ISSUE 57
SHUT ANGLO DOWN By Kevin McLoughlin XACTLY WHICH corner have we turned Mr Lenihan? During last December's budget speech Brian Lenihan said that the worst was over. Mr Lenihan and the whole government should be kicked out now in disgrace. The very cuts they said would lead to recovery are causing the economy to collapse again. On top of that, the banks’ losses, particularly those of Anglo, are much worse than they said. Now, not only will taxpayers put billions more into the banks, we will have to pay more in interest repayments just for the pleasure, as the bondholder profiteers rob us twice. This government must go! But so too must this market madness of trying to solve a capitalist crisis by more capitalism! How is it possible to solve a crisis caused by profiteering by giving more of our hard earned money to the very same profiteers. Fianna Fail and Green Party are hatching plans to impose even deeper cuts in this December’s budget. More austerity cuts will turn Ireland into an economic wasteland and the poverty conditions of the 1930s and 1950s will return for many. But the government doesn’t care. Yes the bankers at Anglo borrowed to beat the band. Yes they and their builder pals then used the cash to stoke up the mother of all property bubbles. That’s all established but now that it’s all burst apart, it is
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Kick out the government ordinary working class people, who didn’t borrow and didn’t benefit who must pay the debts for years to come! Why is this the case? Because if the bondholders aren’t paid back they’ll use their power and control of capital to destroy the economy again! Interviewed by Pat Kenny, Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins said that when he contacted Anglo Irish Bank and asked them who were the bondholders they owed the money to, Anglo said the bondholders couldn’t be identified. These are faceless parasites, phantoms hiding behind brokers and agencies. We are living in an economic dictatorship where millions are going to be condemned to poverty so the rich can get richer and we’re meant to hope that they throw us a few crumbs! This is the blackmail of the poor and it must be rejected.
We shouldn’t be too surprised that the so-called opposition of Labour and Fine Gael have said that when they take over, they will impose similar draconian cuts so that the same faceless bondholders will get their pound of flesh. What is even worse is that the trade union leaders refuse to lift a finger to prevent this disaster. They must be challenged to either fight the austerity programme or be thrown aside. Token protests, limited actions and rhetoric are of no use anymore. Workers and communities must come together and from below, organise mass mobilisations against December’s budget which is set to be the biggest attack on the working class in the history of the state. Workers and young people have the power but we need to get organ-
CONTACT THE SOCIALIST PARTY - (01) 6772592, PO Box 3434, Dublin 8
ised and fight for a real alternative. Kick this government out. Don’t pay €70 billion plus to the bondholders. Instead close Anglo now and take over the other banks and use the resources to implement socialist policies to create decent jobs and opportunities for all.
OCTOBER 2010
Joe Higgins says: Shut down Anglo Irish Bank
PIC Paula Geraghty
PAPER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY
SOCIALIST PARTY MEP Joe Higgins has called for the immediate closure of Anglo Irish Bank with compensation to be paid only on the basis of proven need in the wake of the statement from the Financial Regulator that the bank could end up costing the taxpayer between €29.3 and € billion. He said: "Shutting down this toxic bank immediately and paying compensation to creditors only on the basis of proven need is the only realistic alternative to bleeding the Irish people dry for 10 years in order to pay its bills. The only alternative to imposing poverty on a massive scale in this country is to make the super-rich pay for their banking crisis. "The banking sector should be nationalised under democratic workers' control and the resources used to defend jobs and services. For example, the banks should be compelled to provide credit for small businesses and renegotiate the interest rate and principals for those struggling with mortgages." Joe Higgins sharply criticised the position advocated by the Labour Party that Anglo Irish Bank should be wound down with merely a renegotiation of bondholder debt: "This falls far short of what is needed. It is a formula which will still mean inflicting massive cuts on the Irish working class." He also slammed the ICTU leadership for continuing to pursue a "social partnership" relationship with a Government which is ruthlessly preferring the interests of wealthy bondholders to the interest of the Irish people. Saluting the general strike in Spain, he said that the Irish trade union movement should break from supporting the government and the markets and follow the example of the Spanish working class in resisting austerity.
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October 2010
2 THE SOCIALIST
news
To stop cuts and bailouts
ICTU must take real action By Stephen Boyd N THE September issue of the Union Post David Begg, ICTU general secretary and Jack O’Connor, ICTU president, argued against the government’s current economic policies. However, one thing was starkly missing from both of their statements - in fact it was missing from the whole newspaper – there was no mention of a strategy to defeat the government’s attacks on working people. The front page headline in the Union Post proclaimed; “Fight cuts Save Jobs - Protect services - People power”. But these “slogans” are devalued when they come from trade union leaders who have done nothing to fight the cuts or save jobs. Even more so when these are the same union leaders who are facilitating the government’s cuts pro-
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What the bank bailout money could buy By Laura Fitzgerald HE CHEAPEST bank bail-out in the world”, Brian Lenihan arrogantly announced two years ago when the banks were guaranteed. The government have announced that the final figure for the bailout of Anglo and Irish Nationwide bail-out could reach €34.7 billion.
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● This figure is three times the 2010 budget of the HSE. ● It is four times the budget of the Department of Education. How indescribably galling it is, that working class families are paying directly for a policy of bailing out speculators and bond-holders, with cuts that are not only wrecking our already ailing public services but will also knock the economy back decades leading to enormous hardship and forced emigration of young people as their hopes for the future vanish. The overall bank-bailout bill is now set to reach a minimum of €50
billion, although it may reach €70 billion or even €90 billion according to some estimates.
gramme because of their support for the Croke Park Deal. This rotten deal will cost tens of thousands of jobs, decimate terms and conditions and cut services. Ten million took part in the general strike in Spain on 29 September. Millions of French workers have gone on strike against Sarkozy’s austerity programme and in Greece there have been four general strikes in the last year. This is the type of radical action we need in Ireland, where the economic crisis is worse - not rotten deals or empty rhetoric from David Begg and Jack O’Connor. We need major mobilisations of workers and the unemployed, but they need to be effective and purposeful. In 2009 ICTU cynically used the demonstrations and the magnificent one-day public sector strike as bargaining chips in their negotiations with the government. The aim of protests and strikes should be focused on stopping the government, and the private sector employers attacks. A campaign of determined industrial action by public and private sector workers, linked to mass demonstrations could stop the cuts and bring down the government. The Socialist Party is calling on trade union members to get motions passed in their union branches calling on their executives to campaign for the ICTU to
name the day for major demonstrations linked to a one day general strike before the budget as the first step in a campaign of real action. A strike and protests of this magnitude would shake the government and the political establishment and would be a signal that working class people are not going to sit back any longer and see our public services slashed, accept mass unemployment, extra taxes and pay cuts to bail out the rich who caused the crisis. Union members need to come together and campaign to replace the current incompetent leaders who are overpaid, unaccountable and who have shown they are unwilling to fight to defend working class people. In order to end the control of the overpaid bureaucracy, trade union officials should be elected on a regular basis, subject to recall by the membership and paid the average wage of the members they represent. Collectively we need to build opposition movements within every union around a programme for action based on greater democracy that wins control of the unions back for the members. Union activists from different unions should also link up in a united campaign to build opposition within the unions and workplaces against the government and the bosses.
T SOCIAYLISSAYS: PART ● Public sector unions to withdraw immediately from the Croke Park Deal. For a co-ordinated campaign by public sector workers to stop the government’s counter-reform programme and to defend services. ● No return to failed “social partnership”. ● Real trade union action to defend jobs, fight the cuts and protect public services. ● For mass demonstrations and a one day general strike by private and public sector workers to stop the budget cuts, the bank bailouts and to get rid of this failed government. ● Build opposition activist groups in every union to challenge the current failed leaders and build a radical alternative.
Government twists the knife into community sector By Robert Connolly
● €50 billion would be enough to provide 66 years of free public transport in Ireland. ● It could build 70 children’s hospitals. ● It could reduce pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools to 1:10 for the next 40 years. ● €50 billion would be enough to make education genuinely free and would put nearly 800,000 students through their entire education. ● It could pay the grocery bills of everyone in the country for 5 years. Cheapest bank bail-out in the world? The liars and cheats in the political establishment cannot be trusted. There is no low that they will not stoop to in protecting the interests of the super-rich. The working class needs its own political party with policies that attack the private ownership of wealth that the bank bail-out protects.
Cork Maternity Hospital: The bank bailout could build 660 such hospitals.
HE REALITY of what the bank bailouts mean for working class communities is very real. Billions are already being sucked out of public services and publicly funded programmes - and worse is to come. On the basis of last years cuts, close to 5,000 community sector jobs and 1,100 CE schemes will be cut by the end of this year and overall community sector funding is being cut by 20%. This is affecting countless community-based services and facilities such as youth groups, childcare, social housing assistance, meals on wheels, after schools projects, adult literacy, training schemes, and drug rehabilitation. Other shameful cuts include a 70% reduction in funding from the Department of Sports for disadvantaged areas, a 62% cut in funding for educational disadvantage and a 53% cut for the CLAR programme tackling rural disadvantage. According to Phil Duffy, a SIPTU activist and youth worker with the South West Inner-City Network in Dublin, “Services for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in the most deprived working class communities around the country are being drained of essential funding. We work with 10 to 21 yearolds and you can see they’re kids who have problems since they were toddlers. Services of this type in this community are already struggling, already vulnerable and now they’re just being decimated.
