Workers Solidarity Movement

A collection of articles from the British anarchist newpaper freedom about the home rule and land struggles in Ireland from 1887-88

Σημειώσεις από μια ομιλία
Το κείμενο αυτό είναι βασικά ομιλία της συντρόφισσας στον τόπο όπου ζει. Αρχικά δημοσιεύτηκε με τον τίτλο «Η σπουδαιότητα της Ισπανίας»

In 1922 klaagde Emma Goldman dat "Sovjet Rusland het moderne socialistische Lourdes was geworden, waar de blinde en de kreupele, de dove en de stomme samen kwamen voor wonderbaarlijke genezingen."(1) De Russische Revolutie was de eerste gelegenheid waar de revolutionaire ideeën konden worden toegepast in het dagelijkse leven. Wat eerst theorie was, was nu praktijk. De strijd tussen de twee opvattingen der revolutie - de staatscentralisten en de libertarian federalisten - gingen van het abstracte naar het concrete rijk.

Today a social revolution that took place seventy years ago is remembered by libertarian socialists as an example of how our ideas can work. The Spanish revolution came closer to realising the possibilities of a free stateless society on a huge scale than any other revolution in history. (Image: Anarchist Milita woman during the revolution) 

Anyone who remembers their Leaving Cert history will know about the Spanish Civil War which was sparked off in July 1936 with an attempted military coup against the liberal / left wing government of the day. What you might not be aware of is the ‘Spanish Revolution’ – the activities and massive change which occurred in the parts of the country which were not controlled by the fascists.

‘The Liberties’ gets its name from a number of areas which were outside the medieval walls of Dublin City. This doesn’t mean that they were somehow free - it just means that instead of being under the city’s jurisdiction they were ruled by a different group of masters. The Archbishop of Dublin was the boss of one section, the Earl of Meath was in charge of another, and so on. These men of wealth and power taxed the areas they controlled and made money from them but didn’t really care about anyone who lived there.

I'm just after returning from watching Ken Loach's Palm D'or reaping drama 'The Wind That Shakes The Barley' and like most feel slightly compelled to add one or two words to the flurry of type and hype that has accompanied the movies release on these shores. The Wind That Shakes The Barley is a typical Loach movie portraying many of the core techniques of his previous outtings. Again he relies on plunging a shallowly crafted personal relationship, this time between two brothers, into a set of tragic circumstances. These circumstances provide an emotional cover for his overly didactic political approach to popularising alternative historical mythologies that challenge the authors of a victors' history. This time the contested historicity is the rabid nationalism of the Irish text book, that sweeps aside socialist and labour based movements in the process of consolidation of the free state.

Easter Proclamation, read by Pádraig Pearse outside the GPO, Dublin at the start of the Easter Rising, April 24 1916.

As agreed at a public meeting, held Liberty Hall 22 March 1914 from a draft prepared by Sean O’Casey.

There is something very odd with the official commemoration of 1916. The same government which is celebrating an insurrection against imperialism 90 years ago is today – against the wishes of the majority of the Irish people – allowing Irish airports to be used in support of an imperialist war. And whereas the 1916 proclamation referred to “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland” successive southern governments have shown themselves to be on the side of international corporations. Most recently this has shown itself in the manner in which the Corrib gas fields of Co’ Mayo were handed over to the Shell corporation.