Labour Alternative Backs Corbyn in Leadership Race

Labour Alternative Backs Corbyn in Leadership Race

Front Page Featured
Corbyn's opponents branded "Red Tories" and "Blairite wreckers" who "fear he will win" next general election Cross-community left-wing party Labour Alternative has thrown its support behind Jeremy Corbyn's campaign to remain leader of the British Labour Party. South Belfast spokesperson Sean Burns said: "Labour Alternative sends its support and solidarity to Jeremy Corbyn and those fighting to defend his leadership of the British Labour Party. The Blairites who are attempting to unseat him are Red Tories who represent the interests of big business and the 1%. They want a return to the discredited politics of austerity, privatisation and war."   "Corbyn’s opponents have shown an arrogant disregard for the mandate he received from over a quarter of a million members and supporters of the Labour Party less than a year…
Read More
Library Campaigners Protest at Minister Paul Givan’s Constituency Office

Library Campaigners Protest at Minister Paul Givan’s Constituency Office

Front Page Featured
A protest was called by the Hands Off Our Libraries Campaign outside the constituency office of Minister for Communities Paul Givan in Lisburn. Lisburn library and thirteen other branches across Northern Ireland are threatened with having their opening hours reduced. Minister Givan has responsibility for the library service. Organiser Peter Dynes said: "This is only the latest round of cuts to our libraries as a result of Stormont austerity. These community hubs provide vital resources, especially for some of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. If we don't resist this attack, more will come down the line. Our libraries will be run down to the point that they are no longer viable. We must defend public, free access to knowledge and culture." "The politicians tell us there is…
Read More
“Chilcot: History will judge them as war criminals”

“Chilcot: History will judge them as war criminals”

Front Page Featured
Labour Alternative representative Courtney Robinson has responded to the Chilcot report: "The Chilcot report is a damning indictment of Tony Blair and those around him who pushed for war in Iraq in 2003. They did so based on the blatant lie that Saddam Hussein - an erstwhile ally of the West - had weapons of mass destruction. This was a fabrication aimed at justifying a war for oil and control of the region." "The invasion and occupation left a million dead and many more displaced and seriously injured. Rather than undermine Islamic fundamentalism, the devastation wrought on the country and the corrupt, sectarian government propped up by the West created the conditions in which groups like Al-Qa'eda and later Islamic State could grow. The people of the region continue to…
Read More

Assembly Executive attempting to “out Tory the Tories”

Front Page Featured
Responding to Stormont Finance Minister Mairtín Ó Muilleoir's commitment to push ahead with cutting corporation, possible below 12.5%, South Belfast Labour Alternative representative Sean Burns has said: “While corporation tax in the South is officially set at 12.5%, the real rate of tax paid by big business is around 6.5%. Google pays an effective tax rate of 0.25%. The logic of Minister Ó Muilleoir's position is a race to the bottom in which the only winners will be the CEOs while our vital public services will be devastated. Attempting to out Tory the Tories will not deliver a future for working class communities." “The DUP and Sinn Féin has already agreed to slash thousands of public sector jobs. Now they want to slash thousands more to fund a corporation tax cut. And…
Read More
Live video of pro-choice protest today

Live video of pro-choice protest today

Front Page Featured
Pro-choice protest at the Royal Courts of Justice, Belfast, this afternoon which Labour Alternative helped organise along with Women on Web. Inside, the Court of Appeal hears the case to declare that the current law prohibiting access to abortion violates women’s basic human rights. Outside, women - including Courtney - took the pills as an act of solidarity and defiance of these archaic laws. The protest follows the flight of an abortion pills drone by Women on Waves from Ireland to Northern Ireland – an act of solidarity between women in the south and the north. The flight occured at Narrow Water this morning at10am. Free, safe and legal abortion now! ‪#‎extend67‬
Read More
Abortion Pill Drone