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This is also in the context of the cancellation of promised regenerations of a lot of flat complexes like O’Devaney Gardens, Theresa’s Gardens, and Dolphin House. The process of emptying out these flats for re-housing was begun but was left unfinished, so these areas are in a limbo with loads of flats boarded-up and they’re not being maintained. After all the talk, all the promises, the boom never reached these communities and many of the old problems are building up all over again”. Phil explained that “Last January they cut the youth workers’ wages. They say they need to bring in the same cuts as those for public sector workers. These youth workers are ineligible for public sector benefits or pensions yet they are to subject to the same wage cuts! The unfairness of this is obvious to people and we’re organ-
ising through SIPTU to fight it. We organised a meeting and had over a hundred youth workers at a meeting in Dublin. Many of these previously unorganised workers are joining the union and we’ll be bringing a challenge to the LRC soon”. SIPTU, Impact, Unite (along with the Community Workers Forum and the Community Sector Employers’ Forum) have been involved in a campaign against community sector cuts for over a year. Last September’s demo of over 15,000 was a positive indication that a powerful union-led campaign on this issue is possible. The cuts will continue and worsen in the upcoming budget. A strong campaign of community sector workers and communities will need to force the unions involved into organising a real fight to save community jobs and services.
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October 2010
THE SOCIALIST
HIGGINS SOCIALIST PARTY MEP IT IS anybody’s guess what the extent of cuts in public spending and public services will be when the budget of 2010 will be introduced. It is also anybody’s guess whether the government bringing in that budget will be the current coalition of Fianna Fail and the Green Party or a new government made up quite possibly of Fine Gael and the Labour Party. That is the measure of the economic and political crisis in which the Irish capitalist establishment finds itself at the present time. Of course it is the Irish working class which is being hammered to pay for this crisis with savage attacks on their living standards and public services. On the very day that the government announced that it was going to gouge the tax-
payers for up to €35 billion to pour into Anglo Irish Bank, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan declared that the projected cuts of €3 billion in the budget will have to be increased substantially. That means further savage attacks on the living standards of working people, pensioners and the unemployed. The stark reality for workers in Ireland is that no matter which set of the current parties of the political establishment is in power, the cuts will be imposed. Fine Gael and the Labour Party have publicly agreed with the government figures on the need for draconian cuts. This show us the bankruptcy of all the forces which embrace and defend the capitalist system and are therefore left scrambling for a way out of the
crisis within the rules of that system. In the wake of the announcement of the colossal resources to be poured into the black hole that is Anglo Irish, all the usual suspects – right wing economists and commentators - were on the airwaves speculating about how the markets would react and whether they would be “satisfied”. RTE’s Morning Ireland had a long interview with a representative of Goldman Sachs who was very firm on the “need” for four years of hairshirt austerity in Irish society. This is the same Goldman Sachs which was one of the main players in blowing up the massive bubble of speculative gambling on the world’s financial markets that crashed with disastrous consequences three years ago. The same Goldman Sachs which cynically saw the crash coming and made a fortune by betting on that likelihood through what is called short-selling. It should be as clear as daylight now that this whole system is bankrupt, rotten to the
Peter Sutherland.
core, and should be brought down and replaced. It is scarcely believable then to find that the leadership of the trade unions in this State are in full retreat in the face of the attacks by these financial criminals. Scandalously instead of fighting, they are instrumental in demoralising workers with their recommendations to accept the government’s disastrous policies of “slash and burn” because there is no alternative. There is no alternative on the basis of capitalism but as the great socialist, James Connolly,
said a hundred years ago, “The time for patching up the capitalist system has long passed, it must go”. That was true then but how much more true today. The problem is that, like the Labour Party, the trade union leadership do not have an alternative programme to the neo liberal agenda. That programme of course is democratic socialism where the financial system instead of being allowed to be a dictatorship over society would be brought into full public ownership and democratic control. In this way and with other major sectors in public ownership it would be entirely possible to organise society to create enough wealth to meet all the needs of society, develop public services and allow a full and fulfilling life for all.
Joe Higgins is the Socialist Party MEP for the Dublin constituency
Fine Gael’s agenda exposed in Bray By Brendan O’Connor PUBLIC meeting on jobs and economic recovery, accused by some of being an electioneering stunt by Fine Gael, turned out to be exactly that and disturbingly a bit more. The public meeting, staged by Cllr J. Ryan with guests Mark Fielding from ISME and right wing economist Jim Power from Friends First and a local business woman, looked at solutions to the bank crisis, the economic downturn and routes to reverse unemployment and the social problems it causes. The posters erected by Councillor Ryan and his subsequent interview in the local press invited the unemployed and businesses to “come along and listen to the thoughts of the speakers”.
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The most amazing thing about Mark Fielding of ISME was after having invited the unemployed and workers in– he then attacks them! He proceeded to complain that there was too much “red tape” when it came to protection for workers, that legislation protecting workers was far too much and that the minimum wage is too high. He went on to pose the question – “Where are rights for employers Eh! Eh! Eh?” Public sector employees got a double dose of attacks. But there was not one idea about the economy, jobs and how we may escape the recession. Jim Power the economist was up next. Nothing new here - rehashing on how we got to this point and how long we are going to be in this state. A prediction from Jim Power was that the multinational job merry-go-round was
over for us and that public sector pay levels were an “unmitigated disaster”. He also believed that there is a need to drive down costs which included wages, and to bring more workers into the tax net. Banks need to be more favourable to the SME’s, he said. Enter stage left Ms Lorraine (Alexis) Sweeney. After a short speech on how successful and rich she was owning three hotels, she then related how she had to sack her chef. He was immediately allowed to “sign on” and receive rent allowance which left him receiving more than she was paying him, she exclaimed! How did this incentivise people to work for her when they would get the same on the dole?. Her right-wing reactionary rhetoric ended by her saying that rent allowance was the downfall of the
Enda wants to cut your services.
social welfare system and gave the balance of power back to the employee. This meeting gave a real insight into the right-wing,
Survey reveals dramatic changes in social attitudes By Rita Ann Harrold N IRISH TIMES Behaviour Attitudes survey “Sex, Sin and Society” took a sample of over 1,000 people from 100 locations in Ireland and has revealed increasingly progressive attitudes on social and political issues. Unemployment (83%) is the issue of greatest political concern, followed by the financial crisis (77%) and the cutbacks (69%) and only 7% cited immigration as a major concern. 79% of all those surveyed think
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sex outside marriage is not immoral. 91% of people said they would not think any less of someone if they found out they were gay. More than two thirds believe that gay marriage should be allowed. About half think gay couples should be able to adopt, with a majority of women, 18-44 year olds and those living in urban areas supporting this. 60% of under 45s would help a friend to have an abortion. This figure is 49% for all ages. 57% of people think that doctorassisted suicide should be legalised for terminally ill patients
who wish to end their own lives. Almost 80% are in favour of the ordination of women priests in the Catholic Church, with almost 90% supportive of Catholic priest marriage. Only 4% of young people view themselves as strongly religious. This is only 13% for the whole population. 84% said that fashions in clothes and media sexualise young girls at an early age. Most people still don’t support a younger age of consent although men, under 20s and Dubliners are more likely to think that a younger age of consent is needed. Under 40s have much more
relaxed attitudes towards people’s personal relationships and sexual behaviour. This survey shows a sea change in attitudes and a collapse of the influence of the Catholic church over Irish people. These results clearly indicate that much needed legal changes such as gay marriage and abortion rights have significant support, another strong argument for why they should be introduced. More than two thirds believe gay marriage should be allowed and about half think gay couples should be able to adopt.
anti-worker politics of Fine Gael and what horrors working class people can expect when they are in government.
opinion & news
JOE
“The time for patching up the capitalist system has long passed, it must go”. That was true then but how much more true today.
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October 2010
THE SOCIALIST
news
As Labour top the polls we exam…
Labour’s record in power By Councillor Mick Barry HE BIG winners at the next General Election are likely to be the Labour Party, benefitting from the anger of voters at Fianna Fail and the desire for change. Although the Labour Party haven’t been in Government for more than 13 years now, they do not really constitute something “new”. In fact, Labour is the oldest political party in the state and has actually been in government on five separate occasions in the last 40 years (with Fine Gael from 1973-7, 1981-2 and 1982-7, with FG and Democratic Left 1994-7 and with Fianna Fail 1992-4). In each and every one of these governments the party, having benefitted from a mood for radical change on the part of Labour voters, were prepared to attack the interests of ordinary working class people in order to stay in power, facilitate co-operation with their coalition partners and run the capitalist system. • Unemployment: When
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Labour went into with Government Fine Gael in 1982 11.4% of the workforce were unemployed. By the time that Government collapsed in 1987, 16.8% of the workforce were unemp l o y e d . Workers who occupied their workplaces rather than accept redundancy were jailed at Ranks and in Moracrete Dublin and forced to go on hunger strike to save their jobs at Clondalkin Paper Mills. Labour in Government have actually shut down state industry and t h r o w n workers on
the dole as at Irish Steel in the 1990s. • Ta x e s : Labour voted for VAT to be applied to children’s shoes in 1981. As Minister for the Environment in 1983 Labour leader Dick Spring cut the rate support grant to councils and introduced legislation which allowed councils to bring in water and bin charges. Hundreds of ordinary householders campaigning against water charges in Dublin in the 1990s were dragged in front of the courts for nonpayment of the unjust tax under a FG/Lab/DL government. Meanwhile, in Government with
Fianna Fail in 1993 Labour voted for a tax amnesty which let wealthy tax dodgers off the hook. • Cutbacks: The vicious health cuts of the late 1980s, from which the health service today has still not fully recovered, were actually begun under the Fine Gael/Labour government of 1982-7 under Labour Party Minister for Health Barry Desmond. Subsidies for milk, bread and butter - a vital safeguard for low income families against outright poverty - were abolished by that government. • Attacks on the public sector. The 1982-7 coalition blocked increases due to teachers and refused to appoint an arbitrator to deal with public sector pay claims, implementing a pay freeze by stealth. Often, Labour entered government at a time of crisis, with a “mess” left behind by Fianna Fail. However, instead of using a crisis in capitalism to promote radical change Labour consistently used the crises as an excuse to postpone radical change. There is no solid reason to believe that it will be any
different this time. There are, however, two important differences between Labour going into government in the near future and Labour going into government in the past. Firstly, capitalism’s crisis is deeper now than in the 70s, 80s or 90s. The system will demand even more savage assaults on the living standards of working class people from its government. Secondly, Labour ministers in previous governments had to look over their shoulders at an active and angry left-wing membership who put them under real pressure on the issues. The expulsion of the Marxist left in the late 1980s and the Blairification of the Labour Party in the 1990s has removed that pressure point and will give Labour ministers a freer hand to support an anti-working class agenda now. For all these reasons and more, workers and young people who want to vote for a real alternative at the next election should look beyond Labour and vote for Socialist Party or other genuine left-wing candidates.
