The Plough Vol 01 No 05

The Plough
-E-mail newsletter of the Irish Republican Socialist Party
Number- 5 Date 12th September 2003
1. Grave Attacks in Glengormley.
2. UN Report on Human Development
3. Anti War Meeting In Belfast
4. Socialist Workers Party
5. The World Trade Organisation
6. Welcoming a Terrorist
7. What’s On
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DAILY LIFE IN GLENGORMLY
Glengormly is a town on the outskirts of Belfast where there is a growing catholic
population. Every year the local Catholic Church holds what is called Cemetery
Sunday when the local Priest blesses local catholic graves. Over the past number of
year’s local loyalist protests, bomb scares and attacks both on catholic graves and
the local church have disrupted this ceremony. This year is no different. A number
of Celtic crosses over catholic graves were smashed earlier in the week. On
Wednesday night slogans were painted on the local church door. The slogans were
KAT which means KILL ALL TAIGS. Taig is a term of abuse used against
Catholics. This time the local priest has taken a courageous stand and decided not to
rub out the slogans. He is leaving them on the church doors as a reminder of the
deep anti-catholic hatred in the Northern State. On a main thorough fare in Sandy
Row in Belfast City Centre, a major crossroads is bedecked with loyalist flags and
the slogan KAT was daubed all over a local block of private residential flats. So far
no action by the authorities even though the flags and slogans are within 200yards of
the local police station. Another success for the Good Friday Agreement.!!!
UN Report on Human Development
This year’s UN Report on Human Development once again reminded us of global
injustice. The ten percent richest people on earth earn 124 times more than the poorest ten
percent. The 1% richest earn more than 57% of world population combined. In 2001, the
world’s GDP was 45 000 billion dollars. If this wealth was divided equally, a family with
three children, be they living in Africa, Asia or in the USA would have a monthly income
of 2260 Euros ˆ enough to have a comfortable life. Every human being on earth would
have 14 dollars per day, but 2.8 billion are currently living on two dollars or less, and 1.1
billion on one dollar or less. One person out of three has no electricity, and one out of
five no drinking water. Every day, 30 000 children die of hunger and preventable
diseases. More children died of diarrhoea during the 1990s than the total number of
people who died in armed conflicts since the end of the Second World War.
Every year, 10 million human beings die of hunger. Yet, there is an annual surplus of
food for at least 600 million people. But 800 million people suffer from hunger: one
person out of three in sub-Sahara Africa, and one out of four in South East Asia. In India
alone, 200 million suffer from hunger. However, the solution is fairly easy. Saving them
would only cost 5.2 billion dollars, the equivalent of one month of US occupation of Iraq.
The report also notes that only 35 billion dollars would suffice to prevent the annual
death of 8 million people from preventable diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and
diarrhoea. That is less than the 40 billion dollars spent by the US for their war in Iraq
between March and April this year.
What is scandalous about those figures is that all this misery is preventable. Compare on
the basis of this UN report socialist China and capitalist India for example. In India, more
than 200 million people suffer from hunger and more than 400 million have to live on
less than one dollar a day. If India provided the same health care as China, every year 1.5
million children could be saved. Proportional to population, China spends three times as
much as India on health care. India has an illiteracy rate of 35 per cent compared to
China’s rate of 16 percent. The average Chinese can expect to live until 71, the average
Indian 64. India’s infant mortality rate is twice that of China. In Cuba, there is one
medical doctor for 170 people. In the rest of Latin America, the proportion is of one
doctor for 613 people. Cuba spends per inhabitant twice as much on health care and
education than the rest of Latin America. In those countries, the ten percent richest people
earn 46 times what the poorest ten percent earn. In Cuba, the proportion is five times. A
quarter of Latin Americans have to survive on 2 dollars a day or less. In Cuba, less than
two percent do. This is a reminder that a more equitable organisation of society is
possible.
