‘We cannot conceive ofa free Ireland with asubject working class;we cannot conceive of afree working class in asubject Ireland’

James Connolly

Socialist Voice3 East EssexStreet Dublin 2(01) 6708707

How austerity is working Page 2

Haass unlikely to succeed Page 4

Norn Ireland seen from Britland Page 4

Capitalism and environment Page 6

General Giap: CPI tribute Page 7

There is an alternative Page 8

US meddling led to Westgate Page 9

Culture and books Page 10

Who would be a whistleblower? Page 12

Number 106 October 2013 €1.50

THE SYSTEM is determined toovercome its crisis by continuing toreduce workers’ wages and living

standards, to undo the welfareprovisions won by workers over acentury of hard, bitter struggles. Theestablishment—both the EU and the mainIrish establishment parties—continue toargue that we are living beyond ourmeans and that we need to pay the debtand bring government spending undercontrol.

To do this, they argue that we need to reducethe “cost basis” of the economy: that is, reducedwages, worsened working conditions, forcingworkers to work harder and longer and, underthe terms of Croke Park 2, even working

additional hours for nothing. This super-exploitation is dressed up as an economicimperative.

They continue to use the “national debt” asthe means of pushing through their carefullythought-out strategy, which they call austerity.

The recent report by the hand-pickedestablishment figures who make up the NationalFiscal Council claim that the Government’sfinancial liabilities “have increased four-foldsince 2007, reaching €208 billion (127 per centof GDP) in 2012. Over this period, Irelandexperienced the largest increase in indebtedness(relative to GDP) of any Euro Area country . . .mainly consisted of sovereign bonds,Troika/bilateral loans and promissory notes.

continued overleaf

INSIDECapitalist growth andenvironmental crisis

Debt is ameans ofattackingour rightsand wages

page 2 SOCIALIST VOICE

class

AMIDST THE macro-economicsso beloved of officialeconomists, the plight of those

without adequate housing, oraltogether without housing,sometimes gets forgotten. Yet inrecent years this crisis has slowlyworsened.The Peter McVerry Trust recently echoed theanalysis of the CPI and many radicals on thepublication of its recent annual report, inwhich McVerry says: “After 30 years ofworking to eliminate homelessness, I believethe problem is now worse than ever, perhapseven out of control.”And Focus Ireland pointed to the alarminggrowth of the numbers on the housing list.The most recent National Housing NeedsAssessment, published in September 2011,found almost 100,000 households in needof social housing. This has grown from a totalof 56,000 households on social housingwaiting lists in the previous assessment, in2008.• Focus Ireland estimates that 5,000 peopleare homeless at any one time in Ireland.• At the last count (2008) it was found that2,144 households were using services forthe homeless.• The last count of those sleeping roughconducted by the Homeless Agency foundthat seventy people were sleeping rough onthe night of the count.• By the spring of 2011 there were 50,000mortgages in arrears for more than ninetydays.• Almost 630,000 people experience relativepoverty in Ireland (SJI, Socio-EconomicReview, 2011, from EU-SILC 2009).

• About 210,000 children live in householdsthat are experiencing poverty.• 1 in 5 children are “at risk” of poverty.• 85 per cent of households on the waitinglists for social housing have an income below€20,000 a year.• There are at present 6,000 children in care(Irish Times, April 2011).From the 1960s there has been no realdevelopment of public housing. Localauthorities have almost stopped buildinghouses. In fact the construction of socialhousing has been declining since 1995. Inthat year local authorities provided 3,200new houses, but this was offset by the saleof 2,100 existing houses. By 1998 thecombined local authorities were building2,771 houses, while 2,006 were sold.The selling of council houses mirrored whatwas happening under Thatcher in Britain.There the Tories created a private market atthe expense of council housing—a market fortheir cronies to manipulate.In Ireland, many council tenants, faced withno foreseeable opportunity to purchase fromthe private sector, saw the opportunity toown their own homes. The desperation of thehomeless mingled with folk memory to createa demand that bolstered the interests of themiddle class.Meanwhile demand has risen significantly inrecent years, with waiting lists growing from42,946 to 56,294 between 2005 and2008. The drive to the private rental sectorgot a further push when central funding forthe acquisition and renovation of socialhousing was reduced from €1,700 billion in2007 to €807 million in 2011.Rather than tackle the land speculators, the

continued from front page

“Debt in Ireland in 2012 amounted to €192billion or 118 per cent of GDP. There has beena four-fold increase in Government debt overthe past five years, reflecting a series of largebudget deficits and the cost of direct supportprovided to the banking sector. On this basis,Ireland had the fourth highest debt ratio in theEuro Area in 2012, whereas in 2007 Irelandhad the second lowest ratio.”

This debt is not the people’s debt butcorporate debt imposed upon the people bythe external Troika with the activecollaboration of the internal troika ofestablishment politicians, business leaders,and the state. The October budget will be moreof the same in making working people pay.

We are now in a phase of permanentausterity: the cuts already imposed and theattacks on working conditions are permanent.The hurt that people are experiencing everyday will continue. The children who go toschool hungry every morning will still go toschool hungry. The unemployed will continueto be made scapegoats and therefore subject tomore cuts. Workers will continue to comehome from work exhausted and deflated, withlittle time or energy for their families, forsocial activities, for living as human beingsrather than as cogs of exploitation.

In particular, Irish youth will carry theheaviest burden. Those who find work willexperience low wages, few rights, andprecarious employment conditions. Thecountry will continue to experience a massivebrain drain as people leave what they feel is ahopeless situation, with few prospects ofchange.

The budget will receive the imprimatur ofthe EU, ECB and IMF even before the Irishpeople know their fate. This is a similarprocess to what is being imposed on all theheavily indebted peripheral states of the EU—and not only the peripheral states butthroughout the EU. The specifics of the crisismanifest themselves differently, but theimposed cure is the same for working people.

There can be be no “better, fairer”capitalism: it can’t be transformed or reformedbut must be challenge and defeated by workingpeople. A better Ireland is possible only if wefight for it; but a better Ireland is diametricallyopposite to a better capitalist Ireland. Only asocialist Ireland can guarantee an end topoverty, an end to unemployment, an end toemigration, an end to the depopulation of ourtowns and villages, an end to exploitation.

True and real equality between our people,between men and women, between town andcountry, between young and old, can beachieved only in a radical transformativeeconomic, political, cultural and socialstrategy.

The debt is not ours. Repudiate it now! Thefuture is determined by our actions of today.

[EMC]

Ireland’s housing crisi

SOCIALIST VOICE page 3

THE RECENT credit union reportprovided a very good critique ofhow austerity is working very well

in Ireland, with continuing priceincreases for the poor and theworking poor.

The basic headline which the gutter presshighlighted was the fact that people arelearning how to live on €100 per month orless. There are more than 1,118,000people living on less than €50 per monthafter their essential bills are paid.

