29 January 2004 Edition
Mumbay gathering highlights social gulf
29 January 2004
The fourth World Social Forum finished on Wednesday 21 February on the streets of Mumbay (formerly Bombay) India, where 30,000 activists from more than 100 nations marched for a more equal and fair world. The selection of Mumbay as the venue for this fourth World Social Forum brought home the reality of a world where the poorest people live side by side with the wealthy but the two worlds never mix. Free article
Why Inquiries are needed
29 January 2004
Unionist politicians constantly demand an end to inquiries into state killings. To mask the real sectarian motivation behind their objections, 'cost' or 'strain on police resources' are usually identified as the rationale for their opposition. Of course, at the same time, their acolytes in various unionist pressure groups call for stringent re-investigations into specific IRA actions, even though all the resources of the State - including torture to extract forced confessions - were poured into investigations at the time. Free article
Landmark court decisions protect asylum seekers and migrants
29 January 2004
You may not have noticed, but quietly the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) has been going about raiding workplaces looking for people who are, or might be 'illegals', rounding them up and in numerous cases imprisoning them. It might be asylum seekers who are not allowed to work, it might be migrant workers who haven't work permits, or have left the place of work for which the permit was given. Free article
Donegal councillor joins Sinn Féin
29 January 2004
Sinn Féin Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin publicly announced Donegal Councillor Thomas Pringle's decision to join Sinn Féin at a press conference in Killybegs on Tuesday. Pringle, an independent member of Donegal County Council since 1999, secured over 2,600 first preferences in the last general election in Donegal Southwest. Free article
Page 1 of 3
Shameful Ringaskiddy incinerator decision
29 January 2004
On Wednesday 28 January, Environment Minister Martin Cullen summoned his county and city managers together to assess and rate their performance, especially with regard to housing and roads. Incinerators, which Minister Cullen wants all over the state, won't be far off the agenda. Free article
Don't forget the Sallins Case, Minister! Protect our Citizens!
29 January 2004
On Friday 23 January at 7am, Cormac Breatnach started a 12-hour peaceful protest outside the Department of Justice to highlight the continuing failure of the State to tackle persistent wrongful prosecution of citizens by An Garda Síochána. Free article
Ombudsman Commission not good enough - Ó Snodaigh
29 January 2004
Speaking in the Dáil on Wednesday, Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice, Equality and Human Rights Aengus Ó Snodaigh used the first proper day of the new Dáil session to again call for the introduction of a "fully independent Garda Ombudsman" to re-establish public confidence in the Gardaí. He said that the Minister for Justice's proposed "Ombudsman Commission" still falls short of what is required for full police accountability and to "make the culture of impunity a thing of the past." Free article
Saville Tribunal nears final witnesses
29 January 2004
As the Cory report into the dark workings of the British security forces languishes, hidden from public scrutiny by a British Government clearly fearful of its contents, many thousands of people will march through Derry this weekend to demand that so far as Bloody Sunday is concerned, the British state must, at last, come clean and acknowledge the part it played in the events leading up to, and including, 30 January 1972. Free article
McElduff addresses packed London Bloody Sunday meeting
29 January 2004
Sinn Féin MLA Barry McElduff addressed a packed London at the weekend to mark the 32nd anniversary of the British Army murders of 14 Civil Rights marches in Derry on Bloody Sunday 1972. The public meeting was hosted by the Bloody Sunday Organising Committee and it was also addressed by Mr Gerry Duddy, Bloody Sunday Families; Damien Donaghy, Bloody Sunday Injured (first person shot on Bloody Sunday); and John McDonnell, British Labour MP. Free article