Flood Tribunal Reveals Fianna Fail's Web of Corruption

Government of Crisis

Build a Workers' Alternative to This Government of Liars and Cheats

by Stephen Boyd

BERTIE AHERN and Mary Harney were euphoric when they were re-elected in May, but only five months on, they have been brought back down to Earth with a crash.

People are angry because Fianna Fail and the PDs lied about the state of the economy and the public spending cuts to get re-elected.

People are angry because the interim Flood Tribunal Report has officially stated what they knew all along - that Ray Burke and his Fianna Fail mates are corrupt. People are angry because Bertie Ahern appointed Ray Burke to the third highest political office in the state when he knew he was corrupt and they don't believe his crap about looking up every tree in North Dublin.

The Flood report has reignited people's anger at the corruption in Irish politics and Ahern is refusing to answer questions. This time he won't be able to hide behind the Celtic Tiger boom.

The €300 million in cuts McCreevy has introduced since May will be at least trebled in his December budget, as economists predict up to a €2 billion shortfall in public finances. 350 jobs are being lost every week in manufacturing industry, and tens of thousands of other jobs are at risk because of the decline in the US economy and the government's privatisation plans. Fine Gael and Labour are no alternative - if they were in government they'd be introducing cuts as well.

The union leaders have treated these liars and cheats as partners for the last 15 years, and where has it got us - 64 workers in Peerless Rugs having to campaign for over a year just to get decent redundancy money, some partnership.

Thousands of workers came out on solidarity protests with the Peerless Rugs and Irish Glass workers on 4 October. The anger expressed by many demonstrators that day was not just about redundancy payments, but about corruption, the health crisis, low pay and rising unemployment. Trade union activists need to collectively organise in campaigns to reclaim their unions, and break them away from the farce of social partnership. Our unions were built to defend workers' rights, and to fight for an increase in living standards, not to increase the profitability of multinational companies.

The media are speculating that Ahern may have to go if the government loses the Nice referendum, but getting rid of one individual is not enough, we need to get rid of the whole government. More than this we need an alternative, the workers' movement needs to build a new political party to represent its interests. The Socialist Party will be part of the building of such a party and the election of more Socialist Party TDs and councillors will be a big step towards its creation.

Nice Treaty Update

by Joe Higgins

WHETHER THE Nice Treaty is carried or not, the debate around the issue will have significant after effects. Key issues relating to the future direction of the EU have been highlighted.

The strategy to create a military wing for the EU and the erosion of democracy implied in the Treaty have been flagged. In the other EU member states the people did not have an opportunity for such a debate. Only their parliaments voted.

The Socialist Party highlighted a crucial change to the common commercial policy in the proposed New Article 133 of the Nice Treaty.

This would give the EU Commission, for the first time, the right to negotiate with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about how public services should be run.

We know from documents leaked a few months ago that the Commission has already been conducting secret negotiations with the W.T.O. and urging that services like water should be open to privatisation.

We know also that the major multinational corporations based in the EU are highly organised in lobby groups such as the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT) and the liberalisation of Trade in Industries Group (LOTIS).

The multinationals have ready access to the EU Commission and to the governments of the member states. They actually wrote the rules for the single market. That is why the EU drives a policy of deregulation and privatisation of public industries and services.

The Socialist Party raised these issues during the Nice Treaty campaign and had some considerable success in getting an airing on RTE, local radio stations and in some sections of the printed media.

Another significant element in the campaign was the establishment of the Alliance Against Nice. This was a coming together of the Socialist Party, Sinn Féin, Workers Party, Green Party and the Irish Socialist Network, Independent Socialist Forum against Nice and the Socialist Workers Party and a number of independent members of the Dáil. A basic programme was agreed on the general theme of "A Europe for people - Not profits or war - vote No".

It doesn't take from the contribution of any of the participants to say that the Socialist Party was very active in pushing this initiative and in helping to organise the joint actions of press conferences, major public meetings in Dublin, Cork and Limerick, and the distribution of tens of thousands of leaflets calling for a no vote.

The intention of setting up the Alliance was to demonstrate a solid political opposition to the kind of Europe envisaged in the Nice Treaty and to affirm that a Europe where wealth and resources are democratically owned and controlled needs to be constructed instead.

No matter what the outcome of the Nice Treaty, the critical issues in relation to the economy, the privatisation agenda and EU militarisation will continue to be debated.
Equally, the developments of the anti-capitalist movement on a Europe wide, and indeed world-wide basis, together with the millions of workers who have been striking in Italy and Spain against the effects of the EU's continued attacks on their rights, demonstrate graphically that workers and youth are moving into struggle.

The Socialist Party is confident that experience will lead increasing numbers to draw the conclusion that a democratic, socialist re-organisation of the economy can cater for the needs of the vast majority of people as opposed to the present system which puts the profit of a small number of multinational corporations first.

Assemby Collapse: A Failure of Sectarian Politics

by Peter Hadden

THE PSNI raid on Sinn Fein's Stormont offices has dealt what will probably turn out to be a fatal blow to the Assembly. Faced with a walkout by unionists and immediate collapse, it left the government with suspension as the only option.

