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(03/05/08) North: The Good Friday Agreement - Ten years on The tenth anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement was marked by a series of high profile events and much mutual back-slapping. The politicians who negotiated the Agreement were lauded by the media and once again the “solution” to Northern Ireland’s problems was touted as a blueprint for similar intractable problems around the world. |
(01/05/08) May Day Statement: A socialist alternative to capitalist crisis The Socialist Party and the CWI send warm socialist greetings to workers and youth across the world on May Day, International Workers’ Day, 2008. Socialists, trade unionists, anti-war campaigners and many others celebrate May Day 2008 against the background of deepening economic crisis. Belatedly many pro-capitalist economists and commentators have confirmed what the CWI has been arguing, namely that today the profit system potentially faces its worst situation since the 1930s Depression. |
(14/03/08) Belfast: Airport workers suspend hunger strike after Union gives guarantees workers' demands will be met The five day hunger strike by three sacked airport shop stewards, Gordon McNeill, Madan Gupta and Chris Bowyer was suspended at 5.30 on the afternoon of Friday 11 April 2008, after the workers received a letter from the union solicitors guaranteeing that their demands would be met. |
(04/03/08) Ahern Finally Resigns: "The most cunning and devious of them all" After 11 years as Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern announced his resignation, to take effect on May 6 2008. Even in resignation, Ahern lived up to the description given to him by his mentor, the disgraced ex-Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, as, "The most cunning and devious of them all". Ahern had barely announced his resignation before the Fianna Fail machine was spinning furiously. Wave after wave of ministers and TDs were trotted out to declare Ahern was a "man of the people" hounded out of office by a malicious media! See Also: Ahern's real legacy by Joe Higgins. |
(03/03/08) Israel: Land Day demonstration On 30 March Palestianians commemorate Land Day by holding protest rallies and demonstrations all over the world. The demonstrations commemorate the events of 30 March 1976, when six Israeli-Arab citizens were killed by live police bullets fired into a demonstration. As a response to this crackdown of the Israeli army, a general strike and riots of Israeli-Palestinians started, with solidarity actions in the West Bank, against yet another government plan to confiscate Palestinian lands. |
(02/03/08) Twenty Years On: Death on the rock of Gibraltar The slaughter of cancer services in local hospitals around the country has begun! Professor Tom Keane, the interim director of the state’s new national cancer programme, has said that cancer services will be removed from Tralee, Sligo, Castlebar, Wexford, Kilkenny and Drogheda by the end of the year. In the case of Drogheda, the announcement to close the Dochas centre has already been announced. |
(25/03/08) End the Crisis: Decent public health service now! The slaughter of cancer services in local hospitals around the country has begun! Professor Tom Keane, the interim director of the state’s new national cancer programme, has said that cancer services will be removed from Tralee, Sligo, Castlebar, Wexford, Kilkenny and Drogheda by the end of the year. In the case of Drogheda, the announcement to close the Dochas centre has already been announced. |
(25/03/08) No to the Lisbon Treaty: Lisbon = A Privatised Europe If the Lisbon Treaty is passed, it will give a further impetus to the right wing, neo liberal agenda which the European Union has been driving hard through its structures. The EU Commission likes to give the impression that it is a neutral body which approaches economic policy in an impartial way. It is anything but. The Commission has vigorously pushed measures to secure the privatisation of public enterprises and services which is grist to the profits of big private corporations. |
(25/03/08) Palestine: End the bloodshed in Gaza Conditions for the Palestinians in both parts of the occupied territories are now the worst in the entire 40 year occupation. In the “open air prison” of the Gaza strip, they are catastrophic, with a majority of people unemployed and suffering from malnutrition and a shortage of necessities. The Israeli government has restricted the power supply to the strip, causing power cuts for up to 12 hours a day, including to hospitals. |
(25/03/08) Paisley Removed: What next for Northern Ireland? The slaughter of cancer services in local hospitals around the country has begun! Professor Tom Keane, the interim director of the state’s new national cancer programme, has said that cancer services will be removed from Tralee, Sligo, Castlebar, Wexford, Kilkenny and Drogheda by the end of the year. In the case of Drogheda, the announcement to close the Dochas centre has already been announced. |
(25/03/08) Drimnagh Murders: Revulsion at killings The killing of Pawel Kalite and Marius Szwajkos, unprovoked and vicious - stabbings directly to the head and neck - sent shivers of foreboding through ordinary people. Exactly one week later, the working class community in Drimnagh came out to show its revulsion. The significance of the vigil has been understated by the media. Between three to four thousand people turned out on a particularly wet and windy night. |
(24/03/08) Iraq Five Years On: An unmitigated disaster As the fifth anniversary of the fateful decision to launch the invasion of Iraq passes, the claims by the US administration that the 2007 troop surge has succeeded in quelling the insurgency and checking the slide to sectarian break up - claims that were being made loudly at the start of this year - are becoming fainter by the day. More recent events have given pro-surge enthusiasts a cold shower, confirming that violence and instability remain the order of the day despite the extra 30,000 US troops. |
