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Gearóid Ó Loingsigh ☭ writing in Substack on 17-April-2025.

The British Supreme Court has in its recent findings stated that sex is biological as far as the Equality Act (2010) is concerned. The definition of woman in that Act was held to be biological and thus excluding transgenders from such a definition and any of the rights bestowed upon women by the legislation, though it was clear that this does not mean that trans cannot suffer discrimination, but they are not women. Sex is a protected characteristic and the judgement defended the idea of separate spaces for women and lesbian only spaces. To accept that sex was not a characteristic would undermine women’s rights and protections under the Equality Act. They further held that such an interpretation does not disadvantage trans people as they “enjoy the rights that attach to the protected characteristic of gender reassignment”.[1]

Without a doubt this is not the end of it. There will be calls for the legislation to be reformed, for other legislation to be introduced to revert the status of women to what it was in practice before this finding i.e. any man who said he was a woman was one and could gain access to women’s spaces, help companies meet their quota for women on boards etc., could apply for and obtain grants and other benefits set aside for women and glaringly participate in women’s sports and deprive women of medals and rankings in those sports and depending on the sport break a bone or two and boast about stuffing it to TERFS later, as many have done.

In the immediate aftermath of the court’s decision, there was much handwringing and plain downright lies from the British government. A government spokesperson stated “We have always supported the protection of single-sex spaces based on biological sex. Single-sex spaces are protected in law and will always be protected by this government”[2] and welcomed the clarity that it brought. Except of course, it is not true, they haven’t always supported this. The Tories dragged their heels on this, and Labour had a disastrous position on this and stifled any dissent. The internet is awash with videos and articles quoting Keir Starmer stating that some women can have a penis and dancing back and forth around the issue.[3] Starmer is a man, he has a penis, he knows what it is. He is also a former human rights barrister and represented Croatia at the International Court of Justice, a former Director of Public Prosecutions in Britain but apparently is unable to say whether Israel is committing war crimes and/or genocide in Gaza. On occasions in the House of Parliament he has gone further and denied it.[4] He has shown no such reticence on other issues involving Serbia, which was found guilty of genocide or of the war crimes committed by the Russians, though not those committed by the Ukranians. Genocide is a matter of politics for him, not reality; his denial of biology in relation to women is also political, it is not the result of some lack of knowledge or of him staring down at himself wondering what it is he has between his legs.

He was quick to stifle the then Labour MP Rosie Duffield. She stated unequivocally what the Supreme Court has just stated, though much more succinctly that only women have a cervix. Starmer came down on her like a ton of bricks stating that it was “something that shouldn’t be said” and that it was “not right”.[5] Duffield was vilified for her position, denounced by all and sundry in the Labour Party. The situation got so bad she feared for her life. She has now asked Starmer for an apology, though she is unlikely to get one.

The judgement clears up various matters, in a legal sense, though they were always clear to anyone with an ounce of grey matter and lacking a cynical world view. Women are women, it is a biological category, it is not an identity. Women therefore have rights on that basis. Men who identify as women should now be moved out of women’s prisons, removed from female sporting competitions, not sit on boards or other bodies as part of a female quota, should not receive bursaries, grants or endowments earmarked for women. Rape crisis centres should not be bullied because they don’t allow men into centres dealing with women (men can and should have their own specialised unit for male rape).

Unfortunately, there will be some who will double down and try their best to undo this victory for women. The Socialist Workers Party was quick out of the hatches to bizarrely argue that it was an attack on women’s rights as well as trans rights under the headline Trans women are women, resist the Supreme Court ruling.[6] This of course is the same party that cares so much for women it once covered up a rape in its own organisation. The victim was branded a slut and just as in normal courts the SWP kangaroo court enquired about her past sexual activity.[7] Years later they eventually apologised for their behaviour,[8] though like the woke warriors their their apology came with a trigger warning. They will one day apologise for their position on women’s rights and trans.

There is an old Marxist refrain that material reality determines consciousness and not the other way round, and though Marx was not discussing trans, he was quite clear you don’t change reality by just changing your opinion of it. Engels mocked:

These gentlemen (that) think that when they have changed the names of things they have changed the things themselves. This is how these profound thinkers mock at the whole world.[9] 

You would think that these “Marxists” would actually read what their founders had to say, but apparently not.

