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Concern Over Plastic Bag Levy Vote in Assembly
28 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Northern Ireland
Ahead of this afternoon’s vote by Accelerated Passage of the proposed Plastic Bag Levy, Friends of the Earth, Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association and the British Retail Consortium have all urged the Assembly to rethink their approach and not to rush this legislation through.
Tags: plastic bag taxMinihan Will Not Pay Harney Fine
28 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Ireland
Having been convicted of both assault and causing criminal damage on Friday last (February 25th) éirígí Dublin City Councillor Louise Minihan has today confirmed that she has no intention of paying the €1,500 fine imposed by the court in Dublin. Louise was in court to face charges of assault and criminal damage arising from a political protest which saw the Dublin City Councillor pour diluted red paint over the clothing of Minister for Death Mary Harney on November 1st 2010.
Tags: éirígí, Louise MinihanMeet the new boss ...
27 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Opinion, Ireland, Irish political
With the ousting of Fianna Fail, the political party that dominated government in Ireland for the past 30 years, and the election of Fine Gael, the song by The Who comes to mind: "Meet the new boss - same as the old boss...".
Tags: Ireland politicalGreek P.M.: Zionism and the IMF's Last Best Friend
26 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Features, Greece
By James Petras
In the midst of the Arab uprisings throughout the Middle East, at a time when even the European (EU) has publically condemned Israel’s blockade of Gaza and its illegal land seizures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou promised a visiting delegation of American Jewish leaders, that he would do everything possible to undermine EU opposition and promote Israeli economic, diplomatic and political interests in Europe. US Zionists, recently returned from a visit to Athens described Papandreou as by far the most amenable (‘servile’) European leader they have met in recent memory. Papandreou’s slavish submission to Israeli interests includes his promise, to a delegation of U.S. zionist notables, to use his influence to pressure the new Egyptian military junta to continue to uphold the Mubarak agreements with Israel (European Jewish Press 2/11/11). These include the continued blockade of Gaza and support of Israel’s military assaults on Lebanon, Syria and Palestinians. In other words Papandreou is openly supportive of Egypt’s past collaboration with Israeli clandestine assassinations and kidnapping of Arab militants.Tags: Papandreou, ZionismFrom the Capitol in Madison to the Shores of Tripoli . . .
26 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - General
A People's Hymn
By David SwansonFrom the Capitol in Madison
To the shores of Tripoli
We will fight the people's battles
And we'll fight them peacefully;
First we learn nonviolent tactics,
And we train before we start.
For our fight will be relentless,
We commit with all our heart.Our flags unfurl to every breeze
From dawn to setting sun;
We will fight in every clime and place
And we'll never touch a gun.
In the snow of far-off Northern lands
And in sunny tropic seas
You will find us always on the job
Building new democracies.Here's health to everyone on earth
Whom we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we'll risk our life
And never lose our nerve.
If the tyrants and their funders
Wish history to please
They will step out of their palaces
And join our democracies.Tags: David SwansonCall to Defend Julian Assange
26 Feb 2011; posted by the editor -
by Robert Stevens
Please do all you can to support this heroic “world citizen.” The comparison of the treatment of Assange vs. Pinochet is as revealing as it is monstrous. The former an eloquent advocate of freedom in the truest sense of the word. The latter a promulgate promoter of inquisition and vicious torture who ordered the butchering of thousands of his fellow Chilean citizens. Imagine family members forced to watch the heinous torture of totally innocent loved ones. Pinochet made Caligula proud. That the “leaders” of the US will prosecute Assange in such an arrogant and lawless manner speaks volumes of that nations’ descent from liberal democracy to “terror dungeon dictatorship.” Little wonder that today we find our world in such unparalleled peril."
The US deserves nothing but rebuke and intense scorn.
Tags: Julian AssangeChina - the next uprising?
24 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Opinion, China
China boasts by far the largest population of any country. As Chinese authorities implement yet greater censorship over news and information regarding external events, the question must be asked: Will China become the first far eastern country to rise and rebel in the wake of the Middle East uprisings? Despotic censorship of information by those who fear its impact on their own security of tenure is nothing less than dictatorial tyranny, regardless of any professed 'well intent' of the repression.
