Man dies in Garda custody after being arrested in connection with the murder of Donna Cleary. ... read full story / add a comment

Speaking to a meeting of 76 ambassadors in Copenhagen on Friday 3 March, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen deplored the publication of twelve cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper last September and asserted that Danish freedom of expression is tempered with tolerance and respect for different religions.

Up to very recently, referring to freedom of expression as “the very foundation of Danish society”, Danish prime minister and minister for the press Anders Fogh Rasmussen had refused to meet with a group of Muslim ambassadors to discuss what they perceive as an “ongoing smear campaign” against Islam.

The ambassadors quote four instances where Danish politicians and media have expressed hatred for Muslims:
Speaking two months before the publication of the controversial Muhammad cartoons, radio host Kaj Vilhelmsen suggested that Islamic terrorism could only be combated by expelling or killing Muslims.
Writing on her website two weeks before the cartoons were published, member of parliament for the Danish People’s Party Louise Frevert compared “the Muslim menace” with “a tumour which we know will kill us, if we don’t find and annihilate it ...”
In a speech at the Conservative Party’s national conference six days before the Muhammad cartoons were published, Minister for Culture Brian Mikkelsen accused Muslims of developing a “parallel society” within Denmark, “where minorities practise their medieval norms and undemocratic ways of thinking.”
And, of course, there are the infamous cartoons themselves, published in Jyllands-Posten on 30 September last. The text of the accompanying article states explicitly that the cartoons were commissioned specifically to offend against the Islamic taboo on depicting the Prophet – and not, for example, to tackle the issue of terrorism.

Please read the excerpts from the website of the Danish national broadcasting station, DR, and from the centre-left daily, Politiken, in translation: ... read full story / add a comment

Two Respect Councillors resign ... read full story / add a comment

Un-FAIR face of Love Ulster

One of the Love Ulster campaign organisers praises old South African system

Ciarán Barnes Daily Ireland March 4 2006

Jim Dixon:

“Under apartheid, the black man was better paid, they had better jobs, better everything.”

“I couldn’t care less if people call me
a racist. I couldn’t care less what they think. Apartheid meant the black man was better treated and respected." ... read full story / add a comment

Bush is not very good at anything, with that fact the world is fully acquainted, however, even the lowliest morons are usually good liars but recent video evidence has proven that Bush is not even skilled in the lowly art of lying. All doubts regarding Bush’s prior knowledge of the magnitude and destructive impact expected of Katrina have been dispelled by the release of video evidence clearly portraying Bush in full knowledge of the then pending emergency. We leave the pathological problem of Bush and the lying neo-cons in the incapable hands of the American people; the Bush regime is internationally known as the most deceitful and tawdry in American history. Good luck doodles, China and Russia could not hope for better! ... read full story / add a comment

Two Labour Party councillors in Stoke -on-Trent have resigned and joined the Socialist Party in response to threatened disciplinary action over their refusal to support budget cuts. ... read full story / add a comment

Irish Press coverage of the riots in Dublin (Feb 25th 2006). Scanned copies of the stories. ... read full story / add a comment

We laugh when we see a dog chase its tail, yet are we so superior? Do we not seek what we already possess? The dog’s tail is not elsewhere or ‘external’, the dog thinks/believes its tail must be captured though it was never lost or disconnected. When people chase externals, Gods, religions, ideologies they seek that which they already possess (solace/identity/security/redemption/joy/harmony) yet it is the same canine ignorance that deludes people as deludes the poor dumb beast. To seek what one possesses is to lose it through the process of seeking – seeking is not possessing! ... read full story / add a comment

In a deeply alarming Democracy Now interview with Liz McIntyre and Annalee Newitz, a future world of nightmarish aspect, of total intrusion is painted.

"Imagine a world of no more privacy.
"Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database, and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought, of everything you have ever owned, of every item of clothing in your closet -- every pair of shoes. What's more, these items can even be tracked remotely.

"Once your every possession is recorded in a database and can be tracked, you can also be tracked and monitored remotely through the things you wear, carry and interact with every day.

... read full story / add a comment

Heres a group of writers who are prepared to stand up for democracy against Islamic Fundamentalism. The writers include Salman Rushdie , Ayaan Hirsi Ali - Somali-born Dutch MP, Maryam Namazie - Iranian writer living in Britain and Taslima Nasreen - exiled Bangladeshi writer, with fatwa issued ordering her execution. Their statement deserves the support of every socialist and secularist.

pat

... read full story / add a comment

Even after 40 years we can still be taken by surprise. No one anticipated the scenes in Dublin on Saturday afternoon. Even the Gardai, who turned up with riot shields, were wrong-footed by the ferocity and scale of the disturbances.

Most of us expected a lacklustre imitation of an Orange parade trundling its way along O'Connell Street, followed by loyal sons piling onto buses to make their way home.

No fuss. No impact. No point. ... read full story / add a comment

Dublin City Council (DCC) is: busy censoring the right to "impart information by imposing a ban on the advertising of public events and meetings. ... read full story / add a comment

In the report linked to below, it describes how the acidity of the oceans has increased because the rate of carbon dixoide absorption has shot up.

Many marine creatures such as corals and sea-shells of all kinds have carbonate shells which are sensitive to the acidity (or pH level) of the water and means they may start dissolving. This would have enormous repercussions for the entire oceanic ecosystems. ... read full story / add a comment

IRISH REPUBLICAN INFORMATION SERVICE (no. 56)
Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: [email protected]
Date: 1 Márta / March 2006

Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom

http://saoirse.info/ ... read full story / add a comment

'Unknown insurgents planted a bomb inside an old vehicle parked on the main road in Mualimeen neighbourhood near the city playground,' the sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The sources said the bomb exploded when a British military patrol was passing by, destroying two vehicles and killing four soldiers." ... read full story / add a comment

Dublin Singer/Songwriter Alan Earls has composed a Charity CD Single in aid of a local teenager, who recently died of cancer. The single "Still Here Not Gone" contains 3 tracks in total and are available to download from the website listed below. The cost is 5 Euro and all of the proceeds go to St. Johns Ward, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. ... read full story / add a comment

Pauline Hanson recently announced on news radio that her political views have been “vindicated”; she cited the overt racist attitudes of John Howard and Peter Costello as proof of her claim. Who could deny it? Hanson’s imprisonment on trumped-up charges was an act of political assassination instigated by Howard but executed by his then errand boy, Tony Abbott. Hanson’s trial and subsequent imprisonment effectively eliminated her and her party from the Australian political landscape; mainstream racist ideology was re-established in its rightful home, the white Australian conservative ultra-right Liberal Party of Howard! The world watches Australia take a giant leap backwards as Howard continues to divide the nation. ... read full story / add a comment

The battle over history reflects a determination to prove that no political alternative can challenge the new global capitalism. ... read full story / add a comment

Gerry Adams' Fundraising Visa Denied Again by Bush Administration ... read full story / add a comment

Article lays out the background of one of the main organisers of the FAIR/LoveUlster march (Wille Frazer) as associated with loyalist paramilitaries. It also details how a relative of another sectarian massacre was smeared by the FAIR group. ... read full story / add a comment