The IMF will save us!!! - Yeah, the people who have all the economic answers, but didn't see this mess coming.

Below is an article from this week's An Phoblacht on the dangers of the IMF. In my opinion it is a strong likelihood that many of the ruling class in this country would be quite happy for the IMF to come into Ireland and take the blame for implementing cuts to pay and social services. They will turn around and try to blame the unions and the work shy for not having the brains to bow to the cuts this government is currently proposing.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael will simply say there is no alternative. Well there is. Make those with money pay for solving this crisis. Make them take the pain not ordinary working people.

Anyway the piece below will give you some information on the IMF and every left republican should read up on this orgaisation because we will hear it mentioned alot in the coming deabte around the budget and beyond.

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IMF is not an option for Ireland

BY ROBBIE SMYTH

http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/39149

BE AFRAID, be very afraid, ‘IMF creep’ is threatening Irish sovereignty. It probably started as a joke at Dublin cocktail parties, where the well heeled talk about the latest David McWilliams articles and how they miss George Lee on RTÉ, but the glib argument that with a deepening economic crisis and a paralysed coalition government the only way to avoid disaster was to allow the International Monetary Fund (IMF) manage or run the Irish economy is gaining credence.

It can be comforting to think that there is a way to call time out and let someone else clean up the after effects of the economic tsunami that has beached the Irish economy but it is a delusional state.

It is the ideology of those who used to think that Thatcher wasn’t all that bad or that nuclear power is a viable option to protect the environment and tackle climate change. You know them, the people who ponder over the differences between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policies. When in government or not the differences between them are often cosmetic.

So before we press the emergency button do we really know who the IMF are, what they do, and most importantly if they are that great why did they not see the international economic meltdown that was emerging in this decade across the world’s economies?

What did they think, say and do about the global financial and banking collapse that has in Ireland wreaked the most havoc, with the highest levels of unemployment and the proportionally biggest bank bailouts of any other developed economy in the world?

Finally what is wrong in Ireland that we think so little of and value our economic sovereignty so lightly that some would consider throwing it away so easily. This question is perhaps the easiest to answer.

There are those who never appreciated the value of economic independence for Ireland, those who never wanted the responsibility of building a better Ireland, and would instead be quite content to let someone else do it. It is the ideology of Homer Simpson and scarily it is gaining credence In Ireland today.

Who are the IMF?

Ireland is actually part of the IMF along with 185 other states and the has a history of rebuilding shattered economies. It emerged in 1944 as a vehicle for the Allies post World War II reconstruction programme. There were 29 original members and alongside the IMF a new World Bank also came into being. Their original task was in 1944 according to the IMF one of “overseeing the international monetary system”
In reality the IMF and World Bank would set the game rules for financial markets and international trade, rules written by the most rich and powerful countries in the world.

What do the IMF do?

Through the World Bank and funding given to them by member states, they lend money to other states who are in financial difficulty. The money comes with an ever increasing amount of strings attached.

One good example of this was an IMF fund introduced in 1986 called a Structural Adjustment Facility, better known as Structural Adjustment Programmes.

The programmes work quite simply in that recipients get low cost loans where the repayments are easier to meet than international market rates but there a lot of conditions. These can be summarised under the demand to open their economies to more trade and ensure as little state involvement in domestic markets, which for poor underdeveloped states often means cutting back of health, education and social spending while privatising as much of the public sector in your economy as possible.
Many organisations including the Debt and Development Coalition in Ireland argue that the IMF has increased poverty in underdeveloped economies through the conditions of the funding it provides.

The IMF also produce a range of economic data and reports, and regularly comments forcefully on whether they agree or disagree with the economic policies of particular states. For example, in June the IMF said the 26-County economy was the most overheated of all “advanced economies”. If you don’t owe them money it is a moot point. If you do, you should read on?

The Ukraine Example

The Ukrainian Government have received almost $11 billion in loans from the IMF. In late October the head of the IMF described a new law to increase minimum wages and pensions by 20% in Ukraine as ‘a threat’ to the country’s economic stability.
The Wall Street Journal reported that, “The new Ukrainian law could derail the loan arrangement between Ukraine and the IMF and jeopardise arrangements the country has made to receive a loan from the European Commission”.

