Click Here for the rest of this issue
Socialist Party Home
Socialist Youth News - North
 Come to the Socilaist Youth 2006 Summer Festival
The Socialist

This year’s Socialist Youth Summer Festival in Rathdrum, County Wicklow is set to be the biggest and best so far!

The event has become an important part of Socialist Youth’s calendar. The festival gives young people who oppose the corruption and destruction of capitalism the chance to discuss socialist ideas and how to fight back against this system.

This year’s summer festival takes place at a time when all across the world young people’s and workers’ rights and living standards are under attack. Our young workers’ rights campaigns, North and South, have highlighted many cases of young people being faced with brutal exploitation. Internationally, Bush and Blair’s occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq for oil, prestige and profit continue at the expense of now over 150,000 lives in Iraq. Our environment is increasingly threatened with catastrophe as the insatiable greed for profit of big business has no concern for the future of our planet.

All of these crucial issues for young people will be discussed at our festival. On Saturday morning, we will discuss whether nuclear power is a solution to the energy crisis as Tony Blair is now trumpeting. One of Monday morning’s meetings will discuss how imperialism can be defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan. The issue of young workers’ rights will be a theme running through the whole event, from the young workers’ rally on Friday night to the workshop on Saturday afternoon about how young and migrant workers can fight exploitation at work.

The other feature of the world situation and our youth festival, is the fightback being waged by young people and workers internationally. Millions of young people have taken to the streets in France, Chile and Greece, which will be discussed at our opening rally with international speakers on "The International Youth revolt". The continent-wide revolt in Latin America against the policies of neo-liberalism will be discussed on Sunday morning. The inspiring struggle of the Turkish GAMA workers will also feature with a presentation of the documentary DVD, "The GAMA Strike – a victory for all workers", introduced by Joe Higgins TD.

Other key issues that affect young people on a day to day basis will also be discussed, from "The case for a school students’ union", to "Young people and sexual attitudes in the 21st century" and "Young people and police harassment – whose interests do the police serve?"

This is a brilliant opportunity to get to know like-minded people from all over Ireland, North and South. On the opening night, there will be a barbecue and live music after the rally. Saturday and Sunday evenings will feature a variety of bands and DJs. There will also be space during the day for a rematch of last year’s hard-fought football match, a trip to the beach and watching DVDs like "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".

If you’re opposed to what’s happening in Ireland and around the world, and are interested in finding out how to fight back as well as meeting people like you, this is an event you truly cannot afford to miss.

Why I’m Going

"I will be going to the Socialist Youth Summer Festival as it gives me the opportunity to discuss and debate my views and opinions on a diverse range of issues such as international protest movements, attacks on young workers’ rights and the ideas of socialism with other young people. This is why I would encourage as many young people as possible to join me at this event." - James Gunn, Belfast Socialist Youth

"I’m really looking forward to the debate with Ogra Shinn Fein and Labour Youth about socialism because I’m really interested in what they would say and because it’s an extremely important issue as to how socialism can be achieved – hopefully it’ll be a really good debate." - Conor Payne, Dublin Socialist Youth

"Socialist Youth means a lot to me. I find so many of the campaigns so interesting because they’re more relevant to people’s everyday lives than most of us realise. This is why I intend to go to the SY summer festival in August! It’ll be great to have a chance to meet other people who feel the way I do about things, and just to be able to have a good time while learning more about some of the most pressing and important issues facing young people today." - Ashleigh Brennan, Dundalk Socialist Youth
Socialist Youth News- North
 Exploitation & Low Pay at KFC
Interview by Paddy Meehan

Socialist Youth has met a lot of young workers through our Fight Back! Campaign who work in fast food restaurants and are angry at the terrible conditions in which they work.

KFC is a company which regularly gets reported to our campaign. KFC is owned by Yum Brands, a company that owns both Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in the US. Across the world, they have over 34,000 restaurants. Paddy Meehan spoke to a young worker in KFC about their own experience and how young workers can fight for their rights.

What are the conditions like in your workplace?

We work in a small KFC restaurant outside of Belfast. I have found the job quite boring but sometimes very, very demanding. I do all sorts of different things from taking customers’ orders, preparing the chicken, to cleaning. As we are quite small, we only have a few people working here, nearly all part-time. There are a number of other young people and a few migrant workers. However we are all treated the same by our overall manager who is very dismissive of all of us.

Would you recommend a job in KFC to anyone else?

I have only been working here a couple of months but already I can tell you that this is a dead-end job. I get paid £5.15 per hour which is still nowhere near enough to live on and we have not received an increase in pay in all the time I have been here. I know of an example where a workmate has been waiting on the Head Office to send a form out for him. He is having wages he needs being taken off him by the Tax Office, just because they couldn’t be bothered to send off his form.

We find even at a local level they try to cheat us out of wages. After midnight we do not get paid, despite the fact that the cleaning goes on long after midnight. If we refuse to do this, the manager gives us a lecture and threatens to sack us.

Do you see any way of organising to improve your rights and conditions?

I have spoken to all my workmates and we know we need to get organised. We would like to join a union to help us fight for better conditions. The Fight Back! Campaign can help us in this but also in actually fighting the management for better pay and some dignity in the workplace.
Socialist Youth News - North
 Protesting against CIA torture flights
Kevin Perry, Belfast Socialist Youth

On 17 June, Socialist Youth held a protest outside Aldergrove International Airport. The aim of the protest was to bring attention to the fact that the CIA has been using Belfast and Derry as stop-off points for its torture flights.

These flights allow for prisoners to be transported by the US government to detention camps spread across the globe, where they are often tortured. The British government’s support for these flights should come as no surprise, as it was the US's main ally in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The protest itself was a great success. As Socialist Youth members held placards and banners aloft, many motorists on their way to and from the airport sounded their horns in support showing the general opposition that exists to torture flights and the war in Iraq.

More protests like these are needed. Only through mass, united action can we put a stop to these flights in Ireland, Britain and the world as a whole.