FLYING SPIDERS!

On June 30, 2022July 6, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Current Event Report, Ireland, Natural History, Nature in the CityLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time main text: 2 mins.)

To an arachnophobe, the very idea of flying spiders must be a terrifying thought but they would reassure themselves that such a thing is only possible in horror movies. I am sorry to disabuse them but in fact many spiders do fly … and in fact, they’re flying in Ireland right now.

“Flying” might be a slight misnomer – “ballooning” might be more accurate, though they don’t use balloons. What they do is let out a line of silk – standard spider equipment – into rising warm air, or perhaps a breeze and …. up and away they go.

If it’s any consolation to the arachnophobes, the spider aeronauts are tiny – and probably need to be so for the airlift to work. On Wednesday in Dublin, at least three landed on me – one on my hand, one on my neck where I could feel the tickling (sorry, ararachnophobes!) and one on my bike, where it began to spin a web before I flicked it away to spin it somewhere else.

Traditionally, these have been called “money spiders” – apparently the folk belief or fancy was that if they landed on you, they meant good luck: as they symbolised a new suit being woven for you they were a prediction of an increase of wealth coming your way. They were landing on people all around Dublin on Thursday¹ but wealth is coming sadly only to the same people as before: i.e native and foreign capitalists, property and finance speculators and landlords.

Looking up “money spiders” on the Internet, I find reference to Linyphidae which reminds me of Linyphia, that I recall² spins those “hammock” webs in the hedges or bushes that you only really notice when they’re covered in dew.

Hammock or “sheet webs” of Linyphidae visible on foliage because of dew beading (*Photo cred: James McNish*)

But I had no ideal that “Linyphidae is a family of very small spiders comprising 4,706 described species in 620 genera³ worldwide. This makes Linyphiidae the second largest family of spiders after the Salticidae. The family is poorly understood due to their small body size and wide distribution, they are actually the most 3rd venomous spider worldwide⁴ after the black widow and Brazilian wandering spider;[citation needed] new genera and species are still being discovered throughout the world. The newest such genus is one from from Nepal …… Since it is so difficult to identify such tiny spiders, there are regular changes in taxonomy⁵ as species are combined or divided.”⁶

But wait a minute! No mention of our common wolf spider, which is small but not tiny except for its young, which I remember also take to the air. Was mine a false memory? Or was Crompton mistaken in Life of the Spider? So, I do a quick on-line check on the Wolf Spider into Wikipedia and yes, it mentions how the mother carries the tiny young on her back but …. no mention of them flying! However, a little more digging into the Internet (because it’s hard to believe I have been so mistaken about this for so long) and …. I find the reference! Yes, the young of Pardosa amentata, a species in the big family of wolf spiders, do also take to the air.

This is a small dark brown spider which you are most likely to see running over dry parched earth, especially when it cracks a bit, or over a stone or concrete path. It does not construct webs but runs its prey down, hence the “wolf” part of its name but unlike the wolf, Pardosa amentata hunts alone.

When she has been fertilised (whether her mate got away alive or not), she will weave a silk sheet into which she will lay her eggs and which she will then bind up into a round pill-shape, before strapping it on to her body underneath her abdomen. Since the egg-case is usually off-white, to a quick look it will appear that this is a brown spider with a white abdomen and most people who spend any time in a garden will have seen these⁷.

About real size (on standard laptop screen), Lycosa female carrying her egg-sac under her abdomen (*Photo cred: Wikipedia Commons*)

She carries this at all times, even when hunting or escaping from prey. She is very protective of that egg-case and if it is removed, Compton wrote, will try hard to retrieve it, even daring an ant-lion⁸ funnel to save it.

When she senses her young are are ready, she bites the egg-case open and tiny spiderlets come tumbling out, crawl up her legs and sit on her back, all linked legs, sometimes three layers deep.

Now when you see her, it looks like she is furry on the back or maybe has some kind of infestation. If the young are brushed off, she will try to wait for them to find her and climb back on. With egg-case or young, she can stil hunt and does but I don’t think anything is known of how the young receive alimentation – if indeed they do at all. Anyway, one day soon it’s goodbye Mam, goodbye back-travel mates and up they climb along stems and branches, let out the silk line …. wait …. wait …. wait …. YES! Up and up, soaring into the sky, to come down in …. somewhere. If they live that long.

Female wolf spider (family Lycosidae, magnified many times) carrying her young spiderlings on her abdomen (*Photo cred: Science Photo Library*)

Then they have to find prey that they can handle at their tiny size, avoid other predators, grow, moult, grow, moult until one day they will be a hopeful mature female or a hopeful and very cautious male. If the former, the cycle will begin again, all taking place in the space of only a couple of years.

But right now, all over Ireland, the little spider-nauts are flying …. and landing, somewhere near you.

End.

Ballooning spiderlet on a human finger (*enlarged around x400 — images sourced internet*)

Especially for arachnophobes — cover of Crompton’s book (*Image sourced: Internet*)

FOOTNOTES

1Apologies again to arachnophobes.

2I read John Crompton’s Life of the Spider (Mentor, UK, 1954) as a child and remember a lot of what I read there.

3Genera is the plural of genus and means the overall group after the family which is then divided into species. For example the wolves, coyotes, hyenas, foxes and the domestic dog are all members of the overall family Canidae, but that itself is divided into 12 genera, of which Canis is the one to which the wolves Canis lupus and their descendants the domestic dog Canis (lupus) familiaris belong, while the foxes belong to the genus Vulpes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_canids

4Even should this be true, their tiny jaws are unable to pierce human skin; the spiderlet itself is no bigger than the head of an ordinary sewing pin.