LiamORuaric
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ANTI WAR MEETING
An anti war meeting was held at Queen’s in the Peter Frogatt Centre QUB Belfast, on
Tuesday Night featuring John Rees from the Stop the War Coalition in London and
organiser of the 2 million strong march on February 15th, Jamal Iweida from the Belfast
Islamic Centre, Monica Mc Williams from the women’s’ coalition and Carmel Gates
from the trade union movement. The meeting was well attended and the speeches clear,
articulate and to the point. However in the pursuit of building an alliance those elements
involved in the anti-war coalition sometimes tend to hide or conceal their politics or else
trim their political beliefs to the prevailing wind. One of the demands of the coalition is
for the withdrawal of the occupation troops from Iraq. It sounds a sensible and reasonable
demand that many should support. However I believe that not the withdrawal but the
defeat of the occupation forces is what is needed. Obviously the defeat of in particular
British and USA Imperialism would be a major blow to international capitalism.
At the moment there is armed resistance to the invaders in Iraq. It is as yet unclear as to
what groups make up the resistance. Some may well be the remnants of the old regime;
some may be Al Qaeda group. We have no truck for the politics of either group.
But there is a growing mass resistance campaign in Iraq that combines many shades of
political views. I believe that resistance whether armed or mass should be supported.
One of the sadder aspects of the meeting was the rivalry between the SWP (NI)and the
Socialist Party(NI)When a member of one spoke inevitably a member of the other party
felt the need to get up and put their Party line. Even sadder was the almost cult like
repetition of a party line that calls on the working people of Iraq (or Palestine and Israel)
to build a socialist Government. Much of the sloganising does not take into account the
actual existing realities of life in Iraq or Palestine ignores questions of nationality and self
determination and transfers abstract concepts from a British perspective onto almost
every other country in the world. Such an attitude demeans socialism and alienate
potential supporters
John Martin
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The Socialist Workers Party
In Plough-3 we dealt with an article that Eamon McCann had written in the Belfast
Telegraph in which he had a sideswipe against the IRSP. We now see that the paper of
the SWP carries the same article. Does this mean that the politics of the Belfast Telegraph
and the SWP are the same? We don’t think so but surely this should cause some
questioning in the ranks of the SWP over the use of their pages to deliver snide
sideswipes at other socialists without any clear analysis.
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-THE WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION
-1. The WTO Is Fundamentally Undemocratic
The policies of the WTO impact all aspects of society and the planet, but it is not a
democratic, transparent institution. The WTO rules are written by and for corporations
with inside access to the negotiations. For example, the US Trade Representative gets
heavy input for negotiations from 17 "Industry Sector Advisory Committees." Citizen
input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labour organizations is consistently
ignored. Even simple requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in
secret. Who elected this secret global government?
2. The WTO Will Not Make Us Safer
The WTO would like you to believe that creating a world of "free trade" will promote
global understanding and peace. On the contrary, the domination of international trade by
rich countries for the benefit of their individual interests fuels anger and resentment that
make us less safe.
3. The WTO Tramples Labour and Human Rights
WTO rules put the "rights" of corporations to profit over human and labour rights. The
WTO encourages a 'race to the bottom' in wages by pitting workers against each other
rather than promoting internationally recognized labour standards. The WTO has ruled
that it is illegal for a government to ban a product based on the way it is produced, such
as with child labour. It has also ruled that governments cannot take into account "non
commercial values" such as human rights, or the behaviour of companies that do business
with vicious dictatorships such as Burma when making purchasing decisions.
4. The WTO Would Privatise Essential Services The WTO is seeking to privatise
essential public services such as education, health care, energy and water. Privatisation
means the selling off of public assets - such as radio airwaves or schools - to private
(usually foreign) corporations, to run for profit rather than the public good. The WTO's
General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, includes a list of about 160
threatened services including elder and child care, sewage, garbage, park maintenance,
telecommunications, construction, banking, insurance, transportation, shipping, postal
services, and tourism. In some countries, privatisation is already occurring. Those least
able to pay for vital services - working class communities and communities of colour -
are the ones who suffer the most.
5. The WTO Is Destroying the Environment
The WTO is being used by corporations to dismantle hard-won local and national
environmental protections, which are attacked as "barriers to trade." The very first WTO
panel ruled that a provision of the US Clean Air Act, requiring both domestic and foreign
producers alike to produce cleaner gasoline, was illegal. The WTO declared illegal a
provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires shrimp sold in the US to be caught
with an inexpensive device allowing endangered sea turtles to escape. The WTO is
attempting to deregulate industries including logging, fishing, water utilities, and energy
distribution, which will lead to further exploitation of these natural resources.