Patients suffer in Mid West cuts Unions must act now to save Orthopaedic By Dave Vallely EALTH SERVICES in the Mid West are under sustained and savage attack as this government continues to implement brutal cuts. In the past month the HSE has moved to close beds, shut wards and even attempted to close Nenagh General Hospital at weekends. This has inevitably meant a huge burden has been placed on the infrastructure and staff in the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, a burden that has pushed the hospital to breaking point. In the period since 2007, when reconfiguration of services in the Mid West began with the downgrading of St. John’s, Ennis and Nenagh General hospitals, the
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Regional Hospital in Limerick has seen the amount of people waiting for treatment on trolleys soar from 32 to a scandalous 186 patients this August! The HSE and Department of Health’s solution to this crisis has been to demand further cuts, including reducing frontline staff hours, shutting wards and an operating theatre in Croom Orthopaedic Hospital, threatening that hospital’s future and putting further pressure on the chronically understaffed Limerick Regional. The government are determined to squeeze our already crippled health service in advance of a potential further €700 million of cuts in December’s budget, but what is becoming clearer every day is that ordinary working class people who depend on these services cannot afford these cuts.
T SOCIAYLISSAYS: PART ● That all wards and beds that have been shut across all hospitals in the Mid West be reopened immediately. ● An end to the recruitment ban and the replacement of the more than 700 frontline jobs that have been left vacant since the start of the year. ● Massive investment to boost the capacity and performance of a health service that was already underfunded before these rounds of cuts ever began. Cllr Mick Barry is leading the fight against the closure of the Orthopaedic.
Thousands can’t pay the gas, ESB, the mortgage... By Richard O’Hara HILE IRELAND stands on the cusp of national bankruptcy with a ballooning GDP/debt ratio and rising interest rates for borrowing, it is also facing another debt crisis- a personal debt crisis. As the government staggers about in various failed attempts to gratify the markets, bailing out rotten financial institutions left, right and centre, ordinary householders are struggling to meet the burden of mortgage repayments and utility bills. The latest figures show that forty times as many people are struggling to pay their gas and electricity bills than at the start of 2009,
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with a combined total of 110,000 people in payment plans with ESB and Bord Gais, and 20,000 nearing disconnection. So far this year 2,500 households per month have had their electricity supply disconnected. Figures for mortgage arrears are similarly alarming- 5% of all mortgages are now in arrears, up almost 40% since last September. These figures throw into stark relief the financial crisis facing many ordinary people in Ireland. Many of these people have lost their jobs and have had their dole payments reduced. With long-term unemployment increasing, their prospects are bleak. These households are facing a financial crisis, but one that could also precipitate
a second banking crisis if, as looks likely, there are enough mortgage defaults. There has been no bailout for ordinary people, no spare €50 billion could be found to help unemployed or low and middle income workers who are struggling to keep their heads above water. Never have the class interests of the government- and indeed the opposition parties- been more nakedly exposed. They act on behalf of the the wealthy few, not the many in society who are struggling to make ends meet. As the saying goes - socialism for the rich, capitalism for everyone else. Perhaps this is what Bertie meant when he declared himself a socialist.
By Colm McCarthy HE LATEST protest in the campaign to save St. Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital in Cork took place on the 25 September and was attended by 400 people. The protest took the form of a march from the gates of the Hospital in Gurranabraher, through the Northside towards the city centre, culminating in Daunt Square. It was the third organised by the Campaign for a Real Public Health Service. Those that spoke at the protest included patients at the hospital, who spoke of the excellent care they received, workers who spoke of their frustration at the inaction of unions in the hospital, and Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry. The HSE intends to close the Orthopaedic hospital on the 31 March next year as part of their “reconfiguration” plan. The plan
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will involve the moving of orthopaedic services to the South Infirmary, which has fewer orthopaedic beds and major carparking problems. The closure also comes at a time when the services will be under particularly severe pressure due to the recall of faulty hip-replacement products, necessitating surgery for over 400 patients. The makeup of the secret committee advising the “reconfiguration’s” director, John Higgins, gives an insight into the real reason behind the move. Dominated by business people such as property developer Michael Flynn, it does not include one representative of workers or patients. The campaign to save the hospital continues and the workers and the community will be looking to SIPTU to make good on the promise of their full time official, Joe O’Callaghan, who told the march that SIPTU will be launching a campaign to keep the hospital open.
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October 2010
THE SOCIALIST
By Cillian Gillespie HE DAY has passed for patching up the capitalist system; it must go.”- James Connolly You are unlikely to hear this quote being given when broadcaster Joe Duffy makes the case for James Connolly to be selected as the greatest Irish person in the RTE series. If you do you will probably be told that Connolly’s firm anti-capitalist socialist outlook may have been okay for his time but has little relevance in today’s world. Yet, as unemployment soars and workers’ rights are savaged, while banks and speculators are bailed out to the tune of billions the socialist ideas of James Connolly and the lessons of his role as a workers leader have never been more relevant. The various shades of political opinion that have sought to claim his mantle including sections of the Irish capitalist establishment, most notably Fianna Fail, and the right wing leadership of the workers movement have always sought to ignore Connolly’s legacy. Connolly was born in the slums
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of Edinburgh in 1868 to emigrant parents who fled the horrors of the Irish famine. Poverty forced him to leave school at the age of ten and he ended up joining the British army at the age of fifteen but left when he saw the realities of British imperialist oppression in Ireland. On his return to Scotland he became active in the socialist movement and began to study the key works of Marxism. From this point on until his execution in 1916 he immersed himself in building the workers and socialist movement, referring to the latter in his pamphlet Socialism Made Easy as being “the great anti-theft movement”. As a committed socialist fighter Connolly understood that the working class needed fighting militant trade unions to defend their interests given the irreconcilable divisions between workers and a capitalist class that sought to brutally maximise profits at its expense. Needless to say that despite its occasional rhetoric and speechifying, such an outlook has been
Open Hansfield station - NOW By Cllr Ruth Coppinger BRAND new train station lies idle in a builtup area of west Dublin because developers refuse to build an access road to it! Hansfield Station is after Clonsilla on the Dunboyne rail line and could allow thousands of commuters from Ongar, Castaheany and Greater Blanchardstown to get to the city centre in 20 minutes or so, rather than the 1 hour and 20 minutes on the bus. Developers, Manor Park and Mennolly Homes, were to build the access road as part of Phase 2 of the Hansfield SDZ housing development. However, because of the property collapse, developers can’t sell all their existing houses and have stopped building. An SDZ (Special Development Zone) was a concept devised by Bertie Ahern to fast-track housing during the boom. Socialist Party councillors on Fingal voted against it as the necessary schools, trans-
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port and infrastructure were not being put in place for the frenzied development going on in Blanchardstown. Manor Park builders sold houses in Hansfield/Barnwell on the basis of a rail station next door. They continue to use the station to advertise unsold houses now – despite the fact that it is their refusal to build a road which is keeping the station closed! The road works would cost a mere €1 million – the price of just three houses sold. Joe Higgins MEP and Cllr Ruth Coppinger canvassed Hansfield and held a public meeting on the issue. It was agreed from this to hold a further meeting with representatives from Irish Rail, developers and the Council invited. The Socialist Party believes the Council should build the road if necessary and recoup the money from the developers. Massive pressure should be put on government representatives (who dreamed up the SDZ) to get this road build and whose misplanning and mismanagement has led to this situation.
Joe Higgins MEP and Cllr Ruth Coppinger at the “ghost” station.
lost on the present leadership of the trade union movement in Ireland. From 1903 to 1910 Connolly lived in the United States where he became an organiser for Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a union that sought to break from the tradition of craft unionism and seek to organise the broad mass of
unskilled workers. Upon his return to Ireland he became an organiser with the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) which under the leadership of Jim Larkin had began the same process as the IWW. In August 1913 the capitalist class sought to break the growing influence of the ITGWU through an employers’ lock out. In this major class battle Connolly founded the Irish Citizens Army as a workers defence force against brutal attacks by police and scabs. He, along with Larkin, sought to build on the tremendous solidarity that was shown by workers in Britain during the lockout by putting pressure on the leadership of the British TUC (Trade Union Congress) to call decisive solidarity action with workers in Dublin. A key lesson of Connolly’s life was his understanding that the organisation of workers in fighting
trade unions had to be married to the fight for independent political representation for the working class. In 1912 Connolly proposed that the Irish TUC establish a Labour Party. Along with building a broad based party such as this he was also an active member in the Socialist Party of Ireland, a party that overtly stood for the overthrow of capitalism and for a socialist society to replace it. Throughout his life Connolly was a prolific writer who sought to develop a Marxist understanding of Irish history. He recognised that a united Irish working class could only end the political and economic oppression of British imperialism by fighting for a socialist Ireland. As an organiser for the ITGWU in Belfast, Connolly united Protestant and Catholic workers in common struggle including organising antisectarian demonstrations under the banner of the union. If you can, then vote for James Connolly as Ireland’s greatest – but the most important tribute you can pay to him is join in the building of a powerful workers movement on this island and internationally that can fight for a socialist world.
