Indymedia Ireland/Convergence/Filmbase Present A Day of Film Screenings:
As part of the Convergence Festival, Indymedia & Sustainable Ireland have teamed up with the recently opened Filmbase on Curved Street (the old Arthouse, opposite the Temple Bar Music Centre) to bring you a day of free short films from around the World, plus screenings of three of the feature documentaries from last November's "Videoactive" Film Festival.

Written 17 April 2005

On 13 April about 70 asylum seekers in a hostel on Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin went on hunger strike to protest their 'Fast Track' treatment by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). On 17 April two of the men collapsed and were sent to hospital.

All are Nigerian. Most are men. There are also 14 women, 6 of whom are pregnant. Some are in late pregnancy. The pregnant women are not currently on hunger strike.

Seeking Refuge from a 'Safe Country':
The Irish Government sees Nigeria as a 'Safe Country' and today there is an enforcement of a 'Fast Track' policy for arrivals for deportation within months. With Nigeria deemed 'safe' the new policy means an individual's claims of torture, death or fear for their safety at home are officially ignored.

This, in spite of the fact that the US State Department February 28, 2005 report says: 'The Nigerian government's 'human rights record remained poor, and the Government continued to commit serious abuse.' and that 'Security forces regularly beat protesters, criminal suspects, detainees, and convicted prisoners.'

One hunger striker, Idowu, said: 'The people of Ireland and the Government of Ireland should disregard the propaganda of our home country, Nigeria. My country is definitely not a safe place. How could you call a country where the chief law maker, the Attorney General, was murdered - how could you call such a country a safe place?'

One young single man asked a priest at St.Mary's Pro-Cathedral yesterday morning to reserve a grave for him. He says he knows his life is worthless if he is sent back.

Fathers Seeking Wives and Children:
Many of the men who are facing deportation are fathers of Irish citizen children and came here to be reunited with their wives and families. They thought Minister of Justice Michael McDowell's residency offer for non-EU parents of Irish Citizen children applied to them.

Ironically, it does not. McDowell's 14 January 2005 notice only applies to parents of Irish citizen children currently residing in Ireland - thus, a policy of preventing Irish children from being reunited with their fathers is in place.

While planespotting OUTSIDE Shannon Warport in broad daylight last Sunday, some planespotters found themselves on the receiving end of a fit of madness from one of the APOs who decided somehow that he had jurisdiction outside his patch.

Following the EYFA Anti-War Conference in Co Clare last week, some of the participating peaceniks held a vigil in Ennis, where they distributed leaflets and food to the fine people of the banner county.

We informed the locals that there has been a huge increase in troop movements through Shannon. (95,584 in the first three months of 2005 alone. There has also been more frequent sightings of C-130s and US Navy logistic flights at Ireland's de facto warport.)

Over a hundred leaflets were handed out to the public, who also appreciated the free food.

Afterwards, 7 of us went to Shannon to check up on our local US military airstrip. As usual we went to the industrial estate bordering the airport, rather than into the airport itself.

We weren’t there very long when two members of the airport police turned up.

I looked down from my viewing point to see a uniformed Airport Police inspector in a tussle with a lady half his size who was trying to stand her ground and keep her video camera.

I strolled down to see what this guy was up to. The Airport Police vehicle had come to a halt in the middle of the road at a corner next to the PIE warehouse.

As I approached, I could hear the camera crew telling the tall man-in-black that they were in a public place, and acting within the law. The APO Inspector simply told us to get in our vehicles and clear out.

The Irish Recorded Music Association is to start legal action against 17 Irish people whom they accuse of sharing copywrighted music. IRMA announced the decision today, claiming they 'were forced' into the move and are 'unhappy' about it. They cite figures that the 'Irish Music Industry' is 'losing' €3.8m annually because of illegal downloading. Since 2002 they have seen profits fall from €146m annually to €118m, which is a 19% drop over 3 years. The put this drop in sales down to what they call 'serial filesharers'.

IRMA is the trade organisation representing 47 members, including major and independent record companies. IRMA say that file sharing is “effectively stealing the livelihood of the creators of music”.

But who is really 'stealing the livelihoods' of musicians?

Take an average new CD that costs between €15 and €20. According to Patrick Norager, who runs an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) net-radio station: “Artists only get 10 percent of (the money from) their sales before they pay managers and absorb breakage fees and other expenses... The fact is unless you can sell 250,000 copies on a major label you will probably get dropped. The way they do it, it’s like they’re selling toasters instead of music.”

So the artist (unless they are huge sellers like U2 or Metallica) will only get between somewhere between €1.50 to €2 or less for every CD sold, before additional expenses and record company 'recouperation'. The 'record industry' (the labels, the stores, the middlemen) and taxman get the rest.

Steve Albini, a longtime rock producer (perhaps most famous for working on Nirvana's final studio album) lays out a typical example of a new band signing to a major label, from an Indie label.

After signing for a £250,000 advance with a 13% cut of record sale profits (-10% of that 13% for 'packaging') - this band will find themselves having made a paltry $4000 each. And the really strange thing is that NONE of this comes from the record royalties - the band actually owes the record industry $14,000 for the album. The small amount of money made actually comes from touring and merchandise. As Dougie Thomspon, former Supertramp bassist, says: "make sure that you book as may shows as you can, as far in advance as possible, for as much money as you can get while the fire is hot."

It's surplus value gone mad - imagine a worker who ends up owing their boss money after they've carried out their work they were contracted to do!

Articles Of Relevance
A Day in the life, a look at the current P2P scene
Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig (How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity)
Indymedia Blog On Bill Gates recent comments about the 'dotcommunist' pheonemeon
Overview of the peer to peer networks
Cartoon On Copyright Violation
Courtney Love Does The Math

Turkish Workers’ Action Group Press Statement: Tuesday 12th April 2005

At a major protest at the Dáil at lunchtime on Tuesday 12th April, the Turkish workforce of the GAMA construction company, joined and supported by Irish construction and other workers, called upon the Government to intervene immediately to secure the necessary information for the workers in relation to the secret bank accounts that GAMA opened in their names in Finasbank, Holland. A call was made that the Government, through the Dutch Government or directly with Finansbank, ensure that by this weekend each worker has a full statement of his account since it was first opened. This means an account of each transaction and the total funds in each worker’s name.

Once they have this information, the workers are then seeking a commitment from the Government that it will oblige Finansbank, Holland to accept instructions from each worker on what they wish to do with their funds. In this way, the issue of information on the secret bank accounts could be resolved within days and the issue of workers’ access to the funds could be resolved within two weeks.

The GAMA workers are also calling for the publication of the report by the Labour Inspectorate, which Minister Michéal Martin has now received. GAMA has an injunction prohibiting the report being published and that has been continued until next Monday. This begs the question what GAMA is trying to hide by preventing the publication of the report.

GAMA workers have been subjected to a regime of massive exploitation since the firm came to Ireland in 2000. They are obliged to work for more than 80 hours per week on a basic wage rate of €2.20 an hour plus food and lodging in barrack accommodation. It is not just an issue of justice for these workers, but also a question of protecting trade union rates of pay and proper working conditions for all workers.