It is sickening to think that our politiciansare living on an average annual income of€95,000 plus all the perks of the job. Andwhat the report does not tell us is the hugesums of money that companies like theESB are making each year. In 2011 theESB made €78.8 million, and for 2012 itsprofit increased fourfold to a whopping€327.6 million, with a dividend of €78.4million going back to the state; and yet ithas the audacity to look for yearly priceincreases.

An Bord Gáis, another vulture that preys

on the back of people struggling to get by,has had increases of almost 30 per centover the last three years. The cost ofgetting rid of our waste goes up each year.The cost of basic food items is a disgrace.

It would be something if the Governmentcould give more time to dealing with thecore issues of mounting costs that areaffecting people and stop wasting so muchtime and money in trying to convincepeople that the state is saving €20 millionon a toothless body such as the Seanad.

It is perplexing to know that 73 per centof people are sacrificing spending onfootwear, clothes and something that wasn’tmentioned: the scandal of dental care. Mostpeople cannot afford the horrific charges ofdentists. To get any sort of oral care,especially for children over the age ofthirteen, is prohibitive. The result in years tocome will be a disaster for us all.

All this is being carried on under the nosesof the Labour Party, with Pat Rabbitte andhis former Workers’ Party comrade ÉamonGilmore. They are leading the way forward in

ensuring that “Austerity” can, and does,work.

Where now stands Pearse Doherty TD,Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on finance?Before he was elected he was very keen totell us about what he stood for, but, asusual, once they get their cosy slippersfrom the ushers in Leinster House theybecome part of the cronyism.

One can sense the true feelings of thegombeenmen and women in the Dáil whenyou take into consideration the latestexploits of the property developer MichaelO’Flynn, who owed the banks the sum of€1½ billion; and now speculation has itthat Deutsche Bank is about to buy theloans at a huge discount of €900 million.

The resulting loss will be covered by thepeople of Ireland; and not a word from theelite. It is all nice and cosy, and it clearlyshows where the elite’s priorities lie; andagain the only answer—and it is a messagethat the CPI has been espousing for manyyears—is to build a people’s resistance andto fight back. [PD]

How austerity is working

Government offered huge tax incentives tolandlords to provide rental flats and houses;and we now have a new landlord classmaking massive profits off the young peoplenow needing accommodation. The KennyReport (1962) proposed radical measures toprevent speculation. It was neverimplemented.

The new landlord class included not only thecronies of those in power but also manypoliticians. These include Frank Fahey andthe former Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Faheywas king of the rentiers, owning or jointlyowning nineteen properties in 2010. Theseincluded apartments in Belgium, France,Portugal, Dubai, and the United States. Inthat year it was estimated that 34 of the 60members of Seanad Éireann had rental ordevelopment properties around the globe.Having bought these houses, thespeculators have guaranteed a rental marketthrough the elimination of state competitionand state-guaranteed rental incomes—arentier dole.Ireland’s 140,000 social houses areprovided by local authorities and non-profithousing associations, such as Respond. Now,subsidies on rents are being reduced, andlocal authorities and housing associations arebeing pressured to operate under marketconditions.The EU issued a directive requiring that localauthorities not directly involve themselves inproviding housing. But, stung by criticism, theGovernment ordered local authorities toensure that a fifth of all building land begiven to councils for the provision of publichousing. But builders and developers lobbiedagainst this and in many cases were allowedto buy themselves out of the developmentsand ensure that the poor were kept atestate’s length from the more affluent. Thisreinforced the traditional snobbery and classdivision and consequent alienation.

Housing remains in crisis. There are notenough houses or apartments available inthe private sector, and the poor are pricedout of the rental market. Their only hope is toexist on housing grants, allowances,subsidies, and supplementary welfare. Theowners, developers and speculators continueto prosper as they lurch Scrooge-like fromplan to plan—always prospering, neverfailing.The housing list may be growing, yet mostsizeable towns have more than their localghost estate. My own county has an areawhere the foundations and pipe-work werecovered with clay, waiting for the next bubbleto lift the developer’s boat. Yet in a nearbyestate young families double up with their in-laws. A resident showed me her house andtold me they had to eat off a coffee table ina cramped sitting-room, while there was noroom upstairs for a wardrobe. Their estatewas locally named Tom’s Shoebox, in honourof the developer—a local gombeenman withhis hand in every pocket.Responses to the crisis would involve takingestates like these in hand, using the ghostestates for family housing and the shoe-boxes for single people.It’s all to be fought for![MA]

H A starting point is The housing crisis: A discussion document (April 2000), produced by the CPI, available atwww.communistpartyofireland.ie/c-tithe-en.html.

sis worsens

FIFTEEN YEARS after thesigning of the GoodFriday Agreement thereis little evidence that theNorth is functioning, orindeed can function, as

a normal political entity.

This year began with a series of violentprotests about flag-flying, which carried overinto a troubled Orange marching season,followed by a series of cantankerousdisputes over how to deal with the past. No-one can ignore evidence pointing to a failedstate when those charged with administering

the region are unable to agree on even themost basic of issues. Underlining the extentof this system malfunction is the almostdespairing commissioning of emissaries fromWashington to come and try to mend themess.

Northern Ireland, or “the North” (call itwhat you will), is caught in a double bindthat Dr Richard Haass and Prof. MeghanO’Sullivan are unlikely to solve. On the onehand the local economy is ailing and thedevolved administration in Stormont ispowerless to fix it. Secondly, the logic orunderstanding on which the administrationis supposed to be predicated, i.e. the GoodFriday Agreement, has proved virtuallyunpalatable to the two main political partiesand their supporters.

Consider first the economy of the SixCounties. The area has one of the highestlevels of child poverty and the highest levelof economic inactivity in the UnitedKingdom, reputable voluntary agencies areexpressing fears for the well-being of theelderly, and there is a continuing exodus ofthe young. It is not at all surprising,therefore, that a recent opinion pollconducted by the Belfast Telegraph reportedless than 7½ per cent of the electoratesatisfied with the political process in theNorth.

Yet, because of the constitutionalarrangement resulting from the Good FridayAgreement, local devolved government hasvery limited power or ability to addresssocial and economic issues. Without fiscalauthority, Stormont cannot perform thenormal governmental duties of taxing and

page 4 SOCIALIST VOICE

Norn Irelandas seen fromBritland

ON A DAY out along the Antrimcoast in June this year I realised Iwas going native on Northern

Ireland. It is not just the landscape,which is of unparalleled beauty, but thepeople. I am, of course, biased. Whowouldn’t be after the man with thePortstewart Maude’s ice-cream franchisegave me a free Poor Bears to celebratemy birthday.

I first went to the North in the mid-70s witha delegation of London trade unionists. We weremet with great hospitality by each of the politicalparties. The one who made the strongestimpression was the now predictably deceasedleader of the UDA’s political front, whoeventually lost his rag under my gentle probingto tell me that I was typical of the English whodidn’t understand “us Irish” and that he did not

understand us. It made me realise that I wasBritish and he wasn’t. I suspect from the look ofrevelation on his face as he uttered the wordsthat he did too.

