Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Debt Protest

Run to the Dail

As part of the Ballyhea Bondholder Bail-out Protest, the people of Ballyhea, Co. Cork, are taking part in a 153-mile run from Ballyhea to Dáil Éireann as part of their protest against the illegitimate debt.

Repudiate the Debt

Support the runners from Ballyhea

Monday, May 23, 2011

People's Movement Blog

Why not have your say on the People’s Movement blog at; http://peoples-movement-eire.blogspot.com/

Or access it through the icon on our homepage on the web.

Happy blogging!

Monday, May 16, 2011

No welcome for the English monarchy!

Communist Party of Ireland

14 May 2011

The Communist Party of Ireland condemns the preparations being made to welcome the representative of the English monarchy to Ireland.
The purpose of this visit—and it has been said explicitly—is to write “finish” to the centuries-long struggle of the Irish people for national sovereignty and democracy. It is a carefully organised symbolic act. Ireland’s unresolved national question is to remain unresolved. All the bourgeois parties are agreed that the shameful, impoverished wreck of the Irish republic that we inhabit today is as much as we are entitled to, or should aspire to.

The most offensive aspect of this affair is the grovelling towards the institution of monarchy. While growing numbers of people in England see the need to rid themselves of this embarrassing relic of privilege and backwardness, the Redmondite Irish elite and their media sycophants are applauding and celebrating it.
Monarchy—the most undemocratic form of government since the era of slavery—should not be celebrated or hailed but should be condemned and reviled. Instead we have been treated to a systematic softening-up process, orchestrated by RTE (state controlled television and radio stations) and the other “national” media, beginning with a state visit from a casino-owner “prince,” followed by a Hollywood-style “royal wedding” broadcast live in Ireland.

The English monarchy remains a powerful symbol of privilege and an effective source of false consciousness. It is used today to legitimise and glamorise the aggression of the British armed forces in Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere.

Particularly worrying is the announcement that the Garda Síochána are vetting householders to see if they can be permitted to remain in their own homes or business premises, and that citizens must be prepared to be stopped and searched in the street. The same violation of civil rights will apply during the subsequent visit of the president of the United States, a hypocritical warmonger. We call upon the Irish Council for Civil Liberties to stand up for people’s rights and against these gross violations now taking place.

The cost of the so-called security operation, with its total disruption of the city’s life, is being borne by the Irish taxpayer, at a time when we are being told that the country cannot afford public services, hospitals, or schools.

We call on people to support the wreath-laying by Justice for the Forgotten at the memorial to the victims of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, in which British military intelligence had clear and deep involvement, and in other peaceful protests against this visit. Citizens should not allow themselves to be led into traps being set by the political establishment, with its eye on possible restrictions on the right to protest as the crisis in this state deepens.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Repudiate Press Statement

Repudiate the Debt Campaign

8th May 2011

Prof Morgan Kelly AT LAST THE PENNY IS BEGINNING TO DROP.

At last someone has got the space in the national media to shout stop. By the end of 2014 this state will have, what the government and all the main political parties call, a "national debt" of €240 billion. As our campaign has stated from its inception, this debt is unpayable, unjust and odious. It has been imposed undemocratically by the European Union and supported by the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens.

This debt is not the responsibility of the Irish people yet families, communities, small businesses, family farmers are being crippled financially to try and pay this horrendous burden imposed upon them. This is, as we have stated on numerous occasions, being imposed on the Irish people, to save the Euro and to save German and French banks. We are the sacrificial lambs on the altar of Corporate Europe.

We should not pay and we cannot pay it. We want Irish people to come along to our planned "Peoples Manifestation" on Thursday 12th May at 5-30pm outside the Dail calling for the repudiation of this debt. We will have music- songs - poetry performed by Irish artists. There will be no party political speeches. This is a peoples display of Hope and Defiance.

Eoghan O'Neill
Ph: 087 2172440

CPI Press Statement

COMMUNIST PARTY OF IRELAND

8 May 2011

The case for repudiation becomes urgent:

The stark scenario outlined by Prof. Morgan Kelly is a clear warning that this debt cannot be paid and must not be paid. Yet we still witness a few economists lumbering along under the illusion that it can and must be paid, a circle now confined to a dwindling number of that profession employed by the Central Bank of Ireland or corporate banks and advisers to the Government or are beholding to their pay masters in the European Union. The total debt burden placed upon the Irish people by the European Union to save the euro, will be in the region of €240 billion by 2014.

