el pequeño generalisimo

There is a tendency to dismiss the rantings of Kevin Myers as mere guff designed to sell newspapers. However, this would be to ignore the collateral damage his phosphorous cluster bomb prose inflicts. He has confounded his critics yet again by managing to fill copious column inches of Friday's Irish Independent with another tired tirade, albeit couched in his usual purple prose. Just when we thought he must surely run out of steam, he has managed to dish up yet more of the kind of verbiage that displays a yearning for those mythical days when the croppies knew their place and were content to doff their caps to their betters. His litany of collateral damage includes single mothers, travellers, immigrants, the Irish language, 1916, Muslims in Ireland, Palestinians and prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. His salvo, attacking the legacy of Bob Doyle and his comrades who fought in Spain against fascism, should be a call to make next Saturday's commemoration in their honour a defiant rebuttal of all Myers' and his ilk stand for.

Related Links:
• Myers, Gaza and the BNP
• Mothers of bastards?
• Bob Doyle obit
• Bob Doyle commemoration
• Ireland and the Spanish Civil War

Meeting Saturday: 12:00 Garden of Remembrance
Meeting Saturday: 13:00 Liberty Hall
Those who march on Saturday will commemorate Bob Doyle and his comrades with pride. They will also be standing against everything Kevin Myers stands for. That would be reason enough to be there.

In a piece headlined 'The devil might indeed have the best tunes but it is the lefties who have easily the best myths', (Click Here) he displays once more his ability to spout twaddle cloaked in the language of realpolitik. The lefties may have the best myths but the righties have cornered the market when it comes to propaganda, historical revisionism and sweeping caricaturisation.

Myers is a professional peddler of myth - most of it glib and replete with generalisations. In keeping with his penchant for soft targets, Myers' latest victim is a man who is no longer around to defend himself. Much to Myers' dismay, there are plenty others around to do so on his behalf. Bob Doyle, the last of the Irish members of the International Brigade who fought to defend Spanish democracy against Franco's military coup, died on January 23. A march will be held this Saturday from The Garden of Remembrance to Liberty Hall in Doyle's native Dublin at 12 o'clock, where a wreath will be laid at the memorial to those Irishmen who gave their lives in that war against fascism.

From Here to There

On Friday 13th February, myself and my cousin will head off to Gaza with a lorry full of aid for some of the 60,000 people left homeless after the recent attacks by Israel.

We will be joining up with a convoy of 90 other vehicles in London, where we will leave from the embankment opposite the Houses Of Parliment, and then make our way to the ferry and hopefully 17 days later we will arrive at the border in Rafa.

We are the only Irish crew going, and we feel very proud to be a part of this trip, and to try and give something to the people of Gaza who have suffered so much.

This convoy is being led by George Galloway MP, and is organised by Viva Palestina.

"Overwhelming response to the Galway Palestine Children's Appeal"
Last Saturday, members of the Galway Palestine Children's Appeal were "overwhelmed" by the public response to their appeal for humanitarian aid for the children and people of Gaza - filling not one, not two, but three 40ft containers with medical supplies, household goods, non perishable food, clothes and toys. For more, click here.

Galloway to Lead Aid Convoy to Gaza on February 14th
British MP George Galloway announced on Monday that he will be leading an aid caravan compiled of a number of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies accompanied by ambulances. The convoy will leave London on February 14th heading for Gaza Strip. For more, click here.

Viva Palestina
A life line from Britain to Gaza - Click Here.

Governments tax plan for all PAYE workers

Our government has become more and more open about their plans for us. Cowan wants to drive down our living standards 12% and has already cut all our wages through the tax levy and slashed the wages of workers in the public sector further through the so called ‘pensions levy’.

He openly talks of “four more years of even steeper cuts”. He is so confident of us taking this lying down that he had the cheek to announce his intention to drive down our living standards at what even RTE referred to as the “Dublin Chamber of Commerce's lavish AGM dinner which cost €160” a head.

Related Links:
• Public Sector worker responds to calls for a pay cut.
• Unions Close Down France: Where Are The Irish Unions?
• Whatever happened to the Celtic Tiger?

In Education, I Should Have A Voice Too

At all levels, the education system is under attack from the present government.

The savage cuts already announced at primary and second level appear to be just the first steps in what will be a sustained attack on the public sector in general and education in particular – both from the point of view of the provision of the service and the wages and working conditions of those employed in it.

Meeting Time and Place:
Saturday 28th February at the Teachers' Club, 35 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 at 14:00.

Related Links from Indymedia.ie:
Education on Indymedia.ie - Click Here
Feature: Protesting Against the Education Cuts Click Here
Opinion Piece: If You Think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance - Click Here
Essay: Against Commercialism in Education - Click Here

Related External Links:
Event Notice: International Week of Action against Fees (etc.) - Click Here
New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE) - Click Here
Education for Liberation Movement - Click Here
Free Minds, Free People Conference - Click Here
Essay: Anarchy in the Classroom, by Dr Judith Suissa Click Here
Educators: Want to Help Develop an Irish Database of Free Teaching Resources? - Click Here

This is NOT a Joke

Statement about protest held in NUIG on 2nd Feb at FF TD Bertie Ahern's visit.

FEE Needs Your Help Read about it here
November 2008: UL Students Union Orchestrate Pantomime Blockade of Minister .. Demo broken up by Armed Gardai! Read about it here
December 2008: FEE activist 'manhandled' by minister at NUI Galway protest Read about it here
January 2009: Call for International Week of Action Against Commercialism in Education (including the (re)introduction of fees Read about it here
February 2009: Day of Action Against Student Fees, Dublin Read about it here.