Half a lifetime later, and married into afamily from a town so Prod that even the leavesturn orange, I am beginning to understand howthe complex web of myth and reality that forpeople in the Six Counties constitutes theiridentities is beginning to unravel.

For most people in Britain, Northern Irelandis a foreign land. It is not simply a question ofpolitics. No British political party has anyserious purchase in Northern Ireland, and therhetoric of the political formations in the Northhas no resonance in Britain except among anEmpire Loyalists trend more closely associatedwith fascism than any other ideology.

It is not simply a question of religion. Formost people in Britain, religious institutions playlittle or no part in their lives, and religious beliefdoes not shape their self-image or identity orguide their actions. This is not the case in theNorth.

An example: two middle-aged Protestantwomen I know from Co. Down pitched up to theultra-loyalist protest about the Belfast City hall

flag issue. They went with a group from theirchurch in opposition to the loyalists. Thesignificant fact is that they were mobilisedthrough their church—almost inconceivable inBritain.

The truth is that the British identify with theIrish as a whole, and for most people in Britainthe distinction between Irish and Loyalist is onethat works to categorise the latter as the “other,”as different, as alien. And for that section of thepopulation who remain attached to loyalism, theexternal symbols of their identity and, moreimportantly, the internalised character of theirexistential dilemma, serve to distinguish themfrom all that is essentially British.

Even around such superficially sharedsymbols of the Union as Remembrance Day andthe wearing of the poppy, the differencesbetween Northern Ireland and Britain aremarked. Where wearing a red poppy is freightedwith sectarian significance in Northern Ireland,in Britain controversy centres on argumentsabout whether or not wearing it can be read assupport for Britain’s current foreign adventures.

Loyalists have nowhere to go within theBritish polity. Such privileges that accrued toProtestant workers under the crown have gone

Ireland

Haass unlikely to succeed

SOCIALIST VOICE page 5

or are now disappearing under the blue flag andyellow stars of the EU.

A few years ago I pitched up in Tralee onholiday at the same time as the Irish Congress ofTrade Unions was meeting. On a sweltering hotday I slipped into a town-centre bar for a pintand fell into conversation with a lad—a delegatefrom Belfast, as it turned out—who,unaccountably, was wearing a sweater with thesleeves rolled down. He had never been southbefore and was scared to show his regimentaltattoos for fear that the Fenians would abducthim. Instead they tried with great humour, at hisand their expense, to get him drunk.

Contrast his groundless fears with theuncomplicated thinking of the throngs of Britishhen and stag parties who nightly make Dublinhideous; or the millions cheering on the Irish asEnglish high streets were decked out in green,white and orange in the World Cup afterEngland, predictably, crashed out.

What does this mean for working-classpolitics? British trade unions increasingly treattheir Irish membership as a separate category,thus reflecting the reality that the negotiatingframework and the political context, includinggovernmental institutions, operate under

different conditions from Britain. And the lesscomfortable fact that Irish interests areinevitably marginal in their calculations.

Search for Northern Ireland on the BritishTUC web site and you get a report of a debate onthe peace process from 1998, praise for Britishcivil servants, and a statement from 2005welcoming Northern Ireland’s smoking ban.

People in the North, but especially tradeunionists, need to think strategically about thekind of future that is possible. Is it as supplicantsto the British state, special pleading for aprivileged provincial status, a kind of NorthAtlantic Falklands welfare state? Or is itsomething more sustainable in a globalisedeconomy, where challenging the power oftransnational corporations and the internationalbodies that underpin their power—theInternational Monetary Fund, the World Bank,the European Union, and NATO—depends moreon genuine working-class internationalism,rational strategies that take account of the actualframework in which working-class action is mosteasily mobilised, and co-ordinated action acrossreal borders?

Much of Loyalism’s political discourse seems,to a British observer, deeply unambitious. It is

about securing or maintaining rapidlydiminishing marginal privileges, claiming thesymbols of a lost ascendancy, asserting asubaltern supremacy in a provincial peckingorder that can have little purchase in a worldwhere investment decisions that shape thecharacter of production—and thus the shape ofthe working class—are not amenable to whatremains, little more than local government.

At a subterranean level, many people inNorthern Ireland understand the fragilefoundations upon which the presentarrangements rest. The business interests,always forward-thinking, see even in the midstof the Republic’s economic difficulties realpossibilities. This goes as much for thenotionally Unionist business community as wellas the unashamedly cosmopolitan andtransnational firms.

The City Hall flag-wavers, or rather thecynical elements behind them, are theredundant fag end of an era. They may be thelast people on the island to see just how muchtheir actions and words distinguish them fromBritain and the British. But when they do theywill understand just how Irish they really are.

[NW]

investing. The administration can onlysupervise the distribution of a block grantfrom the central government in London.

During the years of armed conflictLondon contributed what amounted to apremium to the area in an effort to buy offdiscontent. With ceasefires and therestoration of devolved government, thisextra subsidy is no longer available.

Worse still, with a hard-line neo-liberalTory government in office in London, theamount allocated to Northern Ireland isconstantly diminishing as the Britishchancellor, George Osborne’s, austerity-driven campaign ploughs on relentlessly.Moreover, the prevailing wisdom from bothWestminster and Stormont dictates theapplication of a stringently neo-liberal, free-market economic policy to the North.

Not surprisingly, this has done nothing toaddress long-term unemployment or toregenerate communities experiencing themiseries of life on welfare. There is, inbrief, little or no feel-good glow ofprosperity resulting from the “peaceprocess.” The Washington emissaries arenot tasked with examining the North’seconomy; but even if they were, no-oneseriously believes they would recommendcurbing neo-liberalism and its devastatingimpact.

Compounding problems created by theStormont Assembly’s inability to fix theeconomy is a deep reluctance by the mainpolitical parties to recognise and accept theunderlying rationale of the Good FridayAgreement. Vernon Coaker, the BritishLabour Party’s shadow secretary of state for

Northern Ireland, correctly told his party’sannual conference that Sinn Féin has toaccept that in 1998 it signed up toNorthern Ireland remaining British for aslong as the people of the Six Counties wishthat to be the case. While that much isaccurate, he might have added that at thesame time unionism agreed to acceptMartin McGuinness and his colleagues asequal partners in the administration of thearea.

Northern Ireland’s two leading parties aretherefore embedded within a dilemmacreated by this paradox. They do not havethe power (even if they wanted to use it) toaddress the social and economic issuesthat might enhance their constituents’ livesand contentment. Deprived of this option,the parties are left to work within a politicalaccommodation that most of theirsupporters are uncomfortable with,especially when its inherent and vitalcompromise is spelt out.

