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People before profit alliance: Time for a real alternative
 national |
rights, freedoms and repression |
press release
 Friday August 25, 2006 14:43 by rory hearne - people before profit alliance
People Before Profit: time for a real alternative
For information on People Before Profit Alliance contact:
Rory Hearne, PRO People Before Profit Alliance 086 1523542
Ailbhe Smith, Chair, People Before Profit Alliance 087 2055433 The People Before Profit Alliance was established in October 2005 by workers from a variety of local campaigns. Its aim is to reverse neo-liberal policies which place wealth creation for the few over the welfare of communities in Ireland. The Alliance represents a different form of politics, fitting for the 21st century. It sees 'people power' and the mobilisation of citizens in workplaces, communities and on the streets as the key to bringing change in society.
We believe that the time has come in Ireland for the formation of a real alternative to the political establishment and big parties. This is because there is a cosy consensus relating to policy and perspectives amongst the main parties, much of the media and the state establishment. People Before Profit believes that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are completely alienated from politics, who have not benefited from the Celtic Tiger and who want real change now.
The People Before Profit Alliance is holding a public information day in a number of cities around the country this Saturday, August 26th. We are taking to the streets to talk to people about the People Before Profit Alliance, the issues we are campaigning on and to listen to what issues are affecting people.
The People Before Profit Alliance is campaigning for:
· People Power as the alternative: we believe that real change is brought about when people take action themselves. We support the Shell to Sea Campaign, the Irish Anti-War Movement, the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign, Justice for the Stardust Victims, Trade Unions when they take strikes and action for better conditions for workers
· Support for local campaigns over public services, quality of life, development and planning issues.
For example in conjunction with Arklow Rock Preservation Association People Before Profit Alliance Wicklow recently staged a picket outside County Buildings, Headquarters of Wicklow County Council in protest against talks which were held in secret between senior management of Wicklow County Council and Roadstone Ltd who propose to demolish the prominent headland known as Arklow Rock for quarrying purposes. They are collecting a public petition in Arklow in support of the provision of a paediatric accident and emergency unit and outreach centre at Loughlinstown Hospital.
On Monday 28th August PB4P(Wicklow)in conjunction with Arklow Rock Preservation Association will hold a public meeting in the Arklow Bay Hotel at 8.00pm at which the speakers will include Dr. Colman Etchingham, Carmel Mc Kenna, Cllr. Tommy Cullen.
· We are supporting the anti-war protest on September 23rd. We are calling for an end to Irish complicity with war, US troops out of Shannon and an end to occupation. Ireland should stand up for the occupied people of the Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine. We oppose the on-going demonisation of Muslims. It is the US & Israel’s war crimes in the Middle East that are fuelling terror.
· Properly funded public services paid for by a substantial increase in tax on the wealthy and corporate profits. The nationalisation of the natural resources of Ireland so the benefits go to the people of Ireland not corporate profits.
· An end to exploitation of migrants and discrimination against ethnic minorities
· A radical alternative to the establishment political parties, that represents working people and all those currently alienated by the consensus politics that prioritises the needs of corporations, developers, and the wealthy elite over the needs of workers, local communities and ordinary people. People Before Profit is currently standing three candidates in the election. We believe electoral unity with others with similar policies will realise our aims sooner.
Dun Laoghaire candidate: Richard Boyd Barrett
Wicklow Candidate: Carmel McKenna
Ballyfermot Candidate: Brid Smith
We are looking to unite with other groups, political organizations, campaigns, and unions who want to create an Ireland and a world based on what people need not driven by the logic of profit and war.
www.people-before-profit.org
people_beforeprofit@yahoo.ie
Local Groups:
Artane Contact 085 7209654
Ballyfermot Contact 01 4560619
Dun Laoghaire Contact 0879794115
Dublin South East 086 1523542
Cork Contact 086 8714665
Galway Contact: 086 3366525
Mayo (Davitt League) 087 9591474
Wicklow Contact: 087 8755497
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Comments (20 of 20)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20according to some reports the PeopleforSWPProfit have expanded enormously. Lookin at the list theyve actually shrunk! Noone in Cork and Ballymun has disappeared?