The IMF would only sanction a 10% increase in wages and pensions. This is the inflation rate there, arguing that anything above “would place an unsustainable burden on public finances.”

The Romanian Example

Reuters reported this week that the Romanian Government are to “force 1.3 million state employees to take 8 days unpaid holiday at the end of 2009 as part of efforts to meet International Monetary Fund spending targets”.

The news agency said that, “The move is part of deep austerity cuts that the European Union’s second poorest country is planning, including up to 150,000 public sector job cuts next year.”

So without the IMF we are talking public sector wage cuts in Ireland and with them who knows how like Romania Ireland would be?

The Sri Lankan Example

The Sri Lankan economy is facing into an election, and here in this flawed democracy it seems that the IMF are the de facto government. This week the IMF agreed to give the Sri Lankan government $329 million, part of a $2.6 billion loan. The IMF wants the government to ‘broaden the tax base” and “control spending”.

Anti-IMF campaigner Sarath Fernando, described by one news agency as “a veteran campaigner for the rights of peasant farmers and agriculture workers”, believes that, “The IMF wants government to reduce spending by raising taxes, privatising state-owned enterprises and cutting the welfare and social spending”.

Under the terms of the IMF agreement the Sri Lankan government must cuts its budget deficit from 7% to 5%. Without the IMF we have been able to consider a lot more options than the Sri Lankans.

Who else has the IMF ‘helped’ in 2009?

In the year to date Latvia, Hungary and Iceland have also received IMF bailouts. This week the IMF gave $1.7 billion to the Dominican Republic and Montenegro are negotiating a loan.

Who has threatened the idea of an IMF role in Ireland?

In August, former Fine Gael Garret FitzGerald, supporting NAMA said that failure to support the project could “let Ireland fall into the hands of the International Monetary Fund”.

In October Mary Harney said, “If the Government hasn’t the capacity to do what’s needed, then others will come in, like the IMF, and overnight they will make decisions. Then they will immediately start cutting expenditure by maybe 30 or 40 per cent, and that is a fact.”

The two were threatening the IMF to preserve a failing status quo, meanwhile the internet blogs, message boards and occasional economic commentary columns of Irish newspapers are floating the IMF option.

It is not a course of action anyone should want to take. The IMF is a road to ruin. shown by the living standards in most African states before the IMF came in with the money and the cuts/privatisation agenda and look at it after.

Wolfe Tone, An Uaimh agus Euskal Herria

Wolfe Tone, An Uaimh agus Euskal Herria

New Media such as podcasting, blogs, or social media such as Bebo, Facebook etc. are changing how we communicate with each other.

These types of media are radically redefining the structure of communication in the world. Where once communication was top down and you only heard what you were supposed to hear now we have a flatter model. I can ignore RTE, ignore the Irish Times and not rely on Stephen Collins of Charlie Bird to tell me what to think.

In a way we are back to the era of the pamphlet - when any man or woman could, via a single press, spread their message outside the normal channels of communication.

When Wolfe Tone wrote his pamphlet about the rupture with Spain he was disappointed to see that it had less of an effect then he expected. But he himself was immediate witness to how it shook both the supporters of the foreign govt. and the Irish who stood with them.

An occasion soon offered to give vent to my newly received opinions. On the appearance of a rupture with Spain, I wrote a pamphlet to prove that Ireland was not bound by the declaration of war, but might, and ought, as an independent nation, to stipulate for a neutrality. In examining this question, I advanced that of separation, with scarcely any reserve, much less disguise ; but the public mind was by no means so far advanced as mine, and my pamphlet made not the smallest impression. The day after it appeared, as I stood perdue in the bookseller's shop, listening after my own reputation, Sir Henry Cavendish, a notorious slave of the House of Commons, entered, and throwing my unfortunate pamphlet on the counter in a rage, exclaimed: Mr. Byrne, if the author of that work is serious, he ought to be hanged.

