Ideology over justice.
Can animals be victims of hate speech? Yes, according to a recent article in the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. Two academics from Sheffield University, in England, invoke heavy-hitting hate-speech theorists to argue that arguments which apply to humans must also apply to animals. “There is no in-principle reason to support the censure of racist hate […]
One of the subjects that is consistently absent from real debate in Ireland is the question of civil liberties, and the limits that should be placed on the power of the state. Yesterday, the Irish Government announced that it intends to make it an offence to refuse to provide the Gardai with the password to […]
Most people know something about the European Court of Human Rights which is based in Strasbourg and is under the auspices of the Council of Europe. On 2 March 2020, I wrote an article here which demonstrated how the independence of the ECHR has been undermined by George Soros and his Open Society Foundation (OSF). […]
Since the inclusion of China into the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the Clinton Administration, some politicians in the United States have continued to labour under a dubious illusion: that after the advancement of China’s economy, its politics will gradually democratize. This illusion has finally been shattered by recent events. Evidence that has gradually emerged […]
There are a number of things that are remarkable about this tweet from the Chinese Embassy in Washington. The first, though, is that it’s still up, unmolested by twitter, with no warning, or clarification attached. President Trump gets banned for dopey tweets about how he didn’t really lose the election. China, on the other hand, […]
The European Green Party, which includes the Irish Green Party as a full member, recently held its 32nd Council with the aim of exchanging solutions on “today’s most urgent topics.” This included debates on “how to counter Rule of Law backsliding in Europe; and “how we can continue to fight for the human rights of […]
The author, Dominik Michalik, is a Polish Citizen living in Dublin In recent days there has been a move by the European Union to tie funding for EU projects to the “rule of law”. This has been widely interpreted – including by Guy Verhofstadt – to mean denying funding to Poland and Hungary because of […]
Mark Tarrant grew up in Hong Kong and practices as a lawyer in Sydney. He also represents pro bono (i.e., for free) Drew Pavlou, a student at the University of Queensland who has been expelled for his public criticism of the Chinese Communist Party, in his case against China’s Consul-General in Brisbane. He was interviewed by Massimo Introvigne […]
The thing about President Higgins these days is that just when you think he can’t get any more absurd, he proves you wrong. Here he is now, suddenly fierce concerned about human rights abuses and conflict with peaceful protests: President Michael D. Higgins has expressed the “greatest heartbreak” at scenes of “military confrontation with peaceful […]
Religious freedom and political freedom are woven from the same cloth. Reflecting on Irelands experience under the cosh of the Covid-19 pandemic there are very real reasons for concern. The scientific evidence justifying authoritarian edicts restricting freedom of movement and of religious practise– enforced by an unsettling show of armed force–have not been properly set […]
If one was to sit down and draw up a list of things related to the Coronavirus for which somebody in Ireland should be arrested and prosecuted, there are a few things you might put on it. For starters, there was the decision to allow flights from Northern Italy to keep landing in the country […]