 February 2003 |
|
 Special
Feature: No Blood For Oil! |
"OPERATION
SHOCK and Awe", the US military campaign against Iraq, is expected
to begin with an aerial assault on Baghdad. Some 300-400 Cruise missiles
would target Baghdad daily for at least a week. This is an
average of one missile attack every five minutes. In the first 48 hours
of war the US plans to blitz Iraq with firepower equivalent to that used
in 40 days of the 1991 Gulf War. The Gulf War was fought mainly in the
desert. This blitz will include Baghdad, a city of 4 million people.
|
| Build
a Mass Democratic Anti-War Movement |
THE
15 February demonstration in Dublin is a clear indication that the movement
against war in Ireland has now reached mass proportions. It is now time
to seriously build a mass opposition to this war.
|
| Youth
Against War - Organise For Action |
YOUTH
AGAINST War has continued to grow in Ireland. It has established itself
as a real campaigning force for young people opposed to this war for oil
and profits. Here is a round-up of activities that have taken place and
those to come. |
| North:
Money for Services, Not War |
GORDON
BROWN tells us we have to be prudent. We can only afford to spend money
on essential things. What he means is that we cannot pay for schools,
we cannot pay for hospitals, we cannot pay for roads, we cannot pay
for the firefighters, we cannot pay for water services, but...
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| The
Korean Crisis |
US
IMPERIALISM'S own estimates state that a war against North Korea which
involved the use of nuclear weapons would result in one million dead including
up to 100,000 Americans, at an immediate cost to the US of $100 billion,
while the cost of destruction and economic dislocation would be over $1
trillion.
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| Joe
Higgins Column: A Government of Cynicism |
RECENTLY,
DURING the Order of Business in the Dáil, I asked Taoiseach Bertie
Ahern, "Could you tell us when the Bill which proposes to give the
Managers of local authorities power to set up incinerators anywhere they
will, charge any amount they want in bin taxes to householders and which
provides for the bullying of householders who boycott this tax come before
this Dail for debate?" |
| Fingal
Council Rent Rip-Off |
IMAGINE
RECEIVING a letter at Christmas informing you that your rent was to increase
by 100 to 400%. That was the experience of hundreds of tenants of Fingal
County Council, Dublin. The County Manager - without any reference to
the elected councilors - lifted the traditional ceiling on the maximum
rent, which had never been more than €50 per week, demanding new
rents of anything up to €230 per week. |
| CABT:
Mass Non-Payment can Defy Cullen's Attack |
FORTHCOMING
PROPOSALS for dramatic changes to the Waste Management Act by environment
minister Martin Cullen are an attack on local democracy. These changes
give dictatorial powers to unelected city and county managers who are
only accountable to a government minister. |
| North:
Assembly Elections - Time For a Working Class Voice |
IT
IS now probable that there will be an election for the Northern Ireland
Assembly in May, though it may yet be postponed by a government fearful
of its outcome. This election will be a sectarian head count. The Agreement
has copper fastened sectarian division and acts to strengthen the more
stridently sectarian parties. |
| North:
Living in Different Worlds |
SPARE
A thought for the Lord Chancellor, Derry Irvine. He has had to postpone
his full pay rise of 12.6% or £22,000. The
timing of the announcement that his salary would go from £180,736
to £202,736, coinciding with the government's declaration that teachers
and other public sector workers would only get a 2.9% rise was just a
bit much. So instead, he is going to take just 2.25% for now.
|
| North:
Scrooge Bain Strikes Again |
THE
EVIDENCE continues to grow that George Bain richly deserved the "Scrooge
of the Year" award bestowed on him by the Socialist Party at Christmas.
Not only is Sir George attempting to screw the FBU through his Review
of the Fire Service, but he is also denying basic rights to the former
tenants of the Malone Housing Association bought by QUB in March 2000.
|
| World
Social Forum 2003 |
THE
THIRD World Social Forum, which took place in Port Alegro, Brazil, on
the last week in January, was the largest gathering in the event's history
so far. |
| US
Anti-War Movement Grows |
THE
ANGER against the Bush administrations relentless drive towards war against
Iraq is growing. Increasing numbers of people clearly see the war preparations
as having little or nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction and
everything to do with control of the oil supplies of the Middle East.
|
| Firefighters
Dispute: No Retreat - Maintain the Action |
FIREFIGHTERS
ACROSS Britain and Northern Ireland reacted with justified anger at John
Prescott's threat to reintroduce the Fire Services Act of 1947 to impose
his measly 4% pay offer. |
| North:
Carmel Gates Elected NIPSA President |
NIPSA's
NEW President is Socialist Party member, Carmel Gates. Carmel has been
elected by the union's General Council. She will take up office on 1 March
and hold the position at least until the NIPSA Conference in June. |
| Vote
No to the National Pay Deal |
SUSTAINING
PROGRESS, the new social partnership deal, is a combination of wage cuts,
a pay freeze in the public sector, restrictions on the right to strike,
and binding arbitration. |
| Building
Workers: Lives Before Profits |
A
LONE piper followed by the carrying of a sombre black coffin led a demonstration
of over 3,000 construction workers through Dublin on 5 February in commemoration
of their 22 colleagues killed on unsafe sites in 2002.
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