One of the few genuinely democratic moments of the past few years came in May and June 2005, when the European Constitution was thrown out by referendums in France and the Netherlands.
The past few weeks have seen a moral panic being stirred up in the press following a number of horrendous crimes involving knives and guns committed by children.
When an Israeli warplane killed 28 civilians sheltering in Qana, south Lebanon, activists in Derry occupied the offices of the arms maker Raytheon. A year later Eamonn McCann reports from the village on a moving tribute.