Cé go bhfuil na sonraí beachta faoi chomóradh bunaidh na Samhna éiginnte go fóill, creideann roinnt scoláirí go raibh sé suntasach ó thaobh na polaitíochta agus an chultúir de mar an lá is tábhachtaí de na ceithre ráithe. Is cosúil go dtagann fianaise a nascann an tSamhain leis an mbás agus leis an tsaol eile chun cinn níos moille, faoi thionchar na féile Críostaí Lá na Naomh Uile. De réir mar a scaipeadh an Chríostaíocht, rinneadh siombail den fhéile ar am a raibh an bhacainn idir an domhan daonna agus an domhan eile tanaí, rud a ligeann do thaibhse teacht ar ais. D’fhágadh teaghlaigh ofrálacha bia ar leac an dorais nó ar leac na fuinneoige le hómós a thabhairt do na taibhsí agus lena gcoinneáil suaimhneach.

Suíomh suntasach a bhain le Samhain ná Tlachta, cnoc a ainmníodh as an draoi Tlachta, iníon an draoi Mogh Roith, a chreidtear a fuair bás ann.  De réir an tseanchais, mhúchtaí gach tine in Éirinn oíche Shamhna, agus lastaí tinte nua as tine lárnach a bhí ar Thlachta. Ansin, d’iompraítí na tóirsí seo go cnoic eile, rud a léirigh na ceantair máguaird. Ba é ba chúis leis an deis seo ná tinte chnámh a lasadh, rud a chreideadh a chuirfeadh cosc ​​ar thaibhsí mhífheidhmiúla.

Sna céadta bliain ina dhiaidh sin, lean Tlachta, ar a dtugtar Cnoc an Bharda inniu, ag feidhmiú mar áit chruinnithe d’imeachtaí tábhachtacha. Sa bhliain 1167, d’eagraigh Ruaidhrí Ua Conchobair, Ard-Rí deireanach na hÉireann, comhthionól náisiúnta ríthe agus ceannairí reiligiúnacha ann. Tháinig an-aithne [DÓ1] ar an tsuíomh nuair a chuir Oliver Cromwell muintir Mhic an Bhaird den tsuíomh, agus d’úsáid sé é mar champa le linn a ionraidh ar Éirinn in 1649, rud a d’fhéadfadh a bheith ina chúis le damáiste don áit a bhí in úsáid ón Chré-Umhaois.

Is i dtéacs ón 9ú haois, Tochmharc Eimhire, is luaithe a luaitear an tSamhain i litríocht na Gaeilge, áit a bhfuil cur síos air mar “nuair a théann an samhradh chun sosa”. Leagtar amach go leor de mhiotas na hÉireann le linn na Samhna, agus deirtear gur cuireadh tús le cuid de chathanna fhinscéalta na hÉireann faoin am seo. I dtús Tháin Bó Cuailgne, tá ionradh ar Chúige Uladh a thosaíonn ag Samhain, agus tá Cath Mhagh Tuireadh ceangailte leis an fhéile seo fosta.

Insíonn scéal amháin scéal an Ard-Rí Tighearnmas, a bhailigh a lucht leanúna ag Samhain le dia na híobartha, Crom Cruach, a adhradh. Cailleadh an rí agus a chuid fear le linn na deasghnátha, a lean ar aghaidh go dtí gur scrios Naomh Pádraig dealbh de Chrom Cruach, rud a léirigh scaipeadh na Críostaíochta ar fud na hÉireann. Insíonn scéal eile, Macghníomhartha Fhinn, faoin dia Áillín, a thiocfadh gach Samhain, an tiompán a sheinm le gach duine a chur ina gcodladh, agus ansin Teamhrach a dhó go talamh. Lean seo ar aghaidh ar feadh trí bliana is fiche go dtí gur bhuaigh an laoch Fionn mac Cumhaill ar Áillín agus Teamhrach a shábháil.

Thar na céadta bliain, tá traidisiúin na Samhna i ndiaidh teacht chun cinn agus cumasc le nósanna eile, rud as ar eascair ceiliúradh nua-aimseartha Oíche Shamhna. Ach tábhacht spioradálta, chultúrtha agus stairiúil na Samhna a aithint, gheibh muid léargas ar an chruinneshamhail ársa a leanann léi ag múnlú na féile inniu.

The post Samhain appeared first on LeftBloc.

The post Worker-led boycotts on Israel focus of Dismantling Apartheid rally in Liberty Hall tonight appeared first on LeftBloc.

Mandela is visiting Ireland to highlight the need for action to support Palestine and to pay tribute to the Dunnes Stores Anti-Apartheid strikers, who sparked a global campaign by trade unionists to boycott South African goods in the 1980s. He committed to travelling to meet the Dunnes Stores strikers while participating in a Freedom Flotilla which sought to break the blockade on Gaza earlier this year.

Mandela said: “There is no South African who can forget Dunnes Stores, and the name of Mary Manning. The 21-year-old who refused to handle any South African products in Dunnes Stores and began a global campaign.”

Irish activist John Hurson, who participated in the Freedom Flotilla with Mandela, said: “Mandla believes that as the struggle to free South Africa was the great cause of the latter half of the 20th century, the struggle to free Palestine is the great international cause of our time. He believes that action by ordinary workers, such as that taken by the Dunnes Stores strikers, can inspire international movements for change.

