If we vote no what is the alternative? All across the continent working class people are unrepresented. Here in Ireland as in most European countries the parties on offer present no choice. We need to build a new workers’ movement from the bottom up. One that is truly democratic in structure and will fight hand in hand with the working class to democratise the economic structures that control people’s lives.

It is time to stand up and be counted. Only through the majority of people becoming active in the struggle for a Socialist Society can we present solutions to the problems that hang over Europe at this time. It will be no cakewalk – Its the class struggle, not the class picninc – but it can be done. The working class has had power in the palm of its hands many times over the last hundred and fifty years, it will happen again. A Socialist Europe is Possible!

“Public opinion will be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly . . . All the earlier proposals will be in the new text but will be hidden and disguised in some way.”

So why the secrecy? What are they trying to achieve that they don’t want us to see until its too late? Maybe José Manuel Barosa can shed some light on the subject;

“Sometimes I like to compare the EU as a creation to the organisation of empire. We have the dimension of empire”

So how exactly do they expect to forge this Empire? The first thing to do is make sure that people don’t have direct control of the people making the decisions that effect their lives (even less than they do now!). Well for one thing it will take power from national parliaments in 105 policy areas and 68 of these will be dealt with by Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) instead on unanimous decision. QMV will favour countries with larger populations I.E. France and Germany. From here on in, the European Commission, an unaccountable body will propose all new laws in important policy areas based on the content of successive treaties. Doubt this? Just ask Jean-Claude Junker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg;

“Of course there will be transfers of sovereignty. But would it be intelligent to draw the attention of public opinion to this fact?”

So just what is it that these prospective Empire builders want to do? Are they benevolent technocrats who just want to make the world a better place? Well some say that the Charter of Fundamental Rights will protect workers’ rights. However they miss the point that these are conditional rights subservient to protocol 6 which states that

“The internal market as set out in article (1-3)…includes a system ensuring that competition is not distorted.”

So workers rights are protected as long as they don’t “distort competition”. Translated this means workers rights are never protected because wage rises can be deemed a hindrance to competition. So who decides between workers and employers if there is a dispute? The European Court of Justice (ECJ)!

The ECJ has demonstrated in the last year that it is on the side of big business. It ruled that a Latvian company operating in Sweden could pay the Latvian industry rates rather than the Swedish ones to its workers and made a similar judgment regarding a Polish company in Germany.

But what about the good old fashioned Empire building tool of brute force? Won’t the EU Empire need to arm itself to the teeth to compete with the US, China and Russia? Article 27.3 states that “members states shall undertake progressively to improve their military capabilities”. Therefore the Treaty requires member states to increase their arms budgets. Meanwhile articles 104.9 and 104.11 give the EU powers to make national governments reduce their budget deficits. Put two and two together and you get a U.S. style spending programme that makes cuts in essential services such as health and education to increase military spending.

Wait a minute? If they are reducing expenditure on essential services then who will provide them? Well ardent supporters of the Yes campaign the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) have this to say

“The Lisbon Reform Treaty creates the legal basis for the liberalisation of services of general economic interest. A yes vote for the Lisbon Treaty creates the potential for increased opportunities for Irish business particularly in areas subject to increasing liberalisation such as Health, Education, Transport, Energy and the Environment.”

And who does IBEC represent? Michael O’Leary, Dennis O’Brien, Tony O’Reilly and their ilk. Imagine those guys along with the greedy land speculators who made a mint out of working and middle class people in the last ten years getting their hands on our Health and Education. “Dialysis machine? Oh that will be extra. Did you book online?” “Can’t afford full school fees? Well we may just have a place for your child on our special market research programme!”

So think you can live without the vision of Europe as mapped out by d’Estaing, Barosso, Merkel, Sarkozy and Junker? Theres only one thing to do: VOTE NO!

