Here’s my secret: I am not an independentista. I am a Liberationist. Liberation – the “Let my people go!” of the Book of Exodus – is as much about the liberation of the nation as it is about the liberation of society and the family as it is about the liberation of the person. Scottish independence, then, for me, is as much a cause of national liberation as it is a cause for the liberation of everyone in Scotland from the constitutional, social, and economic conditions that keep us in chains – and we are in chains; for some these are the fetters of poverty and for others they are the bonds of indifference.
Celebrating Christmas for the Whole Year
We’re all familiar with the Christmas story with Mary and Joseph, the baby Jesus, angels, shepherds, inn keepers, and the lobster in the school Nativity play, but we have become less familiar with what the story is about.
Homelessness: But when I ask why…
Every year it is the same thing, the government responds to the news and the pleas with eloquent words and everyone hopes to ride the story out until January when the well-to-do are planning their summer vacations.
In Defence of Occupation
Only a few minutes’ walk from the quays, tucked in behind Tara Street DART station, a small revolution is taking place. Home Sweet Home was the brainchild of Ballymun man Quintin Sheridan.
Treating the Homeless like Cockroaches
Neither Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil have shown any serious commitment to tackling the homeless crisis. They have been content to have people put onto the streets and leave it to the law to make the victims invisible.
Sharon is Sleeping Rough
Sharon finds it hard to sleep, and who would blame her after being set alight in her sleeping bag by a passing group of thugs the Halloween before last? She was reading the city paper and was all chat about the doctor who was acquitted on charges of murdering her own daughter.
Ireland’s Real Major Emergency
Homelessness in Ireland has reached disaster levels meriting the declaration of a state of emergency in the country. In spite of UN experts making this clear to Ireland the government continues to look after the rich.
Helping Strangers in Distress: A Grossly Ignored Civic Duty
Follow @UrFhasaidh Why do so many, when they see a stranger lying on the street, decide that it is none of their business? Yesterday evening on my way home I came across an unconscious middle aged man. There was a small pool of blood under his head as he lay motionless at the corner of … Continue reading Helping Strangers in Distress: A Grossly Ignored Civic Duty