Eight statistics May 20, 2010
Posted by Tomboktu in Crime, Crime, Ethics, Inequality, Inequality, Ireland, Justice, Rights, Uncategorized.25 comments
I think the eight numbers in these two lines say so much. They are from an Irish Times story on Monday. The ‘he’ is Fr Peter McVerry.
… there had been 3,183 prosecutions for welfare fraud, worth €43 million. This had led to 48 people being jailed for 12 years in total, he said.
Yet in the same period there were only 39 prosecutions for tax evasion worth €2.25 billion. These led to six people being jailed for a total of 3¾ years.
We need a graph to illustrate that. And I hope they form the basis of lots of submissions to the Department of Justice’s consultation on crime.
Elsewhere today March 17, 2010
Posted by Tomboktu in Capitalism, Class, Economics, Housing, Human Rights, Ireland, Justice, Political Philosophy.5 comments
HumanRightsInIreland, a blog run by Irish academic lawyers, has a series of posts today on the theme (to my ear, hi falutin) of ‘Human Rights Lexicon’. However, don’t let that put you off. I recommend the post by Illan Rua Wall on the right to housing in a post-crash Ireland. It gives some thoughts that are new to me on how we might approach economic injustices through the legal concept of human rights. (Whether it will ever get legs is another story.)
To begin the task of shifting the neo-liberal imagination, I suggest the crime of squatting (for it is a criminal offence in Ireland). Squatting is to take direct action, not against this or that policy of the government, but against trite neo-liberal abstraction and injustice. By placing people, real lived experience, in these ‘toxic’ assets, the reality of the situation is manifested in a material sense. Ireland is increasingly a country which is divided between the rich within their neat comfortable zones, and the poor who are increasingly subjects of toil, insult, degradation and burden. It is not alone in this, but that is not the issue. What if the 43,000 families currently waiting for social housing, broke into the empty houses and apartments all over the country, now in state (or at least NAMA) ownership? I suggest this would at once be an a-legal vindication of their economic rights, but it would also present an attempt to rupture the neo-liberal ideological hold on the country.
Making it Up about Seán Garland August 25, 2009
Posted by Garibaldy in Justice, Workers' Party.4 comments
Here is the text of a thread I’ve started over on Politics.ie
Yesterday’s British Independent contained an article that contained a number of outright and ridiculous lies against Seán Garland, written by a journalist with a track record of writing stories that promote the discredited neo-con agenda. The lies contained in the article reveal the real truth about the attempt to extradite Seán Garland, and why we must oppose the Extradition.
The article claims that The Workers’ Party is a “far-left faction…that had never elected a single one of its members to any mainstream political body.”
This is a lie. In fact, The Workers’ Party at its height had 7 TDs and an MEP, as well asmany councillors north and south. It retains elected councillors to this day.
The article claims that “Garland was a lifelong terrorist who had personally engaged in deadly attacks on British soldiers and police in Northern Ireland since the 1950s, and whose exploits were said to have inspired Tom Clancy’s novel Patriot Games…in the 1990s, Garland…rejected the idea of a peace deal in favour of the continuation of bombings, bank robberies and other politically-motivated crimes.”
This is a lie. In fact, Garland was central to securing the (Official) IRA ceasefire in1972, and the transformation of the (Official) Republican Movement into a democratic socialist party. The Workers’ Party for decades has promoted Peace, Work, Democracy and Class Politics, and supported the Good Friday Agreement. Reverend Chris Hudson, the Chair of the campaign against the extradition and former organiser of the Peace Train movement, has stated that it is Garland’s long-term efforts to bring peace that persuaded him to become involved in the campaign.
The article claims that “Bills from the same series turned up a year later in Lebanon’s Bekka Valley, leading to suspicion that the supernote was being printed in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which needed foreign currency to fund an estimated $100 million a year in donations to Hezbollah and other terrorist organisations – who, as it happened, were being trained in bomb-making in Lebanon by Sean Garland. Intelligence analysts noted that Iran had taken delivery of two intaglio printing presses shortly before the fall of the Shah, who had sent a team of 20 master engravers to be trained by the Federal Bureau of Engraving in the US.”
This is a lie. In fact, Seán Garland is a revolutionary socialist. The Workers’ Party aims at the creation of a democratic, secular, socialist unitary state on the island of Ireland – a Republic. The Workers’ Party has been prominent in pushing for the secularisation of Irish society north and south. The idea that Seán Garland had any links to militant Islamists is laughable. And the idea that he was out in Lebanon teaching anyone how to make bombs is beneath contempt. The attempt to link Seán Garland to Islamism is designed to distract attention from a plausible alternative origin for the counterfeit notes that undercuts the neo-con case.