They hope that suspension could allow for future negotiations and an eventual agreement to restore the Assembly in some form. As things stand, this seems a forlorn hope.

The Stormont raid came only a couple of weeks after the crunch Unionist Council meeting which set a 18 January deadline for UUP withdrawal from the Executive unless the IRA effectively disbanded. This meeting to all intents and purposes crowned Donaldson the real leader of the UUP.

The image of PSNI officers raiding Sinn Fein offices, even if they only made a cursory search of one desk, and the allegations, real or exaggerated, of an IRA spying ring will have hardened attitudes in the UUP and among Protestants even further. It is hard to see any UUP leader being able even to lead his party into direct talks with Sinn Fein so long as the links with the IRA remain.

Even if there are new negotiations, the fact that an election is due in May leaves little chance that they will succeed. No party, especially no unionist party, could afford to make the concessions that might bring agreement so long as they have the shadow of possible electoral meltdown hanging over them.

A mutual blame game has now opened up with each side placing the responsibility for the collapse on the other. Protestants blame Sinn Fein. The majority of Catholics, while viewing what Sinn Fein has done as stupid and irresponsible, will put the blame on unionism and the State.

The alleged spying operation by the IRA is not the real reason for the Assembly's demise. The decision by the UUP, taken in ignorance of these allegations, would have brought it to an end in January anyway.

Indeed this decision is the real reason for the raid. The State had evidence against Sinn Fein for some time but they acted now for political, not security reasons. Understanding that there is no longer any prospect of rescuing Trimble or securing further concessions from the UUP the government are trying to shift the blame for the inevitable collapse onto Sinn Fein.
The aim is to isolate the Sinn Fein leadership by creating a broad concensus that IRA disbandment, not decommissioning, is now the bottom line for progress. This, they hope, could either force Sinn Fein to ditch the IRA or else open a split in nationalism that would allow some nationalists to stay on board without whoever remained linked to the IRA.
There is very little chance of any of this happening. As the dust settles, most Catholics will continue to place the main blame on unionism. In any case, even if the IRA were to announce that it had disbanded, the most likely reaction of Donaldson and co would be to say "we don't believe you".

Recent events have provided a trigger but there are more fundamental reasons for the Assembly's downfall. The Agreement brought together the sectarian politicians in a political arrangement that institutionalised sectarianism. They were prepared to sit down together in the Executive, but their role outside Stormont was to continually whip up sectarianism, stoking conflict on issues like flags and parades.

The result is a community more divided than ever, with attitudes hardening on both sides. The fact that a majority of Protestants now oppose the Agreement is the real difficulty that dooms the Executive in its current form.

What we are now seeing is politics coming into line with the greater polarisation. The failure is not just of one side; it is the failure of right wing and sectarian politics.

A dangerous situation is now opening up. There could be a prolonged period of impasse punctuated with attempts at talks, all this against a background of ongoing sectarian violence. The IRA is not likely to return to its old war. But the ongoing territorial war seen every night along the interfaces could intensify and all the paramilitaries could, to one degree or another, get drawn in.

We need a real peace process, one that unites rather than divides the working class and that is built from the bottom up by trade unionists and community activists. This cannot be achieved hand in hand with sectarian parties or paramilitaries but through a struggle to end their disastrous hold over working class communities.

Campaign Against the Bin Tax:
Defy the Courts, Defeat the Tax

by Robert Connolly

ON FRIDAY 20th September the All Dublin Campaign Against the Bin Tax mobilised hundreds of householders to protest outside the District court. The Campaign and its legal representatives were there to defend three non-payers from Finglas.

The protest was noisy enough to be heard through the thick stone walls of the courthouse and was a strong reminder to the Council of how difficult their "legal avenue" is going to be.
Already there is a deafening silence of empty coffers in the revenue department of Dublin City Council. According to the Council's own figures, only 24% of those eligible to pay have paid up so far for 2002.

The Council's strategy is a simple one. Squeeze as much money as they can by threatening people with summonses and court action. The Council claims it has 40,000 summonses ready to be sent out for 2001 bin tax arrears.

Of course, there is no way they can take 40,000 people to court. Their aim is to scare people into paying up.

The Campaign's legal team raised a number of technical points which have been referred to the High Court. A small number of other householders who were taken to court but who were not represented by the Campaign had to pay a €125 fine. The three householders from Finglas who are being represented by the Campaign's legal team were not fined, have not paid and are holding firm.

This shows the crucial difference the Campaign has made in building non-payment, defending non-payers and, most importantly, the prospect of defeating this unjust tax. The best way to answer the Council's absurd threat of 40,000 summonses is to step up the campaign now.

If we get the word out in every area, in every estate, in every street that there is a campaign that has proven to be effective in fighting this tax, we can not only turn the Council's scare tactics into a joke, we can actually strengthen non-payment and do away with this double tax altogether.

Swords: Mass Evictions Will be Opposed by Any Means Necessary

By Clare Daly

FORTY FAMILIES in Swords have had the threat of eviction hanging over them since May of this year, when the owner of Mantua Park, a residential mobile home park, gave them six months to clear out as he wants to sell the land.

Mantua Park has operated in Swords for over 30 years, far longer than most of the houses in the area.

