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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.
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 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?
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)
"Fortress Europe" seeks to unite the European bosses and workers against the peoples of the rest of the world. Integration means a tightening of immigration controls. The Maastricht treaty in particular covers two other things besides monetary union. It is these that determine how we will vote. These are the questions of European defence and the Protocol.
When anarchists say "property is theft" does this mean they are after your tooth brush?
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.
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.
The development of capitalism in Japan
In 1869 feudalism was abolished and the clans surrendered their fiefs to the government. All classes were declared equal before the law and barriers on local movement and internal trade removed. Individuals were allowed acquire land and all the professions and trades were thrown open.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
Corruption ...it's business as usual
Recent months have seen the banking and financial sectors in Ireland coming under scrutiny as never before
What a wonderful world we live in!!
The latest figures from the United Nations Human Development Report about world poverty and poverty in Ireland.
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?
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.
It isn't sexism that holds us in the worse paid jobs but rather the economic reality of the capitalism system. To survive in the market place any company has to be competitive, to maximise profits. In todays society, creches and child-care are a luxury that the profit motive can rarely afford.
The return of the "white man's civilising mission"
What we are seeing is the re-division of the world. The cold war has ended the same way as the 1st and 2nd World Wars, with a furious scramble by the victors for the prizes. Within a decade it is likely that Japan will be threatening world peace, or at least that is what we will be told.
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.
The earth Summit took place in Rio last June. In spite of the enormous cost ($123 million) and publicity (8,749 media people.) the final results were two weak treaties and the agreement of some "principles" on the environment
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.
How big a problem is hopelessness in Ireland and who is most affected
An Eastern Health Board report published in December 1994, shows a huge increase in the number of homeless people put up in Bed and Breakfast accommodation by the Health Board.
Workers Solidarity reporter Joe King spent a couple of hours each month up to last Christmas tracking down the bosses who pay a pittance. Giving himself a good Leaving Certificate, some shop and restaurant experience and a false name he set about answering advertisements, phoning personnel officers and going to interviews.
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.
Solutions to the the jobs crisis?
For the past five years the main plan touted to combat unemployment in the 26 counties has been the PESP (Programme for Economic and Social Progress) It involves the unions restricting pay demands and industrial action. This strategy has not worked. Unemployment has risen. At the same time Ireland's Gross National Product has broken all records.
Nearly one out of three workers in the world's labour force either has no job or is earning too little to live decently, the International Labour Organisation reports
The Heroin crisis continues in Dublin, we examine how it is rooted in poverty
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.
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
Feed the World don't Arm the World
This year alone the British Government will spend £6.3 billion on the procurement of new weaponry. Meanwhile, the US government is set to spend nearly £40 billion in a similar drive.
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.
'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.
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.
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.