Labour must oppose Navan Rd rezoning By Cllr Matt Waine N OCTOBER councillors on Fingal County Council will vote on the new Fingal Development Plan. Whilst the bursting of the property bubble has seen an end to the plethora of developer-friendly rezonings that dominated previous Development Plans, the County Manager is proposing to rezone important Green belt lands along the Navan Road in Dublin West. These lands, which act as an important environmental buffer for the Tolka Valley, are to be rezoned to High Technology (HT) which will allow commercial development on the site In our opinion these lands act as a vital green belt break between Dublin 15 and the rest of the city.
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During the last Development Plan, the Socialist Party fought hard to preserve this green belt. Dublin 15 has suffered immensely over the course of the property boom, as our green spaces were gobbled up by developers, resulting in thousands of new houses, adding to traffic gridlock and serious strains on our infrastructure and public services. This proposal will see office blocks developed along the rail line which in turn will mean more cars and traffic for the Navan Road. It will also infringe on views of the Tolka Valley and hinterland. We believe this proposed re-zoning is totally unnecessary. Fingal currently has over 1,500 hectares of undeveloped land which could support High Technology development. Why do we need more during a recession? That’s not to mention
the scores of empty offices and units lying idle in the Ballycoolin Industrial estate. In the first phase of the discussions, the manager proposal was carried thanks to the support of Fine Gael Councillors including Cllr Dennison and Cllr Loftus. As expected, Fianna Fáil voted in favour. However, unfortunately, the Labour Party failed to deliver their full party vote. Cllr Gerry Maguire voted in favour of the proposal and Cllr Ken Farrel and Cllr Tom Kelleher were absent. Hardly a day goes by without the Labour Party promising things will be different when Labour are in power. Here is an opportunity for them to put their money where their mouth is and vote in favour of the Socialist Party’s motion to save this green belt from unnecessary development.
Pyrite testing begun in Mulhuddart By Cllr Ruth Coppinger ENANTS AND home-owners are struggling to deal with the effects of pyrite, the deadly material used in building their homes, causing walls to crack. In west Dublin, more and more cases are coming to light in the newer built estates, as reported in The Socialist. Following pressure from tenants and the Socialist Party, Fingal County Council has now begun to test some of their own housing in Dromheath Avenue, Mulhuddart, where tenants have been enduring cracked walls and shifting floors
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Suspected pyrite in Castlecurragh
for some time. The Socialist Party councillors will continue to work with tenants to demand this problem is swiftly dealt with. In Castlecurragh, we will work with householders to get justice and to get the Council to actively assist
homeowners with pyrite. More difficult is where householders own the house themselves. No homeowner should be left to or can deal with this alone. A compensation fund which actually pays enough to rectify the problem will have to be set up, financed by the quarries involved, the builders and insurance companies. We stand for an investigation into how pyrite came to be used in building products – where was the regulation? Any developer pleading inability to pay compensation should have to open up their books. The insurance companies take hundreds of euros a year from home-owners and could also be involved.
news
Ireland’s greatest – James Connolly
6
October 2010
THE SO
feature
Worst banking crisis in history
Insolvency & recession
WILL IRELAN GO BANKRU By Paul Murphy ITH INTEREST rates on Irish bonds hovering around 7%, it is clear that financial markets are increasingly pricing in a high chance of Ireland "going bust". In this article, PAUL MURPHY traces the prospects for Irish state insolvency, the deepening economic crisis and the consequences for the workers' movement. In recent weeks, the gap between the reality of economic crisis and the pronouncements of government figures have grown ever larger. While the bond markets demonstrate their lack of confidence that the government will pay back its loans, the government announces empty plans to create 300,000 jobs, all the while cutting public sector jobs! Brian Lenihan increasingly cuts a desperate figure, incredibly welcoming the “remarkable turnaround” in the Irish economy, while the figures indicate a continuing recession.
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Why insolvency is now a real threat AT THE time of writing, the yields on Irish bonds are around 6.8% and the trend (see graphs) is clearly pointing upwards, beyond 7%. At the same time, the annual cost to insure Irish bonds against default rose to a record high of almost €500,000 for every €10 million in debt. Comparisons are increasingly being made with Iceland and Greece as the pressures mount on the financial markets. While these financial markets are made up of rich speculators and investors, the high interest rates on Irish bonds reflect the real fear that the state will simply be unable to repay its debts. A central reason for the rising possibility of state insolvency is the bailout for the banking sector and in particular the bailout for Anglo Irish Bank. Standard & Poors, one of the rating agencies that until recently was treated as a God-like institution by the government, estimated that the government will have to spend more
than €35 billion of taxpayers’ money to ensure that investors and depositors in Anglo Irish get their money back, while the government has estimated the figure at €29 - €34 billion. As a result of this and the bailouts for the other major banks, UCD economist Morgan Kelly has estimated that government debt will rise to 140% of GNP by 2012. This is a situation that would be difficult to recover from even in the context of a booming economy, but impossible to recover from in the context of a declining economy. The reason the bond yields took another sharp jump in the last week of September was because new figures revealed that the economy continued its downward slide.
Is a double-dip recession underway? ON THE back of these latest figures, some economists and commentators have begun to talk about a "double-dip recession" for Ireland. If anything, this represents a favourable slant on the figures. A "double-dip" implies that there was growth in between. In fact, while minor growth was registered in the first quarter of 2010, it now appears to have been a blip and the latest figures in reality represent a continuation of the weakening of the Irish economy. In the second quarter of 2010, GDP contracted by 1.2% and GNP contracted by 0.3%. That means that GNP has now contracted for nine quarters in a row, which compares to an average in the Euro area of four quarters. The depth of the crisis unfolding in Ireland is also demonstrated by the collapse in national income, which is re-inforced by the latest figures. GNP has contracted from its peak by 13.4% in real terms and by 24.1% in nominal terms (not adjusted for inflation).
What would insolvency mean? THE FIGURES again confirm the point that socialists have made - the government's neo-liberal policies are having a negative effect on economic
BAILOUT the real figures Anglo – €29.3 billion – could go to €34.3bn AIB – up to €6.5 billion (including €3.5 billion already invested by Government) BoI – €3.5 billion INBS – €5.4 billion (including €2.7 billion already committed by Government) EBS – €350 million (further requirement for €440 million and possibly more which is expected to come from its new buyer) Total: €45 billion. Some analysts believe it may evetually cost between €70 - €90 billion
resulted in this situation is likely, regardless of which establishment parties are in power at the time of the next budget. Colm McCarthy's response as the designated hatchet man of the establishment in Ireland was predictable. He declared (writing in the Sunday Business Post 26/9/10) that "It would be desirable if longer-term commitments, stretching to 2014, could be outlined, including further pruning of the capital budget, measures to restrain the cost of public sector pensions and measures to broaden the tax base." What this means is that the idea that "the worst is over" and that we had taken the necessary bad medicine was a lie - and that in fact many further assaults will be implemented. One will be an attempt to sell-off valuable state assets like Bord Gáis in order to quickly raise funds as well as "gaining confidence" in the international markets through a clear neo-liberal approach. Another will be a further attack on vital public services - with more cutbacks in funding to healthcare, education and social welfare. The €3 billion that was previously spoken about as the amount of cuts to be implemented in December’s budget is now likely to be revised upwards in an effort to “satisfy” the markets. As part of that, public sector workers are again likely to come under attack.
The alternative to the rule of the bondholders growth and are contributing to a downward deflationary spiral. This is seen in the figures for personal consumption, which has fallen by 1.6% compared to a year ago. If the state becomes actually insolvent, as is now a real possibility within months, what will the consequences be? A probable result is that the IMF and EU would step in to provide emergency funding (as in the case of Greece). Such funding would come with massive strings attached. These strings would involve the implementation of harsh neo-liberal measures along the lines of the “Structural Adjustment Programmes” applied in Latin American countries. The wholesale
privatisation of the remaining state owned companies would be demanded, together with deeper cuts in public services and harsher attacks on public sector workers and workers' rights generally. Despite their public proclamations that all is well, the key figures in the economic and political establishment in Ireland are aware of the growing difficulties they face. A limited renegotiation of a small portion of the Anglo debt with those investors not covered by the guarantee will be attempted. However, that will not come close to fixing the fundamental weaknesses and avoiding the danger of insolvency. Therefore, an intensification of the neo-liberal policies that
WHAT SHOULD the response of the workers' movement be to the real prospect of bankruptcy of the Irish state and the consequent attacks on workers? It should definitely not echo the arguments of the government, as Jack O'Connor, President of ICTU, did recently in an article in the Union Post when he declared that the bondholders "successfully extracted the last cent in terms of interest premium in the confident knowledge that our economy is well capable of honouring the debt." It is necessary to face up to the reality that rightwing economic policies have resulted in a disastrous economic situation where insolvency is a real prospect.
October 2010
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OCIALIST
n ...
