The Plough Vol 03 No 02

The Plough
Volume 3, Number 2
21 September 2005

E-Mail Newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party

1) Editorial
2) Reasons to be Socialist (Part One)
3) Reasons to be Socialist (Part Two): Human Development Disaster
4) Statement of the Israeli Communist Forum (20.8.2005)
5) Support the Iraqi Resistance!
6) What's On

The Annual Seamus Costello National Commemoration will take place on
Sunday the 2nd of October in Little Bray, Co. Wicklow. Assemble at
1:30pm at the Old Town Hall (McDonalds) for march to Little Bray
Cemetery.

*******

EDITORIAL

Since 1994, when the IRSP reformed and reclaimed its roots of
republican socialism, it has always been implicit that as republicans
in the Wolfe Tone tradition we were not nationalists but
internationalists. In the past three years in particular, we have
become more explicit in expressing our internationalism. Our comrades
have visited Italy, Germany, Turkey, Spain, the Basque Country, Cuba,
Venezuela, and even England on political business to express our
political orientation and develop our international contacts. Only
last weekend, along with many other comrades from other organisations,
members of the IRSP took part in Camp Havana in Glencolmcille in
County Donegal to raise funds for the Miami Five, our Cuban comrades
imprisoned by the USA for anti-terrorist work. On local radio in
Ardoyne, Belfast, on a two hour radio slot for Teach na Failte
(republican socialist ex-political prisoner organisation), Comrade
Gerard Murray gave a very moving account of the visit of republican
socialists to the grave of Che Guevara and of the fine welcome they
received from their Cuban hosts. Another comrade, Tomas Gorman,
visited Venezuela this year and saw at first hand the struggle to
build socialism.

Last week the leader of that struggle to build a socialist Venezuela,
Hugo Chavez, visited New York to attend the United Nations meeting of
world leaders. He stood on the streets of Manhattan and observed
gridlock. Clearly shocked at the number of single occupant cars
burning up oil, Chavez said that this continuing burning and polluting
of the atmosphere could not continue and the world could not tolerate
the American way of life and survive.

This edition of The Plough gives some more reasons why we as a world
cannot tolerate the American way of life. As now practiced, the
American way of life is unbridled capitalism and militaristic
imperialism. Although the mere recitation of facts can be boring
remember behind the facts listed below (collated by Comrade Liam
O'Ruairc) are stories of human misery, starvation, and death. Use the
facts in "Reasons to Be Socialist" to convince our fellow humans that
if this old world is to survive then we need a socialist world.

(Editor's Note: The Plough 3.3 will deal with the question of loyalist
alienation and the republican socialist response.)

*******

REASONS TO BE SOCIALIST (PART ONE)

-The richest 1% of the world received as much income as the poorest
57%. The richest 10% of the US population (around 25 million people)
have a combined income greater than that of the poorest 43% of the
world population (around 2 billion people)(2001, 19)

-The world's 200 richest people more than doubled their net worth in
the four years to 1998, to more than $1 trillion. The assets of the
top three billionaires are more than the combined GNP of all least
developed countries and their 600 million people. (1999, 3)

-The world's 225 richest people have a combined wealth of over $1
trillion, equal to the annual income of the poorest 47% of the world
(2.5 billion). It is estimated that the cost of achieving and
maintaining universal access to education for all, health care for
all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all and
safe water and sanitation for all is roughly $40 billion a year (0.1%
of world income). This is less than 4% of the combined wealth of the
225 richest people in the world. (1998, 30)

-Between 1989 and 1996, the number of billionaires increased from 157
to 447. Today the net wealth of the ten richest billionaires is $133
billion, more than 1.5 times the total national income of all the
least developed countries. (1997, 38)

-Inequality WITHIN countries. A study of 77 countries with 82% of the
world's population who’s that between the 1950s and the 1990s,
inequality rose in 45 of those countries and fell in 16 countries.
(2001, 17)

