LookLeft Issue 6

8/6/2019 LookLeft Issue 6

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Published by TheWorkers Party48 North GreatGeorges StreetDublin 1

Printed inCo. Meath

Editorial:

Editorial Board

International Editor

Production manager

Designer

Front Page

Michael FinneganKevin BranniganSean GarlandFrancis DonohoeJohn Lowry

Ultn Gillen

Kevin Brannigan

Sean Cooley

ISSN 2009 3179

web: [email protected]

6-7:

8-9:

11:

16-18:

12-15:

23:

White Noise, bleak hope

Irish media crisis.Gavin Titley looks at how the SouthernMedia have fared since 2008Opinions from the LeftPaul Murphy MEP, Cian OCallaghan andMichael Finnegan are this issuesopinion formersInterview with JoanCollins ULA TDKevin Brannigan meets with the

community activist now ULA TDThe Real EconomyStewart Reddin, Conor McCabe andJustin OHagan discuss topics from natu-ral resources to the Belfast MTV awards.Give my Head PoliticsThe University of Ulsters Stephen Bakerand Greg McLaughlin analyse how thepolitics of the Peace Process have beenhandled by the Northern mediaInterview with MarkThomasKevin Squires meets the sociallyengaged comedian to discuss his newbook Extreme Rambling.Dirty old town done upFreda Hughes explores the oftenspotted lesser heard world of DublinGraffiti artists

The people will believe what the

media tells them they believe.

- George Orwell

The determination of Irish conser-

vatism cannot be doubted. Despitethe neo-liberal agenda of deregula-

tion, privatisation, speculation and

attacks on workers living standards

having brought social and economic

ruination they do not halt but seek

only to redouble their efforts.

But such an approach, which ies in

the face of the majoritys interests,

can only thrive in a climate nurtured

by a media that acts as cheerleader

rather than critical observer.

With its elite ownership and ties to

speculation, Ireland does not have

a free media. When trade unions

have dared raise a voice to cry stop

the media moves from lap dog to at-

tack dog. In the face of all evidence

its workers representatives who are

decried as economic wreckers

while the elite are given free rein to

spout their failed ideology.

Even more perversely in North-

ern Ireland editorials demand that

the economy is forced to follow

the failed southern agenda. That planned economic development is

dispensed with in favour of prosti-

tuting the economy to tax avoiding

multinational corporations.

Even now, when we need a stern

critical approach towards the inten-

tions of German chancellor Angela

Merkel and the European elite with

their self declared aim of utilising an

economic crisis of their own mak-

ing to further European economic

and political union on their terms

our EU masters are portrayed as

saviours, not loan sharks forcing us

to pay for the gambling debts of a

gombeen elite.

LookLeft recently marked its rst

year under its current editorial board.

All we can hope is to have made a

mere pin prick in the establishment

media juggernaut which allows Ire-

lands economic and social tragedy

to continue.

28-29:

Caroline Murray

Some LookLeft Highlights:

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Need to tackle

protestantworking classunder - achievement

A worker not a criminal

Coalitionback-trackon CorkHospital

In Northern Ireland protestantboys from working class back-grounds tend to get poorer exam

results than other kids according to newresearch.

Launching the report, A Call to Ac-

tion, Educational: Disadvantage andthe Protestant Working Class, East Bel-fast Independent MLA Dawn Purvissaid she was Tired of working classunderachievement being an academicsubject and an accepted norm and itwas now time to form a task-force totackle the issue head on.

The report indicates that amongst ur-ban boys in receipt of Free School MealEntitlement (FSME) 25.8% of protes-tant boys gained 5 A*-C GCSEs com-pared with 40.6% of catholic boys.

Entitlement to free school dinners is

used as a marker of relative deprivation.

On the 27th of August2009, a oating pick-et took place in

Dublin Port, duringwhich a numberof small crafthalted thep r o g r e s sof largerc a r g oships fora shortp e r i o d .Eighteenm o n t h slater GerardM c D o n n e l l

was arrested andis now facing threeseparate charges under theHarbours act 1996 and MaritimeSafety Act 2005 which could re-sult in a ne of up to 250,000.

Neither the Dublin Port Com-pany nor the company at the cen-tre of the dispute, MTL, are pur-suing the legal action against the

For non-FSME pupils the achievementgap between protestant and catholicboys narrows considerably to 63.9%and 71.8% respectively. The data onwhich the gures are based relates tothe 2008-09 school year.

The principal nding of the reportis that up to 80% of differences in edu-cational attainment relate to factorsoutside the classroom and school.

Purvis said it was clear the reportsndings could be applied to generalworking class education disadvantageand it was not her intention to enterinto, or promote, any sort of zero-sumcompetition with other educationalsectors.

Full report can be downloaded atwww.dawnpurvis.com

See Citizens in the cradle; p10

Ringsend worker. Local community activistshave expressed dismay that Garda have de-

cided to focus resources on this case rather

than serious anti-social activity inthe locality.Throughout the eightmonth MTL dock work-

ers strike, support forthe strikers was tre-mendous. Supportersmarched on the MTLterminal, and also tar-geted those with linksto the company in

Ireland and abroad, in-cluding Deutsche Bank,

Dunnes Stores and even

the Board of Celtic footballclub. Following intervention from

the International Transport Workers Fed-eration (ITF) the strike was concluded withsome jobs saved and some, including Gerard,made redundant. Following two court appear-ances, Gerard is scheduled to appear againbefore the circuit court later this summer.

For more information contact:[email protected]

During the general election FineGaels new Cork North CentralTD Dara Murphy gave strong

assurances that St. Marys OrthopaedicHospital would be retained. Murphy alsostated that his then party health spokes-man, now minister for health, Dr. JamesReilly was likewise committed to retain-ing services there.

Dr. Reillys cast iron guarantee hassince changed to keeping the hosp-tials services pending a review whichwas called following a HSE decision inMarch to begin construction of a neworthopaedic unit at the South InrmaryHospital.

This work has been halted pending thereview but not cancelled, meaning thefuture of the last remaining hospital onCorks Northside remains in great uncer-tainty.

Councillor Ted Tynan, a long-timecampaigner for the Northside hospital,has described the review as a smoke-

screen to confuse people.He has called on the Northside coali-tion deputies, Labour junior ministerKathleen Lynch and Dara Murphy tocome out with clear statements on theOrthopaedic Hospitals future.

People are fed up of being lied to byboth the previous government and thenew coalition and they are fed up ofbeing fobbed off with false promises.Those who gave cast iron commitmentsto keeping the Orthopaedic open shouldcome clean now and tell the peoplewhether or not their election promises

have been abandoned, said Cllr Tynan.

Justin OHagan

Joe Mooney

NEWS

John Jefferies



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Special Branch attention turnedon student activists

Dublin City councillor Cieran Perry has condemned pro-posals to turn Croppies Acre, in central Dublin, into vea-side pitches. He said the proposals by architects Doug-

las Carson and Rosaleen Crushell showed a fundamental ignoranceof the nature of the Croppies Acre.

The Croppies Acre is the nal resting of the United Irishmen ofDublin who rose for Liberty in 1798. These Catholics, Protestantsand Dissenters were united by a desire to secure independence fortheir country. They fought and died together for a non-sectarianIrish Republic. It is an outrageous insult to their memory to suggestthat football be played over their graves, Cllr Perry said.

The unveiling of a plaque by the North Inner City Folk-lore group to Patrick Heeney in Railway Street, Dublin,has been welcomed by WP representitve Malachy Steen-

son. The plaque commemorates the man who in 1907 wrotethe music of Amhrn na bhFiann (The Soldiers Song) at 101Mecklenburgh Street (renamed Railway Street). Patrick Hee-ney never lived to see his music become famous; he died inabject poverty in 1911 aged 29.

Steenson said; We live in a city surrounded by the history ofnational and working class struggle it is well past time that weremember this in both commemoration and action.

Rent Strike call over deplorablehousing conditions

Ayoung Dublin based student hadhis trip from his parents hometo college interrupted recently

when he found himself in the back of aSpecial Branch car being whizzed offto spend a day answering questions in asouth Dublin Garda station holding cell.

The rst year student (who wishes to re-main anonymous) had recently joined the

Residents of the Balgaddy hous-

ing estate, Lucan, must consid-er a rent strike to resolve gross

violations of human rights, suffered as aconsequence of appallingly low buildingstandards, according to Workers PartyPresident Mick Finnegan .

Balgaddy urban village was awardedbest housing design in the 2004 RoyalInstitute of Architects of Ireland awards.

South Dublin County Council awardedGama Construction the tender to con-struct the houses and construction wascompleted in a number of phases in 2004and 2007.

Balgaddy Residents have documenteda litiney of health and safety issues withtheir homes many of which are infestedwith mould, damp, mildew and have wa-ter marks visible on walls.

Noeleen Cooney described how Everytime anyone has a bath, it leaks into mykitchen and this has been happening for anumber of years. The county council said

Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and hadalso become involved in anti-fees cam-paigning.

During his day in custody in Februaryhe was asked questions relating to FreeEducation for Everyone (FEE) activitiesand was told by one of his interview-ers that newly elected ULA TD RichardBoyd Barrett had links to dissident Re-

that there were records showing that they

have called to my house to carry out re-pairs but I didnt have anyone calling tomy house.

