An Teanga agus Polaitíocht na hAislinge Bréige

31/12/2010

(English version follows)

Sheol Brian Cowen Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge de chuid rialtas na Sé Chondae Fichead i mBaile Átha Cliath Dé Máirt [21ú Nollaig], i ndiaidh don straitéis tacaíocht d’aonghuth a fháil i dTeach Laighean ar 18ú Samhain.

Díríonn an straitéis ar ocht réimse – oideachas; an Ghaeltacht; an teaghlach; riarachán, seirbhísí agus pobal; na meáin agus teicneolaíocht; foclóirí; reachtaíocht agus stádas; agus saol eacnamaíochta – agus leagadh amach í le cur i gcrích i ceithre chéim, ó bhunú go comhdhlúthú. Sa dréachtleagan den straitéis bhí clár ama sainiúil ag dul leis na céimeanna go léir, ach baineadh iad ón leagan deiridh.

Is maolaisnéis í cur síos ar an straitéis seo mar uaillmhianach – is í an phríomhsprioc líon na ndaoine a labhraíonn Gaeilge go laethúil sna Sé Chondae Fichead a mhéadú ó 83,000 go 250,000 faoin bhliain 2030. Chiallódh seo méadú 5.7 faoin chéad i líon na gcainteoirí gach bliain. I gcomparáid, bhí plean gnímh na Breatnaise Iaith Pawb [Teanga Chách] ag dúil le méadú cúig faoin chéad i líon na gcainteoirí Breatnaise thar thréimhse deich mbliana.

Dúirt tuarascáil a d’fhoilsigh Fiontar anuraidh ar an dréachtstraitéis gur tháinig figiúr an 250,000 ó iar-aire Gaeltachta na Sé Chondae Fichead, Éamon Ó Cuív, agus nach raibh na sonraí sochtheangeolaíochta ann le tacú leis an réamh-mheastúchán.

Príomhsprioc eile atá an ag straitéis ná líon na ndaoine a labhraíonn Gaeilge go laethúil sa Ghaeltacht a mhéadú 25 faoin chéad. Ach tá an eagraíocht le cúram ar fhorbairt na Gaeltachta, Údarás na Gaeltachta, tá an eagraíocht le leasú faoin scéim mar Údarás na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta, le freagracht acu ar sheachadadh na straitéise ar fud na Sé Chondae Fichead. Gan amhras fágfar sainriachtanais na Gaeltacht ar lár i scuabáil an mhaorlathais nua agus leanfar le meathlú fada phobail na Gaeltachta.

Cé go bhfuil a laigí ag an straitéis féin, tugadh isteach í le haghaidh díospóireachta i dTeach Laighean ar an lá céanna a d’fhógair Brian Lenihan teacht an IMF, an Bhainc Cheannais Eorpaigh agus a gclár oibre nualiobrálach. Sa Cháinaisnéis a maíodh ar 7ú Nollaig, scoradh maoiniú Roinn Gnóthaí Pobail, Comhionannais agus Gaeltachta na Sé Chondae Fichead a bhaineann le cúrsaí Gaeltachta agus oileán 42 faoin chéad, ó €69 milliún [£59 milliún] go €40 milliún [£34 milliún]. Cuimsíonn seo ísliú dhá thrian ar bhuiséad chaiteachas caipitiúil Údarás na Gaeltachta, ó €18 milliún [£15 milliún] go €6 milliún [£5 milliún].

Bhí laghdú 36 faoin chéad chomh maith i mbuiséad Chiste na Gaeilge de chuid na roinne, ciste a mhaoiníonn grúpaí pobail agus cultúrtha ar fud na Sé Chondae Fichead. Gearradh buiséad Oifig an Choimisinéara Teanga, a dhéanann maoirseacht ar chuir i bhfeidhm reachtaíocht na Gaeilge, gearradh é 16 faoin chéad. Leiríonn sé i ndáiríre go bhfuil sé le cruthú fós cén dóigh a gcuirfear an straitéis 20 bliain i gcrích má tá na heagraíochtaí ábhartha ag streachailt lena ndualgais a chomhlíonadh fiú anois.

Ag seoladh an straitéise, dúirt Brian Cowen go gcuirfí €1.5 milliún [£1.3 milliún] i leataobh le haghaidh chur i gcrích na chéad bliana den straitéis. Níl san fhigiúr ach comhartha agus ní mór féachaint go seasann sé do straitéis chomharthach. Cé gur léirigh na páirtithe bunaíochta go léir i dTeach Laighean a dtacaíocht don straitéis, is fiú cuimhneamh nach raibh riamh aon easpa béalghrá don Ghaeilge sna Sé Chondae Fichead. Níl aon ghealltanas ann ach oireadh go mbeidh an straitéis mar chuid de chlár oibre an chéad rialtais Átha Cliath eile, go háirithe rialtas a bheas ag oibriú faoi choimirce an IMF agus chlár oibre ar cuma leis faoi rud ar bith nach féidir a thráchtearrú agus a dhíol go héasca.

D’fháiltigh pobal na Gaeilge roimh fhoilsiú na straitéise 20 bliana go ginearálta, cé gur léirigh siad imní faoi cheisteanna ar nós an easpa sonraí sa straitéis féin, chomh maith leis an dóigh a maoineofar í.

Tá aitheantas ann go bhfuil straitéis nua agus radacach de dhíth le meath na bpobal Gaeltachta a aisiompú agus leis an teanga a athbheochan, chomh maith leis an toil chun í a chur i gcrích. Ní thiocfaidh seo ó pháirtithe polaitiúila atá faoi mheirse aicme eacnamúil ghaimbín, ach ó pobail Ghaeilge agus Ghaeltachta ar fud na tíre a thugann aird ar fhís an Phiarsaigh ar Éirinn “ní amháin saor, ach Gaelach chomh maith; ní amháin Gaelach, ach saor chomh maith”.