Meanwhile across the waters in the USA, the liberal Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is also doubling down. Like Starmer she has danced around the issue of genocide in Gaza, going back and forth and trying to side step the issue. She did eventually use the dreaded G Word, but then went on to endorse Genocide Joe and Holocaust Harris as “working tireless to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bring the hostages home.” Except of course as Kareem Elrefai pointed out it wasn’t true.[10] She has now stated that she won’t abandon the trans movement just to win an election. In other words, Gaza, Ukraine, Syria, the trade war with China, the deportations from the US, the disappearing of legal residents down a black hole in El Salvador’s prisons, none of these issues are as important to her as men getting housed in the women’s wing of prisons, competing in women’s sports etc. She and the SWP are next to useless, they are leading people up the garden path ready to hang them out to dry at the first sign of a whinge from some middle class spoiled brat or convicted rapist who thinks He should get access to women’s spaces.

The British Supreme Court’s decision is welcome and will give a legal basis to the fights coming down the road. But it is not over yet, the deluded will continue to delude themselves and attack women’s rights. Now is time for celebration, but not for letting our guard down.


[1] For full Access to the court documents, findings and video reading by Lord Hodge see.

[2] The Guardian (16/04/2025) Legal definition of woman is based on biological sex, UK supreme court rules. Severin Carrell. 

[3] BBC (16/04/2025) Westminster's tortuous battle with the gender question. Ben Wright & Brian Wheeler. 

[4] See.

[5] BBC (26/09/2021) Labour conference: Not right to say only women have a cervix, says Starmer. 

[6] SWP (16/04/2025) Trans women are women, resist the Supreme Court ruling. Tomáš Tengely-Evans. 

[7] The Guardian (09/03/2013) Socialist Workers Part leadership under fire over rape kangaroo court. Shiv Malik & Nick Cohen.

[8] SWP (16/05/2024) Statement on the 2013 crisis in the SWP. 

[9] Engels, F. (1872) On Authority. 

[10] The Nation (19/08/2024) AOC’s DNC Speech Was a Betrayal of the Gaza Movement. Kareem Elrefal. 

⏩ Gearóid Ó Loingsigh is a political and human rights activist with extensive experience in Latin America.

British Supreme Court 🪶 Sex Is Biological 🪶 Who Could Have Guessed?

Christopher Owens 🎥 Nothing deep, just some brief writeups of some films that you may not be familiar with.

Manhunter (1986)

Around this time twenty-five years ago, at the tender age of 14, I had just finished reading Thomas Harris' Red Dragon. Described as the first of the Hannibal Lecter series (even though he's barely in it), it was a cold, clinical and therefore chilling read. One that gave you an equal amount of insight into the mindset of the protagonist as well as the antagonist.

I quickly discovered that it had been made into a film by Michael Mann (whom, twenty years ago, had just released the excellent and underrated The Insider) and so quickly sought it out.

The first thing that hits you is that this is a very good-looking movie. It's stylised, clinical, cold and utterly gorgeous. Amazingly, this doesn't detract from the horror on display but rather exacerbates it. Take the infamous wheelchair sequence as an example. The use of home video further adds to the unsettling atmosphere, with the opening sequence epitomising this.

Secondly, the performances are nuanced and unforgettable. Tom Noonan is exceptional as a pathetic, lumbering Francis Dolarhyde who commits heinous crimes. William L. Peterson (once regarded as a future movie star) is in the form of his life as a man who knows he has the know how to catch people like Dolarhyde but wants to forget all about it. And Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter is much more downplayed and deadpan than Anthony Hopkins hammy (but iconic) delivery in the future films.

Thirdly, the script does a stellar job of translating Harris' book onto screen in such a way that nothing feels left out. It's a visual, visceral and aural treat.



Kill List (2011)

Once described as a cross between Get Carter 🎥 Lost 🎥 The Wicker Man, this was the film that cemented Ben Wheatley's reputation as a filmmaker with extraordinary potential, something which he has consolidated with the likes of High Rise and A Field in England.