Sir Henry was succeeded by a Bishop, an English Doctor of Divinity, with five or six thousand a year, laboriously earned in the church. His lordship's anger was not much less than that of the other personage. Sir, said he, if the principles contained in that abominable work were to spread, do you know that you would have to pay for your coals at the rate of five pounds a ton?

Those principles did indeed spread across this entire country and they are still spreading today. Just as Tone harnessed his ingenuity, creativity and passion for a Republic to use simple technology to force the pace of change via an independent, non-sanctioned media, then surely we modern republicans can follow once again his footsteps and do the same. There is an amazing legacy of independent media argiung for the republican cause in Ireland. This is just the next chapter.

In that vein I thought I'd look at two exciting uses of technology where political discourse is bypassing and ignoring the main stream media and instead doing its own thing and talking directly to the people.

The first is:

Ar Muin na Muice, agus Peadar Toibín - 12ú Samhain -

Is é Ar Muin na Muice an clár Gaeilge de Near90FM i mBaile Átha Cliath Thoir-Thuaidh. Téann sé amach gach lá i rith na seachtaine ag 5.30 i.n. agus bíonn sé a athchraoladh ag 9.00 ar maidin chomh maith. Bíonn sé le fáil timpeall na cruinne ar an idirlíon freisin ag www.near.ie.

Tá na Comhairleoirí san Uaimh tar éis vótáil ar son rúin go mbeadh gach forbairt cónaithe nua sa bhaile ainmnithe i nGaeilge amháin. Chuir Comh. Peadar Toibín (SF) an rún síos agus labhair Darren Mac an Phríora leis faoi.

Tá an Podchraoladh anseo.

Basque Info

And the second inspiring use of new media is the Facebook group: Basque Info. They are dedicated to bringing news from the Basque world to the English speaking world.There Facebook group page states that "You can listen to Basque Info live today at 12pm on Féile FM 103.2 Belfast and tomorrow at 3.30pm on Near 90.3 FM Dublin. This week along with the news we'll be carrying out an interview with Basque analyst Inaki Soto."

It sounded like a very interesting discussion and unfortunately the broadcasts went out yesterday and today. I have not seen if they have them on podcasts but I will keep an eye out for their next broadcast. Did anyone hear it?

Their stated goal is to break the wall of silence imposed by the Spanish and French states on the Basque Country and its struggle for self-determination. Its a great idea and effective - there is good material on Herri Batasuna's new initiative and also details on the repression by the French/Spanish govts.

Its a great resource and if you are on facebook I recommend it. If you are not on facebook then what are you are waiting for :)

The only limitation to using such a media route is imagination and creativity. There are many exiting possibilities and its exciting to see new media coming to life.

What Next for Ireland's Young?

To get back one's youth one has merely to repeat one's follies - So said Oscar Wilde.

Its an apt quote as south Ireland faces into a new era of large scale unemployment with the young being especially hard hit.

For decade after decade we exported our youth like they were cattle. It appears we are now on the verge of repeating this folly. Youth unemployment is rising dramatically and threatening to condemn another generation to a lost decade or to while their time away in another country.

What Next for Ireland's Young?

We are today beset by many crises in this country. The most serious crisis is of course the banking crisis and the money pit that NAMA represents - the crime of the century.

Attendant to that there are several other crisis - the structural crisis in our financial system where we spend more than we take in; the personal debt crisis coming down the line and the disaster that might happen if the ECB raises its interest rates (Although that seems to be unlikely for a while yet - but for how long?) etc.

With the economic mismanagement in this state having been so criminal its no surprise or wonder we are where we are.

Every sector of society, bar the influential minority able to distort the economy to their advantage, are hurting.

One demographic thats hurting particularly bad is young people. Its a grim time to be young in this state. Your chances of getting a job is low to none and if you do get a job then its more and more likely to be a part time job.

Young men have been especially hard hit by the downturn, with the unemployment rate rising to 40% for 15-19 year-olds and 30% for 20-24 year-olds. With no opportunity to get a job many of them are staying on in in education causing a sizable drop in labour force participation rates for those in the 15-24 year-old category.

