Civil Disobedience Justified

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson has called for people to gather at Anglo-Irish Bank on Saturday [May 15] in response to last night’s [Tuesday] attack on demonstrators at Leinster House by Gardaí.

Despite the heavy rain, over 1,000 people joined last night’s Enough is Enough march, called by the Right to Work campaign. The marchers made their way peacefully, from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square through the city to Leinster House.

It was at this time, as protesters assembled on Kildare Street, that the atmosphere changed. Unusually for the evening of a protest, the gates to Leinster House were left open, and as the crowd grew on Kildare Street, members of the Gardaí panicked, and a baton charge of the crowd was ordered.

In scenes reminiscent of the Reclaim the Streets march in Dublin a number of years ago, the Gardaí made a frenzied attack on the peaceful protesters, injuring a number of them including a 62-year-old woman.

Meanwhile, to mark the 94th anniversary of James Connolly’s execution on Saturday, éirígí has organised a demonstration against the bank bail-out and anti-social cuts outside Anglo-Irish Bank’s headquarters at Stephen’s Green, Dublin. Three weeks ago, a number of éirígí activists occupied the bank in protest at the Dublin government’s bail-out of the business class.

Leeson said: “Last night’s attack on peaceful protestors outside Leinster House highlights, yet again, the attitude of the Twenty-Six County establishment towards those who are not fortunate enough to be a member of the golden circle.

“People have a right to protest and they have a right to engage in acts of civil disobedience given the nature of the crisis we are facing.”

Leeson continued: “The time for polite discussion about the economic crisis Ireland is facing is well and truly over. While bankers, developers and a whole coterie of business people have been protected by Leinster House politicians, working people have paid the price. This is not a sustainable situation.

“The message needs to go out immediately that working class people will not stand idly by while public services are slashed, jobs are binned, wages are cut and the infrastructure of their communities is decimated. Now is the time for a mass campaign of protest and civil disobedience, now is the time for action.

“It is fitting that éirígí will be marking James Connolly’s execution this year by challenging the bankers who have robbed the Irish people blind. It was Connolly himself who said that ‘we believe in constitutional action in ordinary times and revolutionary action in extraordinary times – these are extraordinary times’. éirígí will be acting upon this maxim and are calling on every trade union, residents’ association, community group and organisation that represents the interests of working class people to join us in this endeavour.

“On Saturday, we can send a message to the business class and their servants in Leinster House that they can no longer get away with their acts of theft without facing the direct action of an angry and united people.”

Saturday’s demonstration will assemble at Anglo-Irish Bank, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin at 2pm.

Nationalise our natural resources

In recent weeks, a meeting took place between the CEO of Bord Gais John Mullins and a delegation from Sligo concerning the possibility of the gas transmission grid being extended to Sligo and the north-west. Amongst the delegation were two Sligo Fianna Fáil politicians Senator Marc McSharry and Deputy Eamonn Scanlon.

This meeting comes in the wake of a planned meeting on this issue last month by a delegation from the Save our Shops (SOS) campaign in Sligo with Fianna Fáil Minister Conor Lenihan which had to be postponed. This meeting is expected to be rescheduled and take place in the near future. The SOS campaign, which comprises Sligo Fair Dealers, Sligo Chamber, Sligo Council of Trade Unions, individual business owners and some local politicians, have also been calling for Sligo to be connected to the gas network

According to media reports of the meeting, Mullins told the delegation that for the network to be extended to Sligo, the Dublin government would need to provide a once off subvention of €39 million. To date such a subvention has been ruled out as too costly.

However, as éirígí have repeatedly pointed out, there is a simple solution. Its called nationalisation. Nationalise ALL our natural resources, extract these resources such as oil and gas safely and in an environmentally friendly manner and use the wealth generated to benefit all the people on this island, not just the shareholders of multi-national oil and gas companies.