Mary Conney said; We do not drink thewater in the house because of the smellthat comes from the tap. One day it is thesmell of sewage and the next it is like dis-infectant.

Mary continued, I was t and healthyuntil I moved into this house, now I amon medication as the conditions have af-fected my liver and I have to have a liverbiopsy. I feel let down by the council andcannot believe they are letting people andfamilies live in these conditions.

Mick Finnegan, the Lucan Workers Partyrepresentative and a former constructionsector trade unionist, told LookLeft: Aninvestigation into how this was allowedto happen must be launched. The sub-standard work is a scandal. Where werethe people who were supposed to ensurethat the work was carried out to the high-

Kevin Brannigan

Paul Dillonest standard? That needs to be answered.

You have to learn the lesson-you can-not build cheap houses. The departmentof the environment needs to be involvedin an investigation and resolution of theseissues. The Balgaddy group has done tre-mendous work, and have been very capa-ble of putting forward the case on behalfof the tenants. They deserve to win theirbattle and we support them to be full. Thebuilders must carry out the repairs or beforced to repay the council.

In a statement South Dublin CountyCouncil told LookLeft; The condensa-tion problem is common to most new so-

cial housing and will be resolved throughphysical remedial works and tenantcooperation. It would be a shame to tarthis growing and improving area with ablack brush condemning its tenants to abad name as has happened so often in thepast.

LookLeft intends to maintain a focuson housing issues in Balgaddy and else-where.

publicans. He was also being questionedabout anarchist and republican groupsand shown pictures of himself in Dublin

city centre and on student marches.Such activity is not new to the Special

Branch which has a long history of tak-ing a keen interest in student activists andyouth wing members of non-establish-ment political groupings.

Among other recent incidents was avisit by Special Branch to the parentsof a former member of the CommunistParty of Ireland linked Connolly YouthMovement to ll them in on the youngpolitical activists activity.

Croppies Acre Soldiers Song writerremembered



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Glasgow students sit-in

As the National Debt grows, so do efforts to dump it

Workers Party Northern IrelandElection Candidates

The Assembly might beworking for Sinn Fein and

the DUP but its not deliv-ering for the rest of us. The PeaceProcess has served its purpose. Itstime to move on to the DemocraticProcess.

Thats why the Workers Party iscalling for the democratisation ofour institutions and an end to poli-tics by sectarian headcount.

Its time for a principled Left al-ternative at Stormont that is neithercatholic nor protestant, nationalistnor unionist. With the WorkersParty we can build that new politi-cal space. Start on the road to a newNorthern Ireland vote socialist, voteWorkers Party on May 5th.

In areas where the Workers Par-ty does not have a candidate we

would ask supporters to votefor those who propose genuinesocialist solutions to Northern

Irelands problems, oppose thecutback agenda and are active intheir opposition to sectarianism.

In the Assembly and LocalGovernment elections the Work-ers Party will be focusing on

ve key areas:1. A new politics for NorthernIreland2. The Economy3. Fighting the Stormont Cuts4. Opposing Sectarianism5. The Environment

The full Workers Party mani-festo is available at; workerspar-tyelection.wordpress.comThe Workers Party is standingfour candidates in Belfast:Pictured left to right are:Paddy Lynn (South Belfast,Lagan Bank)John Lavery (North Belfast,Castle Ward)Kevin McNally (East Belfast,Pottinger), andJohn Lowry (West Belfast, LowerFalls)

A

sit-in by Glasgow Univer-sity students is on going sinceFebruary 1st in the University

owned Hetherington Research Club. Thestudents are using the closure of the postgraduate club as an opportunity to con-front the university authorities on theirpolicies regarding an increase in tuitionfees and job cuts.

The building is now a place where dif-ferent activists and groups can come to-gether to discuss and debate ideas.

On March 22nd the university authori-ties called in the police to evict the pro-testers. There were around 20 students inthe building but the operation involvedaround 50 police, 12 vehicles and a po-lice helicopter. Word quickly spread andhundreds of students gathered outside thebuilding to support their fellow students.

Undeterred by the eviction the stu-dents proceeded to occupy the luxuriousTurnbill and Melville rooms used forevents and entertaining. The studentshave since returned to the Hetheringtonbuilding where they keep a constant vigil

Wilma Kennyand are determined to stay put until theirdemands are met. They spend their timestudying and hosting events which haveincluded visits by singer Billy Bragg andlm director Ken Loach.

Rachel, who is involved in the protest,said: I thought it was a brilliant idea tobreak in and occupy the Hetherington, aspace that was closed down without con-sultation from those that it was createdfor. It had been lying empty for a year.Weve taken it back for all students andstood up to the management. Weve cre-ated something important and unique toScotland.

Kevin Squires

The republics National Debt nowstands at more than 101 billion thats over 22,000 per person!

Of course, this is not the publics debtIt is mainly private banking debt whichthe Fianna Fail/Green government so-cialised.

The new Fine Gael/Labour governmenthas carried on in the same manner, toss-ing a further 24 billion down the bank-ing black hole in early April.

In response there has been a range ofcampaigns launched. The Workers Partyhave called for a referendum that would

guarantee the primacy of the common

good and social justice asserted in Ar-ticle 43 of the Irish constitution, whichwould result in the reversal of the bankbailout. www.wedemanddemocracy.ie

The Communist Party of Ireland arecampaigning for a similar referendum,producing a comprehensive booklet onthe crisis called Repudiate the Debt. ThePeople Before Prot Alliance and Inde-pendent TDs have begun the Enoughcampaign seeking a referendum on theIMF/EU loan.

Other groups like Debt and Develop-ment and Afri are looking at protest tac-tics like those used by the British group

UK Uncut, while the 1% Network con-tinues street theatre awareness raising.

It is abundantly clear that dumping thedebt and the IMF/EU deal is - and should

be - the main focus for progressive Irishgroups and citizens. The above tacticsarent mutually exclusive; instead theycan be seen as complimentary. Its to behoped that - in the interests of the vast majority of Irish people - these groups cancome together at some level and consoli-date a concerted campaign that can buildan effective nationwide resistance. A WPspokesman said; This campign must en-sure the people can vote on the bailout andIMF/EU deal in a ballot along with otherreferendum questions concerning theplace of the child in the consititution andDil enquiries, on a Referendum Day.



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something else; that those evangelizingthe neoliberal mutation are currentlyclinging to an analysis and set of pre-scriptions that are fast unraveling in adeepening global crisis.

This, perhaps, is the bleak hope: the

general normalization of the austerityagenda, and the ction that this partlynaughty, partly unlucky little nation hasto take its pain, cannot survive contactwith the global context for long. Notbecause it will rationally be disproved,but because securing the magical natureof this reality requires more and morework, drawing more and more attentionto its operations. Maybe this is too fan-ciful, but it is an attempt to think aboutwhat is emerging.

I was struck, listening to Morning Ire-land the morning after Black Thurs-

day, when further billions of euros waspoured into a broken banking system,by a kind of hysteria. A series of bank-ers and economists, with not even thepretence that a dissenting voice wouldbe interviewed, queued up to say that, infact, only 24 billion was a relief, andthat they really believed we have turneda corner. But this is not the really real forthe vast majority of people taking thepain in this country.

In the crisis, there are certain thingsthat can be expected from mainstreammedia that, at present, are in short sup-

ply. The new rhythms and pressures ofthe digital era, and reduced capacitiesfor investigative journalism, do not meanthat a concerted focus on the impact ofausterity on peoples lives and the so-cial fabric is not possible. The globalcrisis, as philosopher Alain Badioupoints out, is chiey reported like a Hol-lywood thriller with an elite cast, and itsimpacts on the cinema audience, sittingsuffering in the dark, underplayed or ig-nored. Similarly, there has been little at-tempt to report on and think through theconsequences and reactions to different

types of default. The situation in Irelandneeds to be meaningfully international-ized, beyond bare coverage of referendain Iceland and riots in Athens.

However, the bleak hope also requiresthe progressive and radical left to informand shape this internationalization, in-sistence on the toxic social costs of aus-terity, and the need, in a crisis, to thinkabout futures that cannot be put backtogether in the image of the past. Ste-phen Collins is right; it is time for somerabble-rousing, in mainstream discourseand a lot of other spaces besides.

The Jemmy

Hope ColumnAs a people, we are excluded from any share in framing the laws bywhich we are governed. The higher ranks usurped the exclusive exercise

of that privilege, as well as many other rights, by force, fraud, and fiction.

Pick of the Sindo.....

No umeployed need apply!

Headmaster and former GAA player Colm ORourke, Sunday Independent April 11th 2010

Economist Marc Coleman, Sunday Independent, May 23rd 2010

Writer Colm Tibn, Sunday Independent, Febrary 13th 2011

Bob Herbert, New York Times, February 21st 2011

Young people will have to work for less, too, and those

who complain that this is a most dreadful country and cantwait to get out of it should do just that. Get out, quick.

Academia must also change. The obsession with produc-ing only PhDs is the main reason the crisis happened.