It has been home to some of the residents for decades, including elderly residents who like the area and being near the village, young families living there to save money for a deposit on a house, some on the Council's waiting list, or single people who would fing it impossible to purchase a house or pay the average rent being demanded. These residents have nowhere else to go and are determind not to be intimidated out of their homes.

This is the largest eviction witnessed in Swords and cannot be allowed to happen.

The absentee landlord lives in Teneriffe. He has never met any of the families. The land is zoned residential and obvioulsy himself of his agents see the oppurtunity to make a financial killing. The fate of over 100 people who will be made homeless is an irrelevancy for him.

This will not ba allowed to happen. Residents are determined to face down the eviction. Comsistent pressure over the summer has resulted in the Council being forced to set up a serious forum of residents, councillors and officials to thrash out a solution. This could involve the Council purchaseing the land.

The bottom line is that Mantua Park's residents are there to stay. If the negotiations don't work, we'll fight in the courts, block the JCB's, and do whatever is necessary to protect this community.

Watch this space...

Flood Tribunal Reveals Fianna Fail's Web of Corruption

by Micheal Murphy

AS TRIBUNALS go the interim report by Flood into planning corruption is extremely hard hitting and leaves nothing to the imagination. The report didn't necessarily raise anything that we didn't already know or suspect but the fact that it condemned Ray Burke so categorically is to be welcomed.

What it reveals is a man who for 25 years built up the facade that he was a politician serving the interests of the people of Dublin North when in reality he was serving the interests of himself and the developers and builders who bankrolled his political career.

Twenty-five years of corruption

In 1973, he received possession of a house - "Briargate" on the Malahide road in Swords in a "corrupt payment" so that he would act in the best interest of the company Oakpark Developments.

Between 1982 and 1985 alone Burke received £160,000 sterling from various builders including Brennan and Mc Gowan which were corrupt payments.

In 1989, he received IR£35,000 (€100,000 at today's value) for his assistance in setting up the now defunct private radio station Century Radio.

In 1989 also he received between IR£30,000 and IR£80,000 from JMSE to secure his co-operation and his influence over other politicians to alter the planning status of lands owned by JMSE in North Dublin. As a result of Burke's corruption hundreds of families live in overpriced housing in an area bereft of any infrastructure, facilities or proper finishing of their estates, thanks to poor rezoning decisions and the free march of speculators and developers.

Fianna Fail cover-up?

The great-unanswered question of course is why despite warnings from people in his own party including Albert Reynolds did Bertie Ahern appoint Ray Burke to the cabinet in 1997 given the serious questions about his past political funding. What is also very clear is that despite previous assertions to the contrary, Ahern did very little to get to the truth of Burke's corrupt activities. It is incredible that despite being "up every tree" in North Dublin that Ahern could not find a single thing to indicate that Burke was corrupt.

Fianna Fail are attempting to distance themselves from Burke as they did with Haughey, Lawlor and others but it just doesn't wash. What Flood and other tribunal reports indicate clearly is that far from having one or two bad apples, corruption was rife in Fianna Fail at least from the mid 70's until the 1990's.

Inquiry continues

Indeed to confirm this, the Flood Tribunal will now move on to investigate alleged payments to Liam Lawlor, Padraig Flynn and Dublin North TD G.V. Wright from Frank Dunlop and Tom Gilmartin.

Frank Dunlop is expected to confirm that he gave G.V.Wright donations totalling IR£10,000 between 1991 and 1993. Wright also held a senior position on Dublin County Council at a time when a number of the key developments being investigated by Flood were rezoned.

Socialist Party Councillors on Fingal County Council, Clare Daly and Joe Higgins, have put a motion to the October meeting of the Council demanding that:

• Fingal County Council immediately launch an investigation into the rezoning decisions and planning permissions to Brennan and McGowan, Michael Bailey and all those named by Flood.
  
  
• No further planning permission to be granted to any of those found making corrupt payments until the matter has been investigated.
  
  
• The government to bring in legislation to confiscate all wealth arising from corruption in the planning process.

Government of Crisis

by Kevin McLoughlin

FOUR MONTHS after nearly achieving an overall majority, Ahern's epitaphs are being written and his government is severely undermined. The feelings of anger and disgust amongst working class people is palpable and that mood looks set to harden.

The trouble started within weeks of the election. It became obvious that Fianna Fail and the PDs had played an electoral con trick as they imposed a virtual mini budget of cuts. Their election lies will plague them.
The report from the Flood Tribunal, the corruption of Ray Burke, the questions that Ahern hasn't been able to answer, had a bigger impact than other similar revelations precisely because people's anger was up due to the lies about the economy and cuts.

The fundamental reason this government didn't collapse out of office but was returned was the impact the boom had, particularly on the government's finances. That fundamental prop is now collapsing and they will be prone to instability and crisis.

Budgetary chaos

Ahern dropping Stadium Ireland shows the seriousness of the financial situation. The farce of UEFA delegates looking at an empty field in West Finglas and the rhetoric that Ireland's bid for the European Championships in 2008 is still alive sums up the mess they are facing.

Some estimates say their budget deficit will be €1,000 million, others that it could be closer to €2,000 million. Either way, unless they go on a massive borrowing spree to buy some time, cutbacks seem the order of the day.