Against this background, Dr Haass andProf. O’Sullivan are charged with findingagreement on the tortuous issues of flags,contentious parading, and how the Northinterprets and deals with the past.

Haass has said his team will finish theirwork before Christmas this year. They maywell leave by Christmas, but the betting isthat their departure will not beaccompanied by the brokering of adefinitive settlement. The chances offinding agreement on emblems and theflying of flags are slim; delivering anagreement on parades is more difficultagain; yet in comparison with finding

agreement on any narrative relating to thepast, settling the flags, emblems andparades controversies would be simplicityitself.

To reach agreement on these issues, theDUP would face a dilemma. It would haveto forgo its tried and tested tools ofcommunal divisiveness, which have servedthe party well for so long. Without theoption of creating sectarian-led politicaldiversions, and taking the lead in doing so,Peter Robinson and his party would, in theshort term, risk being outmanoeuvred byother, more reactionary elements. In thelonger run there is the even greater risk (forthe DUP, that is) that a Northern Irelandwithout sectarian division would resort toclass politics, rendering obsolete much ofthe political status quo and with it theirbrand of politics.

Sinn Féin is also faced with difficultchoices. In spite of mutterings from some ofits senior figures that the power-sharingarrangement at Stormont is in crisis, theparty has no wish to see the institutionscollapse, leaving the type of politicalvacuum that others might fill. Nevertheless,if it were to concede significant ground onthe Haass issues the party would bevulnerable to damaging criticism from itsrepublican critics.

In the light of this, it is difficult to see apermanent settlement emerging from theHaass intervention. Trying to manage asectarian agenda will at best offertemporary relief. Long-term progress lies ina very different type of class-based politics,and that must never be lost sight of. [TMK]

page 6 SOCIALIST VOICE

environment

THE WORLD cannot sustain muchmore capitalist growth.Consensus has now emerged

both that climate change is happeningand that it is human-made. Therecent report by the InternationalPanel for Climate Change confirmsthis—and this despite its knownconservative stance and its under-estimation of real threats anddangers.

It is now 95 per cent certain—an increasefrom 66 per cent in 2001—that humanactivities, in particular the burning of fossilfuels, are responsible for climate change.

The report stated that averagetemperature was likely to rise by between0.3 and 4.8 degrees Celsius by the latetwenty-first century, with other sourcessuggesting that it will be far closer to the4.8°C end of this range, with sea level likelyto rise by between 26 and 82 cm by theend of the century (after a 19 cm rise in thenineteenth century).

It’s clear that we are already seeing farmore “extreme” weather—so much so thatit’s hard not to see it as being more thenorm. The IPCC report suggests that we arein for more heat waves, floods and droughtsas well as rising sea levels from melting ice-sheets that could swamp coasts and low-lying islands.

The graph, showing temperaturefluctuation over the last thousand years,

shows the effect that industrial capitalism, inparticular since the rise of globalmonopolies, has had on the earth’stemperature.

The World Wildlife Fund has reported thataverage air temperature in the Arctic hasincreased by about 5°C over the lasthundred years, melting the polar ice-caps atan incredible rate, to a point where there willbe almost no summer sea ice left in theArctic by 2020. This has severeimplications—not only the loss of habitat forpolar bears and seals, and the effect of thison local people, but dramatic changes to theentire northern hemisphere. The lack of apermanent ice shield will also result in evenfaster warming (and acidification) of theseas, the loss of other sea species, and ageneral acceleration of global warming.

And climate change, of course, is only onepart of a global environmental crisis. Equallyimportant, and linked with climate change,is the manner in which production ischanging the land. Change in land cover hasresulted in three-quarters of ice-free landshowing signs of human alteration, resultingin many environmental problems. It is theprincipal cause of the extinction of species,with 13 per cent of birds, 25 per cent ofmammals and 41 per cent of amphibiansnow threatened with extinction.

Overfishing is now commonplace, soindeed is over-use of virtually all our limitedsupply of resources, and this is drivingincreasingly desperate and in fact suicidalefforts to release oil and gas, as witness thegrowth and defence of hydraulic fracturing(fracking).

The retention of biodiversity is crucial forhumankind, as natural ecosystems providemany life-sustaining resources, including thepollination of food crops, soil formation,nutrient cycling, water supply, residuestreatment, medical resources, and even fooditself.

‘This systemincreasingly serves only the needs of a tiny global elite andsacrifices not onlyworkers and theunemployed but our environment’

The destruction of rainforests, particularlyin Brazil, is of particular concern, asdeforestation is releasing huge amounts ofcarbon dioxide, again speeding up climatechange.

The list of environmental concerns isgrowing: climate change, acidification of thesea, destruction of species, shortages offreshwater, chemical pollution of the air,water, and soil, and the exposure of humansto “extreme weather.”

The leading climatologist and NASAscientist James Hansen says: “Globalwarming increases the intensity of droughtsand heat waves, and thus the area of forestfires. However, because a warmeratmosphere holds more water vapour, globalwarming must also increase the intensity ofthe other extreme of the hydrological cycle—meaning heavier rains, more extreme floods,and more intense storms driven by latentheat.”

This crisis is now undeniable by honestevaluation, and those who further explore itare increasingly coming to the conclusionthat it is the capitalist mode of production,and its anarchic drive to increase profits,that is the primary force driving thesubordination of the planet and its resourcesto its use. Our planet does not possessunlimited resources, and the misuse or over-

Capitalist growth and environme

use of these resources is havingcatastrophic results.

Capitalist growth, the re-creation of capitalprimarily through the commodity productionprocess, requires ever-expanding marketsand consumption and more and moreresources. The global market, monopolyownership and wealth and corporatestructures pit company against company andshare price against share price in the fastestpossible race to the bottom to increaseprofits.

This system increasingly serves only theneeds of a tiny global elite and sacrifices notonly workers and the unemployed but ourenvironment. Capitalism is now in directcontradiction with the survival of the planetas we know it.

Growing numbers of the sciencecommunity are realising this, which isincreasing the valuable radical critique ofcapitalism from this quarter. Where onceMarxist political economy was the domain ofthe social sciences, attacked and weakenedsince Reagan and Thatcher, it is now seeinga revival in the environmental sciencedepartments.

Ireland needs a radical ecologicalmovement—one that links local and globalstruggles to the system, one that engageswith communities and trade unions andseeks to build alliances, to educate andexplore campaigns that reach out topotential allies rather than alienating them.