5The branch of science concerned with classification, in particular of life-forms.

6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linyphiidae

7I’ve also seen a yellowish spider in water margins carrying a similar egg-case.

8The ant-lion is something like the “sand-worms” in the fictional Dune series, except that they remain in their funnel in a tip in the sand, waiting for the unwary traveler when their head emerges with fearsome jaws and …. well, you can imagine the rest.

SOURCES & USEFUL LINKS

“Money spiders”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linyphiidae

Wolf Spider (no mention of ballooning young): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider
Wolf Spider young fly: https://a-z-animals.com/blog/baby-wolf-spider-facts-unbelievable-pictures/
Wolf Spider with flying young Ireland: https://irelandswildlife.com/wolf-spider-pardosa-amentata/

Different spiders, different types of web: https://moleculestomammals.com/2020/08/23/types-of-spider-web/comment-page-1/

Spiders in Ireland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_arachnids_of_Ireland

MIXED FOOTBALL TEAMS COMING?

On June 29, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Catalonia, Catalunya, Cultural Comment, Current Affairs Comment, Spanish State, WomenLeave a comment

Translation from piece in Catalan on VilaWeb

(Reading time: one min.)

Women’s football will become universal in Catalonia starting from the 2022-2023 season. Both field and indoor soccer players may participate in any male category within the territory, whether amateur or grassroots. This has been determined by vote of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Catalan Football Federation (FCF), held at the Ciudad Deportiva de Blanes, where the Catalan clubs have voted in favour of this new step for full equality between men’s and women’s football.

Barca women’s soccer team were in the teams of five different nations in the international championship in France in 2019.

The regulatory change will enable any female soccer player to process a federative license in a male team, starting this Friday, July 1, coinciding with the official start of the new soccer year. Consequently the cap for mixed football, now set in the cadet category, is eliminated, also incorporating players of youth and amateur age, who will be able to compete up to the Men’s Youth Preferred, in the first case, and up to the First Catalan, 2022-2023 season, and the Super League, 2023-2024 season, in the second.

Barcelona women’s team beat Espanyol (despite name, another Catalan team) to become Catalan champions in 2018. (*Image processed by CodeCarvings Piczard ### FREE Community Edition)*

Likewise the FCF will give a new impulse to women’s football through the development of the Women’s Football and Indoors Committee, which will be in charge of setting out the main lines for action in this area throughout the entire mandate.

end.

SOURCE & FURTHER INFORMATION:

https://www.vilaweb.cat/noticies/futbolistes-podran-participar-qualsevol-categoria-masculina-catalunya/?fbclid=IwAR1RFjQn1RUD6jBDAltTA7bnJCwAlVXyaapIJtcAPReSS6MWDgsMSrWxsjA

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/sports/article/2022/05/21/fc-barcelona-the-new-stronghold-of-women-s-soccer-in-europe_5984201_9.html

HUGE DEMONSTRATION IN MADRID AGAINST NATO AND IMPERIALISM

On June 27, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Anti-War, Current Event Report, Imperialism, Popular Resistance, Spanish State, US ImperialismLeave a comment

Rebel Breeze translation

(Reading time: one minute)

On 26th June 2022 tens of thousands took to the streets of Madrid in a rejection of NATO and imperialism. In addition to the people mobilised by the organisations and groups of the anti-NATO movement in Madrid, numerous buses were chartered from all over the state. The NATO Summit that was about to be held in Madrid (28 and 30th) has made it possible, after an important effort, to begin to revitalise and rebuild a movement opposing the armed wing of imperialism.

The groups attending with their slogans were many, from the anti-imperialist movement to some pacifist groups, through numerous organisations of the labour and popular movement, such as combative trade unionism or pensioners’ groups. Also noteworthy were representatives from abroad, such as a group of South Koreans against NATO, people from other European countries or groups from the Arab world, highlighting those who defend occupied Palestine and Western Sahara.

The repression has intensified during the previous two weeks and days: the city of Madrid has been militarised, organisers have even been arrested, they have been detained and threatened in their homes or they have been singled out in the press. Another demonstration called for the day of the summit, Wednesday the 29th, has been banned by the Government.

A section of the huge march on Sunday in Madrid (*Photo: Insurgente.es*)

COMMENT:

In addition to slogans against NATO (OTAN in Spanish), imperialism and war, one can also hear slogans specifically calling for the dismantling of NATO bases.

Not only will this huge demonstration and other acts in opposition to the summit lead to an intensification of general anti-imperialist struggle and against Spanish state repression but it will also likely encourage the forces for independence among the nations within the Spanish state, the Basque and Catalan nations and the Celtic nations of Galiza and Asturies.

SOURCES

https://insurgente.org/miles-de-personas-llenan-las-calles-de-madrid-contra-la-otan-y-el-imperialismo/

NATO bases in the Spanish state: https://east-usa.com/us-military-bases-in-spain.html

FREE STATE SHELLING OF THE FOUR COURTS COMMEMORATED IN DUBLIN

On June 26, 2022August 5, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Current Event Report, History, Imperialism, Ireland, Irish Civil War, Irish Left, Irish Republicanism, National Liberation, Song in StruggleLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 3 mins.)

A crowd gathered in Dublin today to commemorate the Free State opening fire on the Four Courts on 28^th June 1922, an event that began what is usually called “the Civil War” which lasted until 1923 (with State assassinations until 1924). The UK supplied the cannons and shells used by the Free State’s “National Army” along with munitions, including small arms and ammunition, armoured cars, army lorries and even coastal naval vessels. The conflict has also been called a “counterrevolution” and “the UK’s proxy war” with more Republicans executed by the new Irish State^¹ in that conflict than had been by the British State over the whole 1916-1921 period.