Growth rates have been revised downwards in the course of this year and with the American economy weakening further, the prospect of an actual recession is stark. That would create a financial crisis the like of which has not been seen since the 1980s.

Growing anger

There was already a mood among working class people that power had been abused, that they hadn't got their proper share from the boom.

It is possible that cuts and attacks on jobs and conditions could provoke an angry backlash. The ability to make concessions to groups of workers was used by the government over the last five years to cut across struggle. They won't have the same room in the months and years ahead. Given their unpopularity, a number of significant struggles could bring down the government.
What is certain is that this government will not last another four and a half years.

Whenever it ends, political instability and a sharp radicalisation are likely. With all the main establishment parties being undermined, the capitalist establishment is facing a real political headache.

What alternative?

As things stand, there isn't an alternative government in waiting. New arrangements are possible between these establishment parties. It is also possible, given the crisis and pressure from the establishment, that independents or even the Greens or Sinn Fein could join an administration.

Undoubtedly there will be a growing thirst for a real alternative and huge opportunities for the Socialist Party over the next years.

Political crisis

Such a political crisis may materialise over the next couple of years, but things could also change in an explosive fashion.

After Nice the next test will be the budget. Fianna Fail backbenchers are getting a lot of flak and framing the budget can cause real tension within the government parties.

If they implement serious cutbacks they could face a massive public backlash, like in 1999, which forced a humiliating volt face on Fianna Fail and the PDs. Governments have collapsed on many occasions over budgets before.

There are many reasons why this government is likely to have a very bumpy ride, the key underlying one is the weakness of the economy. But other issues can come from nowhere and have a big effect, including the position that they take on a war on Iraq, in regard to the use of of Shannon airport by US war planes and on the UN Security Council.

Now is the time for working class people to fight to defend their living standards and to build a real socialist alternative to this corrupt and crisis riden capitalist system.

Keep it Public Campaign:
Public Services Not For Sale

YOUR SERVICES are up for sale. That is the unanimous message that has come from the politicians of all parties in the Northern Ireland Executive and from the Blair government at Westminster.

Despite the fiasco of the railways, Blair is determined to privatise and wreck the postal service. 90 out of the 100 new hospitals started since Blair was elected in 1997 are being built under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). So are 500 of the 550 new or refurbished schools.

The four parties in the local Executive have followed on enthusiastically. If the Assembly has had its day its real legacy will be the zeal with which the UUP, DUP, SDLP and Sinn Fein all came together to auction off huge chunks of our public services.

One of the only things the Assembly did agree was to complete privatisation schemes worth £190 million. Further schemes to the value of £500 million have gone out to tender.
David Trimble and Reg Empey have chorused that this is the only way services can be financed. The DUP's Peter Robinson has said that one third of all the moneys to be spent on roads will be from the private sector with the introduction of tolls now being considered to help meet the bill.

SDLP Higher Education Minister Carmel Hanna, speaking at the opening of the privately built BIFHE Millfield campus, argued that PFI opened "opportunities for private sector innovation in management, teaching!!!!!, accommodation and services."

Sinn Fein's Bairbre De Bruin and Martin McGuiness are also fully in support of privatisation. Almost half of the money allocated by Martin McGuiness last year for new school building and refurbishment projects was to come from the private sector.

The sell off of our services must stop. The Socialist Party are taking to the streets with a "Keep it Public" campaign. We intend to expose the rip off of privatisation and the role of all our politicians in promoting it. We are demanding that services are kept public and that they should be properly financed and democratically run.

For details of the campaign ring 02890232962

Some reasons why PFI and other forms of privatisation should be opposed

• It costs more. The state pays the private developers over twenty five or more yers at a higher rate than if the borrowed the money. For this reason the head of the Institute for Public Policy Research has described it as "economically illiterate".
  
  
• It is a speculators charter. It give private companies a free rein to milk public funds. Consultantcy fees for the building of St Genieves school were £623,963.
  
  
• Private companies can increase costs almost at will. Average costs of PFI projects in Britain have risen 50% above the original estimates.
  
  
• It means worse services. When public services are run for a profit corners are always cut. Just look at what happened to the railways in Britain.
  
  
• It threatens jobs and the pay and conditions of those transferred to private companies.

265 WORKERS in Harland & Wolffe are to lose their jobs next January. The last job losses will leave just 25 manual operatives, which effectively means that the days of shipbuilding in Belfast are over.

A rescue plan which was put to the Assembly in May to get funds to secure approximately 400 jobs in the short term with the prediction that there would be further jobs nect year has been lambasted by unions as a "land grabbing" deal.

Peter Robinson, Regional Development Minister gave the parent company Oslen Energy permission to re-zone 80 acres at Queens Island from shipbuilding only to light industrial use.

This increased the value of the land, publicly owned, but on a long term lease to Harland & Wolffe, by around £20 million. Instead of being used to create new jobs, part of this money will now be used for redundancy payments.

The job losses are a big blow to the manufacturing industry. In the 1940's there were 35,000 workers in H&W building a ship every week. Now the resources, the dry dock and the famous cranes will become relics of a bygone era.

