Dec 2002 |
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Dec 2002 |
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Stop
refuelling at Shannon warport
Despite the supposed neutrality of Southern Ireland the Irish
government has been involving us more and more in the imperialist
adventures of the US military. Shannon airport has become a key
refuelling facility for US war planes en route between the US and the
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Shannon -
Direct Action against the War - Activists on the
runway!
Instead of pleading with the government to not allow the US to use
Shannon, people had acted directly to show there would be a price to
pay and to inspire others to realise that with numbers we could make
it impossible for the government to continue this action.
Stopping
the war
While a march of 5,000 or even 10,000 in Dublin won't effect
government policy, similar numbers tearing down the fence in Shannon
and taking over the entire airport would. With those sort of numbers
we could physically stop Shannon being used and physically dismantle
any war planes we caught on the ground
Review: Refueling Peace
http://refuelingpeace.org
A web site with the very specific purpose, to "monitor and stop US military flights refuelling in
Ireland".
Clerical
rapists and the Irish state
Given all that we now know about the organised cover-up of what
happened in Catholic institutions, churches and hospitals it is fair
to say that if any other organised group were guilty of the same
offences there would be charges brought of "conspiracy to pervert the course of justice".
Become a
supporter of this paper
Over the next year we hope that at least a couple of dozen people
will become supporters of this paper. In that case we will be able to
expand production to 8 issues a year each with a print run of
8,000.
Corruption in
politics
The Flood Report will, by itself, change nothing, except, perhaps, to
induce more caution to the thicker element of the ruling class, but
it does provide one useful service: it makes it clear that the
wealthy have a dominant influence in affairs of state
Libertarians
Against Nice: Requiem for a Dream
LAN fought the campaign on many fronts. From Limerick to Louth,
Kinsale to Kildare, Dundalk to Donegal the battle raged. Even in
Dublin we put up a fight. 50,000 (count 'em) leaflets were
distributed, hundreds of posters of various types went up.
Workers
Self-management in Argentina
Details of the occupied factories and neighbourhood assemblies in
Argentina
Review: Berlusconi's
Mousetrap
In July 2001 over a quarter of a million people gathered to protest
against the G8 in Genoa. The Italian state responded to these
demonstrations with violent repression. Eighteen thousand cops were
drafted into the city; they beat and gassed thousands of people off
the streets, arrested hundreds and shot one young Italian man in the
head.
Review: Anarchism and
Anarchist Communism by Peter Kropotkin
This is one of the most excellent introductions to Anarchism, putting
paid to the usual objections to the system, synonymous as it has
become, wrongly, with disorganisation and chaos.
SIPTU
election changes nothing
The big lesson from this contest is how weak the opposition in SIPTU
is. 6.7% is not a good vote! There is no opposition network, simply a
number of individuals who are fairly isolated from each other.
Grassroots
Gathering Mark III - Another Great Success
The last weekend in October saw over 120 anarchists and other
libertarian activists converge on Belfast for the third Grassroots
Gathering.
International
News
Short items on envirnomentalist action in the Netherlands and a
letter from a Refusenik from the Israeli army
Thats
capitalism
Short items on slavery in Brazil and poverty all over the
world
Sept/Oct 2002 |
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A bosses
Europe or an anarchist Europe?
The Nice treaty offers us a bosses Europe, we want an anarchist
Europe
Reclaiming the
planet - building a movement in Ireland
The libertarian movement in Ireland is growing, the Belfast
Grassroots Gathering gives us a chance to meet up
'Libertarians
against Nice' launched
LAN is a network of groups and individuals across Ireland campaigning
against the Nice treaty from a libertarian perspective
Lindsay
Tribunal : The Cuts That Killed
A deliberate decision was made that it was acceptable to risk killing
patients in order to save a few bob. Properly screened blood products
were more expensive. So, the BTSB didn't recall products which they
know to be potentially deadly.
"Did you
see what I did to those anarchist bastards"
In 1927, two Italian-born anarchists
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were judicially murdered by the
State of Massachusetts in the USA, having been framed for two murders
they didn't commit.
Getting
involved
What we have been doing and what is coming up
Nice
and Nationalism
We desire a global world where national boundaries are of as little
relevance as parish boundaries today. We oppose all forms of
nationalism that try and set the people of one country above the
people of another.