 An Teanga and the Politics of the Pipe Dream

The Twenty-Six County government’s 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language was launched by Brian Cowen in Dublin on Tuesday [December 21], the strategy having received unanimous support in Leinster House on November 18.

The strategy focuses on eight areas – education; the Gaeltacht; the family; administration, services and community; media and technology; dictionaries; legislation and status; and economic life – and is designed to be implemented in four stages, from establishment to consolidation. The draft version of the strategy contained specific time frames for each of the stages, though these have been removed from the final version.

To refer to the strategy as ambitious would be an understatement – the key target is to increase the number of people who speak Irish on a daily basis in the Twenty-Six Counties from 83,000 to 250,000 by the year 2030. This would mean an increase of 5.7 per cent in the number of speakers every year. In comparison, the Welsh language action plan Iaith Pawb [Everyone’s Language] sought an increase of five per cent in the number of Welsh speakers over 10 years.

A report published by Fiontar last year on the draft strategy stated that the 250,000 figure had come from former Twenty-Six County minister for the Gaeltacht Éamon Ó Cuív, and that there was no sociolinguistic data to support the projection.

Another key target of the strategy is to increase the number of people who speak Irish on a daily basis in Gaeltacht areas by 25 per cent. However, the organisation that was tasked with the development of the Gaeltacht, Údarás na Gaeltachta, is to be reformed under the scheme as Údarás na Gaeilge agus na Gaeltachta, with responsibilities for delivering the strategy throughout the Twenty-Six County state. The specific needs of Gaeltacht areas will undoubtedly be lost in the shuffle of this new bureaucracy and the long decline of Gaeltacht communities will inevitably continue.

While the strategy itself has weaknesses, it also happened to be introduced for debate in Leinster House on the same day that Brian Lenihan announced the arrival of the IMF, the European Central Bank and their neo-liberal agenda. In the budget announced on December 7, the funding for the Twenty-Six County Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs relating to the Gaeltacht and the islands was slashed by 42 per cent, from €69 million [£59 million] to €40 million [£34 million]. This includes the capital expenditure budget of Údarás na Gaeltachta being reduced by two-thirds, from €18 million [£15 million] to €6 million [£5 million].

There was also a 36 per cent reduction in the budget of the department’s Ciste na Gaeilge [Irish Language Fund], which funds community and cultural groups throughout the Twenty-Six Counties. The Office of the Language Commissioner, which oversees the implementation of Irish language legislation, also saw its budget cut by 16 per cent. These cuts beg the serious question of how the 20-year strategy is going to be implemented if the relevant organisations are struggling to carry out their duties even now.

At the launch of the strategy, Brian Cowen made a point of stating that €1.5 million [£1.3 million] would be set aside for the implementation of the first year of the strategy. The figure is tokenistic and is representative of what has to be looked upon as a tokenistic strategy. Although all the establishment parties in Leinster House have expressed their support for the strategy, it’s worth noting that there has never been any shortage of lip service to the Irish language in the Twenty-Six Counties. There is also no guarantee that it will be part of the agenda of the next Dublin government, especially a government that will operate under the auspices of the IMF and an agenda that cares little for anything that can’t easily be commoditised and sold off.

The Irish language community have generally welcomed the publication of the 20-year strategy, though they have expressed concern over issues such as a lack of detail in the strategy itself, as well as how it will be funded.

There is a recognition that a new and radical strategy is needed to reverse the decline of Gaeltacht communities and to revitalise the language, along with the will to implement it. These will not come from political parties in thrall to a gombeen economic class, but from Irish language and Gaeltacht communities throughout the country who take heed of Pearse’s vision of an Ireland “not free merely, but Gaelic as well; not Gaelic merely, but free as well”.

Child Report a Damning Indictment

29/12/2010

The spokesperson for éirígí in Donegal has said that the report released recently by the office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs entitled “State of the Nations Children, Ireland 2010” is a damning indictment on the political system in Ireland. Claiming that the report highlights that children in Ireland have been systematically let down by a string of administrations, Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig said that complete reform of the system in this country was the only way to give children a better standard of living.

“This report shows clearly in black and white the result of a long list of successive governments sitting in Lenister House who have consistantly let the children of the Twenty-Six Counties down over many years” the éirígí spokesperson said. “Children are the most vulnerable of all in any society and they must be protected at all costs, for their own good and that of the nation. Many claim that poverty and lack of good education leads to the hardships many children in society face. But when we get down to the bare bones of the matter what leads to children being in poverty in the first place is the capitalist system that has consistantly fed itself off the misery of the poorest in society.

“Every political party that has sat in government in the Twenty-Six Counties has backed up that capitalist system, a system which seen people as no more than another commodity and as with most cases it is the children who have suffered the most. When education costs money and health care costs money, as it does thanks to capitalism, then the poorest and most vulnernable suffer and ultimately the children bare the brunt” he continued.

“The figures in this report for Donegal in particular are shocking. But the system we have has led to the unemployment figures in this county standing at well over 20,000 and the poverty such a lack of employment causes has a massive affect on our children. And now with the IMF insisting that third level education in this country will only be a luxury for the wealthiest then what possible chance do the children of the unemployed have? Such capitalist thinking leads to an endless spiral of poverty through generations with no end in sight. Without a complete dismantling of the current system in the Twenty-Six Counties and a fair and just system introduced which truely does cherish the children of our nation equally, then our children have no future but one of poverty and deprivation unless they are born into wealth. Unless the capitalist ideologies of our governments are replaced with ones of social equality then we are destined to see many more similar reports in the future.”

Is leis na daoine talamh an BSL

27/12/2010

(English version follows)

Bhí an páirtí sóisialach poblachtánach éirígí géar lena cháineadh faoi mholtaí ón BSL (ESB) chun talamh a dhíol atá faoina n-úinéireacht féin don mhargadh príobháideach. Tagann na ráitis i ndiaidh na nuachta go bhfuil an BSL tar éis díreach níos mó ná 31 acra talaimh i nGaoth Dobhair a chur ar díol. Is é an áisíneacht atá ag díol an liosta réadmhaoine seo faoi láthair ná Campell's Estate Agents ar an Chlochán Liath, Co. Dhún na nGall, agus tá réimse méideanna sna ceithre mhír ó 1.31 acra go 14.9 acra.

