Dublin - 4 February 2015
People's Movement
Protest
Scrap TTIP and CETA now!
European Parliament Offices
Molesworth St., Dublin 2.
Wednesday, 4 February 2015, 1.00 p.m.
A big 'Thank you' to all who helped make our 'Scrap TTIP and CETA' protest a success, especially to Joan Collins TD, Seán Crowe TD, Clare Daly TD, Seamus Healy TD, Paul Murphy TD, Senator David Norris, Thomas Pringle TD, Peadar Tóibín TD, Mick Wallace TD, Eamon Devoy, general secretary TEEU, and our friends from Comhlámh.
A copy of the press statement issued by the People's Movement is available here.
Stop the TTIP!
A presentation by Dr Paul O'Connell on the the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Stop the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership!
A new People's Movement pamphlet explains how an EU-US trade and investment treaty threatens democracy, would attack workers’ rights, erode social standards and environmental regulations, dilute food safety rules, undermine regulations on the use of toxic chemicals, rubbish digital privacy laws, and strangle developing economies.
A copy (356 KB) of the pamphlet in PDF format is available here.
Speakers at the launch of the TIPP pamphlet
A press conference was held in Dublin on 5 September to launch the pamphlet. A press statement which summarises the contributions of the various speakers at the launch can be accessed here.
The effects of the proposed TIPP on jobs are discussed in a leaflet issued by the People's Movement. The leaflet can be downloaded here.
New flag proposed for the EU
The flag of austerity in Europe.
Galway-based artist Barbara Glynn has redesigned the flag of the European Union in order to symbolise its policy of permanent austerity.
The new flag flying.
Andy Storey lecture
Andy Storey delivering this year's Europe Day lecture.
The text of Andy Storey's Euorpe Day lecture, entitled 'Chronicle of a crisis foretold: the political economy of the European project', is now available here.
We can’t pay and we won’t pay – repudiate the debt!
This debt is so big that it cannot be paid off. It is estimated to be €120 billion and rising. In 2013, we will have to pay back €8.5 billion and rising. We simply cannot generate the growth rates – the current Central Bank estimate is less than 1% - to stand still much less pay back this ‘forced loan’. This debt is self-perpetuating. The only way we could keep paying is to borrow further and further. So, the bill will just keep increasing leading to inevitable default.
We should adopt the position of David Begg of ICTU who said at the protest in Dublin in November that; ‘We can’t pay and we won’t pay!’ So we must call for a referendum on this socialized debt. Only a 100% default – a repudiation of a debt that is not ours can eventually put this country back on its feet.
This debt was incurred by developers, speculators and financial institutions and was then foisted on the rest of us by their friends in the Government. This is not sovereign debt: it is a debt of private individuals and financial institutions that was socialised by the state. Let them pay it back if they want to. We can’t pay and we won’t pay!
- Repudiation of the debt.
- National control of natural resources.
- Opposition to EU competition policies/privatisation.
- Defence of Irish neutrality and sovereignty.
- Repatriation of power from Brussels.
Declan Bree, Catherine Connolly, Cieran Perry and Thomas Pringle.
Of the four candidates in the general election who backed the People's Agenda, Thomas Pringle was elected in Donegal-South West having won 5,845 votes on the first count. Catherine Connolly won 4,787 votes on the first count in Galway West and missed out on being elected by 17 votes. Cieran Perry and Declan Bree won 1,394 and 2,284 votes in Dublin Central and Sligo-North Leitrim respectively.
Doubt cast on new fisheries policy
A statement issued by the international fisheries umbrella group ROSA on 10 December welcomed the recognition by Commissioner Damanaki that the EU’s top-down centralised micro-management of fisheries has failed in terms of biological and ecological sustainability, but expressed scepticism as to whether regionalisation would really provide a lifeline to an industry being rapidly destroyed by the present Common Fisheries Policy.
A statement issued by ROSA can be read here.
Made in Brussels ...
... packaged in Ireland!
Where are the Lisbon jobs now?
The poster parade leaves Leinster House.
The People's Movement held a poster parade through Dublin city centre on Saturday, June 12th, to mark the second anniversary of the referendum in which Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty. Carrying dishonest referendum posters promising job creation as a result of the Lisbon Treaty, members of the Movement publicly raised a question that must be in the minds of many: 'where are the Lisbon jobs now?' A letter condemning the policies of the main political parties was delivered to the Green Party at Leinster House, and to the Labour, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil parties at their respective offices.
Patricia McKenna delivers the letter at the Labour Party offices.
Historical detritus spotted in the Labour Party's basement.
Mary Crotty delivers the letter at the Fine Gael offices.
Kevin McCorry delivers the letter at the Fianna Fáil offices.
Read the text of our letter to the politicians here.
Budget protest - 9 December 2009
Members of the People's Movement at the budget protest.
The People's Movement held budget protests outside Leinster House and the European Commission's Dublin office on Wednesday, 9 December. Speaking outside Leinster House, the Movement's chairperson, Patricia McKenna, said that the Irish people were 'paying a high price for the loss of sovereign power and influence over their own economy'. A press statement was issued and can be read in full here.
'That is all coming from Frankfurt.'
'We no longer have our own money, or our own exchange rate or our own interest rate. In addition, our own Central Bank has no real independent control over banking regulation or monetary policy. That is all coming from Frankfurt.'
George Lee TD, Fine Gael, speaking at the MacGill summer school, Glenties, Co. Donegal, 21 July 2009.
People's Movement on the streets again
The People's Movement returned to the streets for the ICTU day of action on Friday, November 6th, marching behind banners that read 'We want the Lisbon jobs NOW!'.
Councillors Thomas Pringle (left) and Declan Bree (right) at the Sligo protest.
Waiting for the protest to begin in Galway; Councillor Seosamh Ó Cuaig is on the left.
Members marching in Dublin.
Practically every group advocating a 'Yes' vote used the promise of jobs as an inducement - now it's time to hold them to their promise!
Intel's action 'grossly insensitive'
People's Movement chairperson, Patricia McKenna, has said that Intel's decision to start identifying workers who will be made redundant in the immediate aftermath of the Lisbon referendum shows 'total insensitivity to Intel workers who voted Yes to the Lisbon Treaty in good faith Friday last'. Read the statement in full here.
Lisbon and the economy
A new paper by the People's Movement considers the connection between the economic crisis and the Lisbon Treaty - a treaty which perpetuates the failed economic, financial and monetary policies that led to the crisis.
Download a copy of the paper here.
For sovereignty, democracy and social justice.