April 21, 2009

The West's awake. Galway and Sligo boycott Veolia

The West of Ireland, that is. In February, Sligo (birthplace of Yeats) County Council unanimously adopted a resolution to boycott Veolia. Veolia, for those who don't know, is a French multinational building a settler tramline through East Jerusalem. They specialise in public contracts for waste disposal, transport etc and so are much easier to pressure than companies solely in the private sector. And indeed they've been under a fair amount of international pressure recently, losing a couple of huge contracts.

Last night the pressure was increased that little bit extra when a motion calling on Galway county council not to sign or renew any further contracts with Veolia was passed, again unanimously. Galway is one of Ireland's largest counties (larger in fact than the West Bank) and so it's a fairly significant motion.

For more about the campaign - here's a link

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