The 1% get richer while we get poorer - 1% Network speech at the Dáil

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As part of the budget protests at the Dáil Dec 7th 2011 Andrew Flood gave the following speech for the 1% Network at the left bloc rally. "If we wish to build a new society based on equality and real democracy, we need to find a way to take political power as well as economic wealth away from that 1%"

The problem is capitalism, not just a harsh budget - WSM speech at the Dáil

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As part of the budget protests at the Dail Dec 7 2010 Gregor Kerr gave the following speech for the WSM.  In it he argues that, while we must fight the budget, we need to look beyond that and clearly say that capitalism as a way of organising society is morally and politically bankrupt. If we want to ensure that this financial crisis and the economic misery it has visited on millions of working class people across the world is the last, then we need to begin to organise not to change the administrators of capitalism, but to tear down that capitalist system and replace it with a system which places the needs of the many above the greed of the few.

Fine Gael offer no alternative

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Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Up pop Inda Kinny and Baldy Noonan with their version of how they intend to screw the workers (or their “budgetary proposals” as they put it).

Having accepted fully the same €15 billion cuts target as the current FF/Green coalition, the only issue at stake for Fine Gael is how they intend to implement their version of the ‘slash and burn’.

Opinion Polls suggest Fianna Fail about to be annihilated, But should this worry us?

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I never thought I’d feel this way but the thought that Fianna Fail are about to be wiped out in the forthcoming general election is sort of worrying me. The latest opinion poll has put Fianna Fail’s support as low as 13% - in fourth place behind Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein. 

Fianna Fail, EU and IMF protect the most vulnerable?!?

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The government recently published a draft memorandum that will give legal effect to the negotiations between the EU/IMF and Ireland (see here). Essentially the draft details, by quarter of each year, how the government intends to implement an incredibly far-reaching austerity program to help get us back on our feet.

Firefighters and Ambulance crews desert SIPTU

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Firefighters and ambulance crews are abandoning SIPTU and signing up with the Psychiatric Nurses Association to form a new union.  Des Kavanagh , general secretary of the PNA, says he expects about 2,500 new members to sign up in the next month or so.

WSM to join anti-Budget protests and calls on workers to organise for a general strike

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Anarchist organisation Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) has confirmed its intention to join the protests against Tuesday’s budget at Dáil Éireann.

Speaking today, Gregor Kerr, WSM P.R.O. said that members of the organisation would be joining the 1% Network protest meeting at Wolfe Tone statue St Stephen’s Green at 5:30p.m. and marching with them to participate in the protest at the Dáil at 6p.m.

Wikileaks Cables: Harmless Gossip or Threat to World Stability?

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Wikileaks is currently making headlines daily.  Aside from the various revelations, there are also two widely told stories which are suppose to help us put these leaks into context.

The first story is that the leaks are nothing more than gossip.  They are stories about Gaddafi's nurse[1] and what the ambassador thinks of David Cameron[2].  Anyone who isn't a tabloid reader or nosey-parker should be disinterested in the content.

Capitalism is the real problem

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This article was first published in the Monday edition of the Andersonstown News a few weeks ago.

The dreaded IMF have now landed on our shores, thanks to the bankers, property developers and their lackeys in power.

Once again, ordinary people will bear the brunt of a new round of vicious cutbacks in jobs, wages and conditions and social services, all, we are told, in the name of the ‘national interest’ . 

Colm McCarthy's Fire Sale of Semi-States

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The former chairman of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure (otherwise known as ‘An Bord Snip Nua’), UCD economist Colm McCarthy, is currently heading another cutting group, the Review Group on State Assets, which is looking into the fire-sale of state firms.

State enterprises such as the ESB, An Post, Irish Rail, Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports, (all owned by Dublin Airport Authority) 10 port companies, the VHI, TG4, RTE, Eirgrid, CIE, Bord na Móna, Bus éireann Expressway, Bord Gáis, HRI, RTÉ, utilities (like water and refuse collection, where provided through local authorities), and Coillte are being looked at.