Fógraíonn rialtas Bhaile Átha Cliath cogadh aicmeach

15/04/10

(English version follows)

Ar an Mháirt, neamhbhailigh an tAire Airgeadais 26 contae Brian Lenihan an miotas go bhfuil muid inár gcónaí in eacnamaíocht daonlathach leis an fhógra, atá i bhfad ó dhaoine a bheith ardcheannasach, go mbeadh siad ag íoc fiachais bhancanna phríomháideacha leis na blianta fada ag teacht. Tríd a ghníomhartha, dheimhnigh an tAire Lenihan an díspeagadh atá ag an bhunaíocht pholaitiúil do na daoine a thoghann iad.

Tá sonraí an bhannú amach sa bhreis ar an chóras baincéireachta go huile is go hiomlán treascach sa scála atá aige: iomlán €21 billiún chun córas teipthe agus corbach a shábháil.

Ón iomlán seo, cuirfear €8.3 isteach i mBanc Angla-Éireannach, áilleagán na bhforbróirí réadmhaoine is mó an stáit 26 contae le fada an lá. Ní stopann sé ansin ach an oiread, mar d’fhógair an tAire Lenihan go mbeidh €10 billiún sa bhreis ag teastáil do AIB amháin. Roimh fhógra an Mháirt, bhí €4 billiún d’airgead an cháiníocóra faighte ag AIB. Chun an €21 billiún seo a chur i gcomhthéacs, bhí €23 billiún ar an bhuiséad sláinte agus ar an bhuiséad oideachais le chéile, sa bhliain inar aontaíodh ar an scéim bhainc ráthaithe.

Mothófar torthaí an chinnidh seo le tamall fada; tugann a lán daoine aghaidh ar dhífhostaíocht, laghdú ar sheirbhísí poiblí agus leibhéil arda fhiachais do na glúinte ag teacht.

Ar fud na hÉireann, tá leath mhilliúin daoine as obair, agus i nDún na nGall amháin tá 21,000 dífhostaithe agus iallach ar níos mó dul ar imirce.

Ar an Mháirt, aistríodh iasachtaí mhéad mhór de na forbróirí réadmhaoine seo, ar a d’fhreastal beagnach gach uile duine acu ar phuball thiomsaithe airgid Fhianna Fáil ag rásaí na Gaillimhe i rith blianta an bhorrtha, isteach i NAMA. Bhoilscigh na forbróirí seo, éascaithe ag a n-eite pholaitiúil i bhFianna Fáil, an bolgán réadmhaoine, ag cur iallach ar na mílte teaghlaigh mórgaistí 100% a thógáil amach ar thithe ró-luachmhara. Caithfidh na teaghlaigh sin íoc as an saint cearbhachais seo anois.

Tá toradh na scéime bhainc ráthaithe Mheán Fhomhair 2008; scéim a thug Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, An Comhaontas Glas agus Sinn Féin tacaíocht do, soiléir anois.

Ráthaíodh iasachtaí agus éarlaisí na mbancanna go léir an oíche sin i Mí Mheán Fómhair 2008 le beagán sonraí ar staid chruinn leabhar iasachta na mbancanna. Tá aon chosúlacht ar dhaonlathas scriosta go mór mór agus an t-aon rud atá á ofráil ná an mantra traochta Thatcherite, ‘Níl aon rogha eile’.

Ní féidir leis na páirtithe céanna a chur isteach sa chás seo muid agus a vótáil ar son na scéime seo nár thóg muid áit ar bith ach ar thuar tubaiste, ligeaint orthu gur mhalairt radacach iad – beag beann ar má tá siad taobh istigh nó taobh amuigh den rialtas sna 26 contae.

Ba chóir do vótálaithe i nDún na nGall cuimhniú ar an fhíric sin don fhothoghchán atá ag teacht suas.