According to the governments own estimates, there are more than 500 billion euro worth of natural resources lying under the seabed off our shores. If these valuable resources, which rightfully belong to the Irish people and should never have been handed over to create profits for multi-national giants such as Shell, were nationalised the cost of extending the network to Sligo and other areas around the country would not be an issue and could not be used as an excuse as is currently the case.

If these politicians and other groupings are serious about bringing natural gas to the north-west, then they need to publicly support the campaign to take back our natural resources. éirígí have already requested that the Save our Shops group, Fair Dealers Group, Sligo Chamber, Senator Marc McSharry and others who have and are scheduled to meet Leinster House ministers on this issue, to publicly call for the nationalisation of our oil and gas.

So once again éirígí are repeating our call to all those groups to make this demand for nationalisation publicly and to make it their bottom line in any discussions on this issue. If they continue to refuse to take such a public stance, then they need to explain why that is. There is no justification for refusing to support such a simple and just demand that would benefit all the people of this island and not just the shareholders of oil and gas companies.

CRH: Stop Profiting on the Back of Palestinian Suffering

Shareholders attending the Cement Roadstone Holdings AGM in the Marine Hotel Dún Laoghaire on Wednesday [May 5] were greeted by a large, colourful and noisy demonstration calling on the company to divest from Israel.

The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign called the protest to put pressure on CRH, which is Ireland’s largest multi-national company and the second largest building material supplier in the world, to end its involvement in the construction of the apartheid wall in the West Bank. Leaflets were distributed to those attending the AGM and a lively protest ensued outside the hotel on Dún Laoghaire’s main street. Shareholders were left under no illusion as to the shameful practices of the company.

The wall, which is 450km long and annexes almost 50 per cent of the West Bank, has caused untold misery and suffering for the people of the occupied territory, cutting them off from their land and making daily life a living hell.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice ruled that the wall was illegal and violated the Palestinian right to self-determination. Yet, CRH continues to profiteer on the back of the oppression of the Palestinian people: the company recorded pre-tax profits of €1.8 billion in 2009 and holds a 25 per cent stake in Mashav, a holding company for Nesher Cement, Israel’s sole cement company. CRH has admitted that Nesher Cement is being used in the construction of the wall.

The IPSC protest forms part of an international effort to put pressure on CRH to end its involvement in the construction of the apartheid wall. Last Friday, IPSC activist Tommy Donnellan was assaulted and arrested by Israeli troops while filming a peaceful protest against CRH in the West Bank village of Bi’iln. Released after several hours, Tommy had part of his ear torn off and suffered cuts to his legs.

éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mháistír extended solidarity with Tommy and wished him a speedy recovery.

“The courageous actions of people like Tommy provide inspiration to us all to continue to demonstrate active solidarity with the people of Palestine. On behalf of éirígí, I wish to extend our solidarity to Tommy and wish him a speedy recovery,” Daithí said.

Expressing éirígí’s support for the IPSC campaign Daithí continued: “The international boycott of apartheid South Africa played a significant role in bringing that system down. CRH is Ireland’s largest multi-national corporation and is complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation and the human rights abuses committed daily against the Palestinian people.

“It is an outrage that this company continues to profit on the back of the suffering of Palestinians, the theft of their land and the violation of their human rights. éirígí is committed to supporting this campaign and calls on trade unionists, political parties and all those concerned with justice for the Palestinian people to give their full backing to the campaign to force CRH to divest from Israel.”

Drawing parallels with the boycott of apartheid South Africa, Daithí said: “Over 25 years ago, Dunnes Stores workers refused to handle goods from apartheid South Africa and sent a message across the world that Irish workers would not stand by and be complicit in the oppression of black South Africans. The actions of the women involved in that strike continue to inspire and that determination is required once again if the apartheid Israeli state is to be isolated and faced with the shame of the world.

“CRH must end its shameful association with the Israeli state and cease to profit from the daily suffering endured by Palestinians at the hands of this odious regime.”

