Antifa, Ireland, Free Speech
AntifaVFreeSpeech
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On Saturday 16th November 2019, I attended a rally outside Leinster house in Dublin organised by Renua and the Irish Freedom Party to protect Freedom of Speech. Click here for a selection of photos I took on the day: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Cathal-McCarthy-Community-Activist-455154847949579/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1710268459104872&__tn__=-UC-R
A small group of about 20 Antifa Ireland members did their best to disrupt the proceedings, but failed miserably in their endeavours.
Antifa Ireland was founded in 1992 by Pat Corcoran. In 2009 Corcoran, a former civil servant, was caught with over 7,000 images and 21 videos of child pornography. In November 2013 Corcoran was convicted, but avoided jail and was given a 3-and-a-half year suspended sentence: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/former-civil-servant-caught-with-7000-child-porn-images-avoids-jail-29755182.html
The 300 or so that attended the rally to protect free speech were mostly amused by Antifa's antics, but it is the antics of our elected representatives that we really need to worry about.
Unfortunately, our Constitution does not have an amendment that protects Freedom of Speech and the government has the power to regulate and criminalise it; they are currently drafting a Bill to criminalise "hate speech." We already have sufficient laws against incitement to hatred and violence; the real purpose of “hate speech” laws is to shut down debate and silence dissent. The state wants to regulate your opinion and in the interim far-left activists such as Antifa are “no-platforming” anyone they disagree with by threatening venues with disruptive protests and acts of violence. The far-left are the clowns of the neo liberal circus; their cheer leading for "hate speech" legislation makes them the greatest threat to our individual liberty.
If you value the freedom that our heroes of 1916 fought and died for then you must let your voice be heard. We should be oblivious to our differences and wary of those that seek to divide the minority from the majority with their poisonous identity politics.
Write or email your local TD's and ask them to oppose the "hate speech" legislation: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/
Sign the petition to protect free speech: https://www.change.org/p/irish-department-of-justice-ireland-says-no-to-hate-speech-laws
Here is a list of parties that are AGAINST free speech and support the introduction of "hate speech" legislation: http://enarireland.org/endorsers-of-the-anti-racism-election-protocol-2019/
I condemn the fake anti-racist organisation, ENAR Ireland, for bullying and expelling its members for having pro-life views. I condemn ENAR’s interference in last year’s abortion referendum and their incitement of hatred towards pro-lifers by declaring the 8th Amendment to be “racist”.
All those that signed the ENAR election protocol gave an undertaking to endorse the work of the "No Hate Speech Movement," which campaigns for "hate speech" legislation. There is no need to endorse a dodgy NGO like ENAR; they have no moral authority to say who is and who isn't racist. Shame on those, especially Sinn Féin and Aontú, for signing ENAR’s anti-free-speech pro-censorship pledge.
I have always been a supporter of free speech. In the 1990's I campaigned for an end to the censorship of Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, which had been in place since 1972 and prohibited Sinn Féin from being on Irish television and radio. Section 31 stifled debate and distorted the news; it helped to prolong the Troubles in the North and created a hierarchy of victims whereby nationalist deaths were barely acknowledged in RTE news reports. The ban on Sinn Féin was lifted in 1993. Now Sinn Féin is happy to silence those they disagree with; does Aontú not realise that they will also fall victim to "hate speech" laws? Aontú is a pro-life party that broke away from Sinn Féin over their abortion-on-demand stance; pro-lifers have been targeted by "hate speech" laws in other EU countries and the same will happen here.
Our patriot dead gave their lives so that we could be free and an essential requisite of any free society is Freedom of Speech.
DEFEND FREEDOM OF SPEECH - USE IT OR LOSE IT!
A small group of about 20 Antifa Ireland members did their best to disrupt the proceedings, but failed miserably in their endeavours.
Antifa Ireland was founded in 1992 by Pat Corcoran. In 2009 Corcoran, a former civil servant, was caught with over 7,000 images and 21 videos of child pornography. In November 2013 Corcoran was convicted, but avoided jail and was given a 3-and-a-half year suspended sentence: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/former-civil-servant-caught-with-7000-child-porn-images-avoids-jail-29755182.html
The 300 or so that attended the rally to protect free speech were mostly amused by Antifa's antics, but it is the antics of our elected representatives that we really need to worry about.
Unfortunately, our Constitution does not have an amendment that protects Freedom of Speech and the government has the power to regulate and criminalise it; they are currently drafting a Bill to criminalise "hate speech." We already have sufficient laws against incitement to hatred and violence; the real purpose of “hate speech” laws is to shut down debate and silence dissent. The state wants to regulate your opinion and in the interim far-left activists such as Antifa are “no-platforming” anyone they disagree with by threatening venues with disruptive protests and acts of violence. The far-left are the clowns of the neo liberal circus; their cheer leading for "hate speech" legislation makes them the greatest threat to our individual liberty.
If you value the freedom that our heroes of 1916 fought and died for then you must let your voice be heard. We should be oblivious to our differences and wary of those that seek to divide the minority from the majority with their poisonous identity politics.
Write or email your local TD's and ask them to oppose the "hate speech" legislation: https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/
Sign the petition to protect free speech: https://www.change.org/p/irish-department-of-justice-ireland-says-no-to-hate-speech-laws
Here is a list of parties that are AGAINST free speech and support the introduction of "hate speech" legislation: http://enarireland.org/endorsers-of-the-anti-racism-election-protocol-2019/
I condemn the fake anti-racist organisation, ENAR Ireland, for bullying and expelling its members for having pro-life views. I condemn ENAR’s interference in last year’s abortion referendum and their incitement of hatred towards pro-lifers by declaring the 8th Amendment to be “racist”.
All those that signed the ENAR election protocol gave an undertaking to endorse the work of the "No Hate Speech Movement," which campaigns for "hate speech" legislation. There is no need to endorse a dodgy NGO like ENAR; they have no moral authority to say who is and who isn't racist. Shame on those, especially Sinn Féin and Aontú, for signing ENAR’s anti-free-speech pro-censorship pledge.
I have always been a supporter of free speech. In the 1990's I campaigned for an end to the censorship of Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act, which had been in place since 1972 and prohibited Sinn Féin from being on Irish television and radio. Section 31 stifled debate and distorted the news; it helped to prolong the Troubles in the North and created a hierarchy of victims whereby nationalist deaths were barely acknowledged in RTE news reports. The ban on Sinn Féin was lifted in 1993. Now Sinn Féin is happy to silence those they disagree with; does Aontú not realise that they will also fall victim to "hate speech" laws? Aontú is a pro-life party that broke away from Sinn Féin over their abortion-on-demand stance; pro-lifers have been targeted by "hate speech" laws in other EU countries and the same will happen here.
Our patriot dead gave their lives so that we could be free and an essential requisite of any free society is Freedom of Speech.
DEFEND FREEDOM OF SPEECH - USE IT OR LOSE IT!
Cathal McCarthy
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