According to the National Employment Law Project, atrend is growing among employers to not even considerthe applications of the unemployed for jobs... Among ex-amples offered by the project... was a phone manufacturerthat posted a job announcement with the message: NoUnemployed Candidate Will Be Considered At All, anda Texas electronics company that announced online thatit would not consider/review anyone NOT currently em-ployed regardless of the reason.

Since it is not fashionable, or even wise, nowadays toraise a glass to Charles Haughey, I will follow AnthonyCronin in suggesting that those of us who have cause tobe grateful to him, and to his policies, should wait untilwe are at home alone, and then we should turn off all thelights and raise a glass to him in the dark alone. Tell noone.



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The EUs silent revolution

A changing of the guard?

Paul Murphy,Socialist PartyDublin MEP

What European CommissionPresident Barroso has de-scribed as a silent revolu-

tion is underway in the European Union.A further diminution of democracy is be-ing pushed through in order to facilitatethe imposition of a permanent economicshock doctrine. Cutbacks, privatisationand downward pressure on wages will beinstitutionalised through the developmentof what is called economic governance.

Neo-liberal governments across Europeand a neo-liberal European Commissionare nothing new. However, the proposalsfor economic governance are an attemptto make these policies permanent, regard-less of movements of mass opposition.

There are three signicant elements tothese proposals. The rst is the surveil-lance of national budgets by the Euro-

pean Commission and Council. Budgetswill be presented to the Commission andCouncil for discussion and approval be-fore any debate in national parliaments.The purpose of these discussions is clear to put pressure on governments to en-sure that budgets are sufciently savagefor working people and generous for bigbusiness all in the name of maintainingand developing competitiveness.

The second element is a signicantstrengthening of the Growth and Stabil-ity Pact the pact which limits coun-tries public debt to 60% of GDP and

their annual decits to 3% of GDP. Newmechanisms are to be introduced to en-sure that countries stick to these targetsby cutting public spending. Offendingstates will have to pay 0.2% of their GDPinto a non-interest bearing account and ifthey do not follow the prescriptions of theCommission, they will lose this money asa ne, a procedure that can be repeatedup to a ne of 0.5% of GDP (around 700million for Ireland).

The nal element is the most sinisterand ill-dened a procedure to preventmacroeconomic imbalances. A series

of yet unknown parameters will be cre-

ated by the Commission and a scoreboardof austerity will be used to measure acountrys progress. The result is thatcountries could meet the Growth and Sta-bility criteria but still suffer massive nesas a sanction for not sufciently deregu-lating their labour market for example.

A case of right-wingpoliticians in Europeseizing an opportunity todeliver to big business

the policies that theyhave long demanded.

These proposals form part of a responseof the European capitalist classes to theeconomic crisis. They are an attempt toresist the inevitable break-up of the euro-zone by moving towards a common scalpolicy across the EU. By imposing nesand exercising surveillance they aim toensure that governments do not inch in

There are a number of positive

policy gains for the left wonby the Labour Party in the Pro-gramme for Government. Most notablythere are commitments to create a onetier universal healthcare system, to main-tain current rates of social welfare, securethe right to collective bargaining and em-phasise job creation. There is a commit-ment to reverse the minimum wage cutand the Freedom of Information Act is tobe extended with whistle-blower legisla-tion introduced. More powers are to bemoved to local government and CountyManagers are to be replaced with Chief

Excutives with more limited powers. The

use of Irish Airports and airspace for pur-poses not in line with the dictates of inter-national law will be prohibited.

However The Programme for Govern-ment makes little mention of the vast oiland gas resources that lie beneath ourseas. Four years ago the Department ofNatural Resources estimated that 10 bil-lion barrels of oil could be exploited fromthe Rockall, Porcupine, Celtic, SlyneDonegal and Kish basins.With advances

in oil drilling technology and dwindlingglobal oil supplies the oil and gas ba-sins which surround our island will beexploited in the coming years. Labourin government must immediately takeaction to ensure that this is done for thebenet of the Irish people rather than inthe interest of private corporations.

A closer look at the Programme forGovernment suggests that this is unlikelyto happen. Much of the failed politics ofFianna Fil and the right are still in place.The government is committed to the ex-pansion of the Rental Accommodation

Scheme which privatises social housing

imposing unpopular measures in the faceof major movements against cutbacks.

This is also a case of right-wing politi-cians in Europe seizing an opportunity todeliver to big business the policies thatthey have long demanded. The EuropeanRound Table of Industrialists (the mostprominent European big business group),in 2002 demanded that at the draftingstage, the implications of national budgetsand of major national scal policy mea-sures [should be] reviewed at the level ofthe Union exactly what is now beingproposed!

The Left must be to the fore in organ-ising resistance and opposition to work-ers being forced to pay for the economiccrisis in Ireland. Within that movement,we should highlight the fact that work-ers, young people and the unemployedin Portugal, Greece and across Europeare facing similar attacks. A Europe-widestruggle including co-ordinated industrialaction is needed to resist the Europe-wideausterity.

FORUM

CianOCallaghan,Labour PartyCouncillorFingal



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provision, the effective privatisation of anyremaining publicly run waste collectionservices, the Dutch/ Fine Gael model ofcompeting health insurers and the privati-sation of2 billion worth of state assets.Public Services that communities, unionsand the left have established over decadesof struggle will be attacked and squeezedwhile people on low incomes will be hitdisproportionately with the introduction ofmeasures such as water charges.

This agenda will no doubt meet with ap-proval from the the Doheny and Nesbittsschool of bar-room economic thoughtwhich has disastrously championed neo-liberal polices in Ireland over the last f-teen years. Rather than selling off state en-terprises we should be utilising them as abase for expanding economic activity, jobcreation and encouraging the creation ofspin off companies.

In the election people voted for changeand for the left in unprecedented numbers.The clear task and challenge for all on theleft is to continue to campaign and mobil-ise for radical, underlying and transforma-tive change rather than a continuation of

the failed politics of the right.

We are at a moment of real op-portunity for the left. We knowthat the people are angry; we

know that they are looking for change. Weknow that people want an alternative. Wealso know, however, that the institutionsthat serve capitalism the political estab-lishment and the media in particular aretelling them that There Is No Alternative:no alternative to falling wages, worseningworking conditions, higher prices, and re-duced living standards.

If the left is to take advantage of the cur-rent opportunity to make this truly a turn-ing point, if we are to carve out for our-selves a permanently larger presence inpolitical life and within civil society wemust articulate a socialist alternative,which focuses on protecting and develop-ing public services, and on job creation andeconomic development through deployingthe immense economic power of the state;and thirdly the deepening of cooperation

across the left in both the short and thelong term.

The only way we can possibly mountan effective opposition is by mobilisingthe entire broad left, and by attractingnew people to it. As we have seen with

the trade union sponsored demonstra-tions, the broad left as a whole can mo-bilise a huge section of the populationthat dwarfs the numbers that individualparties or even alliances of left partiescan hope to achieve. While we may dis-agree with elements of the worldview,programmes, or actions of other parties,trade unions or community organisa-tions, we must seek to build an allianceof all those committed to certain basicprogressive policies.

The only way we canpossibly mount an effec-tive opposition is by mo-bilising the entire broadleft, and by attractingnew people to it.

What then should the policies of theIrish left be over the next few years?As said earlier, we must promote so-cialism as the alternative; and followthe strategic goal of building a seriousradical left presence not just in electoral

politics but also in trade unions, in com-munity groups, and on the streets. Thisinvolves not just the traditional kinds ofhard work in workplaces and in commu-nities, but also serious work that mustbe done to elaborate and articulate ourvision. This means, drawing up more

detailed economic development plans,and we in political parties must buildon the good work being done by the likeof TASC so that we can demonstrate topeople that socialism is not just a moralconcern with fairness. It is a hard-head-

ed, practical programme grounded inthe reality of peoples lives, and withthe power to transform social relationsbetween our people.

This means building an alternativeculture, and it is here that progressivecommunity organisations have a vi-tal role to play. In alliance with tradeunions and political parties, they canhelp us involve wider sections of thepopulation, especially young people,in the struggle for progressive changein our society. Cultural activities canalso become a focus for greater leftcooperation. The Workers Party hastransformed our publication LookLeftinto a forum for broad left discussionand debate precisely as a means ofboth building left cooperation and inmaking left politics more attractive topeople who have left sympathies butare not involved in any political organ-isation. LookLeft continues to expandits readership, distribution network andits range of writers. We feel that it hasplayed a positive role so far, and that ithas the potential to play a greater rolein the future.

Although we still regard politics andthe state as being at the centre of thestruggle for socialism, building class-consciousness is more than a matterof building political parties, this meansdeveloping our culture activities and ex-ploiting new means of communications.