Right from the start, the mood is one of claustrophobia. Dialogue is often muttered or fired out so quick as to be incomprehensible. The fast-cutting leaves you no time to think about what has just happened. As the film progresses, and becomes even more violent, the muted colours on show display a murky, grimy everyday existence (which, arguably, makes the violence all the more brutal).

Much has been made of the ambiguity of the tale. An issue which is bound to divide those who wish to have a bit of backstory verses people who just go with the flow. For me, there is enough here to allow the viewer to fill in their own interpretation of what's going on. The fact that I never questioned the logic on display meant that the film was working for me, as each twist and turn brought a new surprise and abject horror. In a way, it reminds me of when noted director Yorgos Lanthimos talked about his film Dogtooth: "people are always trying to get me to confirm their point of view and I just won't do it. If I wanted to talk about social problems or politics, I'd become a writer."

Besides, that's often the greatest horror for many. That there are forces out there who have the potential to take over our lives, and there's nothing we can do about it.

Simply put, you need to see this.



Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

As much a film about horror as it is a horror film, John McNaughton's film is a genuine tour de force. One that has you in a vice like grip from the opening credits all the way through to the end. This is down to the compelling direction, the terrifying performances and the bleakness of the settings. There is nothing glamorous on display, which grounds the violence in brutal realism. Also, the soundtrack deserves credit for being so simple, so stark and fitting the mood impeccably.

Completed in 1986, the film sat on the shelves for a few years as distributors were afraid to send it to the BBFC and the MPAA for fear of it not being classified. Midnight screenings and festival appearances saw the film gain an appreciative audience and it was eventually released in 1991.

The most notorious sequence (the home invasion) was, infamously, re-edited and re-sequenced by the BBFC when the film was first released on VHS. James Ferman, the chief censor, seemed to be all too aware of the implications of the scene. This, surely, is a prime example of where state censorship can go if left unprotested.

Nowadays the film is available uncut, but viewers are advised to proceed with caution. This is not a glamorous exploitation film, nor is it a brainless slasher. What it is is an attempt to examine just how seemingly ordinary people can commit such heinous crimes, while asking the viewer why we would be watching such a film.

Certainly not one for the easily startled (I know a few people who, to this day, shudder at the thought of the film) but it is one that will linger long in the memory and leave you utterly chilled at the mundanity of evil.



The Neon Demon (2016)

A seemingly simple tale about a young girl going to the big city to pursue her dreams, it's a deranged, off-kilter look at a world that is all style but has little in the way of substance, populated by drones who can't help but give off a creepy vibe with their paused dialogue and long stares.

Visually, the film is gorgeous. There's one moment on the runway which acts as the moment when the main character is crossing the Rubicon. The music and visuals are utterly seductive, making the lure of the limelight all too seductive. Los Angeles has never looked this beautiful.

I've often surmised the film as being an amalgamation of David Lynch (for the characters), Dario Argento (for the spectacle) and Michael Mann (for the visuals). It's a divisive mix (plenty of people told me it was one of the worst films that they've seen), but one that blew me away. The key is to simply go with it and allow yourself to be seduced.

Apart from one rather silly scene (which caused me to shout "aw for fuck's sake" in the cinema) which threatens to derail proceedings, it is a highly enjoyable, surrealist and sinister film about horror. Some absolutely stunning shots, proper colours to scenes and a terrific soundtrack.



Raw (2017)

Although it has the potential to veer off into explicit identity politicking, it manages to stay on track and the overall result is a fantastic depiction of the pains of conformity, finding one's identity amidst being openly manipulated.

Visually, the film is often brightly lit giving the sense that this is a brand-new world waiting to be explored. When contrasted with the mundane realities, it can unsettle the viewer. And when the horror elements are introduced, the contrast between the mundane and the lighting add a surrealist element to proceedings. As such an example, look at the segment when the protagonist Justine is getting a wax from her roommate.

