Over 1500 people from across Ireland and beyond, gathered at the Hill of Tara to take part in a living human sculpture to call for the rerouting of the M3 away from the Tara Valley.

It was magical, yes, driving up to Tara and getting stuck in an unforgiving traffic jam, to photograph a very special moment where over 1500 gathered to tell John Gormley and Bertie Ahern, to reroute the M3. The event was to start at 3pm, but hundreds were there 2 hours in advance. French, English, Irish and other unknown tongues wafted in the flurry of excitement as people examined their tickets discussing which letter in the living protest they would be. One child's birthday present was participating in the living sculpture.

When the helicopter arrived, all bets were off as hundreds rushed to see it land. One woman with a child on her back ran in vain after another two shouting "don't go near the blades!" There were plenty of stewards holding back the tide of incredibly keen onlookers.

On the ground there was a great leap of faith as to what would emerge from their choreographed contortions. From the air ,the voice of Ireland spoke out: moving, twitching, questioning and resisting the policy of Fianna Fail/Possessive Democrats/Green Party and big business interests. The issue of the M3 is not dead. It is very much alive. The battle is not over!

(Images © Paula Geraghty)

Related Links: Averting our eyes from Crime at Tara | Photo Essay: Tara Under Full Moon | Government Creating 'Facts On The Ground' At Tara Hill Complex Despite Huge Opposition | Stop Wasting Public Money on Wanton Destruction of the Tara-Skryne Valley | Heed the People - Respect the Law - Stop the Dig - Save Tara! | On The Road to Hell - The Battle to Save the Tara-Skryne Valley Begins | Tara - N3 - Widen The Road Instead. Traffic, Cars and Peak Oil | Save Tara Website | More on Tara from the Indymedia Vaults

As Seomra Spraoi prepares for the official launch of its big new social centre off Capel St in Dublin this weekend, we look at how far the project has come since the collective formed three years ago.

"So, in a year or two will someone be able to come to Dublin and make a documentary about an autonomous social centre here? Or will fundraiser gigs, political meetings and workshops always have to take place in Teachers Clubs or the upstairs rooms of pubs? ... Will there be somewhere indoors to go after street parties?"

These were the opening lines of the first Indymedia article published by or about the Seomra Spraoi collective, on December 1st, 2004. The collective had been formed just a few weeks before, with the aim of creating a space in Dublin to emulate the autonomous social centres of other European cities. The article was written to publicise Seomra Spraoi's first event, a screening of films about European social centres, followed by a social at the Nicholas of Myra parish hall off Francis Street. The headline was "Give us some space!" and the article included such chin-stroking lines as: "Many questions have to be answered on the long road to establishing a social centre in Dublin."

Related Links: Grassroots Gathering Follow Up Meeting | Three Minutes of Infamy: An Intro to the Groups Using The Space | Give Us Some Space: An Intro To The Initiative | The Seomra Spraoi Blog | Seomra Spraoi's Carfree Day Scavenger Hunt/Launch Weekend | Trad Music Night to Launch Seomra Spraoi | 3rd time lucky for community garden in Dublin 8 | Photos of Seomra Spraoi's final weekend at Ormond Quay | Seomra On Myspace | Totally Dublin Article About Seomra Sproai | Sunday Tribune Article About Seomra Sproai

From June to mid-August, postal workers in the North and in Britain were taking industrial action. Management are on the offensive, and the action was to protect existing conditions.

In a display of cross-border common purpose An Post bosses are also having a go, with conditions under attack as a prelude to selling off parts of the service to private companies. So, An Post workers have a special interest in how the Communications Workers Union dispute progresses

The following is not intended to be an attempt at a comprehensive analysis of the current situation in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. Instead, it is a reflection on the past few weeks I have spent with the International Solidarity Movement in the city of Hebron and its environs and what brought me here in the first place. It is completely subjective and deliberately intended to be so. It is merely a personal reflection, and therefore should not be taken as representative of the views of the ISM.

I am a firm believer that the shortest distance between a person and the truth is a story. Many stories I have heard and read about regarding resistance to occupation, capitalism, imperialism have formed my sense of what is right and wrong - and on which side of the fence I am on. So if you manage to read through this lengthy piece of writing, I hope the stories of resistance I have encountered over the past few weeks will inspire you also to keep on fighting the powers that be, wherever and whenever you encounter them.

Related Links: Grafton Group plc - stacks of apartheid produce | Zionism : The rotten beam in the blind eye of a pitiless world? | IPSC pickett : Boycott Israeli Potatoes : TESCO Drumcondra | The Galway Races and the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign : Never the Twain Shall Meet? | Grafton Group plc - no corporate social responsibility | Palestine Solidarity

On Tuesday afternoon there was a sit down protest by about 30 inmates in the yard of Limerick Prison. According to rte.ie the protest was against harsh punishments imposed on those caught with drugs by the prison governor, as the deployment of 'Rocky' the sniffer dog has led to the seizure of most drugs coming into Limerick Prison.

Listeners to Tuesday’s Newstalk’s ‘Lunchtime with Eamon Keane’ were treated to the unappetising performance of Eamon and his Mid-West correspondent crowing victoriously about Rocky’s successes and the resulting problems for users experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

For anyone who hasn’t seen Trainspotting, going off heroin cold turkey is not a pretty picture; one Rehab centre lists common symptoms such as tremors, panic, chills, nausea, muscle cramps, insomnia, stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, shaking, chills or profuse sweating, irritability and jitteryness. Given the generally scant facilities for treatment of addicts in Irish prison it’s unlikely that prisoners received much in the way of assistance. It’s a tad disquieting when it’s acceptable to publicly gloat over this kind of experience in other people.

Related Links: Brazil Prison Riot | Belfast Telegraph's Coverage | Brazil Prsion Riot | Irish Prison Reform Trust | More From the WSM On Represstion | Irish Prison Reform Trust