The aims of the IPSC campaign are to:

• Raise public awareness about the effect of the illegal occupation of Palestine and its impact on the Palestinian people, and;
• Encourage Irish state, financial, educational and church organisations to put pressure on Israel to end discrimination against the Palestinian people and bring an end to the ongoing expulsion from their homes and land, and;
• Demand that CRH support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights within their sphere of influence and to make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses by divesting from Mashav and its operations in the occupied territories of Palestine.

For further information on the campaign log on to the IPSC website www.ipsc.ie

Sign the petition calling on CRH to divest in Israel www.ipsc.ie/crhdivest/petition.html

Contact CRH and demand that they divest from Israel
CRH Head Office, Belgard Castle, Clondalkin, Dublin 22, Ireland.
Tel: +353 1 4041000
Fax: +353 1 4041007
email: mail@crh.com

éirígí accuse Labour of 'cowardice' over Croke park pay deal

Sligo éirígí activist Gerry Casey has accused the Labour party of “cowardice” for refusing to take a stand against the Croke Park public sector pay and reform deal. He also challenged local Labour party councillors and representatives to publicly declare their position on this deal.

Casey said: “The Labour party have refused to take any stance on the shameful public sector pay and reform deal agreed between the government and ICTU leadership, despite the negative impact this deal will have on workers. Indeed, one of their TD's Kathleeen Lynch went as far as to tell Newstalk radio (May 7) that it was 'none of their (Labour's) business'.”

He added: “James Connolly and Jim Larkin would be spinning in their graves at the cowardice and lack of action in defence of workers by those who claim to inherit their political legacy. By staying silent they have exposed once again their contempt for the right of working people to resist the savage cutbacks imposed on them by the current leinster House administration.”

“While it is despicable, it is not surprising. Labour have consistently betrayed workers interests, most recently, when Labour leader Eamonn Gilmore publicly sided with the wealthy political and business elite in opposing the planned national strike by workers last March.”

He concluded: “If the rights and living standards of all Irish workers and their families are to be protected then the Croke park deal needs to rejected. I am now challenging the Labour party representatives here in the north-west to publicly declare their position on this deal. Do they believe like their party colleagues that the deal and the negative impact it will have on workers, including their ability to take industrial action, is 'none of Labours business'? They must stop hiding and clarify their position publicly.”

Emigration & British army – 26-county state solution to mass unemployment

éirígí Tír Chonaill spokesperson Micheál Cholm MacGiolla Easbuig has claimed that the 26-county states solution to the unemployment crisis appears to be a combination of forcing young people to emigrate and encouraging people to join the British army.

MacGiolla Easbuig said: “We are in the midst of an unemployment crisis on this island like we have never seen before. More than 500,000 people are jobless, more than 21,000 here in Donegal alone, yet the Fianna Fáil led coalition has failed miserably to tackle this crisis and create any sustainable employment.”

He added: “Instead what we have seen is a deliberate attempt by this administration to force young people to emigrate. In what can only be described as shameful comments, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan told BBC's 'Hardtalk' programme in February that emigration was 'not a bad thing'.”

“Government policy has been aimed at squeezing young people who are out of work. If losing their jobs was not bad enough, young people then had their dole reduced to €100 a week and €150 a week for under 21's and 22-24 year olds respectively, making it virtually impossible to survive on the dole here. Thousands of people signing on are forced to wait up to 16 weeks before they recieve this pittance. All of these measures are aimed at forcing young people to emigrate in order to hide the true extent of unemployment in the country.”

“A further shameful move was the revelation that FÁS were involved in the sending of letters to unemployed people advising them of job opportunities in the British army. Aside from the fact that what was done is illegal, it is appalling that a state agency such as Fás believe it appropriate to become a recruiting agency for the British army.”

“The British army is responsible for slaughtering thousands of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and here in Ireland. British troops continue to occupy the six-counties. They are using the skies above Fermanagh and Tyrone as a training ground for their pilots to prepare them for the ongoing occupation and war in Afghanistan. Undercover British army units, most notably the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), have also been re-deployed and are operating once again on Irish soil.”

