Protests over rising childcare costs

Recent protests over rising childcare costs refocus working people’s concerns on demands to prioritise childcare and provide immediate supports for struggling parents.

There is no scheme in place for free childcare in Northern Ireland. The Workers Party has continually raised the necessity for the state to urgently implement an effective early learning and childcare strategy for Northern Ireland.

While the Northern Ireland Executive talks the talk it puts forward a multitude of excuses for its failure to act. Stormont has not been in business for a large part of its existence and, when it is, tribal squabbling seems more important than addressing the needs of working-class families.

NI has the highest percentage of low–paying jobs of any UK region and the highest percentage of children living in long–term workless households. Child poverty is endemic. Public services have been devastated by expenditure cuts. The lack of a proper childcare strategy is destroying lives.

When Sinn Fein and the DUP talk of budgetary constraints, they should be reminded of the waste of public funds through the sectarian divvying up of resources through the perpetuation of separate structures, institutions and facilities which could be redirected towards the provision of free childcare.

By providing free childcare, the state can encourage more parents, particularly mothers, to work, this encouraging gender equality for women; investing in early childhood education and care has demonstrable positive effects on children’s cognitive and social development; free childcare can reduce the cost of early childhood education and care for working-class families.

This is not rocket-science. It involves a commitment to genuine equality which our social system does not allow. Cuba and other socialist states long provided state-sponsored childcare. The German Democratic Republic prioritised education and childcare, guaranteeing access to high quality early learning and education. 

While recognising that only a socialist system can ensure full equality in which the needs of children and working-class families can be fully met, the Workers Party demands immediate action from the Stormont Executive to implement an effective early learning and childcare strategy for Northern Ireland.

Nationalism: contemptuous, divisive and toxic

This week we witnessed two very similar examples of nationalism and the path that it inevitably follows. Both were in the outcomes of Coroner’s inquests: the first into the abduction and murder of Sean Brown in Bellaghy in 1997, the second into the sectarian slaughter of ten workmen at Kingsmill in 1974.

Too often ‘nationalism’ is accepted as a legitimate political opinion with equal standing and legitimacy alongside other ethical views. It is not.

Nationalism, British, Irish, and every other strain, is not only a backward political philosophy, it is a toxic one

Nationalism, British, Irish, and every other strain, is not only a backward political philosophy, it is a toxic one. It seeks to divide and exploit difference. It blames others and otherness. It is a political cancer that deliberately subverts progressive politics and attempts to thwart the development of class politics – often viciously and violently.

This week we saw two examples of nationalism’s contemptuous disregard for the families of victims of the ‘Troubles’.

The British government deliberately blocked access to files and information which could prove key to establishing the facts, the sequence of events and the nature of the relationships of all those involved in the abduction and murder of Sean Brown from Bellaghy. In refusing to release the required information, they cited reasons of ‘national security’, which really means, ‘we did what we did, the way we wanted to do it… and it’s none of your business’.

Nationalism ‘protects’ the ‘national interest’ even when that means withholding inquest details from families and loved ones and riding roughshod over legal practices.

We also witnessed the conclusion of the inquest into the murder of ten workmen in Kingsmill in January 1976.

It was nationalist gunmen that stopped, selected and slaughtered those ten workmen outside the Co. Armagh village. It was nationalism that refused to accept responsibility for what happened nor for the  pain and suffering inflicted on the families for  past 48 years. It was nationalism that turned its back on the inquest, offering neither apology nor information.

Nationalism, Irish or British, never blames itself, never questions its actions nor reflects on its own behaviour. In the world of nationalists and nationalism someone else is always at fault, but never them.

The next time we encounter nationalism, in whatever form, it’s worth reminding ourselves that it represents a political poison that stands in the way of uniting working people.

Progressive forces must strive at every turn to combat it, and we must never give an inch in our struggle against it. We have seen time and again where nationalism’s destructive path leads.

