Free the bin tax two

TWO SOCIALIST Party members in Dublin - Joe Higgins TD (MP) and Dublin North Socialist Party councillor Clare Daly - are currently serving one-month prison sentences in Mountjoy prison, Dublin.

Joe and Clare were sent down after playing a vital role in the campaign against a 'bin tax' which hits hard at ordinary working-class people (see pages 6+7 for more details).

The Anti-Bin Tax campaign in Fingal, an area covering much of Dublin, has called another mass protest on 30 September demanding Clare and Joe's release and the ending of non-collection and the scrapping of the bin tax.

The state is trying to break the campaign against the bin tax not only through threatening jailings but through heavy fines and legal costs, totalling tens of thousands of euros.

The Free Clare and Joe Campaign has been set up to appeal to all trade union branches and community organisations to fight the bin tax and give generously to this appeal.

A TGWU branch in London has sent a message of protest to the Irish authorities supporting the protests against the bin charges and the jailing of those who campaign against it and urging the immediate release of Clare and Joe.

The letter also says: "You might find it worthwhile to study the fate of Margaret Thatcher after she introduced the poll tax in Britain!"

The TGWU branch also sent money to the campaign while London region UNISON has agreed to donate £500.

Send donations to Free Clare and Joe Campaign, Allied Irish Bank, Dame Street, Dublin 2. Sort Code 93-12-09; account number 00208087: Swift code AIB KIE2D.

Worldwide protests

Letters deploring the jailing of Joe and Clare and demanding the Irish government release them immediately have been sent from around the world. The Committee for a Workers' International (the socialist international organisation which the Socialist Party is affiliated to) have organised protests outside Irish embassies from Australia to Africa, in the US and Brazil, in India and throughout Europe.

These will continue until their release.

Send letters of protest to: An Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Mr Bertie Ahern TD, Department of the Taoiseach, Government Buildings, Upper Merrion Street, Dublin 2.

Tel: + 1 619 4020. Fax: + 1 676 4048.

email:taoiseach@taoiseach.ie

Ireland: 31 May referendum

Them & Us

Turning anger into action

There is an alternative - socialism!

The revolting philanthropy of the filthy rich

Working Tax Credit cut

Socialist:

Bristol Central Socialist Party: Art and Politics

Bristol Central Socialist Party: The role of the monarchy in capitalist society

Southampton Socialist Party: Greece - how would a workers' government stabilise the economy?

More attacks on right to campaign

Socialist Party:

Liverpool Socialist Party: Marxist Economics

Liverpool Socialist Party: A Marxist view of history

Bristol East Socialist Party: No Pasaran! Fighting the far right

Protest:

A short walk down Whitehall...

Brighton: Mass protest counters racist EDL

US embassy protest remembers Trayvon Martin

Joe Higgins:

Jobs massacre at La Senza

Irish government collapses: United Left Alliance offers real alternative

Internationalism against austerity: 100,000 demonstrate in Belgium

Clare Daly:

Aer Lingus threatens to axe 1,500 posts