6. The WTO is Killing People
The WTO's fierce defence of 'Trade Related Intellectual Property' rights (TRIPs)-patents
copyrights and trademarks-comes at the expense of health and human lives. The
organization's support for pharmaceutical companies against governments seeking to
protect their people's health has had serious implications for places like sub-Saharan
Africa, where 80 percent of the world's new AIDS cases are found. Developing countries
won an important victory in 2001 in Doha, Qatar, when the important life-saving
mechanisms of parallel importing and compulsory licensing were agreed to, so that
countries could provide essential life-saving medicines to their populations less
expensively..
7. The WTO is Increasing Inequality
Free trade is not working for the majority of the world. During the most recent period of
rapid growth in global trade and investment (1960 to 1998) inequality worsened both
internationally and within countries. The UN Development Program reports that the
richest 20 percent of the world's population consume 86 percent of the world's resources
while the poorest 80 percent consume just 14 percent. WTO rules have hastened these
trends by opening up countries to foreign investment and thereby making it easier for
production to go where the labour is cheapest and most easily exploited and
environmental costs are low.
8. The WTO is Increasing Hunger
Farmers produce enough food in the world to feed everyone -- yet because of corporate
control of food distribution, as many as 800 million people worldwide suffer from
chronic malnutrition. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, food is a
human right. In developing countries, as many as four out of every five people make their
living from the land. But the leading principle in the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture is
that market forces should control agricultural policies-rather than a national commitment
to guarantee food security and maintain decent family farmer incomes. WTO policies
have allowed dumping of heavily subsidized industrially produced food into poor
countries, undermining local production and increasing hunger.
9. The WTO Hurts Poor, Small Countries in Favour of Rich Powerful Nations
The WTO supposedly operates on a consensus basis, with equal decision-making power
for all. In reality, many important decisions get made in a process whereby poor
countries' negotiators are not even invited to closed door meetings -- and then
'agreements' are announced that poor countries didn't even know were being discussed.
Many countries do not even have enough trade personnel to participate in all the
negotiations or to even have a permanent representative at the WTO. This severely
disadvantages poor countries from representing their interests. Likewise, many countries
are too poor to defend themselves from WTO challenges from the rich countries, and
change their laws rather than pay for their own defence.
10. The WTO Undermines Local Level Decision-Making and National Sovereignty
The WTO's "most favoured nation" provision requires all WTO member countries to treat
each other equally and to treat all corporations from these countries equally regardless of
their track record. Local policies aimed at rewarding companies who hire local residents,
use domestic materials, or adopt environmentally sound practices are essentially illegal
under the WTO. Developing countries are prohibited from creating local laws that
developed countries once pursued, such as protecting new, domestic industries until they
can be internationally competitive..
11. There are Alternatives to the WTO
Citizen organizations have developed alternatives to the corporate-dominated system of
international economic governance. Together we can build the political space that
nurtures a democratic global economy that promotes jobs, ensures that every person is
guaranteed their human rights to food, water, education, and health care, promotes
freedom and security, and preserves our shared environment for future generations.
12. The Tide is Turning Against Free Trade and the WTO!
There is a growing international backlash against the WTO. The massive protests in
Seattle of 1999 brought over 50,000 people together to oppose the WTO - and succeeded
in shutting the meeting down. When the WTO met in 2001 Qatar, the Trade negotiators
were unable meet their goals of dramatically expanding the WTO's reach. The WTO
plans to meet in Cancún, Mexico this September 10-14, so now's the time to mobilize to
express our opposition.
Source: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/wto/OpposeWTO.html
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WELCOMING A TERRORIST - Ariel Sharon
On Monday, despite protests from many quarters, India rolled out for its Israeli guest the
proverbial red carpet, literally red with blood. Today, he stands out as the most successful
symbol of terrorism at its ruthless and remorseless worst. He is not only the prime
minister of a state (of Israel) created and sustained by terrorism, but was himself an active
terrorist in his younger days. It is no exaggeration to claim that three Jewish terrorist
gangs, namely the Hagannah, the Irqun and the Stern Gang, created the state of Israel.
