Archive for the ‘Ernest Mandel’ Category
Book Launch – Ireland in the World Order, written by Maurice Coakley – Thursday September 20, 7.00pm, Teachers’ Club 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1
Invitation to a Dublin launch of a new book :
Ireland in the World Order, written by Maurice Coakley
Maurice Coakley focuses on key elements that contributed to Ireland’s development, examining its bloody and violent incorporation into the British state, its refusal to embrace the Protestant Reformation and failure to industrialise in the 19th century. Coakley considers the crucial question of why Ireland’s national identity has come to rest on a mass movement for independence.
Andy Storey will launch the book
Details :
Thursday September 20, 7.00pm, in the
Teachers’ Club 36 Parnell Square West, Dublin 1
Feel free to bring a friend
Ireland in the World Order examines Ireland’s development from the medieval to the modern era, comparing its unique trajectory with that of England, Scotland and Wales.
Maurice Coakley focuses on key elements that contributed to Ireland’s development, examining its bloody and violent incorporation into the British state, its refusal to embrace the Protestant Reformation and failure to industrialise in the 19th century. Coakley considers the crucial question of why Ireland’s national identity has come to rest on a mass movement for independence.
Cutting through many of the myths – imperialist and nationalist – which have obscured the real reasons for Ireland’s course of development, Ireland in the World Order provides a new perspective for students and academics of Irish history.
About The Author
Maurice Coakley lectures in the Journalism and Media Studies faculty of Griffith College, Dublin.
More information at this link :
Ireland in the World Order – by Maurice Coakley
Show Me The Money: Austerity Treaty – fact sheet from ULA Steering Committee member Eddie Conlon
Show Me The Money
The Yes side’s key argument is that if we don’t vote Yes, we will not be able to access ESM funds for a potential second bailout Therefore, they suggest, we will not be able to access any funds and the result will be a need to close the deficit gap in one year – hence more austerity.
They have been assisted by the media in turning this into the question of the debate, rather than debating the actual contents of the Austerity Treaty, the austerity it imposes, and the attack on democratic rights.
We need to be able to answer this question in such a way as to not turn it into the 18 billion euro question, and instead to turn the discussion back to austerity. When they say “show us the money” we should say “show us the cuts”.
The first thing we should say is:
- Seeking another bailout us an admission that government policy has failed. It is ludicrous of the government to tell us that we must take all of the pain associated with austerity so that we can get back to the markets and regain our sovereignty and at the same time tell us we must vote yes so that we can have another bailout and give up our sovereignty yet again. The need for another bailout is because austerity has failed. Therefore we need an alternative to austerity.
- A bailout will come at a cost. Firstly we are committed to providing €11b to the ESM if required. Secondly any money that comes from the fund will come with demands for more cuts, privatisation etc. As the Amendment to Art 136 says “The granting of any required financial assistance under the mechanism (ESM) will be made subject to strict conditionality”
But we should be clear that:
- The government has colluded in linking the treaty to the ESM
- It has a veto on the ESM.
- There are other sources of money if the government really wants them
- The EU has given commitment to further funding in the future perhaps for its own reasons.
- The government have colluded in linking the treaty to the ESM and is engaging in blackmail
The ESM Treaty was agreed unanimously at the European Council in February. Therefore the government did not oppose it. The government are presenting the link between the two treaties as an unfortunate reality. The link was not in the original ESM Treaty of July 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
The future of the workers of Europe is being decided in Greece (Statement of the Fourth International)
A key point :
Greece has become a laboratory for Europe. They are testing out on human guinea-pigs the methods which will then be applied to Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy and so on. The Greek people have revolted, in the workplaces, in the streets and at the ballot boxes, against these cruel policies.
Link to International Viewpoint article Here :
The future of the workers of Europe is being decided in Greece
SYRIZA or the magnificent breakthrough of a unique unifying and original experience
SYRIZA or the magnificent breakthrough of a unique unifying and original experience
| by Yorgos Mitralias | ||
| Translated by John Catalinotto | ||
A nightmare for “those on top,” a hope for “those on the bottom,” SYRIZA made a sensational debut on the political landscape of Europe in deep crisis. After quadrupling its electoral strength on May 6, SYRIZA now aims not only to become the largest party in Greece in the June 17 elections, but to be able to form a left-wing government which will repeal the austerity measures, repudiate the debt and chase the Troika out of the country. So it’s no surprise if SYRIZA fascinates many outside Greece, and if almost everyone is asking about its origin and true nature, its goals and ambitions.
SYRIZA, however, is not exactly a newcomer to the European left. Born in 2004, the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) would have to attract the attention of political scientists and the international media, not least because from its beginning, it was a totally new and original type of political entity in the landscape of the Greek, European and even global left. Read the rest of this entry »
Syriza Member of Greek Parliament to Speak in Dublin on Thursday May 24 in Wynn’s Hotel, Abbey Street, 8pm – Supporting Campaign for a No Vote on the Austerity Treaty in the May 31 referendum
The Irish Government’s Finance Minister Michael Noonan explains the crisis in Greece by guessing how much feta cheese Irish people buy each week.
Let Them Eat Greek Cheese
Defending these comments he said :
I’m trying to stop contagion. It’s one of my jobs as finance minister to protect the Irish economy.
According to a well-researched article on politico.ie, Deputy Noonan has got that wrong too :
http://www.politico.ie/social-issues/8569-michael-noonan-there-he-goes-again.html
If you are in Dublin on May 24, come to the meeting addressed by the Syriza MP – we will publish more details as they become available.
International Viewpoint has published three contrasting articles called “What next for Greece?”
Campaign Against House Tax Conference Votes for Opposing the Austerity Treaty
A conference of the Campaign Against the Household and Water Tax (CAHWT) meeting on Saturday May 19 in the Red Cow Hotel decided for voting No to the Austerity Treaty in Ireland on May 31. Eight motions calling for a No Vote were discussed in the morning session chaired by Tommy McKearney. The mood of the conference is summed up in the Dublin South Motion :
Conference Agrees that nationally the CAHWT calls for a No Vote in the forthcoming Referendum on the Fiscal Treaty
A very large majority of the 250 people attending the conference supported the Vote No Policy. No counter-motions were proposed, but members of the anarchist Workers’ Solidarity Movement argued against the majority view.
http://nohouseholdtax.org/national-conference-may-19th-2/
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/0520/breaking16.html
Austerity will send Greece to hell, warns Syriza Leader Alexis Tsipras
Austerity will send Greece to hell, warns Alexis Tsipras
A Guardian Article we recommend :
Emboldened by yet another poll showing his party’s wide appeal, the leftwing Syriza leader, Alexis Tsipras, said the international accord that Greece had signed up to in return for rescue loans was catastrophic for the country. Instead of a rescue, the debt-stricken nation has been thrown into its worst recession since the second world war.
“With this policy [bailout agreement] we are going directly to hell,” he told CNN. “To save Europe we need to change direction,” insisted the politician who has pledged to “tear up” the €130bn (£104bn) “memorandum of understanding” that Athens reached with the EU and IMF earlier this year.
The latest Opinion Poll Figures from Greece :
http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_14/05/2012_441959 Read the rest of this entry »