Section of NGA march outside Croppies’ Acre (*Photo sourced: Internet*)

One hundred years ago this month, the IRA under the command of Rory O’Connor occupied and fortified the Four Courts complex, last occupied as a fighting post during the 1916 Rising. The Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioning the country and giving the Free State the status of a Dominion country had been narrowly accepted by the delegates to the First Dáil, the Irish Parliament previously banned by the UK State. However by far the majority of the military part of the Irish resistance – the IRA, Cumann na mBan and na Fianna, along with the remnants of the Irish Citizen Army – were opposed to the Treaty. The occupation of the Four Courts was seen by the Free State government as a challenge to its authority and by the British Government as a threat of anti-colonial struggle being renewed. Both parties were hostile to any radical republican, socialist or socialist-republican program.

Free State Army attacking the Republican garrison of the Four Courts with artillery, rifle and machine-gun fire. (*Photo sourced: Internet*)

On 28^th June the Free State opened fire from British cannon on the Four Courts from Bridge Street on the south side of the river and the Civil War – or Counterrevolution – had begun. By the time the Republicans conceded defeat (and some assassinations continued even after it officially ended) perhaps around 1,300 had been killed. From January 1922 to April 1924, according to the Republican Roll of Honour, 426 anti-Treaty Volunteers had been killed, some 25 of these died fighting British and Northern Irish forces. Most anti-Treaty dead were IRA Volunteers, but some were Na Fianna members and four were women of Cumann na mBan^².

Poster commemorating one of the Republicans killed by the Free State (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

One of the commemorative posters attached to lampposts (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

On the Free State side just under 800 died, of whom 488 fell in enemy action, others due to accidents or illness, while seven were executed having deserted to the Republican side. “To this total should be added a small number of police, including four from the Civic Guard (later renamed Garda Síochána), four from the Criminal Investigation Department and two from the Citizens’ Defence Force, who were killed from 1922-1924^³.”

The NGA rally, the MC (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

View of the crowd at the rally outside the Four Courts (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

Dorney remarks on omissions in the Last Post record and concludes: “Even allowing for this, though, the total of anti-Treaty IRA dead in the Civil War is not likely to be much more than about 500, of whom 81 died before Free State firing squads and more than 100 were summarily executed in reprisals.”

Many Irish Republicans also emigrated to avoid repression or because they were being denied employment.

The Irish State today is a direct descendant, legally and in other ways, of the Free State of 1922 and all periods since.

Senior Garda officer taking notes while speakers are addressing the crowd (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

The commemorative event in Dublin today was organised by the National Graves Association (Cumann Uaigheanna na Laochra Gael), an organisation which since its founding in 1926 has been maintaining the graves of Irish patriots, arranging for the installation of gravestones, plaques and monuments and also organising commemorative events.

Before marching to the Four Courts, participants formed up in groups in the road outside Croppies’ Acre, a public park over a mass grave of victims of the English state’s repression of the United Irishmen and their supporters in 1798, now across the road from the Collins Barracks National Museum. They were led by a lone piper and colour party, followed by people in double ranks flying Starry Plough flags and carrying banners of history and conservation groups, along with some other flags, including that of Cumann na mBan.

Section of the lineup waiting to start, outside Croppies’ Acre (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

At the rally outside the Liffeyside of the Four Courts, the organisers had an MC with number of speakers to read out the 1922 Proclamation, the lyrics of The Soldiers of Twenty-Two^⁴ and Tim Horgan to give a keynote oration. At least one floral wreath was laid in honour of those who fought there and a number of posters attached to lampposts commemorated the three Volunteers who were fatally wounded there: Thomas Wall, Joe Considine and Sean Cusack.

Reading the lyrics of *Soldiers of Twenty-Two* (*Photo sourced: D.Breatnach*)

It is almost certainly the case that it is the NGA which has erected the majority of patriotic struggle commemorative plaques around the country, with most of the remainder being organised by local authorities, local history groups and old comrades’ associations – a very small proportion being the work of the State. As stated on its website, the objectives of the Association have always been: to restore, where necessary, and maintain fittingly the graves and memorials of our patriot dead from every generation; to commemorate those who died in the cause of Irish freedom; to compile a record of such graves and memorials.

The NGA’s general alignment is unequivocal: “Only a 32 County Irish Republic represents the true aspiration of those who gave their lives for Irish freedom.⁵“

Reading the 1922 Proclamation (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

One might assume that every participant at the event today was of a definite political bent, yet not a single party or political organisation banner was to be seen on the march or at the rally. This is because participants were asked in advance not to bring any banners or placards of political organisational allegiance. As the Chairperson of the rally informed the audience, the NGA is not affiliated to any political party or organisation and furthermore does not accept contributions from any such nor from the State – in order to continue to guarantee the NGA’s independence. In fact, members of its governing body are not even permitted to belong to a political party. A senior Garda officer however, of least at Inspector rank, took down details in his notebook as the rally was addressed by speakers.

Main speaker, Tim Horgan (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

Patriots of the United Irishmen, the Young Irelanders, the Fenians, the Land League, na Fianna Éireann, Irish Volunteers, Cumann na mBan, IRA, Official and Provisional IRA, the Irish National Liberation Army etc have all been commemorated by the NGA. According to Wikipedia, since its founding, the NGA has erected, or accepted into its care, over 500 monuments and memorials throughout Ireland.

