Mayday 2003: analyses, essays, discourses

by Hebe Thu May 01, 2003 05:11

The following statement was issued by the International Department of the Irish Republican Socialist Party in honour of the 117th anniversary of the first celebration of International Workers' Day.

1 May 2003
Irish Republican Socialist Party

The following statement was issued by the International Department of the
Irish Republican Socialist Party in honour of the 117th anniversary of the
first celebration of International Workers' Day.

May Day Statement of the International Department of the Irish Republican
Socialist Party

In recognition of May Day, the Irish Republican Socialist Party extends
greetings of solidarity to the many organisations and peoples in struggle
against imperialism and for national liberation and socialism throughout
the world.

As we issue this statement of solidarity, we cannot help but be mindful of
the bitter times in which we presently find ourselves. The United States
of America, aided by its handmaiden, policeman, and lap dog, Britain, has
ripped the mask from the face of capitalism and imperialism, revealing a
snarling, vicious, and brutal visage for all the world to see.

It is been several years since we first pointed out the present global
reality. That George Bush, Sr. presided over the collapse of the Soviet
Union, leaving western imperialism unfettered by a rival of equal
stature. That George Bush, Jr. is now seeking to consolidate and expand
the neutralisation of smaller nations which refuse to surrender to the
unchecked dominance of western imperialismthe so called Axis of Evil which
has replaced the Evil Empire of two decades ago as the chief challenge to
its supremacy. This effort to complete imperialism's subjugation of the
world has already been couched within a so called War on Terrorism, which
will seek to finish this process, but labeling any organisation that is
prepared to use force of arms to combat imperialism's tyranny.

Already in the US and elsewhere we see the final phase of this naked class
war taking shape, with the violation of international law and curtailing of
civil liberties paving the way for destroying even those forms of
resistance which function in a legal, political manner. As international
capitalism finds itself increasingly unable to pull itself away from ever
more frequent eruptions of crisis within the global economy and confronted
by a falling rate of profit, it is becoming more and more prepared to
forego feigning its commitment to democracy and diplomacy.

These are difficult times for the working class of the world and they will
not soon improve. Accordingly, it is more important than at any time in
recent years that those opposed to the violence and exploitation of
imperialism and the oppression of capitalism declare their solidarity with
oneanother and demonstrate this solidarity at every opportunity.

We are confronting an enemy that does not bat an eye at the devastation
that befell the collective legacy of human civilization in the museums of
Baghdad. An enemy which blatantly used its technological might to insist
on its right to invade and occupy a sovereign nation, murder and maim its
people, impose a puppet regime of its choosing, and then immediately turn
and threaten neighboring states it had assured the safety of only weeks
before. We face an enemy who is prepared to resort to absolute barbarism
to hold down those who challenge it.

The working people of this planet continue to hold certain advantages,
however. It is we who create all of the wealth, all of the industry, all
of the material wealth that the capitalist class value above all else. Our
class is by far the largest section of the populace of the world and our
proportion of the world's people grows ever larger, as capitalism
consolidates its wealth into fewer and fewer hands. And, as was said as
long ago as 1848, we have nothing to lose but our chains.

So we say to those throughout the world who still challenge capitalism,
those who refuse to surrender to the might of imperialism - the working
people of the world - you have our solidarity. Whether Palestinian or
Mayan, Kurd or Basque, Welsh or Native American, if you fight for national
liberation against imperialism, we are with you. Whether Irish or Korean,
Australian or Columbian, American or Russian, if you are fighting for
socialism, we are with you.

Sisters, brothers, comrades around the globe, we still have a world to
win. Together, there is no force greater upon the earth. In solidarity
with oneanother, there is no army we cannot defeat. As the great
revolutionary James Connolly was so fond of quoting,

The great appear great because we are on our knees.

Let us arise!

