Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights Organizations’
Justice for Ukraine – Bring the Stolen Children Home June 1, 12.30pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street Dublin 1
Justice for Ukraine – Bring the Stolen Children Home June 1, 12.30pm, The Spire, O’Connell Street Dublin 1

Part of a Day of Action on June 1 2025, International Day for Children
Assemble Sunday June 1, 12.30pm The Spire, O’Connell Street
Statement, Ivana Bacik TD, Labour Party Leader
“‘Since 2014, it is known that Russia has abducted nearly 20,000 Ukrainian children. Protests against this barbaric war crime are occurring all over the world, and Russia’s criminal actions have been condemned in the European Parliament and across EU Member States. I commend all activists who are taking part in protests against Russia’s abduction and deportation of Ukrainan children. I have raised this issue in Dáil Éireann (the Irish parliament) and have demanded that the Irish government takes appropriate action to express the strongest possible condemnation of Russian war crimes.’”

Statement, John Boyle, General Secretary, Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
“ The INTO endorses the campaign to end the forceful transfer & deportation of Ukrainian children & return them all, ending the enforced Russification process & militarisation”
Supporters Include :
The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO)
The Labour Party
Ivana Bacik TD (Leader, Labour Party)
John Lyons Dublin City Councillor (Independent Left)
Lesley Byrne Dublin City Councillor (Social Democrats)
Nóirín Greene (Senior Irish Trade Unionist)
Des Derwin, Vice Chair, SIPTU Dublin District Council
Tadhg Mac Pháidín, Teachers’ Club (Cumann na Múinteoirí)
Gregor Kerr (INTO)
European Network for Solidarity with Ukraine (ENSU)
Irish Left With Ukraine (ILWU)
Statement issued by the general secretary of British TUC Paul Nowak and other information :
International Actions for Ukraine’s Stolen Children, June 1 2025
Resources :
European Parliament Resolution, May 8 2025 : Return of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported by Russia



Conor McGregor’s St. Patrick’s Day Spectacle – Two Rapists in the White House
Karim Zidan at SportsPolitika writes an excellent report on the appearance of Irish rapist-racist boxing superstar Conor McGregor at Donald Trump’s Washington DC White House on St Patrick’s Day 2025.
Link :
McGregor-Trump Rapist-Racist Summit – SportsPolitika
Zidan correctly observes that Irish government leaders Micheál Martin and Simon Harris distanced themselves from the Trump-McGregor Rapist-Racist summit. The socialist-feminist Dáil Deputy Ruth Coppinger (Solidarity-People Before Profit) points out that Martin voluntarily walked into the Trump-McGregor trap by lickspittling the American President at a March 12 White House event.
‘Two rapists in the White House’: TD tells Dáil McGregor’s visit to Trump was an insult to women
Link :
Two Rapists in the White House


Ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday to mark St. Patrick’s Day, former UFC champion Conor McGregor made an appearance at the White House briefing room, where he took questions from the baffled reporters in attendance.
As he stood at the podium alongside press secretary Karoline Leavitt, McGregor warned that “Ireland is at the cusp of potentially losing its Irishness” due to a so-called “illegal immigration racket.”
“It’s high time that America is made aware of what is going on in Ireland,” McGregor said, adding “What is going on in Ireland is a travesty.”
McGregor’s appearance comes less than six months after he was deemed liable for sexually assaulting a woman in a Dublin hotel in 2018. McGregor’s appeal against the jury’s findings is expected to come before the court this week.
Shortly following the verdict, McGregor was removed as the spokesperson for Proper No. Twelve, the Irish whiskey brand he helped create in 2018 before selling the brand three years later. Several retailers in the UK and Ireland have also removed Proper from its shelves, including Tesco.
Yet despite being liable for rape, McGregor was welcomed with open arms to the White House, with Leavitt claiming “we couldn’t think of a better guest to have with us on St Patrick’s Day.” The White House even shared a video of McGregor emerging from the West Wing before saying “Happy Paddy’s Day, America” to the camera.
McGregor’s White House welcome comes as no surprise, given President Donald Trump’s long-standing love for combat sports, particularly the UFC. No other sports organization aligned itself with Trump’s presidency as closely—or worked as hard to support his political rise—as the UFC.
During a meeting with Irish prime minister Micheal Martin last week, Trump said McGregor was his favourite Irish person partly because “he’s got the best tattoos I’ve ever seen”.
And yet, Trump’s fondness for McGregor extend beyond his taste for the fighter’s tattoos. McGregor has also voiced his support for Trump’s presidency and was in attendance at his inauguration in January. The two men also share a political vision marked by resurgent nationalism, isolationism, and a streak of anti-migrant hysteria.
McGregor’s views on migrants came to a head in November 2023, when he helped stoke anti-migrant sentiments that led to one of the most violent riots in Dublin’s history. The riot started after a man stabbed three young children and a care assistant in Dublin. Far-right activists quickly blamed immigration, stoking public rage after the suspect was identified as being originally from Algeria.
McGregor tweeted that Ireland was “at war” in the lead-up to the riots. In the aftermath of the chaos, he followed up by tweeting “you reap what you sow.” He had previously spent weeks stoking anti-migrant sentiments on social media, including endorsing a “task force” to monitor migrants.
McGregor’s anti-migrant stances quickly made him a symbol for the far right throughout Europe. Kampf der Nibelungen, a German neo-Nazi MMA league, shared several of McGregor’s tweets in their Telegram channel, including one where the fighter called for a “task force” for all entrants coming into Ireland and demanded that the Irish government “correct this or you are all finished.” AI generated illustrations of McGregor holding a shotgun and leading an army of angry gun-wielding men waving Irish flags also spread on platforms such as 4chan, Gab, and Twitter.
McGregor’s views also caught the attention of some of Trump’s inner circle, including Elon Musk, who showed interest in the idea of McGregor running for office in Ireland. The 36-year-old has repeatedly stated his intention to run for president of Ireland, calling himself the “only logical choice” to lead the nation. Ironically, the Irish presidency is predominantly a ceremonial role, serving as representative of the Irish state.
And yet, McGregor’s meeting with Trump speaks to the role that combat sports plays in modern politics, with UFC fighters serving as the conduits of conservative values and right-wing policy. It’s yet another example of how Trump’s MAGA ideology aligns with MMA’s ethos—one where success isn’t won through negotiation or diplomacy, but through sheer strength, power, and dominance.
Nevertheless, while McGregor has managed to secure a coveted meeting with Trump, there are few people in Ireland who believe he is speaking on their behalf. Ireland’s Taoiseach Michael Martin tweeted today that “Conor McGregor’s remarks are wrong, and do not reflect the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, or the views of the people of Ireland.” Meanwhile, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Defence Simon Harris added that “McGregor doesn’t speak for Ireland.”
“He doesn’t speak for the people of Ireland,” Harris said. “He has no mandate to do such, and my views on him are very clear, well established, previously articulated, long standing and on the public record.”
An Irish Times Report (May 21 2025) carries an “inside story” on the Trump-McGregor White House Rapist-Racist Summit. McGregor’s visiting team included a Dublin City Councillor Philip Sutcliffe, who discussed the chance that the racist-rapist boxer may run for the office of Irish President :
“Many believe all of this is a prelude to McGregor formally entering the race for the Irish presidential election which is due to take place after the summer. McGregor has repeatedly indicated he intends to run, although it is not at all clear if he would obtain the required support to get on the ballot paper.
Sutcliffe says he hopes McGregor will run and that he will have Washington’s full support if he does.
“Not only Washington, he’ll have the backing of Putin. He’s another fan of Conor’s,” he added.
How to finance European defence (and how not to) – and how the Irish left can assist Ukraine by all means necessary
Hanna Perekhoda’s article highlights uncomfortable truths about European Defence. The new Trump-Putin reactionary alliance against Ukraine has brought matters to a head.
Perekhoda states “The real question now, particularly for the left, is whether it has a concrete program to address this crisis.”
Link : How to finance European defence (and how not to)
Ireland will not escape the consequences.
Do the best parts of the left in Ireland pass this Perekhoda test?
We must start by examining a misnamed policy : supporting Irish “Neutrality”. Language matters, as we shall see. This is a key part of the problem.