"Dublin South East 086 1523542"
This also the number for:
IAWM Rialto
http://www.irishantiwar.org/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tc...i-War
Another Europe is Possible |Contact Rory Hearne at 086 1523542
http://www.freewebs.com/anothereuropeispossible/news.htm
Globalise ResistanceRory 086 1523542
http://www.activelink.ie/irish/organisation.php?id=484
Grinds in Geography, Sociology, & Politics Contact Details 086 1523542 Name: rory hearne
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:MWPLdTKV10UJ:www.m...cd=11
swp.ie - On to Gleneagles: March to the G8Contact hearner@yahoo.co.uk or 086 1523542 for
http://www.swp.ie/html/G8_analysis.htm
"Galway 086 3366525"
Irish Anti-War Movement - What is behind Israeli/US wars in the ...Hosted by SWP Galway contact 086 3366525.
www.irishantiwar.org/calendar/item.tcl?calendar_id=1920
Public meeting concerning the Niger Delta For further information contact Maggie Heneghan 086 3366525.
[Swp-announce] George GallowayTicket reservations are available from Dette(091 596844), Mags(086 3366525)
brockman.nuigalway.ie/pipermail/swp-announce/2005-October/000027.html
"Mayo 087 9591474"
Latin America Week 2005 Calendar... Contact Maura Harrington 087 9591474 ...
www.lasc.ie/activities/law/law2006.html
SHELL TO SEA: The West's Awake!Info: Maura Harrington 087 9591474
www.corribsos.com/index.php?id=127&type=event
'Time for a people’s movement: The Davitt League' - swp.ie ...There is a lot of work and discussion necessary to further this project.” To get involved contact Maura Harrington at 087 9591474
www.swp.ie/socialistworker/2005/sw247/sw-247-11.htm
The following candidates are likely to be selected by SWP/PBPA:
Artane Richie Browne
Dublin South East Shay Ryan
Cork Joe Moore
Galway Maggie Heneghan
Mayo (Davitt League) Maura Harrington
Best of luck folks!!!!!!!
It's inappropriate for Richard Boyd Barrett to be chair of the Irish Anti-War Movement while simultaneously campaigning as a Socialist Workers Party candidate. He should be asked to stand down as chair, since his candidacy calls into question the non-party political stance of the IAWM.
http://electionsireland.org/biographies.cfm?election=20...alpha
RBB is also chair of the ABTC in Dun Laoire and chair of save Dun Laoir Baths etc etc
an alternative name for the S.W.P
This entire thread and all its sniping and nastiness is really disheartening. It seems to me that it's a good thing that something like this alliance is bringing together all these various campaigns, because all these issues are linked by the fact that they show profit does come before people all the time in this horrible, capitalist world. As for the fact that the same people who are contacts for this alliance are also the contacts for all those other campaigns is surely a good thing. It shows that they are real activists and not just the kind of politicians that only do things for photo opportunities or only do things that are popular and safe.
I for one welcome this. I don't know if there is any need for people to stand down from being chair or whatever of a group because they are standing in elections. I know that people who work for RTE or the BBC have to, but I don't think it's normally required. Did Joe Costello have to stand down from the Prisoners Rights Organisation, for example, when he stood for election? I'm 99% sure he didn't. I think that as long as there is no contradiction in relation to the politics of the party they're standing for (e.g. someone who was chair of a Gay Rights group couldn't stay chair of that while standing for an anti-gay party etc) then it's ok.
Anyway, I meant for this to be just a short message saying that I'm glad to hear about this alliance and good luck to it!
Its obvious that the PBPA is nothing more than an SWP Front. They use the same phone numbers as contacts for the PBPA, SWP, IAWM and other SWP Fronts.