If we’re not celebrating Christianity are we celebrating Irishness? There will be plenty of people out drowning the shamrock today that are quite happy to see our heritage bulldozed in the Tara Skryne valley. Maybe tonight after their twelfth pint of the black stuff they’ll take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and feel a little embarrassed.

Is being Irish all about wearing a Celtic jersey, getting drunk and getting in a fight – with a foreigner if your that extra bit patriotic? The notion of Irishness is so shrouded in carefully constructed myth that it is impossible to pin down. In reality there really is no one thing that makes us Irish. Here is a letter I had published in the Irish Times some time back:

Immigration and Irishness

Madam, – JA Barnwell (October 12th) speaks of Irishness as if it were something static and homogenous. But what it is to be Irish is always changing.

In all probability, our ancestors who built Newgrange had no concept of a nation or country. Our modern concept of nationality stems from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, part of a general trend in Europe to unite smaller kingdoms into larger, more powerful states. Coinciding with this was the erroneous notion that the Irish, Scots, Welsh, Cornish and Breton people were “Celtic” – an invention of the Welsh nationalist Edward Lhuyd.

Far from being a homogenous nation, Ireland has always been a melting pot of cultures. The original Irish were joined by migrants from Iberia, possibly North Africa, Britain, continental Europe and Scandinavia. Later we were culturally influenced by the English and more recently by North America. What it is to be Irish will continue to evolve and we will be the better for it. – Yours, etc,

MARCAS MacCAOIMHÍN

Paddy’s day is cast in the image of the world it inhabits. It is an opportunity for a few people to make a lot of money. The drunken brawls, the pool’s of vomit on footpaths and the outrageous shade of green that permeates are nothing to be proud of. They are just the ectoplasm of the spirit of greed that rules this country.

The atmosphere around the city center on Sunday was electric. From around two in the afternoon (game was not until 9) there were gangs of l’OM fans wandering the streets chanting “Paris, Paris, On Ta Tu” (not sure of spelling) basically means Paris, Paris we will kill you.

After a few pints at “O’Malley’s” and a chat with exiled Grimsby Town fan Chris, we headed for the Stade Velodrome. There were riot cops all over the place but they weren’t bothered by people drinking cans on the street. They were more concerned with protecting the Paris fans busses that were soon to arrive.

In the stadium the threats to kill Paris continued and the Ultras put on some magnificent displays.

There are four Ultras groups. This picture shows the South terrace or “Virage Sud” which is home to the “South Winners” (top and sides) and the “Commando Ultras 84″ (bottom).

The “Virage Nord” (North Terrace) is home to the Yankee and Dodgers Ultra groups.

Every time there was a corner to PSG the taker would get pelted with objects such as food, plastic bottles, cans and intead of the uproar like at home the ordinary fans cheered them on. The north and south terraces were also singing back and forth at each other on occasions. The jumping up and down songs were amazing and you could feel the ground shake beneath you. I hadn’t a great view of the PSG lot even though they weren’t too far away but I don’t think they had a big display, just the Tifo flags, two sticks, one sticks and loads of flares. There were some flares on the pitch too. Great atmosphere all round.

The game itself wasn’t fantastic. L’OM started cagily and left big gaps in midfield that PSG were only too willing to exploit. The game sprang to life when PSG were awarded a controversial penalty when Bonnart won the ball from a PSG player outside the box but the referee deemed it to be a foul inside! Rothen stepped up to take the penalty and put it in the back of the net. The referee decided that a L’OM player impeeded him and made him take it again (I think this is a bizarre rule btw). He stepped up coolly and did it again. 0-1.

After this initial setback Marseille woke up and began to dominate. Taiwo headed them level on 36 minutes after some poor keeping from Landreau who was pretty dodgy throughout. Niang then put L’OM ahead almost on the stroke of half time with a superb finish from a tight angle.

The second half was a damp squib football wise and was characterised by several missed sitters from Cisse and Paris throwing in the towel. Over all though it was a good experience and we’re talking about going over again next year for a game.