The world cannot sustain much morecapitalist growth; yet this is the panacea ofall our ills accepted by virtually every party inDáil Éireann and by the leadership of thetrade union movement. Therefore theenvironmental struggle against capitalismmust also provide real alternativeemployment opportunities to workers andengage in a way that does not alienate itsbiggest and most crucial ally: the workingclass. [NL]

SOCIALIST VOICE page 7

The Communist Party of Irelandoffers its condolences to the peopleof Viet Nam on the death of one oftheir greats sons, General Vo NguyenGiap, at the age of 102. A true son of the people, Vo was a

humble and honest communist andstaunch anti-imperialist. He dedicatedhis life to the struggle of theVietnamese people to liberatethemselves from the yoke ofJapanese occupation, French colonialrule, and occupation by USimperialism. Together with Ho ChiMinh he masterminded the stunning

defeat of the French imperial forcesat Dien Bien Phu in 1954, effectuallyending French colonial rule in theregion. He went on to lead the Vietnamese

people in their long struggle againstUS imperialism and its allies and wasthe mastermind behind the Tetoffensive against American forces in1968, when the Vietnameseliberation forces attacked more thanforty provincial capitals and enteredSaigon, then the capital city of SouthViet Nam, briefly capturing the USembassy, one of the turning-points inthe war of liberation. At the age of fourteen Vo joined a

clandestine resistance movement, andby 1938 he was a member of theIndochinese Communist Party. Hewent to China with Ho Chi Minhbefore the Japanese invasion of VietNam and returned to wage guerrillawar against the occupying Japanese. Vo and his family paid a heavy price

for their commitment to the freedomof the Vietnamese people. His firstwife was arrested and died in aFrench prison. Irish communists salute this great

anti-imperialist warrior andcommunist, hero of the Vietnamesepeople and an inspiration to alloppressed peoples. We dip ourbanner in salute.

mental crisis

A true son of theVietnamese peopleStatement by the Communist Party of Ireland 5 October 2013

Undoing theConquest; Renewingthe Struggle

The first publication of the PeadarO’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum.

This 90 page booklet deals with thecornerstones of how to understand andanalyse our society, based on three sets ofseminars organised by the forum in 2012in Connolly Books, Dublin.

Available to buy in An Siopa Leabhair atAn Cultúrlann, Falls Road, Belfast; TheSinn Féin Bookshop, Falls Road, Belfast;Connolly Books, Dublin or from the forumdirectly.www.communistpartyofireland.ie/cbooks/socialistrepublicanforum.wordpress.com

page 8 SOCIALIST VOICE

politics

THE WIPING out of Fianna Fáilat the last general electionwould seem to have put anend to its particular reign in

government for at least theforeseeable future. But, lo andbehold, that same party, which all butbankrupted this state, resulting in anew wave of mass emigration, hasnow emerged as a serious contenderfor forming part of a Government atthe next general election.

The latest REDC opinion poll (15September) puts Fianna Fáil in secondplace, after Fine Gael. The results are: FineGael, 27 per cent (down 1 point), FiannaFáil, 23 (up 1 point), Sinn Féin, 17 (nochange), Labour Party, 10 (down 2 points),Green Party, 4 (up 2 points), independentsand others, 19 (no change).

One would seriously have to questionwhether the Irish people have been struckwith a serious case of Stockholm syndrome!It’s one thing having to listen to MícheálMartin and the other Fianna Fáil lackeysspewing their hypocritical opposition to thepresent Dáil, but to think that after only onegeneral election it might be in a position toget back into government . . . If this isn’t atragedy it certainly is a farce!

Just how has Fianna Fáil been able toslowly gain ground that it should never beallowed to gain back? I have previouslywritten about political parties and thehistorical trends of parties and partysystems.

The most up-to-date literature on politicalparties holds that party systems in theUnited States and Europe (Ireland included)have been “cartelised,” to stop governmentsintervening in market relations: in otherwords, competition between parties onpolicy choice no longer exits; it is only onthe effective management of the economy

that parties compete against each other.What has resulted in the Irish case is bestdescribed by the CPI’s term “internal troika”for Fine Gael, the Labour Party, and FiannaFáil.

There are four major criteria of thecartelisation process:

(1) Decreasing dependence on grass-rootsfunding, in favour of funds raised by centralgovernment.

(2) Organisational changes designed tofree central party leaders from control byactive elements of the party on the ground(professionalisation).

(3) Policy convergence among parties, to(a) reduce expectations and (b) free partiesfrom traditional policy responsibilities andconstituencies, increasing the institutionalexternalisation of such commitments.Rhetorical issues like “globalcompetitiveness” are used to play downtraditional voters’ expectations.

(4) An ideology of managerial competenceto replace the various ideologies of principleas the basis for choice among parties.

With a lack of policy differentiation, therisk of a party being wiped out is much lesslikely.

Parties insulate themselves within thecartel, which guarantees (virtually) that theywill always have a chance to govern as longas they can “stay in the race.”

In other words, this convergence towardsan ideology of management and theprofessionalising of politics meansessentially that whatever party is in power,policies will fundamentally remain the same.When a party is removed from officebecause of bad management, as Fianna Fáilwas, it must rebrand itself so as to distanceitself from the old guard; then, given enoughtime in opposition, it can regain its support,allowing it the opportunity to get back intogovernment.

‘. . .this convergencetowards an ideology ofmanagement and theprofessionalising ofpolitics meansessentially thatwhatever party is inpower, policies willfundamentally remainthe same’

Fianna Fáil’s position in the REDCopinion poll should not surprise us if wegive credence the cartel party system toIreland.

Does this mean that every party is withinthe cartel? Not exactly. There are, ofcourse, substitutes and minority parties inopposition today that do propose adifferent policy agenda. We could includeSinn Féin, the Green Party, independents,and various socialist parties. The CPI wouldalso be a substitute but is not representedin Dáil Éireann.

The question, however, is whether suchgroups can be principled enough to stayout of the cartel if they come into power.

In the case of the Green Party—well,history would reveal that it left its coreprinciples outside the Dáil gates as soon asit entered government, so we canconfidently say No.

In the case of independents, they cannotform a block government, as they come inall shades of the left political spectrum—sotheir main goal will be to work for theirconstituents and to make deals thatmaximise the chances of their return to

There is an alternative Part 1

SOCIALIST VOICE page 9

international 0

US meddling led toWestgate massacre

THE GLOBAL reach of USimperialism has played a large rolein the problems of Somalia and in

the rise of radical Islam there. This storyis crucial to seeing through the mediahype generated by the Westgate ShoppingCentre horror.

When UN forces left Somalia in 1995 thecountry was racked by civil war. Famine, violenceand political chaos were the norm. Yet radicalIslam was not yet a strong force in Somalisociety: it only strengthened later, when aforeign, non-Muslim threat entered the country.

A very weak Transitional NationalGovernment was formed in Somalia in 2000. Butthe Bush government decided to financewarlords rather than strengthen this moderateIslamic government. These warlords, equippedwith American weaponry, killed and capturedsupporters of Islamic movements in the country.

In 2001 the Bush government closed the al-Barakaat money transfer company, claiming itwas involved in the financing of al-Qa‘ida whenin fact the company had no relation to al-Qa‘ida.Thousands of people in poverty-stricken Somaliadepended on money transferred through al-Barakaat from families abroad. Some $200 to500 million a year was transferred to Somalia atthe time, significantly more than the $60 millionthe country received in international aid. Theclosing of al-Barakaat was a death sentence formany Somali families.

