Archive for the ‘European Union’ Category
Which State Has Invaded Nine out of Ten Countries on Earth?
Or what quality does this select band of states share?
Andorra, Belarus, Bolivia, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mali, Marshall Islands, Monaco, Mongolia, Paraguay, Sao Tome and Principe, Sweden, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Vatican City?
Here is a link to the unsurprising answer :
British have invaded nine out of ten countries so look out Luxembourg
And Union Jack wavers wonder why they provoke ridicule :
Germans Laugh at British Absurdity
Not seen much on British TV because this
piece was deemed a potentially anti-monarchy satire and so was not promoted too much in the UK.
Update :
The Journal.ie writer did not mention regarding the brilliant sketch “Dinner For One”: Freddy Frinton was an anti-fascist who blocked the screening of his sketch in Germany for 30 years.
And finally, Hitler comments on the Union Jack fluttering in Belfast :
A major mistake by the Red Green Alliance – International Viewpoint – online socialist magazine
http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article2820 Lessons here for all forces favourable to building new anti-capitalist parties – some issues are non-negotiable principles.
“Greek Democracy is in Tatters” – Tariq Ali on the Future of Greece and the Left’s Role Today
Tariq Ali on the Future of Greece
Good stuff here :
What must be the Left’s role today?
To unite against the enemy. To refrain from fighting each other. To build the broadest possible united front against the collaborators who put the interests of bankers before those of their own people. That is the first and most important task. Sectarianism is always useless but in these times is a crime and not just in Greece, though sectarianism with Greek characteristics is never a pleasant sight.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/15/tariq-ali-on-the-future-of-greece/
Time to Make our Voices Heard, Say Organisers of November 24th Anti-Austerity March
Time to Make our Voices Heard, Say Organisers of November 24th Anti-Austerity March
The groups organising the Anti-Austerity March on November 24th today (Monday, November 19th) held a joint press conference.
Chairing the press conference, Tommy McKearney, speaking on behalf of the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes, said:
“The CAH&WT is urging all campaign members and supporters to take part in the national pre-budget anti-austerity demonstration in Dublin on Saturday 24th November. With the OECD reporting Ireland’s unemployment rate as the fourth highest among developed countries and clear evidence of household incomes falling, December’s budget must not cause still more damage through further cut-backs. The CAH&WT message is straight-forward : The Coalition must be told loud and clear on 24th November that it was not elected to impoverish the people“, Mr McKearney said.
Speaking on behalf of the Communities Against Cuts campaign, Lynda Scully said:
“This year’s budget will cut €1.7 billion from public expenditure. If the last five budgets are anything to go by, this will be disproportionately targeted at the poorest and most disadvantaged communities, devastating the community sector by removing local services and jobs. If this is allowed to happen we will see closures throughout the country in youth services, child-care, elder care, training and education projects, local and community development and drugs projects. This march is for the people to stand up and let the government know the last five budgets have not worked, and nor will this one”.
John Bissett of the Spectacle of Defiance and Hope said:
“On Saturday November 24th community groups from all over Dublin and beyond will be joining the Spectacle of Defiance and Hope to articulate their anger at the continuation of austerity measures which will be further exacerbated in the upcoming Budget”.
Michael O’Reilly of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions said:
“After five austerity budgets, 300,000 of our fellow citizens are unemployed and one million people are living in deprivation. Yet on December 5th the Government is set to introduce the sixth austerity budget since the onset of the crisis. That is why we are asking people to join us on November 24th and send a clear message to Government Buildings in advance of the Budget: We need to change direction and start focussing on growth and investment rather than destructive cuts”.
ENDS
For further information contact:
John Bissett (Spectacle of Defiance and Hope) 087-9889132
David Connolly (Communities Against Cuts) 087-9073573
Gregor Kerr (Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes) 086-1501151
Alex Klemm (DCTU) 087-2606139
The November 24th Anti-Austerity March will take place at 1 pm on Saturday, November 24th, starting from Parnell Square
An Irish Rising Day, November 17 2012 – “The great only appear great because we are on our knees. Let us rise!” – Jim Larkin
http://www.facebook.com/actiononx2012
The foundations of the right-wing Fine Gael / Labour Coalition are shaking, trembling, and rocking from side to side :
If it falls, good riddance
“Today a statue of “Big Jim” stands on O’Connell Street in Dublin. The inscription on the front of the monument is an extract in French, Irish and English from one of his famous speeches:
Les grands ne sont grands que parce que nous sommes à genoux: Levons-nous.