The environment of the vet school, normally regarded as a serious place of study, is one of conformity and lack of respect to animals. There's one particular shot which springs to mind, where the camera lingers on a stuffed toy (meant to be a lamb, I think) which has been hung around its neck by wires and has red paint coming from its neck. Meanwhile, a party is going on.

With Justine being a vegetarian, this quickly becomes a problem for those in the school. As a result, every bit of humiliation and every bad choice she makes, we see it through her eyes, becoming more horrified as events unfold.

Director Julia Ducournau has given us a visual, visceral feast of a movie, being both a horror film, and a film about horror. All the performances are top notch, and it resists the temptation to make its central thesis an abbreviation from the norm. Instead, it's presented as if perfectly normal.

Also, is it pro-vegetarian or pro-meat? I'll let you decide.


⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist.

We’re All Watching Horror Movies

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Six Hundred And Twenty Three

 

A Morning Thought @ 2566

 

A Morning Thought @ 2565

Caoimhin O’Muraile ☭ Greenland, that mystical land one of eight countries which lay within the Arctic Circle (for those who are not geographically minded that’s the North Pole). 

A land where once a year in December Santa Claus or Father Christmas leaps on his sledge, saddles up his reindeer, and visits every child on the planet with presents. A great children’s story and one which inspires the imagination of millions of kids every year. In the real world, it is also a land which is home to various peoples, some city dwellers others, the Kalaallit or Inuit, the indigenous people of Greenland who live on the ice and are under threat from US President, Donald Trump. Not only are the likes of Trump, Musk and their cronies in the increasingly fascist White House along with their mates around the world from the mega rich capitalist class, through their activities. destroying the habitat of Greenland the Ice and, therefore, the homes of the indigenous peoples of Greenland, they are now threatening this semi-autonomous country whose head of state is the King of Denmark with military invasion. Trump claims, not overtly convincingly, that Greenland is vital to the “national security and international security” of the USA. For centuries Greenland has never been considered vital to “national security” by various US Presidents, including war-mongers like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush but now, all of a sudden, under this bloke, the country becomes vital to the “national security” of the USA. Why could that be, I wonder?

Perhaps the real reason this country is important to the US has fuck all to do with national security but more to do with the natural resources which lay beneath its soil and ice. It hosts a wealth of minerals which no doubt the USA have eyeballed for their own. This Hitlerite talk by the US President of “military intervention” to take Greenland is not too far removed from the language used by Adolf Hitler to justify his invasion of Poland in 1939. He claimed Poland was a “threat to German security”, even faking a Polish attack on German territory to justify his actions. Trump's talk of Greenland being an important feature in the security of the USA to justify him taking over the country is not a million miles away from the Nazi German Fuhrer's language. Trump claims he needs Greenland for the fictional reasons already pointed out and will do “whatever it takes” to get the country which sounds very much like the threat of occupation of the technically Danish territory? Denmark is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and so is Greenland as a Danish territory so too are the USA. This then raises the question: if Trump carries out his threat and invades Greenland will NATOs article five, the mutual defence clause, be triggered against another NATO country, the USA? Or, in pursuit of his ambitions, could Donald Trump pull the US out of the alliance thus giving hm a clear run to chase his ambitions of territorial expansion? Could this then lead to a smaller NATO – US confrontation? The possibilities of this maniacal, possibly deranged, man’s actions, should he go through with them, are far more dangerous and far reaching than the illegal actions of Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in the Ukraine.

A point of observation and that is, the northern part of Canada, another country Trump is threatening, lies within the Arctic Circle. The North Pole and, therefore the countries which fall within it, are rich with natural resources all useful to the USA. So, Trump's threats to Canada should come as no surprise when viewed in this context. If he can annex Greenland and make Canada the “fifty first state of America”, as Donald Trump regularly boasts will happen, then much of the Arctic will belong to the USA! unfortunately for Trump, Canada has a new Sheriff in town, Mark Carney, who has been elected the country's new Prime Minister. Carney is as shrewd on the subject of economics, perhaps more so, as Trump and he vows to fight in order his country maintains her independence. Canada, like Greenland, is also a NATO member one of the founding countries in 1949 so the dangers of Trump's talk should be self-evident!