COMMENTS on IRSP Statement [moved by R Isible]

We're in trouble now...
by Ray Wed, Apr 30 2003, 1:43pm

The IRSP have a time-machine. Whose grandfather is first for the chop? (and what will happen when the next feud starts?)

Love the 'International Department' stuff
by The Realist Wed, Apr 30 2003, 2:09pm

You'd swear the IRSP had more than 5 people in it.

HA HA HA HA HA ---- INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT
by Sammy - Independent Wed, Apr 30 2003, 2:18pm
[email protected]

THE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT....WHAT A GREAT LAUGH THAT IS.......HANG ON LADS IS THAT THE NOISE OF REPORTERS IN REUTERS, PA AND THE OTHER NEWS AGENCIES RUNNING TO THE FAX AND E-MAIL SO THEY CAN SEE WHAT YOUR INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT IS SAYING IN YOUR STATEMENT....THE WORLD WAITS ON TENDER HOOKS..............

Connolly??????
by Daniel Stanford - LY Wed, Apr 30 2003, 2:31pm

The great apear great because we are on our knees,

Let us rise, (not arise)

That was said by Jim Larkin, not James Connolly.

actually
by pat c Wed, Apr 30 2003, 2:35pm

it was Camille Desmoulins

as I pointed out in the great SP photo at the GPO comment last summer
by ipsiphi Wed, Apr 30 2003, 4:13pm

Mrs Larkin might have said it as well.
and I hope Mrs Connoly.
and behind the GPO?
and behind the Imperial Hotel?

we are ·all· descended from those who had no choice but to prostitute themselves at some point.

maybe not your Mammy,
nor your granny, but back there...

Fuck off
by King Mob Wed, Apr 30 2003, 8:13pm

How many people are you fuckwits with your failed marxist leninist nationalist half baked clap trap going to kneecap and tar and feather on May Day? Now fuck off.

Just one King Mob
by Dessie O'Hare Thu, May 1 2003, 12:09am

by Andrew Thu May 01, 2003 10:11

History, posters and leaflets at the link

by Sinn Fein - Sinn Fein Thu May 01, 2003 13:32 afpress at eircom dot net

‘It’s time to fight back’ – McDonald

Sinn Féin EU candidate for Dublin, Mary Lou McDonald has called for Trade Unionists to fight back against the encroaching privatisation of public industries and the growing social divide in Irish society. Speaking in Sinn Féin’s May Day statement, Ms McDonald said that the economic boom for big business of the last few years meant “We’re working harder, they’re getting richer.”

“90 years after the 1913 Lockout Irish Trade Unionism is on the back foot. The last 20 years have seen the introduction of anti-Trade Union legislation in the form of the Industrial Relations Act, 1990 and the Amendment Act, 2001. There has been no legislation introduced to oblige business to recognise Trade Unions.

“The latest so-called Partnership deal pledges Unions to Compulsory Binding Arbitration, IBEC called it a ‘ground breaking move’ by the Union leadership. Trade Unionists have put their fates in the hands of the Labour Relations Commission and the Labour Court.

“As for the rich and big business, a recent Revenue survey showed that almost one in five of the top 400 earners has an effective tax rate of 15% or less and 29 of those individuals pay no tax at all. The profit share of the national income has risen from 25% to 38% since 1987, the largest such increase in the EU, Japan or the US. At the same time as business profits have increased so much productivity output per head has almost doubled. Corporation Tax is the lowest in Europe.

“We’re working harder, they’re getting richer.

“Public utilities are being privatised. They have already sold off the telecommunication industry and it’s only a matter of time before the ESB, Aer Lingus, CIE, Dublin Bus and others are sold off unless workers organise to campaign against privatisation.

“This state is now one of the most unequal in the world. In 1987 6.2% of families lived in relative poverty. In 2000, this had doubled to 12%. The number of people living on the streets is increasing.

“In 1886 eight Trade Unionists were sentenced to be executed for fighting for the right to an eight-hour day. It is this great sacrifice that we march to remember every May Day. It is this spirit of Trade Unionism that must be awoken.

