Posts Tagged ‘politics’
Stormont 1st Minister O’Neill (Sinn Féin) and Deputy 1st Minister Little-Pengelly (DUP) met US firm supplying Israeli military in Washington DC
Gerry Carroll, a People Before Profit member of the Stormont Assembly in Belfast, raises very disturbing questions.
This is a Suzanne Breen Belfast Telegraph Report, April 18 2024
People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll has slammed Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly for meeting a US engineering company which supplies the Israeli military with machinery to use in Gaza.
During their visit to Washington last month, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister met with Caterpillar, which provides its huge D9R armoured bulldozers to Israel.
The machines have a highly controversial history.
They were also used in the 2008-09 Gaza War, which left up to 1,400 people dead.
In 2003, American peace activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a D9R as she tried to stop a bulldozer demolishing Palestinian homes in southern Gaza.
Mr Carroll lambasted Ms O’Neill and Ms Little-Pengelly for also meeting Israeli-founded cybersecurity firm Forescout, which has a contract with the US Department of Defense.
He said: “It is deplorable for the First and Deputy First Minister to meet these firms during Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“Caterpillar is complicit in the Israeli occupation, enabling the illegal bulldozing of Palestinian homes. This is not reflective of Caterpillar workers, but of the horrific profiteering of Caterpillar bosses.
“Israeli-founded Forescout continues to do business with Israel’s chief military backer, and should never have been at that meeting.”
Read the rest of this entry »British Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris “accused of ‘unprecedented political intervention’ in legacy inquest” – News from the 6 County Bit of Ireland
Exclusive: Chris Heaton-Harris accused of ‘unprecedented political intervention’ in legacy inquest – Irish News Newspaper
Northern Ireland Office minister seeks to block information being passed to family of murdered Catholic man Fergal McCusker
Family Members of Fergal McCusker attend the Inquest at Laganside courts on Tuesday April 9 2024
News like this does not get the attention it deserves. Low standards of justice remain very common in the sick state of Northern Ireland.
Here are the details.
Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has been accused of “an unprecedented political intervention” as it emerged he has written to chief constable Jon Boutcher questioning his actions.
Dramatic details came to light during an inquest hearing liked to the LVF murder of Fergal McCusker (28) in Maghera, Co Derry, as he made his way home from a night out on January 18, 1998.
No-one has ever been charged with the Catholic man’s murder, although four men were arrested and later released.
Read the rest of this entry »Palestine, Ukraine and the crisis of empires – Simon Pirani
Simon Pirani’s article is recommended. Unfortunately many Irish left-wing organizations and activists, such as People Before Profit and Clare Daly MEP, have adopted the policy advocated by the British Stop the War Coalition. In the conclusions section of this essay Pirani observes :
In May [2021], you wrote that Stop the War is “supporting the people of Palestine, who have a right to resist occupation”. I agree with that. But why no such statement about Ukraine?
And if Ukrainians, or Palestinians, have a right to resist, what does it mean? Does it only mean standing up to tanks with your bare hands, as Ukrainians have had to do? Does it mean throwing stones, often the only weapons that young Palestinians have? What about proper weapons? Do you think Palestinians have a right to those? And Ukrainians?
About the Author :
Simon Pirani is a British writer, historian and researcher of energy. He is honorary professor in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Durham.[1] From 2007 to 2021 he was senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (with a period as senior visiting research fellow in 2017-19).[2]
In 2018 Pirani published Burning Up: A Global History of Fossil Fuel Consumption, in which he portrays consumption growth as a result of world capitalist economic expansion.[3] He argues that the relationship between technological systems that account for most fossil fuel use, and the social and economic systems in which they are embedded, is paramount. His articles and presentations on this theme are collected on his website.[4] He also writes about these themes on a blog, People & Nature Link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Pirani
Palestine, Ukraine and the crisis of empires
On the Easter weekend, on the latest gigantic march in London against UK complicity in Israel’s war on Gaza, a group of us took a banner that said “From Ukraine to Palestine, occupation is a crime”. We were welcomed by marchers around us, and people took up our slogan.
But beyond a slogan, what can we, in the labour movement and social movements in the UK, do about these conflicts that are transforming the world we live in, and heightening fears of bigger, bloodier wars?
Read the rest of this entry »Saving Sodomy from Ulster – Public professions of Christianity frequently mask horrible crimes
Slugger O’Toole is a politically liberal site based in the 6 county bit of Ireland. One of its writers observes :
One of the great lessons in life is that the more someone publicly professes to be a ‘Christian,’ the more unchristian their private life is.