“He wants to discuss how we go about taking practical action in support of Palestine while in Ireland, a country for which he, like his grandfather, has a great regard.”

He added: “It is also very fitting that he will meet the Dunnes Stores strikers who followed in a great tradition of Irish activism. We must remember that it was Land League activists in 1880 in county Mayo, who gave the world the tactic of ‘the boycott’, when a community banded together to ensure that crops of the cruel Captain Charles Boycott rotted in the field rather than be harvested.”

The evening of discussion and song, which is focused on practical action in support of Palestine, includes among others, Civil Rights campaigner Bernadette McAliskey, the Dunnes Stores Anti-Apartheid strikers, INMO General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha, folk musicians Andy Irvine, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Palestinian singer Leen.

The event is being co-hosted by the Clé Club, Robert Tressell Festival and Left Bloc. Tickets are available on Eventbrite and cost €11.70.

Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/dismantling-apartheid-south-africa-to-palestine-tickets-1016168416087

The post Mandla Mandela to speak at ‘Dismantling Apartheid’ rally in Liberty Hall on 16th October appeared first on LeftBloc.

What made these men come to such a conclusion? That a left-wing, life-long socialist and anti-war activist had become a puppet for a Russian neo-liberal nationalist oligarch? The proposition is absurd, and demonstrably untrue. Nevertheless, the framing of Clare Daly in the EU elections by the media and political establishment is a masterclass in using innuendo as disinformation in order to influence an election.

The primary basis for the claim came from media reports that Daly and Wallace were two of 13 members of the EU Parliament to vote against a resolution to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Except they didn’t.

Daly did condemn the invasion, and was as strong as anyone in their condemnation. Daly said in her explanation:

“I unequivocally supported the sections of the resolution which condemn Russia’s war of aggression and call on the Russian Federation to immediately terminate all military activities in Ukraine, unconditionally withdraw its forces, and fully respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence. I express my undivided solidarity with the ordinary people of Ukraine and call for urgent diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire, for negotiations to end the conflict and the withdrawal of Russian military forces.

The decision by Russia to abandon diplomacy and invade Ukraine is contrary to international law. The sole responsibility for this is borne by President Vladimir Putin.”

Had the media wanted to, they could have used an alternative heading such as:

“Daly demands Russian withdrawal from Ukraine and respect territorial integrity”

This would have been accurate, far more accurate than the headlines used, but it didn’t fit the narrative.

With European Parliament resolutions, you have to vote on the entire proposal, and not single components like the simplistic statement presented. Journalists know that.

The resolution contained the condemnation of the invasion, which Daly and Wallace wholeheartedly agreed with, but went much further. It called, as Daly and Wallace explained, to:

• Accelerate provision of military equipment and weapons to Ukraine;
• Strengthen NATO’s forward presence in the region;
• Further increase defence spending;
• Activate European common and joint defence efforts “in order to strengthen the European pillar within NATO”; and, opportunistically,  
• Open the European energy market to fracked liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States.

Daly and Wallace’s political group, the Left, sought to remove these elements from the resolution, but the majority in the European Parliament fought to keep them. So the question shouldn’t have been, why did Daly and Wallace vote against these provisions, it should have been, why did all the other representatives of Ireland, a supposedly neutral country, vote in favour of these provisions that would increase the militarisation of Europe, lead to thousands of unneccessary deaths and damage the environment during a climate crisis? Needless to say, that question has never been asked.

The strategy was repeated ad nauseum over the following two years.

A resolution is moved in the EU Parliament which contains many worthwhile provisions, while opportunistically including provisions which would lead to more weapons; more war; more deaths; and more funding for the military at the expense of peace; whilst also defunding climate action, and then frame those who oppose militarisation as Putin stooges or Russian spies. The enthusiasm with which some commentators engaged in this behaviour is a worry, but the lack of journalists to call this out is a deeper worry.

When POLITICO published an article on the eve of the elections citing “Russia’s best friends in the EU Parliament” which included Daly and Wallace, this was regurgitated by Irish Times journalist Naomi O’Leary, among others.

The article read:

“With the EU election under way, POLITICO has looked at the data to find out which MEPs have been the Kremlin’s top allies in the European Parliament.”

Daly and Wallace were both included in the list. So, now, in this binary topsy-turvy post-truth world, if you condemn Russia, and call for peace and a negotiated settlement, you are one of the “Kremlin’s top allies”?

Notably, when the Pope made the same arguments, he was not branded a Putin sympathiser or a top “ally of the Kremlin”. But then, there was no need to brand him, he wasn’t running for election.

The article in POLITICO and the timing of the publication were a transparent attempt to influence EU elections by a news outlet with questionable credentials.

POLITICO is owned by a multi-billion German company named Axel Springer SE which, The Nation reported, received $7m funding from the CIA apparently “to influence the publisher to align its editorial content with American geopolitical interests.”

Axel Springer requires its European employees to sign a pledge in support of the trans-Atlantic alliance and Israel. Its chief executive, Mathias Döpfner, said support for Israel is “a German duty.”