Banner of one of the groups attending (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

Some of those in attendance (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

A number of other Civil War/ Counterrevolution commemorative and discussion events will be taking place at least during this year, two of which will take place next week (see photos of leaflet).

The Gardaí remained at the scene as people dispersed. Passing by again shortly afterwards, we found the floral wreath had been removed.

End.

Lowering of the flags in honour of the martyrs (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

Civil War/ Counterrevolution commemoration (*image: photograph of flyer*)

Forthcoming talk (*image: photograph of flyer*)

FOOTNOTES

1Official executions are usually listed as 81 or 83, these having been subjected to some kind of military judicial process (but without any jury). However, apart from IRA fighters killed in battle, a number of captured combatants were murdered (such as those of the Ballyseedy Massacre on March 7^th 1923) while known activists were assassinated by Garda-Army squads operating from Oriel House. Often, the murdered had been tortured first.

2 The Republican Roll of Honour, The Last Post.

3 https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/what-was-the-real-death-toll-of-the-irish-civil-war-1.4858308

4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKOSCuLtlAY for a rendition of this song. It author seems unknown.

5From Wikipedia entry

USEFUL LINKS

https://www.facebook.com/NationalGravesAssociation

http://www.nga.ie/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Graves_Association

Ballyseedy Massacre: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/stories-of-the-revolution-ballyseedy-and-the-civil-war-s-worst-atrocity-1.2462070

Varadkar admitted those killed without trial had been murdered: https://www.thejournal.ie/free-state-executions-4387452-Dec2018/

The Irish Civil War: Law, Execution and Atrocity

Death toll: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/what-was-the-real-death-toll-of-the-irish-civil-war-1.4858308

The other side — Ukrainian artillery pounding Donetsk

On June 19, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Video by Patrick Lancaster at the scene

Total watching time (but can view sections): 36.15mins.

INTRODUCTION by D.Breatnach: In a modern war, artillery will be fired by both sides. Often, civilian sites will be hit even if not actually targeted (which they sometimes are too). At the back of our minds, we know and realise this. But if we rely on the mass media in the West, it seems like in the Ukraine, it is only the Russians that are shelling, only the Russians that are hitting civilian factories and homes. And actually targeting them, we are told. Patrick Lancaster, a war journalist has been showing us the other side, for which he has been labelled many things, among which the mildest is “Russian shill” — as though the Western mass media is independent, objective and non-aligned.

Patrick Lancaster, a US citizen and ex-US Navy, has been covering this conflict since March 2014 when he arrived in Ukraine to document the exit polls in the middle of the Crimea independence referendums but has covered other areas in the past. Currently he covers the conflict from inside anti-Ukraine Government-controlled territory, very often near the front line. On May 20 of 2022, Lancaster shared the breaking information about the Deputy Commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Andrei Play who was killed in the midst of the battle in Mariupol. .

In this video coverage we can note a number of things:

The frequency of shells hitting the area.
That shells are hitting houses and what seems to be a civilian factory and infrastructure.
Some of those engaging are trying to deal with the situation with humour and, in one scene, singing and some of the women are quite cheerful.
Patrick Lancaster (unlike many of the Western journalists reporting) is clearly in some danger and he goes down stairways very quickly (stairways are the most vulnerable if hit by bombs since they are in a shaft within the building). His guide/ security person and camera person (possibly Russian military) is also at risk.
Some of the civilians seem to fear being filmed — why, if the film is anti-Ukrainian forces? This seems to indicate a fear of the Ukrainian forces, should they manage to capture the area. Let’s remember that Donetsk has been under attack for eight years before the Russian invasion this year.
Inside the factory basement (using it as a bomb shelter) there is a boy who doesn’t remember a time when there was no war there — again, let’s remember that Donetsk has been under attack for eight years before the Russian invasion this year.
Patrick ends up helping paramedics and a neighbour to evacuate a civilian wounded in the foot (lost a fair amount of blood)

Looks like I am being prevented from embedding the video but you can find it on this link: https://odysee.com/@PatrickLancasternewstoday:c/intense-shelling-hits-center-donetsk:2?fbclid=IwAR0xh5M5Pi68445eoqA3GvWHfrQ_7Jg5irTB1R2Yhc4t32j9NUKMdCBKfb0

It should be clear that we are being fed a very selective diet in the western media coverage of this conflict.

end.

TRADITIONAL & UNESCO FESTIVAL CHANTS FOR CATALAN INDEPENDENCE

On June 18, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Cultural Comment, Current Event Report, Folk Custom, History, National Liberation, Popular Resistance, Song in Struggle, Spanish State, Traditions & Folk CustomLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 2 mins.)

This year’s celebration of the Patum 2022 festival in Berga has sung and chanted for independence. With the square full of about 6,000 people on Thursday, the massive Catalan independence flag, the Estelada (with the white star in a blue triangle)¹ was launched across the crowd as they sang the Catalan national anthem, Els Segadors² (the Reapers).

With the song finished, some began to shout “independencia” (independence) and this was quickly taken up by the mass, revisiting the tradition of protest that existed before the pandemic. The Catalan independence movement has been somewhat becalmed of late, with serious divisions between the two main nationalist political parties and a lack of grass-roots activity.

Scene with traditional giant figures from the festival (*Photo sourced: Internet*)

The Patum festival is a traditional Catalan festival of great importance and is recognised by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. “The fiesta coincides with Corpus Christi and includes a whole series of theatrical representations, characters and figures that fill the town of Berga every spring. It is a religious commemoration that dates back to the Middle Ages, which has managed to preserve both its religious and profane roots.

