Use your vote – Reject Austerity – Vote NO
An uncast vote is not a protest, it is a surrender.
Today is polling day in the referendum on the EU Fiscal Treaty.
Ireland is the only country which is having a referendum on the Treaty and that is only happening because our Constitution gives us that right. The Fiscal Treaty alters our constitution in a number of important ways and gives away some of those sovereign rights in the area of national control of our budget. The Workers’ Party is calling for a NO vote to the proposal to amend the constitution to adopt the Fiscal Treaty. Throughout Europe the situation with regard to the financial crisis is changing by the day but we are being asked to set in stone in our constitution a straitjacket clause that will give permanent control of our budget to the European Union. People throughout Europe are rejecting austerity and forcing their governments to change tack, abandon austerity and invest in jobs for their peoples. Why should we tie our hands now?
A vote for the Fiscal Treaty is a vote for permanent austerity, loss of financial and political sovereignty and severely limits the country’s ability to adapt to changing financial circumstances.
Many people will not vote at all today because they feel excluded from the decision making process that affects their lives. Many will not vote because they see it as a way of protesting. It is not. An uncast vote is not a protest, it is a surrender because it gives your right to a say to somebody else. Some people will vote Yes because they have been frightened by the government’s claims that we would be isolated in Europe, that we would be thrown out of the Eurozone and left without access to further funding. This is completely untrue. It is simply a tactic to terrify people into supporting the Treaty. Remember the lies about jobs and growth that the government and establishment parties made during the Lisbon Treaty? Where are those jobs now? Where is the investment? Don’t be fooled.
Only a NO vote can guarantee that Ireland retains the ability to respond to the changing winds of economic circumstances. A NO vote is a vote against Austerity, against further erosion of our economic and national sovereignty and against the capitalist elites who are trying to further punish ordinary working people for mistakes that they played neither hand, act, nor part in. Vote NO to secure your own future, Vote NO to reject Austerity, Vote NO for your children’s future. But whatever you do please Vote today. It is one of the few rights you have left. Use it.