During this time some Islamist factionsunited to resist the warlords. Some of these,including al-Shabaab (“Youth”), joined the Unionof Islamic Courts, an indigenous reaction to thewarlords. The courts governed effectively and asa whole did not impose a harsh Islamic rule overSomalia. Issues internal to the country were itsremit; it had no connection to al-Qa‘ida. By 2006it had united most of Somalia. With popularsupport, it drove out the US-backed warlords.

But its attempts to establish friendly relationswith the international community were rejectedby the United States, which saw the UIC as beingtoo independent and open to radical Islamicinfluence.

However, under the UIC, security improveddramatically. Ports and airports reopened. Foodprices dropped sharply, aid shipments reachedtheir goals, and crime decreased. For the firsttime in fifteen years Somalia had somesemblance of stable central government. MostSomalis saw these changes as a significantimprovement.

But the United States backed Ethiopia’sincursion into Somalia in 2006 to prop up theSomali Transitional National Government,which then controlled only a tiny part of the

country. The invasion became a brutal two-yearoccupation, with hundreds of thousands ofpeople displaced and 16,000 civilians killed. Itcreated a great amount of unrest and politicalchaos, and it radicalised al-Shabaab. NewIslamist-nationalist fighters swelled theorganisation’s ranks from about four hundred in2006 to thousands by 2008.

Al-Shabaab leaders publicly praised al-Qa‘ida, condemning American crimes againstMuslims around the world. Like Hezbollah, itbecame a substantial social movement. In manyareas it became the only organisation that couldprovide basic social services, medicine, foodassistance, and a justice system.

The Ethiopian forces withdrew, but AfricanUnion troops stayed in Somalia to support theUS-backed Transitional Federal Government.Foreign fighters continued to pour into al-Shabaab, and by 2010 it controlled moreterritory than any other group affiliated to al-Qa‘ida. American air strikes increased itspopular support. Its military potential wasweakened by increased numbers of AU troops onthe ground and more aggressive AU operations,though it continued to be able to carry out majorattacks.

In 2011 Kenya, a long-time ally of theimperialist powers, used the kidnapping offoreigners by al-Shabaab to justify a militaryintervention in Somalia. It declared al-Shabaabto be behind the kidnappings, though theorganisation denies such involvement. TheKenyan invasion resulted in an air strike on arefugee camp and huge disruption in thedistribution of food aid. Kenyan troops wereintegrated in the AU force, which remains inSomalia to prop up the TFG government.

Al-Shabaab’s stated rationale for theWestgate attack is to punish Kenya for itspresence as part of the US-supported AU forceoccupying Somalia. “The attack at West GateMall,” they said, “is just a very tiny fraction ofwhat Muslims in Somalia experience at thehands of Kenyan invaders.”

US policies bear direct responsibility for therise of al-Shabaab and radical Islam in Somalia.They have been successful—as in so many otherplaces—only in causing death, destruction, andthe strengthening of popular resistancemovements.

As the United States, driven by its attempt todominate the region, is unlikely to end itsviolence in the Middle East, it’s only a matter oftime before the horror of another WestgateShopping Centre looms. When that occurs, lookthrough hollow hysteria and assign the blame tothose to whom it rightly belongs: the strategistsof global imperialism. [TMS]

power. Some may remain principled (TonyGregory being a case in point); however,they are not large enough to competeagainst the cartel.

So we are left with Sinn Féin and the leftblock, which have not been in power yet,so the question is, Can they be reliedupon?

Sinn Féin, for its part, seems to betaking every opportunity, both in the Dáiland also at every demonstration attended,to twist the knife in the Labour Party’svulnerable and, it has to be said, shamefulreign in government. It is smart politics bySinn Féin, trying to gain the electoralsupport of disenchanted Labour voters.Nevertheless, while it has policy positionsthat most people on the left would favour(the same could be said of the LabourParty if you read its policy statementsbefore the election), having these aspolicies while in opposition is one thing,implementing them while in government isa totally different thing—something theLabour Party is finding out to its cost.

The policy choices that would beconsidered a substitute would necessarilycontradict those on offer by cartel parties,i.e. expansive public services, socialsecurity, social housing, universal healthcare, free education, full employment, andwith the state itself a large supplier of allthese services, all of which to a greater orlesser extent are advocated by Sinn Féin.

There is one fundamental problem inimplementing such policies, and that isthat the rules and the ruling body governingsuch policies don’t allow them! Put simply,EU law makes it illegal for European statesto move in such a direction.

Another major problem in implementingsuch policies would mean that largeamounts of state funding would beneeded—i.e. the tax base and governmentrevenue would need to expand. Workingpeople cannot afford the taxes they paynow, never mind a substantial increase, soinevitably the bulk of the deficit would needto be made up from the business andindustrial sectors. This would necessitateindustry signing up to this arrangement witha government in power; but given the factthat industry is run on a neo-liberaleconomic framework, with maximising profitas the motive, we can only conclude thatwith the present system these types ofpolicy choice are an impossibility for anyparty, because the whole reason for theemergence of the cartelisation of partieswas to formally stop governments frominterfering in market relations: oursovereign ability to adopt such policies issuperseded by EU law!

Part 2 will be publishedin November

page 10 SOCIALIST VOICE

culture

A century ofworking-classlife

David Convery (ed.), Locked Out: A Century ofWorking-Class Life (Dublin: Irish AcademicPress, 2013; €58.50 / €22.55)

This book is a collection of essays about howa distinct working-class life is a richer diversityof Irish society than the orthodox narrators ofsuch things. The editor in his introductionmentions how the new nation “would be definedby a commonality of people based on ethnicityand united in the task of building anindependent state. Class differences, althoughpatently in existence to those who would look,were submerged.”

The contributors to the volume take aspectsof Irish working-class life to show its vitality inthe industrial, social, sport and culturalspheres—a challenging task, yet they make useof methods of research that allow theprotagonists of their stories to speak as openlyas possible. They attribute this approach tohistorical authenticity as being indebted to E. P.Thompson’s classic The Making of the EnglishWorking Class. As the editor, David Convery,acknowledges the pioneering work of the IrishLabour History Society, this book is part of thesecond shift coming on board!

The fullness of any person’s life is measuredin their interaction with all society’s activities.So the contributors seek out aspects of workers’lives wherein they identify their role as beingpart of a class. 1913 was pivotal, as theorganised working class under Larkin andConnolly placed the ambitions of labour on thenational scene, as related here by the editor and

Conor McCabe.It is, however, the breadth and originality of

the essays that arouse the interest. One dealswith the Irish Worker, the radical weekly of1911. One of the reasons the newspaper,claiming a circulation of approximately 20,000per week, edited first by Larkin and then byConnolly, was so colourful and interesting wasits diverse coverage.