Abortion Pill Drone

Front Page Featured
This morning we participated and helped organise a protest action involving an Abortion Drone that flew from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland at Narrow Waters Castle. After the drone landed safely two women took the pills. At the same time Women on Waves employed a RC speedboat to send over more pills for the women. Making abortion illegal will not keep women from accessing abortion pills, by ship, by mail, through the internet, drone or RC speedboat! This afternoon at 2.30 pm there will be another protest in front of the Court of Appeal in Belfast when the appeal regarding the decision by the High Court that Northern Ireland’s abortion law breaches the European Convention on Human Rights will be heard. Courtney Robinson of Labour Alternative and  one of…
Read More
Day of Action Against Library Cuts Takes Shape

Day of Action Against Library Cuts Takes Shape

Front Page Featured
Details have been announced of protests across Northern Ireland on Saturday 25th June as part of a day of action against library cuts. The Hands Off Our Libraries campaign was initiated by Labour Alternative and is supported by local trade union councils and other anti-austerity groups. Fourteen libraries are threatened with a reduction in opening hours of up to five hours per week. Protests have so far been announced at the branches in Carrickfergus, Dungannon (noon), Finaghy, Enniskillen, Newry and Omagh (1pm). Protests or campaigning activities are being planned at the other libraries affected - Belfast Central, Glengormley, Lisburn, Bangor, Ballymena, Coleraine, Derry and Lurgan. Spokesperson Sean Burns said: "This is only the latest round of cuts to our libraries as a result of Stormont austerity. These community hubs provide…
Read More
Protests Against Library Cuts Planned Across Northern Ireland

Protests Against Library Cuts Planned Across Northern Ireland

Front Page Featured
A day of action against cuts to library services has been called on Saturday 25th June. The Hands Off Our Libraries campaign opposes planned reductions in opening hours at fourteen branches across Northern Ireland. Protests have already been announced in Enniskillen, Carrickfergus and Finaghy and more are expected to be announced in the coming days. Donal O'Cofaigh - Chair of Fermanagh Trades Council - said: [caption id="attachment_698" align="alignright" width="300"] Really good turnout of young people and trade unionists at the meeting to officially launch the campaign.[/caption] "Our libraries are being subjected to death by a thousand cuts. If we don't resist this reduction to opening hours, more attacks will come down the line. These vital community services are being systematicaly run down." "Libraries NI are running a so-called consultation on…
Read More

Labour Alternative Responds to Ministerial Appointments

Front Page Featured
New faces but politics remain unaltered" Máirtín Ó Muilleoir's role as Finance Minister to "out-Tory the Tories" Minister for Communities Paul Givan must be "removed from this office" Cross-community, left-wing party Labour Alternative has responded to yesterday's Ministerial appointments. Sean Burns (19) - the party's South Belfast representative - said: "There are new faces around the Assembly Executive table but the politics of austerity, sectarianism and inequality will remain unaltered. The DUP and Sinn Féin will continue slashing jobs and public services, co-operating to deny women's right to choose and maintaining division in their own narrow interests." "Sinn Féin's fake opposition to austerity will be further exposed in the coming period. 'Entrepreneur' Máirtín Ó Muilleoir's role as Finance Minister will be to out-Tory the Tories and oversee the cut to…
Read More
Labour Alternative Candidates Win Best Left Results in Decades

Labour Alternative Candidates Win Best Left Results in Decades

Front Page Featured
Belfast South: Sean Burns - 871 (2.4%) Belfast East: Courtney Robinson - 517 (1.4%) East Antrim: Conor Sheridan - 551 (1.7%) [caption id="attachment_694" align="alignright" width="300"] The team at the Belfast counting centre[/caption] The stunning result for People Before Profit in West Belfast - to be joined in Stormont by Eamonn McCann from Foyle - is one of the biggest stories of the election and rightly so. We send congratulations to everyone involved. Labour Alternative activists are very happy with our own smaller breakthrough. In South Belfast and East Belfast, our votes were won despite a surge to the Greens, who went on to take a seat in South Belfast. In South Belfast, Sean Burns got the best result for a radical left or labour movement candidate since 1992, when Peter…
Read More