ND UPT? Acknowledging that reality does not mean bowing down before these bond markets – it means they must be tackled head on, rather than attempting to placate them. Their rule and power must be rejected and policies implemented that are in the interests of the majority rather than a small number of rich bond holders. Contrary to the idea that "there is no alternative" which is promoted by the government and media, there is a realistic alternative. The reason they don't talk about it is that it involves challenging the rule of profit in Irish society and taking the wealth out of the hands of the minority who currently control it. Concretely, what that means is that the banks and hedge funds who have invested in Anglo Irish, regardless of whether they invested before or after the guarantee was granted in September 2008, should take their losses. More generally, if the state is faced with bankruptcy, bondholders should be “burnt”, with the government refusing to pay its debt to international speculators and hedge funds, rather than making working people pay. Instead of implementing further cuts that deepen the downward economic spiral, the cuts should be reversed and policies should be implemented to get people back to work and develop sustainable economic growth. A massive public infrastructural programme could provide work for the 100,000 builders currently on the dole. A cut in the working week to 35 hours with no loss of pay would create 165,000 jobs,
by sharing out the work. A wealth tax on the €75 billion made by the top 1% of society during the Celtic Tiger would generate significant funds. Instead of selling off valuable state assets in order to raise short-term funds, the banks and the key sectors in the economy, including the natural resources like the Corrib gas and oil field, should be nationalised under democratic workers’ control and management, with compensation only on the basis of proven need. In that way, credit could be provided to small businesses and where people face difficulty in paying mortgages, the principals and interest rates on mortgages could be renegotiated and an economic plan could be democratically constructed to engender a sustainable recovery. In the short to medium term, these policies would avoid bankruptcy and avoid the state having to go onto the international markets to borrow. However, it is not possible to build a self-sufficient economy in Ireland alone. That is why implicit in the eurozone crisis is the need for a European wide struggle. That struggle is a common struggle against the austerity measures and the rule of the financial markets, IMF and EU. In addition, it must be a struggle for a socialist federation of Europe, where policies based on democratically planning the economies of Europe for people’s needs would mean that cooperation and assistance, including funding where necessary, could be provided for different countries on a co-operative basis.
● KAZAKHSTAN: 16 million people. The size of Western Europe. South of Russia and west of Mongolia and China, former part of Soviet Union. Old Stalinist leadership hung on to power and became new capitalist class. ● Nazarbayev in power for 19 years, has enormously enriched his immediate family. A vicious repressive state apparatus routinely crushes human rights. ● Following an invitation to visit Kazakhstan to meet activists and various groups struggling for human and democratic rights, the United Left Group in the European Parliament(Gue/NGL) agreed that Socialist Party MEP Joe Higgins and staff member Tanja Niemeier should go. The Socialist spoke to Joe Higgins about the visit. By Finghin Kelly Joe, who did you meet in Kazakhstan? WE HAD numerous meetings with activists in the Kazakhstan 2012 movement (to which the Socialist Party's Kazakh sister party is affiliated to), independent trade unionists, ex-prisoners and prisoners families, those fighting against evictions and many others fighting for human and democratic rights in the country. Many of the people we met or were due to meet were intimidated with threatening phone calls warning of “consequences” for them and their families should they speak to us. Vadim Kuramshin a lawyer who has damning information about a regime of enormous brutality in Kazakhstan’s prisons, was due to meet our delegation but he was arrested and charged with a spurious offence for which he was sent to prison immediately for ten days. This was clearly a deliberate plan by the Kazakhstan authorities to prevent him from giving his testimony to us. We heard a constant stream of reports of the beating up of activists, the arrest on petty “administrative” charges leading to 15 day arrests or open police provocations leading to long periods in prison, attempts to saddle trade union activists with huge financial sanctions, the brutal torture regimes used against young prisoners and the constant anonymous phone calls threatening dire actions if opposition continues. Given these conditions it is remarkable that so many people were prepared to meet with us, I must pay tribute to their heroism on showing their determination to fight for democratic, human and workers’ rights against this regime What are the conditions like in the prisons? I WAS particularly shocked by accounts given to me by ex-prisoners and prisoners' families. I heard horrifying testimony concerning the organised and systematic extreme brutality and cruelty against very young prisoners. Some of this brutality included acts of humiliation, beatings that would last for days, torture and rape. Many were imprisoned for very minor offences. What are the economic links between Kazakhstan and the EU?
Enraged Anglo customer blocked Dáil entrance.
KAZAKHSTAN IS a major gas and oil exporter. Kazakhstan also has a very important strategic position for the countries involved in the Afghan war. Trade between the EU and Kazakhstan totalled €18.9 billion last year. 80% of the oil reserves are owned by well known foreign, multinational companies. The importance of Kazakhstan to the EU has meant that a blind eye has been turned to the country's human rights record. What are conditions like for workers in Kazakhstan? DESPITE THE massive profits being made by multinational corporations in the country, wages are very low. The monthly minimum wage is only €40. Safety conditions in many industries such as the mining industry are very poor. One of the groups we met was a group of miners' widows who were fighting for better compensation for those whose family members were killed in mining accidents. We met with trade unionists from the mines, metal factories, railways, health service and the oil and gas sector who are struggling to set up independent trade unions. We also met with many that are involved in industrial disputes, which focus mainly around the question of wages, wage arrears, corruption as well as health and safety issues. In a number of cases, strikers have demanded nationalisation and workers’ control of their company. What have you done to highlight the situation in Kazakhstan? WE HAVE prepared a report for all the institutions of the European Union demanding that it and the member states cease turning a blind eye to the human rights violations in the interest of the lucrative deals that they have entered into, especially in the area of oil and natural gas which Kazakhstan has in abundance. We have given graphic testimony of torture in the jails received from recently released prisoners to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Prisons and arranged for him to meet with relatives of prisoners during a recent visit to Kazakhstan. Scandalously, the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE) has given Kazakhstan the chairmanship of this organisation in 2010 and has agreed a major summit there in December. All the EU governments, including Ireland, backed the awarding of this chairmanship. This organisation is supposed to monitor human rights in its member states! A key demand we are putting forward is that this summit should be cancelled as it will be used by the Kazakh regime to gain some legitimacy for its human rights record. We will also campaign against a planned visit by the Kazakh President to Brussels this month to meet senior EU politicians and leaders of big business. We intend to bring the information to the attention of the labour and trade union movement in Europe and to activist organisations and we will try to build real practical solidarity with all those struggling for human, democratic and workers’ rights in Kazakhstan.
feature
Kazakhstan: Human rights abuse & torture Interview with Joe Higgins MEP
8
October 2010
socialist youth
THE SOCIALIST
Shameful: Sarkozy scapegoats Roma
200+ join up on Freshers Days By Eddie McCabe TARTING COLLEGE or university is supposed to be the beginning of a new stage of independence and opportunity for young people, but for those entering this stage of their lives in what is the most severe capitalist crisis in decades - something just doesn’t feel right. The general idea goes something this; if you work hard and do well in your Leaving Cert you’ll have a place in the course of your choice. If you concentrate on your studies and achieve your qualification you’ll be in a great position to get a decent quality, well paid job. Today these things are far from certain and in fact are becoming increasingly unlikely. The USI for example, estimate that close to 100,000 graduates are now unemployed and 150,000 will emigrate in the next five years. Unfortunately the USI’s solution is no better than the problem; they are campaigning for an “internship program” that will see the government (i.e. the taxpayers) pay graduates a measly wage in order to be exploited by a lucky employerwho is under no obligation to keep the graduate on any longer than they feel like. The result of this reality is a questioning among young people of the system that creates this kind of madness. This was the experience of the Socialist Party and Socialist Youth at the college Freshers’ Days in September. A politicisation is taking place and a search for an alternative. One new member of the Socialist Party Society in UCD said; “I’ve been interested in politics for a while, but over the summer with the bailouts and everything else that happened, one thing that struck me was that there is no real opposition. None of the other parties are willing to look at the bigger picture - that capitalism is the problem.” The Socialist Party will be campaigning and building in the colleges in the next year. We signed up over 200+ new members to our college societies at the various Freshers’ Day fairs. We will be spreading socialist ideas to more and more students who are trying to understand the unequal, unjust world we live in and how we can fight the system and fight for socialism. Some upcoming meetings include; “Raunch culture: liberation or exploitation of women?” and “The real ideas of James Connolly”. If you are a student get in contact with us today, text your name to 087 3141896.
S By Conor Payne N JULY, French president Nicolas Sarkozy began a blatantly racist policy of systematic deportation of Roma people residing in France. So far over 1,200 have been deported. A leaked memo from the French interior ministry confirms the racist nature of this policy, telling police chiefs to “begin a systematic dismantling of the illegal camps, particularly those of the Roma”. Facing anger over the economic crisis and austerity measures and a mass movement against his attacks on the retirement age, Sarkozy is using anti-immigrant scape-goating to distract attention from his anti-worker policies. Despite criticism from the EU for his violation of the “free movement of people”, Sarkozy's policies mirror those of other European governments towards the Roma and immigrants in general. Germany is planning to deport 12,000 Roma and a minister in Silvio Berlusconi's government actually applauded the firebombing of Roma camps in Italy. The EU
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itself has just made an agreement with the corrupt government of Pakistan to facilitate the deportation of Pakistani immigrants from EU countries. The Irish government has been just as bad in its attacks on immigrants. The protests against the attempted deportation of the Adeniran family in Balbriggan in north Dublin has highlighted the government's inhumane deportation policy. Meanwhile, the High Court has ruled against four
African young people who took a case against their removal by the government from Dublin to Galway, disrupting their Leaving Certs and their lives in the community. We should expect to see a furthering ratcheting up of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies by governments throughout Europe as a means of distracting from the effects of their policies. Working class people should reject these “divide and rule” tactics.
The crisis wasn't caused by immigrants but by big business, the sharks of the “international markets” and the governments which defend and facilitate them. There are enough resources in society for the needs of everyone they are in the hands of the superrich elite. The solution lies in a united fightback of workers and young people across Europe and a society which provides access to jobs, housing and services to all.
Cuts and fees for students, mega bonuses for hierarchy By Aine Nic Liam T A recent meeting of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee, universities were accused of acting “unlawfully” and “illegally” in making unauthorised payments to staff. Dr. Hugh Brady, president of University College Dublin was singled out for special castigation. UCD has paid almost €1.6 million in unauthorised allowances to senior staff over a ten year period. Between the years 2004 and 2007 Brady personally took home bonuses totalling €150,000 on top of his officially sanctioned salary of €227,000 per year. Brady attempted to defend the unauthorised payments by claiming that they had a “long history” and that similar payments are made to principals in primary and secondary schools for added management duties and that they are the norm internationally. He also claimed that UCD had not received any detailed instruction that the payment were not authorised.