Years ago, I met one of the leading figures in the Save Ulster From Sodomy Campaign. I have a surprisingly good gaydar for a straight guy, and it was pinging off the chart. This guy had spent much of the 70s and 80s persecuting gays while himself being as gay as Eurovision. I felt sorry for him; he was a product of his upbringing. To live your life as a lie and with such self-loathing must be very tiring on the soul.
https://sluggerotoole.com/2024/03/30/public-morality-private-hypocrisy/
The Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign was a vicious anti-gay operation run by the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Free Presbyterian church. Paisley, a busy man, was leader of the DUP, and moderator of his church.
An effective counter-campaign, Save Sodomy from Ulster, was the brainchild of Tarlach Mac Niallais. Link : CoVid-19 Has Taken Tarlach Mac Niallais From Us in New York – A Courageous Fighter from North Belfast who “Saved Sodomy from Ulster”
In Ireland, Christianity took over public life after the partition settlement of 1922. The Catholic Church controlled key parts of the state in the 26 county southern bit. In the North the Orange State was a Protestant State for a Protestant People.
Read the rest of this entry »Piety and Politics of the Democratic Unionist party in the Six County bit of Ireland – with the fall of Sir Jeffrey Donaldson “It feels like the end of days now”
In his final public sighting as DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson was at Stormont for a Christian Easter service.
It was Wednesday evening and there was a feel-good sense in Parliament Buildings. The DUP and Sinn Fein had been working together harmoniously for eight weeks, and now politicians were coming together for an uplifting ecumenical concert.
With Donaldson in the audience, prayers were said for political leaders, and at the end the relaxed DUP leader went to have his photo taken with Eurovision winner Dana, who was singing at the event.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson MP and his wife Eleanor are scheduled to appear in court on April 24 in connection with serious criminal charges (described below). In the next weeks and months we will see how this story unfolds. The context is important – what effect will this have on the the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) which Mr Donaldson led until Good Friday 2024?
In a context where extreme right forces are on the march in most parts of the world, it is useful to add some Irish cross-border detail to Jeffrey Donaldson’s “final public sighting as DUP leader”. Sir Jeffrey was pleased to pose for a photo with Eurovision winner Dana (Rosemary Scallon) who attempted (and failed) to revive the religious far-right in the 26 County bit of Ireland. In the late 1990’s Scallon had some brief electoral success in a Presidential election, and won a European Parliament seat. However by 2011 Scallon’s political green-devil comet crashed and burned. The extremist Catholic far-right had become deeply unpopular. Most people in Ireland had turned against the Catholic Church, deeply implicated in a succession of child abuse scandals and hatred of pro-feminist causes such as the legalisation of abortion , divorce, same-sex marriage, contraception and gay rights. Shrewder right -wing politicians such as Fine Gael Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny saw the writing on the wall ; In the Dáil (parliament) this leader of the Dublin government stated that the Vatican was responsible for the “torture” of Irish children.
Read the rest of this entry »Who Organised a Belfast Patrick’s Weekend Palestine March – Minus the Original Speakers? Bernadette McAliskey looks for answers
Bernadette McAliskey asks questions :
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) should provide answers.
Bernadette McAliskey :
Was this march organised by Belfast ISPC? On what date did the platform change from the three speakers below and become a platform of primarily spokespersons for political parties of the NI Assembly,? On what date were the political parties first invited to speak? Why was the list of political party speakers including Sinn Fein not announced prior to the March and rally itself, allowing those who didn’t want to hear from political parties whose leaders were in the White House, or those doing little or nothing for Palestine to have stayed away? Who made these decisions, the consequences of which must have obvious to them at the time, given the depth of feeling from anger to disappointment? What did they expect from an unsuspecting audience when a Sinn Fein speaker was sprung on them? Did they, through naivety, expect Sinn Fein to decline or was the reaction foreseen and thought to OK?
Without some transparency and explanation of the who, when and why, the organisers have very little credibility left with independent activists who are daily raising awareness; building support for boycott of Israeli goods on the ground; fund raising for medical aid, for children, for food aid in Gaza and helping as best they know how, Palestinians living here to cope with the pain and trauma of their fear for family and friends at home as well their exile.
Either lack of foresight and transparency, intentional deceit, or plain old-fashioned elitism needs to be owned up to, unless the organisers have a better explanation. This is no way to build any principled unity on Palestine, or anything else for that matter.
