SINEAD O'CONNOR JOINS THE PROVOS

Politricks Ireland witnessed singer Sinead O'Connor joining Provisional Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Provisional IRA. She says she wants its leaders to step aside immediately. She announced her membership of the Provos on Facebook yesterday where, O'Connor told her fans: 'There'd be a zillion percent increase in membership of Sinn Fein, if the leadership were handed over to those born from 1983-1985.'The Provos are currently in power with representatives of the Orange Order in British Occupied Ireland, and are about to take power in the south of Ireland. They have always been associated with the Provisional IRA. There is considerbale speculation, that they are the new face of Blueshirt Ireland currently being ruled by 'Ein Enda.'


 #right2water, right2water
One way or another ignoring these issues isn’t an option… December 10, 2014
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics. 

Whatever happens today in terms of the protest in Dublin it’s fair to say that the broad issue of water charges and an antagonism to austerity has been making its mark on Irish politics in the recent past. It’s often difficult to tell what impact a poll has, but to judge from the most recent one in the IT combined with the previous RedC/SBP one there’s no end of concern in certain quarters. Pat Leahy wrote in the SBP at the weekend that…

It is beyond question that something significant has changed in the public mood about politics in the last 12 months.
Around the Leinster House environs, many government politicians are awaiting this Wednesday’s anti-water charges demonstration with escalating levels of trepidation. Thursday’s Irish Times opinion poll confirmed the trends evident in other polls recently – support for the government parties continues to slide to historically low levels, with the chief beneficiaries being Sinn Féin and the independents.

There’s perhaps a slight jab at whoever wrote BackRoom recently and talked about ‘trendy’ polls… and rightly so, as it happens.

Recent polls have had the sort of effect they always do: denial, fear and then resignation on one side, triumphalism and half-disbelief on the other. But people who pay smart attention can see that the trends are well-established at this stage. There was even some quiet satisfaction in Labour last week that Fine Gael was now getting a taste of the medicine that Labour has been gagging on since the beginning of this year.

And:

The change in the public mood has been clearly gathering momentum for some time. But there is little evidence of a coherent response from Enda Kenny and Joan Burton’s administration to this political sea-change. It is not at all clear that they even understand it.

He argues that:

The strategy of keeping their heads down and (as Winston Churchill used to say) “keep buggering on”, in the expectation that economic recovery will eventually lead to a political recovery, is clearly no longer sufficient. That is not to say it is fundamentally incorrect, only that it is no longer sufficient in itself to address a public mood which has turned very angry, very quickly.

I think it was never a tenable strategy. There was too much anger already, that it became more focused is a different matter, and too much of a sense that the government parties had – whatever one P.Rabbitte might argue to the contrary – promised too much ahead of being elected and promptly turned around and offered business as usual, indeed business pretty much what FF had already been set upon (albeit as the figures demonstrate in a somewhat less tax progressive way than their predecessors). That was the problem that FG and the LP never came to grips with or sought to resolve.

Anyhow, Leahy argues that:

I think that unless this approach changes – unless “keep buggering on” is augmented by a new engagement with the public that goes beyond simply “look at all the jobs” – there is little hope of a recovery in the government’s fortunes. And then we are in for some very uncertain political times ahead, up to and including an inconclusive general election.
It is sometimes said that parties are elected to government when they are full of ideas, and when those ideas run out, they are ejected from office. Right now, that seems to be the direction in which we are heading.

Leahy points to two developments:

The government’s unpopularity has been mirrored by the rise of the independents and of Sinn Féin. Of these twin trends, it seems to me that the rise of Sinn Féin (though ostensibly numerically inferior) is by far the more important.

And this is what he has to say about that:

Sinn Féin has a worked-out programme and a coherent set of policies for government, developed over a period of time. It will surely face some questioning as to the economic sustainability of its tax-and-spend plans over the coming year. But it stands on a conventional left-wing ticket, promising a heavily redistributionist programme, supported by a strong political and electoral organisation.

Whereas:

The independents, by contrast, contain the most left-wing and the most right-wing politicians in Ireland. Some of them appear to think this does not matter. It’s true that it doesn’t matter when you are in opposition. But if you have aspirations to take part in government, and so live in the real world that governments must perforce inhabit, it matters more than anything else.
And when it comes to the formation of a government, there is zero chance of all, or even most, of the independents agreeing on anything that could possibly stick. There is every chance that there will be two or more groups formed. As ever, the question when it comes to government formation is not who can shout the loudest, but who can deliver a workable agreement. And most of the independents we see now, as currently organised, will not be very good at that.

