Happy May Day

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Happy May Day one and All. What better way to celebrate this bastion day of the triumph of Labour than with a poem. Also there's a March later this evening from Parnell Square to Liberty Hall this evening. Meet at the Garden of Remembrance at 7.30pm. The theme of this year's march is 'Defend and Extend Trade Union Rights'. (Some of you may be interested in a post from a couple of weeks ago on declining Union Membership to give this some context.)

"Into the Streets May First"
by Alfred Hayes
(May, 1934)

Into the streets May First!
Into the roaring Square!
Shake the midtown towers!
Shatter the downtown air!
Come with a storm of banners,
Come with an earthquake tread,
Bells, hurl out of your belfries,
Red flag, unfurl your red!

Out of the shops and factories,
Up with the sickle and hammer,
Comrades, these are our tools,
A song and a banner!
Roll song, from the sea of hearts,
Banner, leap and be free;
Song and banner together,
Down with the bourgeoisie!

Pour forth like a second flood!
Thunder the Alps of the air!
Subways are roaring our milllons --
"Comrades, into the square !!!"

A Season of Change.

Damien Mulley has a loverly new site dedicated to the Fine Gael leader, Dep. Enda Kenny T.D. Anybody smell a Fine Gael leadership contest? It certainly appears to be the season for it. After all since the General Election last year, Labour has changed from Pat Rabbittee to Eamon Gilmore, the Progressive Democrats have gone from Michael McDowell to having no seat, back to Mary Harney to whoever wants the job in 3wks time. Fianna Fail will loose Bertie on the 6th May with the probable replacement with Brian Cowen. The Greens lost Trevor Seargant and gained John Gormley. Yes it has been quiet the year for leadership changes within the Irish political sphere, perhaps it is definitely time for a Fine Gael leadership race.

• http://www.takeendawithyou.com/

Former Aussie PM Howard loses constituency seat

The Labour Party candidate who ousted former Australian Prime Minister John Howard from his Sydney constituency after 33 years formally declared victory today.

Howard's conservative coalition lost its 11-year grip on power last Saturday with a dramatic nationwide swing towards the centre-left Labour Party led by Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd.

After the votes rolled in, Howard was forced to concede that he had lost not only the leadership of the country, but said it also looked "very unlikely" he would be returned to represent his home electorate of Bennelong.For a week, Howard trailed his rival Labour candidate Maxine McKew by a narrow margin, with neither side willing to claim victory or concede defeat.

But with the Australian Electoral Commission formally declaring the seat for Labour and a majority of postal and absentee votes counted today, McKew finally made the call.

"One week after the polls opened I can now say that … we are comfortably ahead," McKew told reporters at a school in the constituency. "I can formally say that Bennelong is now a Labour seat for the first time."

The result is a measure of the strength of the dissatisfaction with Howard, Australia's second-longest service leader, who had been the Member for Bennelong since 1974.

He becomes only the second sitting prime minister to be kicked out of parliament, after Stanley Bruce.

Source:breakingnews.ie

The Weekend of Anthems And Drugs..

It really is a weekend for accepting new anthems isn't it? First the Italians get around to replacing their "temporary" National Anthem, which was roughly 50 years up till Thursday when it became the official National Anthem. Now The Labour party has today, at its Conference accepted "The Red Flag" as its Anthem. Coincidently this is the same conference where a motion was brought forward to legalise Cannabis......erm maybe not the best idea guys.

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abour votes for 'The Red Flag' as its new anthem
The Labour Party has voted to accept the song known as "The Red Flag" as its new anthem.

The global socialist ballad was written by Jim Connell who was born in Kilskyre, Co Meath, in 1852.

It is sung every year at the British Labour Party Conference.

The vote to adopt the song was taken today at Labour's conference in Wexford

Source: Breaking News.ie


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Labour delegates call to legalise cannabis

Delegates at Labour's 62nd annual conference will make calls for the legalisation of cannabis and marijuana at the event in Wexford today.

The move is backed by the party's chief whip, Emmett Stagg.

Party Leader Eamon Gilmore will his give keynote address later tonight.

Last night, the conference got underway with a stinging attack on the government. Deputy Leader Joan Burton attacked plans by the government to accept pay rises while working people have to do with pay restraint.

She spoke out against co-location of private hospitals on public land. She described it as, "a development that will deliver massive profits for Fianna Fáil's developer friends but which will widen even further the two-tier nature of the health service".

The party will also commence informal planning today for the 2009 local and European elections.

Source: Breaking News.ie