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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

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Human Rights in Ireland
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offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

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Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Climate Change is ?Slowing the Earth?s Rotation? Fri Mar 29, 2024 13:00 | Sallust
If you weren?t already gibbering in your boots at the prospect of devastating climate change, it's time to think again. Apparently, the movement of water from the 'melting icecaps' is slowing the rotation of the Earth.
The post Climate Change is “Slowing the Earth’s Rotation” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Hancock Fails to Have Bridgen Libel Case Thrown Out Paving Way for Full Trial Fri Mar 29, 2024 11:00 | Sally Beck
Matt Hancock, the ex-Health Secretary, has failed in his bid to have Andrew Bridgen's libel case thrown out after Hancock branded him antisemitic, paving the way for a full trial.
The post Hancock Fails to Have Bridgen Libel Case Thrown Out Paving Way for Full Trial appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link DEI Wokery is Swallowing Small Businesses Too Fri Mar 29, 2024 09:00 | C.J. Strachan
It's not only large corporations with hyperactive HR departments that are succumbing to efficiency-sapping wokery, says C.J. Strachan. Small and medium-sized enterprises are being swallowed up by DEI as well.
The post DEI Wokery is Swallowing Small Businesses Too appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Are We Being Gaslit Over the Cause of the Princess of Wales?s Cancer? Fri Mar 29, 2024 07:00 | Melissa Kite
First Charles and then Kate ? it's hard to ignore the soaring cancer rate when two members of the Royal Family are diagnosed within weeks. But are we being gaslit about what's behind the surge, asks Melissa Kite.
The post Are We Being Gaslit Over the Cause of the Princess of Wales’s Cancer? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Fri Mar 29, 2024 00:04 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the virus and the vaccines, the ?climate emergency? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

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Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Moscow attack reminds us of the links between Islamists and Kiev's fundamentalis... Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:57 | en

offsite link Failure to assist a people in danger of genocide, by Hassan Hamadé Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:32 | en

offsite link Yugoslavia March 24, 1999 The Founding War of the New Nato, by Manlio Dinucci Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:15 | en

offsite link France opposes Russian Korean-style peace project in Ukraine Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:11 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°79 Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:40 | en

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Bombings at Ankara peace demonstration

category international | anti-war / imperialism | press release author Thursday October 15, 2015 21:57author by sp reporter Report this post to the editors

Socialist Party Press Release - 12th Oct 2015

The horrendous double bombing attack that struck a protest rally for peace organized by several trade unions in Ankara, Turkey’s capital city, on Saturday 10 October, led, at the last count, to at least 128 deaths, and hundreds injured. It is the largest terrorist attack in the country’s history. Many victims are still in intensive care units in various hospitals, while a number of bodies, unrecognizable, have not yet been identified. This attack, by its human and political magnitude, has shaken the country to its foundations.
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Saturday’s demonstration was organized by the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) and the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB). A few minutes before the start of the protest, a bomb exploded on where activists from the left and pro-Kurdish party HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) had gathered. A second blast occurred about fifty meters from the first one, bringing more destruction and deaths on its way. Eyewitnesses, including members of Sosyalist Alternatif (CWI) who arrived on the scene just a few minutes after the bombing, reported scenes of unspeakable horror.

They also confirmed other reports of attempts by the police to obstruct help being given to the victims. Tear gas was fired into crowds of surviving protesters and relatives and ambulances were stopped. Riot police were sent to the scene of the carnage even before the first ambulances arrived. Huseyin Demirdizen, from the Physicians Association of Turkey (TTB) said: “While the doctors from the health workers union were calling for blood donations, the government announced there was no need for blood. If the health workers were not already at the demonstration the number of deaths and wounded would have been much higher.”

Almost immediately after the attack, the regime decided to block Twitter and Facebook accounts, in an obvious attempt to prevent grassroots reports circulating and to give to the media controlled by the AKP (Justice and Development Party, the governing party) the upper hand, which accused left groups or the PKK of being behind the twin bombing.

The first response by state forces has left absolutely no doubt about where the regime stands in relation to what is not just a tragedy, but clearly a politically-orchestrated massacre. Whatever is the exact role played by the Erdoğan regime in this attack its political responsibility is overwhelming. This bombing took place in a context of a strategy in recent months of growing escalation and provocation, including physical attacks, by Erdoğan’s regime forces and his thugs against the Left and the Kurdish national movement. A brutal war of aggression is also underway by the Turkish army against the PKK and the Kurdish people in the country’s south east, which has killed hundreds. Even though the PKK said on Saturday they would hold a ceasefire before Turkey goes to the polls on 1 November, the Turkish army bombed PKK positions in south east Turkey and northern Iraq, killing scores over the weekend.

The “anti-terrorist” drum beat of the regime fools no one. It has been mainly used as a cover to crackdown on the Left and against the pro-Kurdish and HDP activist base, which have overwhelmingly been at the receiving end of a campaign of state terror. Over the last years, ISIS and other jihadists groups have, on the contrary, benefited from the established complicity of the Turkish state in their activities in Syria.

Desolation and rage

Hence the sadness and desolation provoked by Saturday’s horrendous bombings rapidly and rightly merged into rage against the AKP government, including internationally. On Saturday afternoon, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the government in Istanbul and other cities. On Sunday, in Ankara, about 10,000 were back on the streets, at the very square near the railway station where the bombings took place the day before. This shows the mood of defiance and fearlessness that exists. At the burial of some of the victims, the anger of the masses was running deep, and it is very unlikely to evaporate anytime soon.

The four left-wing trade union confederations have called for a 48 hour general strike on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th October. This is a very appropriate and welcoming move that needs to be supported by the Left and the labour and trade union movement internationally. A general strike, by bringing together the Kurdish and Turkish people to fight in a united way, is the best response to Erdoğan and his ruling clique’s attempts to use the blood of working people to divide-and-rule and enhance their power, as well as the profits of the rich business tycoons which this power defends. Seeing the utter failure of the state and police forces to protect the people, Left and union rallies and demonstrations will have to be properly stewarded and protected. Appropriate self-defense measures, involving all communities, need to be taken in conjunction with trade union organisations.

The CWI wants to bring its full solidarity, sympathy and condolences with all those who have been victims of Saturday’s attack, all those who have lost relatives, friends and comrades. The best way to honour their deaths is by renewing the struggle against the thuggish and dictatorial regime of Erdoğan, against the capitalist system and imperialist powers that stand behind it, and for a socialist and democratic world. Let us make sure that this strike is only the beginning of the building of a mass and united workers’ and youth movement that can put this cynical and murderous regime into the dustbin of history.

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