-Income gap between the richest fifth and the poorest was 1: 30 in
1960, 1:60 in 1990 and 1:74 in 1997. In the 19th century, the income
gap between the top and bottom countries increased from 1:3 in 1820 to
1:7 in 1870 and 1:11 in 1913(1999, 3) In 1950 it was 35:1, 44:1 in
1973 and 72:1 in 1992. (1999, 38)

-The share of the poorest 20% of the world's people in global income
stands at 1.1% down from 1.4% in 1991 and 2.3% in 1960. The ratio of
the top 20 to the bottom 20 rose from 30: 1 in 1960 to 61:1 in 1991
and to 78:1 in 1994. (1997, 9)

-The fruits of economic growth mostly benefit the rich. During
1970-1985 global GNP increased by 17%. While 200 million people saw
their per capita incomes fall during 1969-1985, more than one billion
people did in 1980-1993. (1996, 2)

-2.4 billion people with no access to basic sanitation, 968 million
people with no access to improved water sources, 854 million
illiterate adults, 543 of them women, 325 million children out of
school at primary and secondary levels, 183 of them girls, 11 million
children die each year from preventable causes. (2001, 9)

-Some 2 billion people do not have access to low cost essential
medicines (2001, 3) 1.3 billion no clean water, one in seven children
of primary school age no school, 840 million no food (1999, 28)

-Annual expenditure. Basic education for all $6 billion (cosmetics in
USA $8 billion), water and sanitation for all 9 billion (ice cream in
Europe 11 billion) reproductive health for all women 12 billion
(perfumes in Europe and USA 12 billion) basic health and nutrition 13
billion (pet foods in Europe and USA 17 billion). Military spending in
the world: $780 billion. (1998, 37)

-Global GDP increased nine folds from $3 trillion to $30 trillion over
the past 50 years. (1999, 25)

-Between 1960 and 1993, global income increased from $4 trillion to
$23 trillion, and per capita income more than tripled. (1996, 12) If
trends continue, it should grow form 23 trillion in 1993 to 56
trillion in 2030. (1996, 36)

-Global output increased more than eleven-fold between 1850 and 1960,
from $611 billion to $6936 billion in 1993 dollars. The world's
population more than doubled, rising from 1.2 billion in 1850 to 3
billion in 1960. The net outcome: nearly a fivefold increase in per
capital income. The goods and services produced in the industrial
countries expanded nearly thirty-fold, from $212 billion to $6103
billion (1996, 12)

-World consumption. Private and public consumption expenditure reaches
$24 trillion in 1998, twice the level of 1975 and six times that of
1950. In 1900, real consumption expenditure was barely $1.5 trillion.
(1998, 1)

-The 20% of the world's people in high-income countries account for
86% of total private consumption expenditure. The poorest 20% a mere
1.3%The richest fifth consume 45% of all meat and fish, poorest fifth
5%, 58% of total energy (poorest: less than 4%), 65% electricity, jave
74% of phone lines (poorest 1.5%), consume84% of all paper (poorest
1.1%), own 87% of the world's vehicle fleet (poorest less than 1%)
(1998, 2)

-OECD countries with 19% of global population have 71% of global trade
in goods and services, 58% of all FDI and 91% of all internet users.
(1999, 3)

-Top 20% have 86% of global GDP, 82% of world export markets, 68% of
FDI, 74% of telephone lines (1999, 3)

-Of the $23 trillion of global GDP in 1993, $18 trillion are in
industrial countries, only $5 trillion in the rest, even if they have
80% world's population. (1996, 13)

-Sulphur dioxide emissions have grown from 30 millions tons in 1950 to
71 millions tons in 1994(1998; 55). Carbon dioxide has quadrupled from
5740 million tons in 1950 to 22 660 in 1995 (1998, 56) The problem is
that corporations resist regulations and do not take into account
damage to the environment.

