Over 30 years of anarchist writing from Ireland listed under hundreds of topics
The Garth Brooks panic in Dublin - same politicians ignored X-case for 20 years
Date: Fri, 2014-07-11 13:49
Extraordinary stuff. The Party that failed to act for 20 years on the X-case legislation wanted emergency legislation rushed through the Dail in 24 hours to facilitate a Garth Brooks concert. The concerts now appear to be all cancelled following an announcement from the promoters but the entire episode shows how politicians found great urgency to act when it came to a populist money making cause that they could not locate anywhere when women's lives were under threat.
If Gaza was in Ireland how much of Dublin would Israel be bombing?
Date: Fri, 2014-07-11 13:18
When we hear of '400 Israeli airstrikes' against Gaza we don't necessarily understand just what a tiny area this constant bombing is happening in. A lot of people are probably thinking its the size of a smallish country like Ireland when in fact as the map below shows its more similar in size to the greater Dublin area.
Gaza Under Attack: Emergency actions for Palestine this Saturday 12 July!
Dublin – 2pm @ The Spire, O’Connell Street
Derry – 2pm @ Guildhall Square
Limerick – 2pm @ Thomas Street
Cork – 2pm @ Daunt Square
(map comparison concept from Mark M, @soundmigration on Twitter, make you own for local use at http://mapfrappe.com/?show=20150 )
Gustavo Esteva Interview
Date: Sun, 2014-07-06 19:45
Gustavo Esteva is an independent writer and grassroots activist. He has been a central figure in a wide range of Mexican, Latin American, and international nongovernmental organizations and solidarity networks, including the Universidad de la Tierra en Oaxaca and the Zapatistas. The WSM's Tom Murray caught up with Gustavo at a recent public lecture at the Kimmage Development Centre to discuss hope, friendship and surprise in the zombie-time of capitalism, and how people are taking initiatives, reclaiming control of their lives and creating vibrant, autonomous alternatives here today.Justice Rally - Greyhound Workers Lockout
Date: Sat, 2014-07-05 21:07
SIPTU members who are locked out of their work at Greyhound Household Ltd will march to Dublin City Hall on Monday, 7th July.
The event will begin with a rally at Liberty Hall at 3.30 p.m., followed by the workers and their supporters marching to City Hall for the start of the Dublin City Council meeting at 5.30 p.m.
Review: 100 Years Later: The Legacy of the 1913 Lockout.
Date: Mon, 2014-06-30 21:25
History has traditionally been viewed through the prism of ‘great leaders’ or ‘powerful men’ (and it usually is men). In recent years, however, the importance of community or local history – and the contributions of ‘ordinary’ people to great events – has been recognised. To paraphrase Jim Larkin “The great leaders only appear great because of the commitment, sacrifice and energy of ordinary people”.
“100 Years Later – The Legacy of the 1913 Lockout”, edited by Mary Muldowney and Ida Milne and published by Seven Towers, is a strong and powerful contribution to shining a light on the “hardship and heroism that was part of that epic struggle.”
Review: Iain M. Banks' The Culture series.
Date: Mon, 2014-06-30 21:11
When Iain Banks shuffled off this mortal coil in June of last year, sci-fi geeks in general and lefty sci-fi geeks in particular, mourned the fact that there wasn't a backup copy of his personality stored somewhere. In the universe he created in his acclaimed The Culture series of sci-fi novels, that almost certainly would have been the case. Transplanted into a new body, biological or artificial, or even brought back in virtual reality or as an adjunct to the mind of a Culture ship, he could have continued writing the books we've come to know and love for another few hundred years.Review: David Graebers ‘The Democracy Project’.
Date: Mon, 2014-06-30 20:39
Many of us have an Occupy story. Mine took place in New York on March 17th of 2012, the six-month anniversary of the first occupation of Zuccotti Park, and the three-month anniversary of its eviction. I joined about five hundred or so Occupiers who had gathered after dark on the Manhattan side of Brooklyn Bridge. As we marched the three blocks or so to reclaim Zuccotti Park, NYPD’s finest, fully armed, literally lined the street each step of the way. And in the park itself a surveillance tower loomed overhead. Where to next for the anarchist movement in Australia?
Date: Sat, 2014-06-14 18:51
An Irish anarchist and migrant worker in Sydney, Sean reflects on the recent Sydney anarchist bookfair, the anarchist movement more broadly and the relevance of the platform in terms of building a popular movement. First published by Anarchist Affinity:
‘At a time when the intensity of the ruling class attack on our living standards, on our wages and conditions, on free speech and assembly, are increasing at a frightening pace, Australian anarchism must heed the wake-up call. Either it undergoes a renaissance, with the possible emergence of grass roots struggle and relates to that struggle, or it consigns itself to continued irrelevance.’
Review of Gustavo Esteva’s talk on Anarchy and Buen Vivir at Kimmage - All Power to the Imagination
Date: Fri, 2014-06-13 14:35
It does not prove difficult to persuade an anarchist to go to a meeting with the subtitle ‘ Anarchy and Buen Vivir (Good living)’ and more especially when the speaker, Gustavo Esteva, has direct links with the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN) who inspired the world with their uprising in 1994.
Gustavo was invited to speak by the Kimmage Development Studies Centre (DSC) as part of their 40th year celebrations. Gustavo addressed the gathering in the parish hall and started with the position that Development was counterproductive. Considering this was the Kimmage DSC’s raison d'être is to facilitate education and training for development practitioners, this was a sharp starting point.
The Cooke Report on the bugging of GSOC: more questions than answers.
Date: Thu, 2014-06-12 11:13
Tuesday night the government published the overdue Cooke Report into the GSOC bugging controversy. Retired High Court Judge John Cooke, no stranger to controversy himself (link: see comments) was appointed by Enda Kenny to establish whether the offices of GSOC were bugged.
Wednesday morning Frances Fitzgerald, Minister for Justice and Equality and replacement for Alan Shatter after he was forced to resign, is lauding the report as an exoneration of the Gardaí. The 64-page report claims that “evidence does not support the proposition that actual surveillance…took place and much less that it was carried out by members of the Garda Síochána.” Yet there are a number of revelations in the report that raise serious questions as to its ability to speak to the bugging issue in a definitive manner.