Ní uasal aon uasal ach sinne bheith íseal: Éirímis.
The great appear great because we are on our knees: Let us rise.The slogan, first used on the 18th century French radical paper Révolutions de Paris,[14] also appeared on the masthead of the Workers’ Republic, founded by James Connolly in Dublin in August, 1898. Originally the organ of the Irish Socialist Republican Party, this periodical later became the official organ of the Communist Party of Ireland, which was founded in 1921. The original slogan is usually attributed to Camille Desmoulins (1760–1794), the French revolutionary”
Today :
Mass protest is the only way to win change on abortion
http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/savita-protest-dublin-677586-Nov2012/
The November 17 Never Again Dublin Demonstration got huge media coverage in Ireland and abroad.
The Irish Times Reported :
It was headed by a giant banner which read “Never Again”, adorned with images of the 31-year-old Indian dentist.
Organisers of the Dublin march said about 20,000 people had turned out, but a Garda spokeswoman said they estimated the figure to be between 10,000 and 12,000.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1118/breaking3.html
Clare Daly TD spoke powerfully :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=faZj8L5pqGw
See also this statement from the ULA TD’s Clare Daly and Joan Collins :
Labour and Fine Gael bear responsibility for death of woman who was denied abortion
– The crisis is triggered by 7 governments’ refusals to act on the 20-year-old 1992 Supreme Court X Case Abortion Judgment
– The crisis is caused by the preventable death of Savita Halappanavar – 20 TD’s voted for Clare Daly TD’s Bill to implement the X Case Judgment – 111 Members of the Leinster House Parliament – mainly Fine Gael and Labour Government Deputies – voted against – Read the rest of this entry »
London conference: New parties of the left
On Saturday 29th September the British group Socialist Resistance organised a very interesting day of discussion in London on the new European, broad, pluralistic, left parties. It was a kind of update of their seminal conference on the same theme held in London in 2000. Minus one or two of the organisations that have since died or shrunk. As is common on the British left there was no cognisance of Ireland or the ULA in the published programme for the day.
It was also a kind of ‘film of the book’ of the uneven but instructive New Parties of the Left: Experiences from Europe (Resistance Books 2011).
Both Tomás and I were at the 2000 meeting but as it was a busy weekend I unfortunately could not travel to this meeting. Never mind, technology has since allowed us to attend meetings without actually going to them and many of the speeches were recorded and put up on the Socialist Resistance website. The actual line up seems to have departed slightly from the advertised billing.
Below is the line up for the day and then the filmed speeches in the rough chronological order in which I think they were delivered.
Des Derwin
New parties of the left
A day of debate organised by London Socialist Resistance
Saturday 29 September, 10:30am – 5pm
With Stathis Kouvelakis (Syriza), Kate Hudson (Respect), Adam Hanieh (author and activist), Sandra Demarcq (NPA – France), Andrew Burgin (CoR), Alan Thornett (Socialist Resistance), Michael Voss (Red Green Alliance – Enheidlisten, Denmark), and Phillipe Nadouce (Front de Gauche).
At ULU, Malet Street, London, WC1
stathis-kouvelakis-on-greece-6376827
kate-hudson-on-new-left-parties-6376775
denmark-s-red-green-alliance-6376835
the-radicalisation-in-the-arab-world-6376840
the-need-for-broad-parties-of-the-left-6376878
Book Launch – Ireland in the World Order, written by Maurice Coakley – Thursday September 20, 7.00pm, Teachers’ Club 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1
Invitation to a Dublin launch of a new book :
Ireland in the World Order, written by Maurice Coakley
Maurice Coakley focuses on key elements that contributed to Ireland’s development, examining its bloody and violent incorporation into the British state, its refusal to embrace the Protestant Reformation and failure to industrialise in the 19th century. Coakley considers the crucial question of why Ireland’s national identity has come to rest on a mass movement for independence.
Andy Storey will launch the book
Details :
Thursday September 20, 7.00pm, in the
Teachers’ Club 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1
Feel free to bring a friend
Tomás Ó Flatharta 