When the whole thing goes badly wrong people will go away feeling disillusioned and drift away from activism. I have met my fair share of former swpers who want nothing more to do with the left becuase of the antics of their former comrades. Now I'm sure at some point all of us here have been on mailing lists for Globalise resistance or the IAWM etc. etc. The problem with these fronts is that they are fundamentally undemocratic. They are based around an SWP core who try to dominate and push the entire thing in the direction they want to go leaving all others feeling cheated and disillusioned. PBP have no clear or cohesive policy and are attempting to attract support by putting forward an idea they know people will like. A united left would be wonderful but this isn't the way to do it and for as long as people try these underhand methods it'll never happen. Furthermore it gives further ammunition to those who want to criticise the left or certain sections of it, for example the person calling themselves trotwatch who seems to think that classwar is about different classes of political organisation. The problem with the SWP isn't that they're Trotskyists (because they no longer are, even if they were at one point) it's that their policies are half baked, their organisation is undemocratic, they are dishonest about their intentions and they fail to educate their members.
In what way is the SWP undemocratic - have always heard this criticism but never the details! could someone clarify?
Why is the SWP correctly seen as undemocratic? Simple: they never have democratic elections for their leadership bodies. The existing leadership recommends a 'slate' or panel at each annual conference (made up of themselves minus anyone deemed to be deficient in enthusiasm or showing signs of independent thought) and this is always unanimously 'elected' by the membership. In theory, a group of members could propose an alternative slate but this never happens. So, in effect, the leadership is self selecting. Its about as dictatorial as it gets.
Thats just for starters, then theres the lack of real internal debate, top-down decision making process, the dictation of policy from their HQ in London, the way in which dissidents are treated etc. etc. but that would take a book.
Well,
Democracy is not just about having votes or having possible ways to register annoyance, it is about having informed discussions. From talking to SWP members and asking them political questions and also questions about swp history (like calling IRA a revolutionary army etc) it seems that even members who have been i the org for over a year are not aware of swps past positions or what other sections are doing (e.g. their german section arguing to allow neo-liberals within the 'New Left').
Also, generally their political level, and their understanding of socialism is low. Plus, and this is more of a swipe, but why the hell do they call themselves trotskyist when they dont agree with the main points of trotskyism? Permanent revolution, transitional method, degeneraget and deformed workers state analysis.
Anyway, on PB4P, it seems to me that this is another false start. A new genuinely anti-neoliberal org. is needed in Ireland, but it canot just be all the 'revolutionaries' coming together and putting their socialist/communist/anarchist ideas in cold storage. It must be built on mass moovements, on new layers of activists. Also, the thing with german/berlin wasg (read up people) shows the real danger of the SWP being in the leadership of this new group[. Obviously they will probb;ly play a role and even be elected to bodies of it, but their politics (in Germany, defending the Rightwing who want to allow berlin PDS, who have privatised etc and broken election promises,, whilst the swp attack the left wing) will have to be shown up.
Thank you all.
The Sparts are good 'orthodox' trotskyists. The Swp, or the Socalist Review Group, broke with this in the 1950's when they identified THE USSR as state-capitalist. Trotsky never reached this conclusion, true, and based on newer evidence, Tony Cliff did.That's why the Sparts call us 'Cliffites'. The point for me is that we stand in the tradition of Trotsky, not that we believe that the politics of the 1930's provides a template for today
These politics ensured that we didn't support EAST-European states when they attacked workers' demonstrations in 1989. Instead we recognised that these states were fundamentally rotten and not worth defending. I think we can be proud of our tradition here. Alot of other left-wing groups ended up supporting the 'wrong' side, if you like. But I'm not sure that this is the place to go into it. Many other left-wingers went to the right after 1989, just ask John Waters.
As regards the IRA, I don't know what you find so shocking about the IRA being a revolutionary army. Most left-wing groups, except the CWI, talked this way. You don't have to agree yourself though, however I would be interested in the reference as to where this was written. It seems to me that the IRA were a national liberation movement, which could go in either a revolutionary direction or a reformist one, history shows that they chose the latter.
