|
|
 |
|
|
|
Why the bosses system can't sort
it out
The ruling class will never invest in lower than average profit
making businesses simply because they don't need to. And it is in
their interests to keep people unemployed and hungry. The only
sizable gains that are made for the workers are when they fight for
them and win them against the ruling classes' wishes.
Politics of the car
With growing traffic jams, longer journeys to work and increasing
road deaths Aileen O'Carroll makes a contribution to the debate about
how to get out of this mess.
Globalisation: the end of the
age of imperialism?
IT HAS BECOME increasingly fashionable to use the term globalisation
as a description of the international economy and international
political relations
The World Bank
The world bank is the mechanism by which the bosses force whole
country to tow, the line. How is this done?
Stripping the mystery from the
money markets
Government ministers appear on TV to inform us that interest rates
will have to go up or down, or reassure us that, having spent
hundreds of millions of pounds, our standing in the ERM is now safe.
What are they talking about?
Low pay = Jobs? A global
lie
A low paid job is better than no job. At least that's what those
supporting corporate Globalisation argue. Big companies like Nike and
Gap pay workers badly, expect them to work long hours in appalling
conditions, buy off or exclude their trade-unions but at least at the
end of the day, these workers take home a pay packet.
Capitalism: Boom to bust? Is
this as good as it gets?
We can't say how long it will be before this downturn spreads into
the rest of the economy, but we can say that it is only a question of
time. Capitalism moves from slump to boom to slump
The Celtic Tiger ... who's
doing the roaring
The closure of Seagate in Clonmel with the loss of 1,600 jobs
underlines the knife-edge on which the Celtic Tiger economy is
balanced. But, particularly in the greater Dublin area, there is an
economic boom and for many - though not all - this boom has brought
jobs and hope for the future. Where did this boom come from and how
long will it last?
Our globalisation -
Fighting Global Capitalism
The world's 225 richest people have a combined wealth equal to the
combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people.
From the Czech Republic: Why we
organise against the IMF
The Czech anarchist organisation Solidarita/Organisation of
Revolutionary Anarchists is working as part of INPEG, the Czech
alliance organising the protests in Prague this September. Vadim
Barek, Solidarita's international secretary explains what the IMF
means to workers in the Czech republic and why they are organising
against the summit.
The World Bank and its
actions
Right now across the world, the lives of millions of people are in
the hands of two of the most powerful financial institutions ever
created - the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
(WB)
Against Private Property?
When anarchists say "property is theft" does this mean they are after
your tooth brush?
Have I got news for you?
It costs a fortune own a newspaper or TV company. Anybody who does so
is a millionaire. Media moguls are in the same league as the rest of
the rich. They hang about in the same clubs, they buy racehorses from
each other and, more importantly, they have similar economic
interests.
Ireland's
media...
TONY O'REILLY is Ireland's media giant, owner of Independent
Newspapers. This year O'Reilly's earnings add up to £160,000 A
DAY! We should not be surprised when the struggles of working class
people don't get fair coverage in the Indo, Herald, Star, Sunday
World or any of his provincial papers.
What about human nature?
We are constantly being told that there will always be leaders and
led, rulers and ruled. These ideas are powerful because they seem to
make sense. We do live in a nasty, competitive society.
|
|
|
Sweatshops,
unions and Fortress Europe
The EU is continuing the exploitation of the people of North Africa
through creating a special trade zone of some of the North African
countries similar to the free trades zones North America has created
in Mexico.
TRIPS and the WTO - killing
millions for massive profits
The World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was created to allow
multinational corporations to demand that their 'ownership' of
intellectual patents be respected in all countries.
Review: The Corrosion of
Character
This is a thoughtful and thought provoking book.
It describes a section of society that is affluent and yet hollow and
empty. Anyone working in a Celtic Tiger computer company will find
much to think about in this book.
Foot and mouth
The foot and mouth outbreak has led to more precautions than any
other 'crisis' in living memory. Government has treated it far more
seriously than the heroin epidemic, which killed hundreds and ravaged
so many of our communities.
Africa, anarchism &
neo-liberalism
Many African countries are chronically broke. They must regularly
borrow money to finance the public sector and to service their
existing debt. The IMF is willing to provide loans as long as the
government will carry out a neo-liberal reform package, known as a
Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). [An unedited
longer version
of this article ]
Is Bill Gates really worth
14,000,000 people?
Bill Gates, the richest man on earth, earned over 14 million dollars
a day from the increasing value of his Microsoft shares alone. Yet
over one billion people on this planet live on less than one dollar a
day
It's business as usual for the
Robber Bankers
NIB had been operating a relatively simple but yet ingenious scam. As
the computer printed out customers' statements each quarter, an
official would examine the interest due on each one and select
certain customers for overcharging.
What a wonderful world we
live in!!
The latest figures from the United Nations Human Development Report
about world poverty and poverty in Ireland.
Housing Crisis
Over 37,000 are on the waiting lists for public houses. Meanwhile
landlords charge higher and higher rents for smaller and smaller
apartments. Why is this happening and what can be done to stop it?