I think that’s a fair enough analysis. The only non-government, non-FF, force of any specific weight is SF. Even on the best possible day it is impossible to countenance the combined forces of the further left getting together anywhere near 20 seats, and 10 might be an enormous stretch. That’s a great achievement in itself but it has to be placed in context. If the ‘social democrat’ Independents combined they’d have closer to that number even as matters stand today. Ross’s Alliance of all the talents similarly would have those numbers.

Perhaps even more.

And I think Leahy is right too in the following:

Because the election will be, for most voters, about choosing a government. It always is.

One aspect of this that is important to highlight is the wish for stability on the part of the electorate. That’s often understated but it explains a lot about the dynamic of politics both here and elsewhere and across the last century too, the sense that citizens will shift in radical directions only very rarely and almost invariably within certain constraints. I also think that Leahy is correct in that they seek clear programmes – even, or particularly, programmes that link into their expectations. That this leads to more rather than less conservative approaches is self-evident, but it appears to me to be a functional aspect of contemporary political activity.

That suggests that the solution would be, on some level, for much of the electorate, perhaps the majority, a change of power…

That will begin to become evident in the pre-campaign, which will get underway early next year. And one of the expressions of that will be in the constant questioning of parties and party leaders about their coalition intentions.

And Leahy neatly points up the contradictions here, for everyone:

Last Monday on Morning Ireland, Michйal Martin answered some of these questions by ruling out both Sinn Fйin and Fine Gael as potential coalition partners. All one can say is that he must have high hopes for the Labour Party, or else supreme confidence in his own ability to do a deal and make it stick with about 50 independents.
It was not the only quixotic interview given by a party leader last week. On RTE’s This Week last Sunday, Gerry Adams was unable to answer a couple of straightforward questions about his party’s economic policies. The Sinn Fein leader was completely at sea. If the Taoiseach had performed similarly, there would be another outbreak of the Endawobbles in his party.

Of course Irish politics isn’t Presidential in quite the way that the latter might be assumed to work in other polities, but that said there is a focus on party leaders. If that’s accurate then more work to be done.
And he notes:

These two interviews were a signpost to the next 12 months in one important respect which can afford some crumbs of comfort to the coalition this week: there will be more scrutiny of the opposition, their personalities and their policies. That won’t save the coalition on its own by any means, but it will level the playing field somewhat. Assuming, that is, the coalition turns up for the game.

That’s a good point too. The coalition has been missing in action this last fortnight, either avoiding questions or where visible seeking diversion in one area or another. Perhaps that was inevitable, that it cannot engage with the problems that face it because they go to the core of their approach, but if so it would indicate that they may be ultimately irresolvable.

And another thought, whether the protests continue to have an immediate impact it’s strongly arguable that they have already inflicted grievous damage on this government. Consider, as was noted in comments, how the supposed prize this government almost expected to fall into their grasp, that being a relatively easily acquired second term is now forgotten…

ARISE IRELAND RÉABHLÓIDEACH UISCE

Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge. 
Mahatma Gandhi

Noam Chomsky | A Genuine Movement 

for Social Change

Tuesday, 02 December 2014 11:11By Noam Chomsky, Truthout | Op-Ed

•  

"To some extent, we can create the future rather than merely observing the flow of events," says Noam Chomsky. (Image via Shutterstock)"War is the health of the State," wrote social critic Randolph Bourne in a classic essay as America entered World War I:


"It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense. ... Other values such as artistic creation, knowledge, reason, beauty, the enhancement of life, are instantly and almost unanimously sacrificed, and the significant classes who have constituted themselves the amateur agents of the State are engaged not only in sacrificing these values for themselves but in coercing all other persons into sacrificing them."


And at the service of society's "significant classes" were the intelligentsia, "trained up in the pragmatic dispensation, immensely ready for the executive ordering of events, pitifully unprepared for the intellectual interpretation or the idealistic focusing of ends."


They are "lined up in service of the war-technique. There seems to have been a peculiar congeniality between the war and these men. It is as if the war and they had been waiting for each other."


The role of the technical intelligentsia in decision-making is predominant in those parts of the economy that are "in the service of the war technique" and closely linked to the government, which underwrites their security and growth.