“It’s time to fight back.”

by Andrew Thu May 01, 2003 13:38

I see the Shinners have joined the SP in forgetting that Haymarket martyrs were anarchists as well as SOME of them being 'trade union leaders'. Next Easter maybe we'll organise a commemoration of the 1916 school teachers then?

by Andrew Thu May 01, 2003 13:43

All 8 were not sentenced to execution, 7 were (Neebe got 15 years) and after an international campaign Schwab and Fielden sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Lingg managed to cheat the hangman by killing himself on Nov 10th. On November 11th 1887 Parsons, Engel, Spies and Fischer were hanged.

In the final words of Attorney Grinnell's summation speech to the jury. "Law is on trial. Anarchy is on trial. These men have been selected, picked out by the Grand Jury, and indicted because they were leaders. There are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury; convict these men, make examples of them, hang them and you save our institutions, our society."

by TribalRearrival Thu May 01, 2003 15:50

[MOved by R Isible]

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Indonesian invasion in West Papua

Call it another dogma, a tried and tested doctrine, a hopeless hope, but like it or not the concept of spirituality applies to most of us.

Catholic, Protestant, Shopper, or Shit disturber – we’re all aiming higher, we’re all connected deeper, we’re all believing in something ‘other’ than the happiness of the strict physical plain.

Many are free from the confines of tradition but still the itch goes on. An itch no political understanding understands. The wondering, questioning, what ifs and just maybes. Some call it a God (or Gods), others the holy spirit (or many of them) and others, like an increasing amount of mainstream scientists, believe that humans are simply part of an infinitely larger natural order that insists on ultra extended systems, actions, reactions, needs and consequences. It’s like mother earth philosophy for the devious and the doubters.

Who us? What me? Yeah – natural mystic, - “how horrific! – I ain’t no part of no natural order”. Oh yes you are! Time to get over the petty urban cries of concrete faith! It’s natural order baby and it ain’t a debate!

So while doing the protest thing today and keepin’ up the traditional (but horrifically frustrating and bland) acts of political lobbying - supporters of the tribal people of Indonesian occupied West Papua will visit the ancient ceremonial site of Uisineach in Co. Westmeath for a May Day (or ‘Beltaine’) ceremony and council.

Yeah, call it hippy pagan crap or a desperate act of idealism but the bigger picture is being marked. Cultures under attack from the holistic colonisation of civilisation, whether they be Papuan, Indian or Irish in nature, are being reacknowleged, reclaimed and recelebrated. We’re taking it back! We’re going back to basics whilst staring with unstoppable force into the only possible future. It’s all or nothing.

We’re taking direct action against an imposed sense of reality, a foreign God structure, a sickening scar on our collective world view and conscientiousness. We are neither left nor right, socialist nor anarchist, environmentalist nor hippy. We’re blasting beyond the labels, we’re smashing the stale scenarios and erecting another dimsenion that sails right through the context of the conventional, the logical, the ‘right way’. The way that is so painfully ineffective, so chronically conventional, so endlessly repeating. The way that is failing.

Today the workers of the world are rising to remember the brothers and sisters, from Chicago to Chiapas, who have fought for ‘rights’ – not treats, priviledges or benefits, but rights. The workers are rising, celebrating, reclaiming history from this short cancerous experiment in industry, democracy and civilisation. It’s off to an ancient place of seeing, hearing and being, a place so natural that reality collapses at its door.

Scary stuff on the shallow surface but it is in this place that the power resides. It is from this place that the (r)evolution will begin.

Yes, the (r)evolution WILL be spiritualised!

related link: www.westpapua.net

add your comments
COMMENTS

Take It To The Top!
by Penny Thu, May 1 2003, 1:30pm
address: Berkshire Mntns, MA, USA

All right! You're so correct, this industrial civilization ain't civilized! Take all this big government and multinational corporation shit and shove it, El Capitalizmo!