Building the Left

EducateAgitateOrganise

Collectively, we can make a difference. The Workers Party stands solely in theinterests of the working class. And by that we mean all workers, unemployed,

employed or retired. We are 100% committed to a democratic, secular, socialistprogramme. Against the odds the Workers Party has never wavered in our dedica-tion to these goals. So if you want to make a difference then its time you joined the

Workers Party in the struggle to build a new fairer country.Over the decades the Workers Party has built up an unrivalled collection of publica-tions on the struggle to build a democratic, secular, socialist Ireland. This library ofpamphlets is an unrivalled resource for progressive political activists and copies ofthese publications are available to purchase from party ofces. To learn more about

the Workers Party contact:WP Head ofce (Republic)48 North Great Georges Street,Dublin 1Telephone: (01) 8733 916Fax: (01) 874 8702

International: +353-1-8733916

WP Head ofce (N.Ireland)6 Springeld RoadBelfast, BT12 7AG

Telephone: (028) 90 328 663

Fax: (028) 90 333 475

Mick Finnegan,Workers PartyPresident



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Citizens in the cradleMary Diskin outlines the case for wider state intervention inorder to break a cycle of educational underachievement that hasentrapped some working class communities.

The recent publication ofEducational disadvantage

and the Protestant work-

ing class: A Call to Action is amuch broader assessment of howpoverty and inequality impact oneducational achievement than itstitle may infer.

Its principle nding, based on lo-cal, UK and international research,is that differences in educationalperformance lie, to a very largeextent, outside the school system.The research includes a LondonSchool of Economics study, whichanalysed nearly half a million in-dividual pupil attainment paths. Itfound that prior attainment, gen-der, free school meal entitlementand English as an additional lan-guage accounted for 92% of thevariance in later attainment in sec-ondary schools. Such ndings, theA Call to Action working groupstate, demonstrate that systemiceducational improvement will re-quire comprehensive, long-term

responses to inequality includingincreased health spending, betterhousing, innovative childcare strat-egies, and moves towards a livingwage.

Early years and childcare strate-

gies are key to improving educa-tional performance according tothe group. The most signicantperiod for a childs development,learning capacity and wellbeing isduring pregnancy and the rst threeyears of life. Risk factors whichaffect brain development beforebirth are strongly associated with,or exacerbated by, poverty. Yet thestate funded Sure Start programmeaimed at reducing child poverty isunderdeveloped and underfundedin Northern Ireland compared tothe rest of the UK. Children whoneed this support but have beendenied it will often show limitedconcentration skills, inability tocope with challenge or failure, andchallenging behaviour during theirprimary school years. They will of-ten leave primary school with lim-ited literacy and numeracy skills.The OECD in its Programme forInternational Student Assessment(PISA 2009) has also indicated thatparticipation in pre-primary educa-tion is particularly strongly associ-ated with reading performance atage 15.

The PISA 2009 study found thatin the republic students with a fam-ily background in the top third

social and economic class had anaverage reading score that was sig-nicantly higher than students inthe bottom third. Students whoseparents have a lower level of edu-cation had a signicantly lower av-erage reading score than studentswhose parents have third leveleducation. In Ireland, students inlone-parent families (one of thehigh-poverty risk groups) had asignicantly lower average readingscore than students in other fam-ily types. PISA 2009 indicates thatthe gap in the lone-family groupsreading attainments in Ireland ishigher than average across OECDcountries.

It is within this context that theA Call to Action Working Groupexamined the comparative un-derachievement of disadvantagedProtestants and in particular Prot-estant males in Northern Ireland.De-industrialisation and the lossof traditional labour markets andskills has had a huge negative im-

pact on this group. Generationsof working class Protestants wereheavily involved in manufacturingindustry and viewed getting a tradeas the main form of educational re-quirement. There was a perceivedlack of need to gain educationalqualications through the college/university route with the result thatmany are unable to compete for jobs requiring educational quali-cations and skills linked to com-puterisation. They are now relianton low wage and casual employ-

ment or dependent on benet.Cultural factors are likely alsoexacerbating educational disad-vantage in other working classcommunities and deserve theirown studies. However what exist-ing research is clear on is a largenumber of children from less welloff backgrounds, in both jurisdic-tions, leave primary school verypoorly equipped in the areas ofbasic numeracy, literacy, languageand communication skills with theresult that they remain poor and

marginalized as adults.

Mortgage crisis worsens

W

orkers Party Councillor Ted Tynan has stated that evictionshave become a very real danger for many working classpeople who nd themselves stuck with mortgages they can

no longer afford.Its a huge issue; I hear it all the time. Many young people are faced

with the very real prospect of being evicted from their homes, CllrTynan said.

Financial institutions are now putting huge pressure on mortgage hold-ers to make payments, which are no longer realistic. According to Cllr.Tynan, the best thing people faced with such a situation can do is to offerto make reduced regular payments.

He said; You would be hopeful that in the event that the matter goes toCourt, that there may be a sympathetic judge who will see that an effortwas made to pay.

He added that it was sadly ironic that nancial institutions, whofound themselves unable to survive economically without State inter-vention were forcing mortgage holders to pay rates that are now beyond

them.

Donal ODriscoll

The most

significantperiod for achilds de-velopment,learningcapacity andwellbeing isduring preg-nancy andthe first three

years of life.



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The peoples championUnited Left Alliance TD Joan Collins chats about electoralsuccess and the future with Kevin Brannigan.

Its a sunny Sunday afternoon;Joan Collins TD is sippingcoffee on Dublins middle

Abbey Street. A constituent stopsand congratulates her on electionsuccess joyously recounting howhe dealt with the Fianna Failerswho darkened his door during theweeks of canvassing.

It doesnt sound too dissimilar tohow Joan herself dealt with formerTaoiseach Bertie Ahern on his lastday in the Dail, with the would be

TD interrupting the former canaryyellow suited statesman duringan interview, in which he had notedwith a sigh how he wished some-one had told him just what was go-ing on in the banks.

A Youtube recording of Joansinterruption and questioning ofAhern, Have you no shame?soon went viral and propelled thelocal campaigner to the forefrontof the national media.

It was completely spur of themoment, if you had staged man-

aged it you couldnt do it. Thoughif it had been planned I would havebeen more articulate. says Joan.

I couldnt believe the feedbackto it, everyone I met on the doorssaid I wish Id the opportunity todo it. Ahern walking away with anice pension knowing exactly whathed done and here he was sayingthe Bertie bowl was one of hismain regrets!

A few weeks after gate crash-ing Berties farewell, Joan foundherself sitting in the Dil chamber

elected by the people of Dublinsouth central. Joan admits that theextra prole provided by Bertie-Gate and the buzz surroundingthe formation of the United LeftAlliance (ULA) were important inthe nal tally but success was builtwas over 15 years of campaigningfor working class communities,from opposing bin charges to wa-ter taxes.

She now feels the responsibilityof ensuring that the great hopefrom people as to what the ULA

can do is turned into real politicalachievements. However Joan hasfound Leinster House to be an un-

welcoming place for those outsidethe perceived establishment.

Fianna Fil had been there forso long they had the Dail chamberas a mirror image of themselves itwas all geared towards them. Itsa very alienating environment forworking class people; the pres-tige, the power, the protocols andall the other shite youre meantto conform to. Lucky enough our(ULA) ofces are away from it allabove the Department of Agricul-ture ofces so we only have to go

to it (the Dil) when we go to thechamber.

Joan is a former member ofMilitant (which later became theSocialist Party) but is now a mem-ber of the Socialist Workers Partyaligned People Before Prot alli-ance. She now hopes the ULA canfull its potential by attracting lef-twing former Labour party activ-ists and others.

But as the ULA seeks to movefrom a loose electoral alliance toparliamentary grouping and maybe

even fully edged party Joan ac-cepts there will be obstacles toovercome.

She points to two early debateswithin the ULA parliamentarygroup, which is itself part of thelarger Dil independent TDstechnical group ,that indicate thedifcult process of developing aunied strategy among groupingswhich until recently ploughed sep-arate furrows.

The rst day of the Dil there

was a debate on corporation taxand Joe (Higgins) put in an amend-ment to it and there was very littletime to sit down and discuss it indetail. The Tipperary Workers andUnemployed Action Group (whoseTD Seamus Healy is a ULA mem-ber) were opposed to the increasein the tax, not out of any loyalty tomulti-nationals, but because theirarea relies on multi nationals foremployment. So there was poten-tially a rst issue we could havefallen down on, says Joan.

The second contentious issuewas Richard Boyd Barretts broadfront approach for a proposed ref-erendum on the IMF/EU bailout.Joe and (fellow Socialist PartyTD) Clare Daly didnt want to getinvolved due to (rightwing Inde-pendent TD) Shane Rosss involve-ment, it wasnt a political issue forme as we saw the referendum asmore of a democratic rather thanideological issue.

As such parliamentary teeth-ing problems are overcome wider

organisation and recuriting mustcontinue, to build a broader move-ment Joan states- were going tohave ULA membership cards sowhen people join the ULA theyrenot joining the Socialist Party orSocialist Workers Party those par-ties are just afliated to it.

Only time will tell how the ULAdevelops but whatever its clearJoan will always be more contentcampaigning within her local com-munity than hobnobbing in theDil bar.

Joan hasfoundLeinsterHouse to bean unwelcom-ing place for

those outsidethe perceivedestablish-ment.



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THE REAL ECThe Elephant offour coast

The southern states natural resources weresystematically handed over to foreignmulti-national corporations by a Fianna Fil regimemired in corruption but the political class has noappetite to right this wrong writes Stewart Reddin.

