Help Ireland Throw a Spanner in the works of the GATS (http://www.gatswatch.org/index.html) Machine. A call to action Ireland (http://www.indymedia.ie/article133/) to anti-GATS campaigners worldwide.
Irish citizens were the only citizens of the European Union who had the opportunity to vote on whether or not to ratify the Treaty of Nice . The Irish people voted No to the Nice Treaty just over a year ago. This, in the eyes of the increasingly anti-democratic European Union and in the eyes of the neo-liberal Irish Government, was the wrong answer. So the exact same referendum is being rerun on Saturday 19th October. Those calling for a Yes vote include the majority of our political parties, the entire National and Multinational Business community in Ireland and pro-liberalization forces from all over Europe. They are outspending the Irish opposition by a factor of 9/1 in their desperation to change the minds of Irish Voters. Why? They say it is because they want to facilitate en largement of the EU and that the treaty is necessary to do this. This has been ch allenged.
A charge on Indymedia Ireland is that the treaty it will grant anti-democratic fast-track powers to the unelected European Commission to sign the EU as a whole up to International trade negotiations with the WTO on the GATS and TRIPS agreements. No wonder Peter Sutherland - ex head of the WTO - has been campaigning extensively here. The Irish have a vote on GATS and Corporate Globalization. Groups and individuals who are against the forced implementation of GATS on a worldwide level can help us by sending statements of support for a no vote on Nice to the Indymedia Ireland Newswire. We will forward these to the Irish Media , Politicians, Civil Society and those campaigning against this insult to democracy.
Original: Help Ireland Throw a Spanner in the works of the GATS Machine.