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Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig ★ Everyone is talking about a 'United Ireland '....except the Unionists, Loyalists and the English, of course.


Sinn Fein are becoming very vocal now about, a plan at least, for this 'United Ireland'. They are trying to appear to be attacking Mícheál Martin i Teach Laighean about it; in the form of Pádraig McLoughlin, sounding all historic and theatrical. Michelle O'Neill is even talking about it now, too.

There's a North/South push by Sinn Fein to get something moving....anything...anything at all will do !! What waffle they speak; and dangerous, misleading waffle at that.
 
Sinn Fein still thinks that the 'politics of waffle' and grandstanding will fool all of the people all of the time. It won't; and as Socialist Republicans we should continue to point out that 'the emperor has no clothes'.

The Sinn Fein 'Project Stormont' and 'Project Pacification', carefully fostered by English Imperialism, has ran into the sand, for Sinn Fein. After thirty years they are now seen for what they have always been, a puppet of imperialism and capitalism. Sinn Fein are desperate to get into any 'political lifeboat ' they can find.
 
Mary Lou is also suffering from memory loss ! What's new? She forgets about the 850 years of English occupation and colonialism in Ireland. She forgets about the genocidal famine of the 1840's. She forgets about the Unionist rule and English atrocities in the, still occupied, six counties. Her approach and that of Sinn Fein is, ignore all of that but look over here at this 'nice new shiny thing'...an undefined "United Ireland"...packaged and delivered by the powerful and wealthy ruling elites. It's the "cure" for all our economic and political ills, they will tell you.

Mary, Michelle and Pádraig, stop 'play acting'. You know, we know and anyone with any political 'cop on' knows that the United Ireland you speak loudly of, is a United Ireland within imperialist and capitalist rules. You will abide by the demands and dictates of English, EU and Yankee imperialism. In other words you will do as you're told.
 
It will be 'top down' power. It will not be a sovereign, liberated or people powered democratic Ireland. Inequality and exploitation, the basis of poverty, will prevail. The majority, the working class, the poor and working poor will still be second class citizens; if they are lucky.

You have and will continue to oppose a thirty two county Socialist Republic. You have and will forget about the sacrifice of IRA volunteers and their families, who fought, died and spent lifetimes as political prisoners, for that Socialist Republic. We, on the other hand, have not forgotten what we stand for, nor will we.

Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig 
is an independent councillor on Donegal County Council.

United Ireland! United Ireland!

Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔ 6-July-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ Ukraine trade union statement on bombing,
⬤ Ukrainian participant on Global Sumud Flotilla.
⬤ Ukraine-Poland tension.
⬤ Russian torture & other war crimes.
⬤ Crimea abductions & secret detention.
⬤ Russia fuel crisis.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Crimean Olha Tsyryk gets16-year sentence after blitzkrieg ‘trial’ for selfies and anti-Russian comments (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 3rd)

Crimean Tatar political prisoner returned to die in Russian captivity is in critical condition (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 3rd)

Occupied Crimea braces for a summer without fuel (The Insider, 3 July)

Faces of Resistance: The Story of Political Prisoner Iryna Horobtsova (Crimea Platform, July 3rd)

Crimea Platform Fifth International Forum in Kyiv (Crimea Platform, 2 July)

“I looked at the gas shortages and closed my cafe before I went broke”: Russian-occupied Crimea is bracing for a summer without fuel (The Insider, July 1st)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, July 1st)

UN Committee against Racial Discrimination slams Russia’s persecution of three Crimean Tatar lawyers (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 1st)

Abducted 63-year-old Crimean sentenced to 19 years for support of Ukraine which Russia called ‘treason’ (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, June 30th)

Russia labels Crimean Solidarity, lawyers & journalists 'foreign agents' in new attempt to crush Crimean Tatar human rights movement (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, June 29th)

Russian attacks continue to claim civilians’ lives (Confed’n of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine, 2 July)

News from Ukraine

Ukrainian parliament approves creating pantheon to commemorate national heroes (Kyiv Independent, July 1st)

Massive missile and drone attack on Kyiv kills 31 (Kyiv Independent, July 1st)

Progress of the war

Ukrainian forces strike Russian logistics and military infrastructure (ZN.UA, July 5th)

Ukraine nearly doubles number of successful strikes (Kyiv Independent, July 5th)

Ukrainian strike against St Petersburg oil infrastructure (Kyiv Independent July 4th)

