Yaser Murtaja, a Palestinian journalist has died after succumbing to wounds he sustained during clashes with Israeli forces near the border between the besieged Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories. ... read full story / add a comment

The Western Corporate and State media has been saturated for the past month or so over the Skripal poisoning case of an ex Russia intelligence officer and his daughter. The level of hysterical reaction is enough to make you sit up and realize there is a lot more going on here and there is some kind of agenda being sent and it is clearly part of the relentless ongoing Russia phobia and hating campaign that we have all had to bear with over the last few years and particularly so since the US sponsored Neo Nazi coup in the Ukraine in Feb 2014 and then the nerve of the Russia army to be invited into Syria by the Syria government and their near total elimination of the US-UK-France backed ISIS terrorists injected into Syria (via Saudi Arabia and Turkey before the latter's turn away from US) to push their own agenda to destroy regimes not compliant to the West.

In this analysis below from "The Saker" he uses simple logic to completely show the absurdity of the claims of the UK government regarding the Skripal case although in a more wider context. It is quite clear to anyone with a few brain cells that this is part of a deep state operation. ... read full story / add a comment

This is a repost from the World Socialists Website now regularly censored by google and the headline catches the essence of how things are panning out today.

On Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a notice outlining extraordinary plans by the social media company to monitor all the postings and messages of its users, censor independent journalism, and use artificial intelligence (AI) to report users to the police and intelligence agencies. ... read full story / add a comment

This interesting piece from Thierry Meyssan outlines the real plan behind the recent positive news about Rojava. It seems the empire has been selling the story of a wonderful democratic paradise about to be setup in Rojava when in fact the whole thing is a cover for the empire and once again shows how the Left have been used and subverted to promote their plans.

The discussion in France on where the French jihadists captured in Syria would be judged, is a clear example of a false debate. It is animated by a television presenter and journalist that hide their links to their listeners. The issue of where jihadists of French nationality will be tried is in fact intended to lay the groundwork for getting rid of those that can testify to France’s military role against Syria. Hoping that its allies accept it, France is preparing to recognize a pseudo State, under the name “Rojava”, following the model used in “Kosovo”. ... read full story / add a comment

We carry below an official statement from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, the leadership of the global BDS movement. The IPSC has called an emergency lunchtime protest against the move this Friday 8th December between 1pm and 2pm: ... read full story / add a comment

The Fine Gael / Independents government is to propose to the Dail this coming week that Ireland join the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation on security and defence (PESCO). This will mean a new EU Defence budget starting at over €1.5 billion a year (up from €590 million). Each participating EU state, including Ireland, will be required to reach an average of 2% of its GDP to ensure that the EU becomes a global military power. ... read full story / add a comment

This is a repost of an recent article (Dec 1st) by economic analyst and trade unionist Michael Taft on www.tasc.ie covering the good news trend where there is now a trend in Europe of reversing privatisations. And that is certainly something positive.

There is a spectre haunting Europe – the spectre of de-privatisation, re-municipalisation, and re-nationalisation. Local, regional and national Governments throughout Europe and in other countries - fed up with high costs, low investment, deteriorating quality and poor working conditions – are taking services back into public control and ownership. For many, privatisation has produced poor results; now they are starting to reverse that process. Public ownership is back on the agenda. ... read full story / add a comment

We are reposting this story due to its importance and the way it highlights the workings of the empire work

On July 14 this year a British man from the Manchester area named Benjamin Stimson, aged 41, a man the London Times called a “socialist” to add to his crimes, was convicted under the British Terrorism Act for “facilitating” acts of “terrorism” by serving with one of the Donbass Republic militias for four months in 2015, as an ambulance driver. ... read full story / add a comment

The ReBirth of Marxism: Haunting the Future

National University of Ireland Maynooth, 4 – 5 May 2018
Call for papers

In his play Marx in Soho, Howard Zinn has Marx ask “Don’t you wonder why it is necessary to proclaim me dead, again and again?”