One of the columnists was a largely unknownAndrew Patrick Wilson, a Scotsman, latermanager of the Abbey Theatre. He wrote shortstories for the paper based on the life of theslum-dwellers he lived among. Here indeed wasthe bread and roses of the new trade unionism.

Another essay deals with the politics andconflicting loyalties of the Irish in America,particularly as seen through Larkin’sintervention in the mining town of Butte,Montana. An explosive mix indeed, of militantIWW, the reformist craft unionism of the AFL,Irish politics polarised by the AOH, CatholicAction, Clan na Gael emigrants, the Pearse-Connolly Club, a multi-cultural work force, localpolitics, an imperialist and racist ruling class;and then throw in the fiery Larkin.

The recognition of the strength of the labourmovement when it is mobilised and directed isillustrated by essays on the general strikeagainst conscription in 1919 and in the largestrikes in the engineering industries in Belfastduring the Second World War. The latter wareunusual, as they were against the trend in thewar industries of Britain and the North,encouraged by the left, which was for fullproduction to strengthen the anti-fascist wareffort. Local factors, together with thepeculiarities of Irish politics, point to furtherinvestigation, and maybe there are somepointers for today.

Oral history plays a large part in theexamination of the lives of Irish workers inBritain, using the medium of that great songpopularised by Joe Heaney, “I Never WouldReturn Again, to Plough the Rocks of Bawn.”These techniques also inform the essay “As ifyou were something under their shoe: Class,gender and status among Cork textile workers,1939–70.” How workers utilised leisure time isanalysed through the development of modernfootball teams from the factory and pubs toleagues and championships.

The criminalisation of the working class,particularly through the industrial schools, isnot neglected. The responsibility of the state,the Catholic Church and the ISPCC is illustratedin the case of the death of a boy, John Byrne,from a beating at Artane in 1935. The case waspublished in the Workers’ Voice, the paper ofthe CPI, and taken up by the Labour DefenceLeague.

Michael Pierse’s essay furthers his work onthe presentation of the working class in popularculture through O’Casey and Yeats to today’s“Love/Hate” and “Tallafonia.” This fixation inRTE on the portrayal of an unglamorousworking class raises such questions as Where

was “Strumpet City”? Aptly, Michael Pierseasks, “Why is it that RTE felt comfortablehaving presenter Joe Duffy, earning a whopping€408,889 in the middle of a deep recession,present the case for James Connolly, a radicalsocialist who must have surely somersaulted inhis grave.”

One of my favourite contributions, perhapsbecause I was brought up in Dublin’s inner city,is Dónal Fallon’s “Newsboys and the AnimalGang in 1930s Dublin.” The Animal Gang was aname to be feared, not alone for their criminaland anti-social behaviour but for their use byclerical and right-wing forces in the burningdown of Connolly House and attacks on tradeunion and progressive organisations in 1933and later.Available from Connolly Books, or or get it fromthe library. [TR]

A day in thelife of abookshop

IF, LIKE ME, you love all things political andcultural, then Connolly Books was the place tobe last Saturday [28 September]. When Iarrived at the bookshop the sound of Irish wasflowing through the air. People were chattingand sipping tea and discussing the latestconcerns of everyday life.

I perused the latest book that was beinglaunched that afternoon by republican womenwho were involved in the war in the SixCounties, women who, like their comradesbefore them in that failed revolution of 1916,have been deliberately written out of history. Ihave often thought of these women who tookthe British on and other women who offered

SOCIALIST VOICE page 11

moral support to republican prisoners and stoodoutside Port Laoise and Crumlin Road prisonson dark days and nights, not to mention thosewho made endless journeys to England, to placeslike Long Lartin, Brixton, Belmarsh, only to findthat the jailers had moved their loved oneselsewhere.

It is the women that we menfolk owe a lot to.I listened to what was said, and hopefully thelaunch of In the Footstep of Anne: Stories ofRepublican Women Ex-Prisoners, will help in asmall way to remember these brave women.

Upstairs in Connolly House they werecelebrating a special club that has come togetherhere each week for the past twenty years tocreate an atmosphere in which people can feel atease speaking in Irish.

The subject of the launch by the PeadarO’Donnell Socialist Republican Forum was theirfirst publication, Undoing the Conquest:Renewing the Struggle, which was developedover a series of seminars convened by the CPI inearly 2012. These seminars were attended bymany people who were keen to discuss acoherent strategy that could direct socialistrepublicans in the pressing struggle againstimperialist forces.

The audience was addressed by TommyMcKearney, Eugene McCartan, and BernadetteMcAliskey, each of whom was well worthlistening to and learning from. The publicationdiscussed would certainly serve as a wonderfulpresent for family, friends or even politicalopponents in order to educate them on thebasics of what they need to know about class,state, and imperialism.

I urge you to buy it.[PD]

GuantánamopoemsON THURSDAY 3 October the poet GabrielRosenstock read in Galway from his translationof an anthology of poems by Guantánamoprisoners, Guantánamo: Cimí an Champa aChum (“Guantánamo: Written by the CampInmates”). The reading was organised by theGalway Alliance Against War to draw attentionto the Guantánamo hunger strike, which hadentered its 240th day on 3 October. Brutal force-feeding is the order of the day at the US prisoncamp.

Only in the past weeks, Ireland’s role inWashington’s “extraordinary rendition” has beenraised by the Council of Europe, which hascalled on the Government to investigate and toatone for its actions. One might ask, however,Has the reciting of poems of “rendition” victimsthrough the medium of Irish a role to play inovercoming such injustices?

The organisers of the reading certainlybelieve so. They argue that these poems give usaccess to the inner life of the Guantánamo

prisoners. This dependence on literature for thepersonal record is the case for most of us inrelation to the everyday experience of theGuantánamo prison camp.

It is hard for us to imagine how prisoners,hunger-strikers, the victims of torture find thestrength as well as the detachment to craftlanguage into images that evoke this world. Yethere we have a collection of poems that do justthis.

As one Guantánamo prisoner, Jumah al-Dossari, writes,

Tóg mo chuid fola.Tóg mo chuid bháisAgus mo thaisíGlac grianghraif dem’ chorp cois uaighe

go haonaránach

Seol ar fud an domhain iad,Chuig na breithiúnaIs lucht an choinsiasa,Seol chuig lucht prionsabálta iad, daoine

córa

Agus lig dóibh ualach ciontachAn anama seo gan pheaca a iompar os

comhair an tsaoil.

(Take my blood.Take my shroud andThe remnants of my body.Take photographs of my corpse at the

grave, lonely.Send them to the world,To the judges andTo the people of conscience,Send them to the principled men and the

fair-minded.And let them bear the guilty burden

before the world,Of this innocent soul.)

This is something no newspaper article orhistory book will ever be able to relate in quitethe same way—finding images where words areinadequate.

