Around 1,000 people took part in the Enough Campaign‘s protest against EU/IMF austerity programme.

The Campaign is supported by People Before Profit Alliance TD’s Richard Boyd Barrett and Joan Collins, Unite Trade Union, Waterford Trades Council, Spectacle of Defiance, Socialist Workers Party, People’s Movement, Afri and a number of Independent TDs. Speakers on the day included Special Needs parents, bus cuts campaigners, trade unionists, community activists, representative of Rachel Peavoy Campaign and more.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett, an organiser of the march, said the campaign was about mobilising mass opposition to the austerity programme and bringing the spirit of Greek, Spanish and Egyptian-style resistance to Ireland. “This day, it’s not just going to be about speeches – we have had too much of that stuff where it is a few speeches and everybody goes home and that’s the end of it,” he told protesters. “This has to be the beginning of building a movement.” Richard Boyd Barrett encouraged those in attendance to rally support for what he hope will be a much larger demonstration on September 14th, when the Dáil resumes after summer recess.

ABOUT 30 people staged a protest outside a house for sale in Drimnagh in Dublin last night, covering the “For Sale” sign with another reading “Repossessed house – Buyer Beware – No Evictions”.

Author: Michael Burke

Posted On: http://socialisteconomicbulletin.blogspot.com/2011/06/public-versus-private-ownership.html

The views expressed in this article are not necessarily the views of People Before Profit.

Recent political and corporate events have thrown the relative merits of the public and private sectors into sharp relief.

The NHS is the most popular institution in Britain. According to recent research (p.386) by Lord Ashcroft for the Tories the NHS has a 79.8% approval rating – ahead of the BBC’s 66% and 61.8% for the Royal Family (and 43.1% for the Daily Mail, the lowest rating of all). Full details of the poll and voluminous and valuable additional information can be found here

This fact, and the recent mobilisations by the TUC, provides a difficult environment for the Tory-led government’s attempts to significantly reduce real health spending while qualitatively increasing the role of the private sector.

It is further complicated by the financial distress and possible collapse of Southern Cross Britain’s biggest care home provider. Southern Cross has nearly 31,000 residents in its care homes, mostly elderly patients. It is widely described as having reached a financial crisis because it sold its care home properties and leased them back prior to its flotation on the stock market.