Ridiculously, they attempted to justify the bombing by claiming it was an attack on the banks which were responsible for the economic crisis. However, it has been suggested that the real target was the Strand Road police station, but the device had to be abandoned due to a heavy security presence. In August, dissidents hijacked a taxi at gunpoint in the Bogside and forced the driver to take a 200lb bomb to the police station. This is yet another example of the absolute disregard dissident republican paramilitary groups have for the lives and interests of working class people.
Dissident republicans have nothing to offer working class people. They are determined to drag the North back into open sectarian conflict, and are preying upon young people in the most disadvantaged and marginalised communities. Their actions have the potential to divide workers and weaken the fight-back against the cuts.
Derry Trades Council’s decision to call the protest against the bombings was commendable. They have pledged to respond to any further attacks in the city in the same manner. Protests of this character have the potential to isolate the tiny minority involved in paramilitary activity by mobilising and uniting the community in opposition. The Socialist Party intervened in the protest to argue that a new party of the working class must urgently be built to cut across the growth of dissident groups and give young people an alternative to the blind alley of paramilitarism.
Thousands of workers took to the streets of Belfast on 23 October in probably the largest non-sectarian demonstration in Northern Ireland since the anti-war movement. They marched in opposition to the £4 billion cuts to public spending in Northern Ireland which were contained in the comprehensive spending review.
The Socialist Party demands that the Assembly Executive takes action to save jobs at Tyrone Crystal by taking the workplace into public ownership.
Like most other Governmental bodies, the WELB have placed a moratorium on the recruitment of staff as a means to met the stringent efficiency gains agreed by the Stormont parties in their three-year Comprehensive Spending Review (May 2008- April 2011). The impact of this has been to place an ever greater burden on those staff remaining on to provide front-line services.
Who do you think was the biggest loss making financial institution in the world last year? Lehman Brothers? AIG? Citibank? No, it was not a major bank in a major world economy - it was a relatively small developers' bank in Ireland - Anglo Irish Bank. What's more, Anglo Irish Bank is likely to be the biggest loss maker again this year!