Russia can no longer conduct a naval blockade of Ukraine (ZN.UA, July 5th)

Courts vs. ships: Ukraine trying to stop illegal wheat exports from Russian-occupied territories (The Insider, July 2nd)

War-related news from Russia

Russia’s mass missile attacks on Ukraine ‘must continue’ says Putin (Kyiv Independent July 4th)

39 hours in line: one driver’s road trip through Russia’s fuel crisis (Meduza, 3 July)

Russia rewrites its history books again, to flag up Trump’s “positive role” (Meduza, 3 July)

230,624 deaths: Russian losses count updated (Mediazona, 3 July)

Russia stages grotesque trial for second 29-year sentence against savagely tortured Ukrainian partisan (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, July 2nd)

Ukraine war sparks fears of an organised crime resurgence in Russia (The Conversation, July 2nd)

Farewell to windfall: Сompanies in most Russian industries are getting poorer (The Insider, July 1st)

Investment falling: long-term structural crisis in Russian economy (The Insider, 30 June)

Comment and analysis

Fourteen Thousand: The number everyone cites and almost no one checks, about the war between 2014 and 2022 (Red Mole, June 30th)

Memory war causes Ukraine-Poland tension (RAAM, 30 June)

Anti‑war coalition ignores Putin’s war on Ukraine (Anti-Capitalist Resistance, June 28th)

For an Anti-Imperialist Leftist movement. An interview with Andriy Movchan (Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa, June 24th)

Research of human rights abuses

Netherlands approves hosting of Special Tribunal on Russia’s aggression (Ukrainska Pravda, July 5th)

Damage from Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure has exceeded $45 billion (Tribunal for Putin, July 2nd)

Torture, civilian detainees and Russia’s accountability: ZMINA joined the OSCE Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting in Vienna (Zmina, July 1st)

Abduction in Crimea after the full-scale invasion (Ukrainska Pravda, June 30th)

Prosecutor General’s Office has registered nearly 69, 000 Russian war crimes over the past year (Tribunal for Putin, June 29th)


🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

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News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 203

 

A Morning Thought @ 3203

Atheist Ireland 🖋 has written to the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, about a recent WRC ruling that has undermined freedom of expression in Ireland.


Ireland removed blasphemy from the Constitution in 2018. Public bodies should be careful not to recreate similar effects by allowing sanctions for offensive criticism of religion.

While this ruling is not technically a blasphemy law, its practical effect is similar. A person has been denied access to a service for life, because their criticism of religion was expressed in terms deemed offensive or unacceptable.

The central issue that we are raising is not whether the words used were offensive. It is whether a lifetime ban from a service, imposed after a person answered a question about religion in an informal conversation that he did not initiate, is a lawful, necessary, and proportionate restriction on freedom of expression.

In the case, the WRC rejected a challenge by a former seminarian against a yoga studio. The studio banned him for life after he responded to a question about Christmas by saying it was hocus pocus that celebrated the rape and abandonment of a child.

The WRC found that the man had established a prima facie case of religious discrimination against the Mayo yoga studio. However, it found that the studio’s owner and yoga teacher had successfully rebutted the inference of discrimination by arguing her decision was based on how he expressed his beliefs rather than what the beliefs were.

The WRC decision did not apply any proportionality test, weighing whether restrictions on this formulation of words are prescribed by law, pursue a legitimate aim, and are necessary in a democratic society. It did not try to balance the competing interests, nor did it take into account that he would not have expressed his views if he had not been asked to do so.

No doubt some people would be offended by the language he used when responding to a question. However, it is language that is consistent with the balance between freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief. Such language might have been unlawful when we had a law against blasphemy, but not since we removed that law by referendum.

The WRC only took into account the formulation of the words used, and decided that it was not discrimination under the Equal Status Act to punish someone in those circumstances. This means that people can be discriminated against if a service provider does not like the formulation of the words used when asking for someone’s opinion on a particular subject in an informal setting. This completely undermines freedom of expression.

Overview of the case

The context was that, before the yoga class started, the teacher and her clients were informally discussing things as they usually did. She asked the man if he was all set for Christmas. He said it was hocus pocus, celebrating a religious cult which has its origins based on the rape of a child. She said the Church had a good moral code. He said look at the child abuse, the paedophilia, and Tuam. She said right, well, let’s get on with the yoga.

