FROM THE NEWSWIRE: 'Five massively overcrowded tin sheds held thousands of grossly overfed chickens, nearing their slaughter age of 42 days. Struggling birds were crammed together lying in their own excrement on the ground. Many could not stand . Their legs which do not keep pace with their rapidly growing body weight often buckle and snap under the strain of supporting it. There are 68 million broiler birds reared here annually, millions suffer painfull leg disorders. In contrast the 'breeding flock' are fed tiny rations to slow growth rate, these in contrast suffer chronic hunger.

These 'broiler birds' are fed drugs to grow more quickly and increase weight and overfed to increase breeders profits, no concern is given to the suffering inflicted on them. The flightless birds live their short lives without ever seeing daylight or feeling grass beneath their feet. The sight on opening the shed doors was one of gross cruelty and neglect.Farm staff only enter the sheds to remove the dead birds, feeding is automated.

'Two sad companions lay huddled in the corner. We thought they were dead as they did not move when we touched them.They seemed oblivious to us and propped each others heavy bodies up. We lifted the heavy warm bodies and gently carried them away to freedom, merely as a token of the thousands of others we were unable to save.'

From the Newswire: The self-described ‘Soldier of Destiny’, Waterford property developer Martin Cu Cullen (aka ‘Cu Cullen’) has big plans for himself and the Hill of Tara, which lies disgracefully underdeveloped in County Meath. Soon he will build a 680 million euro motorway, and then they will come. They will know. “Toilets, for boys and girls, videos, sweeties, parking lot attendants, contracts, sub-contracts, burgers, hotels…you name it, we got it!” howls Cu Cullen gleefully.

Is this guy for real? Oh yes. This is no accident of fate, but the culmination of a life-long campaign, hatched by Cu Cullen when a youth, after he ate some old tuna fish and learned that the Ark of the Covenant was buried at Tara. He headed straight for politics as a means of using OPPM (other peoples public money) to achieve his divinely appointed destiny. And now he has mighty powers. Planning appeals are made to disappear, into thin air. New ones appear, just as magically and ‘Hypresto!’ they are passed. Money seems to flow in from bottomless wells in all directions for The Party. And everybody wants to take his picture!

Cleverly disguised as the Minister for the Environment and Heritage he has assembled a boatload of spanking new road building machinery, which is now being tested out on his other pet road 31 million project in Waterford. “The town has never been the same since Henry II took off with Strongbow, never to return. We are thinking of naming the motorway after him. He would be so proud of us.” Gone are the days of hitching a lift up the dark old Dublin road. “Welcome to Cullen Country!” Soon greater things will come, given the right campaign fund for his own coven of druid spin-doctors, tarot readers, bible-translators as well as experts in construction Yiddish, Hebrew and Old-Irish.

Key to the crafty scheme is his decision to hand over motorway lordship to his arch-allies, Irish Trolls, who will make hundreds of millions in profits. Dozens of troll booths are being erected in the middle of all traffic black spots, with armies of cars and lorries lining up to pay, and pay and pay, OR ELSE! Small teams of strike-force laser drones will harry motorists as they reach third gear, and bilk millions more. Even the clampers will be out in force. Genius.

A special meeting of Derry City Council has adopted an unprecedented New Year resolution to introduce a 'policy of opposition to the city's economic participation in the international arms trade' and instead elaborate a policy of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI). The special meeting was convened at the request of the Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign (FEIC) to consider the role of the Raytheon corporation in the production and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The company -- one of the biggest defence companies in the world -- established a software development centre in Derry but claims that only civilian work is conducted there; a claim fiercely contested by members of FEIC at today's meeting. Production includes work on I-ORION, an information system that enables Raytheon to enhance its design, procurement and sales of armaments. A Green Party member of FEIC described the Special Council resolution as historic and a great source of pride and hope for arms trade activists in Derry and across the world. 'Derry can now retake its rightful place as a place of hope and solidarity, where peace and democracy are cherished for one and all.'

Reaction / Report from Foyle Ethical Investment Campaign

Background From Indymedia Archives
What are Raytheon hiding in Derry?
The Irish Arms Trade
Derry Walk against War and Weapons
Raytheon Derry: Significant Victory for Direct Action
Derry Direct Action Against Merchants of Death

Addendum
Irish Govt has ordered $12m worth of Anti-Tank Missiles from Raytheon/Lockheed Martin

As reported in The Guardian, a number of of letter bombs were sent in the last week of December to prominent EU officials including Romano Prodi (President of the European Commission) and Jean-Claude Trichet (Governor of the European Central Bank). All the letters were mailed from Bologna where a previously unknown group calling itself the Informal Anarchic Federation (FAI) claimed responsibility for two small explosions near Prodi's home earlier in December. No injury was caused by any of the devices. Despite the fact that one of them went off in Mr. Prodi's hands, the only damage done was some carpet burn.

Meanwhile, editorials in European newspapers have been declaring that we are witnessing a resurgence in "anarchist terrorism" (ABC - Spain) and that it's only been a matter of luck that no-one has been injured (Mitteldeutsche Zeitung). Britain’s Independent argued that the money used for the war on Iraq would have been better spent on surveillance of potential terrorists.

As Ireland took over the presidency of the EU, the head of the European Parliament, Pat Cox (PD) came out with the startling observation that the incidents were a "criminal conspiracy against democracy". Naturally, security measures have been stepped up within EU state institutions and on Monday, Italy's Interior Ministry announced the creation of a European task force to combat "anarchist insurrection".

The truth is that the vast majority of anarchists and leftists both in Italy and worldwide are opposed to such acts. The Italian Anarchist Federation (FAI), co-incidentally sharing the same initials as this strange new group and having suffered state repression under similar circumstances as recently as 1997, have denounced the indiscriminate violence of such devices. This was further put into perspective by a recent statement from the Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (FdCA) emphasising anarchists' commitment to "horizontal, anti-authoritarian, mass organisation" struggle.

Many are of the opinion that the recent events are merely the latest incident in the Italian state's "Strategy of Tension" - a clandestine campaign to discredit popular left movements from the 60s onwards which reached its climax in 1980 when officials of the Italian state conspired with the fascist group "Ordine Nuovo" to set off a bomb in a Bologna railway station killing 80 people. Similar attempts to isolate more militant groups from larger social movements were seen in the run-up to the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa.

Further Indymedia links: Feature on indymedia.org - More on the Strategy of Tension

From the Newswire: "The old city in Nablus and Balata Refugee Camp have been under almost relentless siege since Dec.25th. There's a very compelling call to action posted on www.electronicintifada.net by a Nablus resident. With house to house searches and demolitions, a large number of people wounded and over ten killed, the use of collective punishments (a suffocating curfew, the blocking of medical relief crews and of humanitarian aid) and what amounts to weapons of mass destruction when unleashed on a captive, mainly civilian, population - tanks, a.p.c.s, apaches, high-velocity bullets, racism, impunity - the situation is desperate. Palestinian blood has been cheapened to the point that this siege is not being covered by the mainstream media. Instead the potential of dialogue (between a corrupt, incapable, complicit P.A. and the Israeli Govt. -that uses their own particularly well-planned form of state-sponsored terrorism as a negotiating tool - the brutalisation and humiliation of Palestinians until they capitulate seems to be Sharon's bottom line) is making the headlines. This is only a distraction that serves to normalise an occupation that is illegal and blatantly unjust." . . . continues

Related Stories:
Nablus: Media Blackout
ISM 4th January Press Release
Palestinian Prime Minister slams International Silence
Recent Wave of Resistance to Apartheid Wall
117 Palestinians killed during media's "relative calm"