Aron Baker, an Irish Volunteer working with the International Solidarity Movement in Palestine has, since September, been publishing a remarkable series of snapshots of life and protest in the West Bank on IMC Ireland. Collected together his vivid first-hand reports present a unique ground level view of the harshness of everyday life for the Palestinians under Israeli Occupation. The reports are compiled below in the order in which they were published. The most recent report is first in the list below.

Curfew in Asira Army Attack Peaceful Demo to Fence Army Wound Dozens in Nablus Ongoing Balata Refugee Camp Invasion IOF in Balata Camp, West Bank IOF Shoot and Kill 9 Year Old in Nablus Olive Harvest Report, West Bank Internationals Shot by IOF in Nablus House Demolitions in the West Bank Shooting and Checkpoints in the West Bank Nablus Week 2 Life in the West Bank

EXCERPT FROM THE MOST RECENT REPORT:

"5 out of the last 6 days soldiers and border police, more feared than soldiers by Palestinians for their ruthlessness and brutality, have imposed curfew in the town of Asira, north of Nablus. The soldiers and border police drive around in jeeps terrorising the 12,000 people who live there, occasionaly leaving their jeeps to do a foot patrol through narrower streets. People hide in their homes wondering how long the army will remain, and when a silence descends and people think the jeeps are no longer there they begin to venture out, many to buy bread and food, some to disobey and break the curfew. Yesterday the soldiers weren't here in the morning so people attempted to continue their lives, children went to school and people attempted to leave the village for work, etc, only to find the last remaining road leaving the village, which has recently been blocked with an earth and rock mound, manned by soldiers who will not allow people out of the village."

FROM THE NEWSWIRE:

"Focus Ireland claimed today (Nov 14th) that the new changes to the SWA rent allowance system bought in by Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Coughlan could actually act to increase homelessness as the safety net of private rented accommodation is removed as an option for thousands of families and single people. Focus Ireland Chief Executive Declan Jones said: “We could now have the crazy situation where a person who is working and has been renting accommodation for less than 6 months loses their job they could find themselves homeless under the new rule where Health Boards have the power to refuse rent allowance to people who have been renting for less than 6 months.”

Mr. Jones added: “With average rents running at least 800 euro a month for a 1-bed apartment this means people could be expected to pay nearly 5,000 euro in rent over 6 months before they qualify for rent supplement.” Mr. Jones added while the Minister has said there will be provisions for exceptions in relation to people who are homeless or where there are “other compelling reasons” these have not been specified and could vary significantly across different health board areas.

Focus Ireland also maintains the private rented sector has provided a “safety net” for many people nationwide (Even though rents have rocketed in recent years) to prevent them from becoming homeless while waiting for years as one of the record total of 48,413 households on the housing waiting lists.

Mr. Jones said: “This new rule could see more people in this situation being forced into homelessness if they are refused rent allowance under these new changes. It could also mean many people (Vulnerable women and children in particular) could be stuck in an abusive relationship/household or in a very unhappy relationship as they will have no other option but emergency accommodation or living on the streets if they try and leave.”

"The leaders of the various leftist groups have decided not to participate in a site they regard as beneath their dignity. They know that they will be attacked by ireful posters in disrespectful and probably vulgar and abusive terms. The rank and file of the various vanguard revolutionary parties are obviously discouraged from going to have a look-see. Those who do speak-up for their parties usually (though not always) sign on anonymously.

Comment on content is mostly sect-ish point scoring. This can be entertaining, though more often boring and obscure. There are sometimes vigorous and illuminating debates. Even these, however, tend to be very limited in scope. The median Indymedia contributor despises the market, barely accepts that democracy exists, and assumes that the most malevolent motives move all 'bourgeois' and 'imperialist' politicians.

It's a pity that the project was not much more broadly based politically, but I suppose the zealots are always going to colonise these fora and drive out the less committed.

In all, though, I think the evolution of written word publishing has had interesting effects on the far-left, with potentially far-reaching effects. I’ll elaborate . . . . ."

The Socialist Workers Party is running a candidate for the post of Vice-President of SIPTU. The Election is to take place in January 04. Des Derwin, an unaligned socialist (and a previous election candidate for the position of General Secretary of SIPTU) who announced in October that he was running for the position published his reaction on Indymedia. Follow the link below the excerpt for the full text of his reaction.

"In over thirty years of political activity I cannot recall a more astonishing act of pure sectarianism on the socialist far left. They are running a candidate with no surface difference of policies to mine. As it is a trade union election they cannot run as an organisation. There can be no defensible reason for them standing a candidate against me. Not only have I worked with them in SIPTU and actively supported their member Carolann Duggan in four successive SIPTU elections, but also, as I detail below, they were instrumental in persuading me to run for General Secretary just last year. I might add that not only have I worked with the SWP in various campaigns and bodies, trade union and other, including the recent Socialist Alliance, down the years, but that I have been in recent times an increasingly isolated voice on the rest of the far left for working with and not writing off the SWP.

Now, when I am actually in a better position to run, having stood last year, I am not good enough and they put up a virtual unknown. The effect will be (particularly in the absence of a soft left candidate - though there's a whisper of one emerging) to split the left vote. To run against a radical socialist candidate in a general election (which the SWP did once against the Socialist Party) is bad enough. Seemingly identical organisations vying for votes is a scandal to ordinary workers. But to run a candidate against a long established, independent oppositional activist, with a thirty-year history of exactly similar ‘Rank and File-ist’ policies (i.e. myself) in a trade union election, where candidates are standing on trade union issues and trade union records, is sectarianism and sectism without any cover."

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Globalisation And The Media, the award winning Undercurrents documentary will be screened in DIT (Dublin Institute of Technology) School of Architecture on Bolton St. next Thursday @ 6.00 16th Oct 2003.

Globalisation And The Media, an award winning documentary explores how the United States has spend the last fifty years constructing the present New World Order. Aided by its powerful military resources, alongside the IMF, World Bank and the World Trade Organisation, the rules of global trade have been largely imposed to serve its own interests. Globalisation and The Media explores the role of the media in this corporate led takeover of global resources.

More info on this video:
Oxdox.com and Antville.org
Video Activism Links:
Undercurrents Documentaries
v2v: Peer-to-Peer Video Syndication
DemandMedia.net
Dublin Community Television (DCTV) Content Workshop ( Wed. 22nd October )