[I received this today from the People’s movement. The statement is reproduced in full.]
People voted for Economic Recovery and Jobs not for the Lisbon Treaty
Today’s result was inevitable – people voted not for the Lisbon Treaty but for economic recovery, jobs and EU membership. The posters and billboards of the Yes side ‘ruin or recovery’ tapped into the genuine fears of the voters, but sadly the only promise the Yes side can deliver - EU membership - was never an issue in the first place. Those on the Yes side now have a responsibility to deliver on jobs and economic recovery. They cannot make promises and then turn their backs on the voters once they cast their vote.
The Yes campaign, which outspent the no side by at least a factor of ten to one, was funded illegally by the EU Commission, the political groups in the Brussels Parliament and even by the Government itself. The so-called ‘independent’ Referendum Commission became a tool for the Yes side. The Referendum Commission failed to carry out its main function – explain the constitutional amendment to the voters - and its advertising campaign on radio and TV right up to and including polling day flies in the face of our prohibition on political advertising.*
This referendum, which saw virtually all the political parties and politicians lining up on one side against hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens, demonstrates the need for political change in this state. The cozy consensus of the political parties who have refused to represent their people has exposed a massive democratic void, whereby so many Irish citizens are without proper representation in this State. This void has to be filled by new political forces untarnished by corruption, greed the ideology of ‘power for power’s sake’. *
McKenna said, “I would like to thank all those people who gave freely of their time and resources to fight for a better Europe without any promises of pay-backs. We will not give up, the fight on the Lisbon Treaty is not over.
Patricia McKenna (Chairperson)
Frank Keoghan (Secretary)
The inappropriately named People’s Movement, as it turns out…
[…] Just some links to reactions from left organisations to the Treaty result, inspired by Conor McCabe sticking statements up in full on Dublin […]
There you are. Big big businesses are coming. Isn’t that what everybody wants: more money?
http://notolisbontreaty.blogsome.com/2009/10/03/democracy-is-officially-dead-in-eu/
The name implies a change, based on whats best for People, not fat cats. Such a movement always starts off small and usually contains a small number of ethical people who put up a real fight in a David and Goliath battle and make no mistake thats what this has been. From the off the No side got no media coverage, even our own RTE is guilty of that, when they did they still got less time than the Yes side. The Yes side spent tax payers money and not to mention the illegal intervention from Europe into our referendum. Yes the Peoples Movement is very appropriatly named and will continue to be a force to be reckoned with as the fat cats try to push us further into a dictatorship, if its possible to get any further into a dictatorship that is!
I like the robert ballagh image. Reference to John Heartfield I imagine.
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/blog/images/march06/heartfield2.jpg
The inappropriately named People’s Movement, as it turns out…
Oh right, I get it, its because they weren’t funded by multinational corporations, isn’t it