The so called demo-

cratic revolution asEnda Kenny describedthe outcome of the recent south-ern general election, has simplyreafrmed politics as usual. Theelection saw the return of a FineGael/Labour government com-mitted to the disastrous EU/IMFausterity plan and the FiannaFil programme of savage cuts.While working people endurecuts in wages and public servic-es, vast wealth has been handedover to oil corporations, wealth

that could be invested in schools,

hospitals and public housing.

According to gures from theDepartment of Communication,Marine and Natural Resources(DCENR), at current world oilprices, the states oil and gas re-serves have a potential value inexcess of 700 billion. Thesegures are based on an estimated10 billion barrels of oil equiva-lent in the Atlantic Margin andthe current price of a barrel of oilat US$105/74. It is important tonote that these gures excludeoil and gas reserves off the south

coast; the east coast as well as

substantial onshore reserves. For

example, on the east coast thereis an estimated 870 million bar-rels of oil in the Kish Basin offDalkey head, while onshore thereis 9.4 trillion cubic feet of gas inLough Allen, which is nine timesthe size of the Corrib gas eld.

As it stands the state has no con-trol over its oil and gas reserves.In 1987 former energy ministerRay Burke enacted legislation ex-empting all oil and gas productionfrom royalty payments and of-fered oil corporations a 100% tax

write off on capital expenditure



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13

www.lookleftonline.org

ONOMYfor exploration, development andproduction. Subsequently, BertieAhern as Minister of Finance in1992 halved the tax rate on protsfrom oil and gas production to just25% and offered terms for fron-tier licences, which ceded controlover Irish waters to oil companiesand allowed them to deliver atmarket prices.

Thus, the assertion by MikeCunningham, the former Statoildirector, that no country in theworld offers as favourable terms

to the oil companies as Ireland iswell founded and was backed upby a subsequent Indecon report,commissioned by the DCENR,which found that the south offeredoil companies what is probablythe lowest government take in theworld.

On the basis of recommenda-tions contained in the Indeconreport, the Green Party Ministeramon Ryan introduced a protresource rent tax in 2007, whichoperates on a graded basis de-

pending on the level of protabil-ity. The standard 25% applies inall cases, but an additional 15%applies where the prot ratio ex-ceeds 4.5 the DCENR denesthis as the rate of prots less 25%corporate tax divided by the ac-cumulated level of capital invest-ment. However, this new rent taxonly applies to licences issuedafter 2007 and will make little dif-ference anyway as oil companiescontinue to enjoy tax write offsagainst exploration, development

and construction costs.The generosity of the scal terms

on offer become apparent whencompared with scal systems inplace in other resource rich states.Fiscal systems can include bo-nuses; rentals; royalties; produc-tion-sharing and corporate taxes.In some states a single scal sys-tem applies while in others a va-riety exists. The Norwegian statetaxes oil prots at 78% while alsoretaining a 67% share in Statoil;thus directly participating in re-source exploration and produc-

tion. Both Britain and Denmarkoperate a combined royalty/taxsystem, the former has a govern-ment tax take of 50% while thelatter is closer to 70%.

In recent years many LatinAmerican states have takenback control of their oil andgas reserves from oil corpora-tions, the most high prole be-ing Bolivia and Venezuela. LastDecember, the government inEcuador, which holds the third-largest proven oil reserves in

Latin America, renegotiated adeal with private oil producers,replacing production sharingagreements with service con-tracts. Under the new contractsthe oil corporations will receivea per-barrel fee for the oil theyproduce, ranging from $16.72per barrel to as much as $41 perbarrel, but only after the statetakes 25% of gross oil revenuesupfront. In addition, oil compa-nies have committed to investing$1.2 billion in oil elds.

While other states have takendecisive action to reclaim theirnatural resources, the Fine Gael/Labour programme for govern-ment offers a pathetically vagueplatitude that seeks to maximisethe return for the people, yet atthe same time commits to in-centivise and promote off-shore

drilling. The oil corporationsneed have no concerns that thenew minister in the DCENR, PatRabbitte, will return to his moreradical days, when active in theResource Protection Campaign hecampaigned for the establishmentof a state oil company. Rabbittehas refused to revoke the consentsgranted to Shell for the onshoresection of the Corrib gas pipeline,scandalously issued on the day ofthe general election by the thenFianna Fil minister Pat Carey.

Approximately 700 billionworth of oil and gas in the south-ern state is currently controlledby global oil corporations andthe new coalition government hasalready demonstrated its unwill-ingness to renegotiate the give-away of our natural resources.The decade long struggle in Errishas to date prevented the 10 bil-lion worth of gas in the Corribeld being expropriated by Shell.Reclaiming the vast wealth con-trolled by powerful private oil

interests will require a mass cam-paign and a genuine democraticrevolution.

For more information see:www.shelltosea.com

FOURTH ANNUALGEORGE BROWN

COMMEMORATION WEEKEND

Friday 24th, Saturday 25th JuneInistioge, Co. Kilkenny

Two days of discussion and entertainment.Speakers include: Friday - Jimmy Kelly(Unite), Michael D. Higgins andJose Antonio Gutierrez.Saturday - Jack OConnor (SIPTU),Harry Owens and Ciaran Crossey.

Discussion on the fight against Fascism inSpain 1936 - 1939 and socialism now.

More info see: www.lookleftonline.org



14/32

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Banking on the illogicalThe EUs policies to overcome the Europe wide banking crisis seem beyond theunderstanding of all but the self-appointed economic elite. That is because, asConor McCabe explains, they actually do not make sense.

It is often said that a denitionof insanity is to do the sameaction over and over again,

each time expecting a differentresult. In that case, the EuropeanFinancial Stability Facility (EFSF),

Irelands single-largest creditor, isa 21st century Bedlam.Originally set up as a temporary

measure, the EFSF was created inJune 2010 in order to preserve thenancial stability of the euro areaby providing nancial assistanceto member states who found them-selves in difculty. It does this byselling bonds, and from the moneyraised it provides funds (with in-terest) to the nancially-distressedstates.

The EFSF takes bad loans, and by

putting them together, turns theminto good loans. It uses a nancialinstrument similar to that used byinstitutions in the run-up to the2008 nancial meltdown - wherebysubprime mortgages were bundledtogether with other loans and soldas one good loan. These instru-ments are known as collateraliseddebt obligations.

In February 2011 the FinancialTimes explained that, technically,the EFSF is not a collateraliseddebt obligation but a special pur-

pose vehicle that essentially poolsguarantees and loans from strongereuro members to give it a top tripleA credit rating. The difference,however, is in denition, not in us-age.

The economist Nouriel Roubiniwrote in January 2011 that theEFSF was an instrument wherebyyou take a bunch of dodgy lessthan AAA sovereigns (& somesemi-insolvent) and try to packagea vehicle that gets [an] AAA rat-ing. And it is this process of bun-

dling bad debt into bonds which

are guaranteed by good lenderswhich makes it akin to the nan-cial weapons of mass destructionwhich almost brought down the USand European banking systems.

The loans are still bad, the sov-

ereign states are still distressed- it is only the guarantee that haschanged. The bonds are valued notso much on the loans themselves,but on the guarantee which comeswith them. The risk has not goneaway. It has merely shifted fromone place to another, from badlenders onto good.

The reasons why the sovereignstates nd themselves distressedin the rst place are not addressedin any shape or form. In Irelandscase, the transfer of private bank-

ing debt into sovereign debt, along-side three years of deationarybudgets, has left the economy instatis, while debt obligations aretransformed into triple-A bondsvia the EFSF making the EFSF aprot in the meantime.

The Greek economist, Yanis Va-roufakis, explained the procedurein a blog post in February 2011.With Ireland and Greece frozen outof the money markets, the EFSFloans for Ireland were raised fromthe money markets by the EFSF

on the strength of guarantees is-sued by the remaining 15 eurozonestates, in proportion to their GDP.The total raised was then cut upin small packets, each containing aslice that was guaranteed by Ger-many, another by France, anotherby Portugal and so on. Given thateach country had different degreesof creditworthiness, each wascharged a different interest rate,before the packets were sold off asbonds, mostly to Asian investorsand to Europes own quasi-bank-

rupted banks.

This means that Portugal, alreadyon the verge of bankruptcy, had toborrow, at high interest rates, onIrelands behalf, thus adding tothat countrys already strained debtobligations. Were another Euro-

zone state to be forced to leave themoney markets, as has happenedto Greece, Ireland and Portugalthe EFSF would then have to issuenew debt on behalf of the remain-ing eurozone countries, to help it.In other words, 13 countries rasingmoney for four, until another de-faults, then its 12 countries raisingfor ve, and so on until the bank ofnations within the EFSF is so smallthat they cannot bear the burden oftotal debt on their shoulders.

The complete lack of engagement

with the problems facing the Irisheconomy deationary policies,falling tax returns, unemploymentand emigration in lieu of a creditsolution for its bankrupt bank-ing system, reveals a certain truthabout the EFSF. The purpose ofthe bailout is not to help the Irisheconomy to recover these are notinvestment loans, after all but toensure that European nancial in-stitutions are guaranteed a returnon their loans to Irish banks: thoseprivate loans which are now part of

Irish sovereign debt and which thepresent government is determinedto protect, to the detriment of us all.