Between the end of the war in Europe, in May 1945 and the creation of Israel, in May
1948, they brought from Europe around 45,000-armed Jewish refugees—in the most
spectacular act of ‘cross-border’ terrorism—to exhaust the patience of the British
colonialists and to drive out or to coerce into submission the local Arab population. They
were remarkably successful in creating a Jewish state comprising around 78% of
Palestine, where till the outbreak of the Second World War the Jews numbered less than a
lakh out of a total population of about 5 million—the rest being Arab Muslims. They
succeeded mainly because they could effectively tap the near-universal sympathy they
received as victims of the Nazi holocaust, in which between 5 to 6 million European Jews
were believed to have been killed in cold blood. Emotionally the world approved of the
idea of a Jewish homeland, without a rational examination of its inevitable consequences.
The victors were anti-Arab in their inclinations, because the pro-German activities of
men, like Rashid Ali Geelani in Iraq and of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. Besides, the
Western powers, especially the US, wanted to have in the new state of Israel an outpost
of their influence in the heart of the Muslim Middle-East. The Soviet Union too, for once,
agreed with them, because it would enable them get rid of their troublesome Jewish
population, peacefully. So, the state of Israel was created in what was till then Palestine,
on 16 May 1948. But, the price that the world paid in human terms for the creation of
Israel was high indeed. Between the murder of the British minister, Lord Moyne, in 1944
and that of the UN representative, Ralph Bunche in 1948 Palestine, known as the Holy
Land, was the scene of some of the cruellest acts of terrorism the world has seen, so far.
On 22 July 1946 the Irgun blew up the King David Hotel at Jerusalem and killed 91
people and in March 1947, 14 were killed when the British Officers Club there was
targeted. In between, the worst massacre was carried out when 245 Arabs were killed at
Deir Yasin. Even many Israelis were shocked by this wanton cruelty. But, the perpetrator
of this massacre, Menachim Begin, who later became Israel’s prime minister, justified his
action by saying; “There would have been no state of Israel without the victory at
Deir Yasin”.
Later, our honoured guest, Ariel Sharon himself carried out a commando attack on the
Arab village of Qibliya killing 69 of its inhabitants. The terror tactics that he later used to
stun, expel or to eliminate Arabs in Gaza in 1971 and in their refugee camps at Sabra and
Chatilla in Lebanon, in September 1982, now forms a part of history. As six young Israeli
officers told the press in May 1982 about their experience in the West Bank, “the daily
reality in the territories is one of violence and brutality”. The indiscriminate and
unrestrained use of tanks, mortars and missiles that he as the prime minister has
unleashed on the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza as well as on their refugee camps in
neighbouring Lebanon are the daily stuff of the world media. He has also passed a rabidly
racist law prohibiting Israeli Arabs from bringing in their Palestinian spouses. Now, he is
engaged in building an 8 metre high and 650 KM long wall to keep the West Bank
separate from Israel. And, remember, Israel so far is the only state that has for 36 years
defied the UN resolution asking it to vacate the Golan Heights occupied unlawfully since
1967.
Still, India is now seeking the warm embrace of a terrorist state for our so-called fight
against global terrorism. The powers that he have suddenly forgotten India’s glorious past
of anti-colonialism and fight for justice for the under-dog and are trying to cosy up to
those and their minions who are ever on the alert to seek out any potential challenge or
opposition and to snuff it out with massive application of modern fire-power. Now New
Delhi is openly speaking of an Indo-Israeli-US triangle to fight terrorism. India is busy
buying hi-tech weapons and other gadgets from them and is virtually justifying the
ruthless measures they are taking, in pure self-interest, in Afghanistan, Iraq and in
Palestine. Indian rulers have, obviously, found some thing encouraging in the visibly anti-
Muslim triangle of alliance with Israel and the US. They do not mind the hurt they inflict
on our 150 million Muslims, or the suspicion we thus arouse across the entire arch of
Islam from Indonesia to Morocco through our well-advertised change of side. Perhaps
they welcome a consolidation of their anti-Muslim vote bank. In any case, they have
converted the one-time champion of anti-colonialism into a seeker of crumbs beside the
neo-colonialists’ table. What a fall?