Is cosúil nach bhfuil aon rogha eile ar bhannú amach lucht an airgid agus cumhachtach i sochaí na hÉireann leis na billiúin euro d’airgead an cháiníocóra, fad is atá oibrithe, a chruthaigh an saibhreas, coinsínithe go dtí scuainí an Leasa Shóisialaigh. Le rátaí arda dífhostaíochta, tá bainisteoirí ag úsáid an cúlú eacnamaíochta chun iarracht a dhéanamh pá agus coinníollacha oibre a fhórsáil síos dóibh siúd atá fós ag obair.

Fógraíodh cogadh ar oibrithe a chaitheadh leo arís mar fhostaithe scallta sa mheaisín déanaimh bhrabúis. Go mbeadh an méad ollmhór maoiniú seo ar bhannú amach ar fáil anois chun an córas baincéireacht caipitileach a shábháil, taispeánann sé bréag ar an tuairim nach bhfuil go leor airgid sa sochaí chun aire a thabhairt do riachtanais shóisialta daoine.

Is bréag é go bhfreastalaíonn an saghas pobail seo ar riachtanais éinne seachas mionlach beag. Caithfidh muidne, na hoibrithe, an pointe tosaigh a thógaint inár dtuiscint ar an fhíric seo gur iad an lucht oibre amháin cruthaitheoirí an saibhris agus is tríd dúshaothrú go n-imíonn an saibhreas amach as a smacht agus isteach i smacht an chaipitlí. Agus níos tábhachtaí fós, caithfidh muid tuiscint go léiríonn an bannú amach bainc seo fianaise lom agus cáineadh, dá mbeadh níos mó fianaise ag teastáil, ar an fhírinne, i sochaí cosúil leis an cheann seo, go bhfuil coimhlint dothaifithe idir leasanna na haicme chaipitleach agus an lucht oibre.

Is é tasc shóisialaigh agus phoblachtánaigh anois ná chun teacht ar bhealaí chun an réaltacht seo a aibhsiú do na hoibrithe agus daoine dífhostaithe atá mar íospartaigh den chaipitleachas.

Taispeánadh an sliocht tuairimí seo le úrlabhraí éirígí Mícheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig in eagrán Dhomhnach na Cásca 5ú Aibreán 2010 Dún na nGall i nuachtán an Domhnaigh. Cliceáil anseo chun é a fheiceáil.

Dublin government declares Class War

On Tuesday, the Twenty Six County Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan exploded the myth that we live in an economic democracy with the announcement that, far from the people being sovereign, they would be paying the debts of private banks for decades to come. By his actions, Minister Lenihan has confirmed the contempt in which the political establishment holds the very people who elect them.

The detail of the further bail-out of the banking system is truly staggering in its scale: a total of €21 billion to rescue a failed and corrupt system.

Of this total, €8.3 billion will be pumped into Anglo-Irish Bank, for so long the play-thing of the Twenty-Six County state's biggest property developers. It doesn't end there either, as Minister Lenihan announced that a further €10 billion will be required for AIB alone. Prior to Tuesday's announcement, AIB had already received €4 billion of taxpayers' money. To put this €21 billion in context, the combined health budget and education budget in the year that the bank guarantee scheme was agreed was €23 billion.

The consequences of this decision will be felt for a long time; the mass of people face unemployment, reduced public services and chronic levels of debt for generations to come.

Across Ireland, there are now half a million people out of work, while, in Donegal alone, 21,000 are unemployed and many more are being forced into that most Irish of career moves – emigration.

The right of the people to quality healthcare, housing and education is being made subordinate to the interest of banks, speculators and developers. Workers pension rights are being sold off so that the fat-cats that bankrolled Fianna Fáil for decades can be saved.

On Tuesday, many of these property developers, almost all of whom regularly attended the Fianna Fáil fundraising tent at the Galway races during the so called boom years, had their loans transferred into NAMA. These developers, facilitated by their political wing in Fianna Fáíl, simply inflated the property bubble, forcing thousands of households to take out 100 per cent mortgages on homes that were incredibly over-valued. These householders are now expected to pick up the tab for this gambling greed.