The situation is grim all across europe / the euro zone. Currently unemployment for under 25s in spain has hit 41%. Thats a staggering figure. For the Euro region the rate in the euro region was 20.1 percent

In the medium term its likely that youth unemployment will continue to rise rapidly. The economy is likely to contract by nearly 2% in 2010.

Its a crisis thats starting to get some focus. Leading British labour economist David Blanchflower, who recently warned that the FF/Green coalition was driving the economy over a deflationary cliff, recently was reported in the Irish Times as having warned that Ireland, like Britain, faced the prospect of a lost generation. He highlighted research that showed those unemployed in there 20s are more likely to be unemployed, have lower health and generate a lower wage later in life. The problem with disadvantage is once you are disadvantaged you are always on the back foot and its hard to get your head above water.

How long will it be before they get back into the labour force and for those who do get back its more and more likely that they will be in part time labour. All across europe the % of workers in part time labour is increasing. Here its gone up by nearly 5%. Its going up because companies are trying to hold onto their staff rather than let them go, so drop them to part time. But the more part times we have the weaker the economy and the weaker the labour force and its power.

How are we going to solve this crisis.

Its a debate we have entered early with our jobs creation strategy and on Irisheconomy.ie economist Liam Delaney is commenting on it as well highlighting the fact that you can hardly condemn work experience programmes, or such active interventions into the labour market, as a failure when its FAS running them. Delaney recommends that the programme be simple be taken away from FAS. Considering the legacy of FAS is, frankly, a shameful legacy of graft and corruption, then it would be a good start. Lets give intervention and job supports an honest chance and not allow it be squandered by a failed organisation like FAS.

But if this state does not resolve the problem of youth unemployment then that will be another shameful legacy for a state tainted so much by graft and corruption.

Message brought loud and clear to heart of "Cowen Country"!

By: A Contributor

Today felt like the start of something, that the ordinary worker’s of this country, are not going to stand idly by while their wages are slashed and the services they provide are skinned to the bone. The spirit of the day can be summed up by the Industrial Worker’s of the World when they say “an injury to one is an injury to all”

I am referring, of course, to the 4,000 strong demonstration (of which I was a part) in Tullamore today, organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions as part of their “Get Up, Stand Up” campaign. While there was some of the usual drivel from some “Champagne Socialists” in IMPACT and SIPTU about continuing so-called “Social Partnership”, there was also a militant section who know that the Government and Bosses are not our partners, that it our taxes and TV license fees that keep public broadcasters on the unnecessary wage of €900,000 per annum, while ordinary workers survive on peanuts, and that this is not acceptable!

This has always been how Capitalism has divided and conquered, by convincing the people in our society that they can reach one of the few places at “the top” by scrambling over their colleagues and other workers. This is an illusion and rather than continue doing this, ordinary people need to realise that we should not be trying to rise above our friends, neighbours and colleagues, but to level the playing field so that all advance together.

I personally believe the way forward now lies in the continuation of this campaign and in strike action taking place on the 24th November, and to borrow from the Socialist Party, that this strike should be turned into a 24-hour General Strike by getting unionised private sector workers to join in a demonstration of solidarity.

Viva la Revolution!

Budget 2010 - There is another way

I was out today along with thousands of others marching against government policy and demanding a new approach to the problems this country faces. Below is an outline of how Sinn Féin feels the probelm should be tackled. It is written by Joanne Spain and appears in this weeks An Phoblacht.

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This Friday, thousands of people are gathering across the state to oppose the savage Budget due this December that threatens public services, the vulnerable and our quality of life.

For the past 18 months, the Fianna Fáil and Green Party Government has been running two economies: one for the wealthy and one for everyone else.

The first entails huge borrowing and a cash stimulus for banks; the second comes with talk of deficits, tightening our belts and sharing the pain for a mess we didn’t make.