After the class, the teacher wrote to the client saying that his continued presence constituted a threat to her clients and her business operations. She said his behaviour was disruptive to the point of causing unease among other clients. Following further correspondence, she said he was banned for life from the studio. There was no evidence presented that any of the clients of the service had left the service because of his response.

Our concerns about the ruling

Clearly, as the WRC ruling says, nobody has the right to use “any formulation of language, in any setting, without consequence.” But this ruling ignores the key question of exactly how, in this case, the “manner by which he expressed his views” crossed the line into such consequences.

He was not promoting violence or discrimination. The owner and/or others simply did not like the formulation of words he used, in response to a question, in a conversation he did not even initiate.

On this basis, the WRC has endorsed banning a client for life from a service. Restricting freedom of expression in this manner is not reflected in any legislation. It undermines freedom of expression and all our international obligations.

Article 40.6.1 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression which can only be limited by the protection of public order or morality. There was no threat to either public order or morality in this yoga class.

The whole point of the right to freedom of expression is to permit the expression of controversial views that do not cross the legal line of the proportionality test. And this includes the right to express beliefs about religious or philosophical ideas that offend, shock, or disturb.

What the European Court has said

The European Court held in Handyside v UK 1976 that:

The Court’s supervisory functions oblige it to pay the utmost attention to the principles characterising a ‘democratic society’. Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of such a society, one of the basic conditions for its progress and for the development of every man.
Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10 (art. 10-2), it is applicable not only to ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population.
Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no ‘democratic society’. This means, amongst other things, that every ‘formality’, ‘condition’, ‘restriction’ or ‘penalty’ imposed in this sphere must be proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued.
From another standpoint, whoever exercises his freedom of expression undertakes ‘duties and responsibilities’ the scope of which depends on his situation and the technical means he uses. The Court cannot overlook such a person’s ‘duties’ and ‘responsibilities’ when it enquires, as in this case, whether ‘restrictions’ or ‘penalties’ were conducive to the ‘protection of morals’ which made them ‘necessary’ in a ‘democratic society’.

What the Venice Commission has said

In 2008, the Venice Commission (European Commission for Democracy through law) on the relationship between Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Religion. It said:

43. Freedom of expression, guaranteed by Article 10 ECHR, constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society and one of the basic conditions for its progress and for each individual’s self-fulfilment. Subject to paragraph 2 of Article 10, it is applicable not only to ‘information’ or ‘ideas’ that are favourably received or regarded as inoffensive or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend shock or disturb.
44. A democracy should not fear debate, even on the most shocking or anti-democratic ideas. It is through open discussion that these ideas should be countered and the supremacy of democratic values be demonstrated. Mutual understanding and respect can only be achieved through open debate. Persuasion through open public debate, as opposed to ban or repression, is the most democratic means of preserving fundamental values.”

Conclusion

We are raising with the Minister for Justice that the Equal Status Acts, WRC procedures, and/or Departmental guidelines should be clarified to ensure that freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief are properly protected when service providers respond to controversial or offensive views.

⏩ Follow Atheist Ireland on Twitter @atheistie

Atheist Ireland Writes To Minister About WRC Ruling Undermining Freedom Of Expression

Right Wing Watch 👀 Written by Kyle Mantyla.


For the last several weeks, far-right Christian nationalist pastor Dale Partridge has been preaching on the Curse of Ham, a controversial theological theory long used to justify slavery and racism.

Originating in Genesis 9, the theory posits that black people were perpetually cursed by God to serve and be ruled by white people because Ham, one of the sons of Noah, looked upon his father when he was passed out drunk and naked in his tent.

Partridge claimed that "the African peoples . . .  and some of the people from India" are the modern-day descendants of Ham and that they have been assigned by God to be ruled over and dependent upon whites, Europeans, Asians, Jews, and Arabs, who are allegedly the descendants of Ham's brothers, Shem and Japheth.

Given that "God has sovereignly assigned different stations and trajectories to different peoples for his glory," Partridge declared that it is only proper for Africa to recolonized by "white Christians."

"The Japhethites have been blessed to be enlarged in both territory and Christian regeneration," Partridge preached. 

The Hamites have been assigned to a civilizational station of subordination and dependence. And the answer to this paradigm is not endless foreign money.

Continue @ RWW.

Dale Partridge Calls For The Return Of 'European Christian Colonization Of African Nations'

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Thirty

 

Pastords @ 52

Anthony McIntyre ☠ It was seriously disappointing but not surprising to learn that the FAI Extraordinary General Meeting voted in favour of legitimising, by normalising, the fascistic state of Israel. 