The consequences of the bank guarantee scheme of September 2008; a scheme that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and Sinn Féin all supported, is now painfully evident. The loans and deposits of all banks were guaranteed on that September night in 2008 with little detail provided as to the exact state of the banks' loan books. Any semblance of democracy has been truly torn to shreds and all that is offered is the tired Thatcherite mantra, 'There is no alternative'.

The same parties that got us into this situation and who voted for a scheme that has led us nowhere but to the brink of disaster cannot now pose as a radical alternative – regardless of whether they are inside or outside of government in the Twenty-Six Counties.

Voters in Donegal should keep this fact in mind for the upcoming by-election.

No alternative, it seems, to bailing out the rich and powerful in Irish society with billions of euro of taxpayers’ money, while workers, who actually created the wealth, are consigned to the dole queues. With high rates of unemployment, bosses are using the recession to try and force down the pay and working conditions of those still in work.

War has been declared on workers who are being treated once again as mere cogs in a profit-producing machine. That these egregious amounts of bail out funds can be made available now to rescue the capitalist banking system gives the lie to the notion that there is not enough money in society to take care of the social needs of people.

It is a lie that this type of society serves the needs of anyone but a small minority. We, the working people, need to take as our starting point in our understanding of this the fact that it is the working class alone who are the creators of wealth and that it is only through exploitation that wealth passes out of their control into that of the capitalist. Most importantly, we need to understand that this bank bail out presents stark and condemning proof, if ever more proof were needed, of the fact that, in this type of society, there is an irresolvable conflict between the interests of the capitalist class and those of the working class.

The task for socialists and republicans now is to find ways of highlighting this reality to the working and unemployed people that are the victims of capitalism.

This opinion piece by éirígí Tír Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig appeared in the Easter Sunday edition April 5 2010 Donegal on Sunday newspaper. Click here to see it.

For what died the sons of Róisín? Smash the NAMA Republic

12/04/10

Protest 12pm, Saturday 24th, Anglo Irish Headquarters, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.

At midday on Easter Monday April 24th 1916 Pádraig Pearse stepped out of the GPO and read aloud the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic. The Proclamation declared ‘the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland’ and guaranteed that the new republic would cherish ‘all of the children of the nation equally’.

Ninety-four years later the dream of those who signed the 1916 Proclamation lies in tatters. The Six Counties remain under British occupation while the Twenty-Six Counties has been turned into a NAMA republic which has enslaved generations to come with massive debts.

Nobody, including the Dublin government, know how much NAMA and the bank bale out scheme will ultimately cost, but is may well exceed a staggering one hundred billion euro [£88 billion]. That is €100,000,000,000 that should have been spent on hospitals, schools, homes and employment which will instead go to private banks in Ireland, Europe and beyond.

In advance of the ninety-fourth anniversary of the 1916 Rising on April 24th, éirígí have produced a ‘Proclamation of the NAMA Republic’ to highlight the contrast between the Ireland of 2010 and the Ireland envisioned by the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation.

Within this satirical document the names of the 1916 signatories have been replaced by Brian Cowen, Sean Fitzpatrick, John Gormley and the other architects of the current economic depression. And the aspirations of freedom, equality and justice contained within the 1916 Proclamation have been supplanted by the slavery, inequality and injustice espoused by the political establishment. The ‘Proclamation of the NAMA Republic’ can be seen here.

It is now crystal clear that the only people that can stop NAMA are the Irish people themselves, by taking to the streets and staying on the streets; by withdrawing their labour; by refusing to pay taxes, rents and mortgages; by refusing to be ruled by a corrupt political class; by bringing the whole sorry NAMA republic to its knees. The time for quiet talking and polite debate has passed. The time for action is upon us. The very future of Ireland and the generations to come are at stake.

Ninety-four years to the day after the 1916 Rising éirígí is organising a public protest outside of the headquarters of Anglo Irish bank on St Stephens Green. The protest will begin at midday on Saturday April 24th. All are welcome. Bígí Linn.

éirígí Statement on British General Election

09/04/10

With a Westminster election due to take place on May 6, éirígí wishes to take this opportunity to place its view of these elections on the public record.