The
anti-bin tax battles
According to the council's own figures less then 50% of people paid
any part of their bill last year. With the growing success of
non-payment only around 20% have paid something so far this
year
That's
capitalism
Shorts that reveal just how bad capitalism is from Ireland to
Africa
Factory
worker takes on SIPTU top brass
A radical shopfloor worker has put himself forward in the election
for general secretary of Ireland's biggest union, SIPTU. Des Derwin,
an assembly operative at the Mouldpro plastics factory in Dublin, is
a long-time union activist and independent socialist
Dunboyne
Sacking - Union Failed To Act
This dismissal raises many questions for
teachers about the role of religion in Irish primary education. Even
further it raises serious issues for INTO members about the failure
of the union to defend its members from bullying and intimidation by
the unaccountable 'owners' of the schools in which we work
Why does the
US want war with Iraq?
Like most other wars, this is about control of resources.Wars are
also good for the economy, and the US economy certainly could need
some help at the moment.
Review: Cuban Anarchism - The History of a
Movement
Frank Fernández first gives a detailed and well documented
account of how libertarian ideas first took hold in Cuba.
July/Aug 2002 |
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Irish
taxpayers to subsidise clerical rapists
PRIESTS, nuns and Christian Brothers beat,
molested and raped thousands of young children who were sent into
their "care".
Education Minister Michael Woods signed a deal whereby the state will
pick up the bill for all compensation.
Sectarianism
deepens in North
The results of the 2001 Life and Times survey in the north of Ireland
confirm that sectarian attitudes are spreading and deepening.
Keeping the
struggle going in Cork
The CPA is in existence for over a year and brings together
oppositional campaigners of various hues in a non-hierarchical group
which campaigns on numerous issues
Drogheda
ain't paying
Less than 50% of Drogheda residents have paid any of the yearly 260
Euro charge
Sellafield
protest against MOX ships in August
The two ships which were sent to Japan to collect the MOX fuel
shipped with falsified will travel up the Irish Sea around the end of
August.
International
Libertarian Solidarity (S.I.L.)
At the last Workers Solidarity Movement conference we took the
decision to join a new international anarchist network, International
Libertarian Solidarity
Direct
Action
Every time somebody puts a brick through a window or organises a
minor protest there will almost inevitably be someone else who
describes it as direct action.
That's
capitalism
A number of short items highlighting the insanity of
capitalism
Get
involved
What Irish anarchists are up to
Garda
investigating Garda
After the Garda complaints complaints of excessive police violence at
the RTS protest, it was announced that an independent inquiry was
being set up to supposedly investigate the events of May 6th.
John
McGuffin
John, was a very independent anarchist who is perhaps most well known
for providing the single anarchist element within the People's
Democracy group of the sixties and carrying an anarchist banner
(himself), on the Burntollet civil rights march.
Sacked
Belfast Airport security workers speak out
24 "randomly selected" workers were handed suspension letters and after a
disciplinary hearing three days after that were sacked.
SIPTU
General Secretary elections
Readers of Workers Solidarity may recognise the name of Des Derwin,
one of the candidates for the General Secretary of Ireland largest
trade union, SIPTU
They Call It
The Law
If anybody was under any illusions that the 'law' treated trade
unionists fairly, or was in some way neutral when it came to trade
disputes, the events of a few weeks in late May/early June should
have been enough to rid them of such silly notions.
REVIEW :
www.StopTheBinTax.com
Anybody curious about the arguments against the introduction of bin
charges into Ireland, please familiarise yourself with
www.StopTheBinTax.com
Kashmir&endash;
another legacy of British Imperialism
(this time with nuclear weapons)
George W. Bush is not the only leader to resort to a war to deflect
attention away from his bankrupt domestic polcies.
Review: The Bolsheviks
and Workers Control
The Bolsheviks and Workers
Control is a detailed book that shows
firstly how Russian workers took over and managed their workplaces,
secondly how they wished to extend this control to the entire economy
and thirdly how it was wrested from them by the Russian state.
May/June 2002 |
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Reclaim the
Planet
Imagine if all the resources and experience available to us were to
be utilised for the common good. Imagine if everyone effected by a
decision was able to have a say in making that decision. Imagine if
we lived in a world where the reason for working was to satisfy human
needs and desires
From Barcelona to
Seville
Time was when an EU summit was every leader's wet dream. But not any
more. The EU summit in Barcelona over the 9 to the 16 of March saw
between 250,000 and 600,000 people take to the streets!
