Dublin South West: Mick Murphy

On the world stage, the case of Julian Assange is about U.S. imperialism’s need to punish WikiLeaks. There is no doubt that the Swedish state and the government would be happy to assist the US. However, the case is also about serious allegations of rape, which must be investigated.

The last months have seen a disgusting campaign of stigmatisation and vilification of prostitutes in Limerick. Local business owners, such as rugby star Jerry Flannery, have taken to local and social media attacking prostitutes in the most vile of language, whilst the Gardai have begun a new policy of taking those selling sex to court to get civil orders banning them from parts of the city associated with on-street prostitution.

It is clear that hundreds of thousands of households will refuse to register or to pay the household tax.  The only issue is whether this number will be more than half a million, more than three-quarters of a million or more than a million itself.  With big numbers deciding it is better to break the law than to break the poor, this is a key first step in a major campaign of civil disobedience.