Organise! -Working Class Resistance

national | anti-capitalism | news report Saturday December 06, 2003 11:57 by Al S - Organise! organiseireland at yahoo dot ie PO BOX 505, Belfast, BT12 6BQ

Smash the Water Tax!

Please find below, the first article from Working Class Resistance -a new anarchist publication from Organise! -a new anarchist organisation ( a merger of Anarchist Federation Ireland, Anarcho-Syndicalist Federation and Anarchist Prisoner Support)

THE VOTE CHANGES NOTHING - THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES - SMASH THE WATER TAX

We go to print with one of the greatest political non-events taking place across the north - the Stormont Assembly elections. For the past number of weeks we’ve been treated to all the hype and self importance you’d expect from those looking to secure a ‘basic wage’ of £41,321 plus around £50,000 on top of that again in expenses. The Chairs and Deputy Chairs of Assembly committees can treat themselves to an additional £10,290.

Whether the candidate is Unionist or Nationalist, Pro-Agreement or Anti-agreement, Women's Coalition or Alliance, even if they claim to be Socialist, the same attacks will be carried out on our standard of living. Low pay, poverty, increased job insecurity, lack of decent housing, privatisation, profiteering in the NHS and our schools (where PFI’s and PPP’s are introduced and implemented with impunity), cut backs, redundancies, the massive growth in ‘flexible’ working practises (we’re expected to bend over backwards for the boss) and the introduction of water charges.

None of the parties are willing or able to present any economic alternatives to the globally inspired and directed attack on working people. This attack has gone under many names; Thatcherism, Reganism, Neo-liberalism, Globalisation, it is simply aggressive capitalism engaged in the stripping back of the gains working class people have made over the past decades in order to feed market greed.

The peace dividend has been an illusion for the majority in Northern Ireland, over the last 15 years the rich have got richer and the poor poorer. Poverty is consistently higher than in the Republic of Ireland and Britain with over 1/2 million living in poverty including over a 1/3 of our children. 64% of the population have an income below the national average while those in the top four income groups, a tiny percentage of the population, possess 67% of the total household income! Not only do we face greater poverty but the cost of living is higher while wages are 22% lower.

Remember, no matter who you vote for, Government wins. Only by organising, fighting back and practising solidarity where we live and work can we really change things. Despite the opposition to water charges claimed in the run up to the election all the main parties had agreed to water charges prior to the suspension of the Assembly. There can be no doubt that after the election ‘economic reality’ will see them implement the charges no matter their election promises.

Only direct action will defeat the water tax. A campaign based on non-payment of charges must be built in order to smash this charge on a fundamental human right. Let's show the politicians where the real power lies.

Jason Brannigan
Organise!