It is little wonder, then, that the technical intelligentsia is, typically, committed to what sociologist Barrington Moore in 1968 called "the predatory solution of token reform at home and counterrevolutionary imperialism abroad."


Moore offers the following summary of the "predominant voice of America at home and abroad" - an ideology that expresses the needs of the American socioeconomic elite, that is propounded with various gradations of subtlety by many American intellectuals, and that gains substantial adherence on the part of the majority that has obtained "some share in the affluent society":


"You may protest in words as much as you like. There is but one condition attached to the freedom we would very much like to encourage: Your protests may be as loud as possible as long as they remain ineffective. ... Any attempt by you to remove your oppressors by force is a threat to civilized society and the democratic process. ... As you resort to force, we will, if need be, wipe you from the face of the earth by the measured response that rains down flame from the skies."


A society in which this is the predominant voice can be maintained only through some form of national mobilization, which may range in its extent from, at the minimum, a commitment of substantial resources to a credible threat of force and violence.


Given the realities of international politics, this commitment can be maintained in the United States only by a form of national psychosis - a war against an enemy who appears in many guises: Kremlin bureaucrat, Asian peasant, Latin American student, and, no doubt, "urban guerrilla" at home.


The intellectual has, traditionally, been caught between the conflicting demands of truth and power. He would like to see himself as the man who seeks to discern the truth, to tell the truth as he sees it, to act - collectively where he can, alone where he must - to oppose injustice and oppression, to help bring a better social order into being.


If he chooses this path, he can expect to be a lonely creature, disregarded or reviled. If, on the other hand, he brings his talents to the service of power, he can achieve prestige and affluence.


He may also succeed in persuading himself - perhaps, on occasion, with justice - that he can humanize the exercise of power by the "significant classes." He may hope to join with them or even replace them in the role of social management, in the ultimate interest of efficiency and freedom.


The intellectual who aspires to this role may use the rhetoric of revolutionary socialism or of welfare-state social engineering in pursuit of his vision of a "meritocracy" in which knowledge and technical ability confer power.


He may represent himself as part of a "revolutionary vanguard" leading the way to a new society or as a technical expert applying "piecemeal technology" to the management of a society that can meet its problems without fundamental changes.


For some, the choice may depend on little more than an assessment of the relative strength of competing social forces. It comes as no surprise, then, that quite commonly the roles shift; the student radical becomes the counterinsurgency expert.


His claims must, in either case, be viewed with suspicion: He is propounding the self-serving ideology of a "meritocratic elite" that, in Karl Marx's phrase (applied, in this case, to the bourgeoisie), defines "the special conditions of its emancipation [as] the general conditions through which alone modern society can be saved."


The role of intellectuals and radical activists, then, must be to assess and evaluate, to attempt to persuade, to organize, but not to seize power and rule. In 1904, Rosa Luxemburg wrote, "Historically, the errors committed by a truly revolutionary movement are infinitely more fruitful than the infallibility of the cleverest Central Committee."


These remarks are a useful guide for the radical intellectual. They also provide a refreshing antidote to the dogmatism so typical of discourse on the left, with its arid certainties and religious fervor regarding matters that are barely understood - the self-destructive left-wing counterpart to the smug superficiality of the defenders of the status quo who can perceive their own ideological commitments no more than a fish can perceive that it swims in the sea.


It has always been taken for granted by radical thinkers, and quite rightly so, that effective political action that threatens entrenched social interests will lead to "confrontation" and repression. It is, correspondingly, a sign of intellectual bankruptcy for the left to seek to construct "confrontations"; it is a clear indication that the efforts to organize significant social action have failed.


Particularly objectionable is the idea of designing confrontations so as to manipulate the unwitting participants into accepting a point of view that does not grow out of meaningful experience, out of real understanding. This is not only a testimony to political irrelevance, but also, precisely because it is manipulative and coercive, a proper tactic only for a movement that aims to maintain an elitist, authoritarian form of organization.


The opportunities for intellectuals to take part in a genuine movement for social change are many and varied, and I think that certain general principles are clear. Intellectuals must be willing to face facts and refrain from erecting convenient fantasies.


They must be willing to undertake the hard and serious intellectual work that is required for a real contribution to understanding. They must avoid the temptation to join a repressive elite and must help create the mass politics that will counteract - and ultimately control and replace - the strong tendencies toward centralization and authoritarianism that are deeply rooted but not inescapable.


