People Before Profit

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Who are People Before Profit?

People Before Profit represents a different form of politics, fitting for the 21st century. It sees ‘people power’ and the mobilisation of citizens in workplaces, communities and on the streets as the key to bringing change in society. It is the ambition of the Alliance to operate on a 32-county basis and to offer a radical vision for our country.

In addition to its aim of deepening the links between community groups, the Alliance also wishes to explore the potential for electoral politics but it is not interested in electing people who will join coalition governments with the dominant right-wing parties because they have all signed up to the ‘business success is paramount’ ethic.

We opposes neo-liberal policies, including: – the sell-off of Ireland’s natural resources; – the privatisation and run down of public amenities; – the destruction of the environment and our heritage through a flawed planning process; – the prioritisation of corporate profit above the environment; – poor public health and labour conditions and standards; – widespread corruption; – the erosion of civil liberties; – tax cuts for the rich and corporations while bin charges and stealth taxes rise for the majority; – the erosion of neutrality through the growing presence of US troops in Shannon; – the mistreatment of immigrants.

People Before Profit  has one TD, Richard Boyd Barrett elected in Dun Laoghaire, and 15 local councillors throught the country – 5 of them on Dublin City Council, 3 on Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Council, 2 South Dublin County Council and 1 in Fingal. We are proud too to have had Gerry Carroll elected as councillor in West Belfastf. We are a 32 county party. All our public representatives were elected on pledges made in 2014 that we still stand by today. We asked the electorate to do the following:

1. To elect candidates who oppose the water charges. Every People Before Profit elected representative will actively campaign against the water charges and help build a mass demonstration against the charges for September 20.

2. To break the stranglehold of Fianna Fail/Fine Gael/Labour on Irish politics. Between them these three mainstream parties have wrecked the country, corrupted Irish politics and made ordinary people pay the price. We need a radical alternative.

3. To break with the stroke politics of backhanders, clientilism, careerism and junkets. Every People Before Profit TD or MEP will be pledged to take only the average workers’ wage and all our candidates for councillor pledge not to take part in the Council junket culture.

4. To get political representatives who will actually stand up for working class people. That’s what Labour said it would do but they sold us down the river. And because Labour controls so many of the unions they let us down too. People Before Profit will specifically back working class demands and interests.

5. To support a party that really stands for equality. People Before Profit has the highest proportion of women candidates (40%) of any party in this election and is represented in the European elections by Brid Smith, a leading working class woman activist who is explicitly committed to LGBT rights, legalisation of same-sex marriage, a woman’s right to choose and who actively opposes all racist scapegoating of migrants, refugees or Travellers.

People Before Profit has a range of policies on that you can read in detail on our main web-page (insert hyperlink here to PBP site). In brief, we stand for the following:

  • the abolition of water charges, the property tax and the USC
  • cancel Irish debt caused by bankers’ gambling
  • tax the rich and their wealth to fund public services
  • a health service based on how sick you are, not how rich you are
  • an emergency programme to build social houses and immediate rent controls.
  • a woman’s right to choose and the Repeal of the 8th
  • against racism, sexism and homophobia

 

For more information visit the People Before Profit website