No 53 Spring 1998 |
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No 53 Spring 1998 |
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No 54 Summer 1998 |
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No 55 Autumn 1998 |
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News of some WSM activity including a national anarchist gathering we are planning for the end of March and Polish and Turkish translation of the Platform.
Short pieces about the latest stupidies of Capitalism
The result of the talks will almost certainly be to make sectarianism official and institutionalise it. We will see Unionist and Nationalist politicians going into competition for investment from the multinationals and the E.U. for "their" areas
John O'Donoghue is already on record as saying that up to 90% of current applications for asylum are likely to be refused. It is imperative that all anti-racists immediately organise to campaign against these threatened deportations. Such a campaign has much to learn from anti-racism campaigns throughout Europe such as the 'Sans Papiers' movement in France.
Building the anti-racist resistance
The Anti Racism Campaign (ARC) is based on a founding statement which describes it as "an open and democratic alliance of people who came together to combat the anti-refugee and anti-immigrant hysteria initiated and encouraged by politicians and the media".
Anti racism campaign on the streets
Over the past few months, members of the Anti-Racism Campaign (ARC) have been involved in a number of public activities aimed at highlighting and promoting the anti-racist message
Free speech and the litter act
The use of the Litter Act to prevent the distribution of anti-racist leaflets is a very serious step. A blanket ban on the distribution of leaflets would have serious consequences for other political, environmental, civil liberties, community or trade union campaigns.
The closure of Seagate in Clonmel with the loss of 1,600 jobs underlines the knife-edge on which the Celtic Tiger economy is balanced. But, particularly in the greater Dublin area, there is an economic boom and for many - though not all - this boom has brought jobs and hope for the future. Where did this boom come from and how long will it last?
Corruption, corruption, corruption, everywhere you go. No matter where you turn these days, it seems to jump right up into your face. Lowry. Haughey. Brown paper bags. Wads of cash. Bank Drafts. Favours. Planning permission. Rezoning. The Cayman Islands!
CHRISTMAS IS well behind us but Scrooge refuses to go away. Bosses in many shops, restaurants, garages are still paying wages as low as £2.50 per hour. Civil Servants in junior clerical posts are still so badly paid that they qualify for the Family Income Supplement.
Workers Solidarity reporter Joe King spent a couple of hours each month up to last Christmas tracking down the bosses who pay a pittance. Giving himself a good Leaving Certificate, some shop and restaurant experience and a false name he set about answering advertisements, phoning personnel officers and going to interviews.
Oscar Wilde was also inspired by politics. He was not blind to the obvious early failings of modern day society. The poverty he wrote about over a century ago, in 'The Soul of Man Under Socialism', exists on the streets of Dublin today.
Bolshevik modes of organisation have particular outcomes, the centralisation of power. This sort of organisation means that 'Stalin didn't fall from the moon' but was the inheritor of this undemocratic organisation.
Most young people start to become aware of their sexual identity from the age of 11 or 12 onwards. However for young lesbians, bisexuals and gays this can be the beginning of a lot of trouble.
Inside modern Mexico the name of Ricardo Flores Magon is well known, and is regarded in a somewhat similar way to that of James Connolly in Ireland. But outside Mexico few have heard of him.
A spectre was haunting the ruling class of most European countries in the aftermath of the French revolution in 1798. That spectre was democracy. The "problem with democracy" was that if it was conceded then the ordinary poor people, being much more numerous than their rulers, would surely swamp them. This pamphlet outlines the two "solutions" proposed to this problem.
'Don't mourn, Organise', Joe Hill said before he was executed by the US state. It's nothing more than common sense to say that two heads are better than one. The more people working together, the more that can be achieved. But organisation is more than the coming together of kindred spirits.
Before Christmas, abortion, once again was in the Irish headlines. Once again it was a teenager who suffered because successive governments have continually avoided introducing legislation which would allow abortion in Ireland.
When Shell managers in Nigeria declare openly that they prefer military dictatorship to representative rule, they know what they are talking about.
In your review of "Where There's Brass there's Muck" in Workers Solidarity no.52, you mention the successful "Green Bans" of the Builders Labourers Federation of New South Wales.
News of WSM activity
NIB had been operating a relatively simple but yet ingenious scam. As the computer printed out customers' statements each quarter, an official would examine the interest due on each one and select certain customers for overcharging.
Saturday April 25th saw over 1,000 people marching through Dublin, 400 in Cork and 150 in Limerick to protest against racism and deportations. There were also activities in Galway and Roscrea, and cross-border trains were leafleted in Belfast.
We get to live with the delays and the brunt of pollution, road accidents and traffic jams. So it is in our interests to press for change. We must press for transport that is people and environment friendly.