-Annual carbon dioxide emissions quadrupled over the past 50 years. In
industrial countries, per capita waste generation has increased
threefold in the past 20 years. Water's global availability has
dropped from 17000 cubic meters per capita in 1950 to 7000 today. A
sixth of the world's land area (2 billion hectares) is degraded
because of poor farming since 1945. Forests are shrinking, since 1970
the wooded area per 1000 people has fallen from 11.4 square kilometre
to 7.3. Fish stocks are declining with about a quarter in danger of
depletion and another 44% being fished at their biological limits.
Wild species are becoming extinct 50 to 100 times faster than they
would naturally. (1998, 4)

-In past 50 years: burning of fossil fuels has almost quintupled since
1950, consumption of fresh water has doubled since 1960, marine catch
has increased fourfold, wood consumption is now 40% higher than 25
years ago. (1998, 2)

-Water scarcity, deforestation, desertification, pollution and natural
disaster. In 1996, in developing countries, water supply per capita is
only a third of what it was in 1970.

-Some eight million to ten million acres of forest land are lost each
year. Air pollution is a serious problem for 700 million people,
primarily women and children. In addition, during 1967-1993 natural
disasters affected three billion people in developing countries with
more than seven million deaths and two million injuries. At current
rate of loss, 15% of the earth's species could disappear over the next
25 years. (1996, 26).

*******

REASONS TO BE SOCIALIST (PART TWO)

Human Development Disaster
By Liam O'Ruairc

In its latest Human Development Report, the UN warned that the world
is heading for a 'heavily signposted human development disaster' of
needless child deaths, needless hunger, illiteracy and abject poverty.


Everyone should take at least ten minutes of his or her time to glance
through this important report. "In the midst of an increasingly
prosperous global economy, 10.7 million children every year do not
live to see their fifth birthday, and more than one billion people
survive in abject poverty on less than $1 a day", the report says.
This means that every hour of everyday, 12000 children die of
preventable causes..."One fifth of humanity lives in countries where
many people think nothing of spending $2 a day on cappuccino. Another
fifth of humanity survives on less than $1 a day and live in countries
where children die for want of a simple anti-mosquito bed net." A
Zambian today has less chance of reaching thirty years of age than
someone born in England in 1840. Inequality is on the increase in
countries which account for 80% of the world's population. The poorest
40% of the world's population account for 5% of global income, the
richest 10% account for 54%. The report says that the world's richest
500 individuals have got a combined income that is greater than the
poorest 416 million individuals; and 2.5 billion people, or 40% of the
world's population are living on less than $2 a day. 18 countries,
with a combined population of 460 million registered lower scores on
the human development index than in 1990; an unprecedented reversal.
Those include Russia and most countries that reversed to capitalism.
Redistributing 1.6% of the income of the richest 10 percent of the
global population would provide the $300 billion needed to lift the
one billion people living on less than a dollar a day out of extreme
poverty. However, for every $1 that rich countries spend on aid, they
allocate $10 to military spending. Europeans spend more on perfume
each year than the $7 billion needed to provide 2.6 billion people
with access to clean water.

Poor human development indicators are not a fate of nature, but a
result of the way societies are organised. A recent article in the
Irish Times ("Only now is healthcare becoming a reality for the poor
of Venezuela", 17 September 2005) shows how things can change if
society is organised differently. The article reports than in
Venezuela, where an oil economy has over the decades produced an elite
of super-rich people, a quarter of under-15s go hungry and 60 percent
of people over 59 have no income at all. Less than a fifth of the
population benefits from social security. The UN's World Health
Organisation suggests that there should be 40 hospital beds for every
10,000 members of the world's population. In Venezuela, there are
fewer than 18 beds per 10,000 people on average and the system is
short of 18,700 nurses. The Bolivarian Revolution seeks to change
this. "Only now under President Chavez, has medicine started to become
something of a reality for the poverty-stricken majority in the rich
but deeply divided society....The country's health is struggling
ahead, helped by a scheme to get cheap staple food out to state-run
shops in poor areas. As a result, in the years from 1998 to 2002,
infant mortality has fallen slightly to 17.2 per 1000 and life
expectancy has increased a little 73.7 years. Meanwhile Castro and
Chavez are launching a scheme aimed at saving the sight of six million
people on the continent of America, from Alaska to Cape Horn, at no
cost for the patients, at the rate of 600,000 a year. A quarter of
places on this scheme which will require treatment in Cuba and later
Venezuela, are reserved for US citizens."

