After the whirlwind election campaign in which equality, immigration or integration did not feature, we have a new government, to which I would like to extend a qualified welcome. Appointing Alan Shatter to Justice was a foregone conclusion. Shatter has a good record of speaking about equality issues while in opposition, but coupling his Justice portfolio with Defence sends the wrong message, at least at the level of public discourse. Justice and Defence wreaks of security, crime prevention, the Gardai, the military forces – all important issues, but say little about equality, which, as Vincent Browne argued in The Irish Times, this Fine Gael-Labour coalition has so far failed to embrace. Continue reading “Qualified welcome”
First reflections on Irish elections, February 2011
OK, I didn’t vote for the first time in my life. Not because I was confused, nor because there was no one to vote for (after all there was the Left Alliance, and particularly the Socialist Party), nor even because I didn’t feel strongly enough about getting Fianna Fail out. But because I realized, finally, that the system does not work. That laws are not made by the Dail but by cabinet and that the enforcement of the party whip does not allow members to vote independently. And that many of the laws on the books are anti-equality anyway.
But this does not mean that I have nothing to say, even if some of my friends say that not voting does not give me the right to comment (since when is voting compulsory? Not voting is also a political act). Continue reading “First reflections on Irish elections, February 2011”
Awful start to 2011 – remembering Jawaher Abu Rahma
On Friday 31 December 2010 Jawaher Abu Rahmah, 36, was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital after inhaling massive amounts of tear-gas during the weekly protest against the separation wall in Bil’in , and died of poisoning on New Year’s Day 2011. Abu Rahmah suffered from severe asphyxiation caused by tear-gas inhalation, and was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital unconscious. She was diagnosed as suffering from poisoning caused by the active ingredient in the tear-gas, that was shot by IDF soldiers to disperse the crowd of demonstrators against the separation wall in the village. Doctors at the Ramallah Hospital fought for her life all night, but were unable to save her.
Weekly demonstrations against the wall have been held in Bil’in for the past five years; villagers say the barrier unjustly separates them from their lands. In 2007, the Supreme Court accepted these arguments and ruled that the route of the fence should be move, and some 170 acres of land be returned to the villagers. The IDF has yet to implement the court’s decision. Continue reading “Awful start to 2011 – remembering Jawaher Abu Rahma”
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