Site of the old Gweedore Power Station

Tá an talamh i dtrácht suite i gceantair Ghaoth Dobhar agus Dhún Lúiche agus is é ceann de na míreanna atá ar díol ná suíomh an chumhachtstáisiúin ghiniúna le móin atá díchóimeáilte anois, i nGaoth Dobhair a d'úsáid móin lámhghearrtha ó fhoinse áitiúil. Tá bealach isteach ag roinnt de na míreanna chuig cladach locha áitiúla chomh maith le éadanas bóthair go dtí an N56, atá ina bhealach artaireach ag ceangailt an-chuid d'iarthair na tíre.

Ag labhairt maidir leis an díolúchán talaimh, dúirt urlabhraí éirígí i dTír Chonaill, Mícheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig, gur chóir stop a chur leis an díolúcháin láithreach. Mhaígh sé gur thalamh faoi úinéireacht stáit atá ann go fírinneach toisc go bhfuil sé liostáilte mar réadmhaoine an BSL, toisc gur chomhlacht fo-stáit atá ann ar a bhfuil an rialtas an scairshealbhóir is mó.

"Is sampla príomha é an díolúchán talaimh seo ag an BSL d'idé-eolaíocht iad siúd atá ag reachtáil na tíre seo, go gcaithfear riachtanas an phobail a íobairt chun leas a thabhairt don infheisteoir príobháideach" a deir an tUasal Mac Giolla Easbuig. "Is cúis náire é go bhfuil iompar den saghas seo ag leanúint ar aghaidh i ndiaidh na praisí ina bhfuil an eacnamaíocht anseo sna Sé Chontae Fichead. Tá sé go huile is go iomlán mí-cheart díolúchán sócmhainní an stáit agus ba chóir dóibh siúd i dTeach Laighean é a stopadh láithreach."

"Chonaic muid cheanna féin an rialtas ag ligeaint do chomhlachtaí príobháideacha leas a bhaint as saibhreas nádúrtha an stáit i bhfoirm tabhartais in aisce €540 billiún de luach ola agus gáis don leithéad d'Ola Shell. Agus fiú i ndiaidh na fianaise treascaí gur theip ar an gcóras caipitleach in Éirinn mar gheall ar an rialtas ag spreagadh amhantraithe réadmhaoine chun gach rud atá le feiceáil a cheannach ar son bhrabúis phríomháidigh amháin, iompar a chuaigh go dtí an bolgán réadmhaoine, arís eile tá an stát ag díol talaimh don tairgeoir is mó, talamh a bhaineann leis na daoine mar is ceart."

Chuir Mac Giolla Easbuig leis "Le dífhostaíocht ard anseo i nDún na nGall agus anseo i gceantar Ghaoth Dobhar is sóchmhainn luachmhar phoiblí é an talamh seo agus ba chóir é a úsáid dá réir sin. Ba chóir don BSL na suíomhanna a ghlanadh amach d'aon éilliúchán atá fágtha i ndiaidh a n-úsáide agus an talamh a thabhairt ar ais don phobal ionas go mbeidh siadsan ábalta cinneadh a dhéanamh ar cén úsáid is fearr atá ann dó. Ní chóir tuilleadh céimeanna a thógaint go dtí go dtéitear i gcomhairle leis an phobal i gceart. I gcomhair pé rud a úsáidfear é is é an bunlíne ná gur leis na daoine an talamh seo agu ní chóir é a dhíol i gcomhair brabúis phríomháidigh."

ESB Land Belongs to the People

The socialist republican party éirígí have been scathing in their criticism of proposals from the ESB to sell land currently under its ownership to the private market. The comments come in the wake of news that the ESB has put just over 31 acres of land in the Gweedore area up for sale. The agent selling this current list of property is Campbell's Estate Agents in Dungloe, County Donegal, and the four lots range in size from 1.31 acres to 14.9 acres.

One of the sites for sale by ESB

The land in question is situated in the Gweedore and Dunlewy areas and one of the lots for sale is the site of the now dismantled turf fired power generating station in Gweedore which used locally sourced hand-cut turf. Some of the lots also have access to the shore of a local lake as well as frontage onto the N56, which is a main arterial route linking much of west of the county.

Speaking in relation to the land sale, spokesperson for éirígí in Donegal, Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig said that the sale should be stopped immediately. He claimed that the land was in effect state owned land as it is listed as property of the ESB, a semi-state owned company of which the government is the majority shareholder.

“The sale of this land by the ESB is just another prime example of the ideology of those who run this country that the need of the public must be sacrificed to benefit the private investor” Mr Mac Giolla Easbuig said. “It is a disgrace that such behaviour continues after the mess the economy is in here in the Twenty-Six Counties. Selling off state assets is wholly wrong and those in Lenister House should bring a halt to it immediately."

“We've already seen the government allow private companies to benefit from the states natural wealth in the form of the giving away of €540 billion worth of oil and gas to the likes of Shell Oil. And even after the overwhelming evidence that the capitalist system failed in Ireland due to the government encouraging property speculators to purchase everything in sight solely for private gain, behaviour which led to the property bubble, here we have once again the state selling off land to the highest bidder, land which rightly belongs to the people.”

MacGiolla Easbuig added “With high unemployment in Donegal and here in the Gweedore region this land is a valuable public asset and should be used accordingly. The ESB should clear the sites of any contamination that may remain after its use and hand the land back to the community for them to decide what the best use for it is. No further steps should be made until the local community has been properly consulted. Whatever it is used for the bottom line is that this land belongs to the people and it should not be sold off for private profit."

