MAY 24TH—JUNE 7TH VOL:2 NUMBER 151 inside swings Israel Socialist right — declares Can workers war on Palestine beat Berlusconi again? Worker — PAGE 4 For a Workers’ Republic and International Socialism 50p Solidarity price £1 HEALTH CRISIS ● NO military superstate NORTH AND ● SOUTH NO corporate Europe — PAGE 2 A cruel rush for profit — HOW BIG OIL IS KILLING OUR WORLD NO TO — PAGE 8 Socialist candidates in local elections — PAGE 5 Government’s racist lies NICE exposed — PAGES 6&7 Film review: A Europe for Ken Loach’s new film Bread and people not profits Roses 151-2v2.qxd 5/21/01 3:13 PM Page 1

SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 2 Liars, cheats Fat and thieves cat THE OFFICE of Public Works is selling of hous- pay es worth hun- dreds off mil- ● ● lions ro rich Anti-union Ryanair boss Michael Smurfit CEO ● Tony O’Reilly media baron developers and Michael O’Leary made £37.2 Smurfit Jefferson Group got grabbed £11 million in just businesses. out million last year. £13.4 million last year. one year. The OPW claim they can’t afford the up-keep of the Georgian property they own. North and South health in crisis They wouldn’t think of using them for housing of course. BILL CLINTON Money for tax cuts came to again and picked up a few dollars. The bomber of Baghdad is on a speaking tour where he “earns” but not for health £100,000 for each appearance. NO MONEY for the woman with private health record for closing more Globalise Health service. That insurance has the same acute hospital beds per head Resistance organ- was the message operation, develops no of the population than any ised protests infection, but is allowed to other country in the EU. Poverty kills—official against his visit in from the failed pub- recover in hospital for three The result is a health ser- Belfast, Derry and lic relations stunt weeks. vice that is not tackling peo- family is five times more Yet the assembly has A young woman goes to TWO THOUSAND Fianna Fail and the ple’s desperate needs. people die each likely to be injured as a done nothing to tackle PDs held at the casualty with severe abdom- Nurses and hospital staff pedestrian than a child poverty in Northern GUINNESSS and inal pain. often dedicates themselves year in Northern Ireland. beginning of the She is told she will have Ireland due to from a rich family. Mahon the bank to their jobs with a passion. ● month to reform to wait six weeks for a scan. But because they do not get poverty, according Travellers die 20 They could have voted at the centre of the health service. If she has £250, however, the resources our health suf- years sooner on average for a £5 an hour mini- the Ansbacher she can have it done imme- to new figures mum wage, or to raise An elderly woman in fers. from the Depart- than members of the set- scam has Dún Laoghaire with gan- diately. The Celtic Tiger has the tled population. benefits for those out of There are nearly 40,000 ment of Health. work. closed. grene in both feet is told people on hospital waiting highest death rate from heart Only 10 per cent of Now owned by she will have to wait six lists. Some 43 per cent of disease in Europe, almost Their statistics travellers are over the They could have Irish Life and weeks for a hospital bed. those people were waiting twice the EU average. make grim reading. age of 40 and only 1 per ploughed millions of Permanent. Her GP tells her to take a for more than 12 months. The mortality rate for cent live beyond the age pounds into NHS ser- cancer is in the top three in They show that peo- Perhaps the taxi to the outpatients’ Of 29 countries in the ple from the richest of 65. vices, rather than subsi- department and sit there Europe. dising big business. Irish Life board OECD, Ireland ranks eighth ● waiting for admission. from the bottom in spending Ireland has the eight low- backgrounds live five Traveller children will release the A woman with a medical on health. est life expectancy of all the years longer than are 10 times more likely names of the card waits 18 months for a In 1998, only 5.34 per- 29 OECD countries. those in the lowest to die than settled chil- Lure Ansbacher hysterectomy. cent of the Gross Domestic These scandalous figures income brackets. dren. Earlier this month, are the price that working depositors and In spite of developing an Product was spent on health ● Unskilled workers the Industrial Develop- people pay for the policies confirm all that infection she is discharged compared to a EU norm of 8 are three times more like- ment Board boasted that outstanding after six days and is offered percent of GDP. of subsidising the rich with Poorest it had spent £85 million no after-care. Another Ireland now holds the tax cuts. ly to die before they taxes have been Most travellers die reach the age of 65 than in subsidies to lure for- paid. decades earlier than set- professionals. eign investors to tled people. Northern Ireland. ● 2,000 premature Burke’s builders Overall life expectan- deaths could be prevent- These companies have cy is three years less than ed in poor electoral merely promised 7,000 THE BANK of RAY “I deal in cash” by the then assistant house. in Europe. wards like Derry if living jobs, they haven’t actual- Ireland have Burke has been city and county manager Later Burke appointed ● A child in the poor- standards were raised to ly created them. George Redmond. Keenan to An Bord est group of the popula- those of North Down and This money has been found another caught out again. Brennan and McGowan Pleanala, where he mysteri- He and his friends tion is 16 times more like- Cookstown. paid in taxes by working way of avoid- had paid £50,000 over to ously turned down the plan- ly to die in a house fire class people. Redmond. ning permission for Brennan ● Deaths from coro- ing tax. Brennan and Mc- than a child from the They own a Gowan used off- Brennan and McGowan and McGowan. nary heart disease and It should be spent on bankrolled Ray Burke since This was the pretext for richest family back- women’s lung cancer hospitals and schools company called shore accounts for ground. Merrion. the 1970s. Redmond giving over £1.9 rates are twice the instead of lining the property deals to Their architect, John million in compensation. ● A child from a poor European average. pockets of big business. They then rent avoid tax. Keenan, even designed his the properties of The disgraced govern- their own com- ment minister, Ray pany. Burke, broke the law Pro-choice challenge The rent for when he ignored Freedom not to pay tax just one of the exchange control regula- THE FAMILY Plan- is estimated that 40,000 six properties, City Coun- Éireann of the old tax revenues to the women have travelled from tions in the 1980s and Exchequer. ning association the bank on St cil awarded its high- Johnston, Mooney and Northern Ireland to England transfered money to his est honour, the O’Brien site in Thanks to generous has mounted a Stephens Green offshore accounts in changes in the residency to pay for private abortion . is £1.715,000. Freedom of the City, Ballsbridge, Dublin. legal challenge Jersey. to racehorse owner laws, he is able to live in against the Depart- This way the He lied in the Dail when Switzerland while, accord- Deaths bank avoids tens he said he didn’t have any and gambler J.P. Earned ing to the Limerick Leader, ment of Health in of thousands in McManus as a per- spending “most weekends” Northern Ireland. offshore accounts and he At least five deaths have claimed he was not “flush” son who, in the at his Irish home on “the The legal challenge tax. As far as the common occurred due to back street As if a 10 per- with money, when there was words of the official good is concerned, all that magnificent Martinstown comes after much confu- £127,000 in one of his bank regulation governing Stud.” abortions in Northern cent tax rate and needs to be remembered is sion over the interpreta- Ireland, there have been no the DIRT scam accounts. these matters, has that the owners of Telecom, Receiving the honour tion of a law drafted in In 1989, the building “brought credit to last week, McManus access in England where wasn’t enough the Irish public, ended up 1862. abortion is legal and acces- company Brennan and Limerick by their con- paying £9.4 million for a remarked that according to they have found McGowan received £1.9 friends its advantages As many as two-thirds sible. a new way to top tribution to the com- site which had been bought of Gynaecologists are million of public money less than a year earlier for included “Not taxing your A survey found that 11 up their £2 mil- when Dublin County mon good.” car, parking it where you uncertain over the mean- percent of general practi- John McMahon came £4 million. lion a day in Council was forced to pay The Fianna Fail backer’s like, staying in the pub as ing and practice of the tioners had treated women profits. them compensation. to public notice in the contributions to the com- long as you like and not law. suffering from the results of The cheque was signed purchase by Telecom mon good include minimal paying service charges.” In the last twenty years it amateur abortions. 151-3.qxd 5/21/01 3:34 PM Page 1

SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 3 what we think NO to a Corporate Europe NO to Militarisation ‘IT’S JUST about enlargement. We want to give the people of The Corporate Agenda Eastern Europe the Mexico rebels same chance that we criticised the Swedish govern- had.’ ARTICLE 133 of the Nice Treaty is a direct result of ment, for example, for having ‘far This is the message that too generous and unconditioned all the main parties promote lobbying by corporate inter- unemployment benefit.’ about the Nice Treaty. But ests grouped around the The multi-nationals want to they are hiding the real impli- European Round Table of use the cutbacks in public spend- cations of the treaty. Industrialists.This organises ing to grab as many public services Ireland has no need to vote as possible so that they become 47 European based multi- new sources of profits. on the treaty for at least a year. nationals such as Nestle, The political establishment are The Nice Treaty also allows the rushing through the vote to play Renault and ICI. EU bureaucracy to open negotia- down any real debate. It calls for ‘the achievement tions with the WTO in areas such They have not made the of uniformity in measures of as the General Agreement on treaty widely available but only liberalisation’.This is code for Trade in Services. This is another distributed a government White more privatisation. charter to force open services - Paper. The EU has a policy of cutting which includes nearly all human They called three referenda back on public spending. It has activity except prayer and the mil- on the one day in order that the itary — for privatisation. Referendum Commission could not devote resources to explaining the case for and against. A vote against the Pretend

