Highway to hell?

The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) won a small but significant victory in the international struggle against Connex and the illegal Israeli tramline being built by them on occupied Palestinian territory.

Connex (who in Ireland now operate under the name Veolia) also run the “Luas”, Dublin’s light-rail system. The Luas has only been running for a few years and it is likely that the tramline currently being built by Connex in occupied East Jerusalem is a near identical system. For this reason, representatives from Israel had been in negotiations with Veolia Ireland to have Israeli engineers and drivers trained on the Dublin Luas, with a view to then operating the illegal tramline in Jerusalem. The training was due to begin next month, and a contract was being finalised.

But in recent days, Veolia has been forced to cancel the proposed deal with its Israeli counterpart following pressure from Irish trade union representatives, in turn responding to overtures from the IPSC.

Willie Corduff, Orla Kaiser, Mary Corduff & Stefan Kaiser

El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido. Be fully assured of the righteousness of the struggle.

Above are two quotes from a book in the Rossport Solidarity Camp library called 'Clandestines -The Pirate Journals of an Irish Exile' by Ramor Ryan. Ramor describes a memorial concert for a female student leader shot down during the Venezuelan revolution in the early nineties ... and the chant:
'El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido - A united people can never be conquered.'

Community activists Orla Kaiser from Pallaskenry and Joe Burke & Der Holland from Bantry, who all face threat of jail for ignoring high court injunctions instructing them not to protect the health and safety of their families and communities, visited the solidarity camp in Rossport, met with some of the 'Five' and the local Shell to Sea campaigners and received unequivocal support, to be ‘assured of the righteousness of their struggles’ .

"The level of defiance and optimism is palpable" - says Shane who donated his friend Ramor's book to the camp library. On Saturday night at the camp it was Joe Burke who was telling us not to give up the fight. On Monday evening Orla & Stefan Kaiser left Mayo with the words of Willie Corduff ringing in her ears. "Don't give up, never give up."

Some recent Shell To Sea activity:
The Long Walk from Rossport to Dublin: The walk begins | Almost there | The final leg plus: Shell to Sea activist cuts 6 years of dreads

Previous feature from 2004

On Wednesday 9th August Anti War protesters in Derry stormed into the local plant of US missile manufacturer Raytheon. They were protesting against the use of Raytheon technology by the Israelis and used by them in their attacks in Lebanon.

After eight hours in occupation of the plant nine protesters were arrested by the PSNI and were charged with "Unlawful Assembly" and "Aggravated Burglary" when they appeared in court this morning (Thursday Aug 10th).

IMC Blogger: Both the IAWM and AWI issued quick statements of support as part of the ongoing rapprochement that is within the anti war movements on Indy these days. It should be remembered that Derry is the birth place of the black shamrock, whose powerful images owe much to the campaign against Raytheon. If this spreads south, maybe war will be an election issue as PANA say, or maybe the spirit of direct action will move to Shannon, where apparently that type of stuff could have a legal defence. Either way, can the fine media makers of Derry make sure to keep us all informed. Raytheon Coverage on Indy

Throughout the world, public services have been under attack for the past twenty years. Forming a central plank of the capitalist globalisation agenda, ‘privatisation’ and ‘competition’ are the seemingly unchallenged dogma of modern capitalism. The levels of privatisation which have taken place worldwide are absolutely mindblowing. During the 1990s alone over $900billion worth of public assets were transferred into private hands. Globally this agenda is pushed by the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The basic theory by which these bodies operate is that all decisions should be made on the basis of profitability alone.

More on privatisation: Community Alliance-Sligo: Privatisation is being undertaken by stealth | IEF Challenges Threat of Privatisation | Housing activists meet to discuss redevelopment & privatisation of their homes |FFF vs PPP: Fight For the Flats or Public Private Partnerships? | All Eyes On Upcoming PPP Conference | Europe At A Crossroads? Heath and Education as Business Opportunites | A local community rejects Public Private Partnerships | People Before Profit Public Meeting expresses concerns on land value from Fatima | Living with state dereliction in St Michael's: local community rejects privatisation of their homes.

The beach at Maria La Gorda

Some thoughts on Cuba.

So it seems as if Cuba could be in for a rough ride over the next few months, if some of the speculation about Fidel Castro being already dead is to be believed. Even if the surprisingly robust leader is genuinely only in hospital for minor surgery - if any surgery for someone at the age of 80 can be described as 'minor' - the world has got a glimpse of what is going to happen (most notably in Miami) when nature eventually takes its course and Castro passes on.