Kashmir Times is published in the Hindu heartland of Kashmir, in the city of Jammu in Indian-occupied
Kashmir. Its publishers/editors are Kashmiri Hindus. It is a progressive paper and editorially fully supports
the majority (Muslim) Kashmiri resistance to Indian occupation and for Kashmiri self-determination. Its
editor, Ved Bhasin is highly respected by the Kashmiri people for his outspoken support for Kashmiri
independence.
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FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Lee Kyung-hae, a South Korean farmer and activist, has killed himself at the fences in Cancun
behind which the WTO are meeting. His suicide was designed to highlight the plight that farmers
across the world are facing thanks to the policies of the WTO and against their illegitimate
meeting in Cancun.
Already tens of thousands of other farmers, workers, students and peasants have been converging
on the city to oppose the policies of the WTO. Globalise Resistance have called a demonstration
outside City Hall in solidarity with those demonstrating and we are encouraging as many people
as possible to join us against the organisation which puts profit before the needs of people across
the world. People should bring down placards, pots and pans, flags, banner… basically anything
to make a lively demo.
These people aren’t only demonstrating for their own livelihoods, they are also demonstrating
against the water charges we face here at home, the bin charges down south and against the sell
off of our schools and hospitals.
SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE WTO
SOLIDARITY WITH DEMONSTRATIONS IN CANCUN
SATURDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER
3.30PM, OUTSIDE CITY HALL, BELFAST
FROM Dan Buckley- grbelfast@yahoo.co.uk -07762363147
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Subject: Belfast Anti Racist Meeting
For circulation
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Over the past while we have seen the rise of racist incidents and attacks on ethnic
minorities around Northern Ireland. We have also seen the overt rise of racist material,
graffiti and groups springing up in various areas. This would be of concern to all those
progressive forces that looking to seek a socially just and inclusive society. Following a
recent meeting held in the Multi Cultural Resource Centre in Belfast attended by human
rights organisations, ethnic minority support groups, Asylum seeker lawyers,
practitioners, development organisations, and other interested parties, it was decided a
second meting should be held. This meeting is to discuss any practical and visible
strategies that can be developed to raise awareness and to tackle this increasing problem.
Various groups and organisations are and have been actively trying to tackle this problem
but it was suggested a broader meeting to discuss all the various strategies and maybe
finding some practical activity together, could be yet another way of helping to bring this
issue to the fore.
The meeting is to be held in the Multi Cultural Resource centre, Sept
17th at 7pm. Address 9 Lower Crescent Bt7. {The street across
from the Empire, and is beside the One World Centre in S/Belfast}.
Those groups, organisations and individuals who would be interested in
attending the meeting are welcome. It will be informal and open to all
to have an input. For further information contact Nathalie at the Multi
Cultural Resource Centre at Nathalie@mcrc-ni.org or alternatively you
can contact myself at carlindavid@hotmail.com, PH 07974632485.
Davy Carlin
Agreed Convener
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NO HUMANIS ILLEGAL
Public meeting-Liberty Hall, Dublin-7.30pm WEDS SEPT 17th
Speakers:
Elizabeth Adeyinka Salako (Mother of Irish children- facing deportation) Dr Ronit
Lentin (Ethnic and Racial Studies, Trinity College)
Joe Carolan (Globalise Resistance Rosanna Flynn (Residents Against Racism)
and speaker from SIPTU
Eleven thousand asylum seekers face immediate deportation under new laws announced
by Minister of Injustice Michael Mc Dowell. On 17 July Mc Dowell announced that
parents of Irish children were also to be deported- his officials immediately issued the
first 400 notices of deportation. They were told that they only had 15 days to appeal- but
without legal aid for a process that could cost between 2-4,000 euro.