They must be prepared to face repression and to act in defense of the values they profess. In an advanced industrial society, many possibilities exist for active popular participation in the control of major institutions and the reconstruction of social life.


To some extent, we can create the future rather than merely observing the flow of events. Given the stakes, it would be criminal to let real opportunities pass unexplored.


This article is adapted from the essay, "Knowledge and Power: Intellectuals and the Welfare-Warfare State," which appeared in the 1970 book The New Left, edited by Priscilla Long. The essay is reprinted in Masters of Mankind: Essays and Lectures, 1969-2013 by Noam Chomsky.

SAVAGE CORPORATE IRELAND

Jonathan Corry a homeless man, died last week in a doorway, across from the Irish parliament, after spending 30 years sleeping rough in Dublin.

I too was a homeless man in Dublin 30 years ago and I probably crossed paths with Jon, as we moved in the same circles. Unlike Jon, I stayed in the Salvation Army and other hostels for the homeless but that was before the Government's austerity programme, cut funds to hostels for the homeless. Every time I begged in Dublin, I hated myself, because I knew from experience, that it was the decent people who gave me something. The more I hated myself, the more I drank and it just became a vicious circle, until it came to the point, where I decided the decent thing to do, was a hold-up. I held up a supermarket on Dorset Street one morning and because I was in no fit state to do so, I was arrested not far from Dorset Street. Even the Police and the Judge, could see my condition and I got just a 6 month prison sentence.

Fortunately for me I ran into a guy in prison, from a well known literary family, who read a lot and practiced yoga, during his 7 year sentence for picking up drugs at Dublin Airport. He got me into reading daily, a book called the I Ching, translated for Europe by Carl Jung. Before I left prison at the end of my sentence, we did one last reading together, which approximately told me, that fools like a dog chasing it's tail, keep repeating the same mistakes in life, over and over, without learning anything from them. My interpretaion of this was, that I should immediately get out of Dublin on my release, because I could see the streets were getting meaner, particularly, in the matter of drug addiction.

As I related in an earlier post, I headed for the island of Inishfree in Donegal, where there was a self supporting commune, based on the Primal Scream, which was an alternative to the nuclear family of society. Anyway it didn't work out, so I took to travelling the roads of Ireland daily, each day walking and hitching to a new town and sleeping rough. I slept in sheds, haystacks, old delapidated caravans, under trees, large dog houses, horses stables or just under the stars, if the weather was good, and my sole posession, was one torn sleeping bag, wrapped up in plastic, slung over my shoulder. I had a head full of broken dreams and a lonely heart, that demanded I just keep moving, rather than dwell on them. After travelling most of Ireland, I eventually found my way to a hostel of the Simon community in Galway. There were 12 of us there and it smelled of piss, rang to shrieks of men either drunk or in the DTs and was rough to put it mildly.

By chance, while queuing for clothes one evening at the Vincent De Paul, I could see two fellows in the same position as myself from the Simon community, who were whispering among themselves and seemed to be in a better condition than me, which made me curious. The more I enquired, the more secretive they became, but I eventually learned, that they were going to a meeting of a recovery programe from alcoholism. This is how I found my first meeting. Other people's anonymity, demands that my story stops there. The two men who brought me, went out drinking later and both died from alcoholism, in a very similar way to Jonathan Corr, the other on an operating table, because his liver packed in. That is 27 years ago and fortunately for me, due to the Sunlight of the Spirit, it worked for me, from then on, which is rare. I could never have done it on my own and I would have wound up like Jonathan many years ago, I have little doubt about that.

Ireland is a very vicious place to be either an alcoholic or a drug addict, where life is cheap and the solution for drugs is often kneecapping. I was fortunate enough after a few years sobriety, to move to the Netherlands, where rehabiltation, rather than brute force and prison is the solution. In fact in the Netherlands, their prisons are empty. Because alcoholism and drug addiction carry many more social problems, they have found it more economical to give free drink to alcoholics and free heroin to addicts, in return for picking up the litter, than deal with all of the other problems of drug dealing and antsocial alocoholism. They are given decent accomodation and meals as well. This is why their prisons are empty. It must be cost effective, because I know the Dutch sufficently well, to know, that they would not do it otherwise.