That's
Capitalism
The system isn't getting any better plus a parrot joke!
Getting
involved
What we stand for and some details of our anti-election
campaign
Anarchism and
nationalism
Almost all of our present nations, and the very idea of the modern
nation itself, are relatively modern inventions. With the rise of the
bourgeois state in the nineteenth century, ruling classes needed an
ideology to make their subjects identify with the state in which they
lived
Israel/Palestine:
Roots of the conflict
The historical roots of the current conflict in the Middle East with
a statement by Israeli anarchists on
the occupation
Review: Parliament or Democracy?
Modern government is based on the idea that we elect the great and
the good to rule over us, trusting that they have our best interests
at heart and that they are wise and good enough to know what's
needed.
Review: WSM web site (www.struggle.ws/wsm)
The WSM started one of the first Irish political web sites back in
the mid 90's. It contains almost all the articles we have published
since 91 and quite a few additional reports that were never been
printed as well as lots of photos and PDF files. We asked Eoghan Ryan
to review it for us.
Politics of the
car
With growing traffic jams, longer journeys to work and increasing
road deaths Aileen O'Carroll makes a contribution to the debate about
how to get out of this mess.
The Bin Tax - The
Race for Office
Whilst I can understand the will of people to 'make the politicians
pay' for their treachery in bringing in this tax for a public service
- we don't agree with this tactic. The way this tax is going to be
defeated is by building a massive campaign.
Morons in
Power
If only these clowns got as offended by hospital waiting lists,
sectarian thuggery, pensioners living in poverty, and all the other
suffering that the Sinn Fein-Unionist-SDLP-DUP coalition presides
over each and every day in the Executive
Malcontents and
'cliques' ??
The ASTI dispute as seen through the eyes of ICTU
The Old Head of
Kinsale - Round 5
Mass direct action has shown that we will not tolerate the violation
of our fundamental right to roam. The right of people to access the
beauty of the planet, to breathe the air, drink the water and walk
the land free of hindrance is not for sale.
Cork
Grassroots Gathering
The second Grassroots Gathering was held over the Easter weekend in
Cork. Some seventy people from all over Ireland took part.
Ideas
and Action -- Irish Anarchist
Gathering
From Resistance to Change - A day of anarchist
discussion in Dublin on May 18
PDF file of Workers Solidarity No 70
Download, print out and distribute copies of the paper
March/April 2002 |
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Women - still
carrying the baby at work and home!!
Over the last 100 years, there is no doubt that women's situation in
most first world countries has improved dramatically. Now that we've
reached the 21st century, many would say that sexist inequality no
longer really exists. However, if we take a brief look at just one
aspect of our lives - work - it is clear that there is still a lot
left to fight for.
Defeating the bin
charges
Details from the campaigns in South Dublin, Dublin Corporation and
Drogheda
Argentina says
"Enough"
On the 19th and 20th of December 2001, there was a major popular
revolt in Argentina. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the
streets. The demonstrations were sparked by the government's plan to
cut public spending as part of an emergency financial package
demanded by the IMF
Black Hawk
Down
It was reasonably predictable that a slew of patriotic films would
follow September 11th. I will shortly deal with the slack jawed
excuse for a film that is Black Hawk Down but first a very short trip
into history: what really happened!
Thinking about
anarchism - Referendums
Irish anarchists voted NO in the anti-abortion referendum.But, I hear
somebody say, don't anarchists have an objection to voting?
Anarchists have no problem voting.
The Sellafield
MOX Blockade
On 20th December 80 Irish activists delayed workers entering
Sellafield on the opening day of the new MOX nuclear reprocessing
plant. I spoke with some members of Gluaiseacht who were at a second
demonstration in February, attended, by 200 which also blockaded
Sellafield.
Scapegoats
required - Only Asylum Seekers Need Apply!
In the past few months, there has been an upsurge of attacks on
asylum-seekers and refugees. Politicians worried about their
re-election chances and about losing their place on the Dáil
Éireann Gravy Train have led the attacks, unashamedly
targeting vulnerable asylum-seekers and refugees. Physical attacks
including the vicious murder of the Chinese youth Zhao Liu Tao have
resulted.