From Afghanistan: We Support the People of Wisconsin and the World
24 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Afghanistan
We Afghans Are All Bouazizi
By Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers
Afghan youth are quietly encouraged by the Egyptian uprising because the people of Afghanistan want what the people of Egypt want. We are all Bouazizi.Col Gaddafi's final mistake
23 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Opinion
In his televised broadcast, Colonel Gaddafi made what might well bethe final mistake of his domination of the Libyan people.
Tags: Colonel GaddafiThe Empire Loses a Publicist: The Epitaph of an Ideologue
23 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Features, United States
By James Petras
The recent death of one of the United States’ most prominent sociologists, Harvard Professor Daniel Bell, and the effusive eulogies that have accompanied his obituaries highlight the importance of ideological utility over scientific rigor. Typical of the mass media’s hagiographic write-ups is the obituary in the Financial Times (2/12-13/1, p. 5), which claimed that “Few men are given the gift of seeing into the future, but Daniel Bell … was one of them … with uncanny accuracy”. Further on, the ‘puff’ piece pronounced that, “Few thinkers in the second half of the 20th century managed to catch the social and cultural shifts of the times with such range and in such detail as he did”. No doubt there are some important reasons why Bell warrants such effusive praise, but it certainly is not because of his understanding of the political, economic, ideological developments which transpired in the United States during his intellectual life.
Tags: Daniel BellHumanitarian War vs. Humanity
23 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States, Iraq
By David Swanson
The idea that wars are waged out of humanitarian concern may not at first appear even worthy of response. Wars kill humans. What can be humanitarian about that? But look at the sort of rhetoric that successfully sells new wars...:Tags: Iraq invasion, war mentalityIrish Nursing Home location policy 'a fiasco'
22 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Ireland
An Bord Pleanala, Co. Waterford refusal circulated today again highlights failed Irish planning system to meet the needs of the future. Well located nursing homes with good access to local services and complimentary retirement housing, one of the most important planning needs for the immediate future, as we face an aging population. Instead continued failed planning is resulting in nursing homes being unsuitably located all over the country.
Tags: Nursing Homes, planningNon-violent Action Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
22 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Features, United States
By David Swanson
Michael Nagler tells this story: "One of my close friends, David Hartsough, who is white, was sitting in with a small group of civil rights activists at a segregated lunch counter in Virginia in the early sixties. They had been sitting there without getting service for close to two days, harassed almost without letup by an increasingly angry crowd. As neither the sitters nor the proprietors backed down, tension increased. Suddenly David was jerked back off his stool and spun around by a man who hissed at him, 'You got one minute to get out of here, n------- lover, or I'm running this through your heart.' David, a birthright Quaker, stopped staring at the huge Bowie knife held at his chest and slowly looked up into the man's face, to meet 'the worst look of hate I have ever seen in my life.' The thought that came to him was, 'Well, at least I've got a minute,' and he heard himself saying to the man, 'Well, brother, you do what you feel you have to, and I'm going to try to love you all the same.' For a few frozen seconds there seemed to be no reaction; then the hand on the knife started shaking. After a few more long seconds it dropped. The man turned and walked out of the lunchroom, surreptitiously wiping a tear from his cheek."Tags: warisacrime.orgDid Roosevelt's Racism Cause WWII?
22 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Features
That was the argument made in a U.S. bestseller in 2009 written by a WWII historian whose father had raised the US flag on Iwo Jima. And the Roosevelt he had in mind was Teddy, not Franklin.
