Edgar Paez a leader of the Colombian Coca Cola workers’ union Sinaltrainal is due to visit Ireland to meet with Irish trade unionists and to address the Irish public. The international boycott of Coke products launched by Sinaltrainal last year has received the support of three unions that operate in Ireland.

So far, Unison, NIPSA and the TUI have backed the boycott at their annual conference. The decision by the TUI was the most public and controversial decision. SIPTU officials have brought pressure ot bear on the TUI and have tried to get the union to reverse its conference decision.

Edgar Paez was invited here by the Latin America Solidarity Centre to meet those trade unionists and student organisations that have given their support to the boycott. The boycott campaign has met with fierce opposition from sections of SIPTU. The food and drinks branch has been to the forefront in that campaign. However, it would seem that their position is not by any means the unanimous view of the Irish trade union movement.

On Thursday 7th of October a motion was put to the Dublin Regional Conference of SIPTU to disinvest from Coke and sell their shares. The same trade-unionists who said that their disagreement with the boycott was tactical also opposed disinvestment. However, despite a concerted campaign by the Regional Executive the conference only narrowly voted not to sell its shares in Coke. The vote was 156 against the motion and 142 in favour.

It would seem that the “position of the ICTU” might not be in line with that of many of its members. Edgar Paez has requested a meeting with the workers of Coca Cola in a letter to Jack O Connor the president of SIPTU. A meeting has duly been arranged for just before the public meeting on Monday. He has also arranged to meet people from the TUI and NIPSA during his visit.

Sinaltrainal have had a tough time from trade union officials as outlined by its president Javier Correa who has accused some IUF (International Union of Food and Drink Workers) officials of having a similar ideology to Coke. Coke have also recently contracted Jack Otero - a leading trade unionist from the AFL-CIO in the USA - to run its counter-campaign.

Edgar will also speak at Wynne’s Hotel, at 7.30 PM on Monday October 18th. This event is organised by Lasc and all are welcome.

Indymedia Ireland Archive on the battle between Coke and Colombian workers

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Read statements of support for Vanunu allowing to make a new home in Ireland by Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Garret FitzGerald and more.... The Irish Asylum for Vanunu Project Website is at freewebs.com/Vanunu2Ireland

In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu offered information about Israel's secret Dimona nuclear 'research center' programme to The Sunday Times, later that year he was drugged and kidnapped in Italy by Israeli agents, was tried and convicted in Israel for treason and spent eighteen years in Ashkelon prison, twelve of which were in solitary confinement in a two-by-three metre cell.

His restrictions include not speaking to international journalists. Mordechai Vanunu has violated court orders by speaking to Indymedia.ie...

"I would like to get out of Israel and start a new life. I hope the Irish government will help me to receive asylum and much more importantly to act, as a government, [to convince the Israelis] to let me go. That is what I need now. We need someone to ask the Israeli government to let me go. If I were to come to Ireland, I would like to write my book. I have an obligation to write my book for people who want to know my story. I would like to speak to people about anti-nuclear weapons, to speak about peace, and, if I can, to enter university to learn and teach."

A debate on how best to oppose the forces of neoliberalism and global capitalism – and indeed what to replace it with - is set to be the highlight of this year's Irish Social Forum, which will take place in Dublin next weekend, October 8th to 10th. Another central theme will be racism in Ireland and its role in neoliberalism. Author and academic Peadar Kirby will argue for less market and more state... "What we call the Celtic Tiger is simply an Irish version of the tilt towards the market that is evident in countries throughout the world, as the state restructures itself so as to put the needs of global capital above the needs of its citizens."

However, Aileen O'Carroll of the anarchist Workers Solidarity Movement is calling for a "social revolution" to bring about "a world based on the principles of economic equality and direct democracy rather than the principle of profit. For me, the only solution is to replace this political system with one which is completely different," O'Carroll said. "I don't believe parliament will bring us the change we want. It cannot challenge the fundamental inequalities of neoliberalism. Parliament's role is to manage inequality not to remove it." The plenary, which will also be addressed by Mick O'Reilly of the ATGWU and Labour Councillor Mary Murphy, will feature conflicting views on social partnership and whether to participate in it.

Meanwhile, the role of racism in the neoliberal globalisation project will be highlighted at the other main plenary, titled Racism in Ireland. Author and Trinity College academic Dr Ronit Lentin will focus on the consequences, for Ireland, of the global migration regime. In the wake of the 2004 Citizenship referendum, Lentin will argue that "while, like all modern nation-states, Ireland is a 'racial state', at the present time of unparalleled prosperity (which, however, is accompanied by growing poverty and rich-poor gaps), Ireland is also a racist state. Ireland is creating armies of invisible migrant labourers. Looking at the stories of migrants is one alternative way to think about globalisation in today's Ireland." Also due to speak at the plenary on racism are Aisling Reidy of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism and Jason Brannigan of Belfast-based Fascists Out Campaign.

The ISF will feature workshops hosted by more than 40 different groups from around Ireland on such topics as racism, trade unions, inner-city regeneration, trade justice, the global arms trade, Public Private Partnerships, the US military's use of Shannon Airport, female genital mutilation, left unity, incinerators, the EU constitution and the Criminal Justice Bill.

From the newswire (by Indy Council Correspondent):

The issue of waste charges came up in City Council last night but while opposition was as strong as ever, the lack of a coherent strategy to do away with the Charges is glaringly evident.

It is only the start of October and already the issue of Bin Charges and the approach to the Estimates in Dublin City Council has started to become an issue.

At last night’s Council meeting the councillors discussed a draft submission on behalf of the Council to the review of local government funding. The 20 page document contained a wealth of information on the current funding and expenditure of the Council and suggested a number of ways to raise funds in future.

These included a hotel bed tax of two Euros a night and the end to the exemption for state occupied buildings from rates. Both would require Leinster House approval but the latter could mean as much as 24 million Euros a year for the Council, substantially more than the waste charges raise. One of the other options however attracted the anger of Sinn Fein and Independent councillors, namely the proposal to make domestic householders pay the full cost of the waste collection service, which would lead to a massive increase in charges.

From The Newswire: I don't really think yesterday's march should be described as a commemoration march. Sure, it was held to coincide with the 36th anniversary of the Oct. 5th march that is seen as starting the whole civil rights movement. But the idea for the march came first and then got hooked into the Oct. 5th thing. Basically, the SEA (Socialist Environmental Alliance) was looking for some way of responding to the high level of homophobic attacks in the city and also wanting to do something about racist attacks (there have been verbal attacks in Derry, but no physical ones). We thought we should link these two hate crimes and then thought the obvious thing to do was to call a "civil rights for all" march and link it to the history of civil rights activism in Derry.

We contacted the Rainbow Project and the people there thought it a really great idea. Since three of the organisers of the original 5th Oct march are associated with the SEA - Eamonn McCann, Dermie McClenaghan and Johnny White - they spearheaded the calls for the march. Having decided to make it a civil rights march, it was clear that the demands had to include Seamus Doherty, a republican 'dissident' who is being framed by the PSNI. In fact, his framing is so obvious that even the police ombudsman is suggesting the officer in charge of his case should be prosecuted for 'perverting the course of justice'. The march managed to smoke out Sinn Fein and even the SDLP to support the campaign against this miscarriage of justice. It was great to see something between 700 and 1,000 people march down Shipquay Street in support of gay rights and civil liberties and against racism - in spite of it being a wet and blustery day.

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