*******

STATEMENT OF THE ISRAELI COMMUNIST FORUM (20.8.2005)

Deepening Occupation in Jerusalem and the West Bank Under cover of the
Gaza Disengagement

Under cover of the Gaza Disengagement Plan, the Sharon Government is
carrying out far-reaching steps to deepen the occupation throughout
the West Bank, especially in the Jerusalem Area. While the attention
of Israeli and world public opinion is riveted to Gaza, erection of
the so-called Separation Fence in Jerusalem was greatly accelerated.
For nearly its entire length, this fence is passing through East
Jerusalem, and its completion on that route would cut off from the
city some 60,000 Arab East Jerusalemites. Not only is this a
far-reaching political step, it would also seriously disrupt the
private daily life of these tens of thousands. Any daily errand at the
city centre would require getting permits from the Israeli authorities
and going through the ordeal which Palestinians go through when
needing to get through Israeli barriers and checkpoints.

Meanwhile, the demolition of Palestinian houses in the Jerusalem area
(and not only there) is sharply on the rise, and thousands of new
demolition orders have been issued, which might be implemented in the
near future. And at the same time, construction of Jews-only housing
is also accelerated in the settlements around Jerusalem, and plans
have been floated to even deepen the settler penetration into the
Muslim Quarter of the Old City.

For Sharon, all of that is far from enough. Recently, the PM declared
that "The Major settlement blocs" -- which comprise the majority of
the West Bank lands -- would remain "forever" under Israeli rule.
Moreover, he declared Jerusalem "non-negotiable". On other issues, he
would be ready to enter negotiations only "after the Palestinian
Leadership dismantles all terrorist infrastructures". In effect, he is
demanding that the Palestinian Authority embark on what amounts to a
civil war. But this is less a concrete demand which Sharon expects the
Palestinians to comply with, and much more a convenient excuse to
avoid negotiations altogether, so as to perpetuate the existing
situation of continuing Israeli occupation in the great majority of
West Bank lands.

Israeli exit from the 22 Gaza Strip settlements and from a very
limited number of ones on the West Bank is a positive step in itself.
It needs to be remembered, however, that this would not constitute a
complete withdrawal, since Israeli would retain total control over all
passages connecting the Gaza Strip to the outside world -- by land,
sea or air. An area, which remains totally besieged by the occupier,
cannot in any way be said to be totally free of the occupation, even
if the presence of settlers and army deeper inside is removed.

The Gaza Disengagement could, indeed, have been a step promoting a
comprehensive solution to the conflict -- but only if it had been
carried out in the framework of an agreement with the Palestinian
Authority on the basis of a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,
followed later by evacuation of the other Occupied Territories and the
creation of an independent Palestinian state. But what is actually
taking place is quite the opposite: the Gazan settlements were
"sacrificed" so that the far more numerous ones on the West Bank,
holding a far greater number of settlers than in Gaza, would not only
remain in place but go on expanding, pushing further the process of
deepening occupation and de-facto annexation throughout the West Bank.
It should be noted that opposition to the Gaza Disengagement often
entails extreme-right rampages - which the authorities fail to stop or
adequately deal with. In fact, such rampages serve Sharon well,
helping him to present himself as "a peace-seeker" to both the local
and the international public opinion. Extreme-right militants get a
wide audience in the mass media, both state-owned and private - and
make use of it to make far-reaching nationalist pronouncements and
even utter bald threats against anybody who dare oppose their views
and acts.