The best of the Irish left declares itself in favour of “Neutrality” – but in the conflict between Israel and Palestine it supports Palestine.
The best of the left should not support a policy of “Neutrality” in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It should support Ukraine.
The best of the left correctly opposes Irish state membership of military alliances such as NATO, but that is not a policy of “neutrality”. The policy is more accurately described as “non-alignment”. That, for the sake of clarity, was the policy of Tito’s Yugoslavia after his country’s progressive breakaway from the Warsaw Pact.
Does this matter in practice? The answer is Yes.
When the Irish government militarily assists the state of Ukraine by providing mine-clearing equipment, it is helping to defend the hospitals, schools and housing of people living in Ukraine. It is preventing Ukraine from becoming a new defenceless Gaza.
Read the rest of this entry »There will be no peace without justice: Statement of Ukrainian civil society organizations on the US-Russia negotiations
Links :
No Peace Without Justice – Statement of ukrainian Civil Society on the US-Russia Negotiations – ESSF
We, representatives of [Ukrainian] civil society and human rights organizations, decisively condemn the negotiations between the delegations of the Russian Federation and the United States regarding Ukraine, which took place in Saudi Arabia, as well as the plans to create negotiating groups without the participation of Ukraine. Any agreements about Ukraine without its direct participation are not only unacceptable, but also contradict the fundamental principles of international law, the sovereignty of states, and the right of the people of Ukraine to independently determine their future.


Such agreements are fundamentally incapable of accomplishing sustainable peace and international security, creating additional security, economic, and other threats to states that will support them. This path repeats the fatal mistake the international community made during the Munich Agreement of 1938, which, as was discovered later, did not satisfy the encroachment of the aggressor state and led to an even more destructive war.
Ukraine is not an object, but a sovereign state affected by aggression
Russia continues waging a full-scale war against Ukraine in violation of the fundamental principles of international law, including the prohibition to use force against the territorial integrity and political independence of any state enshrined in the UN Charter. This has been recognized not only by numerous decisions of international organizations, but also supported by the majority of countries in the world. The aggression committed by the Russian Federation has already resulted in numerous war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the likely genocide of the Ukrainian people.
Read the rest of this entry »Peace between neofascists and war on oppressed peoples – the Trump-Putin Anti-Ukraine Summit in the land of Saudi Arabian Bloodbaths
Convicted Rapist-President Donald Trump (USA) and wanted international war criminal President Vladimir Putin (Russia) are knifing Ukraine Palestine and Syria, hosted by the Saudi Arabia bloodbath kingdom.
Three sociopathic assassins (Putin, Trump, and Mohammed bin Salman) have form. Barcelona journalist Cristina Mas notes : “This format would have been unthinkable just five years ago, after the murder of journalist and opposition leader Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a crime that prompted condemnation around the world and the cooling of relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia”
From the pro-Ukraine left, useful interpretations are circulating.
Links :
Extract :
Read the rest of this entry »In a highly confrontational speech delivered at the Munich Security Conference opening on 14 February, US Vice President JD Vance declared that the “internal threat” facing Europe was more serious than that posed by Russia and China. He criticised the annulment of a recent election in Romania, the prosecution of an anti-abortion protester in the United Kingdom, and the exclusion of far-right and far-left German politicians from the event itself.