“La Patum de Berga has been held annually for centuries during Corpus Christi, and includes street entertainment and shows with different figures typical of these fiestas (giants, “big-heads”, eagles, guitas (dragons), plens (devils)). Fire and dance play a central role. The fiesta really gets underway on the Thursday of Corpus Christi, with the Ceremonial Patum. The salto de plens is the apotheosis of the fiesta. It represents an infernal orgy where fire devils jump to the rhythm of music. The following day is the Children’s Patum.”³

Scene with the giant Catalan independence flag during the singing and chanting at the festival on Thursday (*Photo sourced: Internet*)

Berga is in the Barcelona region but over 107km from the city (and about half-way to Andorra). The Patum Festival of this year 2022, which began Wednesday, June 15 and will last until Sunday, June 19, was expected to be even more crowded than usual after two years in a row without being able to celebrate it due to the pandemic.

end.

Video of the singing, chanting and the huge flag (you have to view this on Facebook; strangely I couldn’t find one on Youtube): https://www.facebook.com/salva.mateu/videos/966147484078737

FOOTNOTES

1The other Catalan nationalist flag commonly seen is the Vermelha, with a red star and no blue. The white X on a black background is also flown but more rarely, it draws on history also and signifies ‘death before surrender’.

2An anarchist, Emili Guanyavents won the competition to compose the national anthem lyrics in 1899 and based it upon a traditional historical cultural expression arising out of an uprising of Catalan rural workers in 1640 against the chief minister of Philip IV of Spain. The lyrics are, as might be expected, very militant and, since even the Catalan lanugage was banned, the song was of course banned during the four decades of the Spanish Franco dictatorship

3 https://www.spain.info/en/calendar/fiesta-patum-berga/

SOURCES

https://www.spain.info/en/calendar/fiesta-patum-berga/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Els_Segadors

PROTEST ABOUT POLICE EVICTIONS AT STORE STREET GARDA STATION

On June 13, 2022June 14, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Capitalism, Current Event Report, Housing Struggle, Human Rights, Ireland, Irish Left, Irish RepublicanismLeave a comment

Clive Sulish

(Reading time: 1 min.)

Passers-by on foot and on the Luas tram lines watched curiously as housing activists and others held a picket outside Store Street Garda station in Dublin on the evening of 13^th June 2022. The picket was called for by the Revolutionary Workers Union, protesting the taking by over 80 Gardaí of a house on Eden Quay and arresting of two occupants, followed by the arrest of another two activists near another address.

Poster advertising the event on social media. (*Image sourced: Internet*)

The picket was called at fairly short notice and supported by people from a variety of political backgrounds, all with what were clearly home-made placards. Picketing a police station is somewhat counter-intuitive, given that’s to where the police take their prisoners and most people want to stay away from those places, with good reason. However, the station is the location of the police symbolically and in reality and Store Street is one of the main ones in Dublin so, when one wants to protest about the police …… Once having protested at a police station, the apprehension is never quite the same again.

Some passers-by stopped to ask what the protest was about, some of whom expressed anger at the actions of the Gardaí and a reporter from an independent media interviewed some of the participants.

Picketers outside Store Street Garda Station, Dublin City centre on Monday. (*Photo: Rebel Breeze*)

Some time later the picketers were addressed by Seán Doyle of the RWU who spoke about the morality of the landlords and speculators and the Gardaí who work for them. Doyle contrasted that morality with the one that saw provision for need instead of profit. During the course of his address, Doyle pointed out that the RWU knows people who work in emergency interventions such as with people attempting suicide, who are then brought to agencies to help them but who are soon out again and homeless. “This is not ‘ethnic cleansing’,” the activist said, “it’s class cleansing.”

The RWU spokesperson at the picket remarked on the use of the law and the Gardaí against housing activists while speculators and landlords make big profits out of the misery of homelessness. A law that upholds and defends that kind of practice must be defied, he stated as he drew to a close.

Some of the picketers on Monday (Sean Doyle is second to the right). (*Photo: Rebel Breeze*)

Seán Doyle was one of two activists that were removed recently by over 80 Gardaí from a one-and-a-half years empty homeless hostel which the RWU had “acquisitioned” and renamed “James Connolly House”. Another premises subsequently acquisitioned, also empty for a long period, the RWU renamed “Liam Mellowes House” and the Gardaí arrested two activists near there also, despite any occupation of the building being a civil law matter and outside the remit of the Gardaí.

The RWU on a number of occasions have called on people to “take back empty buildings” and have declared that they will not be intimidated by arrests but will continue to fight for the right of people to a secure home.

Another view of part of the picket on Monday (*Photo: Rebel Breeze*)

One of the home-made placards at the event. (*Photo: Rebel Breeze*)

End.

A placard denounces the recent 80+ Garda eviction of “James Connolly House” and arrest of two occupants (*Photo: Rebel Breeze*)

FURTHER INFORMATION

https://www.facebook.com/JamesConnollyHouse

https://www.facebook.com/revolutionaryworkersfront/

BILBAO ACTIVISTS FORM BROAD COALITION AGAINST NATO & WAR

On June 11, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Análises Político, Anti-War, Current Affairs Comment, Current Event Report, Euskal Herria, Imperialism, NATO, Political Analysis, Popular Resistance, Spanish State, US ImperialismLeave a comment

On 2^nd June a number of Left anti-imperialist organisations and individuals held a public rally in Bilbo/ Bilbao. The municipal authority refused them use of a building and they held it in the open air in the Etxebarrieta Square. The organisers issued a statement in Euskera (Basque language) and Castillian (Spanish) calling for unity against the war plans of NATO and the EU and denounced the equivocating posture of the ‘official’ left Basque movement, denounced also the militarism of the Spanish coalition Government and advertised a joint demonstration for 18^th June in Moyua, on the south side of the river in Bilbao¹.