He concluded: “Fianna Fáil and the Greens have failed the unemployed miserably. Emigration and encouraging young people to enlist in the British army murder machine is not a solution to the unemployment crisis. The fact that Mary Coughlan and her colleagues are happy to see thousands of our young people emigrate or serve as cannon fodder for the British military exposes both the moral and political bankruptcy of this administration.”

éirígí demand jail for employers who breach employment laws

The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) was established by the Fianna Fáil led administration in 2007 under the Social Partnership Agreement “Towards 2016”. An office of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, NERA's mission statement claims that it “aims to secure compliance with employment rights legislation and to foster a culture of compliance in Ireland”.

It provides employees and employers information about their rights, entitlements and responsibilities and provides for the inspection of workplaces and the bringing of criminal and civil cases against employers in breach of employment legislation

Figures from their annual report from 2009 (click here to read it)showed a massive increase in the numbers of employees seeking their assistance in obtaining their legal entitlements from their employers. According to the report, they received 150,000 calls for assistance in 2009, an increase of over 40,000 on 2008. As a result of NERA's investigations, 6000 employees secured just under €2.5 million in unpaid wages from their employers.

The reality is that current legislation and its enforcement is nowhere near adequate. While employers can be and have been forced to pay back money owed to employees, the absence of fines in most instances, the miniscule fines where fines are imposed and the absence of prison sentences for offenders, means there is no effective deterrent for employers who refuse to honour their legal obligations in terms of their workers pay and conditions.

According to NERA's 2009 report, despite the high levels of workers who were denied their entitlements, just 108 cases were brought to the District court against employers, resulting in just 27 convictions. Those convictions seen the employers in question receiving fines of between €300 and €3000. NERA also brought civil court proceedings in 51 cases which resulted in 45 employers being forced to pay back money owed to employees.

In not one instance, despite blatantly and deliberately breaking the law, has an employer received a prison term or received a fine fit for the crimes they committed. In the vast majority of cases, employers who were caught breaking the law merely paid their employees what they rightfully should have paid them all along. No punishment was imposed.

Under the current system, no effective deterrent exists. In fact, the system actually encourages employers to under-pay their employees, as in the vast majority of cases, if the employer is ever caught, their only 'punishment' will be to pay the money they should have originally paid in the first place.

Responding to the content of the report, éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey has demanded the jailing of employers who exploit their workers and breach employment laws. He claimed that many employers are using the recession as an excuse to drive down their workers' wages and conditions of employment and that employees need to join a trade union now more than ever to protect themselves against exploitative bosses.

He said: "The current recession is being used by employers throughout the country to drive down their employees wages and the conditions under which they are employed. It is in the interests of all workers to ensure that such unacceptable moves by employers are resisted vigorously. If they are allowed succeed in their efforts they will turn back the tide of all workers rights and entitlements, the hard earned rights and conditions that workers have achieved for themselves, imperfect as they are, over the past century.”

"In one retail outlet in Sligo town, employees were forced by the owners to sign a waiver giving up their right to public holiday entitlements. Many of them signed these waivers under threat of their hours being cut or even dismissal. They were warned not to tell anyone about the waivers and were not allowed to keep a copy or bring one off the premises. Others were forced to work long extra hours with out extra pay, pushing their hours of employment well above the legal limit that employees are allowed to or can be forced to work.”

“There are many other instances locally also of employers paying less than the minimum wage as they are obliged to by legislation. One of the main breaches we encountered has been employers paying the training or inexperienced worker rate in order not to pay the minimum wage, even though the employers' had no formal training schemes in place as required by law. This was also highlighted as the main area of non-compliance in relation to the area of minimum wage legislation by the NERA report for 2009.”

“We also discovered many who are paying less than the minimum rates of pay as they are obliged to by the Joint Labour Committee's (JLC's). In virtually all the cases that éirígí Sligeach were made aware of, the employers blamed the recession and said if their employees did not accept the low wages, that they would have their hours cut or even be sacked. The other common thread between all the various cases was that all the businesses involved were non-unionised.”

