Workers Solidarity Movement

The 1% Network has announced final details of the “Political Walking Tour through the Heartland of the Golden Circle” and has invited “anyone who cares about finding a just solution to the economic crisis” to “come and see how the 1% live.” The tour will set off from the Wolfe Tone monument, St. Stephens Green on Saturday next, 9^th October, at 1p.m. and will take a route through Dublin 2 and 4 which, according to the 1% Network “are littered with the landmarks of power and wealth of the 1%”.

“The 1% Network takes its name from the fact that 1% of the Irish population owns 34% of the wealth,” said Brian Leeson spokesperson for the 1% Network.  “That 1% like to live their lives away from the scrutiny of ordinary people.  But it’s time they were made to pay their share.  This tour is an opportunity for people to come and see just how some of the 1% live.  While they flaunt their wealth our public services, jobs and incomes are being slashed to pay for their greed.”

The walking tour plans a number of stops throughout Dublin 2 and 4.  At each stop, a short background piece will be given “to inform tour participants in a real and immediate way of just how the 1% are ripping us off,” said Gregor Kerr of the 1% Network.  “We’re going to visit – among other places - property developer Johnny Ronan’s swish home on Burlington Road, the new headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank and the headquarters of the employers’ group IBEC.  There’ll be plenty of other stops as well and people who come along can expect to leave the tour both informed and shocked at the blatant wealth divide that exists in this city.”

“This tour is about starting a debate,” said Brian Leeson, “ – a debate about the type of society we want to live in.  Are we content to live in a society which not alone tolerates but rewards such huge wealth inequality?  And if not what are the political and practical steps that we need to take to end the inequality?”

The 1% network is a coalition of socialist groups which has come together to oppose the cutback agenda of the government and to promote a socialist alternative to the current socio-economic system.  Organisations within the coalition include éirígí, Irish Socialist Network, Seomra Spraoi and the Workers Solidarity Movement.  The name of the coalition was chosen to highlight the fact that just 1% of the population control in excess of 34% of the wealth of the state.

For more information, contact Gregor Kerr 086 1501151or Brian Leeson 086 8071010or log onto www.onepercentnetwork.org