This follows a disgraceful Supreme Court decision in February removing the right of
parents to remain with Irish born children. While these Irish children cannot be legally
deported, they will be forced to leave the country with their families. In effect, this marks
the beginning of a new definition of what it means to be Irish- it will now be officially
racialised.
FF/PDs scapegoat immigrants for their own mistakes
Ireland is now the most globalised economy in the world. Giant multinationals are free to
open (and all too often, close) their factories here, with huge tax breaks and subsidies.
They expatriate billions of euros profit from Ireland everyday- in reality; they are the real
parasites. Their friends in Fianna Fail and the PDs always boast how this corporate
globalisation is good for Ireland, yet they are now attacking the human face of
globalisation: a multicultural Ireland, whose children have parents from elsewhere.
Fianna Fail and the PDs are deeply unpopular- they won the last election by pretending
that the Celtic Tiger boom would continue. The economy is going into recession, and
they have made a mess of our hospitals, public transport and services. Now, rather than
have us turn our anger on them and their rich friends who ripped this country off during
the boom, they want us to scapegoat immigrants to take attention off themselves. Human
Globalisation versus Corporate Globalisation
Globalise Resistance believes that everybody has the right to live and work in this new
global economy. If capital and corporations are free to move around the world, then so
too should people. We oppose all forms of racism, whether on the streets or from official
channels. We think ordinary people have more in common with each other than with the
governments or corporations, and that we should unite for a multicultural world free from
racism, hunger and war. We agree with the revolutionary James Connolly, who in the
1916 proclamation declared that all the children of the nation should be cherished
equally. That means not ripping their families apart.
Globalise Resistance needs volunteers to help with the resistance to McDowell's
deportations. If you can help in any way, please text us at 087
9032281 or email us at nohumanisillegal@yahoo.com
NO BORDERS, NO FRONTIERSIMMIGRANTS
ARE WELCOME HERE!
www.freewebs.com/globalise
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Robert Emmet
With plans by RTÉ to screen a 'Mint Production' documentary on
Robert Emmet on the anniversary of his execution (i.e. September
20th) people may be interested to know that a commemoration to
mark the 200th Anniversary of the execution of Robert Emmet will be
held in Dublin on Saturday, September 20th next; the procession
will assemble at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square at 1.30
pm and march to St Catherine's Church in Thomas Street, where those
present will be addressed by author Seán Ó Brádaigh.
(From R.S.F.)
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The 3rd All Ireland Social Forum Gathering
Cooperation not Competition
Human Rights Not Privatisation
Sunday, September 21st
10:30-5:30, followed by evening social events
Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Rd.
Belfast
The NEISF is organising a one-day event under the title 'Cooperation not Competition,
Human Rights not Privatisation'. The event will examine issues of privatisation, neoliberalism,
human rights, peace and democracy. The gathering will also discuss the future
development of the Irish Social Forum and its European and World counterparts. This
event is open to all those involved in the evolving Irish Social Forum networks, all those
who are opposed to neo liberalism, privatisation and global capitalism and all those who
believe that 'another world is possible.'
Agenda
Morning Plenary Discussion: 10.30 - 12.00
Neo-Liberalism - From the local to the global
Communities Against Water Tax (Manus Maguire), Fire brigades Union (Jim Barbour),
ICTU (Alisa Keane), Refugee Rights (Refugee Action Group). Chair (Emily Kawano)
Morning Workshops: 12.15 - 1.45
Workshops on
- Trade justice
- Anti war
- Another world is possible
- Poverty
- Ireland in the global economy
- Consensus facilitation skills
- Ghandi’s
- Open
- Open
- Open
Lunch: 1.45 - 2.45
Food Not Bombs
Lunch will take the form of a public food Not Bombs event at the Venue.
Afternoon Discussion: 3.00 - 5.30
The Future of the ISF
The agenda of this session will not be set until one week before the event. Participants
should feel free to e-mail their suggestions or issues they would like to discuss by
September 15th. Possible elements to the session could be:
- Reports from regional social forums
- Workshops on specific themes such as ISF national structure, priorities etc.
