Lisbon it's a resounding NO, why we need an alternative

cork | anti-capitalism | event notice Saturday June 21, 2008 21:18 by Joe Moore - Socialist Workers Party mapuche at eircom dot net 087-2994796

After Lisbon, after the no vote victory, the need for a real alternative. Public meeting Thursday next 26th June, at 8.00pm in the Victoria Hotel, Patrick St, Cork. Speaker, Richard Boyd Barrett.

The significance of the decisive No vote to the Lisbon Treaty can scarcely be overestimated. The political elite of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour have been roundly defeated. The establishment consensus in the form of IBEC and the media have been shown up as blinkered neoliberals, and the YES campaign-including ICTU-as Eurocrats, who have disconnected with the people. This outcome has created a political crisis for our rulers that will have no easy outcome for them, either at home or in Europe.

The No vote -a vote for the Working Class. The No vote was a vote that gave voice to the working class. The highest "no" votes were solid working class areas. No votes were linked to the direct effects of free market globalisation on fishing and farming, Donegal North East (64.7%) and Donegal South West (63.4%) or distrust of multinationals, particularly Shell (Mayo 61.7%) or rising unemployment Cork North Central (64%) The campaign also illustrated that the conventional parties have far more in common with each other than seperates them.

Ruling Class Weakened. One of the reasons that the Irish ruling class was open to defeat was the unfolding economic situation that they daily denied. They massively underestimated every aspect of the Irish slow-down - the weakness in residential construction, the significant spillover effect from the collapse in the housing market, the dangers of an appreciating Euro, the fall out from the international financial crisis in terms of the credit squeeze and the rocketing price of petrol. GNP is effectively contracting for the first time since 1993 and yet the ESRI et al are still talking about this being a rational adjustment of the market.

What next? Come and join a discussion about this new phase we are entering and be ready to take on the establishment again and again. Participate by giving your views post Lisbon. Be ready for the next time.

This meeting is organised by the Cork Branch SWP.