Wringing of Hands – but still enabling Genocide

As recent days have shown, the lives of foreign aid workers are valued more than those of the 30,000 plus Palestinian people, the majority of them women and children, murdered by the Israeli  Defence Forces in the past six months.

Since the murder of the World’s Kitchen aid workers pressure has been mounting on the Biden administration with Democratic Party senators in the United States calling for a suspension of arms to Israel.

Mounting Pressure 

There are further calls for an end to Israeli airstrikes. Even a number of Tory MPs are demanding a temporary halt to the UK’s supply of war materials. Countries around the world are also adding their names to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. Public outrage against the genocide in Gaza is mounting.

Even the mainstream media is having to revise the way in which it has been reporting Israel’s actions. It may be that we are witnessing a new era in which the appalling violence and destruction being inflicted in Gaza by Israel are now simply too great to for main stream media to deflect and conceal as they have been doing in recent months.

Distractions and Cover Ups 

That does not mean that there are not places for Israel, its allies and supporters, including the mainstream media, to hide, or spaces they will create to cover up their ongoing genocide.

Already, Israel and others are attempting to shift the focus of public opinion to the opening up of aid channels, as if an increase in the trickle of food, water, medicine and supplies is an answer to the continuing air and land bombardments.

It would be naïve to think that either the Israeli government, the US administration, the UK, the EU or NATO are on the brink of halting the slaughter.

Naïve 

The revulsion and rejection of Israel’s campaign is genuine and politically held amongst many millions of people and protest groups throughout the world. It is even a genuine expression of opposition from some governments and individual politicians. However, it would be naïve to think that either the Israeli government, the US administration, the UK, the EU or NATO are on the brink of halting the slaughter.

The reality is likely to be that Israel, with the backing if its allies will simply attempt to ride out the current crisis and continue with ‘business as usual’, as soon as it thinks it can get away with it.

Despite their public statements, their concerns, their internal investigations and the pressure from genuine humanitarians, the reality is likely to be that Israel, with the backing if its allies will simply attempt to ride out the current crisis and continue with ‘business as usual’, as soon as it thinks it can get away with it. The main stream media will quickly follow suit as if nothing had happened.

International Court of Justice 

While the US, the UK, Germany and others continue to arm, supply and underwrite Israel’s assault on Gaza and the Palestinian people they continue to be enablers of genocide. In the very near future, they must be summoned to the International Court of Justice to explain their actions.

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BEHIND THE MASK: GENOCIDE AND DOUBLE STANDARDS

The public perceptions of life in Gaza and the Palestinian Territories is being shaped by television news footage of aid ships being loaded up with humanitarian supplies, reports of US engineers building emergency docking piers, dramatic aerial footage of  food, medicine and supplies being dropped by parachute from the back of US cargo planes.

The political headlines are being led by calls from the US, the UK, France and others for  an immediate ceasefire.

But, behind all the window dressing, the reality is that Palestinian people, men , women and children, continue to be murdered by the bombs, arms, ammunition and technology supplied by those very countries.

While the US projects its ‘humanitarian’ response to the genocide in Gaza, it continues to supply and resupply the Israeli war machine. Its latest contribution has been 35 F35 attack aircraft and 2,000 blockbuster bombs, all of them destined for towns, villages, schools, hospitals, clinics and refugee camps.

For the beleaguered people of Gaza this spells further death and destruction, but the BBC described this latest arms supply as ‘ a sign of a thaw in strained ties’ between the US and Israel.

The United States, the UK, France, NATO the EU and other apologists for the Israeli campaign of genocide, continue to disregard international law. They withhold funds from UNWRA which could help starving people. 

In January the United Nations International Court of Justice delivered an interim ruling in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza.The US, the UK, France and NATO are still providing financial support, political cover and armaments allowing Israel to pursue its genocidal campaign.

Legal advice to the UK Government warning it that its continued military support to Israel places it in breach of international law, remains unpublished and therefore unacted upon.

