Basque trade union barricade during general strike in March

A political struggle in a European nation of less than three million, largely ignored by other socialists in Europe, has nevertheless come to the fore in the capitalist media repeatedly since the late 1960s. This has been largely as a result of the the Basque people’s struggle for socialism and independence from the Spanish and French states, a struggle led for decades by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, the marxist armed organisation better known by its acronym, ETA. The organisation reawakened Basque national consciousness, has worked with others for the restoration of Euskara, the Basque language, organised Basque workers and faced the repression of the General Franco dictatorship in the Spanish state. Famously, in 1973 it assassinated the Prime Minister of the state, Admiral Carrero Blanco, Franco’s right-hand man, which hastened the fragmentation of the dictatorship and its passage to partial democracy.

Related Links: The Abertzale Left makes big electoral gains in the basque Country – but is it being steered towards social democracy? | Basque Trade Unions Square Up To The Spanish State | Report on the largest demo ever in the Basque Country, estimated 100,000, Bilbao January this year -- in solidarity with political prisoners

Feb 20th - 27th

Israeli Apartheid Week is an annual international series of events held across the globe. The aim is to educate people about the nature of Israeli apartheid against the Palestinian people and to build the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement locally and globally. Last year, IAW took place in over 60 cities across the globe and this year the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (http://www.ipsc.ie) is proud to again host a series of events in Ireland.

Leonard Peltier: Political Prisoner

Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist was born in 1944 in North Dakota on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. He is the 11th child of 13 children and from his early years suffered racism and brutal poverty at the hands of US government and its officials.

During his childhood, the Eisenhower administration passed a resolution by congress to “terminate” all Indian reservations and “relocate” Native Americans off their land pushing them into cities. This policy was later ruled illegal by US courts. To force Native Americans to leave the reservations, the US government cut off the supply of food and commodities that were promised to the reservations through treaties to recompense them for all the stolen land. Native Americans were now offered a small amount of money to move to inner city slums.

Related Links: The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee | News coverage of the Fort Lawton takeover | 'Trail of Broken Treaties' | Wounded Knee | The trial of Leonard Peltier| Ireland for Peltier Facebook page

6 camps and building

The Occupy movement has grown steadily in the past 4 weeks in Ireland. It is part of the global Occupy movement. As to what it is about is best summed up by the OccupyGalway statement:

Occupy Galway is part of the international movement against austerity measures imposed on ordinary people around the world. We are all part of the 99% who, so far, have been subject to economic inequality and social injustice from the 1% who control the world's resources. We, the 99% demand:
1 - The removal of the IMF and ECB from all Irish financial affairs;
2 - That the national debt imposed on Irish people from the bank bailouts be lifted;
3 - The return of Irish resources (gas, oil, forestry) to the people of Ireland;
4 - Real particpatory democracy.

THIS IS NOT A RECESSION, IT'S A ROBBERY!!!

Related Links: Tahir comes to Spain |helicopters, gunshots, riot vans screaming, armed cavalcade blocked and turned away... M15 > J15 |The American Revolution is underway, #occupywallstreet takes it to the belly of the beast | Occupy Dame Street - Oct 8th - Bring tent | Occupy:#OccupyDameStreet | #OccupyCork | #OccupyGalway | #OccupyBelfast | #OccupyWaterford | #OccupyLetterkenny Other Links: An Analysis Of The OccupyWallStreet (OWS) Movement in USA
UK Occupy: News review with Occupy Bristol | As the Occupations go Global, Nine are Ongoing in the UK

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ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN

Keep the powers of the Judicary and Dail separate!

"it shall be for the house (Dail and Senate) to determine the appropriate balance between the rights of persons and the public interest..." Okay this is pretty basic - A referendum is needed every time a government wishes to change our constitution - this is because the constitution theoretically exists to protect people from the excesses of any government i.e. any elected government can only work within the confines of what the constitution sets out. This means the constitution belongs to the citizens (i.e. us) not the Government. Whatever government is in power has to get our permission to change it. Lots of things in our constitution are outdated and need to be changed BUT and it's a big BUT we should be really careful of letting it be changed for trivial issues.

External Related Links:
Eight Former Attorney General Oppose Referendum | Dail Technical Group urging referendum No vote | Vote ‘Yes’ for political kangaroo courts | Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) in warning over 'kangaroo courts' | Green Party urges No vote | Vincent Browne: Why I will vote ‘no’ to this flawed referendum | Mary Davis (presidential candidate) to vote against 30th amendment

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