Click here to download the MP3 interview from radio.indymedia.org with Rita Fagan.

Transport and airport workers, along with Aer Rianta and SIPTU officials, may have been dancing a jig of schadenfreudic glee at the clipping of Seamus Brennan's wings from his post as Minister for Transport; but his replacement Martin Cullen, is no stranger to privatising public resources. During Cullen's time as Minister for the Environment, he presided over the M50/Carrickmines saga, and also pursued the construction of the M3 through the Tara Skreen Valley with renewed vigour. His commitment to public transport is minimal. He also undermined the local democratic process in Dublin by imposing a PPP (Public Private Partnership) on St. Michael's Estate in Inchicore, usurping years of consultation and negotiation with the tenants of the estate.

St. Michael's Estate was built in 1969, at the same time that Ballymun rose up on the other side of the city. The community within the estate has a long history pre-dating the construction of the flats. Originally Richmond Barracks during English rule, it was given over to the new Free State Army in 1923. In the 1940's the Army moved out and the land was given to Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council). Around this time the area was known as Keogh Square, which was primarily composed of tenements, and had the name of being a slum on the city fringe. When the flats were being built, there was a huge demand of people who wanted to be housed there. There was heating, green spaces, and of course high-rise communities were viewed as the way of the future.

In the late 1970's and early 1980's the social and living conditions on St. Michael's Estate started to decline. Working families were given housing grants of £5,000 by the Council, so many of them simply moved out. Single parents were given flats, and the Council rarely investigated the people it was housing. What was once a traditional stable family society became a single parent society, and this created gaps and imbalances in the social fabric. The long-term residents of the estate were increasingly exasperated with the Council officials making decisions in the city centre without any local consultation, and so in 1986 a group of women set up the St. Michael's Family Resource Centre, which is located in a ground floor flat on the estate.

Edgar Paez a leader of the Colombian Coca Cola workers’ union Sinaltrainal is due to visit Ireland to meet with Irish trade unionists and to address the Irish public. The international boycott of Coke products launched by Sinaltrainal last year has received the support of three unions that operate in Ireland.

So far, Unison, NIPSA and the TUI have backed the boycott at their annual conference. The decision by the TUI was the most public and controversial decision. SIPTU officials have brought pressure ot bear on the TUI and have tried to get the union to reverse its conference decision.

Edgar Paez was invited here by the Latin America Solidarity Centre to meet those trade unionists and student organisations that have given their support to the boycott. The boycott campaign has met with fierce opposition from sections of SIPTU. The food and drinks branch has been to the forefront in that campaign. However, it would seem that their position is not by any means the unanimous view of the Irish trade union movement.

On Thursday 7th of October a motion was put to the Dublin Regional Conference of SIPTU to disinvest from Coke and sell their shares. The same trade-unionists who said that their disagreement with the boycott was tactical also opposed disinvestment. However, despite a concerted campaign by the Regional Executive the conference only narrowly voted not to sell its shares in Coke. The vote was 156 against the motion and 142 in favour.

It would seem that the “position of the ICTU” might not be in line with that of many of its members. Edgar Paez has requested a meeting with the workers of Coca Cola in a letter to Jack O Connor the president of SIPTU. A meeting has duly been arranged for just before the public meeting on Monday. He has also arranged to meet people from the TUI and NIPSA during his visit.

Sinaltrainal have had a tough time from trade union officials as outlined by its president Javier Correa who has accused some IUF (International Union of Food and Drink Workers) officials of having a similar ideology to Coke. Coke have also recently contracted Jack Otero - a leading trade unionist from the AFL-CIO in the USA - to run its counter-campaign.

Edgar will also speak at Wynne’s Hotel, at 7.30 PM on Monday October 18th. This event is organised by Lasc and all are welcome.

