Workers Solidarity Movement

At the Dublin May Day rally, the guest speaker from the Belfast & District Council of Trade Unions quoted from an article, Direct Action in Belfast, written by Connolly and published in the Irish Worker, September 16th, 1911.

“We have just had, and taken, the opportunity in Belfast to put into practice a little of what is known on the Continent of Europe as ‘Direct Action’.

“Direct Action consists in ignoring all the legal and parliamentary ways of obtaining redress for the grievances of Labour, and proceeding to rectify these grievances by direct action upon the employer’s most susceptible part – his purse. This is very effective at times, and saves much needless worry, and much needless waste of union funds.

“Direct Action is not liked by lawyers, politicians, or employers. It keeps the two former out of a job, and often leaves the latter out of pocket. But it is useful to Labour, and if not relied upon too exclusively, or used too recklessly, it may yet be made a potent weapon in the armoury of the working class.”

Why are anarchists always dragging class into everything? Isn’t class struggle something more at home in a history book than in Celtic Tiger Ireland? After all you don’t see too many downtrodden workers wandering around in donkey jackets, cloth caps and heavy boots.

Indonesian workers employed by global security giant Securicor have been through a lot. Over a year ago, they took the decision to strike – and were promptly (and illegally) sacked by the company. Since then, they have tried to win back their jobs.

The recent spate of unusually destructive hurricanes in the US and the severe floods in Eastern Europe over the last 2 years have seen the climate change issue climbing the headlines once more. A special report in Time magazine acknowledged that the “serious debate” about whether climate is, or is not occuring, has ended. There is now agreement even among skeptics that climate change is real and that human activity is causing it.