“While in most instances the employees, as a result of the threats and fearful of being sacked, had to go along with their employers' actions, in some instances, where individual workers stood up to this bullying, the employers' were forced to back down. The actions of these employers are illegal. Employers such as this who blatantly break employment laws and attempt to intimidate and bully their employees in this manner should be jailed."

"Such instances only serves to underline the necessity for workers across the entire economy to organise themselves in Trade Unions. Workers, unorganised and on their own, are easy prey for greedy employers out to maximise their profit regardless of the legality of their actions or the effect their actions will have on their workers. The cases we have discovered reinforce that point.”

He concluded: “Organised and united in a Union makes it harder for employees to be singled out or bullied and makes it easier for them to fight back against employers engaged in this sort unacceptable behaviour.”

New British Army Recruiters - FÁS

The article below is reproduced courtesy of Sligo Today


Who's taking the Queens shilling - It would appear that an Irish FÁS sponsored unemployment advisory office is now acting as a Recruiting Office for Her Majesty's Armed Forces.

The Millennium Jobs Club based in the Watch House Cross Shopping Centre in Limerick, whose letterhead has the FÁS logo along with the National Development Plan logo endorsing it's activities, has been advising jobseekers that there are 'many careers on offer' in today's British Army.

It fails however to advise that a new overseas military career could put the applicants directly in harms way as the British Army is currently fighting a war on two high-profile fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are also many worldwide covert active service 'hot spots' enjoying the presence of the soldiers. In both primary theatres of conflict many deaths and serious casualties are being recorded on a daily basis.

The Limerick Jobs Club also omitted to inform any applicants that it's recruitment policy is illegal and that under the current Irish law stiff penalties could be imposed for attempting to recruit Irish nationals, in Ireland, for a foreign army.

The letter, dated 19th April 2010, to an job seeker enquirer is reproduced below. The addressee's name has been removed.

The 'Royal Irish Army', see letter below, refers to the Royal Irish Regiment with it's headquarters in St.Patrick's Barracks, Ballymena, Co Antrim and was renamed from the original the Royal Irish Rangers. Battalions of the Irish Regiments have featured prominently in all wars, including the present operations.

Several members of the regiment have been 'upgraded' to MI5 status and have been assigned to the spooks HQ, Palace Barracks in Belfast, where over 400 agents are currently based.

éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey said “That Fás believe it is appropriate or justifiable to target the unemployed in this country by becoming recruiters for the British army is appalling.”

“This is an organisation responsible for the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and here in Ireland. They continue to occupy part of our country. British troops, including undercover troops from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, a sister regiment of the SAS, have been involved in military operations just across the border in Garrison in Co Fermanagh and in Derry in recent months.”

“The skies above Fermanagh and Tyrone are being used by them to train their pilots for their war in Afghanistan which has resulted in the widespread slaughter of innocent Afghan civilians.”

“Recruiting cannon fodder for foreign armies, no more than emigration, is not a solution to our unemployment crisis. While it may suit the Dublin government to see young Irish people squeezed by job losses and then dole cuts to emigrate or enlist to kill and be killed in the imperialist adventures of foreign armies, Fás must immediately cease their role as recruiters and propagandists for the British army murder machine.”

Remember James Connolly through protest and action

éirígí is to mark the ninety-fourth anniversary of James Connolly’s execution with two public events in Dublin city over the weekend of May 15 and 16. The first will be an anti-NAMA protest outside of Anglo Irish Bank on Stephen’s Green in the city centre at 2pm on Saturday May 15. This will be followed with a commemorative wreath-laying ceremony in Arbour Hill at 12noon on Sunday May 16.

Announcing the weekend’s events Rúnaí Ginearálta éirígí Breandán Mac Cionnaith said, “This is the fifth year that éirígí have marked the anniversary of the execution of James Connolly and the other leaders of the 1916 Rising. Over the course of the upcoming Connolly weekend éirígí will hold an internal meeting to discuss policy and strategy as well as the anti-NAMA protest and wreath-laying ceremony. This mix of political theory, action and commemoration represents a fitting memorial to the legacy of James Connolly.

