Archive
Student March a Turning Point
(Originally Published on Corkstudentnews.com, Indymedia.ie and Info-wars.org in November 2010)
After closely following the events of today’s student march in Dublin from the relative comfort of my small abode in Cork, for reasons which I will get into a later date, I believe that students in Ireland, and Irish society at large, have reached a turning point in its relationship with the Government and its various arms. For students, today was all about voicing their protestations at the Government due to upcoming budget which is undoubtedly going to put even more financial pressure on the majority of third level students. What most of us did not expect is that it would turn violent and riot police would be deployed. This is the turning point to which I am referring. In reality, what took place today was a microcosm of Irish society contained within small group of students/activists who decided that they needed to make a statement of some kind in the hope that someone, somewhere in the Dáil will pay attention. Whether or not their motives were pure is irrelevant to the point i’m trying to make.
The Sale of Ireland
(Originally Published on Corkstudentnews.com in October 2010)
The next month is make or break time for Ireland; most likely break. We are on the verge of the harshest budget in the history of the state. This is the first of a “four year plan” in order to get the country’s finances back into shape and back on track. The problem is that the government plan won’t work and they most likely know it won’t work. What will happen is that the country is going to be dead in the water for the next decade or more. If you can imagine all of the horror stories of emigration, mass unemployment and general stagnation from the fifties and eighties, then you might come close to what is going to happen in Ireland. All of this is being done in order to keep the status quo in power; the “haves” versus the “have nots”, and next month is when we will finally know just how far the government will go in order to save themselves and their friends by selling us and the entire country down the drain.
Israel, Ireland and the Irish Girl
(Originally Published on Indymedia.ie and Info-wars.org in August 2010)
For some of you outside of Cork, you may have been missing out on some of the most interesting discussions regarding Israel, Palestine and Ireland in recent months. Positions have been taken, so-called facts disproven and insults traded, as per the usual type of thing that goes on whenever the issue of Israel and Palestine is brought up. What makes this most recent development all the more interesting is that it has all been caused by a female native of Cork, Cliona Campbell.
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