TWO HUGE STRUGGLES broke out earlier this year. One was for union recognition at Ryanair, the other was against the black economy on building sites. Both showed that ordinary workers are prepared to fight. The biggest union in the country, SIPTU, seems to have done its best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Members of a small union, BATU, defeated one of the biggest construction firms.
They also defied the courts and refused to be shackled by the Industrial Relations Act. In SIPTU the ordinary members have little effective control over their own union. In BATU the activists knew they had to make the union serve them.
They showed the rest of us the power of membership involvement and effective picketing. They set up an unofficial grouping - Building Workers Against the Black Economy - within their union, kept control of their struggle, and won. We can learn a lot from them.
One local struggle, no matter how determined or daring, won't overthrow the system. On the other hand, a network of struggles, supporting and encouraging each other, can spread and grow to be capable of just that.
Painstaking research of a different variety, laid to the foundations for a view of the media and its role in our society. Rather than seeing the media as a "defender of freedom", Herman and Chomsky outlined example after example of where the media either lied about the truth or distorted the news beyond actual recognition.
The end of April and the start of May saw a massive strike wave in Denmark. Almost half a million workers went on strike, including almost all industrial workers and most workers in transport and building.
The history we learn in school would have us believe that the working class of Germany and Italy hardly even complained about the rise of fascism in the 1920s and 1930s. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Dublin Docklands, from Ringsend to Sheriff Street, are starting a very major re-development which will take place over the next fifteen years. Already the property developers are in the area buying up the land, a lot of which is owned by state and semi-state companies.
Mujeres Libres (Free Women) were a group of women anarchists who organised and fought both for women's liberation and an anarchist revolution during the Spanish Civil War. The work they did is truly inspirational.
The Liverpool dockers were forced to end their dispute after 28 months in January of this year. Throughout their struggle the dockers had identified the attack on them as part of an international attack on dockworkers and on workers in general. On April 7th the main docks company in Australia (Patricks) sacked its entire workforce of 1,400.
The huge vote, North and South, in favour of the 'Good Friday Agreement' shows that the vast majority do not want a return to pre-ceasefire violence. Can this agreement get to the root of the sectarian problem and deal with the hatreds, fears and suspicions that have bedevilled our country? Andrew Flood looks at the prospects.
Over 37,000 are on the waiting lists for public houses. Meanwhile landlords charge higher and higher rents for smaller and smaller apartments. Why is this happening and what can be done to stop it?
For almost three decades we have seen too many "tragic mistakes" like Bloody Friday, Birmingham, the La Mon Hotel, Enniskillen, the Abercorn restaurant, Claudy, the Shankill Road, etc. etc. Planting bombs in town centres means treating the risk of casualties as "acceptable"
Let Asylum-Seekers work. They are totally reliant on social welfare, and are denied the chance to contribute, to interact and to put down roots in society
Workers in the public sector are being asked to act as spies and informers in tracking down people without appropriate papers. These workers should not allow themselves to be used in this way
Trade Unionists form a very important section of the fighting force - especially those in the public sector who are in daily contact with refugees and asylum-seekers
BILL CLINTON, fresh from his no-warning bombing of the factory which produced nearly half of Sudan's medicines, was fawned over by the media when he came here in September. To give an insight into an ofen hidden side of life in the "world's greatest democracy", we are printing this letter we received from a prisoner in one of his jails.
A meeting took place in Portlaoise, on July 8th, attended by people concerned at recent statements by Ms Mary Harney, Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise & Employment. It called for a campaign to defend welfare rights and oppose the low wage strategy of recent governments.
Recent months have seen the banking and financial sectors in Ireland coming under scrutiny as never before
The latest figures from the United Nations Human Development Report about world poverty and poverty in Ireland.
The Irish rail network is now close to disintegration according to CIE's own chief executive Michael McDonnell.
They've taken my football team and turned her onto the streets so that she can make a buck. Manchester United has become just another hooker in the growing entertainment industry
We had the referendum, so where is the law?
NEWSPAPER EDITORS and politicians love to put 'anarchism' and 'violence' together, as if they were one and the same thing. It is much easier to slander your opponants than to explain their ideas. However this is not to deny that there have been anarchists who responded in kind to the violence of the ruling class.
Corruption in the sell off of Belfast International Airport
Louise Michel was a French anarchist women who fought in the Paris commune and after escaping the death penalty spent the rest of her live in the anarchist movement.
Little has been written about day-to-day life in the rebel area, here we help to right this balance
Two short pieces on a court victory for Mumia Abu Jamal and the end of the Australian dockers strike
This book is written by two members of the Awareness League, a 1000-strong anarcho-syndicalist organisation in Nigeria
Al Gore in Vietnam
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