Tags: Teddy RooseveltDear Mr. Beck: I Shook Hands with the Antichrist
22 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Features
By Josh Steiber
Earlier this week, Michael Lind wrote an article for Salon about the misplaced energy in demeaning alarmists like Glenn Beck.1 Having friends and family who often revere the inflammatory rhetoric of Beck, Palin, Limbaugh, and others as a light in the darkness, the temptation to dwell on and ridicule these figures, ones that have even caused divisions between conservative commentators, is strong. Lind’s point is crucial though: the question is not primarily whether or not Beck’s theories are sane. Actually, the less sane they seem, the more likely it is that these theories are moves of desperation and the more important it is that we should stay focused on the actual issue.Tags: Glenn BeckAmerican Zionism against the Egyptian Pro-Democracy Movement
20 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Egypt, United States, Palestine, Israel
By James Petras
One of the least analyzed aspects of the Egyptian pro-democracy movement and US policy toward it, is the role of the influential Zionist power configuration (ZPC) including the leading umbrella organization—the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CPMAJO)—Congressional Middle East committee members, officials occupying strategic positions in the Obama Administration’s Middle East bureaus, as well as prominent editors, publicists and journalists who play a major role in the prestigious newspapers and popular weekly magazines. This essay is based on a survey of every issue of the Daily Alert (propaganda bulletin of the CPMAJO), the NY Times and the Washington Post between 25 January—17 February, 2011.They Only Lock Up Heroes at Quantico
19 Feb 2011; posted by the editor -
By David Swanson
If Bradley Manning turns out to be the hero he appears to be, he will not be the first "detained" at Quantico. In fact, Quantico once locked up the most decorated Marine in history, a Marine who would have been running the Marine Corps rather than getting locked up by it if he had known how to brown-nose the swivel-chair commanders as he called them, a Marine who had helped create Quantico years before, the first senior officer in the U.S. military to be arrested in the 65 years following the Civil War, and a serious fearless principled democratic hero whose heroism had nothing to do with the nasty tasks he took on as a U.S. Marine.Tags: Bradley Manning, QuanticoDying education in the 'blossoming' Iraqi democracy
19 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States, United Kingdom, Iraq
By Dirk Adriaensens—member of the Brussells Tribunal Executive Committee
While Anglo Saxon universities are boasting of their so-called "glorious role" in the reconstruction of Iraqi academia (See f.i. U of A helping create an education revolution in Iraq), Iraq's education is dying. From August 1990 onwards, UN sanctions excluded Iraqi education from international scientific developments and banned import of essential educational material such as books and even….. pencils. Many Iraqi professors and scientists left the country during that period. Then came the 2003 invasion….Peace Is a Last Resort
19 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States
By David Swanson
When a satirist published a phony U.S. government report in 1967 that recommended against allowing peace to ever break out, most people seemed to fall for the prank. Members of the news media were either in on the joke or victims. The copy I have is marked up with a yellow highlighter by someone who grew angrier and angrier through the book's pages. Toward the end, when the authors of the "report" advocated reviving slavery, the previous owner of my copy scrawled "BULL SHIT" in all caps across two pages.Tags: Iron Mountain ReportNIIRTA call on local councils not to hike rates
18 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Northern Ireland
As local councils begin to strike rates for businesses, the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association has urged them to show restraint and to avoid excessive hikes on small businesses and retailers.
Sociocide: Iraq Is No More
17 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States, Iraq
By David Swanson
As we approach the 8th anniversary of a U.S. invasion of Iraq, and having just passed the 20th anniversary of another, it's worth reflecting on what's been accomplished through two wars and the intervening sanctions that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright so famously approved of even at the cost of a half million children's lives.Tags: Iraq invasionPolice Brutalize Ray McGovern in front of Hillary Clinton
17 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States
By David Swanson
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday about the failures of foreign leaders to respect people's freedoms, a 71-year-old U.S. veteran Army officer, a man who spent 27 years in the CIA and delivered presidential daily briefs, a peace activist and proponent of nonviolence, the man who famously confronted Donald Rumsfeld for his war lies, the man who drafted our letter to Spain and delivered it to the Spanish Embassy on Monday, our friend Ray McGovern turned his back in silence. As Clinton continued to speak about respecting the rights of protesters, her guards—including a uniformed policeman and an unidentified plain-clothed official—grabbed Ray, dragged him off violently, brutalized him, double-cuffed him with metal handcuffs, and left him bleeding in jail. As he was hauled away (see video), Ray shouted "So this is America?" Clinton went right on mouthing her hypocrisies without a pause.Tags: Ray McGovern, Hillary ClintonColin Powell's Own Staff Had Warned Him Against His War Lies
17 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States
By David Swanson
In the wake of WMD-liar Curveball's videotaped confession, Colin Powell is demanding to know why nobody warned him about Curveball's unreliability. The trouble is, they did.Tags: Colin PowellAmericans Spent Valentine's Day Thanking Spain for Prosecuting Bush Lawyers
15 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States, Spain
On Valentine's Day 2011, yet another U.S. judge agreed with yet another claim that President Obama has the right to protect members of the Bush-Cheney administration from prosecution for torture.