May 5, 2018 will be Marx’s 200th anniversary – one among many anniversaries which remind us of Marx and Engels’ long-lasting impact on the modern world. As we send this out, we are sandwiched between the 150th anniversary of Capital and the 100th of what Gramsci called a “Revolution against Capital” in Russia. Our conference includes the May Day bank holiday, celebrated by the traditional labour movement – but it also marks the 50th anniversary of the start of “May 1968” in Paris, while “Ireland’s 1968” is sometimes dated to the violent suppression of a civil rights demonstration in Derry, five months later.
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In remembrance of 9/11 we are reproducing this important article from the Land Destroyer Report -Indymedia Ireland

The attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11) left nearly 3,000 dead in NYC, Washington D.C. and over Pennsylvania. The attacks transformed America into a deepening police state at home and a nation perpetually at war abroad.

The official narrative claims that 19 hijackers representing Al Qaeda took over 4 commercial aircraft to carry out attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

The event served as impetus for the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan which continues to present day. It also led directly to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Attempts to cite the attack to precipitate a war with Iran and other members of the so-called "Axis of Evil" (Libya, Syria, North Korea, and Cuba) have also been made. ... read full story / add a comment

This article appeared as a guest article on the Saker Blog and is reproduced here to help draw attention to this issue.

August has been a month for exposing how the “Empire” works at the social media level, inside the activist communities and, in this case, through the social media movements aimed at defending Syria. Western governments have outlaid millions for this purpose and countless allied agencies are involved across various languages and media, from actual military personnel managing multiple fake characters [1], to other programs targeting online socio-political activism, even to the extent of online publications being created and “discovered” that appear as belonging to ISIS [2]. ... read full story / add a comment

The German minister of the Interior announced today (Fri 25th Aug) early in the morning that Indymedia Linksunten, a local German IMC, was declared illegal.

This seems partially as a result of the media coverage the site gave to the recent G20 protests in Hamburg that embarrassed the government on the world stage and for the crime of airing the grievance of the populace that they don't like predatory capitalism.

It comes also as the government faces into an election and that the entire political system shifts further to the right and all things Left are to be discredited such as free health or education, equality etc. Instead fear is the new norm these days and at the very same time when it is plain to see that practically all European governments are now simply vassals of the USA as evident in the way their foreign policies match in lockstep the dictates of the US war machine and the financial policies imposing austerity, privatisation and the stripping away of the social gains of the last century match those of the "Washington Neo-Liberal & Banking Parasitic" class.

... read full story / add a comment

These are my initial published thoughts on the terrorist attack I and my partner survived and endured 17th August 2017.
Fadó Fadó, long time ago, when many more readers came to this corner of the internet, I published a series of articles in reaction to a terrorist attack on Madrid, the 11th of March 2004. I promoted a simple design back then, to my surprise the idea found traction and was accepted by countless people. i had thought my suggestion was easy to reproduce and helped people express collective mourning, to show publicly their fellowship with a community in shock. My design was a black ribbon, one which was easy to knock up variations upon and print out. I admit the ribbon idea was based on my much younger years when I had worn a green ribbon in support of a complex idea back then : the inclusion of political prisoners in a tentative British Irish peace process. Am I turning some off the provenance? OH talk to me about my youth why not? The idea of a black ribbon took off the weekend of March 11th, 2004, whilst the then government of Spain falsely attributed an attack by Salafists in the ambit of Al Qaeda on Madrid by blaming the Basque armed seperatist group ETA. IT was a few days before a general election. An estimated 80,000 people took to the streets of Spain and the Spanish state and camped out in front of government offices and the offices of the ruling party demanding the truth... I was one... the ribbon was a moment in my life... I never wanted to see it used again In the last hours the city of my home where I have lived almost 20 years has been victim of a long anticipated terrorist attack. Even google now puts a black ribbon. I return to indymedia ireland to indulge POV reflections. ... read full story / add a comment

