I4C Trouble with Daly and Wallace

Clare and Mick interview Medea Benjamin of Code Pink about the ongoing media and sanctions war being perpetrated against the government of Venezuela. They discuss the increasingly aggressive US state department moves on the international stage, the impact of these regime change operations on the ground, the role of the EU, and modes of resistance to the imperialist war machine.

Clare and Mick are back with a quick round-up of the week in politics at the European Parliament. Whether it's about the deterioration of the rule of law in member states or hiking defence spending while cutting health budgets, the coronavirus continues to place the European Union at a crossroads. Our MEPs tell Damien about their work across each of their committees, and how things in Brussels are shaping up while most of the EU is in lockdown.

The reports from the Houses of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality mentioned in the episode can be found at the following links:Report on Penal Reformand Sentencing (May 2018)Report on Direct Provision and the International Protection Application Process (December 2019)

A video of the ceremony, including a speech by Councillor Declan Bree, can be viewed here.

Emma Clancy's report, Discipline and Punish: End of the Road for the EU's Stability  and Growth Pact can be found here.

“We’re all in this together” is one of the mantras we’ve read and heard most over the last month in dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. But are we really? In episode 6 of I4C Trouble Clare and Mick take a closer look at modern day solidarity and some of the issues that would suggest not all individuals, businesses and Governments are in it together. Kindly presented by Damien Thomson, political adviser to the GUE/NGL group. Thanks for listening! 👂

In this episode of I4C Trouble we have our very first guest - Iranian-British writer and anti-war activist Ali Alizadeh. Our MEPs Clare Daly and Mick Wallace talk sanctions and Iran, with attention to the current coronavirus crisis. Alizadeh invites us to rethink what we think we know about Iran. Is Iran just a “rogue state” or is this term part of a prolonged campaign to delegitimize Iran? Kindly presented by Damien Thomson, political adviser to the GUE/NGL group.

In the fourth episode of I4C Trouble, MEPs Daly & Wallace continue to delve into some of the key issues raised by the COVID-19 pandemic, chief among them the failures of the EU to show solidarity, internally and externally. They look at the genocidal effects of US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela during the crisis, discuss the worsening situation and abuses of rights in migrant camps on EU borders and warn that the government's emergency response to COVID-19 could very easily become a power grab, eroding data protection and privacy in the long term. Kindly presented by Damien Thomson, political adviser to the GUE/NGL group.

In the third episode of I4C Trouble, MEPs Daly & Wallace are in Brussels to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its effects during the European Parliament's emergency plenary to deal with the crisis. Wallace discusses the Irish government's controversial decision to quietly publish the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on NAMA during a public health crisis. Daly speaks about the historic impact of the pandemic on the transport sector, airlines' demands for bail-outs, implications for workers and the public, and the need for a radical rethink of aviation in the future. Kindly presented by Damien Thomson, political adviser to the GUE/NGL group.

Back with their second episode of I4C Trouble, MEPs Daly & Wallace discuss the pressing topic on everyone's minds: the global coronavirus pandemic and the emergency response in Europe. They examine the Greek government's illegal suspension of asylum law on the border with Turkey, the EU response and the wider geopolitical context. Finally, they explain how Parliament's committees work on files, and speak about two important files they have responsibility for. Kindly presented by Damien Thomson, political adviser to the GUE/NGL group.