 17 April 2003 |
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 Iraq's
New Dictatorship - It's Occupation Not Liberation |
THOUSANDS
OF Iraqis are dead, their country has been devastated by cruise missiles,
MOAB and cluster bombs. Journalists recount horrific stories of seeing
decapitated and brutally maimed children in what could only be described
as war crimes.
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| North:
Fund Services, Not War |
WHEN
IT comes to waging war, Tony Blair has money to burn. The initial British
contribution to the war against Iraq of £3 billion is likely to
be only a first installment, given the likelihood of a long occupation.
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| Special
Feature: Iraq - Occupation, the Reality of 'Liberation' |
CONTEMPORARY
HISTORIAN of ancient Rome, Tacitus, thus famously described the results
of Roman military conquest: “they make a desert and call it peace”.
Bush, Blair, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz have gone one better; their term
for the wasteland they have created in Iraq is “liberation”.
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| North:
Peace Process - Another Sectarian Headcount? |
ATTEMPTS
TO re-establish the Executive are continuing, but not for the first
time. Again and again the same problems surface, the same stumbling
blocks emerge. The Executive has been suspended on three separate occasions
and has stumbled from crisis to crisis. If a new deal is reached, it
will only deliver a temporary stalemate, not a long term solution.
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| North:
Water Charges - Can't Pay, Won't Pay |
UNDER
A new £3 billion investment plan, the water service in Northern
Ireland is due for much needed “modernisation”.
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| North:
Union Calls Police to Evict Airport Workers |
AN
OCCUPATION by sacked airport workers of the T&GWU offices in Belfast
was ended when union officials called the police to have them evicted.
The workers left the building and continued their protest outside when
they were informed that the riot police would be called to physically
remove them.
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| Anti-War
Movement: The Struggle Continues |
"THE
US may have been strengthened in the short term by its facile success
in Baghdad, but paradoxically, it has also given the peace movement
a fillip by allowing the truth of its arguments to survive the conflict.
Get out your walking boots, in other words. There’s plenty more
walking to be done.” So said Diarmuid Doyle in the Sunday
Tribune (13 April 03).
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| CABT:
How We Can Stop Non-Collections |
THE
CAMPAIGN against the bin tax is reaching a crucial stage. The local
authorities in Dublin are now preparing to go on the offensive, with
the government pushing and backing them to the hilt .
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| North:
Social Workers' Strike - Angry and Determined to Win |
SOCIAL
WORKERS in Northern Ireland were given no choice but to take strike
action. Despite the fact that our pay has for years been falling behind
that of similar professions, the employers have refused to meet our
claim for a significant regrading. |
| North:
Firefighters Reject "Latest Final Offer" |
DELEGATES
TO the recalled Fire Brigades Union conference have voted overwhelmingly
to reject the offer made to them on 18 March by the Fire Service National
Employers. |
| Dept
of Agriculture - Lock-Out Sparks Strike |
MANAGEMENT
IN the Department of Agriculture in the South during the foot and mouth
crisis promised an improvement to the promotional/grading structures
in Agriculture local offices (currently clerical officers in Agriculture
local offices have a less than one in twelve chance of getting promoted
to Staff Officer, the next promotional rung).
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| Joe
Higgins Column: You Have a Part to Play in the Struggle Against Poverty
and War |
THE
SOCIALIST Party has thrown its energy into the campaign against this
war. We recognise that war is a result of the ceaseless and untamable
lust for profit which is at the heart of the capitalist system. When
we say that this is was a war for oil that means that this is a war
for the profits and power which control of Iraq’s oil can bring.
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| North:
Youth Against the War |
ON
7 and 8 April, Socialist Youth and Youth Against the War members from
across the North mobilised hundreds of young people against Bush’s
visit to Northern Ireland. On 7 April, Socialist Youth member Daniel
Waldron spoke on the Stop the War Coalition platform representing Youth
Against the War at Hillsborough. Daniel lashed out at Bush’s visit.
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| CABT:
Build For Battle Against Non-Collection |
FIANNA
FAIL Councillor Mary Mooney threatened to sue the Liberties anti-bin
tax campaign for deformation of character. She
claimed that she was unfairly castigated for not attending a public
meeting of the campaign to answer questions from the local community
on the hated bin charges. So the campaign organised a second meeting
which she attended, and the 100 local people who turned up let Mary
Mooney know in no uncertain terms that they were opposed to Fianna
Fail’s bin tax.
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| North:
School Students Victimised - Lift the Suspensions |
IN
AN unprecedented case, one school student who was suspended for taking
part in the Youth Against the War walk-outs on 5 March is taking the
school to court. |
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