This crippling debt cannot be paid, nor should it be paid. It is not the people’s responsibility. The question is not one of “default.” To default would continue to place the obligation upon the Irish people to pay some or all of this corporate debt. Default would allow the European Union and international finance houses to determine the terms and conditions of a restructuring of the debt.

The only way forward is through repudiation of this debt. It is not owned by the people, nor is it our responsibility. To repudiate it is to assert our national sovereignty and the sovereignty of the people above all else.

The payment of this debt in the form of massive cuts in people’s income, the destruction of the health services and the educational system and the services people rely upon is unacceptable.

The Communist Party calls upon the people to mobilise behind the Repudiate the Debt Campaign and support its call to the Irish people to begin to engage in widespread civil disobedience in defiance of this Government and of the European Union. To honour James Connolly by supporting the "Hope and Defiance" manifestation outside the Dail on the 12th May called by the Repudiate the Debt Campaign.

Eugene Mc Cartan
General Secretary
087 9733414

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Sovereignty Picket

PEOPLES MOVEMENT

Calling all friends and supports of Irish democracy and sovereignty.

On Monday 9th the Peoples Movement will be holding a picket on the Dail to show our opposition to the planned special sitting of the Dail to mark what the European Unions calls "Europe Day".

The picket will be from 12-30pm - 2-00pm outside the Dail on Kildare Street.

We will lay a wreath at the gates of the Dail to mark the death of Irish democracy and sovereignty.

All welcome.

Please circulate this message among your friends and contacts.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Activists Meeting

The Repudiate the Debt Campaign is looking for volunteers to help with its forthcoming “People’s manifestation” on 12 May outside the Dáil, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.


This is about getting people and families involved. It will be a celebration of the people: music—song—poetry. There will be no queue of speakers, nor party speeches.


The theme of the event is “HOPE AND DEFIANCE.”


HOPE: Why this theme? Well, people feel a sense of hopelessness and are overwhelmed by the scale of the debt crisis. So we want to build hope among our people that there is another way.


DEFIANCE: To show that there are people who reject the odious debt being imposed on our people by the EU and IMF, that we intend to build a movement of the people to repudiate their imposed debt.


If you would like to get involved in the Repudiate the Debt Campaign, or would just like to help out on 12 May, you are more than welcome. Come to Connolly Books (43 East Essex Street) on Wednesday 4 May, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., for a planning meeting—a meeting of those who are interested in building our people’s resistance.


E-mail us if you would like to get involved but can’t make the night: repudiatethedebt@gmail.com

WFTU May Day Press Release

WFTU PRESS RELEASE

Shameless capitalists!
Worker of the world,

You have nothing in common with the capitalists!

While you are feeling anxious whether you will still have a job until the next morning (since more than 2.5 million people are unemployed in UK); while you are anxious whether your wages will last until the end of the month (since the UK national minimum daily wages reach £5.9); While you are suffering to raise your children; While you are experiencing the insecurity and the precariousness of the future, especially in case of an accident or a disease; While you are carrying of the burden of student loans and debts or other necessary expenses; While you are realizing that you may not afford some necessary holidays... They are dancing and celebrating with your sweat and hard labour.

Worker of the World,

You have nothing in common with the capitalists!

…nothing in common with the royal, the capitalists, the tycoons, the greedy, grimy bourgeoisie, the governments, the kings, the tyrants such as the dictator King of Swaziland and the Royals of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and other dictators.
…nothing in common with those who support them: the IMF and the bureaucratic and the sold-out trade unionists.

They spent 50 million pounds; they are choosing fabrics and diamonds, they “trouble” themselves on the best hat, they eat dessert worth 100 euro per piece, they drink champagne and drive luxury cars… They spend 40 million pounds per year to “play blue-blooded”.

Worker, Working woman.

You have nothing in common with the capitalists!

Your world, the world of toil, is in conflict with theirs: with the world of exploitation, of barbarism, of shame. Their “fairy-tale” is built out of the toil of millions of workers who struggle for the survival.

Do not put up with them anymore! Rise up!

You belong on the side of the international working class, of the poor farmers, of the working youth, of the self-employed in the common struggle for the crushing of their rotten system.

You belong in the lines of the class-oriented trade union movement and the World Federation of Trade Unions in the struggle against the capitalist barbarism and exploitation.