Notably the outcry from the European Union has been in sharp contrast to those voiced when Putin’s tanks were massed on the border with Ukraine on the eve of his invasion of that country. What would the reaction of the EU be if the US invade Greenland, an EU member State as well as, via their part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO member? Would they make excuses for the actions of the US administration? What would the reaction to such a move by Trump in the so-called United Kingdom be? Would UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, make some pathetic explanation for Trump's actions in order to protect their self-perceived ‘special relationship’ with the United States? After all, every British Prime Minister, bar Harold Wilson in a rare show of defiance, have gone ‘belly up’ to the US. Nearly all UK foreign policy since 1945 has had the interests of the USA at its core! When Vladimir Putin ordered his tanks and troops over the Ukrainian border, despite assuring the world invasion was not his intentions, the troops were merely on “manoeuvres,” he told the world. This was a blatant lie as he only hours later invaded the sovereign country of Ukraine citing that country’s threat of joining NATO and the presence of a neo-Nazi presence there as his reasons. Both these excuses held a little water, if Ukraine were to join NATO it would pose a far larger threat to Russia’s security – response time for example – than and need for the US to occupy Greenland in defence of her national security as Trump claims. Up to date UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has not called for a “coalition of the willing” (first coined by George W. Bush prior to his illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003) in defence of Greenland. Neither has he urged huge arms for the Danish territory to defend herself as is the case in Ukraine. So, where’s the difference between the activities of Putin and those promised by Trump? It could be argued at least Trump is not lying to the world as did Putin.

Donald Trump has also got his eyes on the mineral wealth in Ukraine, as has Putin, and has done a deal with the Ukrainian Government to secure some of this wealth. Two things could happen here. Firstly Trump and Putin could carve up Ukraine’s mineral wealth between them thus effectively making that country’s government irrelevant. Or, second, the two mighty nuclear powers could fall out and fight for this mineral wealth. The Russian Army have not proved too capable on the ground in the war with Ukraine. Then again, the US Army did not wrap themselves in glory during the Vietnam War or, more recently, in Afghanistan. In reality the ability of ground forces would be irrelevant in such a conflict, the nuclear arsenals would be the determining factor which Russia has the largest but the US the most modern. The sophistication of such weapons becomes of little relevance after the number of warheads pass the one hundred mark and both these countries surpass that number! Russia has around 5,700 nuclear warheads and the US approx. 3,700. This prospect of nuclear annihilation is pure supposition and may never come to pass. I’m merely looking at the possibilities of which there are many. This is a worst-case scenario which, let’s hope, never happens. 

The problem with Trump and Putin is the pair of them are a few loaves short of a bakery making them both unstable! My guess is that Trump will take the lion’s share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth under his deal with President Zelenskyy with Putin taking some of the wealth situated in the eastern provinces which, as part of an ending to the war, he will keep as Russian territories. If Trump takes over Greenland (and possibly Canada) that will give the USA enormous mineral wealth which belongs to somebody else! To quote VI Lenin; “what happens when the thieves fall out?”

Vladimir Putin recently stated of Trump's threats regarding Greenland; “they should be taken seriously” which, of course, if Trump does invade Greenland will give Putin, in his eyes, justification for his invasion of Ukraine. At least he had albeit punitive reasons for invading Ukraine, Donald Trump outside his own enigmatic imagination does not even have those for invading the militarily weak Greenland! On Friday 28th March 2025 United States Vice President, J.D. Vance and his wife, Usha, visited Greenland at what was considered a provocative time. He was visiting a US military base in Greenland in what appears to be his ‘right’ to do. So why choose this sensitive time to exercise this ‘right’ with tensions high between the US, Greenland and Denmark? Was there an ulterior motive behind the Vice President's presence? Could it have been a prelude to a leading US politician in the Trump administration taking up residence as Governor of Greenland? It is true, J.D. Vance did ‘scale back’ his visit confining it mainly to the US base and not, as was planned, venturing out into the capital, Nuuk.