Behind the manufactured headlines and the public relations campaigns they hope will cover their tracks, the funders and suppliers of Israel’s murder machine continue their contemptuous disregard for real public opinion, for international law and for the Palestinian people.

Protesting and highlighting the ongoing genocide in Gaza is only one part of the campaign supporting the Palestinian people. As much effort needs to be applied to the disinformation, double talk and contempt for people and the humanitarian law that provides the cover for the funders and suppliers of Israel’s mass murder machine.

UN Resolution Signals Israeli Isolation

For the first time since Israel began its air and land assaults on Gaza and its people, the United Nations Security Council has passed an immediate ceasefire resolution. It also calls for the release of hostages and emphasises the need for more humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza.

The decision by the United States to abstain rather than veto the resolution marks a significant shift in its relationship with the Netanyahu government and the Israeli Defence Forces.

Protests Changing Public Opinion

The devil will, of course, be in the detail, but we should not underestimate the role of the protests and demonstrations, locally and across the globe and how they have contributed to helping to change public and international opinion and bring political pressure that only a few months ago seemed improbable.

Israel has repeatedly gotten away with flouting UN resolutions in the past. The US will not stop arming the Israeli Defence Forces and the Biden administration will not support any form of sanctions if Israel ignores the UN.

At home and abroad, we should now increase the pressure on Israel to end its campaign of genocide, highlight the early signs of Israel’s isolation on the world stage and persuade those who still remain unconvinced of the need for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid and compliance with international law.

Strule ‘Shared’ Campus a backward step

Few things could be more outrageous, damaging and at the same time indicative of the divisive state of Northern Ireland society, than the announcement that the Strule ‘Shared’ Education Campus in Omagh is to go ahead.

Hailed by all the major parties in the Assembly as “a pioneering project that will provide a state-of-the-art shared centre of learning”, it is in fact no such thing. It is just another, expensive,  con trick to sustain the illusion that children here are being educated together. They are not. ‘Shared’ is not Integrated.

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 committed to” facilitate and encourage integrated education…”  Since then, both Sinn Fein and the DUP have been instrumental in sidelining the progression of integrated education and have connived to set back the integrated education project through disingenuous schemes such as their ‘shared education’ ploy.

‘Shared’ education is not Integrated education. It was never meant to be. Instead, it is a deliberate and reprehensible dodge which confirms, consolidates  and copper-fastens divisions in our society at the expense of the integrated education of yet another generation of children.

No progress on Poverty

While attending sporting events, swapping football shirts and presenting ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden with bowls of shamrock were dominating the news headlines, a grimmer reality was, once again, passing under reported.

A new report into child poverty has found that it is directly affecting around one in five children here – something the Workers Party and this website has regularly highlighted.

Child poverty is not simply a case of lack of food and resources it also has a life-long impact on children’s development, socialisation and opportunities.

Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience health inequalities, have lower levels of educational attainment and are more likely to experience poverty as adults.

Children in deprived areas are expected to live 11 to 15 fewer years in good health than their more well-off peers, and children receiving free school meals are twice as likely to leave school with no GCSEs.

Eight years ago, the Assembly adopted a Child Poverty Strategy but the Northern Ireland Audit office has found  “a lack of significant progress on the main child poverty  indicators”.

Tackling child poverty must be made a pressing political priority to alleviate the suffering, deprivation and stolen opportunities.

Only a class-based socialist society can deliver for working class people. As we engage in the immediate and necessary battles, we must always remain focussed on that objective .

Hunting with dogs: cruel, barbaric and unnecessary

Northern Ireland  remains the only part of the UK where hunting animals with dogs is permitted.

Three years ago, a bill to ban the practice was debated in the Assembly but was defeated when Sinn Fein and the DUP both voted against it.

Now the  League Against Cruel Sports and the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA) have launched a petition on hunting animals for sport to be made illegal.