It was against this background that an army deserter and extreme right
sympathizer earlier this month carried out a murderous terrorist
attack at the Israeli Arab town of Shefar'amer, killing at random four
of its inhabitants and wounding several others. Two weeks later, a
second such attack, at the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, claimed the
life of four Palestinian workers. Evidently, both these assassins
intended to precipitate a bloody cycle of retribution and
counter-retribution, which might have have halted the Gaza withdrawal
even at the last moment (which, of course did not happen). Still,
responsibility for Shefar'amer attack is shared also by the
individuals and groups who in recent years conduct a campaign of
de-legitimation against the Arab population and its leadership. Part
of this campaign is the presentation of the Arab population as "a
demographic danger", presenting a "threat" which must be "countered"
in whatever way.

Under these circumstances, one should highly commend the solidarity
manifested by Israeli Jewish democrats and peace-seekers towards the
Shefar'amer inhabitants and the Arab population in general.
Peace-seekers arrived in the town for solidarity visits, met with the
victims' families and condemned those responsible for creating an
atmosphere conducive to such crimes. And when right-wingers came up
with a provocative demand to "investigate the circumstances" in which
the assassin was killed after shooting down four unarmed Shefar'amer
inhabitants, peace-seekers rebuffed this crude attempt to distract
attention from the real culprits and putting the victims in the dock.

Meanwhile, recently published official reports make clear that in all
spheres of life the discrimination of the Arab population in Israel is
continually worsening. The percentage of Arab citizens suffering from
severe poverty is much higher than in the general Israeli population
-- even though Israeli poverty in general is very much on the rise.
All of this is yet another "achievement" to be chalked up to the
credit of the Sharon Government -- a government in which the Labour
Party, led by Shimon Peres, is a major partner, fully responsible for
all its policies.

According to the report published on August 8 by the National
Insurance Institute, the number of Israelis living under the poverty
line has reached 1.53 million, that is 23.6% of the population --
which is the largest number and the highest percentage ever recorded
in Israel. The number of children living in poverty has reached
714,000 -- a third of all Israeli children (and a majority of children
in the Arab population!).

This situation is the result of the enormous cuts in welfare benefits,
carried out by successive Israeli governments over the past few years.
The temptation should be resisted to place exclusive responsibility at
the doorstep of Binyamin Netanyahu, the recently resigned Finance
Minister -- even though he certainly carried out the welfare cuts in
an especially blatant and brutal ways, while striving to benefit the
rich by such measures as reduction of the taxation to which they are
liable.

Given all of the above, we believe that intensive struggle should be
conducted against all aspects of the government policy. Especially
given the widely mooted possibility of early general elections, it is
vital to achieve the maximum possible cooperation between the
political parties and movements active among the Arab population in
Israel, as well as between these parties and movements and the
consistent Israeli Jewish peace forces, to strongly confront the new
conspiracies against the Palestinian people. A common basis for such a
wide cooperation would include such principles as withdrawal from all
the Occupied Palestinian Territories including East Jerusalem (and
from the Syrian Golan Heights); the creation of a Palestinian state in
the June 1967 borders, side by side with Israel; the right of
Palestinian refugees to implement their rights in accordance with the
relevant UN resolutions; an end to the Arab population's
discrimination in all spheres; and a substantial change in
socio-economic policies, including the slashing of occupation,
settlement and military expenditures, increasing the welfare budgets,
and abolishing the draconian measures enacted in recent years against
the workers and the disadvantaged.

*******

SUPPORT THE IRAQI RESISTANCE!

Towards the fifth anniversary of the Intifada: Build international
support for the Iraqi Resistance!