No wonder only one in ten people say that they had a good establishment knowledge of what the Nice treaty contains. THE NICE Treaty source of liberalisation. to do with “defending the Enlargement could happen These grouping pretend values of the Irish constitu- even without the Nice Treaty. is backed by the whole of the politi- that the pressure for facing tion” and do not co-oper- And the provisions of the Nice ate with these fringe right- Treaty will take effect even if no up to the reality of abor- cal establishment, tion, divorce and abortion wingers. Eastern European country including the decides to join the EU. did not come from Irish Instead the campaign The same governments who and people but from ‘outside’. led by the Socialist Alliance pretend they care for the peo- the leaders of the — a grouping which links ple of Eastern Europe operate a ICTU who have Forced the SWP and other social- fortress Europe policy to keep not consulted their ists groups — has focussed out migrants. The German gov- on opposition to militarisa- ernment wants a seven year members. They want to forget the tion and privatisation. delay on the free movement of A tiny right wing 10,000 people who Most of the vote against labour. fringe around the for- marched during the X case the Nice Treaty will come The only enlargement the mer High Court Judge in 1992 and forced the from these left wing con- EU wants is one that gives the Rory O’Hanlon and High Court to grant a 14- cerns. And the bigger the Thousands of teachers march in Chiapas as multi-nationals a free hand to Youth Defence oppose year-old rape victim the vote, the greater the blow part of Mexico-wide strike for better pay. scour Eastern Europe for cheap the Treaty because they right to travel. against the political estab- labour. see Europe as the Socialists have nothing lishment. Building a military Empire Join the anti capitalists... THE REAL purpose of ticularly worried about losing their share. companies like the giant Euro- Nice is to create the out on the scramble for oil in The Nice Treaty calls explic- pean Airspace and Defence Sys- legal basis for a mili- the Caspian Sea. itly for ”co-operation between tems Ltd. JOIN THE Socialist Workers Party This is also why they are EU states in the field of arma- If the Nice Treaty goes tary super-power. promoting a European arms ments”. though it will end the last ves- The Brussels bureaucracy industry. European countries They want “common user tiges of Irish neutrality and has already created a 60,000 control a third of world arms requirements” so that all EU increase the likelihood that Irish (PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS) Rapid Reaction Force, which sales at the moment and the EU countries increase their military soldiers will fight “resource Name ...... ■ is capable of operating up to political elite wants to increase budgets and buy weapons from wars in the future”. I want to 4,000 kilometres away from join the SWP the continent in Africa and Address ...... the Middle East. ■ I want more The Nice Treaty gives the ...... information legal ratification to this force. NO to Nice Treaty rallies Tel ...... It established a “Political and ■ I want to get Security Committee to monitor Dublin Artane, Tue 29th 8pm, Holly- Union ...... Socialist the international situation in Worker areas covered by the common Rialto, Wed 23rd May 8pm St brook Hotel foreign and security policy” E-mail...... fortnightly It states that this committee Andrews Comm Centre Waterford, Thurs 24th May should take “political control and strategic direction of crisis Ringsend, Wed 23rd May 8pm 8pm The Tower Hotel Subscribe to Socialist Worker: management operations” Ringsend Comm. Centre Thurles, Wed This is code for wars. The 12 issues £6—24 issues £12 (Ireland political elite use language like Dublin Central Rally Thurs 24th 30th May 8pm, “humanitarian intervention” and Hayes Hotel only). For multiple copies multiply rate “peace enforcing missions” to May 8pm ATGWU Hall, Middle (postage is free) hide their colonial ambitions. Abbey St Roscrea, The EU bureaucracy believes Thurs 24 8pm I want _____ copies of Socialst Worker to sell that European multi-national Cabra, Tue 29th 8pm Augrim St each fortnoght have lost out to their US coun- The Grand Hotel, terparts because they do not Parish Hall, 13 Augrim St Roscrea Make cheques / PO’s payable to Socialist Worker. Return to have a the military muscle to SWP, PO Box 1648, Dublin 8. Tel: (01) 872 2682. carve out markets.They are par- 151-4v2.qxd 5/21/01 1:50 PM Page 1

SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 4 Workers can break Berlusconi again

RIGHT WING Thatcher-loving office. And there are signs that the militancy businessman Silvio Berlusconi of Italian workers which brought Berlusconi down then has not gone away. swept to power in the Italian Around 100,000 people demonstrated in Israel declares war on a people elections. in April this year to commemorate lib- Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go Italy) eration from the fascist government during increased its share of the vote. It will now the Second World War. form a coalition government with two extreme right wing parties, the Northern Gathered League and the National Alliance. Berlusconi is a multi-millionaire who controls a vast media empire. He wants to There were 200 May Day protests across push through more privatisation, deregula- Italy this year, and at a concert in Rome tion and tax cuts for businesses. He also 800,000 people gathered to hear popular left wants to force workers to move around the wing bands. Even before the election trade country to find jobs, and to “modernise” the union leaders threatened a “hot summer” if public sector. But while Berlusconi’s victory Berlusconi’s attacks on job security and is undoubtedly a blow, Italian workers have wages go through. already shown they can stand up to him and And only last week thousands of metal beat him. workers in Turin struck and 10,000 people It is not the first time Berlusconi has been marched in solidarity with a worker who suf- prime minister. His last government in 1994 fered an industrial injury. provoked a huge wave of workers’ struggle Struggles like this will be needed to stop that saw him resign after only nine months in attacks from Italy’s new hard right government. Allies on the right BERLUSCONI’S before the 1994 election Umberto Bossi leads the COALITION allies Fini was leading parades right wing populist Northern have extreme right of goose-stepping thugs. League. The league whips The AN changed its up hatred of people from the wing policies. poorer south of the country. The National Alliance name from the MSI in the It has also led a huge witch- early 1990s. The MSI was hunt against immigrants, (AN), whose leader is an outright fascist party. It Gianfranco Fini, blaming them for poverty, openly stood in the tradition crime and unemployment. As Socialist Worker went press Israel launched a series of vicious attacks describes itself as post- of the 1930s Italian Fascist fascist. Fini has tried to And it has organised on the Palestinian people. Fighters and helicopters bombed and machine dictator Benito Mussolini. demonstrations, rallies and gunned areas on the West bank and Gaza Strip. But thousands tool to the distance the AN from its Despite his “respectability”, strikes against the building fascist past and become Fini described Mussolini as of mosques and immigration streets in protest(above). more respectable in an the “greatest statesman” of into Italy. Both parties also attempt to enter govern- the last century just after the work closely with fascist ment. But up until a year 1994 election. groups on a local level. Lessons of last time Olive tree withers IT IS the failure of power in 1996. Italians become more and more like rency. It cut pensions, BERLUSCONI last old ruling parties. League and the National had huge hopes for Britain’s New Labour. scapegoated and attacked Alliance. the “Third Way” left came to office in Berlusconi and his in government that change as it was the first From the beginning the immigrants, and supported March 1994 after a Forza Italia formed a They promised an end to time there had been a Olive Tree was committed the 1999 NATO bombing of corruption. has allowed to the same cuts and privati- the Balkans. political crisis led to coalition government Instead Berlusconi clearly left government sations that Berlusconi had Workers’ wages have Berlusconi and his since the Second World the collapse of the with the Northern issued a decree that would allies to come back failed to force through. been held down since 1993. have freed 2,000 politicians War. It immediately pushed Local Olive Tree councils and businessmen held in jail from the dead. The main coalition party through an austerity budget have pushed through cuts for questioning on corrup- The Olive Tree centre- was the PDS, the ex- which allowed Italy to qual- and the privatisation of pub- Euro worries tion charges. left coalition came to Communists, who have ify for the euro single cur- lic services. Only protests by tens of Even the Olive Tree’s thousands of people then manifesto in the run-up to ONE REASON Ber- highlighted allegations stopped the decree from the election was largely the that he is linked to the becoming law. Giving Genoa a sharper edge same as that of Berlusconi’s lusconi’s govern- Berclusconi’s cabinet coalition. ment is likely to be mafia. proposed to slash public appeared on national weak is that it made The Economist BEFORE the elec- sharply to the right spending by £15 billion, over the last two TV,” says a socialist promises to get warned Italians not to and to take away the pen- tion some com- Promised elect Berlusconi, saying decades in an effort from Salerno. elected that con- sion rights of millions of mentators said “He said, ‘The Olive he was “unfit to lead workers. that the hard left to appear respectable Both promised lower flict with the de- and win more votes. Tree’s policies have mands of European Italy”. Workers responded with Communist Re- led to the disillusion- taxes, and more jobs, public business. He has been under a huge wave of strikes. foundation, which ment of its base and works, and crackdowns on investigation by Italian In October 1994 over ten Opposition there is a mood for crime and immigration. So he promised to magistrates over numer- million workers struck and split away from the change in civic soci- “After Berlusconi fell spend more on public ous charges of corruption, three million demonstrated centre-left gov- ety. last time his neo-liberal In 1976, before it had services. including the bribery of during a one-day general ernment in 1998, “‘People are policies were adopted by the That is the real rea- strike. moved so far to the against the way that centre-left,” says a socialist judges, politicians and the would split the left right, the PDS’s prede- son why right wing financial police. The following month a the system is going. from Salerno. trade union demonstration wing vote and cessor, the PCI, got publications like the He denounces these We have to build on “They got the blame for saw one and a half million allow the right into 34.4 percent of votes. that for the protests in the failures. Rutelli, the cen- Economist European charges and claims he is people on the streets of power. Communist tre-left leader, was saying linked to the Mafia as part Genoa against the G8 business magazine Rome. Refoundation got 5 countries in July.’ that people would be getting of a “Communist plot”, The PDS, the ex- percent of the vote. have attacked Berlus- The resistance produced Communists, only “We can make the more of the same, which coni. and plans to pass laws splits in the governing “The night of the elec- Genoa protest the first gave Berlusconi the oppor- which mean that he and coalition and soon got 16.1 percent of tion Bertinotti, the In doing so they have votes in the elections. big opposition to tunity to say he was for also pointed out his his allies will no longer Berlusconi was forced to leader of Communist Berlusconi.” change. record of corruption and be investigated. resign only nine months It has moved Refoundation, It’s hardly surprising the after he had been elected. centre-left lost.” 151-5v2.qxd 5/21/01 1:31 PM Page 1

SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 5 Eamonn Socialist Environment Alliance challenge ... McCann Time for a SEA change Line dancing with the Devil THE STORIES about Ian Paisley denouncing line-dancing as the devil’s work provided light entertainment for a brief moment. How could you react other than with a guf- faw to the po-faced pronouncement by a big bull of a man that the god of the Old Testament BARBARA MULDOON, BILL WEBSTER, 59, SHAUNA DEERY, 24, COLM BRYCE, 35 North- had specifically, and a few thousand years in Laganside Ward, Belfast Waterside, Derry. standing in the Cityside land ward in Derry. advance, declared line-dancing anathema? Barbara Muldoon, who is Bill has been a socialist and Colm was a full-time trade (Galatians, Chapter five, verses 19 to 23, for ward in Derry. standing in Laganside in fighter for workers’ rights for Shauna worked for union organiser in Australia the pedantically minded.) almost 40 years. before returning to Derry in Line-dancing was “the latest manifestation of South Belfast, says: “The seven years in the fragility of the peace He stood for election in the past 1996. worldliness amongst professing Christians”, Paisley with the Derry Labour Party, but Hawkesbay jeans factory He has since been involved in warned the faithful in a statement which he “ordered process is an alibi for the thinks the name and traditions of the before it was closed. the Socialist Workers’ Party. to be read in all Free Presbyterian Churches on politicians here. Labour Party have been disgraced Over the past five years, Colm Lord’s Day, 29th April”. She says “People talk “They say we have to wait by New Labour in government. about sweatshops in the has been prominent in campaigns to tackle the day to day issues “For the first time working class Third World, but they don’t against university fees, for the aboli- Traumatic that concern ordinary people, people have something to vote for, tion of selection in education and to always realise there are raise the minimum wage. like health, housing, education that speaks to their concerns, both sweatshops here too. and low pay. I’m sure Tony locally and globally. He is a member of the Foyle Eth- It appears that he had been prompted to issue These places where work- ical Investment Campaign and the Blair would love to have a sim- “The young people involved are his pronouncement by a traumatic experience at a ers are treated like dirt, paid anti-incinerator group, Ban the recent Free Presbyterian wedding which he’d per- ilar excuse. so aware of global issues. They have little and expected to be Burn. formed himself in Broughshane, outside Ballymena. “But the multinationals so much indignation at US imperial- ism and capitalism. grateful for it”. “The SEA is a really exciting Local reports say that all had gone according to don’t have to wait. initiative,” says Colm. “The major plan as the prayerful throng made its demure pas- “Companies like BT, Pru- “We want to translate that into Shauna has worked with parties here, despite their differ- votes if we can, but more important- sage from the church to the hotel and polished off a dential and Halifax are all marginalised young people ences, share a pro-business agenda. traditional breakfast of soda bread, salted butter, ly, we want to have bigger grass- in Creggan since a teenager. “For years we have been told weak tea and (for the more adventurous) lashings rushing in here to take advan- roots campaigns in the future. tage of corporate tax breaks She is now a youth work- there is no alternative. of orange juice. Paisley beamed with contentment Bill is chairman of the local “Now the left is getting together as he contemplated the beginnings of another and desperately low wages. branch of the MSF union, and er for a community health ini- tiative in Creggan, still work- to say that there is, and it starts with fecund Free Presbyterian family to frustrate popish “The alternative we are talk- recently topped the poll in elections challenging the idea that everything, designs on Protestant Ulster. ing about is not just about rais- to the Irish Executive of MSF. ing with young people who wages, the environment, public ser- And then, consternation. From a set of speakers ing these issues, it is about He is currently chairman of have been let down by the vices, decent education, all have to in the adjacent lounge came the whoops and twang saying we need to fight back.” Derry Trades Council. system. be sacrificed to the mutlinationals.” of yee-haw music. In response to which, a consid- erable section of the wedding party hit the floor with stomping feet and proceeded to line-dance in the very presence of the militant Moderator himself. It was then that Paisley realised, no doubt with a sudden shudder, just how far along the road to Raytheon brings perdition even bible-believing Protestants had THE SEA allowed themselves to be lured. This is the explanation of the curious passage in his pronoucement to the effect that “Line-dancing is now freely indulged in by professing Christians at Star Wars to Derry wedding receptions and other social occasions”, STANDS FOR and why he had to insist that “Line-dancing is as sinful as any other type of dancing, with its sexual RAYTHEON, THE arms cally taken up where Bill Clinton left gestures and touchings. It is sensual, not a crucify- ● PUBLIC SERVICES IN PUB- company that has opened a off, ploughing billions of dollars into ing of lust but an excitement to lust”. plant in Derry, is building NMD and stoking international ten- This description will come as something of a sur- sions. prise to those of us who have gazed with awe on LIC HANDS—END PFI missiles and “kill vehicles” New Labour could play a part in serried ranks of cowpokes from Cloonfad twirling for a U.S. Star Wars missile stopping this crazy system, or at least the night away at Big Sam’s Rodeo Bar with jangling SCHEMES defence system. keep its technology out of Britain. spurs and their thumbs in the loops of their freshly- The project could spark a new Early warning radar systems — also pressed jeans. Never occured to some of us that ● made by Raytheon — are located in FULL TRADE UNION RIGHTS arms race with Russia and China. Britain as well as the U.S. they were barn-dancing towards damnation to the The National Missile Defence sys- Beelzeebub beat. Yet instead of telling Bush to close ● FOR A £7.40 AN HOUR MINI- tem will fire missiles at any object the them down, Tony Blair has said he U.S. military deems a threat. thinks the system is “a good idea in Decline MUM WAGE 35 hour week The U.S. Department of Defence principle”. says it needs the system because “rogue nations” are developing their own But then, what would we know who don’t have ● SAVE THE NATIONAL weapons systems. Loopier doctorates in dance demonology from the Bob Its NMD fact sheet argues: “The Jones University of South Carolina? HEALTH SERVICE. U.S. has traditionally relied on the wide There is at least prima face evidence that Pais- And in one of his loopier moments, ley is concerned at a decline in biblical standards on expanses of the Atlantic and Pacific the Ulster Unionist M.P. for East Lon- the part not just of members but of ministers of his ● EDUCATION FOR ALL. End oceans to keep our homeland at arms’ donderry, William Ross, has demanded church. Why else would he feel the need to spell out length from the turmoil of global con- that “any United States-led anti-ballis- in a press statement that: “At ordination, all the min- student fees. Abolish the 11 plus. flict . tic missile defence system will include isters of the Free Presbyterian Church vow to “At present only a few countries protection for the .” denounce dancing, drinking, gambling and the End selection. possess missiles that can strike the U.S., Anti-Raytheon campaigners have crazes of the present evil world”. And to add that the but the possibility that this number will long argued that it is obscene for any “line-dancing craze” (eh?) represents “war against ● increase cannot be ignored.” company to make profits out of death the soul...It defiles the Christian’s body, which is the POLICE THE POLICE. Defend A consortium of three arms manu- and destruction. temple of the Holy Spirit, and those who defile it facturers: Raytheon, Lockheed Martin But Raytheon is helping to spark off God will destroy.” the people against abuses by and TRW is now developing the tech- a new arms race which could put the So god doesn’t just tut-tut at the sight of line- nology, under the name United Missile entire world’s population at risk from dancers. He marks down the miscreants for police forces, either state or Defense Company. nuclear war. destruction.. Raytheon’s Exoatmospheric Kill There is no clearer argument as to The blithe irrationality of this stuff is certainly ‘community’. Vehicle (EKV) transports the missile why Raytheon should not be allowed to deserving of a snigger. into space. operate in Derry. But we have to remember, too, that what Paisley ● MORE MONEY FOR PUBLIC It is supposed to hit and destroy an Whether or not Raytheon are work- represents in the real world is no laughing matter. incoming missile in mid-flight above ing on military systems in Derry just The daft, laughable analysis of dancing sits TRANSPORT FOR A CLEAN the earth’s atmosphere. now, the company told the Derry Jour- alongside a daft, lethal line on Northern politics. So far, things have not quite gone to nal only weeks ago that it may well Paisley believes that the cause of “Ulster” and the AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT. plan. In tests, the EKV failed to dis- make military software there soon. cause of bible-Protestantism are one and the same. criminate between a real missile and a “We’re a defence company, after So, to give an inch to Catholics is to go against god. ● dummy — or simply missed the incom- all,” said a spokeswoman. Unionists who do give an inch are damnable trai- NO INCINERATORS ing object. Raytheon is risking a new arms race tors. The Union of Concerned Scientists for the sake of its directors’ salaries and And thugs who put petrol bombs through ● NO TO MULTI-NATIONAL at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- its shareholders’ dividends. Catholic windows can believe they are doing the nology says devices like bomblets and No one in Derry, Durban or Detroit Lord’s work. ARMS COMPANIES balloons would render the NMD system needs a new cold war. useless. Let’s kick the death merchants out But President Bush has enthusiasti- of Derry! SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 7 Protests and violence Stop Deportations What socialists say Can we ignore Capitalism: power of state? NAOMI KLEIN, the author of No Logo, is one of the key figures in the anti-capital- how it works ist movement. She used her column in the Guardian to write about the The racism behind LOCKHEED Martin, how “the need of a constantly Zapatistas in Mexico and their recent tri- the biggest arms man- expanding market for its prod- ucts chases the bourgeoisie over umphant march into Mexico City. ufacturer in the world. the whole surface of the globe. It The article raised GlaxoSmithKline, the must nestle everywhere, settle important questions, by SAM most profitable drug everywhere, establish connec- “The Zapatistas’ journey company. Exxon, the tions everywhere.” is filled with culture ASHMAN leading oil giant. He saw how capitalism clashes. The road they These multinationals are ripped up other forms of Villa led a similar rebel production, such