Launch of Cork Says Enough - Richard Boyd Barrett to speak in Cork (Please Forward)

[CorkSaysEnough .]

Public Meeting:

Launch of Cork Says Enough!

Speakers: Richard Boyd Barrett (People before Profit and U.L.A TD )

                 Dave Higgins (Cork Social Welfare Defenders)

Plus Panel of Cork Speakers

Thursday Oct 27th 8pm

Metropole Hotel, Macurtain Street

Richard Boyd Barrett TD of the People Before Profit Alliance and the U.L.A is to speak at a Public Meeting in the Metropole Hotel Cork on Thursday October 27th at 8pm for the launch of the Cork Says Enough campaign. He will be joined by Dave Higgins from the Cork Social Welfare Defenders and a panel of Cork campaigning activists.

Cork Says Enough is affiliated to the National Enough Campaign, which is campaigning for a referendum to the Eu/IMF bailout deal. The Enough campaign has organised national demonstrations to concide with the visit of the EU/IMF/ECB troika to Ireland, including the October 15th demonstrations.

Cork Says Enough is a campaigning group which is resisting the cutbacks being imposed to pay for the bailouts of the Banks, and also against the sell-off State Assets to fund the bailout.

The crisis in the Euro goes from bad to worse. Moodys recently downgraded Italy's credit rating, warning that an uncertain market environment and risk of further deterioration in investor sentiment could constrain the country’s access to public debt markets.

Italy has an enormous debt of over €1.9 trillion, which comes to around 120% of the country’s output. Most commentators agree Italy is too big to save and an Italian debt default would mean the end of the eurozone.

The European Central Bank is expectedto make emergency credit available to banks – the last time the ECB made such a move was in 2008 in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Banks have become reluctant to lend to one another due to exposure to Greek debt. Should Greece become insolvent, banks fear they would never be repaid for loans to other banks.

One of the solutions being proposed by the EU is to leverage the European Financial Stability Facility of €440 Bn using the same schemes that led to the US sub-prime mortgage disaster 

EU leaders are using scare tactics to prepare the ground for a further transfer of wealth from workers and taxpayers to big banks claiming that we need to recapitalise the banks to the tune of hundreds of billions of euro.

It seems there is endless money available for bankers but only cutbacks and austerity for workers.

Meanwhile Greece is moving closer to default. The crisis in Greece is proof that the EU-IMF austerity program is not working - in fact its making things worse. The EU-IMF-ECB 'troika' are using the crisis to demand more sacrifices from workers and a massive programme of sell-offs of state assets in Greece and Ireland. This would see the biggest transfer of wealth from public to private in over 100 years.

We need to stop this economic madness. Further bank bailouts are not the answer. We cannot let the hooligans who run the banks continue to wield such power. The bank assets are the collective resources of society, they should be under democratic control. We are witnessing what a disaster it is to leave the investment of those resources to the market.

On Saturday October 15th over one million people in 950 cities across 82 countries joined together with the Occupy Wall Street movement.

In Ireland, about 1,500 people participated in a demonstration in support of Occupy Dame Street and in a march to the Merrion hotel where the Troika were staying.

Only mass protest by ordinary people can stop this madness.

The public meeting is open to all.