SOUTH BELFAST ELECTORATE URGED TO VOTE FOR AN “ALTERNATIVE ULSTER” IN THE ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Brian Faloon, will be running in the Assembly elections in the South Belfast Constituency. Brian, aged 52, will stand as a candidate for the People Before Profit Alliance. He is perhaps best known for being the former drummer and founding member of Ulster punk band Stiff Little Fingers. One of their best known songs is “Alternative Ulster”. Faloon says that the need for an alternative Ulster is still very much there.
In recent years Brian has been heavily involved in promoting Love Music Hate Racism events across Northern Ireland, organising gigs, multi-cultural events, film days and workshops.
Brian is involved in a variety of internationally focussed campaigns such as organising opposition to the continuing western interventions in the Middle East.
Closer to home he was also heavily involved in the successful fight against the introduction of the “Public Assemblies Bill” which would have curtailed the rights of campaigners and trade unionists to organise protests and public meetings. The Assembly were forced to abandon the planned legislation as a result of the opposition.
However, Brian’s main focus at the moment is organising opposition to the planned public sector cuts across Northern Ireland which he says will devastate the lives of hundreds of thousands of ordinary working people. He recently took part in the large trade union organised demonstration in Belfast City Centre in opposition to the planned cuts. He is unequivocal. He states “There is no need to make any cuts at all to public services. If the government are serious about raising money, then they could clamp down on tax dodging by corporations and the rich, estimated to cost the state in the region of £100 billion a year. They could also make the banks pay for the crisis they created. Last year they paid out over £7bn in bonuses and just four banks made £24bn in profit. The reality is that cutting public services now, just as we are coming out of the recession, risks more job losses, home repossessions and increased living costs. These are issues that will prolong the recession. I hope that my campaign will show people that there is an alternative and will galvanise them to fight back”.
The group that he is standing for, People Before Profit, are fielding a number of candidates in both the Assembly elections and in the local council elections. Recently established, the group is organised in both Northern Ireland and in the Republic. The group recently made a significant breakthrough in the Republic’s elections with the election of two TDs to the Dail. They also have a number of local Councillors in the Republic. The group is hopeful that a similar breakthrough can occur in Northern Ireland.
Notes for Editors:
· Brian Faloon was born in Belfast 1958 He was educated at the Boys' Model Secondary school in North Belfast, before studying Journalism at the College of Business Studies. Brian has also lived in London and Glasgow, where his two sons were born.
· The band Stiff Little Fingers shot to fame in the late 1970s, against a backdrop of some of the worst years of the Northern Ireland troubles and amidst the height of the punk movement. This was very much reflected in their music, which chose to confront the troubles head on in songs such as “suspect device” and “state of emergency”.
