garda actions who, in the run-up and during the visit, intimidated and threatened activists engaged in legal political activity?

Party members erecting posters in Dublin, including myself, were illegally stopped and searched and interrogated by Gardai refusing to show ID or cite what act they were acting under as obliged by law. Despite having permits to poster, these were torn down and the remainder seized by Gardai.

éirígí Dublin City Cllr Louise Minihan had her car searched by up to a dozen Gardai who seized a banner that read 'Fund Communities Not Royal Visits' deeming it to be 'offensive'. Other similar banners and flags were also seized as Gardai tried to prevent peaceful protests taking place. I was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground by Gardai as I videoed their attempts to prevent people joining a protest at the Spire.

While the Union Jack flew over government buildings, Gardai effectively banned our national flag from Dublin city centre, seizing tri-colours and throwing them in refuse trucks.

As someone who has watched Gardai police anti-Shell protests in north Mayo, this intimidation, illegality and blatant attempts to prevent peaceful protest does not surprise me. But if Deputy Keaveney is concerned about 'thugs' he would be better served taking on those 'thugs' for which his government are responsible i.e the Gardai. Or does Deputy Keaveney think that the right to engage in legal political activity and peaceful protest should only extend to other countries and not here? Does he believe the thuggery outlined above is acceptable?

Is mise

Gerry Casey

éirígí Sligeach

Labour TD Colm Keaveney

Previously a full-time Trade Union official with SIPTU until his recent election to Leinster House, Keaveney and his colleagues in the Labour party would like us all to believe that they are following in the footsteps of James Connolly and James Larkin.

Speaking at Arbour Hill just two days before he welcomed the first English Monarch to visit the 26 counties in 100 years off her plane, Keaveney's party leader Eamon Gilmore said:

"It is an occasion to honour the memory of a man who, through his ideals; through his vision; and through his sacrifice; bequeathed to us a living legacy. That legacy is the Labour Party."

Gilmore welcomes Windsor to Dublin

He added:

"So as we gather to celebrate the life of James Connolly - the values he stood for, the ideals he fought for - we might also reflect on our own call to duty."

So what were those values of Connolly's that the Labour party leader wanted to celebrate? What for instance were Connolly's views on Monarchy and of royal visits to Ireland?

Speaking in the advance of the last 'British royal' visit in 1911 Connolly made his views absolutely crystal clear "that the occasion will be utilised to make propaganda on behalf of royalty and aristocracy against the oncoming forces of democracy and National freedom".

James Connolly

And in comments that could just as easily be directed now at Gilmore and Keaveney he said:

"Let the capitalist and landlord class flock to exalt him; he is theirs; in him they see embodied the idea of caste and class; they glorify him and exalt his importance that they might familiarise the public mind with the conception of political inequality, knowing well that a people mentally poisoned by the adulation of royalty can never attain to that spirit of self-reliant democracy necessary for the attainment of social freedom."

Gilmore and the Labour party have portrayed this visit as one of the greatest moments in Irish history, as they grovelled before the English monarch, the head of what Connolly described as "a survival of the tyranny imposed by the hand of greed and treachery upon the human race in the darkest and most ignorant days of our history."

While Connolly along with other socialist republicans was leading the opposition to the last 'royal visit' to Dublin, Gilmore and the Labour party were shutting down large sections of the city, using their political police to try to prevent protests against this visit. Cheered on by a largely compliant and unquestioning media, they attempted to demonise and criminalise those who dared take to the streets in opposition to this visit in the same way that Connolly and Markieveicz were treated in 1911 by the British authorities.

Clearly at odds with the current Labour party view of monarchy, Connolly described it as deriving its only sanction "from the sword of the marauder, and the helplessness of the producer, and its gifts to humanity are unknown, save as they can be measured in the pernicious examples of triumphant and shameless iniquities."

