The German austerity dictate is leading to new economic and social turbulence in the indebted counties of the southern Euro-zone. read full story / add a comment

Animal Rights Zone (ARZone), the global campaigning, activities, and social network for animal advocates, announces the third phase of their ongoing Vegan Buddies Programme. read full story / add a comment

This week 75 years ago, the Basquetown of Gernika was virtually destroyed with huge loss of life in a bombing raid by the Condor Legion, a cover name for a detachment of the Luftwaffe loaned to the Spanish generals leading a mutiny against the elected Popular Front government of the Spanish state. The Dublin Basque Solidarity Committee will be commemorating this event on Friday 27th (the actual anniversary is the 28th). read full story / add a comment

The grandly titled "Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union" is supposedly about "stability" in the Eurozone. Yet the treaty warns us that money from the new permanent European Stability Mechanism bailout fund will only be given to States that have ratified it. read full story / add a comment

A political struggle in a European nation of less than three million, largely ignored by other socialists in Europe, has nevertheless come to the fore in the capitalist media repeatedly since the late 1960s. This has been largely as a result of the the Basque people’s struggle for socialism and independence from the Spanish and French states, a struggle led for decades by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, the marxist armed organisation better known by its acronym, ETA. The organisation reawakened Basque national consciousness, has worked with others for the restoration of Euskara, the Basque language, organised Basque workers and faced the repression of the General Franco dictatorship in the Spanish state. Famously, in 1973 it assassinated the Prime Minister of the state, Admiral Carrero Blanco, Franco’s right-hand man, which hastened the fragmentation of the dictatorship and its passage to partial democracy.
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The new County Chairman of Wexford Sinn Féin has called for a no vote to the so-called "Fiscal Compact" Treaty in the upcoming referendum - (formally, the intergovernmental Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union). Oisín Ó Conail, a farmer and recent economics graduate from Foulkesmill, was elected the new Chairperson of Sinn Féin in County Wexford, at a Comhairle Ceantar meeting in Enniscorthy last Tuesday night. Mr Ó Conail said his first duty would be to help lead the County Wexford campaign of opposition to what he terms ‘the Permanent Austerity Treaty’. read full story / add a comment

Molyneux Nursing Home closing after 200 years. 21 loyal staff forced to joined the dole queue. Management refusing to negotiate with staff. Pay cuts implemented in january 2012 without staff consent and in breach of the Payments and wages act 1991. read full story / add a comment

Once again we are being asked to vote on yet another EU treaty. This time it is the Fiscal Treaty otherwise known as the permanent austerity treaty. Most of the people of Europe are against this treaty and they are once again relying on us although as usual most of the governments of Europe are for the treaty because well they represent the people in power -the large banks, corporations and financial elite in general. As we know they call the shots these days in every country and it has got to the stage where "investors" will lend money to governments and charge a nice rate of interest too and in this way they get to decide how much they will allow governments to spend on luxuries for the middle class and poor like health, education, social welfare, pensions, water and sewage etc. And since the financial crisis they have come to the realization that none of this is neccesary. In fact the only arms of government really required are the police, army, courts and prisons. Anyhow in this feature the folks from People's Association Watchdog have done a really good job in going through the Fiscal Treaty line by line and doing alot of other research and analysis to discover and explains what it really means. And don't forget if enough of us vote No, the government will be back to give us plenty of more chances to vote Yes, just like they did with the Nice Treaty and the Lisbon Treaty. read full story / add a comment

Shell Ireland have announced that they are to carry out more seismic surveying of the offshore pipeline which is supposed to carry raw gas from the sea bed to their valve at the landfall. The survey is scheduled to take place from June 1st 2012 and although they are vague about how liong it will take, they say the survey should be completed by the end of September. If there are protests, it might not be completed at all.

Full details here: http://www.transport.ie/upload/general/13495-MN17OF2012...1.PDF read full story / add a comment

****If you can't make it to the tribunal at Ft. Meade or the U.S. embassy in London, consider making a public stand for Bradley Manning on April 24th., 25th. or 26th. wherever you are - as he stands before a military tribunal that wishes to bury him alive!
Bradley has now been in military custody for over 700 days!
There are solidarity actions presently planned in Cardiff/ Wales, Fairford Base/ England, the gates of Ft. Meade /USA and 14 cities world wide
http://tinyurl.com/cxpedl5
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This is not a typical movie review describing the movie, plot, characters, and themes, as well as celebritizing each actor by naming every other movie appeared in, etc., and yet have very “little” to say about how the movie might relate to real life. We will refer to an American writer, namely Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winning author of several important books, to help contextual this movie. Herein we visit a few major “themes” as related to social and political issues in the real life of the audience as drama of human history including that as compares to ancient Rome.
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On Friday haulage was stopped as six campaigners stood in the road outside Shell's Aughoose compound. This meant work at both the Glengad and Aughoose compounds was stopped as one tractor and three lorries waited in the road. read full story / add a comment

As part of its campaign against the 26-County Austerity Treaty Republican Sinn Féin have launched a campaign website: www.nofiscaltreaty.net read full story / add a comment

Police have arrested protesters outside a Moscow court during a custody hearing for three women accused of violating public order at a cathedral. At least 20 people were detained, both supporters and Russian Orthodox opponents of the women, said to be members of a punk band, Pussy Riot. The women were arrested last month after an obscene political song was played inside the cathedral in Moscow.

Contact President Putin To Ask For Their Release. read full story / add a comment

The next Day of Solidarity is Friday 4th May. Actions will start first thing Friday morning, so please arrive on Thursday night. Food and accommodation provided, donations welcome. There may be buses or lift shares coming from Dublin Cork or Galway so please get in touch if you need a lift or are able to offer one. read full story / add a comment

Brian Faulkner the last Prime Minster of Occupied Ireland like the present autocrat, the unelected English Tory, Owen Paterson was an committed foxhunter. Faulkner lived in Highlands Estate, near the village of Seaforde and surrounded himself and his family like Paterson today, with the heavy security presence of the disgraced Ulster Defence Regiment, while Paterson uses their renamed successors, the Royal Irish Rangers for whom he raised a huge sum of money riding in the worlds most horse cruel race of 1,000 kilometers over 10 days in the Mongolian Derby last Summer. Faulkner who was ultra security conscious had every room in his house leading to another, with panic buttons everywhere. Despite all of this his horse of fenian pedigree got him. read full story / add a comment

The Association of Combined Residents Associations (ACRA) predicts mass opposition to any attempts to impose a tax on water. read full story / add a comment

This morning work was held up at the Shell Glengad and Aughoose compounds by a truck occupation. read full story / add a comment

On Saturday April 14, Iran attended talks on its nuclear programme with six world powers in Istanbul. In the end, this ‘summit’ was little more than talks about talks - to take place in May in Baghdad. The uneasy stand-off continues and the strong possibility remains of an attack on Iran within months. Indeed, the outcome of the meeting has provoked a degree of cynicism, with press outlets in the US, the UK and Israel pointing out that Syria now seems to have learned the ‘Iran method’ - that is, agree to talks simply to buy time and postpone intervention. read full story / add a comment

Legal Proceedings have taken by Thomas Pringle TD, member of the Dáil for the Donegal South-West constituency, challenging the Irish Government on fundamental aspects of a far-reaching amendment to the EU treaties. Both the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Treaty and the Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (Fiscal Compact) Treaty are under consideration. read full story / add a comment