Yesterday the city where I live was victim to terrorist attack which has long been anticipated and it would seem prepared for. The attack happened within 600 metres of my home. I pass on foot every day the street which yesterday became a trail of human blood dragged out by a young man turned mass murderer, to be claimed and vaunted later by so-called DAESH/ISIS and then it seems to be a trigger for another simliar attack on a tourist town. You will understand if I come to this text with attitude. I have pointed out many times the soft points in the city where I live & yesterday my wife and another our closest friend were both caught up in on ordeal which lasted hours. There are lessons to learn. These are thus my initial published thoughts on the terrorist attack I and my partner survived and endured 17th August 2017 & are party to the words I am writing and publishing now in various languages. There are lessons to learn & I feel it my duty to point out a few. Especially since a meme idea I promoted lots perhaps thought up if i can remember correctly is the go to for societal collective fetishized memorial glyph. I never wanted to see black ribbons again. But they do come back & they will. ... read full story / add a comment

Reproduced from the editorial of “The Socialist”, newspaper of the Socialist Party in England and Wales

As more details emerge and the death toll rises, it becomes clearer and clearer what a terrible disaster this is. The fire spread with horrifying speed and witnesses describe heart-breaking scenes as people desperately tried to escape.

It is a huge tragedy for the immediate community. Children have died; three generations of the same family have died. But rather than being torn apart, the community has come together in a remarkable display of human solidarity, supporting each other, collecting donations of goods and money, organising emergency accommodation, coordinating relief.

The heroism, the courage, the self-sacrifice of the emergency services and of local residents is incredible. Who can fail to be moved by the scenes of the firefighters being applauded as they drove away from the scene?

And there has naturally been a much wider outpouring of sympathy with the residents and families affected, with overwhelming donations of money, clothes, bedding, toys, nappies, etc. The true face of humanity has been shown in this solidarity. ... read full story / add a comment

This issue of People’s News This issue of People’s News has an unusual number of articles on military matters, and regular readers will have noticed that over the past few months these types of articles have steadily increased in number. This reflects the alarmingly rapid development of an EU army and its support mechanisms. It is a development about which there is very little awareness in Ireland, and one that may have serious implications for us all. ... read full story / add a comment

The large vote for Corbyn's Labour socialist type policies shows that moving to the Left rather than the centre resonates with the masses and shows that things like issues of health, education and jobs are core issues and perhaps shows a sign that a certain section of the population is beginning to notice that practically every political party is infested with banking and corporate favoured policies and shrills and technocrats working on their behalf while the population is being relentlessly screwed by austerity. ... read full story / add a comment

WSWS.org carries a report on the plans of the new French president - Emmanuel Macron -who was presented as an outsider but in fact was not and in cohorts with the corporate controlled media misled the French people, for now he is about to launch the greatest assault yet on workers conditions.

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What is Latin America Week?

Latin America Week is a range of conferences, meetings, workshops and cultural events around Ireland, focusing on different issues each year in April. An annual programme of educational, cultural and campaigning events on issues relating to human, social and economic rights in Latin America. LAW began as Central America Week in 1986 in order to increase the impact of many separate campaigns and events being organised by a variety of groups. It became Latin America Week after its tenth anniversary in 1996. The overall aim of LAW is to concentrate the attention of the public on Latin America for one week, so as to highlight the justice issues at stake in the region and thus to facilitate campaigning and solidarity actions between Ireland and Latin America. ... read full story / add a comment

A kickstarter campaign plus a dedicated campaign of relentless annoyance by an activist has led to the CIA reluctantly releasing 13 million of their archived documents for public viewing on the internet. Releases from 1994 to 2016 are included. This translates as all documents from 1969 until 1989 They are released under Bill Clinton’s 1995 Executive Order 13526 instituted in 2006. One of the few good things he ever did.The Executive Order requires the declassification of non-exempt historically valuable records 25 years or older. These documents were previously only physically accessible from four computers at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland using the CIA Records Search Tool Get searching folks. It's a treasure trove!
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