Socialist Party

Budget Day looms for the Fine Gael/Labour Government. On Tuesday, December 6, it will be clear for all to see how this government lives up to the claims of its leaders upon taking office in March, that it was the product of a ‘democratic revolution’ and represented a fundamental break with the cynical establishment politics of the past.

The Eurozone is at a tipping point. EU leaders are in disarray and have no clear strategy for resolving the crisis. Fragmentation of the Eurozone could trigger another deep financial crisis and global economic downturn. socialistparty.net analyses the crisis.

Thousands of activists fought running battles with security forces for control of Tahrir Square, Cario, last weekend, and at the start of this week. At least 33 people were killed and over 1,750 injured. There have also been big protest demonstrations in Alexandria, Suez, Mansoura and other cities. Street fighting continued last night in central Cairo, turning parts of the city into “a war zone”. Today, Monday 21 November, clashes are reported as armed state forces try to clear Cairo’s Tahrir Square of protesters.

As recently as a year ago when I and others on the Left wrote and spoke about ‘the dictatorship of the financial markets’ many people thought we were exaggerating. However after the events of the past few weeks, can there be any doubt but that we are witnessing a full frontal assault on democratic rights by European bondholders, bankers and speculators facilitated by the leadership of the European Union?

Socialist Party MEP, Paul Murphy, is currently visiting Gaza as part of a delegation of parliamentarians, to see the conditions first hand. Paul will be keeping a diary of the events and reflections, and you can read them on his blog. Here we post his report from the first day there.

Following an initiative by the five ULA TDs in August, a succession of meetings took place between representatives from the more fighting sections of the trade union movement and community sector about putting in a joint effort for a pre budget demonstration. This will take place on Saturday 26 November beginning at 12pm at the Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Street, Dublin.

The following two articles appear in the newspaper of our sister party in England & Wales, and the analysis and alternative set out in them will undoubtedly be of interest to our readers. They discuss the upcoming public sector strike in Britain and northern Ireland, the capitalist crisis, and the socialist alternative.

• Lie after lie told by Israeli regime
• Length and conditions of detention clearly an attempt to intimidate activists – will not be successful
• Thanks to activists internationally for solidarity protests

Albert Einstein once defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time. In the last three years successive budgets have resulted in €20 billion being taken out of the Irish economy through austerity and have drastically worsened the present economic crisis.

Winning the Presidential and Dublin West By elections was hailed as a great day for the Labour Party. While these victories undoubtedly took some of the pressure off the party and its leader, Eamon Gilmore, a sober assessment will conclude that these amount to a small upward blip on a graph that will soon be seen to be on a consistent downward trajectory.