The rest of the article offers no evidence against Seán Garland, and is based largely on the assertions of a man so dedicated to neo-con politics that he resigned from the Bush regime on the grounds that it had gone soft.
The neo-cons lied to us all to start the war in Iraq. And they are lying to us to try and frustrate efforts to secure a peaceful settlement and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, and using lies against Seán Garland to further their agenda. We must remember that one of Condeleeza Rice’s last acts in the dying days of the Bush regime was to sign the extradition request against Seán Garland, knowing full well that it would raise tensions on the Korean peninsula, and make efforts at a peaceful settlement by the Koreans and the Obama regime more difficult. We must not be fooled by their lies.
The case against Seán Garland is non-existent – the neo-cons know that it would never stand up in an unbiased court. That is why they sought his extradition. Mention the words “Korea” and “Communism” in an American court, and a conviction is guaranteed. There is no chance of a fair trial. Garland is 75, and suffering several severe medical problems, including two forms of cancer. The attempt to extradite is a violation of natural justice.
That is why the campaign against the extradition has secured widespread support, from MEPs, TDs and Senators across the political spectrum, from FF, FG, Labour, SF and the SP. Garland has also secured the support of unionist politicians, as well as the trade unions, and prominent figures from the cultural sphere. The attempt to extradite Seán Garland is unjust. Add your voice to those opposing it. As we can see from this article, it is built on lies, and aimed solely at promoting the agenda of neo-cons whose lies have resulted in war before.
Stop the Extradition of Seán Garland: National Committee Formed March 30, 2009
Posted by Garibaldy in Human Rights, Ireland, Justice, Seán Garland, United States, Workers' Party.1 comment so far
The Irish Times reports important developments in the capaign to Stop the Extradition of Seán Garland. A National Committee has been formed, with internationally respected trade unionist and peace camapigner Chris Hudson as Chair and former President of The Workers’ Party and ex-TD and former Lord Mayor of Dublin Tomás Mac Giolla as Secretary.
Chris Hudson is now a Presbyterian Minister in South Belfast, but before that he was an official with Communications Workers’ Union in Dublin. Hudson has a strong track record of opposing violence and promoting human rights. He played a key role in the peace process, helping persuade loyalists to abandon violence, and acting as a go-between the Irish government and loyalists, including at several dangerous points where the process may have failed. I don’t know this for sure, but it seems to me that his involvement is a recognition both of the work of Seán Garland and The Workers’ Party in standing up for Peace, Work, Democracy and Class Politics over several decades, the humanitarian issues raised by Seán Garland’s age and health, and concern at the ludicrous nature of the accusations, and the vindictive and underhanded way in which Garland has been pursued by the Bush regime discussed here.
The Committee has already been in discussions with a large number of people north and south, and has secured support from senior figures in the Óireachtas (as noted here) and public life on both sides of the border, and across the political spectrum. Its stated aim is to “stop the extradition of Seán Garland to the United States, on political, humanitarian, legal and moral grounds”. Over the next weeks and months, public meetings will be held, as part of a broader public campaign, added to the lobbying of public figures and institutions.
Internationally too, the campaign has been stepped up. On March 11th, Greek Communist MEP, Comrade Athanasios Pafilis, raised the issue in the European Parliament, asking
Does the Council condemn the inadmissable arrest and political persecution of Seán Garland as an infringement of democratic rights and freedoms?
Over 50 Communist and Workers Parties have signed a statement of solidarity. The statement includes the following
We condemn this blatant attack on a leading member of The Workers’ Party of Ireland who has pursued a struggle against imperialism for almost 60 years. We express our solidarity with The Workers’ Party of Ireland and with Comrade Seán Garland in the fight against extradition to the US.
We demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of these extradition proceedings on political, legal and humanitarian grounds and call on all communist and workers’ parties and progressive organisation to send messages of support to The Workers’ Party at wpi@indigo.ie and the Campaign to Defend Seán Garland at defendseangarland@gmail.com
My sentiments exactly. Although I would call on individuals reading here to give their support to the Campaign, to get involved, and remind people of the petition, which can be signed online, or printed off for distribution.