In the policy paper ‘Elections, Elected Institutions and Ireland’s Revolutionary Struggle’, éirígí has already comprehensively outlined its view of the role that elections can play in the battle for Irish national and social freedom. That document states that “éirígí believes it is possible for a revolutionary party to move closer to its objectives by tactically contesting elections and tactically participating in specified elected institutions.”

With regard to the upcoming Westminster election, the question is, therefore, a tactical one, summed up with the simple question ‘Will the contesting of these elections bring Irish republicanism closer to, or further from, its objective?’

éirígí believes that the answer to this question lies in accurately assessing the objective strength of Irish republicanism at this point in its historic struggle. Without such an assessment, it is impossible to navigate the future direction of the republican struggle and the role that elections might, or might not, play in that struggle.

Irish republicanism has suffered a major defeat over the course of the last 15 years. For tens of thousands of Irish republicans, this period has been defined by disbelief, disappointment, frustration, anger and, all too often, despair. A once strong, confident Irish republicanism is now in a state of confusion, division and fragmentation.

The demand for Irish national reunification and independence has been removed from the political centre stage, only to be replaced by a petty sectarian squabble, with the British government happily acting as the arbitrator of the ‘settlement’. While it may be unpalatable to acknowledge this reality, that does not make it any less true.

It is éirígí’s view, however, that all is not lost. As a result of the determination and selfless work of political activists around the country, Irish republicanism is slowly emerging from this bleak period of its long and noble history.

But the process of rebuilding republicanism has, in historic terms, only just begun. It is a process that must have a bottom up approach and be centred in every working class community in Ireland. That is the only way that a new, radical republican movement, one that is capable of challenging the vested interests of occupation and exploitation, can emerge. This will be a long and arduous task; one that will take place out of the glare of the media spotlight. It will be a process that will often seem thankless and painfully slow-moving. But it is one that must be undertaken if republican objectives are to be secured.

This is the objective reality against which any republican participation in the upcoming Westminster elections must be evaluated. From its current position of weakness any republican participation in this election would, in éirígí’s opinion, be unwise.

Irish republicanism cannot afford to have its political agenda set by the elections of the political establishment. Participation in elections should only be considered from a position of relative strength, where the results are likely to advance the struggle and not retard it. For this reason, éirígí will not be contesting the forthcoming election, nor will it be supporting any non-éirígí republican candidates should they choose to stand.

Now is the time for republicans to focus on the process of rebuilding the ideas, the organisations and the wider movement that will bring about the victorious conclusion of the struggle for freedom and independence. For its part, éirígí will be continuing its work to repopularise the socialist republican message in working class communities and to nurture the still fragile green shoots of a resurgent Irish republicanism.

éirígí Sligeach mark anniversary of Easter Rising with wreath laying ceremony

08/04/10

A wreath-laying ceremony took place on Easter Monday at the Republican plot in Sligo cemetery to mark the 94th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Wreaths were laid at the plot on behalf of éirígí Sligeach who organised the event. The Sligo Roll of Honour, the 1916 proclamation, the 1919 Declaration of Independence and the 1919 Democratic programme were also recited.

Speaking at the ceremony, local éirígí activist Gerry Casey said that the political establishment north and south of the border had completely abandoned the ideals of those who fought and died in the Easter Rising.

Casey said: “Ninety four years on from the 1916 Rising, the sad reality is that the national and social ideals that these brave women and men fought and died for has been abandoned by the political classes on both sides of the border.”

He added: “The British occupation continues. British troops and a British paramilitary police force remain in Ireland. British rule is now shamefully administered in the six counties by the Stormont executive that includes many who at one time opposed the British occupation of Ireland.”

“We live in a society where mass unemployment and poverty is rife and increasing. Workers and working class communities have suffered enormous hardship as a result of savage cutbacks in pay, social welfare and the provision of essential public services imposed by callous anti-worker administrations in Leinster House and Stormont.”

