Nice treaty: Not on my life!

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday September 27, 2002 12:50 by Ruairi - Canadian No to Nice Campaign

I said it once and I'll say it again: 'NO TO NICE'

I'm out of the country and can't ram by no vote down their corrupt throats, so here's my rant instead....

THE NICE TREATY =
EU ARMY & ASSISTING UNJUST WARS, PRIVITISATION, CORPORATE CORRUPTION, LOSS OF SOVEREIGNTY,
- A SPIT IN THE FACE BY HAVING TO VOTE AGAIN,

Firstly, why do we have to vote again? Does no not mean no? Would they have a revote if we voted yes last time? What is democracy supposed to be about - voting until you get the right answer? What a heap of shit! I voted no like many others because I read the treaty document, understood it, and knew why. I was not confused or uneducated like Bertie said when apologising for our shameful behaviour to his corrupt bosses in Brussels and big business. Being made vote again is an insult and a spit in the face. It reminds me of a graffiti slogan I saw in Toronto that said 'if voting really changed anything, they'd make it illegal'.

This is the biggest political election or referendum since 1918, when the Irish people voted by over 80% in favour of 32 County independence. The British response was gunboats in the Liffy and eventual partition of our island. This Treaty, like the one Collins signed, is a messy, dirty document which has very serious stipulations. Ignore if at your peril!!!!

The treaty was negotiated as 100,000 protesters were beaten and battered as they tried to have their voices heard in Nice, France.

The Republic of Ireland, with a constitution somewhat designed by rebels, allows us to vote in matters such as Nice. DeValera, despite his faults, knew what big powers can get up to and foresaw the likes of Nice happening. Ireland is the
only country in the EU with a choice to vote.

There WILL BE AN ARMY that includes non-EU member (And killer of 30,000 kurds) Turkey. The EU commission president Romano Prodi said 'if you don't want to call it an army, don't call it an army. Call it Mary Ann. You can call it whatever you want'. This violates our constitution and rights to have a say for peace. Bertie say's it's simply an army for peace, a rapid reaction force. Rapid reaction FARCE is more like it. I never heard of an army that creates peace. International law, the UN, mediation, sanctions maybe, but certainly not armies. Bertie and Charlie already started buying new 'peace' weapons, guns and tanks with YOUR MONEY before we even voted last time, an example of the arrogance and cockiness of our current corrupt establishment.

Prodi also said that ratification of Nice is NOT NECESSARY FOR ENLARGEMENT. Enlargement can go ahead without Nice. I don't know anyone opposed to enlargement or 'sharing the wealth' except for the workers of the multinational companies who are sure to flee towards the cheap workforces of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

There is a very UNFAIR DEBATE and UNPROPORTIONAL FUNDING towards the issues, and a lot of name calling and scaremongering. The Greens, Sinn Fein and others opposed to the Treaty are not getting the time to debate it in the Dail or fair access to our media, including the publicly funded RTE. It is certain that the entire establishment (unions, politicians, press, lobby groups) are pro Nice and they are squashing debate. Some initial studies show the Irish Times giving about 66% of coverage to the Yes vote and the notoriously pro-business Independent giving about 87%.

Why are they pro Nice? Because they know there is way more to this than they let on. I suppose it's no surprise that the pro business Irish Independent, cash strapped RTE and the UK dominated tabloid market are all blasting out how Ireland must say yes. What a joke... It is not true that we 'must' do anything. We 'must' look into this a little bit deeper.

Perhaps a look at Article 133 can explain why they love it so much!
Article 133 of the treaty is about GATS which stands for the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. This is an agreement set up by the pro U.S. World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO is responsible for many of the unfair laws against workers and the environment around the world. It is an unelected embryonic world government that constantly rules against people and in favour of large companies meaning poverty, pollution and corruption. If GATS goes through IT WILL SPELL THE END OF DEMOCRACY as we know it. Large companies will get direct access and control of our roads, health care, education, welfare services, water, waste mgt., airports and laws. And what's so bad about that? NOBOBY VOTED THEM! They are after profit and control and once in charge, cannot be stopped. For example the large U.S water company Bechtel took control of Boliva's water system, upped prices 400% and caused poverty,deaths and riots. GATS = PRIVITISATION = CORPORATE POWER = END OF DEMOCRACY = NEO FASCISM

The EU is without a doubt seeking to CREATE A SUPERSTATE to rival the USA. Whilst something needs to be done about this rogue state, trying to equal or better it is not the way to go. Ireland has had enough of empires and their brutal lies and destruction. Why would be want to join another one?

The EU seeks a COMMON FOREIGN POLICY. Ireland didn't join a superstate. We joined an ECONOMIC union in 1973. We were never asked about joining any other type of Union. This foreign policy will be controlled by Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain - all of which are huge weapons suppliers, feeding the worlds wars, and all of which have sickening colonial histories. Recently the EU gave $200million to the Colombian government to help 'fight terrorism'. Human Rights Watch estimates that the government is, in some way, behind about 90% of terrorism there!! DO YOU SUPPORT THIS?

The Nice Treaty is about creating a 2 TIER Europe where Ireland loses its voice in 30 key policy areas. This spells control for the big boys and the suppression of small voices. ie. a further erosion of democracy - the taking of power from the individual and the community and the national government and selling it right off to the unaccountable bureaucrats of Brussels and big business.