However, because new debt is be-ing created for the sole purpose ofservicing old debt, it is only a mat-ter of time before another nancialcrash befalls Europe. It is not pos-sible to repeat the same action andarrive at a different outcome.

[For those interested in the issuessurrounding the EU debt crisis, Va-roufakis blog is essential reading.The address is: http://yanisvarou-

fakis.eu/]

THE REAL EC

The riskhas notgoneaway. Ithas mere-

ly shiftedfrom oneplace toanother,from badlend-ers ontogood.



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Gamblers Paradise?Northern Irelands future must not be placed on the neo-liberal roulette wheel

warnsJustin OHagan.

ONOMY

Ageneration ago it was thecommon sense view onall sides of mainstreamideological debate in Western Eu-rope and the USA that there weresome public goods which had tobe regulated outside the market.Forms of non-market regulationincluded the welfare state, tradeunions with power both at a shop-oor and a national level, a strongpublic sector and a vibrant civilsociety. Of course, these regula-tory measures resulted more fromworking class struggle and ruling-class fear fear of workers, fear ofCommies- than the benevolence ofthe capitalist state. Nonetheless, inthe 1950s and 60s this social demo-cratic common sense endured be-cause it brought prosperity and waspopular. Looking back, we know

how that story ended and how anew common sense was con-structed by Thatcher, Reagan andtheir cronies. Despite global mar-ket collapse, this neo-liberal com-mon sense still endures among theelites movers and shakers.

Central to the neo-liberal projecthas been the reshaping of the roleof the state. Where once the cre-ation of a national industrial policywas seen as a necessary job of gov-ernment, this is no longer the case.Instead regions and cities in the

state now compete with each otheron the global market. The city orregion must engage in a brandingexercise in order to sell itself toforeign corporations. The tide isabout to turn for Northern Irelandplc ran a recent editorial headlinein the Belfast Telegraphtalking upannouncements promising nearly140 jobs from two high-tech rms.(Great! 140 jobs and only100,000 more of us out of work.)In search of a brand, the citys past isplundered and an ersatz postmodern

(i.e., depoliticised) version of

history is put in place partlythrough the kind of pub-lic art that was oncermly (and merciful-ly) conned to thelobbies of corporateheadquarters. Run-down areas are re-

generated but onlyif they t the Cityscorporate plan. Theactual people who liveor used to live in suchareas are much less im-portant than the bottom line.Urban regeneration is often tiedup with some big spectacle suchas the 2012 Olympics in LondonsEast End or the MTV Awards inBelfast in November this year.Again the Belfast Telegraphgushed: The repercussions will

be felt across Northern Ireland,with a massive cash injection forthe economy and a well-deservedplace for the city on the worldsmusic map.

Above all this strategy demandsa divided and exible workforcewhich is prepared to join in a raceto the bottom on the global market.As the Skills Strategy For Jobs doc-ument put out by the Departmentof Employment and Learning in2004 puts it: Northern Ireland fac-es ... a number of key challenges.

These include, the effects of glo-balisation, rapid technological ad-vancement and the decline of tra-ditional industrial sectors. It facescompetition from countries such asChina, India and other Asian andEastern European countries whichare producing signicant numbersof high-skilled and talented lowcost workers. The manufacturingand service sectors are routinelyoutsourcing to developing econo-mies. Within this context we canunderstand the misguided attempt

by some in the business class alongwith all the parties in the StormontExecutive and the British govern-ment to lower the rate of corpo-ration tax as the latest and mostdaring attempt to play NorthernIreland plc on the global casino. Ifthis alliance of neo-liberals get itsway Northern Ireland will becomea tax haven, although it will prob-ably be known (laughably) as anEnterprise Zone. Northern Ire-land Enterprise Zone plc will be aparking place for the ill-gotten cashof various tax dodgers on its way totheir pockets via Cayman and theCity of London. Very few real jobswill result from this wheeze. As

tax expert Richard Murphy says:For Northern Ireland the problemwill be that of all tax havens: y-by-night companies that have nointention of creating real jobs, andwhose sole aim is to park prots inthe province before moving themon to another tax haven as quicklyas possible.

Will they get their way? They justmight. In the age of neo-liberalcommon sense, the powerful mightbe led to believe that its better tothink and behave like a gambler

than a politician or an economist.

Despiteglobalmarketcollapse,this neo-liberalcommonsense stillendures

amongthe elitesmoversand shak-ers.



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Give my headpolitics

The peace promedia portrayadid these develpeople vulnera

Symbols in Northern Irelandhave always been politi-cally loaded. In December

2007, Northern Irelands newlyelected First and Deputy FirstMinisters, Ian Paisley and MartinMcGuinness, attended their rstpublic engagement: the openingof a new IKEA superstore on theoutskirts of Belfast. Pictured sit-ting together on a red leather sofa,these once implacable enemieslooked relaxed in each otherscompany and happy to endorsethe arrival of this global consumerbrand. It was an image that servedas a powerful symbol of NorthernIrelands political transformationand the economic optimism thataccompanied it.

No one imagined then that justthree years later Northern Ire-lands executive, still in its rela-tive infancy, would be contem-plating an austerity budget inresponse to an economic crisis.

It certainly never occurred to themainstream media; their fulsomesupport for the peace process wasunderscored by an uncritical en-dorsement of a peace dividendthat promised to lift NorthernIreland from the miserable con-dition of a workhouse economyand make it a serious player in theglobal free market.

Good news for businessFrom the lead up to the Good

Friday Agreement (GFA) referen-dum, in early 1998, local newspa-

pers were focusing on the peacedividend to come: inward invest-ment, regeneration and prosper-ity. The theme and tone of a Bel-fast Telegraphheadline declaringUS President Bill Clinton is setto pump more than 100m intoNorthern Irelands economy tohelp turn political agreement intopeace was regularly repeated.Business leaders acclaimed Vir-gin boss Richard Bransons visitto Belfast in support of the Yescampaign as if his very appear-

ance personied the entrepreneur-

ial spirit that would herald in thepeace dividend. The resoundingYes vote was celebrated in themedia without qualication but itwas a headline in the business sec-tion of the Irish News that pointedto some of the vested interests in apositive result: Property pleasedby yes.

Projecting a new eraThe peace dividend, then,

seemed tangible and obvious to

the news media: a booming prop-erty market, urban regenerationprojects and the arrival of retailgiants like IKEA. It also pro-vided a new narrative for writersof lm and television drama aswell as ofcial propaganda. Theoffbeat comedy lm, An Everlast-ing Piecemade in 2000 but set inthe 1980s tells a story of recon-ciliation delivered on the wingsof capitalist enterprise. Catholicand Protestant barbers, Colm andGeorge, work in a grim mental

hospital, surely an analogy fortroubles era Northern Ireland.The hospital is staffed by dourProtestants, while the inmates aremainly Catholic. It is a depressingrepresentation of the public sec-tor and Colm and George resolveto escape from it by bidding fora franchise to sell wigs. Amongtheir customers are loyalist andrepublican ex-paramilitaries, aswell as British soldiers, whosecontagious hair loss seems torepresent their loss of power in

the new Northern Ireland. In thepenultimate scene of the lm,Belfast City Hall is picturesquelyilluminated by Christmas lightsas the camera nds George andColm among the happy patrons ofa busy, city centre bar, celebratingtheir business success. The scenesums up a wider post-GFA nar-rative of entrepreneurship as thebasis of cross-community accordand social invigoration.

The romantic comedies With orWithout You (1999), The Most

Fertile Man in Ireland(1999) and

Wild About Harry (2000) alsotransformed Belfasts once dire,on-screen image. As media ana-lyst Martin McLoone commentedsuch lms display the iconogra-phy of an afuent middle classwith its culture of high-spend

consumerism and metropolitanaspirations.Official propagandaThe British government also

played an important role in chang-ing Northern Irelands image, bydeveloping the idea of the regionas a desirable investment opportu-nity in the global market. In 1994the Northern Ireland Ofce (NIO)commissioned what was the latestin a line of short lms to advertiseits anti-terrorist, condential tele-phone service. Produced in the

period of the peace process and

Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisl

Catholicand Prot-estant

barbers,Colm andGeorge,work in agrim men-tal hospital,surely ananalogy fortroublesera North-

ern Ireland.



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17

rocess starkly changed Northern Irelandsyal but Stephen Baker and Greg McLaughlin askelopments assist a depoliticisation that may leaverable to the renewed conservative onslaught.

called A New Era, it displayeda perceptible shift in emphasisfrom previous advertisements,transforming before our eyes thetraditional symbols of conictand division into images of peaceand prosperity. A paramilitary

gun morphs into a starting pis-tol for the Belfast marathon; abaseball bat is used for baseball,not for paramilitary punishmentbeatings; security bollards turninto ower displays; and a policecordon turns into ceremonial tapefor the opening of a new urbanmotorway. After the paramili-tary ceaseres in 1994, the NIOcommissioned a further series oflms that moved away from theanti-terrorist message altogether.Scored with some of the best-

known songs of Van Morrison

thesew e r e

b r o a d -cast during

the summerof 1995 and ap-

peared to have nospecic purpose ex-

cept to show off North-ern Ireland as a delightful

destination for tourists andinvestors.From hood to goodAnother remarkable transfor-

mation came at this time in theportrayal of paramilitaries. In theearly 1990s, when the prospectof an end to the violence lookedwithin sight, the NIO conden-tial phone line advertisementsunderwent a signicant shift.In previous versions the para-militaries had been depicted ashooded, violent parasites, prey-ing upon their own communi-ties. But by 1993, they were be-ing portrayed as men with a roleto play in the peace process ifonly they would abandon theircommitment to violence.