Casey concluded: “For our part, éirígí remain committed to working towards and achieving the goals of those who fought and died during easter week 1916. That is, a united Ireland and the creation of a Democratic Socialist Republic, not a puppet parliament in Stormont. We will continue with our efforts to secure both a British withdrawal from our country and the overthrow of the capitalist system which is based on greed before need and which has caused so much pain and suffering for workers in Ireland and indeed worldwide.”

Other events were held by éirígí activists throughout Ireland over the Easter weekend to commemorate all those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in their attempts to achieve British withdrawal from the island of Ireland and a Social Democratic Republic.

Several hundred people took part in the éirígí Béal Feirste commemoration in Milltown Cemetary on the Falls Road, while more than one hundred people took part in the éirígí Baile Átha Cliath commemoration at Glasnevin Cemetary.

éirígí activists also took part in commemorations and ceremonies in Donegal, Down and Wicklow remembering Irelands dead and marking the 94th anniversary of the 1916 Rising.

Cuimhníonn Béal Feirste ar 1916

07/04/10

(English version follows)

Bhailigh cúpla céad duine i mBéal Feirste Luan na Cásca [5ú Aibreán] le cuimhniú orthusan uilig a thug a saol ar son saoirse na hÉireann.

Ag teacht le chéile ag geataí Reilig Bhaile an Mhuilinn ar Bhóthar na bhFál, rinne an slua a mbealach chuig plásán poblachtánach Harbinson faoi threorú bhuíon fliúite poblachtach Chill Chaoil, áit ar cuireadh tús leis na himeachtaí.

Bhí leas-chathaoirleach náisiúnta éirígí Rab Jackson ina chathaoirleach ar an imeacht agus chuir sé tús trí bhéim a leagan ar na príosúnaigh phoblachtacha i gCarcar Mhaigh gCabraí, a thosaigh agóid in éadan na gcoinníollacha scáfara.

Léigh Maire Drumm, a raibh ina príosúnach polaitiúil in Ard Mhacha, léigh sí Forógra Phoblacht na hÉireann sular leagadh bláthfhleasca thar cheann chiorcal náisiúnta éirígí, éirígí Bhéal Feirste agus na n-iarchimí poblachtacha.

Léigh Pádraic Mac Coitir, iar-fhear pluide agus iarchathaoirleach ar Chumann Uaigheann na Laochra Gael, Béal Feirste, léigh sé an phríomh-oráid.

Chun téasc iomlán oráid Mhic Choitir a léamh, cliceáil anseo.

Belfast Remembers 1916

Several hundred people gathered in Belfast on Easter Monday [April 5] to remember all those who gave their lives in the cause of Irish freedom.

Assembling at the gates of Milltown Cemetery on the Falls Road, the marchers made their way to the Harbinson republican plot led by the Kilkeel republican flute band, where proceedings got underway.

éirígí national vice-chairperson Rab Jackson chaired the event and began by highlighting the plight of the republican prisoners in Maghaberry Jail, who had begun a protest against appalling conditions.

The Proclamation of the Irish Republic was read by former Armagh political prisoner Maire Drumm, before wreaths were laid on behalf of éirígí’s ciorcal naisiúnta, éirígí Béal Feirste and republican ex-prisoners.

The main oration was read by one-time blanketman and former chair of the Belfast National Graves Association Pádraic Mac Coitir.

To read the full text of Mac Coitir’s speech, click here.

This is Criticial Because This is Class War

03/04/10

The proponents of capitalism never tired of telling us how it is not the state’s role to interfere in the ‘free market’ – that economic competition between private producers and investors is key to economic growth.

They never tired of telling us that incentives, in the form of profits, were essential to convincing ‘bold entrepreneurs’ to take investment ‘risks’. They never tired of telling us that this was the only way to successfully generate rising levels of economic growth and wealth that would, ultimately, it was argued, trickle down and benefit all of society. Nor did they ever tire of telling us that, if these investors happened to make bad investment decisions, then they alone would face the consequences; it was only fair that, in the same way as they were handsomely rewarded for the successful risks they were taking, so too should they suffer the losses when their investments failed. That is some of the logic of capitalism. So the theory went anyway.