From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come

24/12/2010

When éirígí was established as a campaigns group in April 2006 it did so as an avowedly socialist republican organisation, founded upon the principles of that champion of revolutionary socialism in Ireland, James Connolly.

The activists who ultimately founded éirígí had first asked themselves two questions: Was the objective of a socialist republic still relevant in today’s world? And if so, was there a need for a new political organisation to fight for the creation of that republic? With the answer to both these questions being a definitive yes, éirígí came into existence.

Four and a half years later, the party has reached another significant milestone with the publication of a major ideological policy paper. From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come is not only an important development for éirígí as a political party; it is also an important for the development of socialist republicanism in Ireland.

From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come does not simply reject capitalism in all of its forms; it also sets out éirígí’s vision of an alternative society based upon the public ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.

Over the course of the last century many Irish republicans have come to the conclusion that an Ireland which remained capitalist post a British withdrawal would not really be free at all. And éirígí is proud to follow in that tradition, to follow in the footsteps of organisations such as the Irish Socialist Republican Party and the Republican Congress and of individuals like Peadar O’Donnell, Liam Mellows, Constance Markiewicz, Frank Ryan and Mairéad Farrell.

However, From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come is not just about éirígí taking its place in Ireland’s revolutionary tradition. It is also about changing the parameters of debate in republican Ireland and beyond. It is about building the theoretical foundations for a powerful movement in Ireland that will be uncompromisingly republican and socialist. A revolutionary republican movement that has class politics at the core of its analysis, a movement that will never again commit the mistakes of militarism, constitutionalism or the pernicious notion that labour ‘must wait’.

The process by which éirígí developed and adopted From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come was itself an example of the type of participative democracy that éirígí wishes to see at the heart of a new socialist Ireland. This process saw an initial draft debated by the entire membership within their respective local Ciorcail (branches). Each individual member was afforded the right to suggest deletions, additions and amendments to the document.

Once the first round of discussion had been completed a second draft of the paper, based upon the feedback received from the membership, was drafted. This second draft was then circulated to the entire membership and again debated within the local Ciorcail. The feedback from this second round of discussions informed the drafting of the third and final draft of From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come.

For the first time a dispersed voting procedure was used which saw members voting at meeting of their local ciorcal on whether to adopt or reject the paper. As with all major strategic and policy issues each member of the party had an equal vote. The result of this vote saw the paper being unanimously adopted.

While the process of developing and adopting From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come took a number of months to complete, it was time well spent. éirígí’s unique decisions-making process, as contained within Bunreacht éirígí, places consensus building at the heart of a process of decision making.

Many Irish republican and socialist organisations are based upon outdated and anti-democratic ‘top-down’ models of decision-making. Such models are inherently unstable, leading to leadership cliques and internal divisions. Organisations which use delegate based organisational models, pressure cooker conferences and artificial deadlines to make decisions are invariably corrupted by leaderships who think they know better than their memberships.

Announcing the public launch of From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come, cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson said: “Ireland today is at a crossroads. We can continue down the path of capitalism and imperialism that has partitioned our country, exploited our population and impoverished our communities or we can strike out for a better future based upon national independence and socialism.

“From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come correctly asserts that the only option that will work for the vast majority of the Irish people is that of independence and socialism.

“There can be no compromise between the exploiter and the exploited. It is a matter of their prosperity or ours – the slave owner and the slave cannot be prosperous together.

“éirígí is under no illusions as to the mammoth scale of the task that has been set out in this document. It is the same task that confronted the men and women of 1916 and it is the same task that confronted the thousands of republicans who fought the struggle over the last 40 years – it is about nothing less than the re-conquest of Ireland by the working people of Ireland.

“We need to start small while thinking big. We need to organise in our communities, in our workplaces, in our places of education, in our homes and on our streets. We need to make the argument with every single person who has no vested interest in the current rotten system that there is a better way and a better destination. There is a system that the working people of Ireland can have a stake in – that system is socialism and the time to start fighting for that system is now.”

To read From Socialism Alone Can the Salvation of Ireland Come, click here.

Chun Ón Sóisialachas Amháin a Thiocfas Slánú na hÉireann a léamh, cliceáil anseo.

éirígí Slam Vote on IMF Deal as a Sham

22/12/10

Cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson has described last week’s vote on the IMF deal in the Twenty-Six Counties as a sham following the discovery of shocking new details contained within the latest IMF ‘country’ report published on December 17, several days after Leinster House backed the deal.

Cathaoirleach éirígí Brian Leeson

The document outlines plans to:

• Means test child benefit payments by 2014
• Cut the rate of state pension
• Abolish the current student grant scheme in favour of student loans
• Further increase third level student fees
• Introduce further cuts to unemployment payments.

These new proposals are in addition to those outlined in the four-year austerity plan, which will impose a host of new stealth taxes, including the doubling of carbon tax to €30 [£25] per tonne, the introduction of water charges, a tax on family homes, along the rate VAT being increased to 23 per cent. All of these measures will be imposed by 2014.

Leeson said: “Households are already reeling from the savage cuts announced in Budget 2011. The revelation that, in addition to the destructive plans announced in the so-called Recovery Programme, child benefit will be means tested, state pensions cut, the student grant scheme abolished, third level fees increased further, and additional cuts in unemployment payments will come as a deep shock to households across the Twenty-Six Counties that are already struggling.

“The IMF has blazed a trail of destruction across the globe; the odious measures it imposes simply increase levels of poverty and inequality.”

Leeson also slammed the undemocratic nature of the deal.

“It is increasingly clear that Dublin government policy is being dictated by faceless IMF bureaucrats in Washington and rubber-stamped by a lame duck administration in Leinster House,” he added.

“The people who are being sold into penury to save the banks have no absolutely no control over how this state is run.

