Articles about the shortcomings of recent graduates appeared in all of last weekend's papers. This is a response to those articles from one of those illiterate graduates. ... read full story / add a comment

Amnesty International is reiterating its call on the Israeli government to cease constructing or expanding illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) after a plan to build 1,600 new Israeli settler homes in East Jerusalem was officially approved. ... read full story / add a comment

Video of taxi drivers outside the Taxi regulator's office at the end of the occupation. A number of taxi drivers are interviewed including the 71 year old who describes how he was assaulted. Filmed tuesday 9th March. ... read full story / add a comment

Amnesty International Ireland has called on the Irish Government to mark International Women’s Day by backing a global campaign for a single high-powered UN agency to protect women’s rights. ... read full story / add a comment

100 cars gathered today at noon in the fishing village of Porturlin, Pat O'Donnell's home, for a rally to Ballyglass pier on the Mullet peninsula in support of 'the Chief' who has been in Castlerea prison since 10th February.

The cavalcade travelled from Porturlin, out by Rossport, over to Glengad, up by Bellanaboy, into Belmullet and out to Ballyglass pier. ... read full story / add a comment

Joe Condemns Ongoing Criminalisation Of Decent People To Complete State Sell Out Of Natural Resources To Shell ... read full story / add a comment

A recent interview with Eoin O'Leidhin who was jailed yesterday for non-payment of a fine incurred during a protest in Rossport, Co. Mayo. Eoin is one of a number of local residents who have been targeted by the authorities for expressing their concern over safety aspects of the controversial Shell gas pipeline in Mayo. The decision to lay the high pressure production gas pipeline by Shell close to human dwellings was made without any consultation with local residents and has no planning permission. ... read full story / add a comment

The Government must adopt a coordinated approach if it is serious about improving its track record on mental health, according to a report launched today (24/02/10) by Amnesty International Ireland. The Missing Link: coordinated Government action on mental health was launched by Minister for Mental Health and Disability John Moloney TD at a press conference this morning. ... read full story / add a comment

On January 28th, we had the chance to have a telephone talk with Camilla Chalmers, from the Plateforme Haïtienne de Plaidoyer pour un Développement Alternatif (Haitian Platform in Defence of an Alternative Development, PAPDA), in Port-au-Prince. Here we transcribe the questions and answers we could exchange in spite of the natural difficulties of communication in these circumstances. We believe his opinions represent a contribution to understand what’s really going on in Haiti, they contradict the official version of the media and give us a very precise notion of the type of solidarity that the Haitian people need –and that we should not fail to give.

... read full story / add a comment

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a violation of human rights affecting an estimated 500,000 women and girls in Europe and putting another 180,000 girls at risk each year. In advance of International Day of Zero Tolerance on FGM on 6 February, Amnesty International Ireland-led END FGM European Campaign has called on European leaders to support its strategy to protect young girls and women affected by FGM. ... read full story / add a comment

VID 58 minutes - Howard Zinn was an American historian, social critic, and activist. He is best known as author of the best-seller A People’s History of the United States. In one of his last lectures before his death last week, he spoke at Boston University on November 11 2009, on the subject of American “Holy Wars.”

http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2010/1/8/howard_zinn_t..._wars

... read full story / add a comment

On Saturday 30th January Auschwitz survivor Dr. Hajo Meyer, Dr. Haidar Eid of the Islamic University in Gaza and Sara Kershnar of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) addressed a standing room only crowd of over 140 people in the Central Hotel in Dublin. The public meeting, entitled “The Misuse of the Holocaust for Political Purposes”, was organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) as part of a high profile speaking tour hosted by IJAN and the Scottish PSC. ... read full story / add a comment

Irish primary schools celebrated a victory this week as Independent Newspapers abandoned their “Building for the Future” scheme just weeks after its high-profile launch.

It is the first time a major in-school marketing promotion has been scrapped and is an embarrassing climb down for Independent and their co-sponsors Bank of Ireland.