Things have become so bad in Ireland and particularly Dublin, that even the English are more civilized. To be fair, there are some police in Ireland, who will give you the benefit of the doubt, if you pass the attitude test. However there is a crowd of thugs among them, who will first provoke a situation as in right2 water protests and then batter all round them, over the head with flailing batons. With austerity and because of the bailout of the banks, there are increasing numbers of homeless on the streets daily. The process of eviction is brutal and like the Irish Water story, the Irish police are more interested in serving the banks interests, rather than the people. As I said earlier it's far worse than England, the video below, explains the difference on how they handle situations of the banks, versus the people. Rest in peace Jonathan Corry, I believe you have gone to a far better place, than Corporate Ireland, where the people of no property are treated as trash.

Below is an account of Jonathan Corr's life by one of Denis O'Brien's papers, the same owner of Irish water. Read it with a cold eye, because he is currently demonizing Irish water protesters.


Homeless man who died in doorway yards from parliament spent miserable 30 YEARS sleeping rough

• Dec 03, 2014 12:57
• By Cathal McMahon, Louisa McGrath

Heartbreaking facts of Jonathan Corrie's freezing life on the streets revealed in three-year-old interview with Dublin student

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Protest: A candlelit demonstration was held at the spot that homeless Jonathan Corrie was found dead

A homeless man who died in a Dublin doorway just yards from Irish Parliament told of his miserable life on the streets before his lonely death.

And Jonathan Corrie, 43, revealed in the interview with a student three years ago that he spent THIRTY YEARS begging and sleeping rough after fleeing his Kilkenny home.

Jonathan told the student: "I've been homeless since I was 13-and-a-half; I'm 40 now. There’s a reason why most people are homeless... most people beg to support their drug habit."

In a tragic coincidence it also emerged Jonathan – whose death has sparked a political storm in Ireland – was filmed as part of RTE documentary The High Hopes Choir, reports The Irish Mirror.

Sophie Pigot, who discovered Jonathan on Monday at 8am, said the dad-of-two was "ice cold" and had been dead for at least an hour when she found him.

Irish Environment Minister Alan Kelly called an emergency forum to tackle the growing homelessness crisis in Ireland.

RTE

Tragic death: Jonathan Corrie interviewed for RTE's High Hopes documentary

Jonathan’s lonely death on steps just a short walk from Leinster House has been branded a “national disgrace”.

Episode one of The High Hopes Choir sees David Brophy, who is the former principal conductor of the RTE Concert Orchestra, walking around Dublin city in a bid to build a choir of homeless and unemployed people.

And Jonathan is approached near St Stephen’s Green. Asked if he is homeless the deceased man said: "Yes 100%, I am. For the last two years I am pretty much out on the street."

The programme also features appearances from stars Bressie, Shane Filan and Ed Sheeran.

A spokeswoman for RTE said: “I am aware of it but until the man outside the Dail is positively identified and his family have been informed then we will not be commenting further.”

Jonathan, who was known as ‘Teardrop’ because of a tattoo on his cheek, also told the student: "I’m staying in a hostel now, but it’s closing in two months due to funds being cut. I lived in a squat for one-and-a-half years and I’ve been in the hostel for one-and-a-half years.

Barbara Lindberg

Paying respects: A man lights a candle in the doorway where Jonathan Corrie died

“Dublin is better than Kilkenny for begging, because I get food and more money. We get moved within two minutes in Kilkenny.”

Jonathan, who admitted using drugs, told how he could make €30 (£24) in the doorway.

He revealed: “I’ll make €30 sitting in here for three hours; that’s more than I’d get for working in a real job. Even if I wasn’t homeless, I’d still beg.

“There’s a reason why most people are homeless... most people beg to support their drug habit.”

Louisa McGrath spoke to him after finding him begging with a paper cup.

Ms McGrath, now a freelance journalist, recalled: “After we turned down his request for payment, he settled for an offer of tea and a sandwich. He requested his favourite: chicken and coleslaw on white bread.

Barbara Lindberg

Angry response: Protesters made their message clear outside Ireland's parliament buildings

“His tired, weather-beaten face bore a teardrop tattoo on the right cheek and his hair was brown. He wore dark, worn jeans and a short black coat which wouldn’t provide much defence against the bitter cold.

“Speaking matter-of-factly and without any self-pity, Jonathan described how he was born in Dublin and then moved to Kilkenny when he was adopted. It was here that he became homeless after running away from home.