“The sham debate about this criminal deal that took place in Leinster House made no mention of the fact that child benefit would be means tested or that the student grant scheme is to be abolished. Brian Lenihan made much of the fact that Budget 2011 did not cut the state pension rate, but he cynically neglected to mention the fact that pensioners will face those cuts by 2014. This state is now effectively an IMF dictatorship: a dictatorship that will drive hundreds of thousands of our people into poverty and misery.”

The IMF report also confirms there are 70,000 distressed mortgages and shamefully proposes that those unable to meet their repayments simply declare insolvency, surrender their homes and seek to access social housing [Page 20 IMF Country Report No. 10/366].

Leeson continued: “What planet are the IMF living on? There are already over 50,000 households on council waiting lists across the Twenty-Six County state. Where are all of these evicted families to be housed? The IMF is proposing mass evictions in Ireland so that German and British banks can recover the hundreds of billions they are owed. Poverty and homelessness is the price working people will pay in order to clear the gambling debts of the bankers.

“These latest revelations will add to the growing well of anger building against this government and its masters in the IMF. The IMF has effectively declared war on working class communities across the Twenty-Six Counties. The people of Ireland have a proud history of resisting foreign occupation and tyranny.

“The IMF must be driven out, the bondholders burned and the sovereignty of the people restored."

The 30ft anti-IMF banner erected by éirígí Tir Chonaill
in Crolly, Co.Donegal.

éirígí Tir Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig echoed Leeson's comments saying that working people should not be made to suffer in order to support the banks. "The shameful acts of those in Lenister House, allowing such brutal cuts to be made against the most vulnerable in our society and the ordinary working people who had nothing to do with the creation of this economic crisis, must be resisted" he said. "People must let their anger be heard in one loud clear voice that we will not pay for the mistakes of the bankers and their cohorts who have made the ordinary people suffer to keep their greedy capitalist system alive."

Protest at Sligo FF office Calls for Reversal of Savage Budget Cutbacks

19/12/2010

SWA protest outside Fianna Fáil office in Sligo

The Socialist Republican party éirígí have said that the savage cutbacks imposed on workers, social welfare recipients and on essential public services will result in a massive increase in poverty, illness and death, on a scale not seen before in this state.

Local activist Gerry Casey said that only through widespread street protests, strikes and mass civil obedience would these cutbacks be reversed and the IMF sent packing from our shores.

Mr Casey was speaking following a demonstration on Saturday (Dec 11) outside the office of Fianna Fáil TD Jimmy Devins in John Street Sligo.

The demonstration was organised by local campaign group Sligo Workers Alliance (SWA), a broad-based Left-Wing organisation formed earlier this year representing the interests of workers, the unemployed, pensioners and the Marginalised in society. The protest was called in response to the savage cutbacks imposed by the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Coalition, in collusion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the budget released earlier this month.

éirígí activist Gerry Casey at
the protest in Sligo

Speaking following the protest, Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey, who is also a member of the Sligo Workers Alliance, said: “The savage cutbacks imposed in this budget was a declaration of war on working class communities and the poorest and most vulnerable in society. As a result we will see a massive increase in poverty, illness and death, on a scale not seen before in this state.”

“This budget was about making workers and working class communities bail out the banks and to pay off the private gambling debts of bondholders, bankers and developers. None of the cuts were necessary or made economic sense but were instead focused on ensuring that the wealthy political and business elite maintained their lavish and extravagant lifestyles.”

Casey added: ”This budget made the rich richer and the poor poorer. No attempt was made to introduce a wealth tax on the 1% elite who control 34% of our wealth. No attempt was made to nationalise our natural resources which are worth a minimum of €400 billion euro making any excuse for cuts redundant.”

Casey concluded: “The protest in Sligo was the start of a campaign locally against these cuts. Only through widespread street protests, strikes and mass civil disobedience will these cutbacks be reversed and the IMF sent packing from our shores. Not only must we remove the current administration in Leinster House, more importantly we need to dismantle their capitalist system which is responsible for the increasing exploitation of workers, the ongoing drive to slash and privatise essential services and the neglect of the most vulnerable in society who need assistance and care."

Meanwhile the spokesperson for éirígí in Donegal, Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig, welcomed the news of the protest in Sligo and reiterated Mr Casey's comments saying that street protests were an important action for people to take to let their voices be heard.

Some of the protesters outside the Fianna Fáil
office in Gortahork

"I commend the people who took part in the protest in Sligo for making sure their voice of opposition, not only to this latest budget, but also to the capitalist system which has caused so much hardship for the ordinary people, was heard loud and clear" he said. "Those in Lenister House who have caused the economic mess we have now been left in would be happy if we just stayed at home and kept our mouths shut so they could continue with their savage attacks on the must vulnerable in society. But we will not stay at home and we will not be silenced."

Mr Mac Giolla Easbuig concluded "This protest in Sligo, just like the eirígí protest outside the Fianna Fáil office in Dungloe on December 7th, and the protest outside another Fianna Fáil office in Gortahork which éirígí Tir Chonaill supported, was held with the clear intention of letting the ordinary person voice their anger and opinion against a corrupt system which only has the interests of the wealthy at its heart. The people must continue to let themselves be heard and street protests, strikes and mass civil disobedience is a good way to do just that."

Wear a White Poppy

What follows is a letter written to the editor of the Donegal Democrat newspaper in November.

Letter to the Editor.

Wear a White Poppy

In Tuesday's the 9th of November’s Donegal Democrat, Paddy Harte was making his annual tribute to those who died in the First World War, I don't doubt he means well, but it is clearly time for a more balanced view.  What comes across from Paddy is a glorification of war, and of course he's going to deny it is, but I'm sorry that is how I see it.

           First let me deal with the way he deals with the history, he takes men who clearly fought for different ideas, and tries to put them all in the one camp, this is a disservice to all of them. May I deal with Tom Barry,  he points out that Tom Barry was in the British Army since 1913, this is so; it was form his experiences and treatment by the officer board of that army that Tom Barry became disillusioned, came back to Ireland and fought the British Army for the rest of his life.  In his autobiography he deals with his disillusionment, his youthfulness and the misguided politicians who sent them to war, that should be accepted by all, he knows that he was duped and gave himself no credits for being so.