The EU and European Commission is notoriously corrupt. They recently sacked their chief accountant for comparing the EC accounting practices to the world's biggest corporate fraudster, Enron. Wasn't it only a few years ago that the entire commission had to bow out from a fraud scandal? Amazing how the papers and public forget!!!

THIS IS A LAST CHANCE FOR IRELAND TO BE IRELAND. There has been a centuries old fight for us to create a different kind of country, not just one free of the Brits. We were fighting for equality and justice for all people not a select and rotten state that Haughey, Lawlor, Dunne, Burke and Bertie have created.

We now live in one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Bertie hired 18,000 extra public servants to help him win the election. He promised increased aid to Africa, better health and education and a new country. What a JOKE!!! No sooner are they in power than they admit they have no money for are wrecked health and education systems, they slash aid to Africa by 30 million Euros and continue the fraud in the Cayman Islands. This shower of Ansbacher buckos are the same crowd that are breaking the law by illegally allowing USA bomber jets to refuel and train around Shannon and the same boys who have signed us up to American-UK controlled NATO's PARTNERSHUP FOR PEACE. For peace, read WAR!!! They promised us a referendum but I don't remember having one.

Neither do I recall having a say on planting genetically modified crops in Carlow that pollute our farms and food sources, or the huge price hikes that came with the Euro. I never got a say on the world's largest floating fishing factory that is now raping the much needed fish stocks of impoverished Mauritania. As their kids die, we are stealing their sources and future. We're no better than any other colonial power. The abused becomes the abuser they say.

What about the global spying network (which watches over your phonecalls and emails) called Echelon? Did you know we were signed up to that last year as well? And electronic voting, a great idea? Not so! At this very moment there is a huge scandal (although not covered in the news) in Florida over the reliability of electronic voting. There are no records kept and it is wide open to tapping and fraud. No wonder that George Bush mysteriously 'won' the election in Florida, where electronic voting rules and so does his brother, fellow oil baron Governor Jeb Bush.
Ireland is going down the drain and we're voting for the crooks that are making it so. We now have the 2nd highest level of urban poverty in the 'developed world' after the USA with crime levels to match, and the 2nd highest illiteracy rate, again second only to global bully boy, the USA. I've been to the USA, a country built on slavery and bloodshed, and it is NO MODEL TO FOLLOW.

It is a country that thrives of keeping its people ignorant through crappy TV and 'modern' education. Whilst there have been great booms and riches for a few, most live in a constant struggle for housing, healthcare, holidays, decent working hours and social services. While American workers work harder with more stress than any country on earth, their economy is kept ticking over by the huge debt interest repayments from Africa and South America and the profits from the oil and gas reserves they bully there way towards accessing in Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Afghanistan. Did you know the newly 'selected' (not elected) Afghan prime Minster Hamid Kazai's last job was working for American oil company Unocal? The same company that is now hard at work tapping the region's rich resources. And you taught the war was about September 11?

Of course the EU has brought benefits. It is way more socially orientated that the USA and conservative Ireland. Nobody is denying this. This is not about leaving the EU, this is about a NEW, DIFFERENT EU, an EU more like the USA, where big business rules at the expense of you and me. Believe me, it will bring much more sickness than it has cured. It is absolute crap that we cannot stand up for ourselves and survive as a small nation. Whilst we have received about $20 billion in aid from the EU, we have given away many more billions by allowing Spanish and Portuguese trawlers to take our vast fishing stocks over the years.
A great bargain for the EU!

American companies come and go, depending on the grants offered to them, and take their profits with them, leaving behind ecological destruction and mass unemployment. Just like Fruit of the Loom did in Buncrana. Iceland, Denmark and other small countries know how to believe in themselves and stand up without begging. They can do so with confidence and their economies prosper! In fact, Denmark's currency strengthened when it refused to join the Euro.

Did you know that one of the world's largest gas reserves was discovered off Mayo? We're gonna be rich! NOT SO!!! Because they bloody sold the rights off to Statoil and other oil giants. The biggest crooks are sitting in suits in Leinster house and their nice offices in Donegal and beyond. Go ask them what they're doing when they're not dining it up (with your money) with Charlie and co.

The Nice Treaty is linked to a worrying political shift towards right wing parties, racism and corporate power. It is linked to a war for oil in Iraq and Afghanistan, environmental chaos and human rights violations the world over.

DON'T BELIEVE ME, BELIEVE YOURSELF!....trust your instincts....but whatever you do - DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY TRUST THE NEWSPAPERS, MEDIA OR POLICITIANS!!!!! Do not be bullied and misled by false facts and statements of impending doom.

Tune into Indymedia Ireland at http://www.indymedia.ie

Don't trust the mainstream! The mainstream has brought us colonialism, corruption, poverty, 3rd world debt, George Bush, slavery and a host of other goodies. Will we ever learn? NO MEANS NO! Thanks and good luck!

HEALTH, EDUCATION, FOREIGN AID CUTS AND A SUPREME
CRAPPING ON DEMOCRACY

"This, in terms of a campaign, will be a real campaign," Mr Ahern promised. "We're spending a large amount of money which we don't have, but we feel obliged to do that."