Dear All,
The Socialist Party and Anti-Austerity Alliance’s Members of Parliament in the South send our solidarity to public sector workers in Northern Ireland taking strike action on Friday 13th March and all those who
stand with them in protest against Stormont’s vicious cuts agenda, which threatens to destroy 20,000 jobs and slash public services.
We reject the excuses of the DUP and Sinn Fein, who claim they have no choice but to implement brutal austerity. This is the same Pontius Pilate approach used by government politicians in the South to justify attacks which have devastated working class communities. Let us remember, it was the five Assembly Executive parties – not the Tories – who pushed for a cut in corporation tax, which will see at least an extra £300 million transferred from public services to fat cats’ profit margins!
For a long time, we were told that workers in the South wouldn’t fight back. Now, we are witnessing a revolt against water charges and the wider austerity agenda. In this struggle, people know that one day of protest is not enough – we need to build a mass movement. Friday 13th March should be the first date in serious campaign of sustained, co-ordinated and escalating action.
In the South, in Britain and across Europe, people are fed up with austerity. This powerful strike action demonstrates the people in the North have had enough too. We need to build new mass parties that can represent working class people, to fight to make the super-rich elite pay for their crisis. Such a force in Northern Ireland could unite working class people around their common interests, against austerity and sectarian division.
Your Sincerely,
Paul Murphy TD
Ruth Coppinger TD
Joe Higgins TD