This ‘real’ economy (not the Monopoly one involving banks and ‘Get out of jail free’ cards for developers) will be dealt with in the Budget. The Government wants to reduce the deficit by over €4 billion. Almost all of it will come from slashing child benefit, social welfare payments, investment in schools, hospitals and public transport, and teaching and nursing jobs.

The Budget will create no jobs. There will be no stimulus package even though almost every other country in the world is employing one. At the same time as the Government is taking away our rights, it will be spending our tax on a €54 billion golden handshake for banks, developers and land speculators.

There is another way.

Next week, Sinn Féin will launch its pre-Budget submission. It’s not designed to protect the wealthy or save banks. Its purpose is to show how this economy can be saved through a stimulus package and how there is still a lot of money being left alone by the Government for deliberate policy reasons.

We show how around €7.5 billion can be added to the economy this year, €5.5 billion of which comes from making the wealthy pay their fair share; €2 billion comes from the National Pension Reserve Fund (the same fund that the Government used to inject €4 billion into Anglo Irish Bank) and we use it for a jobs stimulus package.
None of our proposals involves cuts to essential services, though we do tackle some of the waste in public spending, such as the subsidies to private healthcare and the exorbitant wages paid to elected representatives and senior civil servants.
We debunk the myth being propagated by the Government about our borrowing levels. No country wants to be in debt but most accept that trying to reduce a deficit in a recession is madness. Even in 2012, when our borrowing is expected to peak, we will still be below European average figures.

The Government and its puppet economists like Colm McCarthy are telling us we can’t borrow any more because they want to cut public spending. They believe social welfare payments (€204 a week) and nurses’ wages are too high. When they can find a logic for indebting the country, however, in this case €54 billion for banks, they will borrow.

We also put paid to the ‘slash social welfare’ mentality.

Our social welfare payments are not too high. They are barely adequate, as anyone who has just lost their job will tell you.

Consigning people to poverty because you don’t have the courage or the inclination to take on vested interests is not the answer.

Cutting social welfare rates in a state so reliant on VAT receipts is utter madness, as people on social welfare tend to put their money back into the economy. Sinn Féin has a novel way to cut the social welfare bill: Create jobs.

Our economy can be saved. There is a way to do this, a different way to what the Government will unveil in December.

Our way asks those who can afford it to pay more, stimulates the economy with job-creation, and introduces a cost-of-living package for people struggling to make ends meet. The Government’s way will push us further into recession as they fill the lifeboats with their friends and our cash.



HERE’S some of Sinn Féin’s Budget 2010 proposals


Introduce a third tax rate of 48% on earnings in excess of €100,000 - Raises €355 million

Standardise all discretionary tax reliefs – Raises €1.1 billion

Abolish mortgage interest relief for landlords – Raises €285 million

Abolish the PRSI ceiling – Raise €119.5 million

Introduce a 1% wealth tax on all assets worth more than €1 million, excluding farmland-Raises €1.6 billion

Increase Capital Gains Tax to 40% – Raises €190 million

Introduce measures to reduce the cost of medicines in our health system, including nationalisation of wholesale distribution of drugs and the use of lower-cost generic drugs – Saves €200 million

Establish a jobs retention fund available to SMEs. This measure has the potential to save 96,000 jobs in 2010. Cost: €600 million

Use the public sector and direct public employment to kick-start the economy. Increase and modernise CE schemes and invest in state infrastructure. Cost: €2 billion

Build the state childcare and pre-education sector. Cost: €500 million
Re-introduce the Christmas bonus scheme for social welfare recipients. Cost: €223 million

Implement the pay increases for 2009 as set out in the last social partnership agreement. Cost: €230 million

Implement a ‘cost of living’ package that freezes and lowers everyday expenses like public transport, television licenses; reduces VAT on essential items; reduces professional fees (High Pay Commission could help with this); and targets insurance policies offered through banks and other measures. Cost: €300 million

Sinn Féin back ICTU rallies against spending cuts

Sinn Féin leaders from across the country have clearly demonstrated their support for the ICTU protests planned for the 6th and 24th November. Marting Ferris has spoken out strongly against Labour TD Costello's criticism of the planned action and Gerry Adams made the below statement.

