Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is rightly revered worldwide as a statesman ranking along great figures of history like Martin Luther King. He is recognised for his role in the defeat of one of the most reviled regimes on the planet and one the most odious systems of oppression and exploitation in history.
This government is thoroughly contemptible. Its policies of facilitating the super-rich and its worshipping of private sector greed have resulted in the shameful fact that 455,000 people are on the live register.
A report published by non-governmental foundation, Front Line, examining human rights in respect of the Corrib Gas dispute, raises serious issues regarding the policing of the project and in relation to the project itself. Front Line is an international foundation established in Ireland in 2001, concerned with the rights of those who can be considered human rights defenders. The report finds that according to the United Nations definition, those involved in peaceful dispute against Shell may be categorised as human rights defenders.