Dublin no events posted in last week
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
 RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left
Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy Human Rights in Ireland >>
The Losing Battle to Get Public Sector ?TWaTs? Back in the Office Thu Jul 25, 2024 19:06 | Richard Eldred
Years on from Covid, Civil Service 'TWaTs' (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday office workers) are harming productivity and leaving desks empty. The Telegraph's Tom Haynes explains how this remote work trend affects us all.
The post The Losing Battle to Get Public Sector ?TWaTs? Back in the Office appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
?Prepare to Go to Jail,? Judge Tells Just Stop Oil Art Vandals Thu Jul 25, 2024 17:00 | Richard Eldred
Guilty and about to face the consequences, two Just Stop Oil activists who hurled tomato soup at a Van Gogh masterpiece have been told to prepare for prison.
The post ?Prepare to Go to Jail,? Judge Tells Just Stop Oil Art Vandals appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Hundreds of Thousands Are Ditching the Licence Fee ? And It?s a Crisis for the BBC Thu Jul 25, 2024 15:00 | Richard Eldred
With an £80 million revenue drop and growing calls for a licence fee boycott, BBC bosses are struggling to prove that Britain's biggest broadcaster remains worth the cost.
The post Hundreds of Thousands Are Ditching the Licence Fee ? And It?s a Crisis for the BBC appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Democratic Party Clown Show Continues, With Giggles Replacing Bozo Thu Jul 25, 2024 13:00 | Tony Morrison
Biden's sudden exit and the canonisation of his hopeless VP is a dismal chapter in American politics ? one that will further erode trust in the democratic process, says Tony Morrison.
The post The Democratic Party Clown Show Continues, With Giggles Replacing Bozo appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
?Climate Change? Used to Justify Government?s Record ?Investment? in Renewables. Cui Bono? Not the T... Thu Jul 25, 2024 11:05 | Richard Eldred
The Government is using the excuse of 'climate change' to justify the largest taxpayer 'investment' in wind and solar farms in British history.
The post ?Climate Change? Used to Justify Government?s Record ?Investment? in Renewables. Cui Bono? Not the Taxpayer appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en
Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en
Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
UCD Shutdown going ahead!
UCD Shutdown - How it happened, what's taking place, and its significance Back in the beginning of March, F.E.E (Free Education for Everyone) collected enough signatures to hold a policy referendum, which, if passed, would commit the Students Union to two things.
1- To adopt a serious and direct strategy to fight against the reintroduction of fees
2- To hold a one day shutdown of the college in conjunction with the trade unions.
The referendum got passed by a substantial majority, with 83% of the students voting in favour.
The most obvious day to hold the shutdown had seemed Monday, March the 30th, as the ICTU had called for a day of national strikes. Sadly, between the dodgy offers for talks by the government, and the somewhat corrupt and indecisive leadership of the Unions, the day of national strike has been called off; despite huge majorities voting in favour of industrial action. The shutdown in UCD is going to go ahead regardless.
The Students Union decided to call the shutdown despite the Trade Unions pulling out of the national strike, which makes the shutdown a far tougher task, in terms of organizational difficulties. Despite members of UCD SIPTU Education branch being in full support of the student’s plea to the government, lectures will still be taking place, and the library staff will be working. The majority of the sabbatical officers have proven to be indifferent to the shutdown, and have been irresolute in organizing for the day, despite the clear mandate that calls for them to do so. The burden was left completely on the shoulders of F.E.E., and Dan O’Neill, the Campaigns and Communications officer.
The main task will be to stop students attending lectures, and getting them to support the idea of a full boycott of classes. Along with Dan O’Neill, F.E.E. has managed to draw up a plan of action for the entire day, so that students have good reasons not to attend their lectures. Banners and placards will be made at 9 in the morning, followed by decoration of the college in anti-fees chalk graffiti. There will then be a film screening at 11, with a talk on the history of the student movement in UCD. A lakeside rally is to take place at 1 PM, with a variety of speakers from the trade unions and the students union, and a representative of F.E.E. There is a projected march to Hugh Brady’s gaff, the leading message being “Take a 10% (if not more) pay cut!”. Then there will be a variety of recreational activities to follow, including soccer and pool tournaments, and a mass pillow fight. To conclude the day there will be a social event in the Students Bar in the evening, with some well deserved pints and music.
