POSSIBILITIES 2011 National Social Forum

Speaking in advance of an April visit to Ireland, Nobel Peace Laureate and exiled Tibetan
Leader the Dalai Lama has today delivered a message to the people of Ireland in which he calls for people to demonstrate courage and hope.

“Our world is in turmoil but this also provides an opportunity for true transformation towards peace, justice and happiness if we show courage and hope.” he said in the message which can be viewed in full on the new website http://www.possibilities.ie

Messages from the Organisers:

"We can not think of anyone more suited to provide leadership, hope and inspiration at a time when the world and in particular Ireland needs it most." - Richard Moore, founder Children in Crossfire

"We hope his visit will be a source of support for refugees in Ireland and generate a more enlightened, generous and welcoming approach to refugees and asylum seekers here. We welcome him as a Nobel Peace Laureate, the first to be recognised for his concern for the global environment." - Joe Murray, coordinator AFRI - Aid from Ireland

"The Dalai Lama is one of the greatest messengers for peace and inner revolution alive. He echoes Gandhi’s ‘be the change you want to see’ mantra and is an all too rare figure of integrity and courage." - Ruairi McKiernan, Founder Spunout.ie

"The people will extend a warm Céad Mile Fáilte to the Dalai Lama. He is renowned worldwide as a spiritual leader and a man of peace and we eagerly await his message of peace and compassion." - Rita Minihan csb, Soals Bhride Center

"His Holiness is respected all over the world as a truly inspirational spiritual teacher whose energy, compassion and wisdom touch everyone he meets." Prof. Don Barry, UL President

The Struggle Goes On in Rossport

On Thursday 20th January An Bord Pleanála announced their decision to approve the Shell high pressure raw gas pipeline. This is the last chance to resist the plan by the Irish Government, state bodies and Shell to force their will on communities and on the country as a whole, regardless of proper process, economic sense, people’s safety, environmental laws and human rights. Whilst the people of Ireland are being crippled by the cuts in public services and forced in to huge EU and IMF debt, the great gas giveaway is the elephant in the room that could be our solution. The unjust deal can be renegotiated as we have successfully seen in other countries. The people of Ireland should have a say in how we sustainably manage our natural resources. The struggle against Shell is a struggle for everyone in Ireland. You can be part of it.

Related Links:
Rossport Solidarity Camp
Shell to Sea

http://www.shelltosea.com/content/shell-sea-vows-contin...eline
http://www.antaisce.org/WhatsNow/News/AnTaisceRelatedNe....aspx
http://www.shelltosea.com/content/board-plean%C3%A1la-g...nce-0
Articles Related to Mayo Indymedia Ireland Articles relating to Mayo

Several hundred people took part in "A Spectacle Of Defiance And Hope" in Dublin on the night of Friday 10th December to protest the way the government have cut funding to vital community services. Janice Feighery a co-ordinator at an after school computer program for young people said “Community programmes are being devastated by the cuts. Our work with young people is strangled by lack of funds." The spectacle draws to a close the week of protests against the austerity budget.

Related Links:

"They are literally ripping the heart out of our communities, out of our families and our society. People are sick and tired of hearing all of the bad press coverage. We have something that will appeal to you to get involved and may even be inspired to bring others along."
- From Community Workers' Cooperative

"The Spectacle’s participative, imaginative and heartfelt approach will demonstrate that there is another way to a more equal and a more just Ireland. The Spectacle says STOP this madness of punishing ordinary people for the mistakes of others."
- From Claiming Out Future

"There will be no speeches only street theatre, music , chants, defiance and hope!"
- From rade.ie

Amid the hum of words spoken and written here in Ecuador and further afield about the events of Thursday, September 30, two are easily discernible: “coup” and “democracy”. Yet it can be argued that neither concept had much to do with what unfolded on that day.
It would be easy to say that the convulsions that gripped Ecuador on that day were just more of the same. This is a country, after all, that has deposed three elected presidents by different means (none of them impeachment), and at one stage could count 9 different presidents in 10 years.

Indymedia Links:
Failed coup attempt | The new Latin American century, FARC, arms races, US bases & sundry fibs |
Other Links:
BBC article | Chevron's ecuadorian legacy | Lasc contact link (Note to LASC: currently OPEN DNS (wrongly) completely blocks lasc website as a phishing site) |
Video Links:
Chevrontoxico campaign against chevron in ecuador | Democracy now interview with Correa | Correa on Obama and the dollar |
Wikipedia Links:
Rafael Correa | 2010 Ecuador crisis |

Obama - Hope, No!

A critique of the Obama Presidency from taking office in January of this year to now.

Criticism of the Obama Administration in the United States (and around the world) is more noticeable as is the slide in the opinion polls for the young president. This may seem predictable given the unrealistic levels of global expectation that accompanied him as he swept into the Oval office with the words ‘hope and change’ ringing around America. However, just over nine months on, commentators and supporters alike are disappointed at Obama’s apparent inability to deliver on his campaign promises. The polemicist, Gore Vidal, in several recent interviews went as far as to say that Obama will be a ‘one term President’ who is ‘completely overwhelmed’ by the challenges that confront him.

This unease and anger seem to galvanise after the Administration’s decision to bailout the major US banks and financial institutions in the form of a ‘stimulus’ package, which is pushing close to $1 trillion dollars. The Nobel Prize winning economist, Professor Joseph Stiglitz, commented on RTE’s Primetime programme that this amounted to a massive “theft of the American taxpayer”. The ill feeling surrounding this package intensified when it was revealed that part of this enormous sum of money was used to pay the annual bonuses of senior banking executives who had largely caused the crisis. This was against a backdrop of economic decline with millions of Americans losing their jobs, millions more facing home foreclosure while the dispossessed are filling the growing number of tent cities which are becoming an increasing feature on the outskirts of major American cities.