As representations of ofcial

thinking the NIO advertise-ments seemed to prompt a newpermissiveness with regards tomedia representation of formercombatants. This was illustratedin the BBCs commissioning ofthe local situation comedy, GiveMy Head Peace. First broadcastas a pilot episode in 1995 underthe name, Two Ceaseres and aWedding, the sitcom portrayedloyalist and republican paramil-itary-types as a comically dys-functional family but a family

none the less.

The new role for former combat-ants as family men was given amore serious inection in lmssuch as The Boxer(1998) and TheMighty Celt(2005). They deal withthe return of former combatants totheir communities after periods inprison or on-the-run. In each casethe men wish to rekindle old ro-mances with women they knew inthe past, a measure of the transfor-mation that they have undergone,

giving up violent political convic-tions for romance, family life andhome. However, in both lms theromantic ambitions of the pro-tagonists are challenged by formercomrades who remain commit-ted to violent politics. In this wayThe Boxer and The Mighty Celtreduce the political transformationunderway in Northern Ireland dur-ing the peace process to a strugglebetween domestic, homely virtuesand malicious politics.

The same theme emerges in the

lms Some Mothers Son (1996)and Titanic Town (1998), in whichmothers are drawn reluctantlyinto political activism. In SomeMothers Son, Kathleen becomesinvolved in a political campaignwhen her imprisoned son joinsthe 1981 hunger strike. But as hefalls critically ill, she rails againstthe politicking by both sides in thedispute and retreats from the po-litical frontline; only then has shethe power to take her son off thestrike and save his life. Similarly

in Titanic Town, Bernie becomesa peace campaigner when the vio-lence in her neighbourhood threat-ens her family but in the end she isrepelled by the duplicitous natureof government ofcials and repub-licans.

All these lms seem to depictpolitics as the preserve of the bel-ligerent and the double-dealing,with the implicit message that socalled ordinary, decent people stayat home and dont get involved.Home, in this instance, stands for

an unproblematic place, free of

Paisley on the magic settee

A paramili-tary gunmorphsinto a start-ing pistolfor theBelfastmarathon;a baseballbat is usedfor base-ball.



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18

political controversy. This malignportrayal of political involvementis explicit in one of the best-knownlms of the ceasere period, Di-vorcing Jack (1998). Here thepolitical sphere is represented asuniversally repressive. As a conse-

quence, it advocates a withdrawalinto domestic intimacy, demon-strated guratively in a conversa-tion between its protagonist DanStarkey and a journalist colleaguefrom the United States. The Amer-ican asks Starkey what he prefersto call Northern Ireland: Ulster,the occupied six counties, theNorth or the province? Starkeytells him he just calls it home,avoiding the political associationsany other answer would imply.Most of the lm is taken up with

Starkeys efforts to rescue his pri-vate life after an act of marital in-delity plunges him into the worldof political machinations, estrang-es him from his wife and leads toher being kidnapped by a renegadeparamilitary.

In the lms nal scene, Starkeyand his wife are removed from theapparently insensible world of pol-itics and reconciled at home wherethey make love on what Starkey de-scribes as the magic settee. Likeso many other lm protagonists of

the period they simply retreat intodomesticity. Here there is no needfor politics; there is no thought ofcollective forms of belonging oraction, just the sovereignty of thehome-owning consumer.

Rethinking the peacedividend?Divorcing Jacks magic settee

is reprised in the image of Paisleyand McGuinness reconciled onthe sofa in IKEA, seated beneaththe stores brand slogan: Homeis the most important place in the

world. While IKEAs assertion ofthe importance of home is com-mercially self-interested, homesand housing are politically conten-tious issues. From the civil rightsmovements campaign against thesectarian allocation of houses, totodays ghost estates and the re-possessions, our domestic lives areneither separate from, nor do theytranscend, the world of politics asceasere cinema would have usbelieve.

Indeed, the economic and social

fall-out from the nancial crash of

2008 might suggest that North-ern Irelands peace dividendis not going to be deliveredby free market economics andnaked consumerism. Up un-til then, politicians and mediapundits looked across the bor-der to the republic of Irelandwith envy and grudging re-

spect. The Celtic Tiger econo-my seemed proof positive thatNorthern Irelands overrelianceon the public sector and gov-ernment subsidy was stultifyingeconomic growth. The peacedividend would only come byopening up to neo-liberal freemarket economics.

Of course, the picture downsouth is very different now:toxic banks and the IMF bail-out have burdened Ireland witha crippling public debt and

fuelled a crisis of legitimacyamongst its political classes.Ironically, Northern Ireland hasbeen sheltered from the worsteffects of the crash because ofthe very same reliance on thepublic sector that everyonewanted to strip away. Currentlythe devolved administration ispreparing to implement a rangeof cuts to public sector jobs andservices but it is doubtful theywill be on the same scale thatis being inicted on the public

sector in the republic. It re-

mains to be seen whether the neweconomic reality brings about amore critical re-imagination inmedia and culture of what thepeace dividend really is or shouldbe.

Stephen Baker and GregMcLaughlin are lecturers in me-

dia studies at the University ofUlster and authors ofThe Propa-ganda of Peace: the role of media

and culture in the Northern Ire-

land peace process, published in2010 by Intellect Books.

Mural depicting TV Show Give My Head Peace



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Carter callsfor release ofCuban Five

Francis Donohoe

Former US president Jimmy Carterhas joined the growing numbers de-manding the release of ve Cuban

political prisoners held in US prisons since1998.

During a visit to Cuba at the end of MarchCarter stated the Cuban Five should bereleased immediately. In a Cuban televi-sion interview the Nobel Prize winner saidin my private talks with President Bush andalso with President Obama, I have urged therelease of these prisoners. I recognise the re-straints within the American judicial system

and my hope is that the president might granta pardon.

The Cuban Five - Gerardo Hernndez,Ramn Labaino, Antonio Guerrero, Fer-nando Gonzlez and Ren Gonzlez - areserving lengthy sentences in different U.S.prisons after being arrested in 1998 and sen-tenced in 2001 for attempting to protect theirhomeland from terrorist attacks.

In 2005, the United Nations WorkingGroup on Arbitrary Detentions declared thatthe imprisonment of the ve men was arbi-trary and urged the U.S. government to rem-edy the situation. The ve were convicted ofespionage, although the prosecution failed toprove that any of them had obtained docu-ments considered secret or sensitive by theU.S. security services.

In Cuba they are seen as heroes in the ghtagainst terrorism having inltrated anti-Cas-tro Cuban exile groups in Miami, Florida.

During April at the Gron 50 Symposium inLiberty Hall to celebrate the 50th anniversa-ry of the Cuban revolutionary forces victoryat the Bay of Pigs Irish political and tradeunion gures reiterated their call for the im-mediate release of the ve men.

Unite regional secretary Jimmy Kelly saidthe US authorities unacceptable treatmentof the men included the punishment of theirfamilies who were at best only granted epi-sodic and very restricted visitation rights,and in two the mens cases no right to visitat all.

SIPTU general president Jack OConnorendorsed the call for the mens release alsocommending Cuba for remaining a beaconof light for those seeking to create an al-ternative society based on social solidarityrather than greed.

For more information seewww.freethecuban5.com

The western media have aclear, simple narrative of theevents that have swept the

Arab world. Oppressed people sud-denly demanded access to western-style democracy, and have succeededin sweeping away several corrupt dic-tators. This movement has been led byyoung people using new forms of socialmedia like twitter and facebook to out-wit regimes stuck in the past. Only inLibya, where Gadaf clings to powermilitarily, has a brutal dictator succeed-ed in holding back the tide of history.This is a powerful story. It also hidesmore about what is happening in theArab world than it reveals.

For two centuries, the most basic rev-olutionary demand of all has been forbread. Bread was at its highest price inliving memory the day the Bastille fell,and Lenin built a revolution around theslogan, Peace, Bread, Land. Protestsin the Arab world began with the de-mand for cheap food. As Fidel Castrohas warned for some time, the conse-quences of global warming and theuse of massive amounts of crops forbiofuels in the US and Europe have in-cluded substantially higher food pricesfor the poorer regions of the globe. Wehave seen the political consequencesin Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. Inother words, poverty, inequality and

class struggle have been at the centre

of the protests, with trade unions andleft-wing parties and activists playingprominent roles. Barely a peep aboutall this in the western media.