Just as the majority of Ukrainians, certainly from central Ukraine to the Polish border in the west, do not want to be governed by Moscow neither do upwards of 85% of Greenlanders wish to have anything to do with the USA. The east of Ukraine may be a little different with many Russian speakers living there, but do they wish to be governed by Putin? The United States have no more right to Greenland than do Russia to Ukraine. Putin’s supposed grievances with Ukraine particularly NATO membership could have been resolved without invasion. All the US had to say, and still do, is words to the effect of; ‘if Ukraine applies to join NATO, then such an application will be refused’. Up to now the USA decisions carry the day in the alliance irrespective of what the other member states say and a Ukrainian application to join, and refused by the US, would be no exception. Such a commitment from NATO would take Putin’s flimsy excuse for invasion of Ukraine away. Even British Conservative MP, Michael Gove, is on record as saying, when asked, if Ukraine applied to join NATO would he agree? He said, categorically on the Andrew Marr show, “no”.

If Trump gets his way, and there is no reason why he will not, he will control the natural resources of both the Ukraine and Greenland! Some of these resources can go into nuclear weapons and this madman in the White House could increase the US nuclear arsenal to match and overtake that of Russia. Again this leads us to the possibility of nuclear war eventually - once the “thieves fall out” -  becoming a real possibility! 

These two brigands, Putin and Trump, are dangerous men with their fingers on even greater perilous nuclear buttons. What really makes me sick is the way western politicians hypocritically placate Trump while, at the same time, try to anger Putin. They are both as bad as each other and both a danger to humanity. The reaction of the electorates, that is those who for some reason consider themselves intelligent enough to cast their votes of peoples across Europe and the UK, angers me greater. They appear to, without question, ape the morons they elect into government on behalf of their respective bourgeoisie or ruling classes. If the results of what could happen were not possibly so far reaching, I’d say to these electorates, you elected these fucking idiots, you live with the consequences. Perhaps this attitude is a little flippant and there are those within these electorates, Marxists and non-Marxists, who do care. They are a minority but nevertheless significant but I think we will need a lot more than their protests to change things for the better. 

These world leaders, Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, Zelenskyy and now Starmer to name but five among many need to be removed. To use an old Red Action cartoon caption at the time of former Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev’s funeral; ‘are you going to Brezhnev’s funeral? Yea, join Red Action and help bury all the worlds leaders’! A sentiment which should be endorsed today.

Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

Greenland, Canada, Trump, Santa Claus, And Ukraine!

Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières ✏ Written by Naomi Klein. Recommended by Carrie Twomey.

The governing ideology of the far right has become a monstrous, supremacist survivalism. Our task is to build a movement strong enough to stop them.

The movement for corporate city states cannot believe its good luck. For years, it has been pushing the extreme notion that wealthy, tax-averse people should up and start their own high-tech fiefdoms, whether new countries on artificial islands in international waters (“seasteading”) or pro-business “freedom cities” such as Próspera, a glorified gated community combined with a wild west med spa on a Honduran island.

Yet despite backing from the heavy-hitter venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen, their extreme libertarian dreams kept bogging down: it turns out most self-respecting rich people don’t actually want to live on floating oil rigs, even if it means lower taxes, and while Próspera might be nice for a holiday and some body “upgrades”, its extra-national status is currently being challenged in court.

Now, all of a sudden, this once-fringe network of corporate secessionists finds itself knocking on open doors at the dead center of global power.

The first sign that fortunes were shifting came in 2023 . . . 

Continue @ ESSF.

Rise Of End Times Fascism

Independent Dublin Republicans 🎕 have organised an Easter commemoration parade. parade.

Date: 21-April-2025.
Assembly Point: Liberty Hall, Dublin.
Time: 1300.
Destination: GPO
Main Speaker: Liam MacCoitir, former POW in English jails and republican political activist.



Dublin Easter Parade Commemoration

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Six Hundred And Twenty Two

 

A Morning Thought @ 2564

 

A Morning Thought @ 2563

Dixie Elliot ✍ "Let no Irishman throw a stone at the foreigner; he may hit his own clansman” - James Connolly.


I removed this boyo Brendan Kelly from my list of friends, as I did Matt Treacy for the same reason - racism and the ignorance which accompanies it.