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Why I joined the Socialist Party, John Lonergan
This last claim was rejected by the chief executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), Tom Boland. Boland cited a series of letters and other contact between the two institutions in contradicting Brady’s claim. He said the HEA had indicated to the universities that the unauthorised allowances should not be paid as far back as 2001. When criticised for the HEA’s apparent lack of delay in addressing the issue of the unlawful payments, Boland defended the authority stating that it had acted on the reasonable assumption that universities were a c t i n g within the law. Since his appointment in 2003 Brady, who
has been dubbed by some as “the Michael O’Leary of Irish education” has come under fire from some quarters for running a pro-business agenda at UCD at the expense of arts and humanities. In more recent times however he has attracted criticism from students in particular for creating a topheavy bureaucracy (UCD has thirteen vice presidents) on extremely high salaries while simultaneously calling for the reintroduction of university fees. A move, which if implemented would undoubtedly cause increased hardship for many families across the country as well as disincentivising many young people from pursuing higher education. News of the unsanctioned bonuses has caused anger and disbelief among many students. Recently Brady described Irish universities as “cash starved” and blamed lack of funding
for UCD’s recent plummet of 25 places in the QS World University Rankings. While Irish universities are indeed underinvested in, many will question whether someone in receipt of such a bloated salary is really in a position to tell students and their families that it is they who should be contributing more to the much needed investment. While UCD was the worst offender, other universities were also found to have to have appropriated unauthorised bonuses. At NUI Galway an additional €400,000 was shared between the university’s president, deputy president, registrar and bursar over a seven year period. University College Cork also paid over €150,000 in unauthorised bonuses to management and in 2007-8 the University of Limerick paid the presidential salary to three people at the same time. At a time when vital services for students are being cut back across the country, many will undoubtedly question whether the limited funds available to Irish universities are being distributed in an appropriate and fair way.
HEN I had finished college in 2008, I had hoped to get into a job but because of the disastrous state of the Irish economy at that time, this was never going to happen. So like many others I ended up joining the dole queue for a while. During this time one could only look on in disgust as the government proceeded to make a bad sit-
uation even worse. I always had a brief understanding of what socialism meant, and further research on the subject led me to the conclusion that our current capitalist system would punish the ordinary people for mistakes it made. I came across a notice for the Socialism 2010 event in April this year and attended it. I found the Socialist Party’s policies and ideas
reflected many of my thoughts and feeling on our society. They struck me as professional, very well organised and definitely meant business to try and bring serious change to the way our country is run, that is in a way which is fair and benefits every person equally and not just a small few elite. That is why I decided to join the join the struggle and join the Socialist Party.
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JOIN TODAY text: 0876418519 SOCIALISTPARTY.NET
9
October 2010
THE SOCIALIST
Workplace death
By Michael O’Brien Coroner’s RECENT Inquest into the circumstances leading to the death of 24 year old from O’Brien Stephen Drogheda in October 2007 when a boiler exploded at the Haribo confectionary factory in Finglas (since closed) might lead to prosecutions for criminal negligence. However the fact that this case is on-going for three years and that prosecutions may result is thanks to the determination of Stephen’s parents, Sean and Ann-Marie, who were not satisfied with the original Health and Safety Authority (HSA) investigation which originally
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sought to paint this incident as a pure accident and not to refer the case to the Director of Public Prosecution. The HSA’s report into the incident did not factor in events that led to the boiler explosion. A breakdown occurred on the production line the day previous to Stephen’s death. A company was brought in to investigate the fault, KB Combustions Ltd. They identified the problem and the part that was required to repair it. It was arranged that it would be fitted the following day by the contractor In order to keep production going, a senior member of staff, who nonetheless did not have the technical qualifications to understand the workings of the boiler
Secondary teachers:
bullied for saying ‘no’ HE TWO secondary teachers unions have been bullied and harassed into agreeing to talk with the government about work conditions, despite strong ballots. It seems in this country that ‘no’ must be made to mean ‘yes’ and that - like Nice 2 and Lisbon 2 – there will have to be a Croke Park 2. ASTI executive members reported that the Dept of Education and Science (DES) threatened to implement a pay cut, just for secondary teachers, and to issue a circular to schools for September enforcing new conditions. ASTI and TUI were cited as the only two public sector unions not now in the Croke Park agreement, as the other seven unions who had previously voted against the deal, had subsequently gone into the process (although the CPSU has not). This would have left the two teacher unions isolated, having to respond to cuts in pay and conditions and prey to a media campaign similar to the one against ASTI 10 years ago. It was only these factors which propelled ASTI executive members to agree to talks, but not to endorse Croke Park and
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and the risks involved, was shown how to bypass safety control circuits in order to keep production going until the arrival of the spare part.
Combustions Ltd. on 3 October 2007 created hazards that lead directly to the accident. The Coroner’s verdict of “death by misadventure” as opposed to “death by accident” means that responsibility can be apportioned to the company. The HSA are awaiting a copy of the Coroner’s report before deciding their next move. The evidence dug up by Stephen’s parents was not challenged by the company. Stephen’s parents are supported by Drogheda Trades Council, local Socialist Party Councillor Frank Gallagher and Joe Higgins MEP who all call on the HSA to refer this case to the Director of Public Prosecution and for those responsible to be then held to account for Stephen’s death.
29 September a missed opportunity
INTERVIEW
Susan, an ASTI member:
Stephen O’Brien.
He in turn showed Stephen, who was only eight days in the job, how to perform the bypass of the safety control circuits. The upshot of this the following morning was an explosion that killed Stephen instantly and severely injured a colleague. The independent initiative and enquiries of Stephen’s parents and the fact that his father Sean is himself an experienced maintenance supervisor ensured that the Coroner’s Inquest obtained a fuller picture of the circumstances around the bypassing of safety control circuits than the evidence provided by the HSA which ignored this vital piece of context. It appears that the decisions made by Haribo management and KB
with all issues put to a re-ballot. ASTI members should also note that about 40 executive members failed to cast a vote at the meeting – suggesting they had left for trains etc before the end.
Derek, a TUI member: HERE WAS a mixed mood at the TUI special conference called by the TUI leaders. Some people were saying ‘no’ talks because of the government’s past record. Others were saying to go in, but with no expectation of anything coming from the talks and with a mandate then to go back to the members. It was purely tactical. The issue of the directives and industrial action came up. The leadership wanted these to be lifted totally. Others got up to say this was tying our hands behind our back before we even went into talks. One TUI leader was screaming and went into a tirade. The executive was split down the middle. Amendments came from the branches to maintain the directives, even if opting to talk. This was voted on and agreed. The reason the directives were so important is they include not switching or filling vacant posts in schools which the government moratorium is refusing to fill. Overall, the conference was seen as a setback for the more right-wing leaders of TUI and ICTU and an assertion by the members.
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By Terry Murphy N 29 September, tens of thousands of workers across Europe took to the streets in opposition to austerity measures being doled out by governments across the continent. In Dublin, between 1,000 to 1,500 people marched from Anglo Irish Bank to Dáil Eireann. Joe Higgins, Socialist Party MEP, and the Civil, Public & Services Union (CPSU) Activist Group, a rank and file group of union activists, had called on trade union members and political groups on the left to organise for a protest on the day. Eventually ICTU decided to call a protest on the day, however they did very little to advertise the demonstration or to mobilise trade unionists. Despite having huge resources at their disposal
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ICTU and a majority of the unions did not promote their own demonstration, instead it was left to trade union activists, the Socialist Party and others on the left. On the day the Dail was due back, when the anger of ordinary people was growing by the hour over the scandal of the bank bailout, ICTU asked its affiliates to provide minimal numbers on the day – 500 trade union members! Speaking at the Dáil, Jack O’Connor, general president of SIPTU and president of ICTU, was met with shouts of “sell-out” and “Croke Park, take a hike” from the protestors. His impassioned words about the hardship of workers suffering at the hands of the governments’ cuts fell on a sea of
hostile ears. After all, how can one of the architects of the Croke Park Agreement, the embodiment of government cuts and austerity in Ireland, justify attacking the cuts he signed up for? After suffering the hypocrisy of Jack O’Connor, protestors listened to Joe Higgins, as he condemned the governments’ constant attempts to “satisfy the markets” at the expense of ordinary working class people. He called on all trade union members to get actively involved and remove the corrupt and incompetent union leaders and form democratic, fighting trade unions. The inadequacies of the ICTU leadership were summed up in the response to a question I asked an ordinary member of the CPSU, “What would you like to see the ICTU leadership doing?” Her response: “Something!”
