Counter-Conference to coincide with Labour Party’s 100th anniversary National Conference.
The United Left Alliance has announced that it will hold a two-day counter-conference to coincide with the Labour Party National Conference, which will take place in NUI Galway on the 13th and 14th of April.
The Counter-conference will take place adjacent to the Labour Party event on the NUI Galway campus and will hear how the Labour Party’s year in Government has opened political space for a new political alternative.
Speakers, including opposition TDs, trade union leaders, campaigners, academics and former Labour members will challenge the Labour Party on its coalition with Fine Gael and its failure to deliver even the barest concessions for its working class constituency.
The United Left Alliance was established in 2010 in order to fight the 2011 General Election. It won five Dáil seats, and is opposed to the bank bailout and the austerity measure begun by Fianna Fáil and carried on by Fine Gael and Labour.
Conference organiser Conor McGuinness explained the rationale behind the counter-conference; “this year marks the 100thanniversary of the Labour Party. The organisation that Larkin and Connolly established in 1912 has been corrupted beyond recognition. The leadership of the Labour party has turned its back on working people, on women, on the elderly and on the unemployed.
“This conference will provide a space for political activists, former Labour members and supporters, trade unionists, working people, campaigners and all those affected by unemployment and austerity to gather together to build a new movement for ordinary people.”
The Counter-conference will be open to the public, and will be hosted by NUI Galway’s ULA student society.
Some of the main events at the Counter-conference will include:
- · Securing our futures, Defending Education
- · The IMF, ECB and International Financial System: demystifying the crisis
- · 100 Years of Labour: Time for a new party of the working class?
- · Healthcare: Fighting for Survival
- · Creating Jobs and Defending Workers
- · Closing Rally: Defeating Austerity, Destroying the Treaty.
A number of fringe events will also occur, including:
- · Presentation: Ireland’s Debt Audit
- · Discussion: Red Policies for a Green Future
- · Briefing: The X Case and the Medical Treatment Bill 2012
- · Discussion: Austerity and its Impact on Women
- · Díospóireacht: An Ghaeilge agus an Eite Chlé.
All are welcome to attend some or all of the Counter-Conference, and further information can be found here , or by emailing ULA.Galway@gmail.com
ULA Galway 