As disappointing, and more surprising, was the size of the majority. '75 delegates voted in favour (68%), 32 were against and there were three abstentions.' So at odds with Irish public opinion, it invites suspicion as to how it was obtained. 

It is not that the membership attending voted out of ignorance. Tart it up as they might in the language of sport, the inconvenience  of losing soccer points seemed more annoying to them than making serious points that sports washing of genocide or fascism is morally repugnant. 

They know what their vote means. Waffle and platitudes expressing concern for Palestinians after this amount to nothing other than a shield to protect them from criticism for the appalling decision made at the EGM.

The rogue state of Israel not only defies international law. It also defies its own law. A matter of days ago for the first time in its history the Israeli government, Netanyahu-led, said it would ignore a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court.

The move effectively blocks the proposed buyout of the Channel 13 television channel by a group of high-tech entrepreneurs led by a prominent government critic.

It has been described by legal analysts as the most brazen attempt yet by the Netanyahu government to legitimise defiance of the country's Supreme Court. Even Don Diaper, leader of America's Madmen, has avoided going as far as to say he will ignore SCOTUS. The Israeli president, genocide enthusiast Isaac Herzog, accused the government of going a step too far:

I have made this clear before, and I will repeat it again and again: Refusing to comply with a court ruling is a red line that must not be crossed under any circumstances.

All said with a straight face and averse to irony, as if he has forgotten that he refuses to comply with the rulings of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
 
The Zionist Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, also sharing Herzog's aversion to irony, accused the Israeli Supreme Court of being "drunk with power". Like Herzog he is having a laugh. Karhi is a member of the most power crazed government in Israeli history.

This is the turd that the FAI is now trying and shine up. James Connolly might have sardonically taunted the FAI whoop it up for sporting liberty.

In response, Irish Sport for Palestine, the group behind the Stop the Game campaign, described the decision a "disappointing indictment of the Football Association of Ireland" that "does not reflect the will of the Irish public or professional players".

We respect the secret ballot. However, serious questions remain about how this vote was brought forward, including the denial of an initial request for proper debate on the match, the failure to address the questions brought by co-proposers before requisitions were sent, the three-week delay between receipt of requisitions and them being deemed ineligible, the wording of the motion, and the misrepresentation of the PFA's position.

The FAI increasingly looks as crooked as FIFA.

Even though I am a soccer fan rather than GAA, I still think the ideas of metaphorically taking a hurl to the heads of the charlatans of the FAI is not such a bad idea.

⏩Follow on Bluesky.

Whoop It Up For Sporting Liberty

Geordie Morrow 🖌 with a painting from his collection of art work. 

Oil On Canvas

⏩Geordie Morrow is a Belfast artist.

A New Day Yesterday

Dixie Elliot ✊Sinn Féin's 'Irish Unity Bill' is yet another case of that party trying to look busy doing nothing.
 
They know what they signed up to in the so called GFA. That the British government decides when the time is right to hold a referendum on Irish Unity. So it doesn't matter if this bill is overwhelmingly passed, the British will just ignore it.
 
More recently this is what Sinn Féin signed up to in order to get the Unionists back into Stormont so that Michelle O'Neill could become the Colonial First Minister.

The very first line tells us in no uncertain terms that the British government is committed to strengthening NI's place in the Union, that they will never be neutral on this issue and that this is a position held on a broad, cross party basis in Parliament.
 
In the part highlighted in blue, the British state quite clearly that on the basis of all recent polling they see no realistic prospect of a border poll leading to a United Ireland.
 
It is their belief following the restoration of the devolved institutions that NI's future in the UK will be secure for decades to come and as such the conditions for a border poll are unlikely to be objectively met. 
Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

Busy Doing Nothing

Pádraig Drummond ✊ Some months ago my good friend Mags Glennon, gifted me Óglach Seán McKearney & Óglach Eugene Martin: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Book.



I've read it several times since, and with each reading I've found something new to admire. It is a beautifully compiled tribute. Not only to two young Volunteers, but to two lifelong friends whose bond carried them from childhood innocence to comradeship in one of the most defining chapters of modern Irish history.

More than a story of conflict, it is a story of friendship, brotherhood, family, love, loyalty and conviction. It reminds us that before Seán and Eugene became Volunteers of the East Tyrone Brigade, they were simply two boys who grew up side by side, sharing the same dreams and the same roads.

