Activists from Dublin Shell to Sea disrupted the "Exploring Atlantic Ireland" conference in the Burlington Hotel this morning as Minister for the giveaway of Natural Resources Noel Dempsey was on stage giving his speech.

Titled "Exploring Atlantic Ireland 2006", the two-day conference is highlighting the "exciting development opportunities" in Ireland's offshore gas. The minister was addressing 130 people from the oil and gas exploration industry, many from overseas. Despite a heavy presence of 30-40 Gardai as well as private security, the activists managed to gain access, with two getting into the main conference hall - and delivering a clear message that any development of Irish natural resources could only take place with the benefits of the project going to the Irish people, and with their consent.

Indymedia readers will be well aware that the terms of gas exploration licences mean that multinationals own all the gas they extract from Irish waters, paying no royalties and paying only a low rate of tax on whatever profits they declare many years after they sell the gas. However, defenders of Ireland's extraordinarily generous set-up argue that the exploration that results from such positive terms give Ireland "security of supply".

The visit of Ibrahim Mussawi of Hezbullah (Lebanon) to Ireland over the past week as a guest of the Irish Anti War Movement has raised some eyebrows among anti-war activists and regular contributors to Indymedia Ireland. MichaelY from the IAWM began by outlining his organisation's position: "Perhaps the most crucial political point of them all. The IAWM is NOT a "Peace organisation" - there are, at least, 10-12 Peace organisations in this country, some of them anti-war/some of them not. The IAWM, as stated in its constitution, is an anti-imperialist organisation whose main objective is to stop the use of Shannon and other Irish facilities by the forces of the Empire, while simultaneously extending support and solidarity with those who are invaded, and those who fight against that invasion and occupation by any means at their disposal.

"It is in this context that we invited Ibrahim Mussawi and it is this context that many of us, especially the older members of the IAWM, supported the Vitenamese NLF and the Catholic inspired armed national liberation movements in Latin America. It is in this context many of us served time for being supporters of the ANC in South Africa , Frelimo in Mozambique or closer at home, the armed Irish movements. We don't see as our role to pick and choose...who is secular and who is not, who is anarchist and who is not, who is armed or not/peaceful, who is for NVDA and who for elections. Who is Gandhian and who Gramscian. Who is a Trotskyist and who Marxist Leninist. Who is a nationalist and who a republican. We support all of them...those who fight, those who resist, those who dream of a better world, those who block and protest while singing the Rosary. All of them."

T'was Hallowe'en night...........

Everywhere bonfires, fireworks, superheroes looking for sweets...... when will it all end?

Photo Essay from Dublin | The scariest thing in Derry this Halloween

This week and next, Anti-War Ireland will host a series of events aimed at re-focusing attention on the continuing use of Shannon Airport as an important logistical stop by one of the world’s most dangerous and vicious military machines.

The campaign to demilitarise Shannon airport received a boost in July this year with the unanimous acquittal in Dublin's Four Courts of the five Pitstop Ploughshares activists (Deirdre Clancy, Nuin Dunlop, Karen Fallon, Damien Moran and Ciaron O'Reilly). It was a remarkable outcome to a lengthy legal process that began with their decommissioning of a US warplane in Shannon back in February 2003, and it highlighted the extent of anti-war sentiment in this country.

On Saturday, 28 October, anti-war activists are returning to Shannon with flowers and banners to hold a mock-funeral from the town centre to the airport in memory of the dead of Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States. Among those attending this first major protest at Shannon this year will be two of the acquitted Ploughshares – Deirdre Clancy and Ciaron O'Reilly – and three members of Iraq Veterans Against War – Joshua Casteel, Stephen Lewis and Tony Lagouranis – all former US interrogators at the infamous Abu-Ghraib prison in Baghdad. The US military veterans will also address a series of Anti-War Ireland public meetings around the country.

More info: Former Abu-Ghraib interrogators speak in Dublin | Maynooth meeting on Friday with US Iraq War vets | Shannon demonstration on Saturday | Cork bus to Shannon demo | Dublin bus to Shannon demo | Galway bus to Shannon demo | Cork meeting with Abu-Ghraib vets next Tuesday | Belfast meeting with Abu-Ghraib vets next Wednesday

Protestors against Bush in 2007

"Death of a President" was the opening film at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, and caused something of a minor political uproar for its depiction of the assassination of George W Bush in Chicago in 2007. The Republican Party in Texas asked for it not to be screened, while Hilary Clinton (more than likely Bush's successor) called it "despicable", "absolutely outrageous", and called the fictionalised shooting incident as "a horrible scenario". Two large cinema chains in the US stated they would not screen the film - although it has secured a distributor now. It was also shown as the opening picture in the Cork Film Festival; and was screened twice on UK television in the last month, first on digital station More4 and then the terrestrial Channel 4.

I dont think I've ever seen a feature film focus on an assassination of a real life person who is still alive - especially if its a politician. We've seen political shootings in films set in the present day such as Jonathan Demme's "Manchurian Candidate", and Tim Robbins "Bob Roberts"; but in these the Republican Party is never named, and the figures are all fictionalised, if thinly disguised charicatures of real life personas. Likewise feature films set in the not too distant future often contain nightmarish dystopian visions, examples being the recent "Children of Men" or "V for Vendetta"; yet these scenarios are controlled by fascist thugs and authoritarian big brothers, and never mentioned any one existing political party or political leader in Britain.