He also said this support, and a free-market economy – “are like a constitution, they apply to every employee of our company.” Employees who disagreed “should not work for Axel Springer, very clearly.”

Axel Springer itself is majority owned by KKR & Co. Inc., an American private equity firm which has been named as the worst offender for investing in dirty energy according to a climate risk scorecard. It also, coincidently, has investments in the Port Arthur Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project in Texas where a report claimed this investment “exemplify environmental racism and are actively harming low-income, Black, brown, and Indigenous people.”

I don’t remember any articles in the Irish Times warning of foreign interference from a CIA supported, Zionist, climate destroying corporation?

It makes sense that a media outlet with connections to the CIA, Israel, climate destruction and racism would want to damage the election campaign of a left-wing socialist firebrand like Clare Daly. She and Wallace scored the highest of all Irish MEPs for their climate voting. She has arguably been the most vocal MEP throughout Europe for peace and against militarisation. She’s used her enormous social media platform to condemn Israel for their ongoing genocide. What’s disappointing is how Irish commentators allowed themselves be vehicles for these attacks.

This week Justine McCarthy penned a piece in the Irish Times criticising Clare Daly for not engaging with the media after she was not elected. When the returning officer announced Daly’s elimination, the media scrambled seeking a comment:

“Ye’d no interest in talking to me for five years, so I’ve no interest in talking to ye.”

McCarthy sensationalised it:

“What shattered the air was her dog whistle to haters of the so-called ‘mainstream media’. The salivating in the trenches of the dark web was almost audible… ‘At a time when more journalists than ever are being killed around the world for doing their job…”

Seriously? Daly politely refusing to comment is a threat to the lives of journalists? Watch the clip and make up your own mind…

Clare Daly is maligned and misrepresented for more than two years, faces allegations of being a Putin puppet, is abused on the streets regularly, received death threats, and then politely declines an interview and she is the “reckless” one?

Justine might want to look closer to home at the implications of the irresponsible journalism emanating from the Irish Times if she wants to understand recklessness.

Earlier this year the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times in an apparent assassination attempt. The gunman, Juraj Cintula, in his explanation for his attack said what he mainly wants is for “military assistance to be given to Ukraine,” and “regards the current government as a Judas toward the European Union,” so he “decided to act.”

The misrepresentation of Daly and Wallace in the Irish media as Putin supporters incited many people. It was lapped up by political opponents who used it as innuendo against Daly and Wallace, most famously by Barry Andrews when he said Clare Daly should worry more about Crumlin than the Kremlin. This, in turn, is used by the very same media outlets to justify and amplify insinuations that Daly is a Putin stooge.

This was further illustrated earlier this year when Fianna Fail issued a statement saying “two of our own Irish MEPs, Clare Daly and Mick Wallace, have consistently taken decisions that are straight from the Kremlin’s playbook.”

The statement then insinuates that because Daly and a Latvian MEP, Tatjana Ždanoka, who is under investigation for spying for Russia, have been in the same room together, that they must have a relationship. No evidence was provided, other than, “They voted the same way as her on several European Parliament votes related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.”

The far right parties of the EU (ECR) voted overwhelmingly with Fianna Fail on the very same votes, but that doesn’t mean Barry Andrews is a fascist. In fact, of the 13 who voted against the resolution in March 2022, 9 were leftists, and almost all the far-right and fascist MEPs voted with Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens.

Sadly, rather than scrutinise these allegations properly, our media simply regurgitated nonsense from the press office of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. It was taken to the extreme when, during the Ireland South RTE Prime Time debate, Miriam O’Callaghan had the audacity to ask Mick Wallace, “do you regret that you were perceived to support Russia”. A perception fertilised by the media, and then perfectly illustrated when Fine Gael’s John Mullins received free reign on the same debate to say “A vote for Mick Wallace is a vote for Russia”. The mediator didn’t feel it necessary to correct the record.

The failure of Daly to hold her seat was not down entirely to the smear campaign, but it was a factor. We should all be concerned about the state of our democracy, and our media. The Irish media has responsibilities beyond click-baiting the public in the interests of the global war machine and advertising revenue.

There’s a latin phrase, cui bono. Who benefits. The greatest beneficiaries of Daly and Wallace losing their seats are the military industrial complex, the genocidal regime in Israel, Ursula Von Der Leyen and the Irish political parties chomping at the bit to end Irish neutrality and align ourselves with NATO.

There’s another latin phrase, cui malo. Who loses. The greatest losers are the thousands of innocent people dying and being injured every single day in Ukraine, Gaza and through other preventable wars. It’s sad that so many actively participated, knowingly or unknowingly, in a witch hunt against one of the worlds most prominent peace campaigner. Nevertheless, LA LUCHA CONTINUA!

The post The dangerous framing of a Putin Puppet appeared first on LeftBloc.

In the last six months we have witnessed increasingly oppressive measures used to silence supporters of Palestine and have seen a significant rise in the number of criminal proceedings against activists. As campaigners, lawyers, academics and individuals from all walks of life are joining together to criticise the actions of Israel, and their own governments’ complicity,  they are being faced with considerable repression from trials by media, workplace management and from the state itself. This is a tactic used by those in power to intimidate, harass and scare people out of showing their support for Palestine. 