Recent opinion polling shows that around 80% of those questioned were in favour of such a ban.

Hunting and killing wild animals with dogs is barbaric. It is cruel and unnecessary for the animals as well as for the dogs that are forced to kill them.

You can sign the petition by following the link below:

https://takeaction.league.org.uk/page/144213/petition/1

We Deserve and Demand Immediate Answers

Workers Party President, Cllr Ted Tynan, has demanded immediate clarification from the Irish Government on the work being undertaken by Collins Aerospace (Cork). The company is a subsidiary of the American based Collins Aerospace which is a supplier of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and sophisticated arms systems to warring countries, including Israel.

“At a time when the state of Israel is engaged in a genocidal war against the Palestinian people, and in the face of the Irish government’s duplicity on the issue of peace in the Middle East, I have written to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, the Industrial Development Agency and to the  Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment”, Councillor Tynan said.

“I am seeking immediate clarification on the involvement of Collins Aerospace (Cork), and any other companies based here, in the design, manufacture and export of military equipment including dual-use technology and, in particular, highly sophisticated military guidance systems.

“The arms industry is a dangerous and deadly business that fuels conflict, repression and war and sustains regimes which abuse human rights, all in pursuit of profit. This vile industry does this with the full support of governments,” Cllr Tynan said.

 “Ireland has a tradition of military neutrality which is being increasingly undermined by successive governments and the EU in an attempt to draw this country into the deadly embrace of NATO and its war machine. The people of this country deserve and demand immediate answers,” he concluded.

Protestors Turn their Backs on Sinn Fein

Protestors turn their backs on Sinn Fein speaker

On Saturday, Sinn Fein had the audacity to appear on a platform at the US Consulate in Belfast in a rally called to oppose the  Israeli genocide and against the decision by Sinn Fein and others to meeting “Genocide Joe Biden”. 

Sinn Fein was asked to boycott the Patrick’s Day event at the White House to send a message to the Biden administration which continues to facilitate Israel’s war crimes through military, financial and political support. They callously ignored the calls.

They could scarcely have been surprised at the reaction of campaigners present who booed the Sinn Fein speaker and turned their backs on her to demonstrate their disgust.

The tone deaf, duplicitous and sycophantic leadership of Sinn Fein were given a demonstration of people’s anger and disgust. Sinn Fein owes its real allegiance to US imperialism in its quest for a capitalist Ireland.

The Workers Party has repeatedly called for:

• an immediate and permanent ceasefire,
• the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassadors from the UK and Ireland,
• the withdrawal of the US and UK military presence in the area,
• an end to financial and military support for the Israeli state,
• the withdrawal of sanctions,
• an emergency programme of humanitarian aid, and
• the ending of the criminal siege against Gaza.

We stand with Palestine and its people.

No Matter What They Say….

No matter what they say, or what you hear…very soon we are going to be charged for our public services.

That’s going to include water charges, reduced welfare benefits, an end to over 60’s travel passes, paying to see your GP, paying for your prescription charges, paying to have your bins emptied and cuts to services.

That may only be the tip off the iceberg. As the screw is turned on publicly funded services, then the arts, libraries, museums, leisure centres and parks all become potential targets for the withdrawal of funding or the introduction of charges.

The Assembly is finally up and running again. Despite what they say, and despite what they promise, they will bring in charges for many of our basic services.

Once again it will be working people and their families that will bear the brunt.

The money exists to fund and develop our public services . It can be made available. But the Tory government is  furthering its privatisation agenda and the run down of the public sector while advancing the interests of big businesses at our expense.

The Executive parties have been happy to lay the blame exclusively at Westminster’s door step, yet have taken no steps themselves to ensure the provision of public services.

Maintaining ‘peace’ walls across Northern Ireland costs £1.5 billion every year.

Segregated education costs us over £220 million annually. Relocating that money to address immediate social need would do for a start.