STATEMENT ISSUED BY COORDINATING GROUP (translated by D.Breatnach from Castilian Spanish version published in Ecuador Etxea)

For several weeks, various people and groups from Bilbao, Meatzaldea, Uribe-Kosta, Ezkerraldea and Busturialdea² have been coming together in this broad initiative to respond to the escalation of war that we are seeing around us. An escalation of war promoted by NATO, with the aim of shielding the world hegemony of the United States against the rise of emerging powers such as China, India, Iran or Russia. A strategy that is doomed to failure, but that will cause, if we do not prevent it first, destruction, misery and death throughout the planet.

In Bilbo/ Bilbao 2nd June, reading the declaration and call to unite and for rally on 18 June in Basque and Castillian (Spanish). (*Photo source: Ecuador Etxea*)

In relation to the conflict in Ukraine, we believe that in no case can one speak of an inter-imperialist struggle between the NATO countries and Russia. Rather, it is an offensive planned for years to overthrow the legitimate government led by Vladimir Putin and gain control of Russian energy resources and markets. A policy of looting and plundering that the current Russian President put a stop to, no matter how hard it is for some to admit it. Ukraine is nothing more than the operations base and the cannon fodder of Atlanticist imperialism against its historical enemy, Russia.

Many on the Left say that the Russia of today is not the Soviet Union of yesterday. And they are completely correct. The problem is that even the slightest economic planning for social purposes by any State has become an obstacle to the viability of the parasitic capitalism that we live under. There we have the cases of Slovdan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi, sadly imprisoned and/or executed in the face of complicit silence or the enthusiastic support of what they call the “international community.”

Those of us who are here today have already learned our lesson: first they demonize the currently out of favour ruler through the media, and then they justify military offensives and imperialist massacres. That is why at this time we cannot make the mistake of placing ourselves at equidistance. Both Russia and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics have every right in the world to defend themselves against the aggressions of NATO and the EU, which conspire and supply weapons to fascist governments like Zelensky’s to harass Russia and destabilize the region. Not to mention the openly Nazi battalions captured in Azovstal, whose release France and Germany now demand in order to advance in the negotiations. What do European governments owe the Nazis in Azov? What do they have to hide and why do they intend to buy their silence?

The truth is that we still do not know the exact reason why the States of the European Union have completely bowed to the interests of the United States. It is evident that the sanctions against Russia and the new oil and gas supply routes imposed by the US only benefit the Yankee tycoons, the Arab sheikhs and the absolutist monarchies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates. NATO vassals like Borrell have definitively cast the old European project into History’s dump. They prioritize profit and military spending to the detriment of the health and living conditions of the broad masses and announce a future of misery and sacrifice for a war in favor of a capitalism that is against us. The European Union is definitely a rotting political corpse, in case anyone ever thought that it could have been a progressive alternative or for oppressed nations like ours.

Arnaldo Otegi, leader of “the institutional Abertzale Left” (Basque left-nationalist movement). (*Photo source: Internet*)

Precisely here in the Basque Country, the official position of the institutional Abertzale Left³ regarding what is happening in the Ukraine is especially embarrassing. It seems unbelievable that those who proclaim themselves heirs to the historic struggles of the Basque Working People, a people of which the majority in 1986 opposed remaining in this criminal organization⁴, now wave the flag of “no to war” and of ambiguity. It seems immoral to us, both the pacifism that denies the just right to defense of those who are attacked by imperialism, as well as the lukewarm posture of those who do not take a stand, thus facilitating the advance of imperialism. Anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism must be cultivated day by day, if we do not want the ideological and cultural offensive of NATO and the EU to continue having effect, in particular among the sons and daughters of the working class. Thirty-six years later we unambiguously reaffirm ourselves in NO to NATO, no to FASCISM, no to GENOCIDAL IMPERIALISM.

As we said, we are witnessing an implacable propaganda to make us part of this imperialist strategy, so that we do not rebel against what is happening. While they continue to spread one-sided thinking through the big media, television channels that question the official story — such as Russia Today — are closed without the slightest shame, content on the Internet is censored by appealing to supposed “verified information”, journalists like Pablo González⁵ are imprisonedor political information is systematically eliminated from our streets. They not only want to indoctrinate us, they directly deny us the right to be informed. Where are the defenders of freedom of expression? Are we already living in a hidden state of emergency?

It is our obligation, therefore, to denounce, not only the rise of international fascism, but also the fertile ground that the fascists have in the Spanish State of the bannings, the GAL⁶, the closure of newspapers and the systematic torture of political dissidents⁷. Atlantic capitalism will never be able to find a better ally than the PSOE⁸, veritable experts in the art of manipulating and deceiving the working and broad masses. Sadly, there are times when collective memory seems too fragile. Of course, for this new phase they have found a faithful shield-bearer, the party of Yolanda Díaz⁹. Seconds were never good, we are already seeing where these wolves in sheep’s clothing are leading us…

We said at the beginning that different people have come together to counteract this hegemonic discourse that manipulates consciences and protects the sequestration of rights and freedoms. From Muskiz to Gernika we rebel today here against this ominous imperialist offensive. All this suffering is not necessary, there is no reason to accept the misery and the war to which NATO and the EU want to condemn us. It is also not the time to stay at home watching, or to follow the war as if it were a video game.