Tags: George Bush, tortureHow Many Progressive Budget Analysts Does It Take to Notice the Military?
15 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States
By David Swanson
Whether or not one recklessly and misleadingly includes Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid in discussions of the federal discretionary budget, the fact remains that over half of the discretionary budget (of everything other than Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid) is military. The primary talking point coming out of the White House is the need to freeze all non-military discretionary spending. And yet it is difficult to find a progressive analysis of the budget President Obama proposed on Monday that even mentions the existence of the military.éirígí slams Lenihan's Valentines gift to oil companies
15 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Ireland
éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson has slammed yesterday's decision by outgoing Minister for Natural Resources Conor Lenihan, to award onshore petroleum licences for the massive resource rich areas of Lough Allen Basin and Clare Basin. The Lough Allen Basin straddles several counties in the north west: Mayo; Donegal; Cavan; Monaghan; Sligo; Roscommon and Leitrim, while the Clare Basin straddles four counties in the south west: Clare; Limerick; Cork and Kerry.
UK authorities 'fail' to take prisoner to court
15 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United Kingdom
UK authorities are being blamed for refusing to transport a jailed man to court despite the trial judge ordering that the prisoner be presented at the court.
Pádraic MacCoitir & others charged over sit-down protest
14 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Northern Ireland
éirígí local election candidate for Belfast’s Upper Falls ward Pádraic MacCoitir has been charged in relation to his role in a peaceful protest against an Orange Order march in Ardoyne last July. MacCoitir, a republican ex-prisoner and resident of the Lenadoon area of west Belfast, took part in last year’s peaceful protest against the annual Orange Order incursion on July 12 in response to a call for support from local residents.
The Worst Thing Ever Invented
14 Feb 2011; posted by the editor -
By David Swanson
In this age of supposedly fighting against rulers and on behalf of oppressed peoples, the Vietnam War offers an interesting case in which the U.S. policy was to avoid overthrowing the enemy government but to work hard to kill its people. To overthrow the government in Hanoi, it was feared, would draw China or Russia into the war, something the United States hoped to avoid. But destroying the nation ruled by Hanoi was expected to cause it to submit to U.S. rule.Tags: warWhen the eagle comes home to roost
13 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Opinion, United Kingdom
The mainstream media in the west has made much hullaballoo over the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, and more recently in Algeria.
Tags: Tony BlairEgypt - Beacon of hope
12 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Egypt, Ireland
In a statement, the Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) has welcomed the victory of the Egyptian revolution over the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak as a “world historic victory for people power over tyranny, corruption and imperial interference in the affairs of the Middle East.”
Tags: Egyptian uprising, Hosni MubarakNon-violence or Violence?
11 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States
A Debate Between David Swanson and Ted Rall
A Nonviolent Exchange of Views in Four Parts
1. Don't You Know That You Can Count Me Out - In
By David Swanson
Ted Rall's new book "The Anti-American Manifesto”advocates for violent revolution, even if we have to join with rightwingers and racists to do it, and even if we have no control over the outcome which could easily be something worse than what we've got. We have a moral duty, Rall argues, to kill some people.U.S. Groups Encourage Spain to Prosecute Bush Officials
10 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States, Spain
"Please Do What the U.S. Won't. Prosecute Torturers."
