It didn't start in Seattle,
it won't end in Genoa
Bin charges; hundreds sleeping on the streets in the midst of an economic boom; soaring profits for the banks while many workers can't afford decent housing; underfunding of health, education and public transport.
This is the reality for workers in Ireland today, elsewhere, and particularly in Africa, it is far worse. For years we have been told that this is the way it is, that there is 'no alternative'. This is a lie.
Over the last two years a movement has been growing all over the world that seeks to end the rule of the banks. It didn't start in Seattle when the World Trade Organisation congress was blockaded in November 1999. But Seattle showed that working class people were resisting even in the heart of the beast.
It won't end in Genoa in July when massive protests will take place against the G8 summit. But Genoa is another opportunity for us to build links while disrupting their plans for 'business as usual'.
We have a global economic system where billions of dollars can be transferred at the touch of a key but where 19,000 people die every day from easily preventable diseases. The G8 are the eight most economically industrialised countries. They are part of the global structures of rule, which controls the World Bank/IMF, the WTO and the UN. They are essential to maintaining a situation where 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.
We need to learn from our history. No one can liberate us. We don't need a new bunch of rulers who claim to represent us better. We need to get rid of the divisions between order givers and order takers, between bosses and workers. We need a global self-managed society where bosses and politicians become seen as historical absurdities.
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That's capitalism
AIB profits are up again, by 10.5% this year. That gives them £2.7 million a day. Meanwhile we are told there is no cash to eliminate hospital waiting lists. Last year 12,483 patients in the 26 counties were waiting for over twelve months before being treated, 2,146 of these were children.
*****
In 1999 Gap made profits of $1.1 billion. Gap CEO Millard Drexler received $172.8 million in salary and bonuses. Yet women in its Russian factories are paid just 11 cents an hour and work in sweatshop conditions. In the US colony of Saipan, in the Western Pacific, a multi- million pound lawsuit has been filed against Gap and many other multinational firms challenging their use of indentured slavery.
*****
Last year Michael Smurfit, chief executive of Jefferson Smurfit, was paid a massive £5.2 million. And believing in family values, his brothers did ok too. Alan got £511,916 and Dermot got £507,191. His son, Tony, wasn't left out either, he got £548,932. And that's without even mentioning perks like Michael Smurfit's "incentive" bonus of £7,639,370 worth of shares. Wage restraint, how are ye!
*****
According to the US Department of Commerce, since 1997 US firms have exported $97 million in "crime control equipment". This included electroshock weapons, leg irons and serrated thumbcuffs. Recipient countries included well known users of torture like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Taiwan, Brazil, Israel and Egypt. More than 80 US companies are involved in the manufacture, marketing and export of this type of equipment.
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Welfare for the rich is the only welfare payment not threatened with cutbacks by Charlie McCreevey. Among recent grants from the Industrial Development Authority were £543,000 to Oracle Corporation (owned by America's second richest person, Larry Ellison, who is worth $58 billion), and £2.4 million to Dell Computers (owned by Michael Dell, America's thirteenth richest person with $16 billion). Other scroungers who were given our tax money included IBM who got £22 million in 1999, Rank Xerox (£6.7 million), and Citibank (£4.4 million).
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---- This article is from the print version of the Irish Anarchist paper 'Workers Solidarity No 64'.
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