Hugo Chávez. RIP.

The Commandante is dead but the Revolution continues. If there is an afterlife then Chavez is in Valhalla.

He wrote, he read, and mostly he spoke. Hugo Chávez, whose death has been announced, was devoted to the word. He spoke publicly an average of 40 hours per week. As president, he didn't hold regular cabinet meetings; he'd bring the many to a weekly meeting, broadcast live on radio and television. Aló, Presidente, the programme in which policies were outlined and discussed, had no time limits, no script and no teleprompter. One session included an open discussion of healthcare in the slums of Caracas, rap, a self-critical examination of Venezuelans being accustomed to the politics of oil money and expecting the president to be a magician, a friendly exchange with a delegation from Nicaragua and a less friendly one with a foreign journalist.

External Links: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (a.k.a. Chavez: Inside the Coup) is a 2002 documentary about the April 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt which briefly deposed Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. A television crew from Ireland’s Radio Telifís Éireann happened to be recording a documentary about Chávez during the events of April 11, 2002.
Related Indy Links: US$100 million for the head of President Hugo Chavez Frias - and some other stories. | Fears Of Second Coup Against Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez | Chavez and the Grassy Knoll + Catch 22 is dead long live . . . | Chavez had advance warning of coup [Greg Palast, The Guardian] | Hugo Chavez Declared President of America | Liberal press asleep ( on Coup to Oust Chavez ) | Director's Cut, Chavez - Inside the Coup, Galway | Amnesty forced to withdraw Chavez Documentary amid threats of violence | Chavez wins referendum | Chavez calls for democracy at work | US Man of God calls for assassination of Chavez | Chavez addresses the UN | US planning invasion, says Chavez | Rumsfeld says Chavez is like Adolf Hitler | A specter is haunting the North American Empire... the specter of Chavez! | Inside the revolution - former Chavez minister speakes GALWAY | Chavez gets go ahead to join Arab League at last. | Bush Admin Funneling Millions Into Chavez Opposition Groups | Hugo Chavez : "Yesterday, the devil came to the UN, and today, it still smells of sulfur and Bush" | Hugo Chavez has won his second term as President | Honduras: Anti-Chavez free speech warriors linked to coup | Chavez Appoints a Successor as his Cancer Returns

Foreign media coverage of the reaction here

The anti-abortion movement was not cowed by the outcry over Savita's tragic death nor by the huge popular response marching in November. The Government plans legislation only to allow abortion when the woman's life is danger and the criteria for establishing that are not yet known. All opinion polls on the subject show a huge majority in favour of liberalisation of the laws -- a majority which is also rising over the years. The abortion rights movement has been publicly quiet for some time now while the opposition is loud and in public view. Can the movement for abortion rights summon the necessary militancy to achieve its objectives?

The long arm of the bond-holders

Press statement - Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes (CAHWT) 11 Feb 2013
Eyewitness reports of Garda violence at South Dublin County Council

19 year old protester hospitalised: plainclothes Garda ‘smashed my head on wall’

Campaigners against the property tax – who staged one of a number of peaceful protests at Councils today – have questioned why Gardai at South Dublin County Council used brutal and unnecessary force against them, including some plain clothes Gardai. Cannisters of pepper spray were also waved at locals who were manhandled and handcuffed. One is currently being kept in Tallaght Hospital for observation of his injuries.

Aaron Nolan (aged 19, now in hospital):
“I was standing in front of Shane Donnelly when one of the uniformed police pulled me to the ground. I stood up and tried to get in front of Shane again. A stocky man, with a light blue hoody, who I thought was one of the protesters, grabbed me and pushed me against the wall. He then grabbed my head with his two hands and smashed my head against the wall. I fell on the ground and when I was on the ground, he choked me with his two hands. I was dazed and unable to stand as he handcuffed me.”

Embedded Video Description: Video Id: aaDHIQ6E44E Type: Youtube Video
Arrests in South Dublin County Council of peaceful protesters

Art - a Composite of Van Gogh's 'Exercise Yard'
& Munch's 'Scream' by Prisoner Mick Connors.

ED NOTE: Niall Harnett 2013 [R.I.P]. I have pinned Niall Harnett's feature article as a tribute to a great activist and a great person. You will be sorely missed Niall!


Related Links: Shell to Sea: Day of Solidarity | Shell, IRMS & Gardaí move into Glengad | Shell's tunnelling compound shut down for the day | Shell to Sea: Day of Solidarity | A busy time up in co. Mayo | Open letter to Minister Pat Rabbitte concerning hydraulic gas fracturing ("fracking") in Ireland | Day of Solidarity in Mayo | Shell's tree cutting disrupted for second day running | Scaling tree cutters and trees to halt Corrib pipeline works | First Shell blocking of the New Year | Friday the 13th day of solidarity- Mayo | Court Report On “rape-tape” Sergeant Being Awarded €33,0000 | Shell and the other oil companies: serial killers | The Release & Homecoming of Pat 'The Chief' O'Donnell - Photo Essay | Maura Harrington, opponent of Shell, jailed | The Jailing of Niall Harnett | Prosecutions of Shell to Sea campaigners collapse | Human Rights questions being asked in Mayo courts | "Do you have a house, do you have a car? You should think about your wife and family.....” | Jeff Leurs | Bradley manning

Where we are on the 40th anniversary of joining the EEC.

This is part one of a two part series and the second article can be found here

The Political Basis of the EU:

All States and aspiring States have their myths of origin. The myth of origin of the EU is that it is a peace project to prevent wars between Germany and France - as if a tendency to go to war is somehow genetically inherited.

The actual facts are however that the first step towards supranational economic integration, the European Coal and Steel Community of 1951, was to facilitate German rearmament at the start of the Cold War with Russia and to reconcile France to that fact. The US wanted a rearmed West Germany inside NATO. This greatly alarmed France which had been occupied by Germany just a few years before.