           Then Paddy tries to unite two brothers in death William Kent and Eamon Kent, Eamon was executed by those wearing British Army uniforms, he signed a document that gave thanks to our gallant allies in Europe, the same people that his brother William was fighting against.  To put these two men together in this way is a disservice to the two of them.  William Kent was killed for the King a year after his brother was executed by the King's men.  Get off on stage Paddy and become real.

              Paddy goes to Flanders every year, did he ever lay a wreath to our gallant allies in Europe? No.  Did he ever lay a wreath to any of the 601 executed at dawn, especially the young Irishman executed for insubordination, one for not putting on his hat on.  If you were Irish you had a 25% more chance of being executed for insubordination, desertion, ect, than a man from England, Scotland or Wales.  Men from the two traditions were executed by a cruel officer class, for very little indeed.   Anyone who was executed, was put in an unmarked grave, and their families at home got no pensions, they where left destitute.  What does Paddy Harte have to say about that?

                  Paddy Harte said if Kevin Barry had been four years older he would have been in Khaki, how dare you Paddy Harte, he would have been in the 1916 rising.  This young man, a student Doctor, was captured as a prisoner of war, badly treated and then executed.  You cannot insult our glorious dead in this way, those who died in Flanders, could not lick his boots; that is no disrespected to those who died in Flanders, only to you Paddy Hart for the distortions.  It is time to put a bit of respect, decency, balance and truthfulness into the whole topic.  Those who went to Flanders were not answering Ireland's call; they were answering England's call and that of the King.  The poor lads were duped.

            Should we remember them, of course we should, but what should we not forget?  We must never forget the perpetrators of the war, the British, the German, the Russian monarchists and capitalists.  They sent a whole generation of European youth to their graves needlessly.  The Germans and the Russians have no monarchies now, good, but the British have, and still send young men to die in needless war.  Thankfully to the men and women of 1916 Ireland no longer has to do that.

                   The wearing of a white poppy would be fitting tribute to these people, the Red poppy is the poppy of the British Legion, and is to all British soldiers who died anywhere in the world, including Ireland. Should we honour the Black and Tans? No we should not, nor should we honour those who came after them, up to the present-day.

          Finally I would like to deal with another aspect of the war; it was not a war for the freedom of smile nations.  In 1915 Turkey, a peaceful, country was invaded, by two of the monarchists’ countries, Britain and Russia.  Thousands died in Gallipoli,those sent there included 1000 Dublin Fusiliers, of whom only 12 survived.  One of the survivors I knew and I worked with three of his sons, his name was John Whelan, he was a corporal and was credited with saving the other 11 lives, he was promoted on the battlefield to the rank of major, but when it came to him been demorped he was reduced to a sergeant, as he wasn't a commissioned officer in the first place.  This is the class nature of the British Army to this day.  They treat all working people shamefully.

                                                                     

Bill O’Brien,

Malinmore,

Glencolumbkille.

Republican History: The 1918 General Strike

12/12/2010

With calls for a general strike and civil disobedience gaining ground in the face of the economic crisis, we look at an example in Irish history when the tactic of the general strike was successfully employed by the Irish working class.

During World War One, the British imperialist war effort came under severe pressure from a German offensive on the Western Front in the spring of 1918.

Following a number of setbacks, the British government began to look around for a new wave of cannon fodder to be sent to the front. Accordingly, their gaze soon turned on Ireland.

Viewing the Irish working class as little more than a munition of war at its disposal, the British establishment decided to force conscription on Ireland. On April 16, 1918, the Military Service Bill, which introduced conscription to the British army in Ireland was voted through the British parliament at Westminster. In an effort to avoid a backlash in Ireland, the British linked this bill to an Irish Home Rule Bill.

Conscription outraged public opinion in Ireland. The bill was opposed by nationalists, republicans, socialists and the catholic clergy.

On April 18, a conference was held in the Mansion House, Dublin, hosted by Lawrence O'Neill, then mayor of the capital. At the conference, the Irish Anti-Conscription Committee was formed.

This committee would organise resistance to conscription on a national scale. Representatives from all shades of nationalist opinion, including organised labour, the Irish Parliamentary Party, the All for Ireland League and Sinn Féin were involved.

The committee soon launched an anti-conscription pledge, which read: “Denying the right of the British government to enforce compulsory service in this country, we pledge ourselves solemnly to one another to resist conscription by the most effective means at our disposal.”

With the backing of the catholic clergy, subscriptions to the pledge were taken at the church door in every parish on Sunday, April 21.

The organised labour movement soon became the leading light in the campaign. In a show of working class strength not seen since the 1913 Lockout, a general strike was called in opposition to any attempt to introduce conscription to Ireland.

At a special conference in late April, the Irish Trade Unions Congress called a one-day general strike for the 23rd of the month. Work ground to a halt in railways, docks, factories, mills, theatres, cinemas, trams, the public service, shipyards, newspapers, shops, and munitions factories. Workers withdrew their labour throughout the country and industry was brought to a halt.

In his book Forgotten Revolution: The Limerick Soviet 1919, Liam Cahill noted that the strike was “complete and entire, an unprecedented event outside the continental countries”.

Commenting in Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution, the historian C Desmond Greaves said that “the British Government had succeeded in uniting against it an array of forces not seen since the days of the United Irishmen”.

For the duration of the general strike, the country came to a standstill. The working class succeeded in showing who could really hold power in Ireland if there was unity and determination in action.

The Irish working class put it up to the might of British imperialism and the Empire subsequently backed down. The fierce opposition shown, the success of the general strike and the USA’s entry into the imperialist war meant conscription was never introduced to Ireland.

The conscription crisis helped to radicalise the Irish working class, who, less than a year later through the Irish Republican Army, would take the war to the British establishment in Ireland.

