Europe - Socialist Action

Greek workers struggle wins first partial victory for themselves, Ireland and Portugal

25th July 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Brian Jones

The working class of Greece obviously still faces a huge uphill fight against the savage austerity measures being imposed on them to pay for the crisis created by the Greek capitalist class. The new ‘bailout’ package for Greece agreed by the Eurozone countries only represents the mildest of ameliorations of the terms of the previous such package – 21 per cent effective reduction in the size of debt on Greece’s bonds, reduction of interest rate for bailout funds from 5.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, and extension of the period of repayment. But nevertheless it contains a crucial lesson – struggle pays.

Greek crisis deepens as banks get another bailout

5th July 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Nicky Dempsey

European Finance Ministers have just agreed to release their share of the latest bail-out funds of Greece’s creditors. This amounts to €8.7bn of a total emergency disbursement of €12bn, part of the overall €110bn agreed last year.

Greece: bail out the economy not the banks

23rd June 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Andrew Williams

A wave of industrial action and street protests has spread across Greece over the last month as opposition mounts to the government’s proposed next round of cuts and attacks on living standards.

Mass Mobilisations In Spain Block Major Advance by the Right

23rd May 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Tom O’Donnell

The results of the Spanish municipal, local and regional elections on May 22nd were a defeat for the ruling socialist government of the PSOE (Party of the Spanish Socialist Workers) – but they were not a major victory for the Right, led by the Partido Popular (PP). PSOE received just 27.8% of the vote, down from 35.3% in the same elections held in 2007.

Elections mark further steady rise of Sinn Féin

18th May 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Frances Davis

This week, as Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams’ announced the party’s new Ministerial Assembly team, the party emerged from the fourth consecutive election this year which has seen Sinn Féin’s vote steadily rise – north and south of the border. The 5 May Assembly and council elections in the six counties saw a continuation of a trend in the north – that of an increase in support for Sinn Féin, and of endorsement for the Good Friday Agreement.

The 1981 Irish Hunger Strike – ‘ one of the most heroic chapters in human history ’

26th April 2011 Socialist Action 0

By Frances Davis

This year will mark the 30th Anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike, in which Bobby Sands and nine other republican prisoners died in a struggle for political status against the Thatcher government’s brutal policy of ‘criminalisation’. The hunger strike was a critical turning point in the most prolonged struggle against colonialism anywhere in history – the more than 800-year-long struggle against British rule in Ireland. This historic moment in Irish history, which ultimately saw the victory of the hunger strikers’ demands, was indeed, as Fidel Castro described that year, ‘one of the most heroic chapters in human history’.