Last month saw the violent shutdown of a three day Palestine Congress in Berlin with German police harassing and arresting some of the organisers. Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, a British-Palestinian doctor who volunteered in Gaza in October, was due to speak at this conference but was denied entry to Germany signalling the fear of the state to bear witness to their complicity in this genocide. Days later in the US, the NYPD – with the help of the university management – brutally disrupted a protest at Columbia University and arrested scores of protesters. Whichever way we look, from smear campaigns by the press and online juries, to workplace intimidation and the curtailment of freedom of speech and assembly, there are more extreme reactions of the state towards activists and this is a trend  happening globally. As ever we need to offer our unconditional solidarity with those being oppressed and those resisting that repression from Palestine to our own organising contexts.

Comrade of Trademark, documentary film-maker and academic Dror Dayan, who was also one of the speakers at the Berlin congress that was shut down, was informed on Thursday that the police in Germany have started a criminal investigation against him as the result of a tweet he made in November saying,

‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. 

We will not allow history to be rewritten. Palestine solidarity will not become the scapegoat for the Nazi grandchildren. Your crime, not ours.’ 

Dror says the fact he is now being criminally investigated ‘only goes to show its correctness.’ He stated ‘we wont let German repression silence us in our opposition to this genocide which Germany fully supports. Solidarity is our weapon.’ While governments across Europe and the institutions within the European Union have been extremely supportive of the Zionist project, Germany has had a particularly enthusiastic relationship with Israel. What does stand Germany apart is that the so-called left in the Trade Union movement and anti-fascist football scene (anti-deutsche movement) have at best struggled with supporting even the modest demands of a ceasefire and at worst are active ambassadors for Zionism and Israeli war crimes. Palestine is being made to pay for what has always been a German problem. 

Police in Berlin violently take over and shut down Palestine Congress in Berlin – Image credit: offGuardian

The systematic approach to suppress activist voices is increasing and emboldened across Europe under the ideological underpinning of President of the European Commission Ursula Von Der Leyen. This is someone who spent 28,000euro draping the Israeli flag over the Parliament building in Brussels and who declared that Europe stands with Israel ‘today and the days to come’ after the declaration made by Israel of its genocidal intentions. Von Der Leyen was in Israel within days too, offering unconditional support from Europe. This was used by Israel in the ICJ case as evidence of legitimacy for their war crimes on which Clare Daly  remarked ‘nobody embodies European Complicity like the genocidal psychopath at the top of the European Commision.’ 

While extreme cases are catching international attention, we should be mindful of and organising against the diversity of tactics being used to silence protest. Words and tweets are being held against activists as ‘criminal’ acts – not the tens of thousands of tonnes of bombs that have been dropped in Gaza. This represents a fundamental threat to our rights including the freedom of expression and assembly through increasingly authoritarian measures by the state and its institutions. Dror’s case, and the hundreds others like him across the world, show the punitive system that the state and its institutions are prepared to go to undermine our liberties. This is not just a fight for Palestinian rights and justice but also for our own rights as workers and citizens. Solidarity with all those facing repression – from the river to the sea. 

—

Written by Medb McDaid who is a Leftbloc activist and researcher.

The post Solidarity with those facing repression for supporting Palestine appeared first on LeftBloc.

In 2017 when a pregnant worker from La Suiza patisserie, Xixón, Asturias, North Western Spain went to the National Confederation of Labour (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo; CNT) for support and assistance within her workplace, a bakery, little did she know that 6 years later this case still rumbles on.

The worker was experiencing abuse; denied holiday pay; facing sexual harassment including comments and opinions about her body; and she was given an excessive workload with no regard for the risk to her or her unborn baby. All this was perpetuated by her employer. There were failed attempts at dialogue between her employer and her Union, the CNT, yet he simply refused to meet with them.

The only course of action left was non aggressive collective action, civil protests, and a campaign to give information to the public about what was going on inside the walls of this pastry shop.

What followed was year and years of court appearances and legal wrangling. The bakery closed down due to the negative publicity and the outpouring of support from customers and CNT members, but to everyone’s surprise the police got involved and brought criminal charges against members involved in the peaceful protests.

This is the current situation:

• In total eight people are facing the possibility of a total of 25.3 years in prison;
• Seven of those eight were sentenced to three and a half years each;
• The other was sentenced to eight months in jail.

The crimes: coercion and obstruction of justice.

Moreover, the sentence mandates a compensation of €150,428 euros for La Suiza bakery, holding CNT as subsidiary for the payment.

The police expect protesters to pay the person who humiliated, overworked and degraded the pregnant worker!

This seems so incredible that even when the workers were telling a delegation of Irish activists to Brussels who met with them, it seemed like a work of fiction. It’s not, though, it’s their reality. They are living in limbo since 2017 with this hanging over their heads.

They find themselves living this nightmare for showing solidarity with a worker and utilising their internationally recognised right to protest. Their resilience is to be commended, they have not lost their fighting spirit,  despite now facing criminal proceedings for something that could have been settled by dialogue and mediation in 2017.