as peasant chose to enter the capital army in the north of Mexico. the modern day horsemen of by is the same one trav- One million ordinary agriculture. elled by agrarian revolu- the apocalypse — merchants Mexicans were to die fight- of death, profiteers from dis- Capitalism has created huge tionary Emiliano Zapata ing for land as part of these the Government’s concentrations of new tech- almost a century ago. armies. ease, polluters on a global nologies and means of produc- But is it really possible to Together Zapata and scale. tion through re-investing the demand ‘land and liberty’, Villa entered Mexico City, They and the 200 or so other profits it gets from exploiting as Zapata did, on what is the capital. They pledged to when a Moldavian man was giant corporations are the pride more and more workers. now a strip of asphalt lined fight together. BUILD THE instructed to turn up at the Garda PROTEST Stop Deportations of the capitalist system.And they But that has come at a terri- with KFC outlets and But what were Zapata station and face deportation. They and Villa to do? They did not Saturday June 7th express all that is wrong with it. ble price. L’Oéal billboards? It seems ensured that he got legal support. that it is.” have a fully worked out ANTI -RACIST Capitalism is not as simple as More areas of our lives are In an earlier article she view of how the peasants- “The Gardai often play on the Assemble 2pm Dept. Justice a greedy state of mind. language difficulties and lack of subordinated to this drive for wrote that “Zapatistas aren’t united with the growing MOVEMENT St. Stephens Greeen dublin 2 It is a particular way of organ- profit and accumulation than interested in overthrowing Mexican working class- knowledge of the asylum seekers. the state. could take over state power, “If it were not for the local sup- ising society that developed in ever before. A MASSIVE anti-racist demon- Speakers northern Europe two centuries expropriate the land and the stration will take place on June port groups many more would be That’s why we see multina- factories, and build a differ- rhetoric fast tracked out of the country.” Suresh Grover (Stephen Lawrence Campaign), Jack O’Connor ago and now dominates the 16th to call for an end to deporta- tionals invading education, Seize ent sort of world. tions and an amnesty for asylum Marnie Holborow from the Stop (SIPTU), Michaiel D Higgins (Labour TD), Global usic, Gabriel Ohknla world. health and other services. Instead, they waited, hes- seekers who are here. Deportations Campaign said. (pan African org.), nigerian Support Group, Comhlamh, Seamus Choices in our personal lives Their goal is not to win itated and eventually with- All major anti-racist organisa- Maggie Heneghan works with Dooley (NUJ), patt Guerin (ARC), keiran Allen (SWP), Congo Solidarity control but to seize and to drew from the city-allowing Produce are corrupted by the multibillion tions and refugee groups are sup- the Galway support group. She Group, Anton McCabe (Meath Trades Council & Socialist Party, Sinn pound advertising industry. And build autonomous spaces” another regime to take said, “We are supporting the June Fein, Amnesty International, ARASI, Community of Romanians in power. porting the demonstration. increasing exploitation means which will “eventually cre- 16th demonstration because we do Ireland, Clr Finian McGrath (IND.), Anti-Nazi League Every society needs to pro- ate counter-powers to the Zapata concentrated on Over the past year nearly 60- workers everywhere face longer refugee support group have sprung not want deportations to be part of duce the wherewithal for people state simply by existing as reforms in his home region to live and sustain the next gen- hours, and attacks on pay and alternatives”. of Morelos. Large estates up around the country, often in the process of seeking asylum. ORGANISED BY STOP DEPORTATIONS CAMPAIGN conditions. areas to which refugees have been The Irish were accepted as eco- eration. The history of the strug- were broken up and the land Tel. 087 9889244 So new “labour-saving gles led by Emiliano Zapata, redistributed. dispersed. nomic migrants in the US and we Capitalism separates the peo- from who the Zapatistas Sugar mills and a paper In Donegal, for example, the do not see why we cannot do the E-mail [email protected] ple involved in that production machines” mean workers get took their name, suggests factory were taken over. A local support group intervened same for others in the Celtic Tiger. donations to TSB Grafton St. acc. 71238010 process from the technologies, sacked, and those who remain we draw a very different les- credit agency was set up for offices, factories and other must work harder. At its most son today. peasants. “means of production” that are obscene, capitalism brings an Zapata was one of the Schools were established needed for it to take place. undreamt of capacity to feed the leaders of the revolutionary both for children and for world alongside famine. movement which swept adults who had not had the It creates a majority class, the benefit of education. It was a working class, who collectively Companies pump out goods Mexico between 1910 and in competition with one anoth- 1919, and which went far genuine social revolution. Living with racism do the work, and a minority, the further than the Zapatistas in But the old state was still capitalists, who own or control er, rather than in a planned way Chiapas have so far gone intact. Government forces the means of production. That to meet people’s needs. today. still sought victory. happened at the birth of capital- The result, most obviously in At the time the owners of Government forces eventu- ism. the mobile phone industry the big farms, or haciendas, ally succeeded in defeating in the Celtic Tiger today, is more goods produced were taking ever greater Pancho Villa’s army in the The early capitalists forced north. peasants off the land into cities than can be bought. They go control of peasant land-with He describes his experience here in unsold because people cannot government approval. The Morelos commune VICTOR IS a Nigerian, living where they had no way of sur- The peasants used the was then isolated and gradu- in West Dublin and working Ireland as ‘mixed’ although he has viving other than selling their afford them.The economy lurch- land to grow corn to eat. The ally encircled. In April 1919 in Tallaght. He moved to friends who have had to face more ability to work to someone else. es from boom to slump. landowners wanted the land government soldiers tricked vicious forms of racism. The whole world becomes a Zapata into a meeting where Ireland some 11 months ago Today laws and repressive to grow sugar cane for “ I have been called ‘nigger’ and told institutions like the police prisoner of capitalism’s crazy export because prices were they ambushed him and shot after living and working in ‘to go back to Africa’ by people walking logic. high on the world market at him dead. defend the capitalists’ monopoly the time. Germany and Britain before. down the other side of the street, in the of the means of production. To confiscate the land, daytime. It is perfectly legal to shut a Scientists the big landowners often Claimed IN FEBRUARY 2000 “Irish people are officially the Justice Minister John businessmen and 19 ject to ‘direct provision’. “But I have been living in the same least racist in Europe”. O’Donoghue has claimed that Moldavian migrants with Local business people factory,but illegal for workers to hired thugs to patrol the the government place for a number of months now and I occupy one. Capitalists even slap haciendas and keep local Mexican society did not At present no official sta- 75 percent of asylum seekers work permits were impris- who often show little concern Capitalists employ scientists accepted a recom- tistics of racial incidents are should be deported. oned because of their nation- for their taste in food are paid don’t really get much abuse around where patents on scientific techniques peasants out. go back to exactly where it I live. who warn them about global was before. The revolution- mendation to run a kept, and it is left in the He has boasted that he cut ality or skin colour.. to provide meals for them. Double penalty and ideas. warming. But none of them can Zapata was arrested, ary years produced a new national anti-racism whole, to voluntary bodies to numbers seeking refuge in Since April 2000, about Adults receive £15 a week “I have been on a bus coming out of They are like kidnappers, aged 18, for taking part in a Dublin at night, and myself and my friend pull back from the precipice for protest with other peasants regime which talked in the public awareness gather and record racist inci- Ireland by 22 percent, mainly four thousand asylum seek- and children get only £7.50. seizing what society needs and dents. by closing off the shipping ers have been subject to the All asylum seekers are were yelled at by a group at the back of fear of handing an advantage to against a landowner who language of the revolution campaign. allowing it to be used only if competitors using polluting and claimed to stand in its If the RUC behaved like link to Rosslare. dispersal policy. fingerprinted. Those who the bus. That was a bit threatening okay, was taking away tracts of Almost a year and a they can make a profit from it. techniques. land in his home region of tradition. this, they would be Dublin airport now resem- They are sent to rural refuse can be automatically for refugees because there was a group of them. Morelos, south of Mexico But land was taken away half later the government denounced for ignoring sec- bles Heathrow during the areas where they receive no detained. That profit comes from Two centuries of accumula- tarian attacks. worst days of the Prevention back up, no translation or The Government’s official “I would not feel completely safe in City. from the peasants in has yet to give a firm date REFUGEES suffer a double penalty from the glob- the city centre late at night anyway. exploitation, paying workers for tion and competition have pro- Some years later, in Morelos. Activists were as to when any campaign Much of the racism is of Terrorism Act when Irish legal facilities. policy of making life as diffi- al capitalist system. just a fraction of the work they duced today’s multinational jug- murdered. Future land will be launched. inspired by attitudes which people were monitored by They are denied any cult as possible for refugees “But a lot of people have also made me are forced to do. The capitalists 1909, Zapata and a group of feel very welcome, and I have not really gernauts. peasants occupied the land reform was superficial. It is typical of their hypo- are cultivated at the very top British police. access to social welfare and is one of the major factors Nigeria has recently negotiated a $75 million dollar loan from as a whole exploit workers.They But the name of Zapata of Irish society. Recently 10 Pakistani are humiliated by being sub- stoking up racism. the IMF and in February signed a Trade and Investment agree- got much problems at work. Alongside them stand power- that had been appropriated critical attitude to racism. are also in cut-throat competi- ful states, which extend capitalist by the haciendas and distrib- lived on, however, in the Now Amnesty Internat- ment with the US. tion with one another. minds of ordinary ional has launched a major competition to the arms race uted it between themselves. The Bank of Nigeria wrote a thank you letter to the IMF where they