Archive for the ‘European Union’ Category
The Red-Green Alliance in Denmark [from the Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF) Site]
http://www.europe-solidaire.org
/spip.php?article23199
Possible Lessons Here for the United Left Alliance in Ireland
United Left Alliance Budget Statement
United Left Alliance
Budget Statement December 2011
PDF edition here: http://www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie/files/ULA%20Budget%20Statement%20December%202011.pdf
Austerity Is Not Working: Tax The Rich, Invest In Jobs
Next weeks budget will see further drastic cuts in the living standards of workers, the unemployed and the poor. Since the onset of the crisis in 2008 government policy has focused on bailing out banks and speculators and making the working class pick up the bill. Hardly a cent has been taken from those who have the real wealth in society. The effect of this policy has been lengthening dole queues and impoverishment with rising inequality in a society that was already deeply unequal. The wealth of the super-rich has increased throughout the crises. Read the rest of this entry »
Greek Auditing Commission of the Public Debt – No to the 50% haircut, no to the new Occupation. Cessation of payments and debt audit!
Greek Auditing Commission of the Public Debt
No to the 50% haircut, no to the new Occupation. Cessation of payments and debt audi
Éric Toussaint has circulated this useful summary of the crisis in Greece and the Eurozone.
In the early hours of the 27th October, the Eurozone leaders reached a decision marking the tightening of the public debt¢s grip over the Greek people. The proposed haircut of the public debt held by the private sector will not resolve Greece¢s debt problem, whilst instead it brings new burdens. The reasons are plenty: Read the rest of this entry »
The Billion Dollar Anglo Irish Bond – Cedar Lounge Revolution – and the Greece Referendum
http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/the-billion-dollar-anglo-bond/
and a cartoon which says it all :
More, from the NAMA Winelake :
Dave Allen has the last word :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5y_gE1Rb1Y
Left blocked: An interview with Portugese Left Bloc activist Ricardo Sá Ferreira
From Red Pepper magazine, August-September 2011;
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/ Available from Book Upstairs, College Green, Dublin.
What will the ‘bailout’ mean for ordinary people in Portugal?
The ‘bailout’ is not financial help, it is extortion – it is going to give them a €520 million profit after they intervene in the Portuguese economy. The Portuguese people know this, but the hegemonic discourse dictates that it is ‘inevitable’ and without this package, the economy will go under. However, people know that the ‘bailout’ also means more austerity, compression of the workers’ wages, less public services, more VAT and the progressive destruction of the welfare state.
How has the Left Bloc responded to the financial crisis, and to the austerity that has already been imposed?
We have responded through social mobilisation and by presenting concrete legislative proposals that would be able to cut superfluous spending, while at the same time raise enough revenue for the state to pay off the deficit, without sacrificing the economy and the workers. This could be done by taxing fortunes and financial transactions to off-shore banks, the implementation of a new tax bracket where the rich are taxed more, and renegotiating the public debt in order for the economy to breathe. However, the real response must come from the streets. Read the rest of this entry »
Declaration from the Athens Conference on Debt and Austerity
Afri – Action from Ireland – is one of the groups that has signed the declaration below –
Source :
http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article2173
The attempt to make working people and the poor bear the costs of the crisis, while the very rich escape, will be opposed by those in the firing line. The people of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, but also Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, challenge the austerity policies of the EU and the IMF, oppose international financial power, and reject the slavery of debt. We call on people across the world to show solidarity with movements in these countries struggling against debt and the pernicious policies it brings in its wake.
Eamon Gilmore – Are You telling the Truth, or Is that what you are telling the American Embassy?
Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore, lord-lieutenant to King Kenny in the Dublin Government, is having a difficult time.
Did he have one policy in opposition, and is he following an opposite line in government?
Yes, we will come to that – but first something completely different –
Gene Kerrigan reports on the Labour Party leader’s reaction to the defeat of the first Lisbon treaty referendum in 2008: Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 