With the help of MEP Miguel Urbán Crespo, a member of The Left group in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL), the workers came to the European Parliament to seek support and justice and to highlight their plight.

It was heartening to see some of those involved now work in a co-operative with fair working conditions and a strong sense of solidarity.

By highlighting their story in the EU let’s hope it brings an end to this insane situation they find themselves in. After all, isn’t the EU a bastion of workers’ rights and equality? Unfortunately at the moment it seems the only ones interested in this case which does have international repercussions are the likes of Miguel, Clare Daly, Mick Wallace and their comrades in the GUE/NGL, The Left in the EU.

We will do what we can to highlight their struggles and to put pressure on other MEP’s to get involved and find a resolution to this seemingly never ending battle with the judicial system in Spain.

La Lucha Continua.

The post Spanish bakery protesters face more than 25 years in prison and fine of €150,000 for protesting sexual harassment as Europe turns a blind eye appeared first on LeftBloc.

Is íomhá lárnach í an chailleach in Oíche Shamhna na linne seo, ach ní hí an íomhá chéanna a fheiceann muid go minic atá i gcailleach an chultúir agus an traidisiúin Ghaelaigh. Cé go bhfuil baint ag smaoineamh na gcailleach leis an reiligiún phágánach, deirtear gur tháinig go leor de na tróip den chailleach nua-aimseartha atá againn d’Oíche Shamhna ó thróp frith-Sheimíteach Críostaí

Chuir na Críostaithe an smaoineamh chun cinn go raibh ceangal idir an asarlaíocht agus na Giúdaigh, agus, mar sin, léirigh léiriú na gcailleach tuairimí claontacha na nGiúdach. Is é an rud is suntasaí ná an íomhá de chailleach a bhfuil cromóg uirthi agus an hata beannach a thagann ón ‘Judenhat’. Píosa éadaigh traidisiúnta a bhí sa Judenhat ar dtús, ach bhí sé éigeantach ag údaráis Chríostaí sa 13^ú haois idirdhealú a dhéanamh idir Giúdaigh agus Críostaithe go poiblí; ina dhiaidh sin, samhlaíodh cialla an-diúltach leis.

Le linn an Fhrith-Reifirméisin, tháinig méadú ar an fhrith-Sheimíteachas agus ar an tseilg cailleach. Le linn na tréimhse luath-aimseartha san Eoraip cuireadh timpeall 35,000–50,000 bean chun báis de bharr líomhaintí asarlaíocht na caillí. Ba le linn an ama seo, a mapáladh tréithe frith-Ghuidacha ar smaoineamh na Cailleach.

Ach anseo in Éirinn, ní raibh fréamhacha ag seilg na gcailleach, go háirithe sa tsochaí Ghaelach. Cé go raibh an t-ord Gaelach a bhí ann i mbaol, thug sé cosaint áirithe do mhná san am seo, agus níor ghlac sé leis an leibhéal céanna fuatha míseagánachta a bhí chun tosaigh i gcodanna eile den Eoraip.  Mar shampla, sa ghnáthshaol, bhí mná pósta i sochaí Ghaelach ábalta a maoin féin a bhainistiú go neamhspleách ar a dteaghlach agus ar a gcuid fear céile. Dá bhfaigheadh sí colscaradh óna fear céile, bheadh sí in ann a maoin agus a spré a bhí aici sular phós sí a ghlacadh léi.

Ní dhearnadh mórán líomhaintí asarlaíochta anseo in Éirinn, mar ní raibh an ghnáthsheilbh Chríostaí leis an uafás mailíseach mar chuid den chultúr Ghaelach.

Na chéad daoine a ainmníodh mar chailleacha na Bantiarna Alice Kyteler agus giolla s’aici Petronilla de Meath in 1324. Síleadh gur cailleach a bhí inti i ndiaidh bhás a ceathrú fir chéile. D’éalaigh sí ón tír agus níl taifead uirthi ina diaidh sin, ach gabhadh, céasadh agus loisceadh a giolla Petronella de Meath.  Ach bá é an triail dheireanach an ceann is suntasaí. Tharla sé in Oileáin Mhic Aodha i gContae Aontroma in 1710. Bhí líomhaintí déanta ag Mary Dunbar, a bhí 18 mbliana d’aois ag am in éadan 8 ban agus fear amháin. Níl taifead ar thoradh na trialach; deirtear gur cailleadh sin nuair a dódh Teach an Chustaim in 1922.

Bhí go leor cúiseamh i gceantair lonnaitheoirí. De réir mar a thosaigh daoine ag teacht go Cúige Uladh go luath sa nua-aois, thug siad leo smaointe Eorpacha na caillí agus na hasarlaíochta. Tháinig na lonnaitheoirí seo as Albain, áit a raibh an fiach cailleach i bhfad níos déine fiú ná i Sasana. Baineadh triail as 3,837 duine le haghaidh witchcraft, agus cuireadh chun báis dhá thrian.