We therefore issue a call to all the towns and neighborhoods of Euskal Herria and other nations to continue organizing the fight against imperialism, capitalism and fascism. And we also invite all the people who are against the imperialist offensive of NATO and the EU to participate in the demonstration that we will carry out in Bilbao, on June 18 at 6:30 p.m. from the Plaza Elíptica.

NO TO NATO! NO TO THE EUROPEAN UNION! NO TO IMPERIALISM!

End statement.

TRANSLATOR FOOTNOTES

1Which is also the location of the representation of the Spanish State in Bizkaia and guarded by armed police.

2A number of towns and districts across the SW Basque province of Bizkaia.

3The ‘official’ leadership of the left-Basque independence movement, e.g the EH Bildu party under the leadership of Arnaldo Otegi and others.

4In the 1986 referendum on whether to remain in NATO, the Basque Country gave the highest majority for No, with the Canaries and Catalonia coming behind. For the whole Spanish state, nearly 57% voted Yes against 43.15%.

5Basque freelance journalist reporting for Publico (Spanish left online media) and La Sexta, threatened and advised to leave Ukraine by state intelligence services, which he did but arrested by Polish intelligence on 28 February as he was about to re-enter Ukraine with a group of journalists. Poland has charged him with spying for Russia but to date produced no evidence and even denied him access to his lawyer. The Spanish State sent intelligence service agents to question his wife, mother and friends.

6GAL: A Spanish state terror and assassination organisation of the 1980s operating against the Basque resistance which was exposed as led by the Prime Minister (though never even questioned) Felipe Gonzales and directed operationally by the Minister of the Interior and senior Army and Police officers, a number of which received prison sentences.

7The Spanish state has long been accused by human rights organisations of torturing political dissidents and convicted in the European Court of Human Rights a number of times of failure to investigate complaints of torture. The State has closed newspaper and social media sites, jailed rappers, banned political parties, banned demonstrations, closed political cultural centres, disqualified political activists from representation in elections and jailed political activists.

8The main Spanish social-democratic party, currently in coalition government with Podemos.

9Yolanda Díaz resigned from Izquierda Unida (United Left – a broad coalition) but remained a member of the Communist Party of Spain; she is currently Deputy Prime Minister in the Spanish coalition government.

SOURCE

https://www.ecuadoretxea.org/el-18-de-junio-bilbao-se-movilizara-contra-la-ofensiva-imperialista-de-la-otan-y-ue/

GLITTERING SUN DANCE IN THE PARK

On June 7, 2022June 8, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Ireland, Natural History, Nature in the CityLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time: 2 mins.)

On my way to Griffiths Park in the Glasnevin-Drumcondra area on Monday I stopped to gape at a glitter-storm above the street. They were flies, dancing in the sunlight, the slanting light reflected off them. In the Park itself through which the Tolka flows, I saw many more clouds of them, always in patches of the early evening sunlight. These were the Mayfly or Cuil Bhealtaine. I took photos but my phone was unable to capture their true beauty, coming out in the photos more like snowflakes.

What seems to be snowflakes is my phone camera catching the sun flashing off mayflies dancing over the road in Drumcondra/ Glasnevin (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

At one point I was able to observe a cloud of them at closer distance. They didn’t all just fly around haphazardly – every now and again individuals would dive down like a meteor – the sun making them seem as though they had a burning trail — and then zoom up again. On and on they went and it amazed me that no birds or bats seemed to be preying on them.

A poem or a piece of music might have done the sight justice.

Mayflies dancing over the Tolka in Griffiths Park (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

UNDERWATER LIFE

The mayflies rise from their larval stages underwater only to procreate, to open their wings and fly, then to mate and to lay eggs into the water. They cannot eat as they no longer have mouthparts and individuals that are not seized and eaten by other life-forms have at most a couple of days to live.

A great many life-forms, especially invertebrates, spend their youth in the water and rise to mate. Dragonflies and damsel flies do so – a return to ancient mother water for some, perhaps. Long ago the cetaceans – whales and dolphins – ‘returned’ to sea and evolved to adopt to it, limbs converted to fins and tail. Penguins did the same, wings becoming flippers. And mayflies are quite an ancient life form too.

In the higher reaches, mayflies coming out in the photo like snowflakes (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

As a child and into my early teens I would spend hours by a pond or other stretches of water, looking at what I could see of the animal life there, also sweeping a long-handled net through the water and bringing my assorted catch home to examine in jars or basins of water.

The larvae or nymph stages of water-laying flies comprised a large part of the collection: midges, gnats, mosquitos, rat-tailed maggots, stoneflies, bloodworms and also the larvae of the dysticus beetle (handle with care!). These and more shared the murky waters with daphnia and rotifers, leeches and planarian worms, water-mites, frog and newt tadpoles while water-scorpions, water-measurers, pond-skaters and water-margin spiders prowled the surface above like pirates.

Not snow on the Tolka — mayflies flickering in the sun (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

In clearer water such as streams and rivers, I caught sticklebacks while caddis fly larvae inside their home-made tubes imitated drowned twigs.

But I don’t recall ever seeing mayflies and certainly never saw a hatch like this. No doubt trout anglers have seen the like often for such mass ‘hatchings’ are a bonanza for them. From boat or land they cast out their lines with articifial flies attached, hoping the trout rising to snatch at the mayfly harvest will grab the false fly instead. These hooks with bits of feather or fibre tied around them don’t look like a fly to you or me but sitting on top of the water and seen from below, they must look good enough to eat.

ON THE WAY BACK

There was more to see, like the mallard duck with her clutch of chicks or ducklings but the intervening branches made a photograph impossible. In shape and colour the new ducklings remind one of bumblebees and they zip around on the water without difficulty and fearless. Alas, they have a high attrition rate as seagulls and herons will each take them as a snack.