On Tuesday [March 30], the Twenty Six County minister of finance Brian Lenihan exploded that particular set of myths with the announcement in Leinster House, that, far from the people being sovereign, they would, in effect, be paying the debts of private banks for decades to come. By his actions, Brian Lenihan has confirmed the contempt in which the political establishment holds the very people who elect them.

The detail of the further bail-out of the banking system is truly staggering in its scale: a total of €21 billion [£18.7 billion] to rescue a failed and corrupt system.

Of this total, €8.3 billion [£7.4 billion] will be pumped into Anglo-Irish Bank, for so long the play-thing of the Twenty-Six County state’s biggest property developers. It doesn’t end there either, as Lenihan announced that a further €10 billion [£8.9 billion] will be required for AIB alone. Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, AIB had already received €4 billion [£3.6 billion] of taxpayers’ money. To put this €21 billion in context, the combined health budget and education budget in the year that the bank guarantee scheme was agreed was €23 billion [£20.4 billion].

The consequences of this decision will be felt for a long, long time; the mass of people face unemployment, reduced public services and chronic levels of debt for generations to come.

The right of the people to quality healthcare, housing and education is being made subordinate to the interest of banks, speculators and developers. Workers pension rights are being sold off so that the fat-cats that bankrolled Fianna Fáil for decades can be saved.

On Tuesday, many of these property developers, almost all of whom regularly attended the Fianna Fáil fundraising tent at the Galway races during the so called boom years, had their loans transferred into NAMA. Among them were Liam Carroll, Bernard McNamara, Seán Mulryan and Johnny Ronan, the playboys of the Celtic Tiger, lauded by the corporate media as the men who were taking the big risks to build a thriving economy. These parasites, facilitated by their political wing in Fianna Fáíl, simply inflated the property bubble, forcing thousands of households to take out 100 per cent mortgages on homes that were incredibly over-valued. These householders are now expected to pick up the tab for this gambling greed.

The consequences of the bank guarantee scheme of September 2008; a scheme that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Green Party and Sinn Féin all supported, is now painfully evident. Secret meetings between senior bankers and Dublin government ministers thrashed out a deal that was foisted upon an unsuspecting public. The loans and deposits of all banks were guaranteed on that September night in 2008 with little detail provided as to the exact state of the banks’ loan books. Any semblance of democracy has been truly torn to shreds and all that is offered is the tired Thatcherite mantra, ‘There is no alternative’.

No alternative, it seems, to bailing out the rich and powerful in Irish society with billions of euro of taxpayers’ money, while workers who actually created the wealth are consigned to the dole queues. With high rates of unemployment, bosses are using the recession to try and force down the pay and working conditions of those still in work. The deal agreed between ICTU negotiators and the Dublin government this week represents yet another shameful sell-out of public sector workers. It is utterly astonishing that union bosses are agreeing to a four year pay freeze and cuts in overtime for public sector workers while tens of billions is being spent bailing out the banks. The privatisation of sections of the public sector will follow unless workers demand that enough is enough.

This system has never been so clearly exposed as the fetter on human development it is as it was after Lenihan’s announcement. War has been declared on workers who are being treated once again as mere cogs in a profit-producing machine. That these egregious amounts of bailout funds can be made available now to rescue the capitalist banking system gives the lie to the notion that there is not enough money in society to take care of the totality of the social needs of people.

It is a lie that this type of society serves the needs of anyone but a small minority. We, the working people, need to take as our starting point in our understanding of this the fact that it is the working class alone who are the creators of wealth and that it is only through exploitation that wealth passes out of their control into that of the capitalist. Most importantly, we need to understand that this bank bailout presents stark and condemning proof, if ever more proof were needed, of the fact that, in this type of society, there is an irresolvable conflict between the interests of the capitalist class and those of the working class.

The task for socialists and republicans now is to find ways of highlighting this reality to the working and unemployed people that are the victims of capitalism. For it is only through effectively agitating and organising among our people that we will have a fighting chance of ever building the forces required for this economic system to be pulled off its hinges and a new, socialist one, built in its stead.

This is a critical task because this is class war.