For a decade, Ireland was heralded by the most ardent partisans of neoliberal capitalism as a model to be imitated. The 鈥淐eltic Tiger鈥 had a higher growth rate than the European average.
Tax rates on companies had been reduced to 12.5% and the rate actually paid by the transnational corporations that had set up business there was between 3 and 4% 鈥 a CEO鈥檚 dream! By comparison, the company tax rate is 39.5% in Japan, 39.2% in Britain, 34.4% in France and 28% in the US.
Ireland鈥檚 budget deficit was nil in 2007. In this earthly paradise, everybody seemed to benefit.
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The Edmund Rice Centre released the public statement below on January 26.
We, Australian organisations and individuals, unite to offer this statement to our nation.
A 鈥淢emorandum of Understanding鈥 (MOU) was recently signed between the Australian government, the government of Afghanistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, permitting the involuntary repatriation from Australia of unsuccessful Afghan asylum seekers back to Afghanistan.
In her January 26 speech to commemorate Australia Day, Prime Minister Julia Gillard took the opportunity to celebrate what she called the 鈥渂onds of mateship鈥, which had been 鈥渙n such strong display鈥 in the aftermath of the recent devastating floods.
However, this year鈥檚 Australia Day celebrations were also marred by violence. This is not unusual.
Police made 180 Australia Day-related arrests throughout New South Wales on January 26.
Venezuela鈥檚 petroleum corporation in the US, Citgo, announced on January 27 the start of its sixth year providing subsidised heating oil to low-income people in the US.
An estimated 132,000 households across the US will benefit from the program this year, amounting to US$60 million of savings.
The program is carried out with US non-profit group Citizens Energy Corporation. Joseph P. Kennedy II said: 鈥淓very year, we hear from families who struggle each and every day to put food on the table and heat their homes.
Wharfies employed by stevedoring company Patrick at four different ports across Australia took strike action in the last week of January in pursuit of a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
It was the most significant industrial action on the wharves since the 1998 Patrick lockout.
In recent ballots organised by Fairwork Australia, workers at the strike-affected ports voted (by margins of 94% to 100%) to take a range of different forms of industrial action to press their claim.
As category five tropical cyclone Yasi approached the north Queensland coast on February 3, a political cyclone was already sweeping Egypt. For days, Australian TV news was dominated by these two stories.
Incredibly, in Egypt the main government TV station news failed to report the fact that millions of Egyptians had taken to the streets in a huge February 1 protest against the Hosni Mubarak dictatorship.
Hiding the truth is what you鈥檇 expect from an iron-fisted dictatorship that has long sub-contracted its services to the CIA to torture victims of the 鈥渨ar on terror鈥.
The statement below was released by the Socialist Alliance on January 29.
The Socialist Alliance applauds the courage and tenacity of the Tunisian people, whose protests for democracy and economic and social justice have ended the 23-year rule of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The Tunisian revolution has inspired ordinary people across the Arab world. Protests have broken out in Algeria, Jordan, Yemen and 鈥 most dramatically 鈥 against the United States-backed dictatorship in Egypt.
Community group Save The Old Kings School (STOKS) held a protest in Parramatta in Sydney鈥檚 west on February 2 to demand the historic old Kings School site stay in public hands.
Local residents, STOKS activists and members of the Greens and Socialist Alliance attended the action.
The school site dates back to the early days of the colony. When the school relocated to North Parramatta in 1968, the site was sold to the NSW government. It has been unused for many years.
David Kato Kisule, described by The New York Times on January 28 as the father of Uganda鈥檚 lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender rights movement, was murdered in his home on January 26.
Kato was advocacy officer for Sexual Minorities Uganda. The killing came as increasingly violent homophobic tensions continued to escalate in the east African nation.
Kato, aged 46, was bludgeoned to death with two blows to the head from a hammer in his Kampala home. The attack was carried out by one or more male attackers.
The Sydney Stop the War Coalition welcomes and supports the protests for democracy and freedom in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere across the Middle East.
We stand in solidarity with the Egyptian masses that are struggling for their basic rights against a dictatorship that has been supported for decades by the West.
We support the people's right to assemble and their freedom of speech without the threat of repression.
The Sydney Peace Foundation awarded its 鈥済old medal for peace with justice鈥 to WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange on February 2 in recognition of his 鈥渆xceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights鈥.
This award is different from the foundation鈥檚 annual Sydney Peace Prize. The foundation has awarded the gold medal on only three previous occasions: the Dalai Lama in 1998; Nelson Mandela in 2000 and Japanese lay Buddhist leader Daisaku Ikeda in 2009.
Seventy-three people who took part in a non-violent direct action protest during December鈥檚 Climate Camp appeared in Muswellbrook local court on January 31 to answer to charges under the Rail Safety Offences Act.
Hundreds of climate protesters gathered at Climate Camp for five days of talks, debates and discussions on the best ways for the community to stop the proposed expansion of Bayswater coal-fired power station. The station is already one of Australia鈥檚 largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
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