“In previous years éirígí’s commemoration in Arbour Hill has formed the centrepiece of the Connolly weekend. This year, however, we are breaking with that tradition and making the protest at Anglo Irish Bank the main focus of the weekend’s events. In the context of the current economic catastrophe we believe that there could be no more fitting tribute to the memory of James Connolly than the organisation of resistance to NAMA, the bank bailout and the savage cutbacks of the Dublin government. Connolly himself was a firm believer in the street politics of protest and demonstration.

“I would encourage republicans and socialists from across the country to join our protest at Anglo Irish, to bring the politics of Connolly out of the graveyard and onto the streets. In particular I would implore the tens of thousands of unemployed young people who have been abandoned by the Dublin establishment to join our protest, to become politically active and take back control of their own country.”

On April 24 scores of people joined a demonstration in support of six éirígí activists who staged a symbolic occupation of the headquarters of Anglo Irish Bank. For a full report on that demonstration and occupation please click here.

Greek Struggle an Inspiration

éirígí spokesperson Daithí Mac An Mhaistír has expressed solidarity with the working people of Greece as they continue to fight against the vicious austerity measures being imposed upon them.

Thousands of people rallied in the Greek capital Athens yesterday [Saturday] in the latest of a series of protests in the country.

Mac An Mhaistír said: “The attempts by the European Union and the IMF to impose savage financial cuts upon Greece will undoubtedly impact drastically on the living standards of working people there.

“The Greek working class is to be commended for its resistance in the face of these cuts. Nowhere in Europe has the fight against the attacks of the business class and right-wing governments been stronger than in Greece. We in Ireland would do well to take inspiration from the Greek working class and act accordingly.”

Mac An Mhaistír concluded: “éirígí extends solidarity to the working people of Greece and the leftist parties in that country who are leading the resistance against the right-wing agenda of the EU and IMF. Their fight is our fight.”

Anti-cuts campaign will be won on the streets & in the workplace

A demonstration marking May Day was held today (Saturday May 1) in Sligo. The protest, organised by the newly formed Sligo Workers Alliance, was held outside the offices of Sligo/North Leitrim Fianna Fáil TD Jimmy Devins in John Street, Sligo.

Following the demonstration, éirígí Sligeach activist Gerry Casey urged Trade Unionists to reject the Croke Park deal on public sector pay and reform. He also claimed that the campaign against the cuts will not be won in negotiations but by sustained action in the workplace and on the streets.

Casey said: “The cutbacks in pay, social welfare and on essential public services are unjust, completely unnecessary and must be vigorously resisted. The decision of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) to accept the Croke Park deal on public sector pay and reform is a shameful betrayal of all workers. At the same time as the Fianna Fáil led administration are imposing these cuts and seeking implementation of this deal, they are pumping tend of billions of euro of tax payers money into bailing out their banking cronies.”







He added: “So while these cuts have already dealt a devestating blow to low paid workers, Fianna Fáil and the Greens now want to impose this new deal which will further reduce the living standards and working conditions of public sector workers. It will also have major implications for their ability to take industrial action and will massively reduce the effectiveness of public services, resulting in widespread privatisation.”

“The economic crisis was created by a combination of the inevitable failure of the capitalist system and the unbridled greed and corruption of the wealthy business and political elite. Workers and the unemployed did not create this crisis yet their income is being slashed. They are being made to pay in order to bail out the banks and retain the wealthy extravagant lifestyle of the business and political elite that crippled the economy of this state.”

He concluded: “This battle against the cutbacks and the bank bail-outs will not be won by union leaders cosying up to government and business leaders. It will only be won by sustained uncompromising action in the workplace and on the streets. Resist the cutbacks – reject the Croke park sell-out.”

Further demonstrations and rallies are to be organised in the coming weeks.