Oslen Energy won't worry too much. They get to retain the lease on hundreds of acres of potentailly lucrative dockside land, close to the city centre. What is left of the shipyard and land should be taken back into public ownership so that the area can be developed in the interests of the people of Belfast, not of private speculators.

BARRICADES, RIOTS, two men dead, surely just another weekend in Belfast during the Troubles. No these were the events in Belfast 70 years ago when workers united to fight against the system, for better conditions and the right to life.

The Outdoor Relief riots were the Belfast expression of anger over the conditions facing working people across the world in the early 1930's. On the eve of the riots, the Belfast News Letter said that 'those on Outdoor Relief are on the verge of starvation.'

Protests were inevitable as the poor and the unemployed tried to survive on the miserable allowances paid by the Board of Guardians. Under their system those who could were forced to work on the roads for basic sums; those who couldn't were forced to live in the workhouse.

On 30 September the Unemployed Workers Movement called a mass demonstration to discuss what to do, 10,000 turned up! The meeting called a strike of the Outdoor Relief workers for October and on the 3rd 600 men stopped work. That night 60,000 marched from across Belfast to the main meeting place, the Custom House Steps.

7,000 people marched on the 4th to the Belfast Work House, on the site of the City Hospital today, demanding that as they were unemployed the Guardians had to let them in and keep them.

On 5 October more parades were held, the RUC banned them. This led to four days of rioting. These parades and riots were not Catholic events, they were not Loyalist events; they were mass mobilisations by the working class. As the riots continued there is one famous report of a woman speaking to crowds on the Shankill saying that the RUC was fighting with the workers on the Falls who needed help. This resulted in diversionary riots on the Shankill as the workers struggled in a common cause.

The RUC response was to try to divide the workers. The protests were labelled as communist and republican plots, the police used guns on the Falls and not on the Shankill, but the two workers killed were Catholic and Protestant.

The government feared the examples of workers unity and forced the Board of Guardians to make an offer so that the ODR strike ended by the 15th. They also responded by passing the Special Powers Act, not out of fear of republicanism, but of a united working class opposition.

October 1932 was a great success for the working class of Northern Ireland, let's repeat the example. Anyone who can should try to get Paddy Devlin's book, Yes We Have No Bananas, it's a history of these events and can be obtained through libraries.

UNDER PRESSURE at home and abroad, President Bush went to the UN on 12 September to call for action against Iraq.

The lone ranger, however, had not been converted to "multilateralism". Bush's diplomacy was a charade. The President of the world's unrivalled hyper-power effectively delivered an ultimatum: take decisive action to get rid of Saddam Hussein, and the US will be happy to accept UN support. If not, the US will go it alone, launching a pre-emptive military strike against Iraq.

Going to the UN in an attempt to legitimise its aggressive policies, however, does complicate the situation for the US. It may delay military action. But there is no guarantee at all that UN involvement will avert war.

Other permanent Security Council members like Russia, China and France fear the upheavals that would follow a US attack on Iraq. Russia and France both have oil and other big business interests at stake in Iraq. But even if they use their vetoes against military action, the US is still likely to go ahead at a time of its choosing.

Apart from Blair, Bush's little drummer boy, the leaders of the major powers still hope to find a way out through weapons inspection and disarmament of Saddam's regime.

Unlike the White House hawks, they fear the explosive effects of another war in the Middle East. But when the Iraqi regime quickly announced that it would accept unconditional weapons inspection, Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rice and other hawks immediately dismissed this as a "ploy".

Weapons inspection

US leaders have repeatedly claimed that Saddam has an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), chemical, biological and nuclear, which threaten the region and even the US itself.

This, they claim, is the justification for a pre-emptive strike against Iraq. In his United Nations speech, however, Bush presented no new evidence, let alone proof, that Iraq currently has such weapons, or missiles and aircraft capable of deploying them.

Scott Ritter, who led Unscom, the UN special weapons inspection commission, between 1991-97, says: "As of December 1998, we had accounted for 90 to 95% of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capability. We destroyed all the factories, all of the means of production. We couldn't account for some of the weaponry, but chemical weapons have a shelf life of five years. Biological weapons have a shelf life of three. To have weapons today, they would have had to rebuild the factories and start producing those weapons since December 1998."

According to Ritter, this is unlikely given the dire state of Iraq's economy after 12 years of sanctions. Any attempt by Iraq to acquire materials for WMDs or to test such weapons, Ritter says, would be detected by US surveillance methods.

Significantly, Bush did not even call for renewed weapons inspection. At the same time, the US leadership has made it clear that even if Unimovic, the new UN weapons inspectorate, reports that Iraq is clean of WMDs, the US still demands "regime change".

In other words, weapons of mass destruction are merely a pretext for the US. Weapons inspection is irrelevant for the US. Bush laid down a whole range of conditions which, in reality, could not be met without the ousting of Saddam.

Since the end of the 1990-91 Gulf War, the US and the Western powers, under the banner of the UN, have imposed sanctions on Iraq which have had a devastating effect on the population.

Throughout that time, the US and Britain have mounted continuous bombing raids against Iraq, to enforce sanctions and the no-fly zones in the north and the south of the country. These have been stepped up in recent months.