He had the neck to quote the Proclamation at me, well a very tiny piece of the Proclamation, 'in the name of God and etc...' (that was it in it's entirety) 'in the name of God and etc...')

Using the images of our dead patriots when you are a racist is an insult to those brave men and women. I'm certain that had Bobby Sands and his nine comrades, our comrades, been alive today they would be to the fore when it came to supporting the Palestinian people and welcoming immigrants to our country.

From the The Proclamation of the Republic:

"...and supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe..."

'Exiled children in America' - our people who were forced to leave their country in the hope of finding a better life in America but were greeted with racism as soon as they stepped off the ships and were herded like cattle through the processing station, Ellis Island.

The people today who come to Ireland seeking a better life, are fleeing wars, in many cases genocide, fostered mainly by the US who want to steal their national resources and put in place corrupt leaders who will willingly run the country on their behalf and give them free rein to take what they want.

As far as I'm concerned, regardless of race or religion, these people are our adopted children who should be guaranteed 'religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities' which were denied to our people, the Irish people, when first they reached the far-off shores of America.

...The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past...

James Connolly:

The record of the successive hosts of foreigners who came amongst us and, finding Ireland a green and pleasant land, chose to abide there ... Let no Irishman throw a stone at the foreigner; he may hit his own clansman.

That quote suggests that Ireland has always been a land of diverse peoples and that Irish people should not judge or criticize others simply because they are not native to the land.

Enough said... 
Thomas Dixie Elliot is a Derry artist and a former H Block Blanketman.
Follow Dixie Elliot on Twitter @IsMise_Dixie

Racism And The Ignorance That Accompanies It

Christy Walsh ✍ It is no exaggeration to say convicted felon Donald Trump has revived America’s dark past of slavery and wants to return to the days of penal colonies. 

The elements of some forms of slavery have not changed for millennia, specifically, chattel slavery (human property) involves slavers kidnaping unsuspecting victims as they go about their lives, then shackle, shave, mistreat and traffic/disappear them as part of the dehumanising process. Victims are quickly disappeared and kept incognito, leaving their families not knowing what happened to them or if they will see their loved ones again. The victim’s communities and families are terrorised and left in a state of nervous shock. Those left behind live in fear of ICE (slavers) returning. No one is safe, including children who are left traumatised and in fear.


ICE use ethnicity and tattoos to find their victims and not evidence of guilt. Evidence of criminality or unlawful entry into the US are not required. Willing ethnic accomplices (Latinos for Trump) and pardoned J6 insurrectionists help catch victims. Victims have political and economic value and the US/El Salvadorian relationship is purely a commercial transaction over chattel (property). ICE tactics have been so ruthlessly indiscriminate that schools and children with cancer can be targeted. It is for good reason, other countries have issued warnings, to their citizens, about the dangers of travelling to the US which has become a banana republic almost overnight.

None of the victims have committed any crimes in the United States or El Salvador. It only takes an “Opsie, too late” mistake for a person to be disappeared to El Salvador with no prospect of return.[1] A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman explained there was no need for evidence of criminality if prejudicial innuendo will be enough, "[they] are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters, and more. They just don't have a rap sheet in the U.S.”[2] There is no due process or presumption of innocence, and unlawful arrest and detention doesn’t properly explain what is occurring to these men. Internment involves incarceration by removal of due process and that too falls short to explain their plight. These men are not held on any lawful purpose but on the abuse of power to exercise complete ownership over them. Their capitivity in El Salvador involved a monetary exchange and that means slavery properly defines the whole torturous ordeal these men and their families are subject to: disappeared into one of the world’s most brutal prisons on no legitimate lawful grounds, no evidence of doing anything wrong, no visits, no phone calls, no legal representation, and no judicial oversight.

Pro bono lawyers and human rights bodies cannot communicate with the victims but are doing what they can in both the US and El Salvador – where applications for the sacred writ of habeas corpus cannot be enforced. Even illegal immigrants have Constitutional rights under the 5th Amendment. But in the eyes of two Dictators, Donald Trump and Nayib Bukele, slaves have no Constitutional or habeas corpus protection. The writ of habeas corpus originates from a case involving an escaped slave hiding in the hold of a ship in an English port: Slavers argued he was their chattel and wanted him returned but Lord Mansfield, Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, famously declared: ‘any man who breathes English air is a freeman.” (Somerset v Stewart case (1772)). Possession, or ownership, over Trump and Bukele’s victims is absolute and their victims are merely objects for the 2 dictators to negotiate the right price for their human chattel.