Chonaic an daonra lonnaitheoirí nua seo cailleacha i dtéarmaí mailíseacha, mar bhagairt do bheostoc agus do shaol an duine in ionad an chórais creidimh dhúchasaigh ilsraithigh nach raibh glactha aige go fóill leis an smaoineamh Chríostaí nach bhfuil ann ach an mhaitheas agus an t-olc. Chloígh pobal dúchasach na hÉireann go fóill le roinnt smaointe réamh-Chríostaí agus córais chreidimh phágánacha. Lean siad go háirithe ar raon casta créatúir, taibhsí agus síog éagsúil a d’fhéadfadh a bheith síochánta, cothaitheach, fánach agus olc.

Ach go háirithe, bhí coincheap an-difriúil ag an tsochaí Ghaelach faoin ‘chailleach’. Is minic a thagraítear don Chailleach mar an ‘Chailleach Bhéara’ agus tá an chailleach ar cheann de na neacha miotasacha is sine agus is cumhachtaí i miotaseolaíocht na hÉireann. Tá an Chailleach mar chuid de thríonóid na Bandia Móire, in éineacht le hioncharnuithe níos óige mar an iníon agus an mháthair.

I miotaseolaíocht na hÉireann, d’fhéadfadh an chailleach a bheith ina bandia séasúrach, cosúil le Bríd. Bhí sí i gceannas le linn mhíonna an gheimhridh. Bhí sí freagrach as na tírdhreacha a chruthú, na séasúir a athrú agus deirtear go raibh sí ag rialú ó Shamhain go Bealtaine. Deirtear má bhí Lá Fhéile Bríde geal agus grianmhar, bhí an Chailleach amuigh ag cuartú adhmad tine ionas go raibh sí in ann an geimhridh a fhadú. Mar sin de, Bhí daoine ag súil go mbeadh drochaimsir Lá Fhéile Bríde, mar ciallaíonn sin nach bhfuil sí amuigh ar lorg adhmad tine.

Mar sin, más mian leat do leanbh a ghléasadh suas mar chailleach an Oíche Shamhna seo, ná húsáid tróp frith-Sheimíteach Críostaí. Ina áit sin, is féidir leat tumadh isteach sna traidisiúin Ghaelacha agus féachaint ar scéalta Mhacha, Bhaidhbhe agus Mhór-Ríona, bandia an chogaidh, a deirtear a shuigh ar ríchathaoir déanta de chinn na bhfear a mharaigh sí.

The post An Chailleach in Éirinn appeared first on LeftBloc.

As Left Bloc launches its new podcast, North, it’s host Stephen Baker, reflects on the awful state we find ourselves in and invites people to start thinking about how we get out of it.

I was born in the late 1960s in a place called Northern Ireland. I took it for granted that I would die in a place called Northern Ireland. Now I’m not so sure that Northern Ireland will outlive me. This is a disconcerting, challenging but also an exhilarating notion.

When the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998, I assumed Northern Ireland’s constitutional position within the ‘United Kingdom’ was copper fastened for my lifetime, certainly. It was the era of New Labour’s “New Britain”, that combined liberal multiculturalism with a progressive unionism, devolving powers to Scotland and Wales. Most impressively the ‘hand of history’ delivered political agreement and power sharing in Northern Ireland. This new cultural and constitutional settlement was to be underscored by a version of neoliberalism, proposed with a “human face”.

But New Labour’s ‘modernisation’ of Britain was shallow. It began to fall apart with the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and was blown away completely by the financial crash of 2008. In response to that economic catastrophe, a new government, the Tory-led coalition, introduced austerity measures that kicked at the last vestiges of the welfare state, perhaps the one thing that held a precarious post-imperial union together.

In the 2014 referendum, Scotland came closer to breaking way from Tory England and exiting the union than many complacent politicians and commentators predicted. Two years later, it was English nationalists and free market zealots that led the country out of the European Union. In the fevered imaginations of English Tories, of various stripes, the indomitable White Cliffs of Dover symbolised the new frontier with the EU. They gave no consideration to their partitioned neighbours who would host an EU border dividing the island of Ireland as a consequence of Brexit.

The EU and Britain have reached an accord designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland, but it has inflamed the largest unionist party, the DUP. The party were among the most vociferous supporters of Brexit, perhaps relishing a hard border in Ireland. Instead, they perceive an economic border down the Irish Sea, diminishing Northern Ireland’s place within the union. In protest the DUP refuses to appoint ministers to the Northern Ireland executive, effectively collapsing the assembly in the face of a cost of living crisis.

Meanwhile the public infrastructure and social services of Northern Ireland crumble. As journalist Sam McBride put it, writing in the Belfast Telegraph:

“There’s an end of days feel to Northern Ireland. It’s not that Irish unity is necessarily looming, but that dramatic elements of what society has taken for granted are breaking down, with limited reason to believe that they’ll be coming back soon. A sort of half-hearted anarchy pervades. There are still laws, police and regulatory bodies. The streets aren’t filled with looters. But so much of what an advanced democratic society takes for granted is crumbling.”