Seán Garland and Natural Justice: Some Personal Thoughts February 9, 2009
Posted by Garibaldy in Communism, International Politics, Ireland, Irish Politics, Justice, Seán Garland, US Politics, Workers' Party.211 comments
As many readers of this site will be aware, on Friday January 30th 2009, Seán Garland, former General Secretary and former President of The Workers’ Party of Ireland was arrested outside the Party’s headquarters in Dublin, on foot of an extradition warrant from the United States. Since then, he has been in gaol, but a bail hearing has now been scheduled for Wednesday February 11th. As most readers will probably also know, this is not the first time that Seán Garland has been arrested at the behest of the Americans. In October 2005, he was arrested at the 2005 Workers’ Party Ard Fheis in Belfast, and an attempt was made to extradite him the next morning under the 2003 US-UK Extradition Treaty, which provides little or no opportunity for the accused to challenge the extradition in the courts. Opposition to the Treaty – which was never brought before Parliament – in Britain ranged from George Galloway to Boris Johnson, so blatantly unfair were its provisions. The campaign against Seán Garland’s extradition had wide-ranging support from politicians, trade unionists and other public figures. Permitted to travel for medical treatment to Dublin, looking at the absence of legal protection under the Treaty, Seán Garland decided not to return to Northern Ireland, issuing a statement explaining his decision. At all times, he maintained both his innocence, and his willingness to meet Gardaí at any time, informing them of this through his legal representatives. He continued to live at home and to carry out his public political activities, including attending meetings with members of the Oireachtas.
Why then should people care about this case? In a word, Justice. Seán Garland will be 75 in March, and in ill-health. He suffers from diabetes, and has been receiving treatment for bowel cancer. The persecution of someone in his condition violates the natural sense of justice and equity, and the empathy for others, inherent in all humanity. The principles of natural justice dictate that not only should he get bail, but that the government put an end to the proceedings against him.
The inhumane nature of the pursuit comes as no surprise when we consider its source. It is no accident that it was the Bush regime that sought the extradition of Seán Garland. This regime, with the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians on its hands in pursuit of its neo-con ideology and determination to reshape the entire planet in its own image, sought to use generalised allegations against an Irish revolutionary socialist as part of its policy on the Korean peninsula. The supposed case against Seán Garland has been based on exactly the same type of “evidence” that launched the war on Iraq in pursuit of non-existent weapons of mass destruction. We should remember Bush’s laughable Axis of Evil, and that it stopped being so ridiculous as the first bombs fell on Iraq. Seán Garland was first arrested at a time of major tension in the Korean peninsula, and one need only look at the use made of these allegations in the media (such as by the contemptible and Washington Times owned by people with a long history of acting in concert with the CIA over Korea), the US Congress, and by neo-con think-tanks to see that this was part of a concerted propaganda drive to try and influence the six-party talks and prepare US opinion for possible military action on the Korean peninsula. The failures of the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the accomplishment of an agreement in the six-party talks despite the Bush regime’s hosility and feet-dragging that left it isolated from its allies in the region thankfully ensured no military action was taken.
The current request for extradition was signed personally by Condeelza Rice on November 21st 2008 after the election of President Obama made it clear that the American people rejected the disastrous Bush years and opened the way for a new era in foreign relations with regimes opposed to the US from Korea to the Caribbean. Tensions on the Korean peninsula had been rising since the April election of an aggressive new President in south Korea, and only 9 days before Rice signed the extradition request, communication links between the two states had been cut. The continued persecution of Seán Garland, therefore, was a desperate and vindictive attempt by the discredited and bloodthirsty neo-cons to ensure that their policy continued to exist after their demise, like a political vampire. They hoped to use the charges against Seán Garland to limit the freedom of action of the new regime in Korea by provoking hostility there, and thus damage the chances for a permanent peace that would end any prospect of the neo-cons’ longed-for regime change. Just as in 2005, the US is seeking to use the courts of another country to extradite Seán Garland, knowing full well that a man with his politics can never receive a fair trial there. Once again, this would be a violation of the principles of natural justice.
This case, therefore, should be of concern to every citizen of Ireland, regardless of their political persusasion. Justice dictates that Seán Garland, in his seventies and in serious ill-health, should not be held in prison but should be granted bail. Not only that, the case against him – rooted as it is in political animus which will ensure he could never have a fair trial – is itself a perversion of the law, and should be dropped. More information can be found here and an online petition against his extradition here. I urge everyone to offer their support.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 