I remember, before I joined in 1992, an SWP pamphlet talking about 'critical but unconditional support'* for the IRA this was in reference to them deciding in the course of their own struggle that they had a right to bear arms against the British state. This applies today when we talk about support for Hizbollah or our support for the 1916 rising here in Ireland; off course these national liberation movements can contain all sorts of reactionaries and fundamentalists (see De-Valera and Pearse). However, a revolutionary who expects perfectly formed revolutionaries with all the right ideas, to join together in the fight against capital and imperialism, will never see a revolution in their own lifetime. The point is that you fight for you politics within the struggle. You don't publically condemn those who want to fight back, you condemn the system they are fighting against.
The point is that we recognise and support their right to fight back and resist. After all we are not pacifists. A good film to see on this subject is the BATTLE for Algiers, which shows the brutality on both sides in a national liberation struggle, the point is that revolutionaries don't sit on the sidelines but at least take a principled stand in line with their politics. It doesn't mean that we want to have such wars or that they need to be glorified,that would be Militarism not Socialism.Wars are after all a product capitalism, and a means to sustain itself. Another world is possible.
*I delayed joining the SWM at the time becase I neither agreed with nor fundamentally understood this position.
"These politics ensured that we didn't support EAST-European states when they attacked workers' demonstrations in 1989. Instead we recognised that these states were fundamentally rotten and not worth defending. I think we can be proud of our tradition here. Alot of other left-wing groups ended up supporting the 'wrong' side, if you like. But I'm not sure that this is the place to go into it."
Care to explain the soft line on Iran then. Don't there workers count? Not much consistency there, so. Same old bunch of opportunists.
It's simple "old style lefty". The overwhelming majority of THE LEFT had illusions in the various Stalinist regimes, and the non-stalinist left was minuscule, therefore the priority had to be to target the left illusions. However in the case of Iran NONE of the left has ilusions in the regime, and the priority can therefore be to concentrate on the imperialists.
A limiting case is, of course, the vicious stalinist regime in Cuba. As Cuba is not really a viable illusion for the left, the priority is again the imperialist threat.
I should, I suppose, point out that the sloppy sentimentality of the Castrophiles is a long way from being an important diversion for the left, at least in the so-called "west"
"This applies today when we talk about support for Hizbollah or our support for the 1916 rising here in Ireland; off course these national liberation movements can contain all sorts of reactionaries and fundamentalists (see De-Valera and Pearse). However, a revolutionary who expects perfectly formed revolutionaries with all the right ideas, to join together in the fight against capital and imperialism, will never see a revolution in their own lifetime"-
mmm, now to me that sounds a bit stagist.
Also not quite sure how support can be critical but unconditional. BUt if such a thing exists couldn't it have been applied to the DEFORMED WORKER'S STATES behind the iron curtain.
Oh and one more point the State Capitalism idea was actually formulated by Ted Grant before he realised such a thing didn't exist and moved on to develop the theory of the Deformed Worker's State. I guess Cliff can't be accused of stealing the theory if nobody else had any use for it though.
ps. you present an unusually coherent (if fundamentally flawed) argument for an swp member.
Oh and one more point the State Capitalism idea was actually formulated by Ted Grant before he realised such a thing didn't exist and moved on to develop the theory of the Deformed Worker's State.
Nope. You should read more widely outside your own sect. The "state capitalism" term was in common use to describe the USSR from 1918 among anarchists and left capitalists (not that I agree with its usefulness, but it's a hell of a lot less stupid than the "deformed workers state" idiocy).
From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_capitalism#Use_by_Le...nists
The earliest critique of the USSR as state-capitalist was formulated by various groups adhering to Left-communism. One major tendency of the 1918 communist left criticised the re-employment of authoritarian capitalist relations and methods within production.
Of course it is damaging to the Irish Anti-War Movement to have as its chairperson a candidate for a political party.
People who are members or supporters of other parties will pull back from activities likely to garner publicity and support for the SWP candidate to the detriement of their own prefferred candidate.
The media will no dooubt confuse SWP positions on other issues with IAWM positions on the war.
The IAWM message will become diluted.
The candidate will have far too much to do to be effective as chair of the IAWM. The IAWM will suffer because the chair will be too busy running for election.
Richard Boyd Barrett should stand down.