The role of imperialism has also beenobscured in the dominant narrative. TheEgyptian dictator Mubarak and his likedepended upon the support of imperi-alism, and served to keep the region,and its oil, safe for capitalism. HenceWashingtons initially lukewarm re-sponse to the protests. Only when thepeople were on the verge of sweepingaway the regimes by their own effortsdid the US, UK and others remembertheir support for democracy. Whilebombing Gadaf, the imperialist pow-ers ignored government troops backedby Saudi forces massacring anti-gov-ernment protestors in Bahrain. The dif-ference of course being that Bahrainsdespotic monarchy and the Saudi tyranthave been long-term allies of the US.The Egyptian army has also made clearit intends to maintain its grip on powerin its attacks on and torture of protes-tors since Mubarak fell. Again, NATOremains silent. Imperialism is seekingsimply to replace its front-men whilegiving the illusion of change.

In 1848, a wave of revolutions sweptEurope. Within a year, the reaction-ary monarchs used their armies to ef-fect counter-revolutions almost every-

where. There is a real danger that theArab revolutions face a similar fate.

Whose revolutionis it anyway?



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After over 40 years of intermittent violence which claimed many lives the Basqueguerrilla group ETA renounced armed struggle in favour of political activity ear-lier this year but as Diarmuid Breatnach outlines the Spanish establishment hasbeen slow to reciprocate.

Basques search for apolitical way forward

ETA declared in Januaryits six months-old of-cial ceasere to be gen-

eral, permanent ...and veriableby the international community.

A consultation process amongthose who support independencefor the Basque areas controlledby the Spanish and French stateshad been taking place throughout2010, cumulating in a leading po-litical element rejecting violencein favour of political organisation,debate and civil disobedience.

However, the Spanish govern-ment has maintained its policyof repression and complaints oftorture by political detainees con-tinue. The Spanish hard Right

media and their principle politi-cal party - Partido Popular - callfor no negotiation with terrorists,claiming Basque radicals onlywish to talk because they areweak and they should be crushed.The social democratic media andmany in the ruling Partido Social-ista Obrero Espaol (POSE), saythat previous ceaseres have beenbroken and the leading pro-in-dependence political movement,Abertzale Left, has to do moreto convince them that they are in

earnest.

The Abertzale Left itself is a het-erogeneous movement. Rangingfrom Marxist to anarchist it com-prises the daily newspaper Gara, thetrade union LAB, youth organisa-

tions, a political prisoners supportgroup and a number of other culturaland political groups. However themovements leadership have madeclear the new ETA truce is unilateraland the result of a wide consultationthat conclusively resulted in a deci-sion to reject violence and to relyon democratic political processes.Some commentators have pointedout that the line of ETA only wantsto talk because it is weak now, sowhy bother is a dangerous one, asthe message given is that ETA needs

to become strong in order to be con-sidered worth talking to.Despite the cold response from the

Spanish establishment to their po-litical initiative Abertzale Left hasbegan to gather allies. When partiesof the Basque separatist radical Lefthave been allowed to take part in theSpanish electoral process, they havewon the votes of up to 25% of thesouthern (within the Spanish state)Basque electorate 10% at theirlowest point. But since 2003, theyear the Spanish state closed down

the pro-self determination Basque

language newspaper, Egunkaria, andbanned the pan-Basque organisa-tion of town mayors and councillorsUdalbitza, they have also bannedevery political party or electoral

platform representing the AbertzaleLeft (with the exception of a Span-ish state-wide Iniciativa Independis-ta alliance that contested the 2009European elections) and arrested itsactivists.

However Abertzale Left has de-clared its intention to stand in up-coming local government electionswith a new pro-independence politi-cal party Sortu launched in January.In its constitution Sortu rejected vio-lence including that of ETA andundertook to expel from the party

any member who advocated it. Par-ties cannot be registered in the Span-ish state unless their constitutionscomply with the Political PartiesLaw and it is clear that the new partywanted to ensure that the State hadno excuse to refuse its registration.

Many Basque political and socialorganisations and all Basque tradeunions welcomed Sortus formation,while the District Attorney of theBasque Regional Court stated thatits constitution was a signicant de-parture from previous political for-

mulations of the Abertzale Left.

40,000 people took part in a silent demonstration on the streets of Bilbao, mid February with the slogan Towards peace legalisation

The line ofETA onlywants totalk be-cause it isweak now,so why

botheris adangerousone.



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But on the basis of a le presentedto it by the Guardia Civil, a para-military police force, the Spanishstates Supreme Court stated Sortuwas merely a reformation of anearlier pro-independence politicalparty Batasuna and on 24th Marchdeclined its registration on a splitvote of nine to seven judges. Thedecision has been appealed to theConstitutional Court but with alate April deadline for registrationfor the local government elections,even a favourable decision maycome too late for the partys par-ticipation.

The banning of Abertzale Leftaligned political parties is partof wider state repression includ-ing closures of newspapers, radiostations, web-tv and websites, the

banning of youth organisations,the arrest, torture and imprison-ment of political activists.

Spanish liberal opinion, for themost part, ignores the evidence ofthis repression in the Basque Coun-try. But some cracks in that una-nimity may be appearing. Recent-ly two duty solicitors employed bythe state in Madrid to supervisethe detentions of Basque politicalactivists, broke ranks and refusedto endorse confessions, com-menting on the mental state of

the detainees and on the unusualhours at which the confessionshad been obtained (e.g. 4 a.m.). InApril 2010, the National Court inMadrid found that the journalistsand management of Egunkaria,accused of assisting a terrorist or-ganisation, had no case to answerand that the newspaper should nothave been closed. While in Janu-ary 20 members of Udalbitza, ontrial on similar charges, were simi-larly found not guilty. Its aimsmight be separatist and people

might not like that but that did notdid not make its activities illegal,the judges commented. The dis-senting verdict of seven judgesof the Spanish Supreme Court onthe registration of Sortu is anotherexample of cracks in the Spanishconsensus, with growing opposi-tion also voiced within the rulingPSOE to the Political Parties Law.

But for Basques to gain a realmeasure of independence wouldmean the French and Spanishstates being prepared to lose a

substantial part of their territory.

Such an event would also encourageother sepratitist movements. Thereis no evidence that either state isseriously prepared to contemplatethe prospect. So why then does theAbertzale Left seem to believe thatthe political process can bring themwhat they want?

The published conclusions of Ab-ertzale Lefts internal debate show adecision to ght the Spanish state onwhat they consider to be its weakestfront the political one. They rea-son that through their leadership ofBasque struggles since the creationof the two autonomous regions ofthe southern Basque Country in1978, these structures have beenexposed as unable to satisfy aspira-tions for self-determination and thedevelopment of an egalitarian soci-

ety. It is time, they say, to take thenext step forward, to mobilise thewidest possible social and politicalforces to present a front for self-determination of such amplitudethat it cannot be denied. At the sametime in France they are campaign-ing to build a viable administrative,cultural, economic and political unitof the three Basque provinces there,which are currently part of a widerFrench administrative deprment.

It is noticeable how often the Ab-ertzale Left refer to the Irish Peace

Process and Sinn Fin has beenworking quite closely with them.But there are also doubts within

Abertzale Left about the compari-son. In private conservation someAbertzale Left activists say: Weare not like the Irish movement we have a very broad movementright across our nation. They saythat they will be concentrating onbuilding the broadest unity at dif-ferent levels and using campaignsof civil disobedience. Evidentlythey expect to achieve a resultwhich Sinn Fin has been unableto do.

But there is disquiet among aminority. Sortu renouncing vio-lence is one thing, but specicallymentioning ETA while makingno mention of the violence of theSpanish state is quite another. Andthe promise to expel anyone whoadvocates armed struggle has left

a bad taste in the mouths of many.But the consultation process wasvery wide and there is no signof a forthcoming split but a fu-ture one in the movement cannotbe ruled out, including perhaps adissident ETA especially if theSpanish state does not permit theAbertzale Left to enter the elec-toral process. On the other hand,many believe that the repressiveapparatus of the Spanish stateand its reactionary political forcesneed ETA in order to justify their

existence and their repression ofBasque legitimate demands forself-determination.

Euskal Herria (The Land Where the People Speak Basque) consists of sevenprovinces, three in Iparralde (the Northern Country) within the French state

and four in Hegoalde (the Southern Country) within the Spanish state.Part of Euskal Herria was granted autonomy by the Spanish Republican Gov-

ernment in 1936 and many Basques fought for the Republic during the civil war.

This conict saw the bombing by the German Luftwaffe of Gernika (Guernica),the ancient gathering place of the Basque chiefs. During Francos rule of a

quasi-fascist Spanish state the Basques faced political and cultural repression.

The main Basque political party, Partido Nacionalista Vasco went underground.A section of the partys youth wing was strongly inuenced by the 1960s stu-dent uprising and anti-colonial struggles. These Leftist activists endured severe

state repression and in 1959 broke away to form ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatuna Basque Country and Freedom), with a view to direct action and also to sepa-

rate from the Catholic and largely conservative PNV.

Among ETAs early targets was Francos heir Spanish Prime Minister CarreroBlanco killed by a car bomb in 1973. However in later years some of ETAsactions have met with disapproval within the Abertzale Left and the groups

activities began to be seen as a liability in the struggle for independence. Stateviolence has also been a major obstacle to political dialogue. During the 1980s

Basque militants were assassinated by the state-sponsored G.A.L. (GruposAntiterroristas de Liberacin). A journalistic investigation into these activities

resulted in jail sentences for among others -- the PSOE Mi

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