So while Gilmore, Keaveney and the rest of the Labour party may wish people to believe that they are following in the footsteps of James Connolly, do they seriously think he would have welcomed the Commander in Chief of the British army to our shores while they continue to occupy part of our country?

They may want us to believe that Connolly would have wined and dined in Dublin Castle rubbing shoulders with the political and capitalist classes that have caused so much suffering to Irish workers in order to honour an English monarch, but does anyone with capacity for rational thought seriously believe them?

Unlike Eamon Gilmore and the Labour party, James Connolly was avowedly opposed to capitalism, to monarchy and to all forms of privilege. Unlike them, he was a staunch defender of workers rights and of the poor. Unlike them, he was not a social democrat - he was a socialist and a revolutionary socialist at that. Unlike them, he was an anti-imperialist opposed to the occupation of any part of Ireland by a foreign government.

In his final statement which was given to his daughter Nora on the eve of his execution, Connolly re-iterated his position on the British occupation in no uncertain terms.

"The British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland"

JAMES CONNOLLY,
Commandant-General, Dublin Division,
Army of the Irish Republic

May 9th 1916

2011-05-22T14:36:00.000+01:00

éirígí anti-Windsor Protests, May 17th – Full Report

22/05/2011

Tuesday’s [May 17] day of protest against the state visit of Elizabeth Windsor began on O’Connell Street when a group of éirígí activists and supporters staged an impromptu sit-down protest beside the Spire monument. As Windsor left Casement Aerodrome, on the outskirts of the city, the chants of ‘Can you hear us loud and clear? British royals not welcome here!’ and ‘Whose streets? Our streets?’ were echoing off the historic GPO.

As more activists arrived with flags and megaphones the face of the Gardaí said it all. Despite the massive security operation that had been put in place it was clear that the voice of Irish republicanism was going to be loudly heard in the centre of Dublin. By the time Gardaí formed a line to prevent further supporters joining the protest there were already thirty people sitting on the ground, with more arriving by the minute.

Within ten minutes of the action starting there were two groups of protesters in place – one on the otherwise deserted central plaza of Dublin’s main thoroughfare and one hemmed behind the police line at the top of Henry Street. With roughly two hours remaining until Windsor’s scheduled arrival on O’Connell Street scores of Gardaí began to forcibly push protesters back down Henry Street.

When that task was completed another large force of Gardaí prepared to move on the activists sitting beside the Spire. In the face of certain arrest and removal from the streets for the duration of the Garden of Remembrance ceremony, the group of activists made their way en bloc to their comrades at the top of Moore Street.

The professionalism of the Garda was to the fore as the various top brass starting issuing contradictory orders to various sections of their yellow-coated goons. So as some Gardaí tried to arrest the protesters others opened the police line to let them onto Henry Street, and yet more started pushing protesters back down the street!

The chaotic scenes continued for roughly five minutes before the now 150-strong group of éirígí activists and supporters made their way to 16 Moore Street for a wreath-laying ceremony. The protest had lasted over half an hour, during which time hundreds of onlookers and dozens of journalists had witnessed both the dignity of the protesters and the aggression of the Gardaí.

At 16 Moore Street éirígí ‘s Ursula Ní Shionnain gave a brief speech prior to the laying of a wreath in memory of all of those who have died for Irish freedom, which was followed by a minute’s silence. With the ceremony complete the large and very loud protest moved onwards towards the Garda line at the corner of Parnell Square. Once there, the entire crowd sat down on the road where they remained for close to two hours in a remarkable demonstration of dignified and disciplined political protest.

Those who found themselves sitting on Parnell Street were an unusual mix of seasoned political activists, school children, university students, workers, the unemployed and those who call the streets of the north inner city home. For almost two hours they sang rebel songs, chanted anti-royal slogans, blew whistles and banged drums – united in their opposition to Windsor and all that she represents.