Dozens of U.S. human rights groups will present an open letter to the Spanish public to consulates and Madrid officials on Valentine's Day. They will encourage support of Spanish courts in prosecuting U.S. officials who authorized torture.Obama Hurting Poor People in Ways ACORN Blocked Bush from Achieving
10 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States
By David Swanson
Obama is seeking to cut off poor people's heat in the winter and AC in the summer, in a move that Bush attempted and saw blocked by ACORN.Tags: Winter heating, ACORNWashington Faces the Arab Revolts: Sacrificing Dictators to Save the State
08 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Egypt, United States
by James Petras
To understand the Obama regime’s policy toward Egypt, the Mubarak dictatorship and the popular uprising it is essential to locate it in an historical context. The essential point is that Washington, after several decades of being deeply embedded in the state structures of the Arab dictatorships, from Tunisia through Morocco, Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority, is attempting to re-orient its policies to incorporate and/or graft liberal-electoral politicians onto the existing power configurations.Why Did the President Cross the Road?
08 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - United States
By David Swanson
To kneel before the corporate throne of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. And here's what he had to say there on Monday.Tags: Obama, military budgetAt Stake in Egypt: Reading Gaza Mom
06 Feb 2011; posted by the editor -
By David Swanson
The danger of permitting the Egyptians democracy, rather than replacing a dictator with his (and our) torturer lies, let us be honest, not in the possibility that Egyptian politics will approach the religiosity of our own Republican Party, and not in the possibility that the civil liberties we have helped deny Egyptians for decades won't all be immediately established, and certainly not in the possibility that the Egyptians would commit collective suicide by attempting to attack the United States, but rather in the possibility that other peoples would be inspired to attempt self-rule as well, and -- more directly -- in the probability that Egypt would cease to uphold the collective punishment of the people of Gaza.Tags: Egypt, Egyptian uprisingRoundup of Internationals in Cairo
04 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Egypt
This is part of a series of posts from European anarchists who wanted to send reports of the Egyptian uprising and pool calls for international action in solidarity with the rebellion.
"Unfortunately our first post is concerned with intimidation that we were on the receiving end of. As we arrived we were arrested with scores of foreign passport holders in a round up of internationals in Cairo, including many foreign journalists.Not Leaving Until Hosni Does
03 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Egypt
By Medea Benjamin
Tonight our CODEPINK delegation in Cairo returned to Tahrir Square after the terrible events of this afternoon, when Mubarak's thugs busted up their peaceful protest with rocks, sticks and molotov cocktails. Hundreds have been wounded—their hands, legs, arms wrapped in bloody bandages. Despite the beatings, thousands of people are still camped out in the square—absolutely determined to stay there until Mubarak goes.Minimum wage cut a green light for employers offensive
02 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Ireland
Low paid private sector workers must ready themselves a fight to defend living standards
Union leadership must rise to the challenge of attack on workers' right and conditions.
Opening a press conference Cllr. Richard Boyd Barrett, People Before Profit and United Left Alliance candidate for Dun Laoghaire commented: "Yesterday we saw the ridiculous spectacle of some of the highest paid people in this country lecturing the lowest paid about how they have to accept another pay cut on top of the Universal Social Charge, changes to the tax bands, reduction in Child Benefit.Tags: Minimum wageThe Art of Demonization
02 Feb 2011; posted by the editor - Features
By David Swanson
One of the oldest excuses for war is that the enemy is irredeemably evil. He worships the wrong god, has the wrong skin and language, commits atrocities, and cannot be reasoned with. The long-standing tradition of making war on foreigners and converting those not killed to the proper religion "for their own good" is similar to the current practice of killing hated foreigners for the stated reason that their governments ignore women's rights. From among the rights of women encompassed by such an approach, one is missing: the right to life, as women's groups in Afghanistan have tried to explain to those who use their plight to justify the war. The believed evil of our opponents allows us to avoid counting the non-American women or men or children killed. Western media reinforce our skewed perspective with endless images of women in burqas, but they never risk offending us with pictures of women and children killed by our troops and air strikes.Tags: war
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