Previous protest at Belfast airport

The three sacked airport shop stewards who called off a week long hunger and thirst strike on 11 April, after they received assurances from their union, Unite, that commitments made to them last September would be met, have resumed protest action at Transport House.

In a repeat of the action that last month led to the union calling the police to remove the protesters, Gordon McNeill this morning occupied the awning at the front of the building. Madan Gupta and Chris Bowyer have said they will take his place if the union has him arrested.

Related Links: Previous Indy coverage | Socialist Party | Unite |

A Weekend of Anarchy

Its been a while, but now they're back. As the sun comes out we have the first bitch fest of the summer in this (possible) lineup for the grassroots gathering. Reading like a more convoluted version of those old Indymedia favourites - 10 reasons to hate the grassroots gathering - this article proves how popular a bit of criticism, constructive or not, really is.

PLENARY SESSION (ROOM ONE): ONE SOLUTION - DISSOLUTION?

Opening feedback / reports from the sessions (limit of 2 minutes each!! - only a brief recollection - perhaps the most important conclusions reached, if any, from the workshop sessions)

The plenary is open to everyone to talk to, and is being held in an atmosphere of openness and tolerance. No aggressive or intimating repsonses will be permitted. People are free to constructively criticise and discuss openly any doubts they have about their own activism or that of the group.

Related Links: Indymedia is crap | 10 reasons to hate the Labour party | Reasons to Hate Anarchism and Anarchists | 10 reasons to hate Liberals | 10 reasons to Hate Bitchy Comments on Indymedia | Indy exclusive: Chekov's takeover of the WSM | Actual Gathering Event Notice

On The Streets!

Over 1,500 people marched last Saturday demanding that cannabis be legalised in Ireland immediately and that the hypocrisy of cannabis prohibition end in all countries where it is still in place.

On Saturday last, the second annual Legalise Cannabis march was held in Dublin city centre.

The march was one of over 220 held worldwide in protest against the continuing prohibition of cannabis use in these countries.Hundreds of thousands turned out globally to highlight the hypocrisy, a legacy of twentieth centruy ignorance that has sadly persisted into the twenty first.

Related Links:Legalise Canabis LC Myspace LC Bebo 2007 march

Image of Beirut via Flickr

As reports come in from Lebanon, an indy.ie correspondent is sending in on the ground, first hand reports

The General Strike started on May 7th when unions called for a strike to increase the minimum wage from 300,000 Lebanese pounds to 960,000 due to inflation in food and fuel prices. That's an increase from $200 per month to just over $600 per month, the Government offered a mere $100 of an increase. It was then revealed that Hizbollah had their own telecommunications network and the government demanded that they shut it down. There was to be a big demonstartion for the 7th but there were rumours that pro government militia snipers were goung to attack the demonstration and protests at the airport road so the unions backed down. However the strike went ahead and the usually intensely manic streets were empty of traffic.

Related Links:
BBC and some of Al Jazeera coverage is good
BBC: Gunmen take over West Beirut , BBC: In pictures: Lebanon crisis , Nakba 60th Anniversary
Left Wing Blogosphere marxist from Lebanon, Angry Arab News Service: Sursock, Farfahine

From Derry to Palestine

Last weekend, Belfast was graced with the presence of two strong Palestinian activists; George Rishmawi and Iyad Bornat (also spelled Eyad Burnat), the screening of Iyad's powerful documentary: Bil'in Against the Wall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy8-oxnZQJU in the Falls Road Cultural Center last Friday night and George's public address at the Belfast May Day Rally on Saturday.

The documentary is a powerful indictment of Israel and its use of murderous violence by its Occupation Army in beleaguered Bil'in against peaceful protestors to snuff out dissent against the expropriation of Palestinian land for the building of "settlements" for Jews only colonists.

Au fait with the action of the Raytheon 9 in Derry, George Rishmawi and Iyad Bornat, through the good offices of Kathleen O'Connell (IPSC) sought and found Eamonn McCann at the rally to express solidarity with the 9 and Pitstop Ploughshare success at their forthcoming trial.

Related Links: Raytheon 9 pamphlet reviewed www.raytheon9.org Indy.ie coverage