Patrick MacGill was born in 1889 in County Donegal Ireland. The same county as myself. He became known as the "Navvy Poet."This was after his work for a time as a "navvy", this term comes from working with a shovel building roads, the shovel was called a navvy shovel, something to do with navigating and the roads. Before he worked as a navvy he worked as a farm laborer, a ditch digger and a quarryman. He later fought as a young man in Flanders in the First World War. He became a poet and writer. Below are two of his poems. The first on his work as a navvy and how he saw society with its brutal class divide. The second on his experience in the trenches in Flanders in the imperialist war. read full story / add a comment

Sadly, Tony Benn has died aged 88 "After the war people said, 'If you can plan for war, why can't you plan for peace?' When I was 17, I had a letter from the government saying, 'Dear Mr. Benn, will you turn up when you're 17 1/2? We'll give you free food, free clothes, free training, free accommodation, and two shillings, ten pence a day to just kill Germans.' People said, well, if you can have full employment to kill people, why in God's name couldn't you have full employment and good schools, good hospitals, good houses?" -Tony Benn (1925-2014): read full story / add a comment

Launch of Attac Ireland with a public talk by Esther Jeffers (University of Paris VIII and European Attac Network)

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Post offices: loss of community, Tesco takeover and rush to electronics?
In a press statement Wayne Flanagan Tobin an independent candidate for elucidates the current situation regarding local post offices.
Flanagan Tobin opened:
“Post offices have served a very important role over the years as far as the payment of welfare, and those on welfare are concerned. People have been able to go into the post offices and collect their welfare payments without any big stigma being attached, and they have often gotten to know the post master or post office staff and have developed good relationships with them. “ read full story / add a comment

Carlow, Kildare, Wicklow, Wexford and Kilkenny are now recruiting. read full story / add a comment

Foreign backed coup in Kiev.

This year will mark the one hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. Observing the media of Europe and the U.S one could be forgiven for seeing startling similarities between 2014 and 1914. Imperialist powers and entangling alliances pitting the world into two opposing camps over the fate of a small nation. In this case the autonomous Republic of Crimea. Crimea which is an autonomous region belonging to Ukraine but with an ethnic Russian majority has held the attention of world since the Pro-Russian government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown by rioters in the countries capital of Kiev on February 23rd, 2014.
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Its worth pointing out that Roberts is an associate editor of the Wall Street Journal and a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Economic Policy, so hes hardly a loony leftie. He is however a Democrat in the real meaning of the word. KM

Reality on the ground in Ukraine contradicts the incompetent and immoral Obama regime’s portrait of Ukrainian democracy on the march. To the extent that government exists in post-coup Ukraine, it is laws dictated by gun and threat wielding thugs of the neo-Nazi, Russophobic, ultra-nationalist, right-wing parties. Watch the video of the armed thug, Aleksandr Muzychko, who boosts of killing Russian soldiers in Chechnya, dictating to the Rovno regional parliament a grant of apartments to families of protesters. http://rt.com/news/radical-opposition-intimidating-tech...-882/

Read about the neo-nazis intimidating the Central Election Commission in order to secure rule and personnel changes in order to favor the ultra-right in the forthcoming elections. Thug Aleksandr Shevchenko informed the CEC that armed activists will remain in CEC offices in order to make certain that the election is not rigged against the neo-nazis. What he means, of course, is the armed thugs will make sure the neo-nazis win. If the neo-nazis don’t win, the chances are high that they will take power regardless. read full story / add a comment

Stalls from around the world, holistic area, workshops for adults and kids, live music, and great vibes read full story / add a comment

Argentina officially requested that the US Supreme Court hear an appeal in a debt case that will impact people living in extreme poverty around the world. The case dates back to Argentina's 2001 default, after which 92% of all Argentine bond holders restructured their defaulted debt. Predatory hedge fund, NML Capital leads a small group of holdouts who won judgments for payment in lower US Courts. NML Capital never invested in Argentina and bought the debt cheaply after Argentina's default. Because sovereign lending is contracted in the United States, the precedent the case sets impacts some of the poorest economies around the globe and allows these hedge funds to target assets that benefit poor people. The International Monetary Fund, the Paris Club, legitimate investors, the US and most governments oppose this predatory behavior because it cancels the benefits of debt relief, makes sovereign debt restructuring more difficult and limits credit to poor countries read full story / add a comment