Me, I really don't want World Government. Look what happened in the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Look at the "far-flung Empire" of the Brits. What is this stuff?

Getting back to harmony with the Earth and the earth and learning all over again about our potential to be a different kind of human being which is spiritually in tune sounds like a marvel indeed!

With this outlook, maybe "Another World Is Possible!"

by Justin Moran - Sinn Fein Thu May 01, 2003 16:10 maigh_nuad at yahoo dot com

Hands up, I wrote that statement and I accept the correction. I was aware that they were Anarchists but I thought they were also Trade Unionists. I read your correction about that yesterday but I wrote the statement the day before and forgot to correct it. As for the sentenced to be executed, I actually did think all eight were sentenced to die until now, I thought they were all sentenced for execution and then it was commuted for some of them.

As for organising an Easter Commemoration, why not? Why not have a WSM Easter Commemoration?

Apologies for the error, my fault.

by Andrew Thu May 01, 2003 16:46

Often discussed Pat but his grave being in Ballymena presents some potential difficulties.

by Justin Moran - Sinn Fein Thu May 01, 2003 16:58 maigh_nuad at yahoo dot com

as the prospect of an Anarchist Easter Commemoration in Ballymena is, might I suggest two other places? It was in Beresford Place that Connolly announced the ICA was to be formed by Jack White and the ICA training ground was in Croydon Park which if memory serves is up around Marino. Either one would be a possible alternative. Whether you want to hold a WSM commemoration or not is for yourselves, though in my opinion the more people remembering the Rising the better, but maybe they'd be two options.

by pat c Thu May 01, 2003 16:59

doesnt have to be in ballymena.

by € Thu May 01, 2003 21:30

has been carried off from his megaphone (he is a socialist gentleman) after recieving a violent blow to the head.
in madrid.
He is not an anarchist.
But he is not used to being hit.
Watch how people react to him being hit violently on the head by an angry fucked over worker.
Think how they would react if he were an anarchist gentleman.
But today is May Day.

If you go out you might just get that.
The socialists have their days.
They indeed have had their day.
The Shinnies in all fairness would get well fucked off if all the 5th international trippy hippy crusty anarkisty muppets turned up at bodenstown, the GPO and ·the derry wall· all the time now wouldn't they?
Yes.
Diversity is wonderful. But we ·do· have our days.
May day is an @ day.

Being hit on the head is not nice.
but it can be got over with quite quickly.
link
to spanish article.
http://acp.sindominio.net/article.pl?sid=03/05/01/133219&mode=thread

by € Thu May 01, 2003 21:45

http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/05/274022.php

they push that chariot with out large organisation funding.
they push that supermarket trolly with its meagre budget through police lines up the hill and down.

and dont they look h@ppy with it.

by redjade Thu May 01, 2003 23:55

http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=46192

http://www.indymedia.ie/cgi-bin/newswire.cgi?id=46191

by maydayinternationale Fri May 02, 2003 21:51

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/1305875.stm

by video Sat May 03, 2003 16:48

http://uk.indymedia.org:8081/local/webcast/uploads/m0103mayday1march.wmv

by Edwin A. Locke - Post and comments moved by R Isible Thu May 08, 2003 16:56

Libertarians mock the Left, May Day
by Edwin A. Locke Thu, May 8 2003, 8:33am

The giveaway, and the clue to the real motive of today's left and their hangers-on, is that all their protests are against -- they are anti-capitalism, anti-free trade, anti-using the environment for man's benefit -- but they are not for anything.

Celebrate capitalism on May Day
by Edwin A. Locke, Libertarian Party

May Day will once again be celebrated by left-wing and environmentalist protesters united by a single emotion: a virulent hatred of capitalism, especially global capitalism. Why the hatred?

