Parse failure for http://www.irishleftreview.org/feed/. Last Retry Saturday June 15, 2019 20:40
 On The Decline and Fall of The American Empire and Socialism Sat Jan 26, 2019 01:52 | S. Duncan
What is Dogmatism and Why Does It Matter? Wed Mar 21, 2018 08:10 | Sylvia Smith
The Case of Comrade Dallas Mon Mar 19, 2018 19:44 | Sylvia Smith
Review: Do Religions Evolve? Mon Aug 14, 2017 19:54 | Dara McHugh
Fake News: The Epistemology of Media Wed Jun 07, 2017 11:52 | Gavin Mendel-Gleason Spirit of Contradiction >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Tom Parlon launches new career in comedy
Presumption of innocence does not universally apply in Ireland Anthony
The poor standard of Irish political journalism Anthony
RTE bias: A failure of objective journalism Anthony
Alison O’Connor and professional deceit Anthony Public Inquiry >>
A bird's eye view of the vineyard
President Putin?s Speech at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads of State Council Meeting Sun Jun 16, 2019 00:01 | Scott
June 14, 2019 http://en.kremlin.ru/events... President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President of Kyrgyzstan, colleagues, I certainly agree with the positive assessments of the activities of our organisation, the SCO, which have just been voiced here. The SCO is indeed
Moveable Feast Cafe 2019/06/15 ? Open Thread Sat Jun 15, 2019 10:30 | Herb Swanson
2019/06/15 09:30:01Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of
?Nuclear Armageddon? and Geopolitical Simulacrum Sat Jun 15, 2019 08:00 | The Saker
by Ollie Richardson for The Saker Blog As I have now come to expect, some of the comments posted beneath my last article (and if to be honest, beneath any
The Poles are braver than the Russians! The President of Poland Sat Jun 15, 2019 04:15 | Scott
by Ruslan Ostashko Translation and subtitles by Eugenia
The curious case of the tankers Fri Jun 14, 2019 16:49 | The Saker
by Nat South for The Saker Blog I have taken the opportunity to look at the recent incident involving two outbound tankers in the Gulf of Oman. I have got The Saker >>
|
Green Party U-Turn on a democratic EU
 national |
eu |
press release
 Saturday July 18, 2009 19:06 by Patricia McKenna - Peoples' Movement
Green Party vote to support Lisbon Treaty
The Green Party’s decision to support the Lisbon Treaty and backtrack on its long standing campaign for a more democratic EU will be more of a hindrance than a help to the Yes side. The voters would currently not buy a used car from the Green Party let alone a rejected treaty. The party leadership has shown that once part of the so-called ‘accepted political establishment’ they turn their back on their principles 18th July, 2009
Green Party support for Lisbon Treaty will give No campaigners more credibility, says McKenna
Former Green Party MEP and Chairperson of the Peoples Movement, Patricia McKenna has said that the Green Party’s support for the Lisbon Treaty will give the No campaign more credibility.
She said, “The Green Party’s decision to support the Lisbon Treaty and backtrack on its long standing campaign for a more democratic EU will be more of a hindrance than a help to the Yes side. The voters would currently not buy a used car from the Green Party let alone a rejected treaty. The party leadership has shown that once part of the so-called ‘accepted political establishment’ they turn their back on their principles.” “This is just one of a long line of u-turns, including Shell to Sea, Shannon, incineration, Tara and Education cuts, preformed by the Greens since entering Government. The current leader of the party, John Gormley, voted against this treaty in its original form, the EU Constitution, when he as in opposition and nothing in the treaty has changed since. The only change has been the Greens in Government and its clear the party leadership will do all in its power to keep Fianna Fail in office so they can hold on to positions of status.” Said McKenna
She went on to say, “I would like to commend all those party members who kept to their principles and tried to get the party to hold on to what identity it has left. The fact that the vote was so tight and almost the same as last time is an indication that even Green Party members have not been persuaded by the propaganda spin on Lisbon since the referendum.” This is a sign of hope for the NO side in the forthcoming referendum and there is indeed a chance that it will reflect the views of the voters who will not be persuaded to change their vote next time around”. Concluded McKenna
|
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Twitter
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (3 of 3)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3How can anyone claim to be calling for a more democratic EU when she ignores the 2/3 majority of green party members who voted for a yes vote, it matters not if someone for or against lisbon when making a call for better democracy and simultaneously ignoring the most democratic of mandates given a party by rank and file members completely discredits any further statements - is this the ultimate example of "doublethink"?
How can anyone seriously claim to be in favour of democracy when they think that a 2/3 vote at a GP meeting outweighs the majority vote of the people? Patricia takes her mandate from the majority of the Irish people who rejected Lisbon.
The word and the concept of Democracyt is made up of two Greek words: Demos - meaning the people - and Kratos - power....in plain English that even our imperialist can understand it means people power......
Unless I am mistaken, the Irish people voted against Lisbon on June 12th '08.....the French and the Dutch had voted against the Lisbon clone in '05.....and yes, in case I am accused of forgetting, the Spanish and the Luxemburgian people voted for the EU Constitution.
Last year, the 550 million European citizens were denied a vote......and they still are. That extremist left-winger McCreavy said had they been given a vote 80% would have rejected the Treaty.
And now, despite Gilmore's words that "Lisbon is dead" and Gormley's words that "the outcome must be respected", Green rank-and-file democracy decides that the Lisbon Treaty should be supported!! The very same Treaty we rejected - oh yes - with a bit of cellophane packaging. Gormley a few weeks ago was saying he had serious doubts about the role of the European Defence Agency......and EU militarisation. What palliative did he get to assuage his doubts?
You can throw stones at Patricia but, whether you agree with her in everything she says and does, you must admit she has the courage to stand by what she believes.....