The right to protest

Robert Allen comments at book launch

Author Robert Allen has sharply criticised restrictions on the right to protest arising out of state responses to the forthcoming protests during the May Day weekend and the EU-US summit in June. Allen will be speaking on the subject in Maynooth this Wednesday.

PRESS RELEASE

The right to protest has become a serious social issue, says author Robert Allen on the occasion of the launch of his latest book, No Global, about the Irish community resistance to the globalisation of hazard.

"Legitimate protest and genuine legal challenge have suddenly become human rights issues as bureaucrats, judges and politicians bow to the rules of globalisation and the New World Order," he says.

Referring to the forthcoming May Day celebrations and the protest against the visit of US President George W. Bush,
Allen said it has become clear that the concerns of the people are now secondary to the whims of globalisation and paranoia of the USA.

"Peaceful protest and the raising of genuine social concerns has, it appears from the paranoid reaction of some politicians, become something akin to a Hollywood scenario of 'striking a blow against the empire'.

"This is the real world," says Allen, "not some kind of 21st century Philip K. Dick novel with bands of armed anarchists roaming decaying cities looking for chinks in the empire's fortress. It seems some people have been watching too much television."

"All of a sudden the right to protest against asylum policy, privatisation, war, undesirable development and the lack of democracy is being warped into a threat against the state and world order," says Allen. "It's time we started realising that we have a constitution in this country that protects citizens' rights and allows them to challenge illegitimate policy and governmental abuse of what is
supposed to be a democratic system."

Robert Allen will be giving a talk on A Sense of Place: Irish Community Resistance to the Globalisation of Hazard at 11am in the Crolly Room, St Patrick's Building, South Campus, NUI Maynooth, Co Kildare on Wednesday, April 21 and following it at 1pm with a discussion on the right to protest.

No Global is published on April 26 by Pluto Ireland. The author is available for interview at the event.
Contact: Dr Laurence Cox, or 087-9851029