There is no overall plan of and wars as they try to secure By 1910 Zapata was the Mexicans. campaign to highlight the pledged to introduce public sector cuts as a condition for receiving he Aggressive leader of a rebel army fight- The Zapatistas took his level of racist abuse in CHEAP LABOUR FOR EMPLOYERS production. So in the car indus- areas of the world for their name precisely because it loan. try, for example, companies such firms. The multinationals, states ing to win more control of Ireland. The employers claim there is gration system that plays system is now becoming The result of IMF inspired cuts is poverty on a mass scale. “I know from living in Germany and the land for those who has such a deep resonance, Britain that there are certain places in the as GM, Ford and Nissan each try and institutions such as the IMF, worked it. symbolising a heroic resis- a major labour shortage in the directly into the hands of the wide spread on building sites. Nigeria is the richest country in Africa but 90 percent of its popula- to grab a larger share of the World Bank and WTO are all tance which will not waver Blame Celtic Tiger and Mary Harney employers. Many of the work permits tion earn less than $2 a day. 20 percent of its graduates are unemployed. cities in those countries that I just would He developed a pro- not go. market at the expense of the aspects of capitalism. gramme for agrarian reform from its principles. has suggested that over Described as an ‘inden- are agreed with ‘middle men’ Most of the population of a country with the sixth largest reservoirs others. Competition means cap- The questions confront- “I think the racism that I saw from In opposing them, we need to that would take one third of A poll conducted by the 200,000 new workers will be tured labour system’, immi- who take a cut of about 10 of oil can’t afford to buy oil. italists cannot sit back at the end ed by the Zapatistas and organisation shows that 75 some people in Germany was much more link each particular struggle into the land back from the needed in the next decade. grants can only get a work percent from the poverty of the year after making a profit. haciendas and give it to local addressed by Naomi Klein percent of the population permit from an individual wages. Scapegoated aggressive than here in Ireland. a powerful movement, based on councils to distribute to the today are not new ones. blame the government for Yet asylum seekers who employer. Despite all the talk of IBEC “I would hope that Ireland would not They must reinvest again and the exploited mass of the The best way to honour are waiting for their applica- again in new plants and expand- people. inaction on the issue. If they do anything to upset and the unions working This poverty drives tens of thousands of Nigerians to migrate. But get like that, because I do like living here world’s population, against a sys- He said, “It is better to Zapata is to learn from his told the Dail tions to be processed are not ed production in order not to tem which was created by experience and not make the that employer they can be together to combat racism, it when they get to countries like Ireland or Britain they are scapegoated and I would like to stay for a while any- die on your feet than live on this month that there was “no allowed to work. way.” fall behind. This pressure to human beings but which now your knees.” Zapata’s army same mistakes again. alarming rise” in racism in thrown out of the country. shows that the employers by right wing politicians who want to implement similar neo-liberal Instead the government This is a direct incentive to have a direct interest in using “accumulate capital”, as Karl threatens to destroy them. grew so that at one point it So called “autonomous Ireland, and that recent Garda has opened a special immi- policies, which also leads to a run down of public services there. Victor also said that himself and Marx put it, is relentless. was 25,000 strong. spaces” are not enough. The figures regarding racist use cheap labour and this racism to get cheap labour. Suffering economic hardship and racism, they get a double penalty friends had been turned away from pubs A man called Pancho state must be confronted and attacks appear to show that from the global capitalist system. in Dublin, because they were black. He described in the by KEVIN OVENDEN Communist Manifesto in 1848 151-8v2.qxd 5/21/01 2:21 PM Page 1

SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 8

by SIMON The real cost of the oil industry BASKETTER Wrecking lives and destroying the planet

GEORGE BUSH recently announced his alternative to the Kyoto Protocols on Global Warming. Bush, a former oil boss, argued his plan will “light the way to a brighter future” for the United States. One commentator said of Bush’s plan, “It looks like an Exxon Mobil annual report, and maybe that’s what it is.” Drilling for oil and gas will be encouraged in the Alaskan wilderness and the Bush Administration will open up other designated federal land for exploration and lift environmental requirements. Yet again the oil conglomerates are calling the shots.The oil industry is enormous, but it is also rotten to the core. It is destroying lives across the planet and is even putting the planet itself at risk. Global warming GLOBAL WARMING The spread of serious the damage done to the earth. is already affecting infectious diseases and para- But western governments sites, particularly those carried have even refused to imple- the climate and its or caused by low quality water ment the more modest targets effects are set to supplies, will also increase. agreed by the international worsen dramatically. While our environment is Kyoto summit in 1997. Severe drought in already at the mercy of the capitalist The US, under pressure dry areas will lead to lower market carbon emissions will from big business, has pulled agricultural production continue unabated. out of even that. which in turn will increase The US is responsible for the likelihood of famines; Culprits one quarter of all carbon emis- A rise in sea levels will sions even though it only has 4 cause floods threatening infra- percent of the world’s popula- The culprits are the fossil tion. structure on coastlines. fuel industry and the biggest The threat posed by forest criminals of them all are the George W Bush has said, fires will increase dramatically. oil companies. “I’m not going to let the The power in front of White House United States carry the burden Scientists have warned that for cleaning up the world’s air, carbon emissions must be cut like the Kyoto treaty would by at least 80 percent by 2050 have done.” if we are to begin to address The US government claims that any reductions in pollu- Destoying lives tion would put it at an eco- nomic disadvantage to those countries without such con- unleashed a murderous repression. the US company’s installations in Aceh The drive trols. Shell Hundreds of Ogoni were arrested, impris- province. But greater investment in Despite being Africa’s biggest producer oned and sometimes summarily executed. Two Since 1980, when separatists began attack- of oil, Nigeria’s people are still among the to war alternative energy production years later Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni ing Mobil’s installations and martial law was poorest in the continent. activists were executed. imposed, there have been constant rumours of through wind, wave and solar In the early 1990s the oil-rich Niger delta The company has admitted that it had paid disappearances and mass executions. The importance of oil power would create real alter- became the scene of violent confrontations the Nigerian security forces directly. Following the fall of the Suharto regime in to the world econo- natives to burning fossil fuel. between the local ethnic minorities and the 1999, the Indonesian Human Rights Rather than fund such pol- Nigerian security forces who had orders to my has means war. British Petroleum (BP) Committee uncovered a dozen mass graves lution-free alternatives, some protect the oil installations. BP signed agreements with the The Middle East was The protestors accused Shell of damaging containing hundreds of bodies. governments actually want Colombian army to protect its installa- Many had been tortured. carved up at the begin- nuclear energy and large their environment and their culture,. ning of the century by the In 1993 the Movement for the Survival of tions. The company admits having supplied food, hydroelectric dams to be clas- the Ogoni People, led by writer Ken Saro- Its security arm, Defence Systems of fuel and equipment to the soldiers protecting imperial powers at the sified as “alternative” or clean Wiwa, mobilised tens of thousands of people Colombia (DSC), imported weapons and its installations. demand of the oil indus- energies! against Shell. The pressure was enough to trains the Colombian police. Some of that equipment was used to dig the try. force the world’s leading oil company to stop graves. Oil interests have cost production. Mobil millions of lives. To get the oil — and the profits — flowing Mobil worked with the Indonesian armed Total Oil profits are behind Logo again, General Sani Abacha’s government forces in massacres perpetrated close to Total are profiting from human rights vio- sanctions on Iraq. lations committed by the Burmese mili- Defending the Oil compa- As for the oil companies, nies meant three gulf wars. BP has adopted a new “green” Lee Raymond, the company’s tary in a dozen villages. Oil interests were partial- NGOs have reported population displace- image, yet it spent more on the THE PROFITS chief executive, pocketed a huge ly behind war in the Balkans new logo last year than it did $24.7 million last year. ments by the military, forced labour and even and Chechnya. TEXACO made profits of summary executions. US intervention in the on renewable energy in 1998. ★$1.19 billion in six months BP profits in 1999 were Nobel peace laureate and opposition leader politics of Middle East aims The US-based Global last year.Peter Bijur, Texaco chief ★$6.206 billion, and it is now Aung San Suu Kyi says that Total is the main- to shore up oil interests. Climate Coalition, which is executive, grabbed $4.2 million in stay of the military regime. The US has poured huge funded by the big oil compa- the world’s biggest petrol seller resources into Israel as its pay and exercised $2.9 million after a series of mergers. BP has nies, has spent $1 million Enron (Exxon) ‘watchdog’ in the Middle every year since 1994 down- share options last year. Texaco made over $4 billion profit every have a deal with the Revenue Human Rights Watch accuse the Enron East and has treated regimes playing the threat of global year for the last five years. (Exxon) conglomerate of complicity in which did not share its inter- warming. which means they can write off ests as pariahs — witness its petrol sales against exploration serious human rights violations in India. Unless forced, big business SHELL made $6.27 billion The Dabhol Power Corporation, which is treatment of Iran and Iraq costs off the Irish coast. ★profit in the first half of last for most of the past 20 years. will continue to demand the 50 percent Enron owned, “employs security right to make money unfet- year. forces who routinely beat and harass people The presence of the oil EXXON MOBIL profits were giants ensures that the demonstrating peacefully against the power tered by controls regardless of ★$7.03 billion for first six TOTALFINAELF made $3 bil- Middle East will remain a the consequences. plant” cockpit of war as long as the months of this year, over double ★lion profit in 1999, up 93 per- Dabhol is a joint venture between two of It is up to us to build a the same period a year earlier. cent on the year before. West wants to control the America’s largest companies, Enron and region. movement strong enough to General Electric. challenge those priorities. 151-9v2.qxd 5/21/01 2:07 PM Page 1

SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 9 in my film by PETER view Real life MORGAN O’Malley, Stalin and Twink I ALMOST felt sorry for Charlie inspiration Haughey, almost. The recent docu- mentary series on Progressive Democrat founder Des O’Malley was KEN LOACH’S mar- party and declare them vellous new film, the winners of the worst that bad. paying boss in town. Bread and Roses, Activists also decide O’Malley the sainted statesman of Irish politics tried is based upon the to interrupt a bosses’ to save Ireland from the troubles, corruption, Justice for Janitors lunch and humiliate them Haughey and then walked on water.It was of course campaign in the US in public. toss and nonsense. which is attempting This is combined with On the arms trial, O’Malley doctored a docu- a series of marches and ment in a criminal case. The fact that he was to organise low demonstrations that cul- Minister of Justice when he passed a request from paid immigrant minate in an occupation Haughey as to whether a witness in the Arms Trial, workers. of one of the major offices downtown. Peter Berry, then secretary in the Department of The film starts with a Justice, could be “induced” or “directed” or “intimi- In Bread and Roses number of Mexican immi- Loach captures the con- dated” into not giving evidence or changing his evi- tradictions that are pre- dence says much about the man. grants being smuggled across the border with sent in any dispute: that On tackling corruption, the beef scandal was exposed between the union by journalists not O’Malley. One of the journalists, Susan two “coyotes” as guides. organiser who identifies O’Keefe, nearly went to jail.And what did Larry Goodman with the low paid workers think of O’Malley? Lucrative and the full time union “We all know the current state of the nation.The chal- officials; the possibility lenge is great but so is the potential. that some of the cleaners “I have every confidence in your ability to recognise They are part of the are bought off by the what needs to be done and to get on with it. lucrative trade in human foreman with the promise “I enclose my personal cheque, which I hope will be of traffic, and money is of promotion and better some assistance...” So beef baron Larry Goodman wrote exchanged as the immi- wages; the pressures of to Des O’Malley the scourge of the Irish Beef industry. grants are introduced to the family and the fear of And where exactly the Progressive Democrats got its their new “owner”. insecurity if the strike money from when it was founded has yet to be explained The immigrants form goes down; and the —and it is still getting lots of cash from big business today. part of the cheap labour power that workers feel By the way O’Malley spent the 1970s opposing any lib- in the city of LA, and in when they take action. eralisation of the laws on contraception and divorce.The exchange for money they PDs were formed because they wanted to replace Fianna are guaranteed cleaning Fail’s Thatcherism-by-stealth with a more direct variety. work. Militancy Maya (superbly played by Pilar Padilla) is Today there is clearly Politics one of the immigrants, a new mood of militancy and she comes to LA to present among US work- But enough, it is one of strange features of Irish poli- join her sister Rosa ers. tics that nobody likes the Progressive Democrats. (Elpidia Carrillo). It is a tribute to his Labour use the PD’s to argue for coalition for Fianna Through them we are skills as a director, and Fail, saying if they don’t go in with FF then the PDs will. introduced to the world of the power and conviction Even Fianna Fail occasionally hint that they wouldn’t be the “invisible” communi- of the actors, that the film privatising everything that they can’t cut the funding of if ty—the mainly Latin is able to capture this. only it wasn’t for the nasty PDs. Even the American immigrants Hopefully this film will seems a bit miffed with Liz O’Donnell at the minute. who do the worst jobs give confidence to those But there is one group who like Ireland’s Thatcherites. and get the worst wages. who often have to fight in Not the Small Business Association,who are more like the They are subjected to the most difficult of cir- party’s military wing. But rather a strange group of ex- long hours, they have cumstances that when Workers Party supporters. poor pay, and they are you organise you can The television program was made by a man called under a foreman who win. Fighting back Gregg who is, to use an appropriate term, an apparatchik derives pleasure in of media guru Eoghan Harris.The program was made by humiliating them, well Harris’s production company. aware there is a constant That’s why the arms trial was so important in the threat of unemployment Theatre series. Because their political past is from a split in the IRA or deportation. they believed the biggest threat to socialism came from Yet all this changes the republicans. The arms crisis provides the proof that when Maya meets The red badge of courage the Provos were just a Fianna Fail front, determined to Justice for Janitors break the left. organiser Sam (Adrien moving to Denmark and then in the play.) Now there is a certain amount of truth it this. Fianna Brody). MOTHER COURAGE and her Children by Bertolt Stockholm in 1939. He suffered from poor Fail’s grubby hands were involved in the split in republican He’s a full time union Mother Courage follows the health as a child and had a ranks at the start of the troubles. Jack Lynch probably sent organiser, but is not high Brecht is coming to the army with her wagon, selling to heart attack at the age of troops to the border thinking to himself “That’ll make up in the bureaucracy Dublin stage soon. the soldiers. twelve. sure that civil rights nonsense doesn’t start down here.” and clearly derives his It was written more than She has no time for heroism After Sweden he went to While some in Fianna Fail started to believe there own energy from his belief in 60 years ago but is more or morality, seeking only to Los Angeles, was called to rhetoric most were trying to keep control of what was the campaign and suc- make money and yet, in the appear before the Committee happening in the North and that meant a nationalist cessful attempts to force jolting and provocative course of the play, all her three for Un-American Activities and rather than left opposition to the Northern state was concessions from the than most of the drama children die. left for Switzerland the next preferable. bosses. being performed today. She has survived but has day. Now this could have lead to activists deciding that Sam visits Maya, and Brecht set out to make his lost everything in the mean- He died in 1956 in East what was needed was revolutionary socialism rather than passionately explains audience uncomfortable, to time. Berlin of another heart attack, republicanism. why it is necessary to be Brecht likened the charac- while working on a response However, most of what became the Workers Party organised and fight back. unsettle them. If you saw the recent pro- ter of Mother Courage to a rab- to Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. came up with a sort of Stalinism-lite, which bizarrely Only then, he says, bit in a scientific experiment. His plays are filled with a argued that anybody was better than the republicans will the wages be better duction of Man is Man at the She, like the rabbit, does black view of humanity under including Fianna Fail. Harris and his chums chose to fight and the healthcare forth- Abbey then you will under- not learn from her misfortune, capitalism but do not be put for this by infiltrating the media. coming. stand how his plays can but the spectators should. off. They came to prominence during the broadcasting ban True to the style of exhilarate by their exuber- The funniest comedians are on Sinn Fein in the 1980s.These guys ran the only the only Loach, the power and ance and wit while having Overthrown depressives and Brecht makes NUJ branch is these islands not to oppose the ban on Sinn conviction of the cause is the power to shock by their full use of humour to put his Fein. established by the pas- message across. The branch in question was RTE—the people who profound and unrelenting One could conclude that the sion of the acting. only choice is to compromise Oh and by the way, the star enforced what was pointless and repressive censorship. What also makes it so cynicism about society. Mother Courage is set in the or die. Or more positively, one of the piece is Tyne Daly, aka Perhaps Harris’ most radical achievement was con- convincing is the fact that Mary Beth Lacey from the vincing Twink to sing at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis . 17th century, during the Thirty decide that the whole system this is based on a true, is rotten and should be over- 1980s TV series, Cagney and He now writes the bits of Irish coverage in the Sunday successful method of Years War, in Sweden. The play was written at the thrown. Lacey, who won the award for Times not produced by British Intelligence and is an advi- organising that has Best Actress four times for her sor to that left critic of republicanism David Trimble. From start of the World War II in 1939 Brecht was born in Bavaria made real gains for work- in 1898, the son of a Catholic role. Stalinism via Fine Gael to Unionism.To be honest he and ers in the US. when Brecht himself was O’Malley deserve each other. escaping the Nazis, fleeing father and a Protestant mother So we see how the (notice the role of the chaplain cleaners invade a corpo- first to Switzerland in 1933, — NUALA YORK by SIMON BASKETTER rate wine and cheese 151-10v2.qxd 5/21/01 2:48 PM Page 1