Argentina will file its final US Supreme Court appeal in the NML Capital hedge fund debt case before this Tuesday, February 18th. Legal observers, economists, investors, the United Nations, the Obama Administration, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the religious community have closely monitored the proceedings. read full story / add a comment

On the heels of the recent global outcry condemning the brutal and inhumane dolphin hunts in Taiji, Japan, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is inviting supporters and all concerned individuals to join with us and our Sea Shepherd Cove Guardians in targeted demonstrations on February 14, 2014 against Taiji’s brutal capture and slaughter of dolphins.

On February 14, 2014, from 12 noon - 3pm. Sea Shepherd Ireland will be holding a gathering at the Embassy of Japan in DUBLIN to stand in solidarity with the Cove Guardians in demanding an end to the bloodshed in Taiji. Sea Shepherd invites anyone who cares about dolphins to join us for peaceful “World Love for Dolphins” gathering on Valentine’s Day to raise our voices for the dolphins. On a day meant to celebrate love, we will show Japan the love felt by the people of the world for dolphins.

“St. Valentine’s Day" is the perfect time to stand with Sea Shepherd Ireland at the Embassy of Japan and tell the Japanese government that the world holds dolphins very near and dear to our hearts and we will not tolerate this brutal slaughter by a small group of men who are dishonoring Japan to sell dolphins to the captive industry. We hope that you will turn out to show your love for dolphins and ask Japan to end the needless killing,” said Susan Hartland, Administrative Director, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society USA. read full story / add a comment

Free Market with stalls from around the world, live music, workshops for adults and kids and great ethnic vibes... read full story / add a comment

The Progressive film club's first screening of the New Year features two films about the question of identity. Continuing our policy of encouraging new talent, we also include a short, first film from a young film maker from the UK read full story / add a comment

How many have noticed that in the quiet hours of night/early morning their Eircom email accounts become unavailable?
And that is on a regular daily, or nightly as it is, occurrence. read full story / add a comment

Washington, DC - Heads of state, financial ministers, celebrities and representatives from many of the worlds most powerful corporations are meeting in Davos, Switzerland for the 2014 World Economic Forum. This year's theme of the forum is "The Reshaping of the World: Consequences for Society, Politics and Business." The Forum has focused on income inequality, the impacts of low economic growth and climate change. In advance of this year's forum Oxfam International released a report that noted that the world's 85 richest individuals have as much wealth as 3.5 billion people or half the world's population. read full story / add a comment

Féile Bríde 2014 will look at issues of life, light and liberty with perspectives from our partner Abjata Khalif of the Kenya Pastoralist Journalists Network; from Fergal Anderson linking food sovereignty issues locally and globally, as a ‘small farmer’ from the West of Ireland; and Donal Dorr will be joined by a woman with personal knowledge of the issue of human trafficking to explore the meaning of slavery, sovereignty and sustenance. read full story / add a comment

8pm Saturday 22 February, Abbey Hotel, 52, Middle Abbey Street, D1. Late Bar. €5. read full story / add a comment

Greedy ISPs move to cash in on providing tiered Internet access
Judges at a federal appeal court in Washington have dealt what could well be a mortal blow to the freedom of the Internet. read full story / add a comment

Yesterday, Pope Francis appointed nineteen new Cardinals from around the world. Sixteen of the nineteen are eligible to vote for the next Pope. There were no new Cardinals selected from the United States. read full story / add a comment

The Supreme Court will review a lower court's order for banks to give information on Argentine assets, including those assets held outside of US jurisdiction, to a group of hedge funds seeking to collect from Argentina's 2001 default. Additionally, the High Court will review if it is legal for these predatory hedge funds to target assets for collection outside of a US jurisdiction.
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