 September 2003 - No.71 |
|
 Fight
the Bin Tax - Fight Non-Collection |
THE
BATTLE against the bin tax is raging! This campaign is not just about
a refuse charge. It is about ending the whole tax rip-off of PAYE workers.
It is about ending the abuse of power that allows big business to maximise
profits while we foot the bill. It is about fighting back against the
offensive of the capitalist establishment who are now attacking our
living standards at every opportunity.  |
| North:
No to Water Tax - Opposition Campaign Set Up |
FANCY
EARNING £150,000 a year? If you think you would make a good
hatchet man there could be an opening for you. 150,000 is the minimum
salary the Government are offering to whoever is appointed to head
up the water service. For the right candidate the figure could be
higher. |
| History:
11th September 1973 - Coup in Chile |
11
SEPTEMBER is an historic date, not just because of events in the US
two years ago, but also because on that day 30 years ago a bloody CIA-backed
coup was instigated against the democratically elected government of
Chile. Chris Loughlin looks back at events leading up to the coup.
|
| Special
Feature: Resistance Against US Occupation Grows |
THE
US occupation forces are stretched to their limits. Morale amongst
American troops is plummeting, the death toll is escalating, the Iraqi
resistance moving is growing and now Bush is turning to the "cowardly"
French, Germans and other UN forces for help.
|
| Blockade
the Trucks to Beat the Bin Tax |
THE
GOVERNMENT has declared war on non-payers of the bin tax. They and their
cronies in the councils are refusing to collect the rubbish of non-payers.
This is an attempt to smash the resistance in the communities to this
unjust tax. |
| Dublin
Bus - Stop Privatisation |
"AS
ANY bus driver will tell you, the support from the public on no fares
day was brilliant" - A Dublin Bus driver. The 'No Fares Day' was
a huge success. Unfortunately, the unions have not followed up on this
success and have succumbed to pressure from the government and Seamus
Brennan.
|
| Sun
Valley Protests - Force Council Clean Up |
MOTHERS
AT Sun Valley Drive, a Cork northside flats complex have risked arrest
by blocking traffic in recent weeks to protest at rat-infested living
conditions have forced the City Council to clean up the area. |
|
Joe Higgins Column: Arrogant Government Will Faces Challenges |
AS
WE move towards the autumn Dail Session much attention will focus on
how the government responds to the deteriorating economic situation
and the drastic fall in tax revenues. The Department of Finance estimates
that total tax income for 2003 will be 500 million euro below target.
|
| North:
Non Payment Can Defeat Water Charges |
THE
PLANNED imposition of water charges is being met with widespread opposition.
On street stalls, the 'Water Charges - We Won't Pay Campaign' has been
overwhelmed by the response from people opposed to water charges and
the privatisation. |
| North:
Time for the Unions to Break the Labour Party Link |
A
NUMBER of years ago the Socialist Party in England and Wales drew the
conclusion that the Labour Party, by then re-christened New Labour,
was no longer a party that represented working men and women, even in
a distorted fashion. Moreover the opportunities to reclaim the Party
were receding dramatically as the influence of the unions and the constituency
parties was curtailed and the annual conference was neutered as a decision
making body. |
| North:
Airport Workers Sold Out Again |
FOR
THE 23 airport workers who were sacked, by airport security company,
ICTS, for going on strike against poverty wages, it seems that the more
things change the more they stay the same.
|
| North:
No to the Nazis! |
A
HARD-LINE Nazi splinter group of former British National Party members
has set up shop in Northern Ireland.The White Nationalist Party have
attempted to recruit members through leafleting in towns right across
Northern Ireland, including Coleraine, Ballymena and Craigavon in particular,
where racist attacks upon families carried out under the banner of the
WNP have taken place. |
| Aer
Rianta - Workers Prepare to Take on Government |
AS
WE go to press, Aer Rianta workers in Dublin, Cork and Shannon are balloting
for industrial action in response to the Minister for Transport Seamus
Brennan's announcement that he intends to break-up the company and replace
it with three independent companies. |
| Hutton
Enquiry: Blair Lied About WMD |
SIX
MONTHS on and no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have been found
in Iraq. With the death of David Kelly, the senior government scientist
who'd given information to the BBC, Blair was forced to set up the
Hutton Inquiry into that single death - ignoring the thousands of
dead Iraqis and the soldiers killed during and since the war. |
| Israel/Palestine:
Assassinations Derail 'Road Map' |
AT
THE funeral of Ismail Abu Shanab over 100,000 people attended the
procession where another Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi commented:
"They think that targeting leaders will stop Jihad (holy war).
They are mistaken. All of us in Hamas from top to bottom are looking
to become like Abu Shanab."
|
| Brazil:
Growing Protests - "Lula has Betrayed Us" |
DESPITE
SWEEPING to power with over 52 million votes late last year on a wave
of popular support, the government of Brazilian PT (Workers P:arty)
President, Lula has recently been rocked by growing opposition to
its neo-liberal offensive by significant sections of workers.
|
| Workplace
News - North |
Civil
Service Pay: Not even an offer! - Postal Workers Ballot for Strike
- Carpet Factories Face Closure: Management to Blame - Social Workers
Step up Action.
|
| Workplace
News - South |
CPSU:
Yellow Packs in An Post? - Dunnes
Workers Strike Against Bullyboy Management.
|
| March
with Youth Against the War on 27 Sept |
An
international day of protest against the occupation of Iraq will be
held on Saturday 27 September. Socialist Youth and Youth Against the
War will be campaigning to get as many young people as we can to participate
in the national demonstration in Dublin. We want to send a message
to George Bush, Tony Blair and his cronies like Bertie Ahern that
we oppose their bloody occupation of Iraq.
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