The following opinion piece, written by Tommy McKearney, deals with the causes of todays current calamity in the Twenty-Six Counties. Tommy McKearney is a former member of the IRA who now works as an organiser with the Independent Workers Union and as a freelance journalist.

It is the System That's Wrong

(English version follows)

Ciorraithe ar leasa shóisialta, an íosphá íslithe, cúram sláinte laghdaithe agus cánacha cruálacha brúite ar an té is boichte san sochaí, chomh maith le h-ualach pionóis eile curtha ar shaoránaithe mhí-ámharacha na tíre míchothroime seo. Agus an scrios seo go léir déanta ag rialtas éillitheach le híoc ar son rabairneacht agus fiacha cearrbhachais lucht rachmais na tíre. Tháinig siad le chéile: baincéirí atá neamhfhreagrach go coiriúil, amhantraithe cama tithíochta agus aicme rialaithe míchóir, le hÉirinn a laghdú go staid spleáchais eacnamaíochta chomh domhain agus nach bhfacas a leithéid ó d’fhág na Dúchrónaigh.

Tá cathú mór ann an méar a shíniú i dtreo daoine aonaracha agus aird a tharraingt ar liosta éagóraithe atá cionntach as an t-uafas seo a tharraingt anuas ar na daoine. D’fhéadfaidh cás a dhéanamh ar son foirm éigin aisíocaíochta a éileamh ó na caimiléirí agus na bithiúnaigh a ghoid an chéad bhlas ariamh, leis na céadta bliain, a fuair muintir na hÉireann don rathúnas.

Cé gurbh fhurast tuigbhéal go nglacfaidh dearcadh mar sin, bheadh sé mícheart díriú isteach ar na daoine a rinne oiread de dhroch dhamáiste dúinn. Tá an eagla ann, má dhearcann muid ar an fhadhb seo mar fhadhb a rinne daoine aonaracha, in áit dearcadh air mar thoradh dosheachanta an chórais eacnamaíochta Nua-Liobrálach, saormhargaidh, atá fabhtach go domhain, go creidfí gur féidir réiteach a fháil air tré na bithiúnaigh sin a mhalartú leis na ‘daoine cearta’.

Cheana féin tá roinnt daoine ag trácht ar Mhícheál Ó Laoire a chur i gcumhacht, leis an dóchas go bhféadfadh sé ‘tarrtháil a thabhairt ar an gheilleagar’. Tá siad tógtha leis an smaoineadh den Taoiseach Ó Laoire, tá siad den bharúil go mbeadh sé i ann an tír iomlán a iompú thart agus a dhéanamh tairbhiúil dá bharr go bhfuil sé ina bhainisteoir ar aerlíne thairbhiúil. Don am i láthair, níl in seo ach dearcadh an mhionlaigh. Mar sin féin, mar gheall ar an fháilte a chur earnáil gnó na hÉireann roimh an ionsaí a rinneadh ar oibrithe, mar a fógraíodh sa phlean ceithre-bliana, cá bhfios cad a dtabharfaidh siad tacaíocht do má theipeann (agus is cinnte go dteipfidh) ar an chéad rialtas eile na laetha órga nó an Tíogar Cheilteach a thabhairt ar ais?

Is iad na gadaithe sanntacha a thug muintir na hÉireann go dtín géarchéim anróiteach seo bunrúta na faidhbe. Ach, is é an chóras eacnamaíocht, a raibh siad féin i gceannas air, a cheadaigh dóibh na coireanna sin a dhéanamh. Tá sé tábhachtach go leanann muid ag cuir béime go bhfuil freagair ár ndeacrachtaí le fáil in athrú bhunúsach a dhéanamh ar an chóras eacnamaíocht atá againn faoi láthair. An cineál córas eacnamaíochta atá de dhith ar Éirinn nó córas a dhéanann freastail ar riachtanais gach duine sa tír agus ní amháin ar shainnt roinnt bheag daoine pribhléideacha.

Thar gach eile ní, séard atá uainn nó Poblacht Dhaonlathach Shóisialach.

It is the System That's Wrong

Social welfare cuts, the minimum wage reduced, health care diminished and cruel taxes levied upon the poorest in society and a host of other penalties imposed on the unfortunate citizens of this most distressful country. And all of this wrecking done by a degenerate government in order to pay for the extravagances and gambling debts of the country’s elite. Criminally irresponsible bankers, crooked property speculators and a corrupt governing class have combined to reduce Ireland to a state of dependency that we haven’t known since the Black and Tans departed.

It would be very tempting to individualise the problem and point to a list of miscreants who have perpetrated this outrage on the people. A case could certainly be made for demanding some form of retribution from the swindlers and charlatans who have robbed us of the first sight of prosperity the Irish have seen in centuries.

However understandable it might be to adopt this view, it would be wrong to concentrate on the personalities who have damaged us so severely. There is a risk that if we view this problem as the making of individuals as distinct from the inevitable outcome of a deeply flawed, free market, neo-liberal economic system, some may come to believe that a solution lies in replacing the reprobates with the ‘right individual’.

Already some are mooting the idea of electing Michael O’Leary to a position of power in the hope that he could ‘rescue the economy’. They are attracted by the thought of a Taoiseach O’Leary, arguing that since he is managing a profitable airline that he would be able to return the entire country to profitability. For the time being this is very much a minority view. Yet in light of the Irish business sector’s welcome for the assault on workers announced in the four-year economic plan, who knows what they might support if the next government fails (as it most surely will) to restore the glory days of the Celtic Tiger?

The greedy crooks who brought the people of Ireland to the distressful situation they currently find themselves in are the immediate cause of the calamity. It is the economic system over which they presided, though, that allowed them to perpetrate their crimes. It is important that we continue to emphasise that the answer to our difficulties lies in a fundamental change to the present economic system. Ireland’s people require an economy that serves the needs of all and not the greed of a privileged few.


Above all, we need a democratic socialist republic.