“He later decided to move back to the capital. He went on to say that he got more hassle staying in a hostel than sleeping rough, but he described the streets as tough and particularly hard during snowy weather.

“The saddest part of speaking with him was that after spending more than half his life without a home, he had no hopes or ambitions to get off the streets.

“The State had failed to help him during his 30 years of homelessness and for reasons unknown he didn’t want his family to know where he was.

“He wasn’t happy on the streets, but he had given up on any alternatives.”

IRELAND Ní bheidh an Réabhlóid ar RTE

Tír gan Teanga, Tír gan Anam?: The Ethics of Teaching English

• 
  

Language is both our greatest tool, and our most insidious weapon. With language we can liberate, or we can subjugate.

“Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language is a country without a soul.” ― Pádraig Pearse. countries, culture, ireland, irish, language, ...

The teaching of language, therefore, is a process that must be carefully considered. Through a combination of the global nature of the English language, saturated job markets in Western society, and the greater ease and cost efficiency of worldwide travel, the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) industry, both charitable and commercial, is booming. ‘Education First’, the largest global EFL body, postulate that the global international education market is worth approximately $50 billion.

Central to many development initiatives is a targeting of local educational systems. Underfunded, and lacking in basic infrastructure and utilities, schools in the developing world are, often in need of significant help, and a legitimate vehicle for charitable aims. While the debate about the merits of sending non-qualified Western volunteers to developing countries, when balanced against the cost (both carbon and monetary) of travel alone, will never truly be resolved, there is one indisputable benefit to their presence: their fluency in English. Since it is taken as a given that good spoken English is crucial to escaping the cycle of poverty, native English speakers are crucial to charities working in the educational development sector.

However, what is never really considered is if teaching English abroad really is such an unqualified necessity. By teaching English in developing nations are we actually doing more harm than good?
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, the esteemed Kenyan playwright and social activist, would certainly agree. For Ngũgĩ, language is not just a means of communication; it is also a carrier of culture. As he elaborates:

“Language as culture is the collective memory bank of a people’s experience in history. Culture is almost indistinguishable from the language that makes possible its genesis.”

For Ngũgĩ, who has since ceased writing in English, his native language of Gikuyu communicates certain cultural truths that English, or indeed, any other foreign language, cannot. In its rhymes and tempos, its rhythms and sounds, it establishes a tangible and unique link between people, place and culture. It is a defining aspect of individual existence. To place English ahead of native tongues, be it through governmental administration, or academic examination, accounts to a charge of cultural warfare, and a profound method of imperial subjugation.
Ngũgĩ recounts his childhood growing up in a Kenyan peasant family, where at school, children were encouraged to tell on their peers if they were heard speaking anything other than English. In his adolescence, English was praised above all, a merit in English class necessary to go onto any further study, regardless of proficiency in any other subject. Exams were set in English, and anyone hoping to climb the professional ladder in later years had to have a perfect grasp of the English language. While English, as the language of governmental, and therefore institutional authority was praised above all else, native languages throughout Kenya were crushed. This scenario was repeated throughout the vast majority of colonised states in Africa and Asia, governmental languages of English, French, Portuguese and Dutch actively attempting to wipe out the indigenous vernacular that had come before them.

This is a scenario that is still in place today, the vast majority of the African continent still in thrall to the languages of their colonial past. Similarly, in India, English is still the language of administration, and is found throughout all the corridors of power, from the parliament to the judiciary. By teaching, therefore, a colonial tongue, are we, as Ngũgĩ suggests, continuing the process of neo-colonial servitude, enslaving, rather than enabling future generations?

While teaching English abroad may be philosophically, an evil, it is a necessary one. It is not just in the development sector where good verbal English is prized, it is an asset sought the world over, and a legitimate and effective way of tacking the cycle of poverty. However, this standpoint is only due to the compromised nature of global politics, where ideas of nationality and national identity are provisional and fleeting. While teaching English abroad is useful, that does not necessarily make it good. Rather it occupies a middle ground, a transient space between colonial domination and the fleeting beginnings of true independence. It is in this frame that we must always examine the ethics of teaching English.

