In October we witnessed a massive
mobilisation of the French workers and youth against Sarkozy’s attacks
on pensions. All the potential was there for the government to be
defeated. The overwhelming majority of the population supported the
protests. So what was missing? We are publishing an a analysis by the
French Marxists of La Riposte to explain what happened and why it
happened
The small print at the bottom of the EU/IMF
Bailout would be an enough to make an Asset Stripper’s hair curl. If
anyone in the state was labouring under the delusion that all this snow
meant that Santa had come early then the announcement last night of the
conditions attached to the loans would have put paid to that.
100,000 marched from Wood Quay to the
GPO today (Monday) in protest against the austerity measures outlined in the
four year plan despite the cold wintery weather. A few even
demonstrated in a curagh on the Liffey – the workers navy has arrived.
Meanwhile the government are behind closed doors discussing the
bailout package with the officials.
After weeks of dancing the seven veils,
trying to hide what they were up to, the government, the EU and the IMF
announced on prime time television today (Sunday)that they have signed up to an €85 billion bailout. The money which has 5.8% interest rate attached to it will go to recapitalise the banks( €10bn); fund the budget (€50bn) and deal with “banking contingencies” (€25bn). So in other words the whole lot is going to bail out the banks and keep the government finances going.
The buzz word is “contagion”, the fear that
the financial crisis will spread. With the Irish economy on the brink of
collapse, the government has been forced to introduce even more
draconian cuts
to the tune of £20bn to pave the way for an EU/IMF bail-out package. All
eyes
are now turning to Portugal and even Spain as the speculators move from
one
country to another.
IRELAND: The four year plan has been announced, the
cuts have been declared and the working class, particularly the poorest
sections,
are in the firing line once again.
News that
the Coalition are in discussions with the EU and IMF won’t come as a
shock. Reports have been circulating for days now that the EU and the
Finance Ministry have been locked in discussions and some have even
claimed that the IMF have been briefing the heavyweight financial
bourgeois press internationally in an attempt to pressurise the
coalition and the opposition parties into seeking a deal.
IRELAND: The Soldiers of Destiny are floundering out to sea far from
the coast of Donegal; or at least they don’t seem to be in the same
place as the voters. A report in the Irish Times today
quotes a RedC poll carried out on behalf of Paddy Power which indicates
that FF support in Donegal South West has collapsed from 51% to around
19% since 2007.
The biggest crash in the history of
capitalism in 2008 has created a new “normality” across the planet. This
has led to vicious cuts and severe attacks upon the workers in most
countries. The welfare states in Europe and elsewhere are being
aggressively dismantled. After the failure of Keynesianism the
neo-liberal model of capitalism, known as trickle-down economics,
Thatcherism or Reaganomics, has been an even bigger disaster.
In the recent midterm elections, the
Republicans made a dramatic comeback after their electoral routing just
two years ago. They gained several governorships, seats in the Senate,
and took full control of the US House of Representatives. How was this
possible?
A contribution to the discussion on property and the tasks of the revolution.
The September elections in Venezuela have posed some
serious questions before the Bolivarian Revolution. The opposition has
organized a noisy campaign in the media to present themselves as
"winners", despite the fact that they lost. What is the purpose of this
campaign?
Comrades on holiday in France get a taste of the protests taking place there!