Slavery and inhuman and degrading treatment are universally prohibited. Both the United States and El Salvador are signatories to the American Convention on Human Rights "Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica". Both are guilty of violating Articles 5, 6 and 7 of the Convention. Article 6 prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude. Article 5 prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment. Article 7 protects the right to freedom and due process in both jurisdictions. The high profile case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has exposed the process, from its flaws, to the wilful intention to do wrong. Hopefully, Mr Garcia and his family will soon be reunited, but it must be remembered the other men trafficked and sold to El Salvador are all victims, along with their families and children. A US federal court has ordered his return.[3] But, the legitimacy of the US Courts hangs in the balance under the Trump Regime. In fact, 5 Supreme Court Justices are whores to Trump and his billionaire friends and undercut the Federal Judge by refusing to uphold his order. SCOTUS deference to the Trump Regime is reminiscent to a ruling in a 2009 by an Australian Judge, John Dyson Heydon KC:

The proceedings reveal a strange alliance. A party which has a duty to assist the court in achieving certain objectives fails to do so. A court which has a duty to achieve those objectives does not achieve them. The torpid languor of one hand washes the drowsy procrastination of the other.[4]

No one can enforce civil or human rights law in corrupt authoritarian regimes especially where their Supreme Court Justices are subservient to dictators and bribes. The most the Trump Regime will do is confirm that Mr Garcia is still alive[5]. That was assumed, but that raises the question have other men died? Did Mr Garcia and/or other men suffer any serious injuries during their ill-treatment? Are they receiving regular meals and access to water? Do they get medical treatment for any injuries? Can the International Red Cross be granted access for a welfare check on these men?

The preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has particular relevance to the Trump Regime’s manifold attacks on democracy and civil society:

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.*

Martin Niemöller’s poem ‘First They Came’, warns of the dangers of silence and not speaking out against oppression and tyranny. Now Trump has stated his intention to subject US citizens to being disappeared to El Salvador[6] for as little as causing criminal damage to a car[7]. During Monday’s meeting between Trump and Bukele, both men were in open agreement about Trump creating an archaic penal colony in El Salvador for US citizens. And every citizen should be concerned how both dictators expressed their disinterest in fixing mistakes. One reason the Trump Regime might be steadfastly against fixing its admitted mistake with Mr Garcia, is because it knows if it fixes it they might have to ‘fix’ the whole flawed and unlawful enterprise. 

The US is an emerging pariah state, aligning itself with the world’s worst tyrants and dictators by showing it has no regard for fundamental human rights of either citizens, migrant workers or asylum seekers. It is not unimaginable that Trump might rendition political opponents to Moscow or start pushing them out windows.

* Note: many observers have been short sighted to believe that Trump would selflessly help Elon Musk to become the world’s first Trillionaire, I’d say from his known egomaniac criminal propensity, Trump has his eye on that goal for himself.

References

[1] See After Judge Blocks Alien Enemies Act, White House Claims Nearly 300 Already Deported, 

[2] See U.S. sent 238 migrants to Salvadoran mega-prison; documents indicate most have no apparent criminal records. 

[3] See Judge demands daily updates on return plan for Maryland man wrongly deported to El Salvador. 

[4] AON Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University (2009) 239 CLR 175.

[5] See Mistakenly deported man is alive and detained in El Salvador, Trump admin says. 

[6] See White House Confirms Trump Is Exploring Ways To ‘Deport’ U.S. Citizens.

[7] See Trump Threatens to Jail Tesla Vandals in El Salvador Prisons. 

⏩ Christy Walsh was stitched up by the British Ministry of Defence in a no jury trial and spent many years in prison as a result.

Trump's Slave Trade 2025 🪶 Kidnapped, Trafficked And Sold

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