In 2019, at Trademark Belfast’s Betty Sinclair Winter School, I gave a presentation reflecting on Ireland after Brexit. I argued then that Northern Ireland doesn’t really exist, which may have seemed a bizarre thing to say about a region where some of its residents were looking forward to celebrating its centenary. But when I said it, I was thinking about the work of the Anglo-Irish intellectual, Benedict Anderson, who had a profound impact upon our understanding of how nations arise and sustain themselves. Anderson argued that nations are “imagined communities”, and necessarily so because all the citizens in a nation can’t possibly know one another, therefore they have to imagine their belonging together, as part of a national community. Integral to this imagining is the media, arts, culture, language and education. These provide the shared symbols, stories, songs and other signifiers of belonging that work in concert with public institutions and political and economic forces to forge a sense of national identity. We should be careful not to mistake culture in this instance for ephemera. It is the stuff that often bestows what Anderson referred to as the nation’s ‘profound emotional legitimacy’ in the hearts and minds of its citizens.

Northern Ireland struggles for such legitimacy, since it is hard to identify anyone that has done the imaginative, emotional and cultural work to achieve it. Clearly, Irish nationalists and republicans have no long-term vested interest in the place. But even amongst unionists – at whose behest Northern Ireland exists – too few of them have sought to build a consensual common culture that would bring the people of the region together into an “imagined community”. Instead, for many unionists, “Ulster” has provided a surrogate for Northern Ireland; less a place than an imaginary province of an exclusively Protestant people that bears no proper relation to the territory to which they lay claim. Simply put, then, not enough people care sufficiently about Northern Ireland to build a consensus around how the people of the region will live, work and love in that place. Indeed, I have often thought that Northern Ireland would die of neglect if it weren’t for money from the British exchequer and the civil servants who administer it. Now, as the British government imposes deep punitive cuts on public spending and the region’s administrative failures grow more glaring, Northern Ireland’s remaining life support systems appear to have gone. This is a terrible state to be in. It is destroying people’s lives, particularly and most immediately, the lives of the most vulnerable.

As a socialist, I’ve always been more comfortable talking about social, economic and environmental issues than what are often divisive constitutional ones. But I don’t think I (or we) can put off talking about the constitution anymore, because it is impossible to purse the “bread and butter” of politics while trapped within a settlement that leaves most of us effectively voiceless. Let me explain.

I’m a 55 year old resident of Northern Ireland and I’ve never had the opportunity to elect a Westminster government, and if you’re a residence of this place also, then neither have you. Your vote, and mine, count for next to nothing. So, to my mind, constitutional change is not only coming, but also necessary. Indeed, it has already begun with Britain’s departure from the EU.

Left Bloc’s new podcast, North, starts from the position that constitutional transformation has to be about more than moving citizens from one rotten jurisdiction to another. As Bernadette McAliskey said recently in an interview with the Impartial Report:

“I have no more interest than the average Unionist in being submerged into the Free State. Absolutely none. I can think of no worse fate that might befall a population than to be sucked into the existing system of the Republic of Ireland. I think we need a new Ireland, and I think it starts with a new Constitution.”

We are in a terrible state, but what sort of State do we want to live in? What should/could the future look like? Is there anything we can retrieve from the past that might help us build that future – what lies there that might provide foundations? And who is it that will build on those foundations?

In the first episode of North, I quoted the Welsh historian Gwyn Alf Williams, who said of his homeland: “Wales is an artefact which the Welsh produce. If they want to. It requires an act of choice.” The question for those of us living in the North is what sort of artefact will we choose to make? The question for everyone else is, will you join us in making it?

The post “… a terrible state o’ chassis” appeared first on LeftBloc.

Cé gurb í Inis Oírr an ceann is lú de na hOileáin Árann, tá stair fhada aici. Tá stair an oileáin le
rianú siar go dtí 2000–1500 R.Ch. Cé go dtéann go leor daoine go hInis Oírr leis an tírdhreach
iontach agus leis na rudaí eile a mheallann turasóirí a fheiceáil, cosúil leis na tithe tábhairne nó
fiú longbhriseadh an MV Plassey a bhí le feiceáil in Father Ted. Chomh maith leis na rudaí seo,
tá cuid mhór áiteanna stairiúla le feiceáil fosta.

Creidtear gurb é Cnoc Raithní ar imeall thuaidh an oileáin an chéad chomhartha lonnaíochta
san oileán. Is áit adhlactha ársa é, tá sé dátaithe siar go dtí timpeall 2000–1500 R.Ch. agus is
luath-Chríostaí an chuid ar bharr, timpeall an 5ú go dtí an 8ú haois A.D..

Ar na háiteanna is cáiliúla san oileán, tá Caisleán Uí Bhriain, atá suite ar an phointe is airde san
oileán. Sula raibh caisleán riamh ann, bhí ráth ann, Dún Formna. Creidtear gur tógadh é idir an
5ú haois R.Ch. agus an 1ú haois AD. Ba iad Clann Tíge, craobh chumhachtach de ríshliocht Uí
Bhriain, a tógadh é timpeall na bliana 1400.
Thóg muintir Uí Fhlaithbheartaigh an caisleán sa bhliain 1582, agus baineadh anuas cuid de de
bharr ionradh Cromwell sa bhliain 1652.

Ar na rudaí is coitianta san oileán, tá na háiteanna sin a d’fhág na naoimh dhifriúla a tháinig go
dtí an t-oileán ina ndiaidh.