The advantage of a global economy based on free trade and capitalism is so obvious and so enormous that it is difficult to conceive of anyone opposing it. The benefit is based on the law of comparative advantage: every country becomes more prosperous the more it invests in producing and exporting what it does best (in terms of quality, cost, uniqueness, etc.), and importing goods and services that other countries can produce more efficiently.

For example, let us say that Nigerian companies can produce T-shirts for $1 a piece whereas U.S. companies can only produce them for $5 a piece. Under free trade, Americans will buy their T-shirts from Nigeria. This division of labor benefits people in both countries. Nigerians will have more money to buy food, clothing and housing. Americans will spend less on T-shirts and have more money to buy cell phones and SUVs, and the investment capital formerly spent on T-shirts will be put to more productive uses, say in the area of technology or drug research.

Multiply this by millions of products and hundreds of countries and over time the benefits run into the trillions of dollars.

How, then, do we reconcile the incredible benefits of global capitalism with the anti-globalization movement? The protesters make three claims repeatedly.

First, they argue that multinational corporations are becoming too powerful and threaten the sovereignty of smaller nations. This is absurd on the face of it. Governments have the power of physical coercion (the gun); corporations do not; they have only the dollar -- they function through voluntary trade.

Second, anti-globalists claim that multinational companies exploit workers in poor countries by paying lower wages than they would pay in their home countries. Well, what is the alternative? It is: no wages!

The comparative advantage of poorer countries is precisely that their wages are low, thus reducing the costs of production. If multinational corporations had to pay the same wages as in their home countries, they would not bother to invest in poorer countries at all and millions of people would lose their livelihoods.

Third, it is claimed that multinational corporations destroy the environments of smaller, poorer countries. Note that if 19th-century America had been subjected to the environmental legislation that now pervades most Western countries, we ourselves would still be a third-world country. Most of the industries that made the United States a world economic power -- the steel, automobile, chemicals and electrical industries -- would never have been able to develop.

By what right do we deprive poor, destitute people in other countries from trying to create prosperity in the same way that we did, which is the only way possible?

All of these objections to global capitalism are just rationalizations. The giveaway, and the clue to the real motive of today's left and their hangers-on, is that all their protests are against -- they are anti-capitalism, anti-free trade, anti-using the environment for man's benefit -- but they are not for anything.

In the first third of the 20th century, most leftists were idealists -- they stood for and fought for an imagined, industrialized utopia -- Communism (or Socialism). The left's vision was man as a selfless slave of the state, and the state as the omniscient manager of the economy.

However, instead of prosperity, happiness and freedom, Communism and Socialism produced nothing but poverty, misery and terror (witness Soviet Russia, North Korea and Cuba, among others). Their system had to fail, because it was based on a lie. You cannot create freedom and happiness by destroying individual rights; and you cannot create prosperity by negating the mind and evading the laws of economics.

Furious over the fact that their envisioned utopia has collapsed in ruins, the leftists now seek only destruction. They want to annihilate the system that has produced the very prosperity, happiness and freedom that their system could not produce. That system is capitalism, the system of true social justice where people are free to produce and keep what they earn.

The fact that free trade is now becoming truly global is one of the most important achievements in the history of mankind. If, in the end, it wins out over statism, global capitalism will bring about the greatest degree of prosperity and the greatest period of peaceful cooperation in world history.

We should scornfully ignore the nihilist protesters -- they have nothing positive to offer. We should not only allow global capitalism; we should welcome it and foster it in every way possible.