The launch of “Building for the Future”, which demanded a quota of 20 tokens per pupil from schools wishing to enter, was met with condemnation from across the teaching community. ... read full story / add a comment

Anyone judging from the huge numbers of troops mobilised to Haiti could reasonably believe that this is a country in the middle of a brutal civil war instead of a nation hit by a deadly earthquake. While the Media has been feeding constantly news of murder, mayhem, and gangsters supposedly in control of Haitian streets, together with calls for a “strong arm” and “security” to make possible the delivery of relief, the reality seems to be quite another. Medical and Food assistance has been largely delayed by a cobweb of inefficiency, bureaucracy and negligence and not for “security” issues. In the meantime, hungry and thirsty Haitians have been largely looking for their beloved ones under the rubble with their bare hands. Very few doctors and relief agencies have dared to go to the streets of Port-au-Prince, where precious assistance –currently stockpiling in the airport- is much needed.
... read full story / add a comment

A campaign to save Brú na Bóinne from the Slane Bypass has been launched online over the weekend. It is being initiated by members of the National Monuments Forum, which includes Professor George Eogan, Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at University College Dublin. The National Roads Authority has chosen the most damaging route for archaeology and heritage, and Meath County Council has gone ahead and issued CPO orders for the route, without even waiting for the An Bord Pleanala oral hearing. A petition will be launched shortly, calling on Minister Gormley to deliver on his promise of a new National Monuments Act, and calling on UNESCO to place
Brú na Bóinne on their List of World Heritage in Danger. ... read full story / add a comment

As predictions for the death toll from the Haitian earthquakes rise over 200,000, ABC News have reported that planes carrying medical equipment and relief supplies are having to compete with soldiers for the valuable slots at Port-au-Prince airport which was taken over by the US military after the quake. Since the start of the great anti-slavery republican insurrection nearly 220 years ago, Haiti has been presented as a dangerous place incapable of running its own affairs and requiring foreign intervention. Yet the reality is its people were the first enslaved population to deliver themselves from slavery and also carried out what was only the third successful republican insurrection on the planet. The threat of this good example was rewarded with centuries of invasion, blackmail, the robbery of Haiti's natural resources and the impoverishment of its people. This articles summarizes that history of intervention and the resistance to it in order to put into context what is happening in Haiti after the quake ... read full story / add a comment

“We the undersigned 50 Primary school principals condemn and refuse to partake in the Irish Independent’s “Building for the Future” scheme being launched this week.

We abhor the quota of 20 tokens per pupil from Independent Newspapers required of all schools wishing to submit a project for this sponsored competition.

Independent Newspapers while posturing as benefactors are, in reality, seeking to exploit schools, boost sales and make life uncomfortable for children whose parents do not buy the sponsors newspapers.

Further Information: Joseph Fogarty, (Contact Details Above) or your nearest participating school below. ... read full story / add a comment

TO SHOOT AN ELEPHANT

The “To shoot an elephant” team calls for a Global Screening-Global Screaming Day for Gaza on January 18^th , 2010

The 18^th of January 2010 is the first anniversary of the end to the bombing by Israel of the Gaza Strip; an attack which began on the 27^th of December 2008, and lasted until the 18^th of January 2009, and in which 1,412 Palestinians lost their lives. The documentary /To shoot an elephant/ is an eye witness account from within the Gaza Strip of what occurred during those days. This direct and privileged narration becomes a tool with which we can confront the Israeli propaganda about what really happened there and the silence of the international community. ... read full story / add a comment

Proposed power distribution projects have faced strong opposition over the last year and a half. Proposed high-voltage powerlines have been opposed in counties Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Galway, Kildare, Meath, Monaghan, Sligo and Tyrone, while electricity substations have been opposed in counties Galway, Laois and Sligo. This article takes a brief glance at this opposition, concentrating on the regional opposition in counties Cavan, meath and Monaghan against the proposed North-South Electricity InterConnector. ... read full story / add a comment

Every Saturday afternoon, Israeli colonists some tooled up with M-16's venture forth from their fortified "settlements" to swagger through the souk in Hebron's Old City for a so called "heritage tour", heavily guarded by Israeli Occupation Forces, some as snipers on the roof tops, they strut through the narrow market spitting at, abusing and threatening all who meet their displeasure which in their virulently paranoid view of things, means just about everyone on this planet and such was the case last Saturday where one souk trader; Nawal, was spat at and threatened. ... read full story / add a comment