Ag amharc amach ar an Loch Mór, tá suíomh darb ainm Dún an Chreagáin Chaoil, a bhí ina
chaiseal, agus athúsáideadh na ballaí fá choinne Chaisleán Uí Bhriain. Tá suíomh Críostaí níos
déanaí ann fosta, mar tá Cill na Seacht nIníon (An Chill Bheannaithe), suíomh a bhaineannle
Naomh Moninne ón 5ú 6ú haois. Creidtear gur rugadh Naomh Moninne i nDomhnach Mór, Co. an Dúin, agus deirtear gur Naomh Pádraig a bhaist í agus gur Naomh Bríd a thóg. Thóg sí
séipéal Fhochairde i Co. Lú do Bhríd.

Thug go leor naomh eile cuairt ar an oileán chomh maith, cosúil le Naomh Gobnait, a bhfuil Cill
Ghobnait ainmnithe aisti. Rinneadh naomh aitheanta di i gCorcaigh agus bhí baint aici le
muintire Mhúscraí, daoine tábhachtacha as Mumhain. Deirtear gur theith sí as Contae an Chláir
i ndiaidh argóint teaghlaigh agus go bhfuair sí dídean in Inis Oírr, áit ar thug aingeal cuairt uirthi
agus ar inis sí di nárbh é an t-oileán an áit cheart di.

Tá pátrún dá chuid féin ag Inis Oírr chomh maith darb ainm Naomh Caomhán. Is fothrach tí
pobail é Teampall Chaomháin, a tógadh sa 10ú haois agus is é sin láthair a uaighe fosta. Tá an
séipéal faoi leibhéal na talún anois agus b’éigean é a thochailt, agus glantar anois é gach bliain
le haifreann a cheiliúradh ag an uaigh.

Mar sin de, cé go bhfuil Inis Oírr ar an cheann is lú d’Oileáin Árann, tá an stair iontach saibhir
mar gheall ar na suíomhanna stairiúla suntasacha atá ann. Beidh mé ar ais.

The post Scoil Chois Claí ar Inis Oírr appeared first on LeftBloc.

Aithníodh an chéad Ghaeltacht oifigiúil in 1926. Ní raibh aon sainmhíniú cruinn ann
ach dúradh gurb iad na réigiúin ina raibh ar a laghad 25% den daonra ag labhairt
Gaeilge go laethúil mar chuid den Ghaeltacht. Bhí an rialtas ag súil go gcuideodh sé
le hathshlánú na teanga dá bhfógrófaí na háiteanna seo mar chuid den Ghaeltacht.

Ach ar an drochuair, theip ar an pholasaí seo, tháinig laghdú 50% ar líon na
gcainteoirí sa Ghaeltacht in imeacht glúin amháin. Léirigh staidéar eile go bhfaighidh
an Ghaeltacht bás i gceann 20 bhliain mura dtig athrú mór ar an mbealach a
chleachtar an teanga.

Mar sin dó, cén fáth a bhfuil sé seo ag tarlú? Sa lá atá inniu ann, tá go leor bagairtí
ar thodhchaí na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht. Tá go leor cainteoirí dúchais as
anGhaeltacht ag bogadh ar shiúl mar gheall ar an ghéarchéim tithíochta i ndeisceart
na hÉireann faoi láthair. Tá easpa deiseanna fostaíochta ann fosta do dhaoine óga,
rud a chiallaíonn nach bhfuil go leor de na daoine óga seo in ann a bheith ina gcónaí
sna ceantair inar fhás siad aníos mar nach bhfuil an t-airgead ná na deiseanna acu
fanacht ann.

Sa Ghaeltacht inniu, tá daoine ón gcathair ag ceannach tithe faoin tuath chun iad a
úsáid mar thithe saoire, rud a dhéanann na tithe eile sna ceantair sin níos costasaí
do bhunadh na háite. Ciallaíonn sé seo go bhfuil an chuid is mó de na tithe sa
phobal folamh an chuid is mó den bhliain. Tá tiarnaí talaimh ag teacht isteach fosta
agus ag athrú tithe ina nAirBnBanna do thurasóirí. Déanann sé seo dochar do

thodhchaí na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht mar tá sé ag cur brú ar phobal dúchais na
Gaeilge bogadh ar shúil.
I ndaonáireamh na bliana seo caite, bhí torthaí measctha sa daonáireamh don
Ghaeilge, agus laghdú 2% ar chainteoirí laethúla ach méadú ar líon na ndaoine a bhí
in ann Gaeilge a labhairt.
Ba é líon iomlán na gcainteoirí laethúla Gaeilge lasmuigh den chóras oideachais go
náisiúnta ná 71,968 in 2022, titim 1,835 ar fhigiúr 2016 de 73,803.

Leis na figiúirí seo, is léir go bhfuil todhchaí na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht i mbaol toisc
go bhfuil go leor daoine óga ag fágáil a mbaile ina ndiaidh mar gheall ar an easpa
post agus tithe sna ceantair sin. Leis an Gaeltacht a choinneáil faoi bhláth, ní mór do
dhaoine bealach a fháil leis na daoine óga seo a choinneáil ann, agus leanúint de
bheith ag cur na gcúrsaí Gaeilge ar fáil chomh maith d’fhoghlaimeoirí gach bliain.

The post Todhchaí na Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht appeared first on LeftBloc.