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."

The "Thessaloniki 7" were arrested in Thessalonika in June 2003 during the anti-EU summit demonstrations. They have been subject to a variety of denials of their rights including torture. Five of them have been on hunger strike for periods ranging from 39 to 56 days, and some refused water for a period of two days until they were given access to telephones, their lawyers and paper. Anarchists and anti-capitalists in Dublin called a demonstration at short notice to protest this critical situation.

WSM newswire report Anarchist Prisoner Support (Dublin) Anarchomedia Thessaloniki support pages original demo call A-Infos report IMC-Athens - motorbike demo photos WOMBLES info on Thessaloniki Greek solidarity actions IMC Thessalonika IMC Global Feature Evidence at FreeSimonChapman.org

On Friday Nov 14^th, a number of demonstrators gathered at the Greek Embassy in Dublin. They brought a large black coffin with them which they laid on the steps of the embassy as a symbol of the impending death of those on hunger strike. As one of the demonstrators put it, "Yeah this was a mock funeral but at the end of the day its not a joking matter. There are five people locked up and any of the five could die any day. Our action was sombre and a little morbid but when the situation is so serious there is little room to be upbeat. We will be back here again very soon if things do not improve."

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 international campaign to boycott Coca-Cola scored a first victory in Ireland with the recent succesful passing of a referendum on University College Dublin's Belfield campus to ban the drink from Student Union outlets. The campaign aimed to pressure Coca-Cola into addressing the murder of union activists in its Colombian bottling plants. But now an attempt to repeal the result of the UCD referendum has led to a re-run of the referendum being planned for November 18th (evening) and 19th (all-day). Apparently as a result of the negative publicity around this issue the Coke Company will dispatch a heavy-hitter to Ireland from their head office to try and stop the campaign in its tracks.

When you drink Coca-Cola remember that you are contributing to a process which sows unemployment, hunger and pain. The young, happy image projected by Coca-Cola masks the suffering and the return of profits from Colombia to the U.S. We ask Coca-Cola to stop killing and you to stop drinking Coke.
Carlos Julia -- SINALTRAINAL

The Coca-Cola Company has been accused of bearing responsibility for the murder of activists from the SINALTRAINAL trade union in Colombia. These Trade Unionists are counted among the approximately 2000 Trade Unionists who have been murdered in the last decade by right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia (60% of the deaths of union activists in the World occur in Colombia). What has drawn particular attention to this case is the fact that that they both worked in bottling plants which are used by The Coca-Cola Company: Panamerican Beverages and Bebidas y Alimentos. The human-rights abuses perpetrated against such Union Activists also include the kidnapping of their children and the burning of union offices.

A significant amount of evidence to support the view that Coca-Cola is at least indirectly responsible has emerged and this has led to the growth of an international campaign which aims to pressure the multinational to do everything reasonable to protect union activities in its plants. One of the facets of this campaign is a lawsuit filed by the US United Steelworkers Union and the International Labour Rights Fund. The Coca-Cola Company has thus far been able to escape appearing as a defendant in court, arguing that it is not responsible for the actions of companies that it employs to bottle its products. A representative of the SINALTRAINAL Union will be speaking in Belfast, Derry and UCD in the very near future to thank Irish activists who have taken part in the campaign against Coca-Cola.

One group of Irish activists, as part of this international campaign, mounted a very succesful education initiative in University College Dublin (UCD) and scored a narrow win in a referendum which banned Coca-Cola from Student Union outlets. This success occurred despite the interference of SIPTU officials (the trade union which nominally represents the interests of employees of Coca-Cola in Ireland).

Several announcements followed from activists in several other colleges and businesses indicating that they intended to spread the Campaign and keep Coca-Cola on the run, but to this happy chorus has been added the discordant voice of reaction: some students in UCD Belfield who believe that The Coca-Cola Company should not be boycotted have forced another referendum in an attempt to repeal the Coke Boycott. Interestingly, although The Coca-Cola Company doesn't even bother listing Ireland on its "World" pages, it has decided to dispatch a spin-meister to Ireland (reportedly the director of communications in Latin America, Rafael Fernandez Quiros) to claim that the campaign is based upon "urban legends".