We, the undersigned, call for an international conference in support
of the Iraqi Resistance on October 1-2, 2005, to coincide with the
anniversary of the Intifada. The venue of the conference will be Italy
as the popular opposition against war and occupation was paramount
while the government continues to be one of the most important allies
of the US providing some 3,000 occupation troops. Massive opposition
was mounted against the war and occupation of Iraq. But for all those
who opposed the war and occupation of Iraq it is now necessary to move
on also with a clear support to the Iraqi resistance that is
struggling to liberate their homeland. It is not possible to, on the
one side, be against the occupation and on the other side not support
and acknowledge the impressive resistance being fought in Iraq to oust
the occupiers. We call for the full recognition of the Iraqi popular
and armed resistance. The Iraqi resistance includes every current
regardless of political or religious standing that resists the
occupation under the simple slogan of liberating the Iraqi homeland
The Iraqi people's resistance against the imperialist occupation
encompasses all forms of resistance including protests, strikes, civil
disobediences, non-violent direct actions and the armed struggle.
Further more, the Iraqi people's resistance to the occupation is an
inseparable part of the people's movement on an international level to
resist and fight against imperialism, Zionism and all forms of
reaction.

Neither the US-sponsored "elections" nor the catchword of "democracy"
can veil the reality. Behind the Iraqi puppets is the US regime,
represented by its giant American Embassy in the "Green Zone" of
Baghdad. While there is an "election process" Iraq is robbed of its
oil resources. Her cultural treasures are being plundered. Meanwhile
more and more Iraqis suffer without food, water or electricity. All
political opposition is brutally suppressed. Up until the "elections"
prisons were packed, and fifty people arrested every day.

Iraq has become the new symbol of both the suffering and the
resistance of the Arab nation. The Iraqi resistance is spearheading
the movement against American hegemony in the Middle East and in the
world. The resistance has given new hope to the Palestinian Intifada
which has moved into its fifth year of confronting the brutal Zionist
occupation. It has given new hopes to the millions still residing in
refugee camps of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. And it has been an
inspiration for the Arab masses who struggle to overthrow the
US-loyalist regimes in the Middle East.

We need to rally around the Iraqi resistance as the main pole which
can stop imperialism's onslaught in the Middle East. The struggle for
the liberation of Iraq is not only the struggle for Iraqis, but for
all the world. The masses in Iraq are fighting the very "project for a
New American Century". Because of the Iraqi resistance it was
impossible for Bush and the American warmongers to proceed to attack
Syria, Korea, Iran and Venezuela.

The imperialist powers led by the US have tried to put a wedge between
the people of Iraq and the Middle East on the one hand and the
anti-war and anti-globalization movement in the West on the other by
using the rhetoric of the "clash of civilizations" and "war on
terror". They have sought to demonize the struggle of the Iraqi people
by labeling it "terrorist". In fact, it is the war of aggression and
occupation that is illegal and criminal. The Iraqi people's armed
resistance to that illegal and criminal war is just and legitimate.
The international conference that we propose aims to bring together
the representatives of the Iraqi resistance and the struggling people
of the Middle East and the forces of the anti-war and
anti-globalization movement. We hope thereby to strengthen the unity
between the peoples who are struggling for national self-determination
and the working people in the West who suffer under the yoke of their
own governments that are engaged in foreign adventures of war and
plunder.

Support and recognize the Iraqi Resistance! Release all political
prisoners, withdraw all foreign troops, reparations for sanctions and
plundering! Struggle against US and Israeli hegemony in all the Middle
East, and for victory to the Iraqi resistance and the Palestinian
Intifada! Bring the voice of the resistance into the anti-war and
globalization movement!