Indymedia Ireland Archive on the battle between Coke and Colombian workers

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Read statements of support for Vanunu allowing to make a new home in Ireland by Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Daniel Ellsberg, Katharine Gun, Garret FitzGerald and more.... The Irish Asylum for Vanunu Project Website is at freewebs.com/Vanunu2Ireland

In 1986 Mordechai Vanunu offered information about Israel's secret Dimona nuclear 'research center' programme to The Sunday Times, later that year he was drugged and kidnapped in Italy by Israeli agents, was tried and convicted in Israel for treason and spent eighteen years in Ashkelon prison, twelve of which were in solitary confinement in a two-by-three metre cell.

His restrictions include not speaking to international journalists. Mordechai Vanunu has violated court orders by speaking to Indymedia.ie...

"I would like to get out of Israel and start a new life. I hope the Irish government will help me to receive asylum and much more importantly to act, as a government, [to convince the Israelis] to let me go. That is what I need now. We need someone to ask the Israeli government to let me go. If I were to come to Ireland, I would like to write my book. I have an obligation to write my book for people who want to know my story. I would like to speak to people about anti-nuclear weapons, to speak about peace, and, if I can, to enter university to learn and teach."

A debate on how best to oppose the forces of neoliberalism and global capitalism – and indeed what to replace it with - is set to be the highlight of this year's Irish Social Forum, which will take place in Dublin next weekend, October 8th to 10th. Another central theme will be racism in Ireland and its role in neoliberalism. Author and academic Peadar Kirby will argue for less market and more state... "What we call the Celtic Tiger is simply an Irish version of the tilt towards the market that is evident in countries throughout the world, as the state restructures itself so as to put the needs of global capital above the needs of its citizens."

However, Aileen O'Carroll of the anarchist Workers Solidarity Movement is calling for a "social revolution" to bring about "a world based on the principles of economic equality and direct democracy rather than the principle of profit. For me, the only solution is to replace this political system with one which is completely different," O'Carroll said. "I don't believe parliament will bring us the change we want. It cannot challenge the fundamental inequalities of neoliberalism. Parliament's role is to manage inequality not to remove it." The plenary, which will also be addressed by Mick O'Reilly of the ATGWU and Labour Councillor Mary Murphy, will feature conflicting views on social partnership and whether to participate in it.

Meanwhile, the role of racism in the neoliberal globalisation project will be highlighted at the other main plenary, titled Racism in Ireland. Author and Trinity College academic Dr Ronit Lentin will focus on the consequences, for Ireland, of the global migration regime. In the wake of the 2004 Citizenship referendum, Lentin will argue that "while, like all modern nation-states, Ireland is a 'racial state', at the present time of unparalleled prosperity (which, however, is accompanied by growing poverty and rich-poor gaps), Ireland is also a racist state. Ireland is creating armies of invisible migrant labourers. Looking at the stories of migrants is one alternative way to think about globalisation in today's Ireland." Also due to speak at the plenary on racism are Aisling Reidy of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism and Jason Brannigan of Belfast-based Fascists Out Campaign.

The ISF will feature workshops hosted by more than 40 different groups from around Ireland on such topics as racism, trade unions, inner-city regeneration, trade justice, the global arms trade, Public Private Partnerships, the US military's use of Shannon Airport, female genital mutilation, left unity, incinerators, the EU constitution and the Criminal Justice Bill.

From the newswire (by Indy Council Correspondent):

The issue of waste charges came up in City Council last night but while opposition was as strong as ever, the lack of a coherent strategy to do away with the Charges is glaringly evident.

It is only the start of October and already the issue of Bin Charges and the approach to the Estimates in Dublin City Council has started to become an issue.

At last night’s Council meeting the councillors discussed a draft submission on behalf of the Council to the review of local government funding. The 20 page document contained a wealth of information on the current funding and expenditure of the Council and suggested a number of ways to raise funds in future.

These included a hotel bed tax of two Euros a night and the end to the exemption for state occupied buildings from rates. Both would require Leinster House approval but the latter could mean as much as 24 million Euros a year for the Council, substantially more than the waste charges raise. One of the other options however attracted the anger of Sinn Fein and Independent councillors, namely the proposal to make domestic householders pay the full cost of the waste collection service, which would lead to a massive increase in charges.