This has been a labour of respect for some time now. I only hope these words have done justice to Seán, Eugene, and the enduring bond they shared.

The Ballad Of The Blackwater Boys

Hearken, O' hills of Blackwater's shore,
And hearken, O' winds that wander Slieve Gallion;
Raise now your voices with oak and ash,
For two noble sons of Éire are remembered.
♞♜♝
Not yesterday was their story fashioned,
Nor in the fleeting hour of mortal breath;
Its roots lie deep beneath the stones
Where the Red Hand first guarded Ulster,
Where O'Neill's banner kissed the morning,
And the harp of Tara answered the raven.
♞♜♝
The earth remembers.
♞♜♝
Before the sword was placed in willing hand,
Before the oath was spoken beneath silent stars,
They were but children,
Laughing beneath orchard boughs,
Following streams through meadow grass,
While skylarks climbed towards heaven
And their mothers called them home at dusk.
♞♜♝
In Collegelands first cried Seán,
A son of Kevin and Maura,
Born where memory walked beside every hearth.
His cradle was rocked
By tales of Easter's flame,
Of men who would not bend the knee,
Of Éire's ancient sovereignty.
♞♜♝
Not many moons thereafter
Eugene entered the world,
Son of Benedict and Annastatia,
Quiet of speech,
Steadfast in heart,
His eyes already reflecting
The steadfast hills of Tyrone.
♞♜♝
The Almighty bound them early,
As oak is joined to earth
And river finds the sea.
♞♜♝
Together they crossed the schoolyard gate,
Together they knelt before the altar,
Together they chased the leather ball
Across fields bright with summer rain.
No envy dwelt between them,
No falsehood darkened their friendship,
For each strengthened the other
As twin oaks standing against the western wind.
♞♜♝
Seán, fleet-footed upon the green,
Could send the ball soaring
Like a hawk riding the mountain air.
His laughter carried farther than the curlew's cry,
And every comrade sought his company.
♞♜♝
Eugene fashioned timber with patient hands,
Finding beauty where others saw only labour.
Strong as the ash,
Gentle as falling snow,
He spoke little,
Yet every word bore honesty.
♞♜♝
But dark clouds gathered beyond the horizon.
♞♜♝
The ancient wound of Éire's
Had not been healed.
The stranger's law still ruled the valleys;
The mailed fist still guarded the gates.
Justice was measured unequally,
And many honest homes
Knew the weight of fear before the dawn.
♞♜♝
The young beheld what their fathers had borne,
And what their grandfathers before them.
They saw doors broken,
Families scattered,
Voices silenced beneath the truncheon,
And truth answered by the rifle.
♞♜♝
Then awoke within them
The old inheritance.
♞♜♝
Not hatred.
Not hunger for glory.
But the solemn burden
Passed from generation unto generation,
♞♜♝
As flame is carried from one candle to another,
Unbroken through the centuries.
♞♜♝
So they stood among the Volunteers,
Not for silver,
Nor for the praise of men,
But believing they answered
The ancient call of their people.
♞♜♝
Brief were their years,
Yet full were their deeds.
♞♜♝
The spring blossoms had scarcely opened
When destiny summoned them.
Upon a May evening
The road received them,
And Éire gathered two more names
Into the long roll of her faithful dead.
♞♜♝
The bells of the Moy answered.
The piper mourned.
The Blackwater flowed in silence,
As thousands came walking,
Bareheaded beneath heaven,
To bear witness
That honour had not departed from the land.
♞♜♝
No monument of polished granite
Can equal such remembrance.
♞♜♝
While children still play
Beneath the orchard trees;
While the Blackwater runs to Lough Neagh;
While the old songs are sung
Beside winter fires;
While Éire remembers her own,
♞♜♝
The names of Seán McKearney
And Eugene Martin
Shall not fade.
♞♜♝
For stone may weather,
And bronze may darken,
But the memory of noble hearts
Endures in the soul of a nation.
♞♜♝
May the green hills keep them.
May the rivers speak their names.
May every generation yet unborn
Know that two friends walked together,
Lived together,
And now forever rest together,
♞♜♝
Among the heroes of Éire.
♞♜♝
I measc na laochra go deo.

⏩Pádraig Drummond is an anti-racism activist.

The Ballad Of The Blackwater Boys

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand And Twenty Nine

 

A Morning Thought @ 3202

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