ISN welcomes Lisbon Treaty rejection

After the “No” vote – time to fight for a democratic, social and de-militarised Europe

The Irish Socialist Network welcomes the decision of the Irish people to reject the Lisbon Treaty – a document that would have promoted the militarisation of the EU, entrenched Thatcherite principles in European law, and further undermined democracy. After this result, the Lisbon Treaty should be dead and buried. No re-hashed, re-packaged version of the same document should be foisted on the people of Europe. No means no.

The clear “No” vote is a stinging rebuke for the Irish political elite. The main political parties, with over 90% of the seats in the Dáil, called for a “Yes” vote in the referendum. They asked people to trust them and their judgement when they cast their votes. There is one clear message now – the Irish people have no confidence in their political leaders.

The establishment parties may still have a stranglehold over the Dáil, helped by their massive advantages in terms of funding, media coverage and party organisation when it comes to election time. But the consent with which they rule is extremely fragile. Anyone taking a look at the constituency maps can see for themselves – working-class people were most likely to vote “No”. They are the ones with the least reason to trust our political elite, which again and again shows itself to be in the pocket of big business.

What else can we learn from the result? A number of government ministers have claimed that people voted “no” because they wrongly believed that the EU would legalise abortion. But opinion polls showed that abortion was only an issue for a small minority of “No” voters (according to last week’s Irish Times poll, just 5% gave abortion as a reason for voting “No”). The same goes for corporation tax, which was a marginal concern.

It seems clear that the main reason people voted “No” was because they didn’t understand what was in the Lisbon Treaty. Their thinking was sound, because the Treaty was deliberately crafted to be incomprehensible to the average citizen. Many EU figures involved in the drafting process admitted as much – their goal was to conceal the most controversial proposals by surrounding them with jargon and gobbledygook.

The issue of neutrality and militarisation was also very important. Pro-Lisbon campaigners repeatedly claimed that Irish neutrality was safeguarded by the Treaty. It was hard to tell what planet these people were living on – here on Earth, Ireland is already participating in the brutal occupation of Iraq by allowing US troops to pass through Shannon airport. We don’t have any neutrality to safeguard.

If Ireland is going to have a progressive foreign policy that promotes peace and development and opposes military aggression by the big powers, we will have to start again from scratch. The Irish people took a first step along that road by rejecting a Treaty that called for EU states to increase their military spending and embraced the same doctrine of “pre-emptive war” that has led to a bloody catastrophe in Iraq.

Irish workers had good reason to be worried about other clauses of the Lisbon Treaty that promoted the privatisation of public services. These harmful measures led UNITE, Ireland’s second-biggest union, to call for a “No” vote. They were also highlighted by the broad “No” campaign that united the progressive and socialist Left in opposition to Lisbon.

The Irish Socialist Network played a full role in that campaign. Our members distributed tens of thousands of leaflets in working-class areas of Dublin putting across the left-wing case for a “No” vote. In particular, we worked hard to persuade the people of Dublin North West, where there was a 64% majority for the “No” side on polling day.

Government spokesmen have told us we need to consider how we can “move forward” after this result. For once, we agree with them – in Ireland, the Left which opposes militarism and neo-liberal attacks on the working class needs to ask how we can build on this victory. We have to set about constructing a new radical force, broader than any of the existing groups, that can mobilise people in communities and work-places all over Ireland to fight for an alternative to the status quo. The Irish Socialist Network will play its part in building that alternative.