SOSIALIS ALTERNATIF: CWI WON A SEAT IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Monday 8 June 2009

CWI WON A SEAT IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

SOCIALIST JOE HIGGINS WINS EURO SEAT IN IRELAND

Joe Higgins, the Socialist Party candidate in Ireland (CWI Ireland), was elected to the Dublin Constituency for the European Parliament at around 5.15am this morning.

Joe, who is a member of CWI in Ireland, got 82,366 votes, with 50,510 first preference votes. He received 22,201 second preference votes from the eliminated Sein Fein candidate. Over the last few days, Joe Higgins was widely predicted in the Irish press to be best placed to take the third of three European Parliament seats in Dublin.

He told the Irish TV network that he would "serve the needs of ordinary people in the EU", and that his appointment was bad news for corporate Europe and the big business culture of the European parliament. He said his election was a very positive result for working class people in Europe.

Higgins was branded the "only honest member" of the Irish parliament, when he held his Dublin seat until his seat was eliminated in 2007. He received widespread publicity for his exposes of corruption. His most significant victory was struck, together with the Socialist Party in Ireland for the Gama workers, the super-exploited building workers who were not being paid their wages.

The Irish Socialist Party reports: Joe Higgins is a long time activist in the labour and trade union movement. Elected to Dublin County Council in 1991, he was a leading fighter against corrupt land rezoning in Dublin and for planning in the interests of communities rather than for speculators and major developers.

Joe Higgins was the Chair of the Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaign which won massive support and forced the Fine Gael/Labour Government to abolish water charges in December 1996. Minister for Social Welfare, Mary Hanafin, said last year that had abolition not happened, each household in Dublin would be currently paying €700 per year in water charges.

Joe Higgins was elected to the Dail in 1997 and for the next ten years was a leading opponent of the right wing policies of the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat Government. He frequently challenged the then Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Bertie Ahern, on a wide range of issues including land speculation and profiteering in the housing market, Government support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and in defence of workers' rights.

In 2003 Joe Higgins was sent to Mountjoy Jail for a month over his opposition to Bin Tax, a new stealth tax on Dublin householders.

In 2005, with the Socialist Party, he exposed the horrific abuse of migrant workers by Gama Construction and struck a major blow against the 'race to the bottom' when that company was forced to pay unpaid wages of around €30million to its workers.

Joe Higgins was a key Leader of the opposition to the Lisbon Treaty last year because it would facilitate further privatisation of crucial services like Health, push the militarisation of the EU, increase arms spending and institutionalise the right of bad employers to attack agreed wages and conditions for entire industries.

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Sosialis Alternatif

Sosialis Alternatif adalah seksyen CWI di Malaysia yang merupakan sebahagian daripada CWI (Committe for Workers' international) yang sedang beroperasi di hampir 50 negara yang merangkumi setiap benua. Kami melibatkan diri bersama anak muda, pelajar, kelas pekerja dan golongan tertindas yang lain dalam isu-isu hak demokrasi, hak ekonomi dan hak sosial, untuk memberikan perpektif sosialis sebagai penyelesaian kepada konflik sistem kapitalisme yang menjadi punca asas kepada rasisme, kemiskinan, kehancuran alam sekitar, peperangan serta penindasan sosio-ekonomi dalam masyarakat.

Sosialis Alternatif berkempen untuk membawa satu perubahan sosialis di Malaysia dan antarabangsa di mana masyarakat akan diorganisasi secara demokratik untuk menampung keperluan sejagat dan bukannya berpaksikan kepada nafsu keuntungan segelintir kapitalis.

Sosialis Alternatif pada ketika ini sedang melibatkan diri dalam kempen bagi meningkatkan penglibatan anak muda dan warga pekerja dalam pembinaan politik kelas pekerja dan anak muda sebagai alternatif kepada politik pro-kapitalisme yang dicanangkan oleh BN dan Pakatan. Ini adalah sebagai landasan ke arah membentuk satu masyarakat berbilang kaum dan agama yang mampu berkongsi kekayaan dan pembangunan negara bersama secara demokratik serta memelihara alam sekitar untuk keharmonian dan kesejahteraan sejagat.

Kita sedang melalui krisis ekonomi yang terburuk sejak 'the great depression' atau 'kemelesetan hebat' 1930-an yang sekali lagi membuktikan bahawa kapitalisme bukannya satu sistem yang unggul tetapi penuh dengan konflik dan percanggahan akibat kediktatoran pasaran bebas. Keruntuhan ekonomi biasanya akan membawa pelbagai kesengsaraan kepada berjuta-juta rakyat miskin, anak muda dan kelas menengah. Masalah pengangguran, perumahan, infrastruktur asas dan banyak lagi masalah akan timbul dan para kapitalis pula akan terus menindas rakyat biasa bagi memaksimumkan keuntungan dan kuasa mereka. Malahan puluhan ribu rakyat biasa terbunuh dalam peperangan-peperangan yang dilancarkan semata-mata untuk bersaing untuk mengondol sumber dan kekayaan alam, ini termasuk peperangan Palestin-Israel. Kapitalisme bukan sahaja menghancurkan kehidupan rakyat biasa tetapi juga sedang menghancurkan alam sekitar akibat aktiviti perindustrian dan pembangunan yang tidak mampan dan diluar kawalan.

Anak muda dan kelas pekerja perlu bergabung dan meningkatkan perjuangan untuk membina alternatif kepada sistem kapitalisme. CWI juga berhasrat untuk membina solidariti antarabangsa di kalangan anak muda, kelas pekerja dan golongan tertindas yang lain mellaui pembinaan sosialis Internasional.

Sertai Sosialis Alternatif dalam usaha membina sosialisme berlandaskan perpektif jelas sebagai alternatif kepada sistem kapitalisme di Malaysia dan di peringkat antarabangsa. Hubungi kami di : cwi.malaysia@gmail.com.