Hopefully the day will be successful, and students will understand just how important it is to boycott classes. It’s a pity the national strike was called off, both for ourselves in UCD, and more importantly for workers around the country. Our shutdown is a culmination of events and actions that F.E.E. have been committed to throughout the course of the year, and the fact that this momentous step has been taken is a good sign for a student movement which tends to lean towards apathy and indifference. If USI cops on and grows some balls, they will push for shutdowns all across the country, which would be far more effective than a series of pointless marches down O’Connell Street. If students, and their representative bodies don’t adopt a hard-line approach now, then the tangibility of defeating fees will become less and less concrete. Let’s hope that the shutdown is the beginning of an upward spiral that will guarantee access to the higher education sector for thousands in years to come.
|
dublin |
education |
news report
Sunday March 29, 2009 21:51
by Julian - FEE
julianbrophy at gmail dot com
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Once again - the only people who are more unreliable at estimating the size of demonstrations than the cops are anonymous posters on websites - not having any fear of appearing ridiculous, they apply magic shrinking cream to the figures. I'd say if any of the last few posters had been along for the ICTU demonstration against cutbacks, they would have estimated the crowd at about 10,000.
If you don't care, that's just fine - go away and do whatever it is you do with your time, watch some daytime television, look at a few Youtube clips and scratch yourself. If you really thought the protest was a joke you would be happy to ignore it instead of busying yourself trying to belittle it. None of you could organise anything more ambitious than the opening of a pack of crisps so don't expect anyone to take you seriously. Doubtless your parents have deep pockets and you don't have to worry about any education cutbacks the government brings in - fine for you, just get out of the way of people who will be affected by those cuts and want to organise in opposition to them.
All the normal (apolitical) students that I have been talking to said 100 max, closer to 60.
They laughed when I said 200.
I fail to see how my organisational skills are relevant to this discussion. Look at it this way: There are 23,100 students in UCD. 5148 voted on the referendum which is a 23% turnout. Even with the ludicrous claims of 200 or 300 attending that would mean a grand total of 1% of the student body attended the rally. This tells its own story. Did anyone that attended their lectures notice a massive amount of non attendance? I highly doubt it, attendance remained as normal. Students made the decision not to go and knew a 'shutdown' would be a futile exercise
I went to the demo at UCD lake at 1pm - and agree with daithi - less than 100 from what I saw - there were so few people there that it was a joke - out of 20,000 students + 4,000 staff??
there were so few people gathered that it just looked like a vey quiet lunchtime at the lake with some very cool drummers there.
I'm sorry for the organisers who probably went to alot of effort but apathy won out on the day
--clip
At the University College Dublin, which has a student body of more than 20,000, some 200 students protested against the introduction of additional tuition fees. The protest was organised by the Free Education for Everyone (FEE) group and supported by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).
Despite the small attendance at the demonstration, many other students expressed deep hostility to the planned imposition of fees. Already, registration fees at UCD have increased from €900 per annum to €1,500. If the proposed introduction of additional fees goes through, average student debt is expected to rise from €40,000 for a four-year degree to €70,000.
Speakers made no attempt to address the betrayal by the ICTU of the planned national strike.
Instead, the leader of the USI at the college, Sean Kelly, advanced the view that increased education spending would boost the Irish economy and offset the impact of the economic crisis. He claimed that the government was now responding to pressure from students and from back-benchers in parliament.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/irel-m31.shtml
The two most unreliable sources for crowd figures - the police and anonymous eejits on the web - even the cops are slightly restrained by fear of appearing ridiculous.
So what have you organised yourself lately Daithi? Anything more ambitious than having a few friends around to listen to some albums and drink cider?
Daithi - 60? Are you serious? Several observiers, independent of FEE or UCDSU estimated at least 300 at the rally at its highest point.
Well I have seen worse today. The poor taxi drivers were 5 man strong standing there like a forlorn pack of strays while dozens of taxi drivers were speeding past them and did not even honk their horn in acknowledgement of their 'strike'.
The governement has a full and utter hold of the people and even can stop strikes from going ahead.
OUCH
This day of protest completely failed. Lecture attendances as normal. Only about 60 people attended the 'rally'