- Open plenary to discuss workshop report backs and decision making on way forward
Social Event: 7.00
Theatre followed by,
World Music Disco, with resident DJ Steve Mc in Crescent Arts Centre
Additional Details
For more information or to suggest topics for workshops or the afternoon ISF
Session contact:
Eoin O'Broin at eoinobroin@hotmail.com
John Barry at j.barry@qub.ac.uk
Emily Kawano at neisf@ntlworld.com
Childcare
If you would like to register for childcare provided on-site, please rsvp to Emily Kawano,
neisf@ntlworld.com or phone 9060 5091. Please provide name and age of each child,
special needs and your contact details. There may be a small fee charged per child
(approx. £3-£5). Spaces are limited, so please reply ASAP.
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IRSP General Belfast meeting Tuesday September 23rd September 2003-09-11
Open to all Party members sympathisers and friends.
For more details contact
johnmartinps@eircom.net
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International Day of Action Dublin/Belfast Saturday
27TH September march against the War
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The Annual Seamus Costello Anniversary Commemoration will take place on
Sunday 5th of October, Assembly Point Old Town Hall Little Bray. March and
Rally with Band and Colour Party. Main Speaker will be Ex Political Prisoner and
Blanket man, IRSP Ard Comhairle Member, Paul Little.
Seamus Costello Remembered
26th Anniversary Commemoration
Organized By the IRSP Commemoration Committee. Contact and Transport
Details, Contact Daithi on 0877570109 or Dublinirsp@hotmail.com. All Welcome.
"I Owe My allegiance to the Working Class" Seamus Costello
GEORGE MONBIOT
George Monbiot, a regular feature writer in The Guardian, is the author
of Captive State and The Age of Consent. The One World Centre, The
New Ireland Group and The de Borda Institute have organised the
following events:
1 GEORGE MONBIOT The 2nd One World Centre annual lecture,
12 noon to 2 p.m., Thursday 9th October, Room G07, Peter
Frogatt Building, Queen’s University. Everyone welcome.
Further information available from The One World Centre, 4
Lower Crescent, Belfast BT7 1NR, Tel 90241879, e-mail
stephen@owcni.org.uk
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2 GEORGE MONBIOT “Unionism, Nationalism or
Globalisation?” 7.30 for 7.45 p.m. on Thursday 9th October, in
The Elmwood Hall, Belfast Tickets £5 (concessions £2.50),
includes a free glass of organic wine from the Belfast Food Coop.
Tickets and further information available from either The New Ireland
Group, 7 Slievedarragh Park, Belfast BT14 8J
sec.newirelandgroup@ntlworld.com or The de Borda Institute, 36
Ballysillan Road, Belfast BT14 7QQ pemerson@deborda.org
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James Byrne Commemoration Committee >
1st November 2003-09-11 Monument Unveiling & 90th Anniversary
Commemoration
Assemble 2pm Main Entrance Deansgrange Cemetery, Deansgrange, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
The newly-commissioned monument over the grave of Trade Union >Martyr, James
Byrne, District Organiser, ITG&WU, who died on 1st November 1913 following a
hunger & thirst strike during the Great >Lock-Out 1913 will be unveiled by Des
Geraghty, President, SIPTU. All trade unionists, political activists and members of the
Public >welcome!
[No Party Political Banners, please!]
The James Byrne Commemoration Committee has organised the erection of a fitting
memorial over the grave in Deansgrange Cemetery [Co. >Dublin, Ireland] of James
Byrne, a trade union martyr who died on >1st November 1913 as a result of the effects of
a hunger and thirst >strike during imprisonment for his role in the Great Lock-Out of that
year. James was District Organiser of the Irish Transport & >General Workers Union and
held leadership roles in both Bray and >Kingstown [Dún Laoghaire] Trades Councils.
In the course of James Byrne’s funeral oration James Connolly said:
”James Byrne truly died a martyr as any man who ever died for Ireland”
The Committee believes that the monument is a fitting tribute to >James Byrne and hopes
that his grave may become a place of >pilgrimage and source of inspiration for trade
unionists and >socialists in the future. We are particularly pleased that the descendents of
James Byrne are fully supportive of the work of the >Committee.
Jason Mc Lean. PRO- James Byrne Commemoration Committee.
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European Social Forum Paris, St Denis 12-15 November
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