(15/02/08) Iraq Five Years On: End the Occupation - Fight for a socialist solution Bush’s intention is to dump the mess of Iraq onto his successor. It is estimated that the war and occupation of Iraq has claimed the lives of over one million Iraqis and 4,000 US troops. No US presidential candidate has committed themselves to a complete withdrawal from Iraq. Protests in Dublin and Belfast on March 15. |
(15/02/08) Audio/Video Podcast: 200 people attend Dublin health crisis meeting Approximately 200 people packed into Wynns Hotel, Dublin, on 29 January, to attend a meeting hosted by the Socialist Party on the issue of the health crisis in Ireland. The meeting was organised to discuss the health crisis and to raise the demand for “a public health service for all”. Includes full audio and video from the meeting. |
(15/02/08) World Economy: Global capitalism facing its worst crisis since 1945 Global capitalism faces its worse crisis since the end of the second world war. The world economy faces a combination of financial crisis and economic slowdown, both originating in the heartland of US capitalism, with the two trends reinforcing each other. The fantasy of ‘decoupling’, according to which Europe, Asia and other economies could grow independently of the US, has already been dispelled by the beginnings of a slowdown in Europe and Asia. |
(15/02/08) Lisbon Treaty: Vote No to EU militarisation In the Lisbon Treaty, the provisions relating to the foreign policy of the European Union and the proposed military strategy have very serious and far reaching implications. If Lisbon is ratified, no Member State could have an independent foreign policy that was in conflict with the EU majority. |
(15/02/08) NI Executive: Policies mean low pay and poverty A shocking 100,000 children live below the poverty line. 44,000 children are officially living in severe poverty. In contrast, the rich have accumulated huge fortunes. Since 2004, the top ten richest individuals in the North have seen their combined wealth increase by more than 300% to over £6billion. While the rich have gotten richer, the poor have become poorer. |
(15/02/08) South: Draconian Immigration Bill attacks civil liberties Any illusion that Brian Lenihan would be more humanitarian than Michael McDowell in the position of Minister for Justice has been blown out of the water. His department has produced the most extreme and draconian Immigration Bill yet. What the Bill proposes is a dramatic strengthening of the power of the state, in particular the Garda National Immigration Bureau, to implement its anti-immigrant policies. It amounts to a serious attack on the civil liberties of all. |
(15/02/08) Palestine: 750,000 Palestinians break out of Gazan prison On the morning of the 22 January thousands of Palestinians in Gaza assembled at the border with Egypt. They demanded to be let through in an attempt to bring relief to the imprisoned population. Since Hamas won the elections in 2006, the Israeli state backed by the Bush regime have imposed a blockade on the people of Gaza – to inflict a collective punishment on the Palestinians who "dared" vote for Islamic fundamentalists. |
(22/01/08) Warning!: More health cuts in 2008 According to the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO), there were 365 patients on trolleys on 8 January. Mary Harney claimed she would solve the crisis in the country’s A&E departments, but as this figure shows the crisis has worsened. It has gotten worse because the government has done nothing to deal with the core problems. They have done nothing to provide the thousands of acute beds that are needed. |
(22/01/08) Mahon Tribunal: Fianna Fail attempt to discredit tribunal As the evidence from the Mahon Tribunal mounts against Bertie Ahern, he and other leading government ministers have attacked the Tribunal. One after another, cabinet ministers including Dermot Ahern, Micheal Martin, Willie O’Dea and Seamus Brennan have all criticised the tribunal’s treatment of the Taoiseach. |
(22/01/08) European Union: Opposing the Lisbon Treaty Over the next months as the campaign for the referendum develops, we will explain in much greater detail why the Socialist Party will be strongly opposing the Lisbon treaty. In summary it is because the Treaty consolidates the drive toward rightwing, neo-liberal policies, especially the privatisation of public services. It also consolidates the move toward an EU army and armaments industry for the purpose of giving the EU greater weight in the international arena. |
(22/01/08) North: Reid Transport workers' action wins victory Workers at the Cloughmills-based road haulage firm Reid Transport near Ballymena, were forced into a virtual occupation of the company premises in order to ensure payment of wages and holiday pay and entitlement to redundancy, after being informed that the firm had been taken into administration with the loss of 200 jobs. |
(13/12/07) North: New Socialist Party site launched - click here to view We are pleased to announce the launch of our new look site for the Socilaist Party in Northern Ireland. Click here to go there. |
(12/12/07) Solidarity Appeal: US anti-war student suspended in attack on activism Last Friday, December 7th one of the students at Foster High School in Tukwila, WA involved in Foster Student Action was given a 9 DAY suspension supposedly for "having an Ipod out in class." However, the real reason she was suspended was because she and other Foster Student Action activists dared to collect petition signatures at lunch period the day before requesting that teachers who allowed the November 16th antiwar student walkout to happen get to keep their jobs. Emails of protest and solidarity are needed. |