Despite the oppressive security operation and the ample provocation of Windsor’s presence in the Garden of Remembrance, the ever-swelling crowd did not walk into the trap that the forces of the state had laid for them. Instead they maintained a dignified and disciplined protest which succeeded in its objective.

Footage of the protest was beamed around the world by Sky News and other multi-national news stations. The message was unmistakable – Windsor is not welcome; Britain out of Ireland. In countless radio, television and print interviews éirígí spokespeople hammered home that same message again and again. And when Windsor finally arrived at the Garden of Remembrance the noise of the protest was deafening as hundreds of voices, whistles, drums and air-horns screamed their unmistakable opposition to the British Empire.

Although Windsor, and the apologists that joined her, may not have seen any protesters they most certainly heard them, a fact confirmed by journalists who were in the Garden and those who could hear the protest as far away as Denmark Street. All in all, it was a most unusual and most successful protest – one that sat in perfect harmony with the anti-royal protests of Connolly and Markievicz one hundred years before hand.

2011-05-16T20:56:00.001+01:00

Join the Garden of Remembrance Protest

16/05/2011

No element of the upcoming Windsor visit has caused as much outrage as her visit to the Garden of Remembrance on Dublin’s Parnell Square. The monument is dedicated to all of those who have died in the struggle for Irish freedom. In other words, the garden is dedicated to those who have been killed by Britain – the same Britain that continues to occupy the Six Counties and the same Britain of which Windsor is the head of state.

What other state in the world would invite the Commander-in-Chief of an occupying army to visit a freedom memorial while that occupation is still ongoing?

And to add insult to injury the Windsor wreath-laying ceremony at the Garden of Remembrance is set to take place on May 17th – the thirty-seventh anniversary of the Dublin/Monaghan bombings. The stage is now set for the Commander-in-Chief of those who planted the Dublin and Monaghan car bombs to pass within metres of where one of those bombs killed eleven innocent people. To this day the British state denies all involvement in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings whilst simultaneously blocking all efforts to get to the truth of what happened on May 17th 1974.

At 1pm on Tuesday [May 17] éirígí is organising an alternative wreath-laying ceremony at No 16 Moore Street in Dublin – the location of the final headquarters of the 1916 rising. Following the wreath-laying ceremony the protest will move as close to the Garden of Remembrance as possible. All are welcome and don’t forget to bring the noise. Whistles, fog-horns, bin lids and drums and anything else that will make a racket! 10,000 Gardaí and soldiers might prevent Windsor from seeing any protests but they can’t prevent her from hearing them.

Case Against Anglo Irish Accused Collapses

2011-04-19T13:29:00.000+01:00

14/04/11

Four of the éirígí activists who were arrested for their part in a protest at the Anglo Irish Bank headquarters in Dublin in May last year were cleared of all charges today [Thursday] after the Garda case against them collapsed.

Ursula Ní Shionnain, Daithí Ó Riain, Robbie Fox and Eoin Ó Sé occupied the roof of the bank last year to raise a banner imploring “People of Ireland, Rise Up”.

The four were subsequently arrested, along with three other activists, assaulted by Gardaí and charged with trespass.

Today, a Dublin court found that there was insufficient evidence to convict the four activists.
Ursula Ní Shionnain said: “Our protest was a legitimate act of civil disobedience at a time of economic and political crisis. We should never have been arrested and dragged through the courts but, today, we were vindicated."

“The people who should be in front of courts are the bankers and politicians who led Ireland to economic ruin. They should be tried and convicted of destroying people’s livelihoods, leaving tens of thousands on the dole and looting the public purse.”

Ní Shionnain continued: “It should now be recognised that our three co-accused – Daithí Mac An Mhaistír, John McCusker and Pádraig Ó Meiscill – are equally as innocent."

“éirígí will continue with its campaign against the obscene bank bailouts and the vicious anti-working class measures being implemented by the Dublin government, using whatever means we deem necessary.
“We call on working people across Ireland to join us in this campaign – all of our futures are at stake.”