Supporters of the Call for an Int’l Conference in Support of the
Iraqi Resistance

As of Monday, 25 April 2005 (sorted by area and alphabetically)

Iraq: Iraqi Patriotic Alliance (IPA), Patriotic Democratic Communist
Current, Iraq People's Struggle Movement (Al Kifah), Iraqi Flame
(Wahaj el-Iraq); Pro Iraqi and Arab solidarity associations: Danish
Committee for a Free Iraq, First Int'l Conference for the Support of
the Resistance of the Iraqi People (France), Free Iraq Committee
(Austria), Free Iraq Committee (Germany), Free Iraq Committee
(Hungary), Free Iraq Committee (Italy), Free Iraq Committee (Norway),
Greek Initiative for Solidarity to Iraqi Resistance; Sweden: Iraq
Committee Lund, Iraq Committee Malmo (Sweden); Spain: Solidarity
Committee for the Arab Cause Spain (CSCA), Spanish Campaign Against
Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq (SCOSI); Belgium: Mohammed
Belfilalya, President of the Young Arab Progressives; France: Ginette
Hess Skandrani, President of the solidarity network with Palestinian
People "La Pierre et L'Olivier".

International organisations

Anti-imperialist Camp, International League of People's Struggle
(ILPS), International Leninist Current (ILS), Organisation of
Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL)
Arab World, Middle East, Al-Moharer, Dr. Hisham Bustani,
Anti-Normalisation Committee, Jordan, Movement Loyalty to Men and
Earth, Lebanon, Ozgur Der, Turkey, Toufan, Iran, Unified Socialist
Left (GSU), Maroc, Chokri Latif, Popular Committee for the Support to
the Palestinian People and the Struggle against the Normalisation with
the Zionist Enemy (Tunisia), Anti-imperialist Youth Committee Against
Globalisation (Tunisia).

Europe

Action Circle March 24 (Thuringia, Germany), AGIF, Europa, Arab
Palestine Club Vienna Austria (APC), Communist Party of Greece
Marxist-Leninist (KKEml), Franz Fischer, Anti-Imperialist Group
(Switzerland), Friends of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) in Europe, German Communist Party (DKP) (Thuringia),
Human Rights and Dignity (HDR) (Germany), Initiativ e.V. Duisburg
(Germany), International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic (Irish
Section), Left Front (Hungary), Militant Movement of Students
(Greece), National Peace Council (Bulgaria), Offensiv Germany,
Patriotic Socialist People's Front (Poland), Red Table (East
Thuringia, Germany), Revolutionary Communist League (RKL) (Thuringia,
Germany), Russian Anti-Globalists, Union of Working People (Greece).


Asia

Afghanistan Socialist Association (ASA), All Indian People's
Resistance Forum (AIPRF), Chandraprakash Jha - General Secretary
Peoples Media (India), Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party Pakistan (CMKP),
Kamal Mitra Chenoy - Vice President All India Peace & Solidarity
Organisation (AIPSO), Left Radicals of Afghanistan (LRA), Lokayat
(Pune, India), Muslim Youth of India (MY INDIA), People's Democratic
Party Indonesia (PRD); Pakistan: Rubina Jamil, All Pakistan Trade
Union Federation-Pakistan, Gulzar Chaudhary, All Pakistan Trade union
Federation, Aima Mahmood, Working Women Organization-Pakistan, Nasir
Chaudhary, Alliance Against Bonded & forced Labour-Pakistan, Ranou
Ahmed, Progressive Youth Organization-Pakistan.

America

Freedom Socialist Party (USA).

Africa
Action for Unity and Socialism.

*******

WHAT'S ON

*

Thursday, 22 September/Tuesday, 27 September

MARK BARNSLEY IN IRELAND

Former political prisoner and miscarriage of justice victim Mark
Barnsley will be speaking in Belfast on the subject of 'Resisting the
Prison State' on Thursday 22nd September, 7.00pm at Glor Na Gael, 145
Falls Rd. Another talk in Belfast will hopefully be arranged, along
with talks in Dublin and Derry. See Indymedia for up to date details.

To accompany the talks, there will be a benefit gig for political
prisoners on Tuesday 27th September at Belfast Pavillion, starting at
7.00pm, and featuring Running Riot and Complan. Admission £5 (£3
unwaged).