The US has the military power to smash Saddam's regime. But a second US war against Iraq would "open the gates of hell", as the secretary general of the Arab League said recently.

The death and destruction would be unimaginable. When many hospitals, schools, electricity and water utilities, etc, have only just been rebuilt, social conditions would be set back another ten, or 20 years or more.

According to Lawrence Lindsey, Bush's chief economic adviser, a US war against Iraq would probably cost $200 billion (€208 billion). Currently, around half the world's population struggles to survive on an income of less than $2 a day.

The 1990-91 Gulf War cost $50 billion ($80 billion in current prices), but Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Japan and others contributed $48 billion. They are unlikely to pay for a second war, reinforcing suspicions that the US intends to grab Iraqi oil as reparation.

Imperialist interests

Why is the US, a mighty superpower, hell-bent on attacking Iraq, a regional dictatorship with a depleted armoury and a shattered, semi-developed economy? The answer is strategic power, economic domination, and oil.

The neo-conservative hawks of the Bush leadership are determined to use the US's unrivalled military power to redraw the map of the world in the interests of US imperialism. They have used the outraged reaction against the attacks of 11 September as a golden opportunity to implement their agenda for a new global "Pax Americana". US corporations, banks and finance houses will be assured free access to markets, resources and cheap labour anywhere in the world. Regimes that stand in the way of this will be punished or changed. Friends will be bribed and protected.

Bush's plans were drawn up long before 11 September, and even before he entered the White House. In September 2000, for instance, a right-wing think tank, Project for the New American Century (PNAC), drew up a blueprint for Cheney (now Vice-President), Rumsfeld (now Defence Secretary), Wolfowitz (his deputy), and other Bush advisers.

They planned to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam was in power: "The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification; the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein", says PNAC.

The US's armed forces, the report continues, are "the cavalry on the new American frontier". After "9-11" Bush increased US military expenditure by a staggering $100 billion over the next six years. Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and company also revealed their new military doctrine, based on offensive, "tactical" nuclear weapons, and the strategy of pre-emptive war against the US's enemies.

A war for oil

Oil, of course, is a major motive for US intervention in the Gulf region. Control of Iraq's reserves, second only to those of Saudi Arabia, would give the US a decisive influence over world oil markets. Big business in the US is dreaming of unlimited supplies of cheap oil at $10 a barrel (compared to the current price of around $30 a barrel). Even now big oil companies are staking their claim to Iraq's oil reserves.

Once they control Iraq, with a stooge pro-US regime in place, the hawks believe they can rebuild the political architecture of the whole region. They would move to impose a settlement on Israel/Palestine, strengthening the Israeli state while sponsoring a "Palestinian state" that would be an Israel-dominated "bantustan".

Since its emergence as a major industrial power at the end of the 19th century, US capitalism has played an increasingly imperialistic role on the world arena. The neo-conservative leadership under Bush, however, marks a new phase of the American empire. They are linked to the most ruthless, greedy sections of big business, oil companies, arms manufacturers and financial swindlers. They advocate an even more aggressive, rapacious form of imperialism. Smashing Saddam militarily would, for them, be a powerful demonstration that they mean business.

But they are deluded in thinking that military power alone can secure a stable world order. The Bush leadership is blind to the explosive fallout of a military attack on Iraq. The US can defeat Iraq militarily. But an invasion of Iraq could be much more costly in terms of US casualties than the 1990-91 Gulf War. The regime's power to resist is unknowable, but Iraqis would be defending their homeland against occupation.

The aftermath of war could also cause big problems for the US. Iraq (divided between Sunnis, Shia and Kurds) could implode, with neighbouring powers like Iran and Turkey intervening.

A US assault on Iraq would provoke an explosion throughout the Arab and Islamic countries. Survival of pro-American dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Egypt would be in the balance, with the possibility of extreme, anti-US leaders taking over.

Outrage at a US attack on an Islamic country, together with their support for Israel against the Palestinians, would produce many more recruits for organisations such as al-Qa'ida, increasing the terrorist threat to the US and other Western countries.

If the US attacks Iraq there will be a tidal wave of opposition, all the stronger if the war and its aftermath are prolonged.

There will be mass protests, not merely against war, but against the system of imperialistic capitalism which produces a continuous stream of conflict and war. There will be a growing consciousness of the need for worldwide socialist transformation, for a society based on workers' democracy and democratic economic planning. Only an end to capitalist exploitation and oppression can eliminate the scourge of war.

BLAIR CLAIMS that his "dossier" on Iraq justifies the US and Britain going to war and forcing a "regime change". Rogue State, a guide to the world's only superpower by William Blum, is a "dossier" - with detailed references, many from official sources - on US imperialism.

Since World War Two, the US has overthrown, or attempted to overthrow, 40 governments as well as organising, leading or supporting the crushing of 30 nationalist movements.
American armed forces and special operations forces, such as the Green Berets, are being deployed in well over 100 countries. US nuclear missiles are still stored in seven European countries.

Weapons of mass destruction

In the 1940s, 60,000 US military personnel were used as human subjects to test mustard gas and lewisite (blister gas). Most were not informed and never received medical follow-up.
From the early 1960s, US forces sprayed tens of thousands of tons of herbicides (particularly Agent Orange) over three million acres of Vietnam as well as Laos and Cambodia.

