Campaigns & Issues
Subcategories
Abortion rights now! For real choice
A significant feature of the thousands strong march on 29 September in Dublin to mark International Decriminalisation of Abortion Day was the number of young people, especially young women, who participated – young people who frequently make the point that they are shocked at the backward laws that exist in Ireland in the 21st century and who correctly feel that women should be afforded the basic right to choose when and if they have children.
Turn Off the Red Light: Challenging modern day slavery
“It felt like a prison, no time for lunch and I was on call 24/7... There was no choice about which men you saw and some men wanted sex without condoms. If you refused to have anal sex you had to pay a penalty or the ‘security’ men would beat you up.” This is part of a testimony from Isobel, contained in the Immigrant Council of Ireland’s 2009 report on sex trafficking in Ireland, found on turnofftheredlight.ie , a campaign against prostitution and sex trafficking supported by a number of trade unions as well as women and immigrant groups.
Food: Scoffing on profits
"Please sir, may I have some more?" It’s not just Dickensian orphans who have to fight for the most basic staple - food. Even in the ’advanced’ capitalist countries, the profit system is incapable of providing people with a balanced diet. socialistparty.net looks at the effect of capitalism on food and socialist solutions.
Interview with pro-choice campaigners
In April of this year, the government parties, including the Labour Party that claims to have a pro-choice position, shamefully rejected a bill to legislate for the X Case, introduced by Socialist Party TD, Clare Daly. The persistent conservatism of the political establishment was exposed and women in Ireland (like the estimated 150,000 women who have travelled abroad to access a termination since 1980 before them), continue to suffer the consequences.
If they take one non-payer to court they take us all
According to the government, after their three threatening letters, they plan to then summons to court those still not paying. They know hundreds of thousands will call their bluff on the letters. They fear that if there are still hundreds of thousands of non-payers next year, non payment can rise, destroying all home tax plans. With no automatic punishments or fines without court appearance, cases against non-payers this autumn therefore seems likely.
Too many people – Has world population reached its limits?
One of the major divisions within environmentalists is on the issue of population and ‘overpopulation’, with many claiming that a key cause of environmental damage is too many people. The British Royal Society recently released a report, People and the Planet, which argued that, to avoid "a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills", the world’s population needs to be stabilised. Ian Angus and Simon Butler’s book, Too Many People, examines these claims and explores their implications.
Global warming: Socialist plan for the environment is needed
Global warming is the overriding environmental issue facing the world. 20 years have passed since the United Nations’ (UN) ’Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro highlighted the problem. However, the output of greenhouse gases that cause climate change has continued to escalate to a critical level that threatens environmental catastrophe. As emissions have rocketed, the gap between the green rhetoric of governments in the industrialised capitalist countries and their feeble policy response has become a chasm.
Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes – what next?
The Campaign Against Household & Water Taxes (CAHWT) meets on 19 May for its first conference. This follows a period of hectic activity, public meetings, postering and protests in order to establish a campaign and the highest possible boycott level of the household tax.
Archaic ban on pregnant student
The case of a pregnant 16 year old being refused a place in a private Catholic school in Munster has caused widespread shock and disgust. The issue came to light in a report from the Ombudsman for Children’s rights.
X Case legislation defeated – Time for a new struggle for abortion rights
Unsurprisingly, the Bill proposed by Socialist Party / United Left Alliance TD, Clare Daly to legislate for the X Case, was overwhelming defeated in the Dail. The establishment fail yet again; women suffer, and working class and economically deprived women who can’t or find it difficult to muster the money to travel to access a termination, and migrant women and women trapped in abusive relationships who have restrictions on their travel, suffer most acutely.