PAGE 10 SOCIALIST WORKER where we news & reports/politics/industry/the unions (01) 8722682 /fax (01) 872 3838 e-mail [email protected] stand ☎ PHONE REPORTS ABOUT STRIKES/LOCAL CAMPAIGNS/PROTESTS ☎ Workers create all the wealth in capitalist soci- ety.A new society can only be constructed when Toll Bridge Strike they collectively seize control of that wealth and plan its production and distribution. FOR REVOLUTION, NOT REFORM The present system can- ‘We want £8 per hour’ not be reformed out of existence. Parliament cannot be used to end the “THIS STRIKE is “The company has system. about wages, not being doing regular The courts army and safety checks. police are there to defend hours and condi- the interests of the capi- tions. We earn “They should measure talist class not to run £5.87 an hour all the stuff we are breath- society in a neutral fash- ing in during the concen- ion. working on the toll trated rush hour traffic. To destroy capitalism, roads. We deserve “At the very least they workers need to smash £8 an hour. the state and create a should also concede our workers’ state based on “The company has claim for a 37 and a half workers’ councils. brought in strike break- hour week and also FOR REAL ers, including directors’ increase the pay”. SOCIALISM, EAST sons from Blackrock The strike has been College, the posh private made official by SIPTU AND WEST school. The SWP welcomed the but action will need to be break-up of the USSR and “The scabs were get- stepped up to counter the the end of the East Euro- ting £8 an hour and it is company’s tactic of pean dictatorships.These going up to £10”. This is using strikebreakers. states were not socialist how one striker from the but were run by a state- National Toll Roads capitalist class. Traffic We are against the domi- explained their case to Of nation of the globe by Socialist Worker. At the moment traffic is imperialist powers and we “We work a 41 hour flowing freely across the oppose their wars.We are week on twelve hour East Link Bridge. for the right of all shifts. If there were a convoy nations, East and West, to of trade union supporters Crooked strike breakers “The reports from the self-determination. who refused to be serviced FOR AN END TO airline industry about Just before he died ble on tolls but no tax was deep vein thrombosis is by strikebreakers it could NATIONAL Toll Roads is ALL OPPRESSION bring the bridges to a owned by the Roche fam- Roche made a £15,000 charged until the EU ruled We oppose all forms of worrying because we standstill. donation to the notorious against National Toll Roads also have to sit for hours ily, Standard Life and the oppression which divide These tactics will be Bank of Ireland. Dublin City manager in 2000. and weaken the working in a confined space. necessary to defeat a com- George Redmond. The company then class.We are for full “We are breathing in pany that symbolises the The main shareholder is social, economic and the Roche family who net- An acquaintance of Red- passed on a 20 percent hike political equality for so many fumes that you greed for profit that is at mond, one Jim Kennedy, in prices to commuters but women. often go home feeling the heart of the Celtic ted £2.5 million in profit in 1998 — and that was before had his house taken over to the bill for the back taxes We stand for: free contra- dirty and grimy. Tiger. make way for the East Link was picked up by the Irish ception and free, legalised the money started to really abortion and the right to pour in. toll bridge. government. divorce; the complete Service charges Tom Roche Senior was a National Toll Roads have separation of church and founder of Cement Road- Donations a 25-year lease on the East state, an end to church Link Bridge that allows control over schools and stone before he branched National Toll Roads also hospitals; an end to dis- off to found National Toll made £74,000 in donations them to collect nearly 60 crimination against gays Roads. to Liam Lawlor during the percent of the charge. and lesbians; an end to But he built the company They have literally been racism and anti-traveller 1990s. given a licence to print bigotry. Anger at up with the same corrupt One sign of National Toll money by the state.Yet the We argue for working practices that were pio- Roads political influence class unity in the fight neered in CRH, which used was its failure to pay VAT on sharks who glory on Celtic against oppression. to be chaired by Des toll charges. In 1977 the EU Tiger style greed want to FOR WORKERS’ Traynor. ruled that VAT was applica- keep their own workers on UNITY IN THE Cork jailing poverty wages. NORTH Northern Ireland is a sec- tarian state, propped up CORK activists transported to Limerick No to chemical dump Incinerators by the British Army. reacted angrily to Women’s Prison. Catholic workers are sys- A number of ther MORE THAN 100 peo- are using every trick in tematically discriminated the jailing in May activists face jailing at ple attended a protest the book to sneak this in. PROTESTORS are the incinerator, has against by the state.The of Joe Moore. the end of 28 days. meeting in Ballincollig “The Environmental Pro- stepping up their organised “consulta- division between Catholic tion meetings” in the and Protestant workers Joe served three called to oppose plans to tection regulations apply to opposition to a weakens the whole work- days in prison for The Cork Trades build a chemical sludge any plant treating 5,000 area to try to sell the ing class. planned incinera- plan. These have been refusing to pay a fine Council would be in a treatment centre in a resi- tonnes of chemical waste — Workers’ unity can only good position to take the dential area. so to avoid regulation the tor in Ringaskiddy picketed by anti incin- be won and maintained in in connection with the outside Cork City. erator campaigners. a fight to smash both the protest campaign lead in taking the cam- A local resident told plant will treat 4,900 tonnes. Northern and Southern paign against bin charges Socialist Worker "Cork “To avoid the need for A number of protest As Socialist Worker states. against bin charges. and the fight against County Council plans to planning permission the meetings have been went to press the com- We stand for the immedi- Joe is chair of the these jailings to the held in Carrigaline, pany’s planned four ate withdrawal of British treat some of the most plant will be designated ‘a troops.Violence will only Trades Council and a unions and workplaces hazardous waste from the mobile unit’. Ringaskiddy and Cobh days of PR meetings end when workers unite well know campaigner of the city and beyond. pharmaceutical factories “This is just a crude on the issue. in Crosshaven were in the fight for a workers’ in the city. This would stop this in the plant. attempt to bend any plan- Recently Indervar, facing concerted republic. intimidation in its tracks. "The County Council ning rules.” the company behind protests. FOR A FIGHTING Protests TRADE UNION MOVEMENT Protestors demon- Malahide Estuary Trade unions exist to strated outside the City defend workers’ interests. Hall in Cork each NOT CONTENT with lead to house flooding prob- bus service which would run the winter in the Malahide But the union leaders’ evening. spoiling one end of lems. from Seabury to Biscayne Estuary, which is an impor- role is to negotiate with At one point they Because of its natural every ten minutes and would tant feeding area for these capitalism—not to end it. were joined by a delega- Malahide Estuary, pass schools, shops, and long-distance travellers. We support the leaders beauty, Malahide Estuary when they fight but tion of 20 dockers from there is now a propos- already attracts many visitors churches. “Wetland habitats such as oppose them when they Cork Harbour. al to fill in part of the all year round but particular- Malahide Estuary is a the Malahide Estuary are betray workers.We stand Waterford Trades Estuary at Bissett’s ly in the summer months. beauty spot which belongs to coming under increasing pres- for independent rank and Council came out in file action. Strand to be used as a everybody. It is noted for its sure from development with clear support of the Problem wild life. Car parking would the result that many species of FOR A protests and issued a car park. Undoubted- Residents have constantly certainly further destroy the wintering wildfowl and REVOLUTIONARY statement condemned ly, there is a parking been complaining of the speed peace of the birds habitat. waders have nowhere left to PARTY the jailing. problem in Malahide. of motorists on this road. We will leave the last word go. To win socialism socialists About 40 supporters Bissetts Strand currently Again, this problem would be on this matter to nature lover “The proposal to locate a met Joe on his release on need to organise in a rev- floods at high tides. Filling in aggravated by the current olutionary party.This the Saturday morning. and expert Iamon de Buitliar: car park alongside the estuary party needs to argue As Socialist Worker part of the Estuary would proposal. “Thousands of migratory is ill conceived and will result against right-wing ideas went to press two more accentuate the flooding prob- Green County Councillor wildfowl and waders from the in the loss of yet another and for overthrowing the lems. Heidi Bedell has suggested far North, arrive in Ireland important habitat for system.The SWP aims to anti bin-tax activists build such a party here. were set to be jailed and This would lead to drains that what is really needed is a every autumn. wildlife.” being backed up and could low-cost (I would suggest free) “Many of these birds spend —MARY RYAN 151-11v2.qxd 5/21/01 3:26 PM Page 1

SOCIALIST WORKER PAGE 11

news & reports/politics/industry/the unions (01) 8722682 /fax (01) 872 3838 e-mail [email protected] / www.clubi.ie/swp PHONE REPORTS ABOUT STRIKES/LOCAL CAMPAIGNS/PROTESTS IARNROD EIREANN CPSU SWP branch meetings — Action for pay all welcome

Strike forces talks ❏ ATHLONE: Contact 01- IN EARLY May Iarn- the ILDA branch of to be ‘handed back’ like a Currently the strike on the way 872 2682 for details ❏ rod Eireann train ATGWU. Disgracefully the parcel or handed anywhere action is only suspended and BRAY: Meets every leadership of SIPTU com- without our consent. drivers in the ILDA branch Wednesday at the Mayfair drivers in the ILDA THE CIVIL and pub- Executive member Hotel at 8.30pm plained to ICTU that train “And SIPTU now knows of ATGWU are poised to Cathal O Tairne referred to branch of the drivers come under their from the degree of support take action again if their lic service union ❏ BELFAST CENTRAL: the 87 percent vote by Meets every Tuesday at ATGWU began a “sphere of influence” and its drivers gave our actions union is not included in conference in Gal- CPSU members to reject the drivers in the ILDA that they will have accept negotiations over the intro- 8.30pm in Kitchen Bar, 16 series of one day way promised in- the additional 2 percent Victoria Square, near Corn- strikes. branch of ATGWU should the right of drivers in duction of new rosters in dustrial action in awarded under the pro- be “handed back” to them. ATGWU to be represented June. market The dispute centred on the autumn unless gramme for Partnership and ❏ BELFAST SOUTH: Meets One driver told Socialist by the union of their Prosperity the refusal of Iarnrod Worker, “We are not going choice.” its members re- every Wednesday at Eireann to permit train “We have an 87 percent 8.30pm in Queens Students ceive decent pay mandate for strike action. Union drivers to be represented IMPACT increases through ❏ by ILDA reps at discipli- Let’s go back to our branch- BELFAST WEST ring for benchmarking. es, lets mobilise and lets use details nary hearings and more The union wants a 30 it” ❏ BELFAST QUEENS UNI- generally over the right percent increase above the Meanwhile more action VERSITY Wednesdays of drivers to be represent- Pay and health dominate national pay deal. This is likely from CPSU mem- 1pm, Peter Froggatt Centre ed by the ILDA branch of would give clerical officers bers in the Department of ❏ CORK: Meets every the ATGWU. in the civil service a new Agriculture whose work is Wednesday at 8.00pm in The strike received pay scale of £16,000 to being handed over to agen- O’Donoghue’s, Drawbridge annual conference £27,000. Clerical officers cies like Teagasc. St huge support from dri- ❏ have only received a tenth Blair Horan DERRY: Meets every vers in the other two SIX HUNDRED del- ance, including one Wednesday at 8.15pm in unions despite attempts of the pay increases given warned of pay egates attended by an IMPACT which called on the to top civil servants since Badgers Bar upstairs, by union leaders and claims for IMPACT’s annual government to “pur- partnership deals began. Orchard St. management to demonise CPSU members in Eir- ❏ DROGHEDA: Meets conference in En- DELEGATE sue with vigour all A CO is only £8,500 com, which is about to be the ILDA drivers. cases of undisclosed Wednesdays 8:30pm in Despite opposition