This polluted Vietnam with 500lbs of dioxin, a nearly indestructible pollutant and one of the world's most toxic substances. Three ounces in the water supply could wipe out New York's population. On top of that, napalm was used in wars in Korea and Vietnam and reportedly Sarin nerve gas in Laos in 1970.

In the 1990s, the Pentagon admits that it exposed nearly 100,000 of its own US soldiers to trace amounts of Sarin gas in the Gulf War.

US imperialism has waged sustained economic, chemical and biological war on Cuba. In 1962, they contaminated sugar exports and infected turkeys with a virus (killing 8,000).
In 1971, they infected pigs with African swine fever. In 1996, they caused a plague of pesticide-resistant, plant-eating insects affecting corn, beans, and other crops.

Exporting lethal weapons

A US Senate Committee report says that from 1985 to 1989 American suppliers exported biological materials to Iraq - materials that UN inspectors later found and removed from Iraq's biological warfare programme!

Depleted Uranium, (DU) used in tank cartridges, bombs, rockets and missiles is denser than steel and can penetrate tank armour. It is radioactive (forever) and upon impact forms an aerosol of fine particles that can be carried downwind for 25 miles.

When inhaled or ingested, it can lead to many cancers and serious diseases.
DU has been sold to Thailand, Taiwan, Bahrain, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Korea, Turkey, Kuwait and other countries. This weapon was used in Iraq and Yugoslavia.

Assassinations

Blum claims that the CIA have been involved in 36 assassination plots since World War Two, including Nasser, Castro, Che Guevara, Michael Manley, Ayatollah Khomeini, Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Milosevic and even, in 1965, Charles de Gaulle.

Backing dictators

The School of the Americas (SOA) trained tens of thousands of Latin American military and police in counter-insurgency, infantry tactics, military intelligence, anti-narcotics operations and commando operations.

Under pressure, the Pentagon released seven Spanish-language training manuals used at the SOA until 1991. The New York Times said: "Americans can now read for themselves some of the noxious lessons the United States Army taught ... during the 1980s.

"A training manual recently released by the Pentagon recommended interrogation techniques like torture, execution, blackmail and arresting the relatives of those being questioned."

Blum's dossier shows clearly that whether it's on nuclear, biological and chemical warfare or supporting terrorists, the world's biggest threat is US imperialism.

VOTING TAKES place this month for the General Secretary of NIPSA. NIPSA is the biggest trade union in Northern Ireland with a membership across all areas of the civil and public service. It can play a crucial role in shaping the future direction of the trade union movement.

For many years, the union has had a right-wing leadership, with effective control resting in the hands of unelected full time officials.

Now this is starting to change. Recent disputes such as the term time struggle have started to increase membership involvement and a significant shift to the left has taken place. Earlier this year, the left "Time for change" grouping won a majority on the General Council, the ruling body of the union.

Now "Time for Change" has decided to challenge for the General Secretary position. The candidate is Carmel Gates who, as well as being a longstanding NIPSA activist, is also a longstanding member of the Socialist Party.

As well as receiving the backing of a wide number of branches across both the public officers and the civil service side of the union, Carmel has been nominated by the General Council.

Carmel spoke to Socialist Voice about the decision to stand:

"The NIPSA leadership, like that of many other unions, has been out of touch with the membership for far too long. "Time for change" is starting to change that and this election is a crucial part of that process.

"Our senior officials are on senior civil service management salaries. It is no wonder that they have little understanding of the problems of our low paid members. If I am elected, I will continue to take my present salary and donate the rest to labour and trade union causes.

"I want to open up the resources of the union to the membership at branch level. I will use my position as General Secretary to help develop strong and active branches where every member can participate and be fully informed.

"The jobs and terms and conditions of our members are under assault, especially through privatisation. I will fight to stop our services from being sold off and to defend jobs, wages and terms and conditions.

"I have been an activist in NIPSA for over 20 years and have held positions at all levels including the Civil Service Executive and General Council. I started as a low paid clerical officer and as such know the struggle of many members who hold two jobs just to make ends meet.

As a member of the NIPSA Equality Committee, formerly the Women's Committee, I am committed to the eradication of inequality. I fought alongside our term-time workers in education who won a 25% pay increase. Those members, 90% of whom are female, showed that determination and a willingness to fight is the most effective way to win equality.

"A change is taking place in other unions, where members have had enough of leaderships that do cosy deals with the employers and the government and are electing people who are prepared to lead a struggle and who put members' interests first. The same change is needed in NIPSA and through my election, I intend to ensure that it comes about."

Ballots are issued to members on 18 October. Every member will receive a manifesto. Leaflets will also be produced. It is important that the campaign is taken to the workplaces.

Anyone who wants to help should e-mail Carmel at carmelgates@aol.com

UP TO 7,000 workers marched through Dublin on 4 October in solidarity with the Irish Glass and Peerless Rugs workers.

Demonstrations attracting thousands were also held in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway and other towns around the country. The day of protest had been called by SIPTU, BATU, TEEU, and UCATT in protest at the refusal of employers to make decent redundancy payments to the Irish Glass and Peerless Rugs workers. Now the 4 October protests need to be followed up with a concerted campaign, mobilising all of the resources of the respective unions to make the Irish Glass and Peerless Rugs employers pay up.