*

Wednesday, 28 September

Dispelling the Myths: Refugee Awareness Day
Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, Co. Mayo
28 September 2005

9 am - 1 pm (followed by light lunch)

Mayo Intercultural Action in conjunction with the Citizens Information
Centre, Louisburgh Community Project, and Kiltimagh CDP are organising
this event to provide an opportunity for service providers, community
and voluntary groups, refugees and asylum seekers, concerned
individuals to gain and to share information on issues affecting
asylum-seekers and refugees in County Mayo.

Three panels will focus on: Why people come here - the reality on the
ground / Rights, entitlements and accessing services / Integration.

There will be inputs/contributions from Government agencies, UNHCR,
Irish Refugee Council, Integrating Ireland, Refugee Information
Service, local statutory agencies, County Council, local community
groups, Mayo Intercultural Action, as well as refugees and asylum
seekers living in direct provision hostels and in the community.

The event will be chaired by Donncha O Connell, Dean of the Faculty of
Law at NUIG and Irish member of the EU Network of Independent Experts
on Fundamental Rights

To confirm attendance, contact: Teresa O Sullivan, CIS @ 094 9025544
/ Breda Ruane, Louisburgh Community Project @ 098 66218

Creche facilities available

*

9-16 November

3rd National and International Week Against the Apartheid Wall!

"Through Our Hands, The Apartheid Wall Will Fall!"

This is the call under which dispossessed Palestinian farmers and
communities all over the West Bank will stand together against the
Apartheid Wall and Zionist project of Occupation:

Against destruction of the land and its fruits which have been the
historical lifeline and beauty of Palestine.

Against colonization and ghettoization through walls, militarization,
Jewish-only housing, roads and infrastructure aimed at the extinction
of the heritage and future of our people.

Against the Ethnic Cleansing of Jerusalem - the heart of
Palestine - and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their
homes.

The Palestinian People are Preparing Intensified Mass Resistance all
along the Wall's Path to mark the 3rd Year of The National Week
Against The Apartheid Wall.

To read full text please press here.
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491

Mobilize for the 3rd International Week Against The Apartheid Wall
Called for by the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign
in support of Palestinian popular resistance!

Echo and amplify the voice and determination of the Palestinian
struggle throughout your countries in mass mobilizations!

http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187627&s=87031491

While the collaborative efforts of governments and international
institutions perpetuate the subjugation of Palestinians, the united
Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel
is shared by over 170 Palestinian organizations inside and outside
their homeland.

The people of the world are rallying in an ever growing movement to
Isolate Apartheid Israel, are targeting complicity with the Occupation
and are calling on their governments to end support to Israel.

Unite and take up this call to isolate Apartheid Israel:

-End the complicity with the Zionist project of occupation, apartheid
and expulsion!

-Enact boycott initiatives!

-Make widespread divestment from Apartheid Israel and companies
supporting it a reality!

-Don't let culture, sports and academy be a legitimating and
supportive force of Israeli crime!

-Pressure your governments to comply with and enact the ICJ decision
and to put effective arms embargos and sanctions on Apartheid Israel
and stop financing and sustaining the ghettoization of the Palestinian
people!

Support the Palestinian struggle for a Free Palestine!

Make Resistance to the Apartheid Wall go Global!

We call upon all our supporters and friends of Palestine to support us
to make the voice of the Palestinian struggle against the Apartheid
Wall known and to ensure the resistance of the people in Palestine
will be strengthened by global action.

Use the activist tools we have prepared to ensure the call for the 3rd
international Week against the Apartheid Wall is known globally and
mobilizations are staged by the people all over the world:

Disseminate this mail as widely as possible among your contacts!

Link to the call from your site!
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187626&s=87031491

Print the Campaign call
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187624&s=87031491 for the 3rd National
and International Week against the Apartheid Wall and disseminate it
in your activities!

Let the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign know
about your action: contact us at Global@StopTheWall.org!

http://www.StopTheWall.org/
http://rd.bcentral.com/?ID=3187625&s=87031491
Visit the Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign web site.

*******

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