Vincent Doherty :
This is a moment of decision nationally for the IPSC. Sinn Fein would prefer if we all forgot their treachery in fine wining and dining with Biden in the midst of the genocide. Just like a few years ago when they were meeting with Likud despite having signed up to the BDS campaign. It’s the elephant in the room, and one that needs to be addressed.
Sally Rooney: Killing in Gaza has been supported by Ireland’s ‘good friend’ in the White House
Sally Rooney: Killing in Gaza has been supported by Ireland’s ‘good friend’ in the White House
Our Government is basking in the moral glow of condemning the bombers, while preserving a cosy relationship with those supplying the bombs
Source :
“The cries of the innocent will haunt us forever if we stay silent.” These are the words of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, speaking at an event in Boston this week about Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza. And who could disagree? What is taking place in Palestine now is one of the most profound and shocking moral catastrophes of our time.
Already for months on end, Israeli military forces have been pounding the besieged, starving and largely homeless population of Gaza with relentless aerial bombardment. Cut off from the outside world, Palestinian survivors have been forced to document the crisis in real time, sharing stories, images and footage of mass graves, destroyed buildings and abandoned bodies. And with no end in sight, the United States continues to pump money and weapons into Israel to prolong the onslaught.
Read the rest of this entry »Patrick’s Day 2024 – Ireland, Palestine, the USA – Blood-Stained Shamrocks in Belfast while Irish-Americans turn against Joe Biden
John Hurson of Tyrone, a dedicated pro-Palestine activist, speaks for many :
Thought she was going to bring up Gaza when she met Genocide Joe? :
Publicity for a Belfast protest stated ” ‘As Irish political leaders prepare to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Joe Biden, the Gaza Genocide’s main sponsor, join us to show that the people of Ireland stand with the people of Palestine’” – but the event took a strange turn.
Read the rest of this entry »Freddie Scappaticci, a British Agent in the IRA, was publicly unmasked in 2003 – on March 8 2024 the British State publishes a cover-up report called Kenova – the authors refuse to name Scappaticci – and nobody will be prosecuted
Ed Moloney is the first journalist who publicly unmasked Freddie Scappaticci. A strange coalition issued denials : Scappaticci himself, the British Government, and Sinn Féin. Shortly afterwards extraordinary proof emerged, which proved beyond any shadow of doubt that Scappaticci was a British informer.
Questions remain – above all whether the state organisations and the then IRA leadership – responsible for many Scappaticci murders – can be made accountable for their actions. The British state is determined to prevent this happening.
On March 8 2024 a cover-up Kenova Report does not name Scappaticci. In the same week we learned that an innocent civilian called Seán Brown, an active GAA member, was killed in 1997 by loyalists, with help from 25 members of the British state security forces. An inquest into the assassination of Seán Brown was stopped because the British State, covering up its dirty work, issued Public Interest Immunity Certificates.
presiding coroner Mr Justice Kinney abandoned the long-running inquest in Belfast and confirmed he would write to Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris to ask for a public inquiry.
He said Mr Brown’s inquest could not continue due to material being withheld by state agencies on the grounds of national security.
The PSNI and MI5 have made applications for multiple redactions to sensitive documents connected to the murder under Public Interest Immunity (PII).
https://tomasoflatharta.com/2024/03/05/surveillance-operation-on-lvf-suspect-mark-swinger-fulton-lifted-the-day-before-sean-brown-murder-irish-news-report-lifts-lid-on-a-1997-sectarian-murder-facilitated-by-the-bri/
The stories below are recommended.
Stakeknife ‘told TV crew that McGuinness ordered killings’
Army mole in IRA allegedly told reporters they had not revealed enough about Sinn Fein leader
Rosie Cowan, Ireland correspondent
Monday July 14, 2003
Guardian
The Army/IRA double agent Freddie “Stakeknife” Scappaticci told television documentary makers Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness was a ruthless terrorist leader who sanctioned murder, secret tapes have allegedly revealed.
Mr Scappaticci was exposed two months ago as military intelligence’s top spy within the Provisionals, for whom he was deputy head of the notorious internal security unit, the Nutting Squad, responsible for torturing and killing suspected informers.
So far, Mr Scappaticci, whom the government paid more than £80,000 a year and whom sources have linked to more than 40 murders, has brazened it out, denying everything and returning to his west Belfast home after his security force handlers failed to persuade him to flee the country for his own safety.
Although many IRA members believe he is Stakeknife, the republican leadership has stuck by him, albeit at a distance, perhaps reckoning that the secret services would capitalise further on any IRA attempt to harm or exile him.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 