It was the first time in years that this sort of widespread solidarity action has been officially called for by a section of the trade union movement. However, leading full time officials from the organising unions not only did very little to mobilise their 250,000 members, but it is reported in some cases they actually told their members not to participate in the demonstrations, especially if it meant stopping work and disrupting services such as public transport.

At the Dublin demo Joe O'Toole, president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), said "To be quite honest with you [sic] I think at times it would be easier to do business with the Sopranos than it would with IBEC". But Joe O'Toole and his ilk have been doing business with the IBEC mafia for the last 15 years without much of a problem.

What is the result of their social partnership - our health service is in crisis, 350 workers are being made redundant in manufacturing industry every week, by the multinationals who will export €15 billion in profits this year! At least €1 billion in cuts are due in McCreevy's next budget, and this government are committed to a programme of privatisation which will cost thousands of jobs.

Social partnership has disarmed our movement. It has meant that the 64 workers at Peerless Rugs have had to occupy their factory for over a year just to get redundancy money, and 350 workers in Irish Glass lost their jobs in a facility that was essential to Ireland's recycling programme!

Union activists need to get organised, to take on the overpaid bureaucrats who masquerade as trade union leaders, and transform our unions into organisations that will fight for jobs, better pay and to defend our public services.

Student Anger Grows Over Fees

by Cillian Gillespie

IN THE past few weeks various government ministers have been unable to visit college campuses across the country without being met with angry and militant protests . As well as this over 200 students protested outside the department of education in solidarity with students who had occupied the building inside.

These protests and occupations are a reflection of a new growing radicalism that is begining to develop amomgst students as a result of the 69% increase in registration fees. This increase is undoubtedly meant to act as a stepping stone towards the full reintroduction of fees nest year and is part of a general programme of cutbacks on the part of the current FF/PD government.

The government have tried to justify this attack on students by arguing that the original intention of abolishing fees has failed. That being that it has not benefited the more marginalised in society but rather those who can afford the fees in the first place.

This is a highly spurious argument. The fact is the abolishment of fees has benefited a signifigant minority of working class students. The fact that more working class young people aren't being given the chance to receive third level education is an illustration of the inadequate resources being put into education as a whole at both primary and secondary school level.

If the leadership of USI mobilised ordinary students through a campaign of protests, one day student strikes and occupations any attempt to fully reintroduce third level fees could be defeated. However up until now the careerist leadership of the union have simply limited their actions to publicity stunts.

Members of Socialist Youth along with other ordinary students came together during the Summer to launch the Campaign for Free Education(CFE) to help build such a campaign. This campaign should make sure that our union acts to defend our interests and not to launch the careers of members of the right wing establishment parties.

No US Warplanes in Shannon - No War For Oil

by Paul Murphy

NO WAR for oil was the message from the 400,000 strong demonstration in London on 28 September, one of the largest anti-war demonstrations in history. Across the world hundreds of thousands more echoed this sentiment protesting against Bush and Blair's drive to war.

On the same day 2,000 demonstrated in Dublin against the war and also against the use of Shannon Airport by US warplanes.

The Irish government still claims to be neutral, this claim has been clearly exposed as a lie. It was only a few months ago that we were all told how having a seat on the U.N. Security Council would enable us to be a force for peace in the world.

However, when the representatives of the US and Britain have demanded a war which will result in the deaths of many thousands of ordinary Iraqi people, what has the Irish representative said? Instead of arguing the case for peace, and opposing the drive to a new war on Iraq, they have simply bowed down before the interests of US imperialism, and all ideas of neutrality have been dropped.

To add insult to injury the Irish government has clearly itself on the side of US Imperialism by allowing US warplanes to use Shannon Airport. The Irish government by this action is complicit in the war crimes which will be perpetrated against the people of Iraq. Ordinary people especially young people must oppose this war and demand an end to US warplanes refuelling on our soil.

By allowing US warplanes to use Shannon Airport the Irish government has shown that it is not neutral in this war.

Socialist Youth are not neutral either. We stand side by side with the Iraqi people against US Imperialism. We stand for the building of a massive international anti-war movement. We campaigning against Fianna Fail and the PDs to force them to stop the US from using Shannon and also to vote against (on the UN Security Council) any resolutions that allow the US to take military action against Iraq.

A defeat of the government on these issues would also be a defeat for Bush and Blair's war drive, and would help boost the global anti-war movement.

Youth Against War

Socialist Youth has established Youth Against War as a campaign to organise young people into the anti-war movement. Please visit our website www.youthagainstwar.cjb.net

You should join Youth Against War today. Get active, encourage your friends to join, set up a branch of Youth Against War in your school or third level college.

What you can do!

• Join Youth Aginst War Today
• Distribute Leaflets in Your School
• Get Your Friends to Join
• Organise a Youth Against War committee in your school or third level college.
• Come to our regular anti-war stalls, pickets, protests and meetings to help build Youth Against War

To contact us ring Matt on 087 6684616 or email youthagainstwar@yahoo.ie