better off than previously, sold off to new owners. As one driver train driver nis recently. income lodged in while the secretary general McHugh’s Pub St, Lawer- from the union leader- Since Eircom is now in the told Socialist Worker, “All IMPACT is the bogus non-residence of a government department ences Gate drivers, regardless of union ship the Conference private sector Horan said ❏ DUNDALK Meets country’s second accounts”. is £82,000 better off. showed they want this ques- passed a motion com- the union will seek the Wednesdays 8pm phone largest union and Other motions ex- CPSU General Secre- same flexibility on pay tion resolved and supported mitting IMPACT to a 01-8722682 for details represents public pressed opposition to tary, Blair Horan gave his that exists in other private ❏ DUN LAOGHAIRE: Meets our pickets. ballot for industrial most militant speech to date proposals to change companies where increas- every Thursday at 8.30pm “Drivers in all unions sector workers. action in pursuit of a to the conference. One of the major state pension schemes es have been won over and in the Christian Institute want to work together to get Dublin area living He pointed out that in decent conditions. issues concerning contained in the report above the terms of part- ❏ DUBLIN ARTANE / allowance. the early 70’s two clerical nership. “In supporting the ILDA many of the delegates of the Commission on COOLOCK: Meets every The General Secre- officers could buy a house Tuesday at 8.30pm in pickets they sent a powerful was pay. Public Service Pen- A motion from Eircom tary Peter McLoone together but today they Artane / Beaumont Recre- message to the leaders of While the Central sions — among the would be about £100,000 No. 4 branch was passed had argued that dele- committing the Executive ational Centre (opp. Artane SIPTU and NBRU to co- Executive Commit- measures proposed short on capital. operate with ILDA.” gates should only vote to ballot members before Castle) tee’s focus was on the are an increase in “Either this unfair pay ❏ DUBLIN NORTH CEN- in favour of the motion any change in conditions benchmarking pro- retirement age from 60 structure is fundamentally TRAL: Meets every Wednes- if they were confident is agreed. Proposals cess which IMPACT to 65 and an increase changed and low paid civil day at 8.30pm in Conways that their members and public servants are Changes have taken has just made a sub- in contributions. Pub, Parnell St would be willing to brought back inside the tent place in Eircom by agree- ❏ After three days of mission to. Concern was ex- DUBLIN KILLBARRACK: take action of the of economic prosperity or ment between partnership Phone 01-8722682 action the ATGWU was pressed at the growth issue. we will have an industrial committees and manage- ❏ DUBLIN CABRA: Meets approached by the National in racism in Ireland Increases The response made relations driven pay explo- ment without members every Thursday at 8.30pm Implementation Body and and a motion was having a say. it clear that this was sion with the inevitable dis- in Aughrim St Parish Hall, the Labour Court with set- unanimously passed ruption of public services.” 13 Prussia St the feeling from many tlement proposals. It was clear from committing the union ❏ DUBLIN BALLYMUN: The drivers voted to sus- of the Dublin branches Some 60 bus workers joined a many of the speakers to fighting against Meets every Wednesday at pend the strike as talks in the where low paid work- that real pay increases deportations. protest outside Mary O’Rourke’s 6.30pm in Balcurris Road Labour Court got underway ers are faced with jour- were urgently needed At the Civil Service office recently to voice their anger at her Phone Kevin on to investigate discrimination neys every day from if workers are to be Divisional conference plans for privatisation. for details against ATGWU-ILDA dri- Meath, Kildare, recruited and retained considerable opposi- The protest was organised by SIPTU shop stewards who ❏ DUBLIN DUNDRUM: vers in disciplinary proce- Carlow and Louth dures. in the public service. tion was expressed to were joined by their NRBU colleagues. Meets every Wednesday at because they can no At the same time SIPTU Low pay is a major social partnership dur- The Busworkers Action Group played a prominent role 8.30pm in Dundrum Family longer afford to live in Recreation Centre agreed to begin talks with issue within IMPACT, ing a discussion fol- in building support for the protest. Dublin. ❏ DUBLIN RIALTO: Meets the ATGWU to discuss the with clerical officers at lowing a special Recently, the NRBU has issued excellent leaflet warn- representation rights for the bottom of the scale There were several ing against the dangers of privatisation but many workers every Wednesday at address by Kieran 8:30pm St. Andrews Com- ILDA-ATGWU drivers. starting on as little as motions which re- are now asking why they don’t call official action on the Allen. issue. The protest was the first demonstration of workers munity Centre, SCR Agreement here would £12,500 p.a. ferred to tax avoid- ❏ DUBLIN RATHMINES: mean the company would be against privatisation and shows there will be major resis- Meets every Thursday at virtually bound to recognise tance to O’Rourke’s plans. 8.30pm downstairs J O’Con- nells (Pub) Sth. Richmond Partnership Street Dublin 2. ❏ DUBLIN SOUTH CEN- TRAL: Meets at 8.30pm every Tuesday upstairs Pressure grows Why I’m going Bowes (pub) Fleet Street Dublin 2 ❏ DUBLIN TALLAGHT: to Genoa Meets every Tuesday at on Union leaders John from Belfast Green Action told Socialist 8pm in Jobstown Communi- Worker, “I am convinced we need to organise ty Centre “We are living in a that “the trade unions are big protests in Genoa in July and I am going. I’ve ❏ ENNISKILLEN: Phone 01 strike ridden society’ lodging pay claims that seen how patiently lobbying for change doesn’t - 872 2682 for details This is how the director show a scant disregard for work. Governments would rather remain ❏ GALWAY: Meets every general of the bosses’ social partnership”. friendly to the big corporations than make any Wednesday in Currans organisation, IBEC, has Meanwhile, SIPTU real attempt to meet the concerns of their cit- Hotel, Eyre Square (beside described the Celtic leader Jack O’Connor has Cuba) 8.30pm Tiger. described social partnership izens. I think this is about direct action and ❏ LIMERICK: Phone 01 - Turlough O’Sullivan as a system whereby mobilising lots of people.” 872 2682 for details was issuing a warning to rewards are being distrib- Sean a Belfast activist in Outrage, the gay ❏ MAYNOOTH meets Thus- the union leaders to hold the uted upwards. rights group, agreed. “I think it’s time people day lunchtime ring line or face the consequence But all of this only begs stopped putting up with being oppressed. I’m (01)8722682 for details that social partnership the question: why have going to Genoa and I know there is a lot of ❏ SLIGO Phone might break down. SIPTU and the other union interests among others involved in the gay ❏ Last December, the leaders colluded in a community.” SWORDS Meets Tues- employers were persuaded process which stopped days 8pm Semior Citizens to pay up an extra 2 per cent workers getting their right- Hall GLOBALISE Resistance in Ireland ❏ on wages to cover for infla- ful share of the Celtic is organising a number of ways to TRALEE: Tiger? tion. In return the union ❏ leaders promised that indus- The growing conflicts get to Genoa. TRINITY COLLEGE: trial action would virtually show that social partnership Book your seat now. Meets Thursdays 7pm see posters for details cease. is coming under severe Enquiries to Globalise resistance 086 ❏ But growing pressure pressure. 4098186 or [email protected] or UCD meets Wednesdays from the rank and file has All the more reason why 1pm see posters for details write to Globalise Resistance 31 Whitworth Rd, ❏ WATERFORD: Meets made this impossible. workers should step up their Dublin 9. wage claims! every Thursday at 8pm in O’Sullivan also argued the ATGWU Hall, Keizer St. PAGE 12 inside WORKERS CAN Time for a SEA BREAK BERLUSCONI Socialist AGAIN —PAGES 5 change — PAGE 4 A cruel rush for profit— HOW BIG OIL IS KILLING Worker OUR WORLD — page 8 For a Workers’ Republic and International Socialism 50p Solidarity price £1 THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE VOTE Socialist Environmental IN THE elections on June low level of minimum wage now. 7th there is an alternative. “They know their families can’t The new Socialist Environ- afford to buy a house and they are worried that their children won’t be mental Alliance is stand- able to go to university because of ing candidates in local fees.” elections in Belfast and The SEA is a coalition of social- Derry. ists, environmentalists, trade unionists They are offering a radical and other campaigners. alternative to communal politics The candidates standing are Bar- and the big business agenda of the bara Muldoon in Laganside in Belfast, four main political parties. and in Derry, Shauna Deery, a com- Alliance munity worker and former textile John Price is a teacher from West who are really enthusiastic about vot- these issues are linked. And this is worker in Cityside ward, Bill Webster, ing for us. about grassroots politics. Belfast, who is campaigning for the chair of the Derry Trades Council in Get involved with SEA in Belfast. “There are a lot of people who “It’s miles away from what the Waterside and Colm Bryce, a local haven’t voted for ages who agree with the SEA: “We’ve only formed recently, but socialist, in Northlands Ward. Orange and Green parties are doing.” there is great enthusiasm for this,” what we are saying. Goretti added that the hope is that SEA in Belfast meets says John. “There are others who are disillu- a stronger left will come out of the at 8pm every Wednes- Education sioned with the main parties and are “Northern Ireland is a divisive election campaign. day night in the Peter society, shackled by sectarianism. glad that we are taking a stand against Raytheon, the US arms company “This is about what happens after Froggatt Centre at “There are loads of people who “Many people know that Barbara the elections too. We want to be cam- Queens University. want an alternative to that. Muldoon has been an active cam- which set up in Derry last year.” The SEA has also brought togeth- paigning on these issues. We want to Phone 07900 331607 “We had 22 people out campaign- paigner against student fees and for an take a stand on principles. end to selection in education and are er a wide range of people who have SEA in Derry meets ing for the SEA last Saturday and so “While the other parties are lining many people took our leaflets and willing to vote for her,” says John. been active campaigners on other at 8pm every Wednes- agreed with the common sense issues Goretti Horgan who is campaign- issues. up shake hands with Bill Clinton, we’ll be outside protesting about Clin- day at its office at 4 that we are raising. ing in Derry, says “I think we’ve all “The unity of the campaign is Strand Road. Phone great,” says John Price. ton’s bombing of Iraq. “We are arguing for a £7.40 an been a bit surprised at the response we 02871 283131 or hour minimum wage. Some people are getting. “We have people who are green “This campaign is about building a asked if that is realistic, but at the “In every area we’ve gone canvass- activists, against global capitalism and stronger force on the left in Northern 07771 781958 same time they are disgusted at the ing and leafleting, we’ve met people for woman’s right to choose. All of Ireland.”