Botanic Gardens front entrance in gold, green and grey (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

Looping around on my walk I passed by the closed Botanic Gardens looking great in the sunset but I had to stalk the view from the side to get a shot clear of the scaffolding inside and signpost outside in front.

On the bank of the Royal Canal on the home stretch a heron was standing close to the path but I delayed too long getting my camera ready so it became uneasy and began to move off. Further along, a swan couple kept their cygnets close, just a couple of days old at most, balls of grey fluff – Anderson’s “ugly ducklings”.

“You’re taking too long to take the photo so I’m off!” (*Photo: D.Breatnach*)

But the day’s prize for me was undoubtedly the clouds of mayflies in their glittering dance in the sun.

End.

SOURCES/ FURTHER READING

Ireland: https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/arid-20333849.html

Click to access Red-List-7-mayflies.pdf

In general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayfly

MYSTERIOUS SOFT-PEDALLING ON FAR-RIGHT ANTI-VAXXER

On June 7, 2022June 7, 2022 By rebelbreezeIn Anti-Fascism, Current Affairs Comment, Current Event Report, IrelandLeave a comment

Diarmuid Breatnach

(Reading time main item: 2 mins.)

An anti-vaxxer giving his reasons as “exhibiting Covid symptoms” for failure to attend court on a charge of dangerous driving was ironical. The item concerned that appeared briefly in Breaking News recently naturally awoke interest as no doubt it was meant to. But then I noted the man’s name which really focused my attention.

Antonio Mureddu Gravegliu with an address in Galway was the man in the news item and a man by that name gained infamy back in September 2021 as a result of a video that showed him encouraging – almost bullying – a man very sick with Covid symptoms to leave hospital, despite the pleading of medical staff. The man left with Mureddu, had to be rushed back to hospital again and died a couple of days later.

Antonio Mureddu, still from his own video from the hospital scene.

Both men, Mureddu and Joe McCarron, were active members of Direct Democracy Ireland, a far-Right coalition with links to others including the Christian Solidarity Party and whose positions included opposition to the administration of the vaccine with most members also apparently deniers of the existence of the Covid pandemic which overburdened a strained Irish health service (especially with non-vaccinated patients) and to date is calculated to have been a significant factor in the deaths of 7,347 people within the Irish state. Mureddu thanked fascist Dolores Cahill for her support on that occasion and DDI was also associated for a while with peculiar and confused Freemen views concerning an imagined inherent legal system — which Mureddu seems to have shared, according to strange documentation he submitted to another court. In December 2018, according to a report in The Beacon, Mureddu was organising a meeting in Galway for the fascist Liga Nord organisation.

On 3^rd June, Mureddu was due in court to answer a summons on dangerous driving but the court had been presented a medical certificate to the effect that he was displaying “Covid symptoms – flu like”. His case was adjourned to June 17^th when a Garda witness said Mureddu would be expected to answer to another summons and both could be treated together. And therein lies the mystery.

Antonio Mureddu (*photo credit North-West Pix via Donegal Live*)

Breaking News reported that “The dangerous driving summons before the court on Friday is a re-entered charge that was one of three charges that were withdrawn by gardaí against Mr Mureddu at a court in March.”

Withdrawn? Re-entered? Three charges?

On March 4th at Ennis District Court, Sgt Moloney withdrew a charge that Mr Mureddu assaulted Garda James Hanley with intent to resist or prevent the lawful apprehension or detention of himself for an alleged offence, dangerous driving on August 10th 2021 …. contrary to Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act (Public Order Act).

Assault on a Garda charge withdrawn?

On the same date, Sgt Moloney said that Gardai were withdrawing two dangerous driving charges from the same date at Caheraphuca, Crusheen and on the M18 at Ballymacahill, Ennis.

The report continued:

In relation to separate and unconnected alleged motoring offences before Letterkenny District Court, Mr Mureddu told a judge this week he will only return to court on alleged motoring offences if he gets one million euro.

In court Mr Mureddu told Judge Brendan O’Reilly “if you are going to adjourn this it is going to cost you one million euro. I’m not coming next time”.

So in summary, an extremely arrogant far-Right activist and allegedly serial dangerous driver was charged with an assault on a Garda, then the police for some reason withdrew that charge and also other dangerous driving charges. And he was allowed to give lip to a judge in one court and then failed to turn up to another, excusing himself with a medical certificate listing symptoms of a virus the existence of which he denies.

Does anyone believe any Irish Republican or Left-wing activist would have been treated with such leniency? Are you joking me?

Perhaps someone had a word with the Gardaí in Ennis about how this might look and got them to reinstate some of the earlier charges.

It will be interesting to follow this case awhile.

End.

SOURCES

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/anti-vaccine-activist-misses-court-appearance-due-to-covid-symptoms-1315705.html

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/restaurant-owner-summonsed-for-breaching-covid-19-regulations-1.4691144

Not recommending the Sunday World but report does include the video of `Mureddu’s intervention at the hospital: https://www.sundayworld.com/news/irish-news/leading-anti-vaxxer-antonio-mureddu-convicted-of-driving-offenses-following-bizarre-court-appearance-41117755.html

Link to fascist Liga Nord:

Man filmed helping patient leave hospital linked to Italian far-right party

https://www.donegallive.ie/news/letterkenny-milford/738536/man-arrested-after-death-of-covid-19-patient-in-letterkenny-hospital.html

https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/man-arrested-in-relation-to-death-of-covid-patient-who-left-hospital-1254924.html