16 November 2010
Thursday: An Phoblacht columnist Robbie Smyth is ‘Challenging the Consensus’
Robbie Smyth
IRELAND INSTITUTE TALKS
Ireland in Crisis: Challenging the Consensus
Meeting 2
Mary Murphy (Department of Sociology, NUI Maynooth)
Robbie Smyth (An Phoblacht columnist)
8pm, Thursday 18th November 2010
Ionad an Phiarsaigh
The Pearse Centre
27 Pearse Street
Dublin 2
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Mary Murphy and Robbie Smyth to debate the Irish economic, social, and political crisis
Important debate on 'Ireland in Crisis: Challenging the Consensus'
The Ireland Institute
Mary Murphy, Department of Sociology at NUI Maynooth, and one of the organisers of Is Feidir Linn and the Claiming our Future conference; and Robbie Smyth, journalist with An Phoblacht and Sinn Fein, will debate the economic, social, and political crisis in Ireland. Dr. Conor McCabe, historian and Irish Left Review, will chair the meeting.
The Ireland Institute believes that the debate to date has been dominated by a narrow consensus that does not question the structures within which the crisis is being played out. This consensus regards capitalism as the right and natural way to organise the economy and society: no alternative is admitted. In this worldview, competition, individualism, small government, privatisation, free trade and free movement of capital are self-evidently good and the means to economic success.
The Ireland Institute argues that the way capitalism organises the economy and society is at the root of the crisis. If we want real change, it will not be found in the solutions that are currently being proposed: more regulation of business and finance; reduction in the number of TDs; abolition of the Seanad; and updating of the 1937 Constitution.
Instead, the Institute considers that full democratisation of politics and the economy is the only way to change society so that, in the future, the common good of all citizens will be at the heart of policy. This means that all citizens must have a real share in decision making in Ireland, not just a vote every few years for one or other political elite.
This lecture series will challenge the consensus about the crisis.
The meeting will begin at 8.00pm, Thursday, November 18, at the Pearse Centre, 27 Pearse Street, Dublin 2.
This is the second meeting in the series. The third meeting will be on 2 December at 8.00pm at the Pearse Centre
Further information from Finbar Cullen, Director, 01-6704606
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