Cuid mhór i láthair ag agóid fhrith-bhuiséad an Chlocháin Liath

08/12/2010

(English version follows)

D'ainneoin na drochaimsire fabhtaí oíche Mháirt, tháinig slua de níos mó ná 120 duine amach ar phríomhshráid an Chlocháin Liath i gCo. Dhún na nGall chun freastal ar agóid eagraithe ag an pháirtí sóisialach poblachtánach éirígí in aghaidh buiséid 2011.

Ag a sé a chlog oíche Mháirt chruinnigh daoine ag oifigí Fhianna Fáil ar an Chlochán Liath. Chonaic an cruinniú daoine ó gach aoisghrúpa, idir pháistí óga agus déagóirí go dtí seanóirí ag tabhairt aghaidh ar theochtaí an-fhuara agus ar dhálaí oighreata chun a bhfearg agus a gcur in éadan in aghaidh an bhuiséid a chur in iúl ina raibh ciorruithe ar leas sóisialach agus sochar linbh, ciorruithe ar phá oibrithe chomh maith le laghdú ar an íosphá agus ciorruithe ollmhóra do na ceantair Ghaeltachta.

I rith na hagóide, thug urlabhraí éirígí i nDún na nGall, Mícheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig aitheasc don slua ag rá "Caithfidh daoine cuimhniú go bhfuil gach uile TD, FPE, Seanadóir agus Comhairleoir atá tofa, cé acu anseo i nDún na nGall nó go náisiúnta, go léir ciontach go cothrom as staid na tíre seo inniu toisc gur thacaigh siad leis na polasaithe a thóg chuig an ghéarchéim seo muid. Ní féidir linn muinín a bheith againn as na polaiteoirí seo agus an t-aon bhealach chun tosaigh ná feachtas marthanach d'agóideanna sráide, easumhlaíocht sibhialta agus stailceanna ginearálta eagraithe ag na gnáthdhaoine."

I ndiaidh an imeachta mhol An tUasal Mac Giolla Easbuig na daoine a d'fhreastal ar an agóid. "Ba fhear áitiúil é Peadar O'Donnell as an bhaile seo agus bheadh sé bródúil as an slua mór daoine a tháinig amach anseo anocht. Tá a spiorad diongbháilteacht agus a throid ar son ceartais shóisialta beo go maith iontu" a dúirt sé. "Caithfear na hiarrachtaí a rinne siad chun a bheith anseo anocht a mholadh, go háirithe leis an drochaimsir ghuaiseach a d'fhulaing siad. Ba iontach an rud é mná agus fir ó gach aoisghrúpa a fheiceáil anseo agus bhí sé ar fheabhas déagóirí agus páistí chomh óg le seacht mbliana d'aois a fheiceáil ag déanamh iarracht páirt a ghlacadh" lean urlabhraí éirígí.

Chríochnaigh Mac Giolla Easbuig: "Ní thabharfaidh daoine faoi deara cé chomh géar is atá na ciorruithe seo ach sna míonna amach romhainn mar sin tá sé riachtanach go bhfanann siad ar na sráideanna ionas go n-éisteofar leo agus go spreagann siad daoine eile chun an rud céanna a dhéanamh. Caithfidh gach duine na ciorruithe seo a fhriotú, ar na sráideanna cosúil leis an oíche anocht chomh maith le sa láthair oibre. Ní féidir le ach na daoine féin dul i bhfeidhm ar athrú agus ba chóir go mbeidh an oíche anocht an chéad léirsiú as an chuid mhór atá le teacht ionas go bhfaigheann na gnáthdhaoine an cháilíocht beatha chothrom, chóir agus ghnaíúil atá tuillte acu. I ndiaidh an sluaite a tháinig amach anocht a fheiceáil creidim gur féidir leis na daoine é seo a bhaint amach."

Large Turnout At Dungloe Anti-Budget Protest

Some of the crowd at the Budget 2011 protest in Dungloe

Despite treacherous weather conditions on Tuesday night, a crowd of over 120 people took to Dungloe Main Street in County Donegal to attend a protest organised by the socialist republican party éirígí against the 2011 Budget.

At six o'clock on Tuesday evening people gathered at the Fianna Fáil offices in Dungloe. The gathering seen people of all ages from young children and teenagers through to senior citizens brave freezing cold temperatures and icy conditions to vent their anger and opposition to the budget which seen cuts in social welfare and child benefits, cuts in workers pay including a reduction in the minimum wage and huge cuts to the Gaeltacht regions. 

éirígí Tir Chonaill sokesperson
Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig
addressing the crowd

During the protest, éirígí spokesperson in Donegal Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig addressed the crowd saying “People must remember that every one of the elected TDs, MEPs, Senators and Councillors whether here in Donegal or nationally, are all equally guilty for the state this country is in today due to the fact they backed the policies which led to this crisis. We cannot trust these politicians and a sustained campaign of street protest, civil disobedience and general strikes organised by ordinary people is the only way forward.”

Following the event Mr Mac Giolla Easbuig commended the people who attended the protest. “Peadar O'Donnell was a local man from this town and he would be proud of the large numbers of people who turned out here tonight.  His spirit of determination and fight for social justice is alive and well in them”  he said. “The efforts they made to be here must be commended, especially given the hazardous weather conditions they endured. It was great to see so many women and men of all ages here and seeing teenagers and children as young as seven making the effort to join in was fantastic” continued the éirígí spokesperson.

MacGiolla Easbuig concluded:  "People will only start to realise how harsh these cuts are in the coming months so it is imperative that they stay on the streets to let their voices be heard and that they encourage others to do the same.  These cuts must be resisted by everyone, both on the streets like tonight and in the workplace. Only the people themselves can truly affect change and tonight should be the first of many demonstrations to come so the ordinary people get the fair, just and decent quality of life they deserve. Seeing tonight's turnout makes me believe the people can achieve this.”

the éirígí Budget 2011 protest in Dungloe