Match Report Here

(Photo’s from Fab’s phone)

So hard to get it together to blog during the week when you’re wrecked.

Cartoon from these guys:
http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/

The only musical influence my ma had on me was getting me into Scott Walker (Real name – Noel Scott Engel). She was into the Walker Brothers and had a “best” of cassette that had some of his solo stuff on it. Had a copy of it and during the school holidays had an evening job so used to get up at four and go to work at six and stay up watching whatever shite was on UTV.

Around five AM or half past, when the sun came up I’d put the lead on the dog. Then I’d stick Scott on the walkman and wander the empty streets of Navan. It seemed like the perfect setting to listen to that kind of music. No one around. It was like I was the only one on a recently deserted planet. There were hanging baskets with flowers in them that had been recently watered.

The water would be trickling down from the baskets leaving small lonely pools on the ground and each drop was accompanied by the intro to “Boy Child”. Or maybe “Montague Terrace in Blue” would fill my ears as I passed red traffic lights with no queue of cars behind them.

Those songs and his other compositions were so rich in imagery, you could see the song in front of you yet not be sure of what you were looking at. They were like sonic dream-scapes. Then there were his Brel covers like “Jackie” that conjured up imagery of a debauchery that no one really enjoyed but engaged in for the sake of it.

I later went on to buy those iconic albums seen in the images at the top of this post and was blown away. Right now as I write this I am listening to “The Drift”, his latest album which he released in 2006 (He’s releasing them around every ten years at this stage) and I’m being blown away all over again. What he is doing now is beyond music. It is simply art. Listen. Be blown away.

Scott Walker is one of those people who I can truly say made me think in ways I hadn’t before. The word genius is thrown about a lot to describe musicians but in this case it doesn’t even come close to describing his greatness.

Montague Terrace in Blue (ENGEL)

The little clock’s stopped ticking now
We’re swallowed in the stomached rue
The only sound to tear the night
Comes from the man upstairs

His bloated belching figure stomps
He may crash through the ceiling soon
The window sees trees cry from cold
And claw the moon

But we know don’t we
And we’ll dream won’t we
Of Montague Terrace in blue

The girl across the hall makes love
Her thoughts lay cold like shattered stone
Her thighs are full of tales to tell
Of all the nights she’s known

Your eyes ignite like cold blue fire
The scent of secrets everywhere
A fist filled with illusions
Clutches all our cares

But we know don’t we
And we’ll dream won’t we
Of Montague Terrace in blue oh in blue

There’s no denying it, the Irish health service is a shambles. Every Irish person would agree with that statement. However, there may be disagreement on what to do. Some say thatthe health service is a black hole, that money is being poured into it with no return. This is a half truth. Yes there is money going into the Health Service Executive but it seems to be spent on finding new ways to make cuts to services, not the services themselves. Secondly, we only spend 90% of the EU average health spend.

Some think the solution lies with more private health care. One only has to take a look at the American system to see what that means. Under this system you don’t get seen to unless you cough up the dough first. Essentially it means that the value of your life is directly proportionate to your ability to pay.

Private health care is primarily about profit. Private health care operators cherry pick the lucrative procedures but the public sector is left to deal with serious illness. The agenda of the Irish government in its ideological battle against public health is plain to see when you consider the areas it is making cuts – you guessed it, the ones that the speculators want to get their hands on.

Who are these speculators? They are property developers, racing magnates and market “players”. These people know plenty about lining their pockets at other peoples’ expense but little about medicine. In fact with profit as their primary mission, costs will be cut and quality will deteriorate.

Last week, The Socialist Party in Ireland launched a national campaign for a free public health service. You can see and hear the launch meeting at http://www.socialistparty.net or Here 

Speakers included Joe Higgins, Prof. John Crown,  Orla Hardiman and a nurse from Tallaght hospital.

Other related links:

Health minister Harney goes to superbowl.

Susie Long’s story

Death of Susie Long

Health Cuts in North East