The battle lines are being drawn very clearly for the struggle that is about to commence. A massive programme of cuts is being planned for North and South of the border and Sinn Féin must stand clearly with the forces who wish to see us defend the interests of the weakest members of society. Be they those in receipt of welfare benefits, health care etc. Or those workers who are fighting to defend jobs, pay and conditions.

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Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has called for people in the north to show their support for our public services by attending rallies organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions in Armagh, Ballymena, Belfast, Derry, Magherafelt and Newry this Friday, November 6th.

Mr Adams said:“The Irish Congress of Trade Unions National Day of Protest on Friday will give people from across Ireland the opportunity to demonstrate their opposition to cuts in public services.

“The focus in the north the will very much be on planned cuts to the health service, including job losses and the closure of hospital beds. The British Treasury is demanding ‘efficiency savings’ of £700 million over the next three years.

“The reality is that it will be the most disadvantaged, whose life expectancy is already significantly lower than others, who will be most adversely affected these cuts.

“Our priority is the defence of front-line public services and to tackle health inequalities and ensure that vulnerable people, people living with disadvantage and poverty, and those most at risk are protected.

“The Executive is facing very real challenges in meeting the efficiency targets demanded by the British Treasury.

“I believe that there are steps we can and must take to defend public services, and already Sinn Féin Ministers in the Executive have taken steps to ensure that key public services such as water and public transport remain under public control. “Sinn Féin have led the demand for greater all-Ireland working across the Health Service and I believe this could deliver substantial savings that could be channelled into sustaining and developing front-line services. Ending duplication and maximising the scale of economies could release millions back into service delivery. I also believe that the proper implementation of the Investing for Health Strategy can deliver huge savings.

“It is time to mobilise, agitate, educate and politicise for real change. These rallies are an important part of the campaign to defend public services that must continue beyond Friday.”

The rallies in the North are being held at 1pm in Armagh (Hospital); Ballymena (Diamond); Belfast (City Hall); Derry (Custom House Street, off Guildhall Square); Magherafelt (Diamond)l; and Newry (City Hall).

And in the 26 Counties in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, Waterford, Sligo, Tullamore, and Dundalk

Beyond the Nation - Inspiration from overseas.

The Republican movement is characterised by its openess to outside influences. It has never closed its eyes to the outside world to focus solely on our own struggle to establish a republic but has always been ready to look beyond these shores to find inspiration, to support people in struggle etc.

There are many examples - republicans like Bob Doyle; the close bonds with the African National Congress, the support for the Basque people etc.

From each of these encounters we have given and received support and inspiration.

Eoin o'Broin in his book sets out several theses for development which he argues Sinn Fein must consider in order to maximise the party's growth and development

One of those thesis is "Beyond the Nation". o'Broin contends that Sinn Fein must continue to build and deepen its engagement with like minded parties across Europe. Specifically he mentions progressive parties in Finland, Norway, Netherlands and other Scandinavian/European Left-Green movements.

Looking abroad has always been of benefit to our movement. Whether it was the support and advice offered by the ANC at the start of the peace process, or the inspiration of the Basque people whose struggle to retain their culture and unite and free their country is so similar to ours. We can learn from their mistakes and their successes.

So are there, for you, any particular parties or movements in Europe, or even wider afield, whose success can be a model for our own and whose failures we can avoid by studying their mistakes.

Considering one of the big challenges in Ireland is the breaking down of the partitionist mindset and also the need to persuade unionists of the merits of a UI then I would suggest the Scottish National Party is a good example of a party that is very successfully reasserting the identity of a country and gradually building momentum for an independent Scotland. Their steady approach of good governance and the assertion of their separate cultural identity is making normal the idea of a separate, independent Scotland and making that day more likely, in my opinion. But they have not lost their focus on the need for social equality either for the Scottish people. They have made big improvements in reducing poverty in Glasgow, they have stopped the selling of council houses in order to maintain a supply for those who need it etc.

Who else might be a good example or inspiration for this party? Any suggestions?