Author: Sean Farrell

right2water

SELLING THE IRISH WATER & SAND TO THE ARABS

The political parties, whose meetings the Fascist Blueshirts protected, merged to become Fine Gael and members of that party are called "Blueshirts" to this very day. Because the authoritarian group's leader Eoin O'Duffy, was also Dictaor of the Irish police, while also closely connected to fascist corporate sponsored movements on the European Continent, the Blueshirts are politically categorized with the MVSN Blackshirts of Italy, along with the Nazis in Germany, who to this day perform similar functions for corporations in slightly more sanitized but equally ruthless manner. The Blueshirts went to fight for the Fascist, Francisco Franco, during the Spanish Civil War after their very bloody Civil War in Ireland, against the people of no property, which continues politically today, in the Irish struggle for the right2water, preventing Ireland's over supply of free water, being owned by a corporation. It rains so much in Ireland, that this farcical enterprise, could only be compared, to the preposterous concept, of an American Corporation, with the collusion of ISIS, selling sand to their own Arabs and denying their own, free sand. This of course is only possible, when the Irish Government and its police force, work for the interests of Corporations, not it's own people, which is fascism.
Over three-quarters won't pay despite revised water charge proposals

Story by Paul Hughes



Over 79 percent of people in Westmeath are still opposed to the introduction of water charges - despite moves by the Government last week to cap charges until 2019.

A WestmeathExaminer.ie poll of some 211 people has shown that 79.1 percent will not pay the water charges, and feel that they pay enough taxes already.

Meanwhile, the sample showed that some 20.9 percent feel that the revised charges are fair, and will pay.

The cap on charges, announced by the Government last week, will see bills from Irish Water of €160 for a one-adult household and €260 for all other households, reduced to €60 and €160 respectively after a €100 payment promised by the Government.

However, protests against the Government have intensified this week ahead of an anticipated monster demonstration outside the Dáil on December 10.

On Monday night, Westmeath County Council became the latest local authority to vote for the abolition of Irish Water.

A motion by Fianna Fáil's Cllr Ken Glynn received cross-party support, although protesters present were alarmed at news that Irish Water has contacted the council seeking information about its tenants.

Fergal Hing from Facebook




It is also about the stench of corruption amongst all county councillers





Dave Lyons from Facebook




Nobody should pay.....





Kat Geraghty from Facebook




It's about cronyism, corruption and traitors.




Linda Dunne from Facebook




And what they are not telling you is ... not everyone is going to qualify for the 100 euro .... but by that time they will have you signed up to Irish Water .... only way to defeat this now is if we all stick together and refuse to pay .... We already pay for our water!!!




Geraldinee Morris from Facebook




If its going to take welfare so long to process the 100 euro what not avoid it by irish water taking it off bill n the welfare processing one payment to irish water




Danny Lyons from




Aw! stop complaining. lol.




Niamh Hogan Dunn from Facebook




all of the above/below...





Eddie Nugent from Facebook




ok, then its a ridiculous question, which annoyed me so much that i did not read the 2nd





Westmeath Examiner from Facebook




It's not a comment Eddie, it's a question, and there are two of them...





Annette Temple from Facebook




It's about this governments ineptitude, lies, fraud, cronyism, lies, deafness, lies and their inability to actually listen to the people they're supposed to represent! Oh and water charges. Dec 10th all roads lead to the dáil!




Anne O Connor from Facebook




Combination of still water ( unconvinced by the supposed protection against privatisation ) and general feeling of betrayal with the government. Not an inch.
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Will Tilley from Facebook




It's a combination of both... public revolt against austerity coupled with the pure incompetence on the part of Irish Water for actually running an efficient "company". I wont be paying anyway, that's for sure.

 POPE CRITICIZES EUROPE

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the European Parliament, within this dynamic of unity and particularity, yours is the responsibility of keeping democracy alive for the peoples of Europe.  It is no secret that a conception of unity seen as uniformity strikes at the vitality of the democratic system, weakening the rich, fruitful and constructive interplay of organizations and political parties.  This leads to the risk of living in a world of ideas, of mere words, of images, of sophistry… and to end up confusing the reality of democracy with a new political nominalism.  Keeping democracy alive in Europe requires avoiding the many globalizing tendencies to dilute reality: namely, angelic forms of purity, dictatorships of relativism, brands of a historical fundamentalism, ethical systems lacking kindness, and intellectual discourse bereft of wisdom.

            Keeping democracies alive is a challenge in the present historic moment.  The true strength of our democracies – understood as expressions of the political will of the people – must not be allowed to collapse under the pressure of multinational interests which are not universal, which weaken them and turn them into uniform systems of economic power at the service of unseen empires.  This is one of the challenges which history sets before you today.