358 own half the world!
The UN revealed that the world's 358 wealthiest people have assets
equal to the combined income of 2.3 billion people
Just how bad can capitalism be anyway? Just have a look at
Thats'
capitalism
NAFTA's right to pollute upheld, Ryaniar profits, 23 million dead in
war
The not very 'natural' oppression
of women
In the majority of societies half our species (women) has been held
in an inferior position to the other half (men). Why is this the
case? The answer to this question should explain two things. It
should explain why today with all our equal rights legislation women
are still second class citizens, and secondly it should indicate the
mechanisms and tactics we have to use to achieve womens' liberation.
Why half the world's children go
to bed hungry
It's hard to know how any one can consider capitalism a viable system
when looking at the situation of the less developed countries. A
recent UN report estimates that 30 million people face starvation.
Yet EC beef, butter and wine mountains rot in European warehouses,
farmers are ploughing crops back into the land, in US corn belt
fields of wheat are burnt.
Famine in Somalia
THE FAMINE in Somalia has once again focussed attention on the
problems of the less developed countries. Much of the response to the
crisis is a short term one in the form of food aid. However in order
to understand the causes of this and other famines in Africa it is
necessary to race back the roots of the problem to colonisation and
imperialism.
...and bloodsuckers in the
bank
In a leaked World Bank memo he explained how the economic logic of
dumping toxic waste in the less developed countries was impeccable.
Homeless in Ireland in 1996
How big a problem is hopelessness in Ireland and who is most affected
Crime, Criminals, Punishment an
anarchist view
Kropotkin came up with three types of crime. Property related crime,
government related crime and crimes against the person. In Britain it
has been estimated that 94% of crime is committed against property.
However what isn't recorded are those crimes committed for property.
Pushers Out: Poverty Out
too
The Heroin crisis continues in Dublin, we examine how it is rooted in
poverty
Very profitable slaughter
The United States remained the biggest arms supplier to the third
world in 1992, increasing its share of the market to 57% from 49% in
1991, according to the US Congressional study.
Uncle Sams Torture Trade
From September 1991-December 1993, the U.S. Commerce Department
approved over 350 export licenses, worth more than $27 million, for
torture and police equipment
250 Million children forced to work
Nearly twice as many children are working full time in developing countries as previously thought, according to the International Labour Organization.
Low wages don't mean more
jobs
According to the European Commission's latest employment report,
Ireland has the third lowest manufacturing employment costs for the
bosses.
Organising &
Agitating
'Don't mourn, Organise', Joe Hill said before he was executed by the
US state. It's nothing more than common sense to say that two heads
are better than one. The more people working together, the more that
can be achieved. But organisation is more than the coming together of
kindred spirits.
Can we take on the
multinationals?
How do we deal with powerful multinational firms who often have an
international income greater than the Irish government? If we end up
having to strike they can often pack their bags and move to another
country; where they will receive another round of tax breaks, free
workforce training and preferential treatment.
French Workers Take on their
bosses
The strike wave that rocked France in the closing month of 1995 is
yet another example of the great fighting spirit of the French
working class. Yet when we look at the causes of the strike and the
relative weakness of French workplace organisation the question that
emerges is 'if they can do it, why can't we'?
Thinking about Anarchism: Smash the
state
One of the best known catch phrases of Anarchism has got to be "Smash
the State". It's also one that's easily open to misunderstanding.
Class
WHY IS THE concept of class so important to anarchists? Why are we
constantly talking about classes and class struggle? Some of our
opponents accuse us of living in the past, they claim the working
class is dying out
If voting could change anything...it
would be illegal
We are used to being promised the sun, moon and stars in elections
only to receive cuts, cuts and cuts. Is this just because all
politicians are liars or are there deeper reasons? Abstention from
elections has been an anarchist tactic from the time of Bakunin. In
this article we look at some of the reasons anarchists advocate
abstention/spoilt votes.
Handouts or Rights?
Ireland is one of the thirty richest countries in the world. At the
same time, 20% of the population live below the poverty line. There
are over 3,700 charities in Ireland. They all do essential and
valuable work. But they are only necessary because the state is not
providing these services itself.
Telethon - A hypocritical
sham
Ireland's bosses raise money for the 'poor' while slashing wages
The hidden history of squatting in
Ireland
Twenty years ago a squatting campaign forced the council to house
hundreds. Here is how it happened
The unemployed are on the march
A European March against Unemployment, Job Insecurity and Exclusion has been called by a wide coalition of unions, unemployed and political groups. Eleven separate legs of the march will arrive in the centre of Amsterdam on the afternoon of June 14th, to coincide with a European Union Inter-governmental Conference
Campaigning for a minimum wage
: Let's show them we are serious
CHRISTMAS IS well behind us but Scrooge refuses to go away. Bosses in
many shops, restaurants, garages are still paying wages as low as
£2.50 per hour. Civil Servants in junior clerical posts are
still so badly paid that they qualify for the Family Income
Supplement.
