James Connolly Soviet will begin our Irish language classes, after the summer break, on Tuesday 6th September at Connolly Books, Temple Bar, Dublin. read full story / add a comment

James Connolly Soviet will be holding a day school at Connolly Books, Temple Bar, Dublin, on Saturday the 3rd of September 2011. The school will begin at 11am sharp and end at 4pm, and consist of four sessions, with four speakers, comprising of a talk followed by an open discussion on each topic.

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Padraig Mannion, EU spokesperson of the Workers' Party, has slated the Merkel-Sarkozy plan for the Euro as economically incompetent and politically disastrous, and said it must be rejected out of hand by the government

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Maciej Zurowski encountered angry locals and grinning cops when he went to Tottenham Police Station. Here are some excerpts from his article and interviews with locals. Full text at link.

On Sunday afternoon, it looked as if the police had been instructed to use a new tactic to contain the public anger: grin. The area around Tottenham police station, which had been subject to severe rioting the previous night, was cordoned off by the boys and girls in blue, each of them sporting an unpersuasive, frozen smile. Gathering in front of the police line were those who have not got much to smile about these days: the overwhelmingly working class denizens of the impoverished north London neighbourhood, which had seen its last major riot during Thatcher’s reign in 1985.

“Murderers! You’ve shot a young father dead,” the woman shouted, following the accusation with assorted expletives. As she walked off, two officers turned to each other and chuckled. You would have thought that homicide is not exactly a laughing matter, especially when you consider that 333 people have died under British police custody since 1998 and not a single police officer has been successfully prosecuted. But then that’s just human defence mechanisms for you.

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This report from the WSWS site accurately sums up the situation in Britain today and the outcome of the riots. It confirms most people suspicions that the state has used this to launch a vicious assault on the working class (read ordinary folk) of Britain. It has used the very same press that was embroiled just weeks ago in a huge phone hacking scandal. The state repression and right-wing hysteria unleashed reveal the preparations of the ruling class for police-state forms of rule

It is amazing that despite all the arrests and sentencing that: The riots were triggered by the police execution of Mark Duggan, a black 29-year-old father of four, in Tottenham, north London on August 4, followed by an unprovoked police assault on a peaceful protest over his killing two days later. Almost a fortnight later, no officer has been identified, let alone charged, for these crimes.

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Peter Manson writes about the London Riots. What was positive about and what was negative. But rioting itself is no answer to the problems facing the Working Class. Full text of the article is at the link below.

A positive and progressive rebellion against deprivation or unashamed and backward criminality? The reaction of the left to the riots in towns and cities across Britain has been polarised between these two extremes.

As readers will know, what started as a peaceful protest outside Tottenham Hale police station on Saturday August 6 was violently transformed after several hours and eventually sparked full-scale rioting and looting, first in London and then in major conurbations the length and breadth of the country. The original demonstration was against the brutal killing by police of Mark Duggan and their subsequent lying excuses and justifications.

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Besides this pot of gold the farmers may receive other moneys from European revenue. Many of the farmers officially retire and receive a pension for this while their sons continue to farm. But many of these older farmers only officially retire. Many of them unofficially continue to work while picking up their regular pension. And as far as I know their pensions were not cut as were those of the public service.

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A second solidarity vigil/protest will take place this Wednesday 17th Aug at 5pm for Brendan Lillis at Daunt Sq in Cork City, all anti imperialists socialists humanitarians etc welcome

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RTE TV News August 12th. 2011 (1 min 52 secs)

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0812/shannon.html#video

RTE AUDIO Agust 12th. 2011(2mins 37 secs) http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0812/shannon.html#audio

More documents RTE http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0812/shannon.html

Ahern suspected US carried prisoners through Shannon: WikiLeaks

http://www.thejournal.ie/ahern-suspected-us-carried-pri...0-12/

 

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Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, in a press release published in the Irish Independent on the 29th of July 2011, hinted that she was going to review the system of Child Benefit along the lines of the CCT method of payments in Mexico and Brazil.

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The publication follows on from a two-day Conference held in the University of Limerick last October with the same title as the book. There will be an official launch of the book in Limerick and Dublin in early September.

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Sea Shepherd Conservation Society – Ireland, will be showing the award winning film Sharkwater, at The European Year of the Volunteer, The Venue is, EC House, 18 Dawson Street, Dublin on Friday 26th August.

Precise time of event still to be decided, but will start sometime between 11am and 4pm

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The Connolly Soviet will be running the second of its Last Friday Comedy Club on 26th August at 9.00pm at Seomra Spraoi, Belvidere Court, off Mountjoy Square in Dublin. 

 

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YOUTUBE Speaking Outside Colchester Military Prison - Ciaron O'Reilly from Giuseppe Conlon House/ Catholic Worker, Naomi from "UK Friends of Bradley Manning", Katrina recites a poem, Ben Griffin Afghanistan/Iraq combt veteran "Veterans for Peace", Jill Harris Michael Lyon's mother, Fr. Martin Newell Giuseppe Conlon House , Giorgio Riva Payday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxazNPBw8oo

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The Hedge School hub of West of Ireland Portal Hubs has a number of workshops & courses planned for the next few months.

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Thousands of Kazakh oil workers are now in their third month of strike action. In their struggle for trade union rights and negotiations over the implementation of a wage agreement, they have faced massive repression and intimidation. Hundreds of workers have now been fired. Their lawyer has been imprisoned for six years for “stirring up social conflict”. The police and riot police have been used against the strikers as well as the company’s security. One of the key trade union activists has now been murdered.

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This is an article about a new book on climate change. Written by Orrin Pilkey and illustrated by Mary Fraser.

"IT TURNS out that there is a hoax involved in climate change. Only the hoax is being perpetrated by public relations efforts by the fossil fuels industry." Thus begins the most memorable chapter of Global Climate Change.

Better known for his exposés on the flaws of coastal engineering, geologist Orrin Pilkey has turned his attention to this century's hot environmental topic: climate change. There are no surprises for those familiar with the subject, but the book does a good job of explaining the foundations of climate science to an interested novice.

 

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Yassamine Mather is interviewed by  Mark Fischer on developing divisions in the Iranian Regime and the failure of the leading reformists to challenge the existing institutions. Full text at link.

Given its potential importance, it seems odd that there has been so little said in the western media about the ongoing conflict between Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the supreme religious leader, Ali Khamenei. Why is this?

It can perhaps be explained by the attitude of the US administration, which seems to be playing a waiting game. Obviously, they will have followed these disputes, but they expect the system to disintegrate without much intervention from the US and at the moment they have other countries to worry about in the region.
 
However, this is a serious, ongoing struggle which shows no signs of abating and has actually started a process of political differentiation within the green movement between leaders looking for ‘reconciliation’ with the regime and the more militant, intransigent sections of its base. A number of developments indicate the scale of the crisis.

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Throwing more debt, in the short or long run, at the problem will not solve the problem. At most it merely alleviates or postpones the problem. This is precisely because the source of the problem does not lie within the process of circulation (i.e. money and credit spheres). It is contained within the production process­­­.

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Yet more startling  news from the Wikileaks US Cables. This time its about US attempts to overthrow Bolivian President Evo Morales. Full text at link.

Recently released United States embassy cables from Bolivia have provided additional insight to the events leading up to the September 2008 coup attempt against the Andean country’s first indigenous president.

On September 9, 2008, President Evo Morales expelled then-US ambassador Philip Goldberg as evidence emerged that Goldberg and embassy officials had been meeting with several key civilian and military figures involved in an unfolding coup plot.

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