The way we are currently funded is no longer fit for purpose. It needs to be transformed and take account of people’s real needs.

We must stand up to cuts and charges on services and the Workers Party will be doing just that.

Only a class-based socialist economy can deliver for working class people. As we engage in the necessary battles, we must always remain focussed on that objective .

Immediate public ownership of Lough Neagh

As the toxic blue-green algae that poisoned Lough Neagh last summer is set to return again this year, the only secure future for the Lough  is to take it into public ownership immediately.

The largest body of fresh water on these islands is dying in plain sight through a combination of private ownership, commercial interest and an uncoordinated approach by government departments.

While Lough Neagh’s water is publicly owned, the lough bed and its banks are owned by Nicholas Ashley-Cooper, 12th Earl of Shaftesbury who lives on his 5,500-acre family estate in Dorset.

The emergence of the poisonous blue-green algae is due to a number of environmental factors, all of which would be better managed and addressed under full public ownership.

Major Problem

Slurry as well as  other nitrogen, and phosphate-rich fertilisers, are being used on fields that carry rainwater to waterways and then into the Lough. As a result of this, slurry and other run-off from farmland, along with sewage discharges, nutrient pollution becomes a major problem.

Unseasonal weather due to climate change, has exacerbated the problem. As a result of this nutrient overload, Lough Neagh has become an ecological disaster.

In recent interviews Ashley-Cooper has restated that while he was open to selling Lough Neagh to the Northern Ireland Assembly, he would not give it away for free. Why would he? He earns a fortune from it.

In addition to the hunting and shooting ‘rights’ he claims for the Lough’s banks and surrounding areas, the 12^th Earl of Shaftsbury receives a royalty payment from the extraction of sand from the Lough.

Money Spinning Sand Removal

Up to 1.5 million tonnes of sand  was excavated  from  Lough Neagh in 2021 by a number of companies operating under licence. Prior to that, unauthorised and unregulated industrial-scale extraction was taking place.

Industry figures, estimate that around 30 million tonnes of sand has been extracted from the lough bed since the 2000s  Although the 12^th Earl of Shaftsbury receives payment for every tonne of sand that is dredged out of Lough Neagh, the level of those royalties has not been made public in recent years.

Nicholas Ashley-Cooper recently told the BBC, ‘I always get blamed for things that are completely outside of my control’ but he is very much in control of the sand extraction that encroaches on nursery areas for spawning fish, creating what local fishermen claim are “dead zones”.

Effects on Wildlife

The knock-on effects for the Lough’s other wildlife are equally serious. The Lough’s birds and other wildlife populations have been in sharp decline over recent decades.

The number of winter migrating birds – including diving duck species goldeneye, tufted duck, pochard and scaup – have dropped by nearly 80% in recent years

The numbers of insect and snail species living at the bottom of the lake have also declined by around two thirds during the same period.

Sinn Fein ‘ balancing act’

Despite the obvious and documented problems caused by commercial sand dredging, several Mid Ulster Sinn Fein councillors recently cautioned that they had ‘an obligation to consider the balance between commercial and environmental needs when dealing with mineral extraction on the Lough bed, which is currently permitted to continue until 2032’.

It is precisely this ‘pragmatic’, business-friendly approach that has led to the problems that we see in Lough Neagh, and in the wider world. Seeking this mythical ‘balance’ between the natural environment and the requirements of capitalists has led us to the mess we’re in.

The fact that no single government department has the decision making responsibility for the management of the Lough and its resources further compounds the problem.

Attempts were made in the early 1970s, and again in 2012, to bring the Lough into government control. However, a 2014 report produced by senior civil servants advised against buying the Lough.

The damage done so far will take years to reverse and repair. Only a comprehensive, legislative and community sensitive strategic approach can secure Lough Neagh’s future.

That can only be achieved by taking the largest fresh water lough in these islands into public control supported by  a single executive authority working to a socialist environmental agenda.