The poems in this collection have been madeaccessible in Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock. Thisadds deep cultural and historical connectedness.Rosenstock uses the native idiom of our people,who also have a history of suffering andvictimisation. Consider, as just one example, theimportance of religious belief, the strength,hope, identity it gives these prisoners:

“Ar son Allah, bí foighneach is coinnigh ort.Fan leis an ngeallúint a thug Dia do na fíréin.Nuair a d’imigh an scamall ón dtaobh Thoir,gealann aghaidh an Domhain.”

(“For the sake of Allah, remain patient andstay strong. Keep with the pledge that God gaveto the righteous. When the clouds depart fromthe East, the face of the world will brighten.”)

The Biblical “Blessed are those who arepersecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs isthe kingdom of Heaven,” comes to mind—or, inIrish, “Is méanar dóibh seo a d’fhulaing

géarleanúint mar gheall ar an bhfíréantacht, óiris leo ríocht na bhFlaitheas.”

How reminiscent this is of the Irish peoplewho refused to convert to the oppressor’s dictateof belief for a life-saving bowl of soup during theFamine!

The words for “hunger” and “hurt” resonatedifferently with us in Irish. The term “céasadh,”for example, appears in a number of poems.Probably the most potent use of this is a poemon an earlier hunger strike in Guantánamo withAdnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a man from Yemenwho was sold to America by the authorities inPakistan for $5,000. The poet appeals:

“Cé fén spéir a shaorfaidh ón gcéasadh sinn?”(“Who on earth will free us from this

torment?”)“Céasadh” means “torment, tormenting,

suffering, agony,” or, more significantly,“crucifying, crucifixion.” This expression is verycommon in Modern Irish and has a specialrelationship with the crucifixion of Christ(“Céasadh Chríost”) and is often used to mean acrucifix. Indeed there is a palpable sense ofrectitude in these poems, despite the humiliatingand inhumane conditions under which they werepenned. This theme culminates in a pieceentitled succinctly “An Fhírinne” (“The Truth”)by Emad Abdullah Hassan.

It is poignant to make such connectionsthrough language, and this is what makesRosenstock’s collection unique. It is a book notaimed at a small group of Irish-speakers: it is acollection expressing shared experience, wherelanguage adds in many complex ways to theemotional impact. It is a book we need to read inIrish. It highlights a bitter irony: despite ourown history of suffering as a people, consecutiveIrish governments, through Shannon Airport,have colluded in the tortures inflicted uponthese very poets.

May their voices reach many![LC, JF]

Connolly BooksDublin’s oldest radical bookshop

The place for H Irish history H politics H Marxist classics H philosophy H feminism H trade union affairs H environmental issues H radical periodicals H progressive literature

Connolly Books is named after JamesConnolly, Ireland’s socialist pioneer andmartyrConnolly Books is in East Essex Street,between Temple Bar and Parliament Street

democracy

SOCIALIST VOICE page 12

“A whistle-blower you would be,If you could see the things I see.”

(with apologies to George Formby)

In fact one would have to be either a verybrave or a very foolhardy person to be awhistle-blower, considering thepunishments that have been meted out tosuch people over history. In recent timesthere have been the cases of ChelseaManning, Edward Snowden, and JulianAssange. Our own Roger Casement couldbe considered an example from a previousera. These people suffered considerably fortaking their stance, and in Casement’scase he paid the ultimate price.

One of the principles laid down at theNürnberg trials of Nazis after the SecondWorld War was: “The fact that a personacted pursuant to orders of his Governmentor of a superior does not relieve him fromresponsibility under international law,provided a moral choice was in factpossible to him.”

Another Nürnberg principle states that

“complicity in the commission of a crimeagainst peace, a war crime, or a crimeagainst humanity is a crime underinternational law.” There is also a legalobligation under international law to reportwar crimes.

Through Wikileaks, Manning wasresponsible for exposing, among otherthings, the infamous video of the UShelicopter gunning down unarmed civiliansin Iraq and then firing at a van that tried tohelp transport the injured to hospital. Foranybody who has seen this video it wasobviously a war crime. It was also a warcrime committed during an illegal war.Manning, therefore, had a legal obligationto make the details known.

Similar reasons apply to the actions ofAssange and Snowden.

With all the major media around theworld in the control of a small number ofpowerful transnational corporations, therehas never been a time when oppositionviews and reports were more needed, sothat citizens can make informed decisions.In the present circumstances, with their

reporters and columnists “embedded”within the system, none of the informationdisclosed by the aforementioned whistle-blowers was likely to see the light of day.

One of the necessities for a properlyfunctioning democracy is openness andtransparency. “Democracy,” however, mustbe one of the most abused words in thedictionary. For the right it has come tomean government by people that theyapprove of; but for all who believe in “real”democracy, whistle-blowers would hold anhonoured position. It could also be arguedthat, in a properly functioning democracy,there would be no need for whistle-blowers.

Now we have the situation where peoplewho are doing what is legally required ofthem are ending up with long terms inprison or having to go on the run for doingtheir duty. Apart from their legalobligations, there are, of course, theirmoral duties; but, to quote Noam Chomsky,“there’s no more morality in world affairs,fundamentally, than there was at the timeof Genghis Khan; there are just differentfactors to be concerned with.” [RCN]

Join the struggle for socialism! Join the Communist Party of Ireland

Please send me information about Communist Party of Ireland membership

Name

Address

Post Code Phone

e mail

send to � � CPI 43 East Essex Street, Dublin 2 CPI PO Box 85 Belfast BT1 1SR

Who would be a whistle-blower?

Socialist Voice and Unity subscriptionsTake out a subscription to Socialist Voice by sending €15 (£10) to Socialist Voice, 43 EastEssex Street, Dublin 2, for one year (10–12 issues). This rate includes postage withinIreland; rates for other countries on request.) Free subscription to the email edition ofSocialist Voice by sending us an e-mail.

Take out a subscription to Unity by sending £17.50 (19) for 6 months or £35 (€38) for 12months to Unity, PO Box 85, Belfast BT1 1SR, This rate includes postage within Ireland:rates for other countries on request.

EventsPre-budget demonstrationSaturday 12 OctoberAssemble at Garden of Remembrance(Parnell Square, North and East), 1 p.m. Organised by Dublin Council of Trade Unions

Léirsiú réamh-cháinaisnéiseCruinnítear ag an nGairdín Cuimhneacháin(Cearnóg Parnell Thuaidh agus Thoir), 1 i.n. Á eagrú ag Comhairle Ceardchumann BhaileÁtha Cliath

Peadar O’Donnell WeekendDungloe, Co. DonegalFriday–Sunday 18–20 October

Deireadh Seachtaine Pheadair UíDhónaillAn Clochán Liath, Co. Dhún na nGallAoine–Domhnach 18–20 Deireadh Fómhairhttp://tinyurl.com/pxkvnj2