Keelings: 130 jobs sacrificed for higher profits By Stephen Rigney N 14 September, workers at Keelings Distribution in Ballymun were notified that 130 jobs were to be lost at the company. Keelings, which is a major food distribution company, made the announcement following the loss of a contract with Tesco Ireland, which has subsequently been awarded to Stobart, a nonunion company. The job cuts come in the wake of recent negotiations with management at the company in which workers made significant concessions on the promise of continued job security. SIPTU has balloted all 600 staff at the warehouse on industrial action, though it will be mainly
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drivers plus some support staff that will be affected by this round of cuts. But it is important that the message is hammered home to other staff – if Keelings can break a contract they have with drivers, there’s nothing stopping them attacking the livelihoods of other workers and that if they manage to get away with it this time, they’ll be far more confident about future attacks. The ballot on strike action cannot just be an empty threat but should be backed up with the full force of the trade unions in order to defend the jobs, with existing pay, conditions and service intact. This attack on the working class follows in the wake of a number of moves by major multinationals to use the economic recession to batter down wages and conditions and
to try and break unionised workforces. Last year, SIPTU members in Coca-Cola were forced to take industrial action to defend their wages and conditions after being threatened with the choice of redundancy or taking up to a €40,000 pay cut with an outsourced company. These attacks must be resisted by the wider trade union movement and an example set at Keelings that enough is enough. It is imperative that workers in Keelings are not left isolated in this battle and that the workers attempt to make appeals to activists and trade unionists in Tesco to support their struggle as well as to other workers facing the same ferocious attacks while multinationals try and maximise their already massive profits.
workplace news
Parents’ fight for justice
10
October 2010
THE SOCIALIST
north
British Labour Party Leadership Election
How Red is Ed? By Ciaran Mulholland D MILIBAND has beaten his brother David by a margin of only 1.3% to become the new leader of the British Labour Party. After four rounds of voting under Labour’s electoral college which is divided into three equally weighted sections comprising the MP and MEPs, constituency Labour Party (CLP) members and those belonging to affiliated organisations such as the trade unions - Ed Miliband won with 175,519 votes to David Miliband’s 147,220. David Miliband was the candidate of the Blairite wing of the party- Tony Blair all but endorsed him in his autobiography, “A Journey”. In contrast Ed Miliband won the biggest number of affiliate/trade union first preference votes (35%) and was backed by three of the four biggest trade unions - Unite, Unison and the GMB. David Miliband got the highest percentage of CLP first preference votes (43.9%). Ed Miliband is marginally to the left of David, but only marginally. He played a vaguely left card in order to get elected. Trade unionists undoubtedly voted for him on this basis, angry at the attacks of New Labour over the last 13 years. Since the election Ed Miliband has been dubbed “Red Ed” by the rightwing press. Just how left his credentials are was illustrated in his first speech as Party leader on September 28th.
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In it he declared the Iraq war “wrong”, but defended the war in Afghanistan. There is of course no evidence whatsoever that he opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He told delegates that he understood their “anger” at a Labour government that “claimed it could end boom and bust” and had not “stood up to the old ways in the City, which said deregulation was the answer”. However, he then went out of his way to state that he did not back all strikes and that he would lead a “responsible opposition” which would cooperate with the government where it should. Labour “won’t oppose every cut the coalition proposes”. He stated baldly “there will be cuts” and “there would have been if we had been in government”. He finished with a meaningless call for a “good society”.
A shift to the left? Ed Miliband does not intend to take Labour to the left. Will he be pushed in that direction? The strength of what is left of “the left” in Labour can be gauged by the fortunes of Diane Abbott, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group, but a very weak candidate, in the leadership election. She took third place in the first round, but with only 9,314 party members out of 126,874 (7.34%) voting for her as their first preference. In the unions, 25,938 members out of 211,234 (12.28%) chose her for first preference. When it came to the vote of the 266 parliamentary MPs, Abbott’s share was only 2.6%.
Does the intervention of the big unions in this leadership election represent a push to the left? Firstly there was far from a ringing endorsement amongst ordinary trade unionists for the new Labour leader or the party. Only 8.7% of affiliated trade union members voted. Furthermore any rank and file trade unionist who joins Labour in order to transform it into a fighting vehicle for his class will be sorely disappointed. The Party has been transformed already - into a vehicle for the needs of the ruling
class-and the old democratic channels by which Party members could influence policy have been dismantled. Convulsions inside the Labour Party cannot be entirely excluded in the future but the possibility is very remote indeed. The conclusion that all socialists and active trade unionists should draw is that this is no time to foster illusions in New Labour. On the contrary, this leadership election has highlighted once more the absolute necessity to fight the
Con-Dem government, not just on the industrial and social planes, but also the need to provide a clear political alternative. Simon Jenkins of The Guardian recognises what is to come: “A tidal wave of protest is rolling towards the coalition government, roaring, foaming, darkening the sky, sucking every political argument into a lethal wall of water...." The coming struggles will provide opportunities to create a new mass party representing working class people.
Unofficial action forces Translink to retreat Government of millionaires attack benefits The Socialist spoke to William, a disabled “A By Pat Lawlor
NGER IS at boiling point”. This comment made by one of the workers at the Falls Road bus depot over the 70 job cuts proposed by Translink clearly sums up the feelings of many bus workers across Belfast. Workers at the depot have been told there will be 28 job cuts from the engineering section by 1 October. This is a cut of over 10% in one of the biggest employers in West Belfast. Workers at the depot have expressed concern that these job losses will likely lead to the closure of the depot, as the engineering section is essential for keeping buses on the road. Translink man-
agement have given “reassurances” this is will not happen, but workers are rightly unconvinced, leading to tensions rising between the workforce and management. These tensions spilled over in September when engineering staff mounted an unofficial stoppage for several hours in response to management reneging on agreements that buses would not leave the site without a full PSV check. The fact that Translink management were prepared to bypass engineer workers and send buses on the road without full health & safety checks is a scandal. The strike was only called off when a UNITE union official intervened and convinced the workers to return to work, with agreement from management that it would not
Conor “scissorhands” Murphy: busy cutting jobs.
happen again. UNITE officials have been in negotiations with Translink over the threatened job losses but many workers are frustrated with the union officials approach as it appears that UNITE are willing to accept redundancies and redeployment rather than fight for the jobs and service. The unofficial action clearly shows that bus workers are willing to fight for their jobs and that management can be forced to retreat. The spontaneous unofficial action by the engineers shows that workers instinctively understand the correct method to fight job cuts. Bus workers should build on this approach and rejecting any deals which involve cuts to jobs and services.
low paid worker and single parent in East Belfast who relies on benefits which are now coming under attack. ’VE BEEN receiving a small amount of disability benefits for a number of years following a serious breakdown caused by stress and overwork. Although I’ve managed to get back into some work, its only part time and at a very low wage. I get about £2,400 a year in benefits on top of my wages of £9,700, so life is a struggle. “I’ve just received a letter saying I have to prove I’m entitled to benefits again. If I lose that £2,400, I’m in big trouble. Among the criteria to prove you are entitled to benefits are - you must be seeing a psychiatrist or counsellor - and also - you must be on medication. “I saw various psychiatrists for years before they ended treatment because they said there was no point. I was “untreatable” they said. I still feel this decision was partly based on the cost of treatment rather than a medical decision. Either way I didn’t decide to stop treatment but I wasn’t given a choice. “Also, I stopped taking tablets
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years ago after taking them for 6 and a half years. The tablets made me put on several stone, made me sweat a lot, made me fall asleep all the time and made me feel dopey. How was that supposed to make me feel better? Again, at the time the docs thought in my case it was probably the best thing to do. But in no way does this mean I am recovered. I still struggle to cope with even everyday stress. “Every penny counts for me, so to lose £2,400 on my income will be a huge drop in living standards for me and my family. Frankly, since I got this letter I have been extremely stressed and struggle to keep doing my job. “It is sickening that the Tories and Liberals are attacking the poorest in society. They know mentally ill people will struggle to organise any resistance to this, especially with all the propaganda in the papers about “scroungers”. Things are just going to get worse for ordinary people until we get organised and fight back. I’m joining the Socialist Party.”
11
October 2010
THE SOCIALIST
Millions strike to protect pension rights
By Ann Orr By Michael O’Brien in Seville EN MILLION workers took part in the general strike on 29 September against Zapatero’s austerity programme. This strike is a response to the PSOE government’s (equivalent of the Labour Party) new labour laws which taken together represent an historical assault on the rights of all sections of the working class. They include the raising of the retirement age to 67, cuts in public service pay and the rowing back of redundancy and unfair dismissal laws for those under 30. In a country with 20% overall unemployment and 45% youth unemployment these laws are a charter for a race to the bottom for the youth and working until you drop for older workers. Some 20-30,000 turned out at a colourful and angry demonstration in Seville. The union leaders, who reluctantly called the strike action, remain politically close to the PSOE government. This puts them at odds
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with the rank and file of the movement who were unsparing in their criticism of prime minister Zapatero. The front pages of the traditional right wing papers ABC and El Mundo, as well as the regional papers in Seville and Andalusia all contained the word “fracaso”, meaning failure, to describe the general strike which put Spain on the front line of the European Trade Union Confederation’s continent wide day of action. Two days previous, they were hysterically anticipating the likelihood of violence as picketing strikers would deny strike breakers their right to work . In the end there were some 70 arrests and scores injured in Madrid and Barcelona as police tried to break up picket lines and protests. The government and right wing opposition are doing battle with the trade union leaders over the strike participation figures and the size of the demonstrations with the former quoting figures one tenth of the latter! All of this is a crude effort to
demoralise workers. However about 70% of workers participated in the strike across all sectors and in some areas this was as high as nearly 100%. The rank and file of the movement pressurised the leaders of the two main union confederations UGT and CCOO to call the strike in the first place after their previous strike earlier in the year. There was an undermining of the effectiveness of the strike in the week running up to the 29 September by the union leaders who agreed levels of cover in public services with the government that went way beyond emergencies to include for example 25% of public transport running as normal! One possible beneficiary in the current political and economic crisis is the Izquierda Unida (United Left Party), who, under their current leader, Cayo Lara, have supported the strike movements and were present on the demonstrations up and down the country. This shift comes after some 20 years of ideological retreat and electoral decline.