Low pay = Jobs? A
global lie
A low paid job is better than no job. At least that's what those
supporting corporate Globalisation argue. Big companies like Nike and
Gap pay workers badly, expect them to work long hours in appalling
conditions, buy off or exclude their trade-unions but at least at the
end of the day, these workers take home a pay packet.
To break or not to
break? - new union to be set up?
An idea has been floated among sections of the left and among
activists in the ATGWU that a new union - independent of the ICTU
(Irish Congress of Trade Unions) and strongly anti -'partnership' -
be formed
An American
Addiction: Drugs, Guerillas, Counterinsurgency - US Intervention in
Colombia.
Almost all of the 1.7 bn in 'aid' travelling to Colombia is in the
form of chemical and biological warfare and money that is given to
the military and paramilitaries (almost one and the same) who in turn
are responsible for the majority of atrocities committed as well as
being the main proponents of narcotics-trafficking in the
country.
Irish Indymedia
launched
After months of preparation an Irish Indymedia site was launched at
the start of this year. James McBarron, a relative novice on the
internet reviews the site to date.
Jan/Feb 2002 |
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The globalisation
we demand
Has it ever struck you as a little odd that the same governments that
claim to stand for globalisation are busy erecting expensive fences
along their borders to keep people out?
Sellafield's
sick New Year gift
On December the 20th 2001 - Sellafield brought radioactive plutonium
into the plant in a move to open up a MOX reprocessing plant for
dirty radioactive materials.
Spanish
Anarcho-syndicalists demonstrate in Madrid
A figure of twenty to twenty-five thousand demonstrated on December
2nd in what is the largest so far of a series of mainly
'black-and-red' demonstrations carried out in Madrid and other
Spanish towns over the last few years.
Chaos - Thinking
about anarchism
The media constantly tell us that anarchy is just another word for
disorder and disorganisation. Whether it be the Star or the
'educated' Irish Times, the same misuse of the word occurs with
monotonous regularity. Not all of this can be put down to lazy and
careless journalism.
Sectarianism
in North Belfast
As an Anarcho-Syndicalist, living in North Belfast I was interested
to see Gregor Kerr's recent article, 'Sectarianism and North Belfast'
in Workers Solidarity.
Vote No in
government's anti-choice referendum
As we face into campaigning against yet another abortion referendum
we are taking this opportunity to detail why we this is such an
important issue for us.
Abortion
rights - It's up to you and me
Media 'experts' and commentators have been saying that the
progressive changes that occurred around contraception, divorce and
equal age of consent for gays in Ireland in the early to mid-nineties
were a natural result of modernisation of Irish society and occurred
because liberal politicians decided to push for these changes. We are
supposed to feel that only our rulers can change things, that the
rest of us are pretty powerless. Well, it's not true.
An open letter
to a Fianna Fáil hypocrite
Noel Ahern is the Fianna Fail TD for Dublin North West, and a
supporter of the referendum to deny suicidal women with crisis
pregnancies the possibility of abortion
Grassroots
Gathering - The Important first Steps
People attending were all coming from an activist background - and we
could all learn from our different experiences. There was also a good
display of mutual respect for differing opinions and tactics
Murdered by
Fortress Europe
The discovery of the bodies of 8 asylum seekers in a container in
Wexford in late November shocked everyone. For those concerned with
the plight of asylum seekers the deaths were not only a disaster
waiting to happen but just the latest instalment in an ever grosser
tale of human misery and exploitation
Bin Tax Victory -
Court orders Corpo to collect non-payers' bins
After a marathon protest and despite the jailing of seven activists
from our campaign, Cork Corpo's strategy of bullying the people of
the city into paying twice to have their domestic rubbish collected,
ended in disarray.
The Euro: the root
of all evil?
It makes no sense for us to oppose the EU on the basis of some sort
of return to national sovereignty. Rather we must look for ways to
create our globalisation agenda out of the process. The protests at
the European Summits are proving one way of doing this
Getting involved
and news of the WSM
A small group of anarchists have been publishing Workers Solidarity
since 1984 in a variety of formats. We do so because we think it is
essential to not only tell people what anarchism is really about but
also to provide an honest alternative to the bosses' media.
Thats'
capitalism
NAFTA's right to pollute upheld, Ryaniar profits, 23 million dead in
war
PDF file of Workers Solidarity No 68
Download, print out and distribute copies of the paper
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