            To give Europe hope means more than simply acknowledging the centrality of the human person; it also implies nurturing the gifts of each man and woman.  It means investing in individuals and in those settings in which their talents are shaped and flourish.  The first area surely is that of education, beginning with the family, the fundamental cell and most precious element of any society.  The family, united, fruitful and indissoluble, possesses the elements fundamental for fostering hope in the future.  Without this solid basis, the future ends up being built on sand, with dire social consequences.  Then too, stressing the importance of the family not only helps to give direction and hope to new generations, but also to many of our elderly, who are often forced to live alone and are effectively abandoned because there is no longer the warmth of a family hearth able to accompany and support them. 

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FEIC U IRISH WATER I'll Drink Piss First! right2water

A for feics sake!" 

feic

Irish verb meaning to see. Used commonly to mean "wow" or "damn".

Also in "ah for feics sake" as a mild curse-word. 

Seán Ó Feic



SIPO rules on political donations to Irish politcial parties and TD politcians are a joke.

The whole SIPO perception of any meaningful “over-sight” due to its woefully inadequate requirements and politically appointed boards are a sham, with rules so easily circumvented, that any info gleaned from SIPO records/filings is only ever a small part of the true picture.These laughable “requirements” are totally ineffective. SIPO and its political appointed cronies of Fine Gael, are enabling Fine Gael to pockedt millions from corporations to do what they like in Ireland. TDs who are receiving huge sums of monies outside of SIPO s bullshit requirements, while the Fine Gael politcians are breaking their arses laughing at the plain people of Ireland, when they fill out these declarable interests forms.SIPO = More loopholes than a loop the loop.

The LifeStraw is saving lives with its simple yet powerful water filtration method.

Over one sixth of the world’s population is without clean water – that’s around one billion people suffering from malnutrition at this very moment. Water.org states that 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related issues, and about 6000 children die every day for the same reason, hence this issue can be considered one of, if not the, greatest current global crises. Safe water interventions are thus the most urgent international dialogues as these technologies have the ability to transform the lives of millions, especially in developing countries.


Enter the LifeStraw, a powerful yet compact and simple water filtration system which may be the solution to world’s water emergency. Its body is tubular in shape, extending 25cm long and 29mm in diameter. How it works is simple: place one end of the tube into water and suck from the other end, that’s it. Positive test results have been achieved on tap, turbid and saline water against common waterborne bacteria such as Salmonella, Shigella, Enterococcus and Staphylococci.


This LifeStraw was designed with special emphasize on avoiding any moving parts, as a sealed unit with no replaceable spare parts, and avoiding the use of electricity, which does not exist in many areas in the 3rd world. Because force (power) is required to implement the filtering, Vestergaard Frandsen chose to use the natural source of sucking, that even babies are able to perform.


What first meets the water when sucked up is a pre-filter of PE filter textile with a mesh opening of 100 microns, shortly followed by a second textile filter in polyester with a mesh opening of 15 microns. In this way all big particles are filtered out, even clusters of bacteria are removed. The first iteration of LifeStraw used iodine to kill bacteria, but the 2012 version contains no chemicals. Instead, the product incorporates mechanical filtration. When you suck on your LifeStraw, water is forced through hollow fibers, which contain pores less than 0.2 microns across — thus, a micro-filtration device. Any dirt, bacteria or parasites are trapped in the fibers, while the clean water passes through. When you’re done drinking, you simply blow air out of the straw to clear the filter.





The LifeStraw website states that each straw has a life-time of 1000 liters, that’s over one year worth of water consumption for one person. With all this in mind, one would think this system rings in heavy on the wallet. However, Vestergaard Frandsen made the cost of this technology its main feature, placing the LifeStraw at a price of only $20 USD. His main goal was for it to be affordable and accessible to people in developing countries.


The original idea was created ten years ago by Torben Vestergaard Frandsen, but over the years in partnership with The Carter Center, Rob Fleuren from Holland and Moshe Frommer from Israel, the Lifestraw emerged from work designed to make water filters capable of safeguarding against Guinea Worm. LifeStraw can also keep away bacteria and diseases like diphtheria, cholera and diarrhoea.





This technology is winning awards for a reason. Through people’s donations the LifeStraw has the ability to make history. Please visit their website for more information and join the movement that’s saving lives all around the globe!