It is time to rephrase Karl Marx: Workers of the world unite for global capitalism; you have nothing to lose but your poverty.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edwin A. Locke, a Professor Emeritus of management at the University of Maryland at College Park, is a senior writer for the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, California.

related link: www.lp.org/lpnews/0305/forummay_locke.html

add your comments
COMMENTS

hmmm....
by prankster Thu, May 8 2003, 9:13am

Against: Unsustainability, growing divide between rich and poor, profit before people, environmental degradation, roll back of civil rights, militarisation

For: Equal rights for all, sustainable development, fair distribution of wealth, Demilitarisation, respect for our environment.

sheesh, can't this bloke see what's wrong with capitalism? or wha? And he's a libertarian, many more of them and we're all going down the swanny. I want whats right for me but that depends on whats right for all of us. Then again he's at liberty to be of this opinion, pity most people on the planet haven't the liberty(due to global capitalism) to think this way, but hold on maybe thats a good thing cos then he'd have lots of support, ironic innit?

problems
by Glen Moran Thu, May 8 2003, 9:19am

I dunnow that capitalism is the problem so much as the irresponsibility of the capitalists themselves - the whole 'richest man in the graveyard' thing went over their heads really.

Risible
by Avi H. Thu, May 8 2003, 9:21am

Dear Risible, surely this thread is not news but pure opinon. Shouldn't it be deleted or do you just delete my stuff because you don't agree with it?

the distinguished professor
by Chekov Thu, May 8 2003, 9:29am

is a moron. The simplistic economic arguments that he makes would earn him nul points in an economics exam. In particular he ignores the ability of corporations to set the terms of trade. The example that he uses is particularly apt since the African textile industry was completely destroyed in the wake of trade 'liberalisation'. Africa became a dumping ground for the world's cheap textiles (especially 'charity' clothes from the US and cheap synthetics from China).

These libertarians are mere propagandists. Their commitment to freedom only runs to the rhetorical. In practice they are ardent defenders of the status quo.

free
by Glen Moran Thu, May 8 2003, 9:43am

No, now to be fair, they want to ensure their freedom to make shitloads of cash and crap on people less fortunate than they.

Disagree strongly overal - But I believe competition & comparative advantage do have some positives.
by Anonymous Thu, May 8 2003, 10:28am

While overall I disagree strongly with Edwin Locke, I do not believe all he has said is absolute rubbish. I think he has a reasonable case to put forward. And I believe comparative advantage and competition do have some positives. Essentially I believe they may well help to increase overall efficiency and wealth, but they also lead to an increased unequal distribution of wealth.

Do people think that there are no advantages WHATSOEVER of competition and comparative advantage?

But I repeat again that overall I disagree strongly with the general trust of Edwin Locke’s arguments.

Economic fudge
by Gaillimhed Thu, May 8 2003, 2:34pm

The main problem i have with the arguments proposed FOR the globalised economy is this: The underlying economic theory regards the environment and its natural resources as a subset of the economy, where in fact the 'economy' is a subset of the environment. Economists seem to believe that natural resources such as coal oil steel are created on paper purely by market forces and therefore never run out, like money. All physical things are converted by economists into monetary quantities, which CAN be created, destroyed, accumulated and depreciated with increasing or decreasing returns at the swipe of a pen, leading economists to believe that the resources represented by money are just as virtual. The economic Utopia presented by Mr Locke is dangerously far removed from a mutually beneficial reality. Unlike money, which is virtual, resources cannot be generated by creative accounting techniques. They can only be accumulated and used by removing them and destroying them in order to create money. So money is actually merely a waste residue, the ashes of resource destruction. Money represents planetary resources that are no longer extant, that have been used up.
Apart from that the global economy is morally repugnant, being just a global re-incarnation of the violence and greed of old-style colonialism.

"Nigerian companies can produce T-shirts for $1 a piece ...Under free trade,(ie: with nothing in it for the Nigerians, and quite possibly under the threat of US/EU economic warfare) Americans will buy their T-shirts from Nigeria. ...Americans will spend less on T-shirts and have more money to buy cell phones and SUVs, and the investment capital formerly spent on T-shirts will be put to more productive uses, say in the area of technology or drug research."
sounds great for everybody, except the nigerians, and especially the transnational corporation who heads off this great empire, for there will be only one, and im sure it will rule under an american flag.