It remains to be seen if they will maintain their course and develop into a significant player in the next general election which PSOE is expected to lose. The Socialist Party’s newly relaunched Spanish sister organisation, Socialismo Revolucionario, intervened into the strike protests in Barcelona, Sevilla, Murica, Salamanca and Vittoria, distributing thousands of leaflets and selling bulletins describing the general strike as the “first step” because the Zapatero government, while offering the union leaders negotiations have made it clear at the same time that they will not budge on the labour reforms. The danger of a sell out compromise by these leaders remains. Socialismo Revolucionario have counterposed the need for further sustained national action and the idea of a Europe-wide 24 hour general strike to force a full retreat from Zapatero and serve as a warning shot to the traditional right wing Partido Popular opposition who expect to take power again soon.
Swedish elections:
Right-wing government re-elected as far-right make gains By Jimmy Dignam HE SWEDISH elections that took place on the 19 September sent shockwaves across Europe as the Sweden Democrats (SD) took 5.7% of the national vote and as a result claimed 20 parliamentary seats. They ran on a platform of Islamophobia, strict anti-immigration laws and also tried to portray themselves as defenders of the elderly. The gains made by the SD are a direct reflection of the crisis of Swedish capitalism and its inability to provide for society as a whole. Much of their success can be attributed to the lack of an alternative offered by the left and in particular the betrayals of the Social Democratic Party. Since the economic crisis of the early 90s they have etched closer towards neoliberal policies, abandoning their comparatively, to the rest of Europe, progressive Swedish wel-
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fare state model. I spent two weeks in Lulea, Northern Sweden, helping our sister Party Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (RS) with the buildup to their election. The hardfought campaign, both in Lulea and other areas where we ran, was based on active struggle against privatisation, cuts in services and unemployment. RS were the only party who put forward the idea of the cuts not being necessary and that it those who created the crisis, the speculators and bankers amongst others, who should mop up their own mess. This was met with a very positive response and RS retained it’s two council positions in Hanninge and three in Lulea, whilst at the same time increasing their vote. When taking these results into consideration, we must be aware of the very difficult economic and political backdrop leading into the elections, which certainly did not help smaller parties.
Before the election the establishment parties divided themselves into the Red/Green Alliance and Blue Alliance, neither offering any kind of alternative (other than cuts) to the 8% unemployment across the country and the impending housing bubble collapse. The SD, on the other hand ,proposed a very simple solution to a very difficult question. It appealed to many dissilusioned voters, who have faced increasing economic uncertainty. Per-Åke Westerlund, the General Secretary of RättvisePartiet Socialisterna summed it up perfectly when he told Al-Jazeera, "I think that the most important thing is the insecurity about the future for more and more people. There is an increasing gap between rich and poor, increased inequality, and there has been no real antiracist reply against this racist party”. All the main parties took a stand against the SD, which probably increased their “protest vote”, but in no way organised against them or offered a viable solution to
Sweden’s economic problems. As we have seen repeatedly across Europe, far-right ideology can build a momentum especially during periods of economic uncertainty. The Blue Alliance has managed to win by a slim margin without gaining a majority. It appears now that they will rely on the SD to achieve that majority on certain issues in government, as they have done repeatedly already in local councils across Sweden, on which the SD have also voted for cuts. A strong anti-racist movement needs to be built, uniting all workers and youth. This struggle needs to be based on fighting against racism and at the same time for the provision of good quality jobs, education and health care. A new mass worker’s party would be capable of offering a real alternative to the SD and the establishment parties by linking the struggle against the austerity attacks to the need to get rid of the system which breeds the conditions within which racism and inequality flourish.
ARKOZY’S GOVERNMENT in France, like governments all across Europe, is attempting to implement a savage austerity programme. In France pension rights are under attack. This is a key issue in France. In 1995, the last time the government tried to raise the pension age, they were forced to back down by a strong movement of workers which involved protests and strikes in the public and private sector. The government's plan is to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, full pension entitlements would be granted at 67 instead of 65 and the period of contributions increased by one year. This is being done to plug the deficit in the pension fund which is estimated to reach €42 billion by 2018. There is huge opposition in French society to this plan with opinion polls showing 87% of 18 to 24 year-olds opposing the proposal as well as the vast majority of manual and white collar workers. Already there have been major and growing protests of between one and three million workers from the public and private sectors, families and students. There were two key mobilisations, one on 7 September and again two weeks later on 23 September. The mass demonstration on 7 September was accompanied by numerous strikes which closed schools and disrupted public transport. The trade union leaders are divided on what to do next. Some are taking a more militant approach but many unions are unwilling to lead their members in an organised campaign. They instead favour weekend protests designed to win some concessions but in reality they do not think it is possible to force the government to scrap these plans. The trade unions in France should learn from the experiences of the past. In 1995 the protests against the raising of the retirement age were smaller than the ones that have taken place so far, but because they were accompanied by a campaign of strikes, the movement was a lot more effective. Even the Financial Times has stated that “only a radical escalation – such as an open ended strike – is likely to force the government to re-consider”.
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international
Spain: 10 million in General strike
FRANCE:
WHAT WE STAND FOR Workers’ rights
PAPER OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY
ISSUE 57
OCTOBER 2010
Suffering of world’s poorest to rise
UN ADMIT MILLENNIUM GOAL FAILURE
n A guaranteed right to a job or training with decent wages and full workers’ rights. n For a minimum wage of €12 an hour tax free with no exemptions. n For a 35 hour week without loss of pay. n For a decent social welfare payment, linked to average earnings. n Free childcare for all.
Reclaim the trade unions n For democratic trade unions to fight in the interests of their members on pay, conditions and job security. n Full time union officials should be regularly elected and receive the average wage of those they represent. n Scrap the anti-union laws. An end to "social partnership".
Health n For a free public national health service. No to private health care.
Education n Free, quality education for all from primary to university, with a living grant.
Housing n Nationalise the developers’ empty residential properties and use them to eliminate the housing waiting lists.
Privatisation n No to privatisation, public private partnerships and private finance initiatives. n All publicly owned services and companies to be run under democratic working class control.
Equality n An end to discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability and to all forms of prejudice. n For the right to asylum and the scrapping of racist anti-asylum and immigration laws. For the right to work, with full protection, for immigrant workers.
Local taxation n Scrap the bin charges - no to double taxation in any form. Local authorities to receive proper funding from central government funds.
Waste management n For major investment into a publicly owned recycling service to combat the waste crisis. No to waste incinerators.
Refugees in Darfur, Sudan
International By Manus Lenihan MID AN orgy of hypocrisy and photo-opportunities, the world’s political and business elite gathered in New York in September this year for a summit on the Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs, as they are known, are eight development targets for poorer countries which include the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger. A stunt dreamt up in the 1990s by the UN, the MDG project now looks like it will miss all or most of its targets. Secretary - General Ban Ki-moon admitted that “the agreed deadline of 2015 is fast approaching and there is still much to be done”, sentiments echoed by every speaker. However, they spent most of the summit talking up the MDGs’ achievements so far perhaps intending to distract from the fact that the summit produced no
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ideas on how to accelerate the MDGs’ sluggish progress or how to halt their slide backwards. Africa, judging by progress so far, will not reach its MDGs for another 150 years. This is according to a calculation made in 2006, even before crises in finance, food and fuel drove tens of millions more into hunger and extreme poverty. Meanwhile East Asia, and China in particular, account for the vast bulk of the statistics loudly trumpeted at the summit. The unsustainable booms of some Asian countries, which have temporarily and very unequally raised living standards, owe nothing to the MDG project, though the UN happily claim the figures as their own. Even if they were somehow achieved, the MDGs are pathetically modest targets. They in no way reflect the potential or the problems of the world. For example, Africa alone contains enough food to feed the entire
world many times over- yet by 2015 half of its inhabitants will be going hungry. The problem is that greeddriven market forces, which under Capitalism decide the distribution of wealth and goods throughout the world, cannot link up demand with need. That is why projects like the MDGs should be dismissed as stunts. Any real redistribution demands systemic change, not lists of vague aspirations from corrupt institutions like the UN. The disgusting history of imperialism, the neo-liberal pillaging of resources and services by the World Bank and the IMF, the black hole of debt, the continued ownership of the “developing” world’s resources and markets by foreign capital and the profiteering that drives up prices for the poorest while enriching financial sharks are only a few crimes among many that show us how the interests of capitalism and those of the “devel-
oping” world are totally opposed. Meanwhile, the culprits, are the very same governments and institutions that are patting themselves on the back for pursuing the Millennium Development Goals. Inequality and hunger are an essential part of a system that is very profitable for the most powerful people in the world. There is no way to save the impoverished majority of the human race while most of the world’s wealth remains in the hands of a few hundred companies, to be invested only for individual profit or occasional charity. If the UN really wanted to end poverty, the goal it would endorse would be the seizure of resources and multinational companies by ordinary people in richer and poorer countries alike. In this way the world economy and the distribution of wealth would be run democratically by elected workers on the average wage, rather than by bosses’ politicians or gamblers.
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n Oppose the big business dominated European Union. No to the militarisation of Europe and to a European Army. n For solidarity of the European working class. For a socialist Europe. n No to imperialist wars. End the occupation of Iraq. For a socialist Iraq.
Northern Ireland n Build a real peace process based on uniting the working class communities, not on bringing discredited sectarian politicians together. n Joint trade union and community action to counter all forms of sectarianism. n An end to all activity by all paramilitaries, loyalist and republican. Complete demilitarisation.
Socialism n Capitalism is the cause of poverty, inequality, environmental destruction and war. We need an international struggle against this system and its effects. The working class can build a socialist world in which the resources of the planet are used to satisfy the needs of the mass of the people not the thirst for profit of a tiny minority of super rich. n Take all major industry, banks and financial institutions into public ownership and place them under the democratic control and management of working class people. n For the working class to democratically plan the economy to provide for the needs of all, and to protect our environment. n For the building of a mass political party capable of uniting the working class in the struggle for socialism in Ireland. n For a socialist Ireland as part of a free and voluntary socialist federation of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland.