April 2006

Issues of Workers Solidarity in 2006

Date:

A listing of all the issues of Workers Solidarity published in 2006

Workers Solidarity 94, Nov/Dect [PDF file]

Workers Solidarity 93, Sept/Oct [PDF file]

Workers Solidarity 92, June/July [PDF file]

Workers Solidarity 91 - March/April 2006

Date:

The March/April 2006 issue of Ireland's anarchist paper - Workers Solidarity

[Download the PDF file of WS91]

The Only Hope of Ireland

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Writing shortly after the execution of James Connolly for his part in the 1916 rising the Russian/US anarchist Alexander Berkman published 'The only hope of Ireland' in his paper 'The Blast'. He argues that British policy towards the leaders of the rising was typical of British policy elsewhere and in particular in India. He also attacks the timidity of Irish American who only organised protest meetings against the executions suggesting that instead "A British Consul ornamenting a lamppost in San Francisco or New York would quickly secure the respectful attention of the British lion".

WSM greetings to IWU conference

Date:

The 3rd conference of the Indepedent Workers Union took place in Dublin Saturday April 9. The Workers Solidarity Movement extended our solidarity and ongoing support for the work of the IWU.

Rossport Solidarity Camp June Bank Holiday Gathering

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To celebrate our 1-year anniversary and to get more people to Co. Mayo and involved with the campaign, we are hosting a June bank holiday weekend gathering on the camp. The gathering will take place from the 2nd to the 5th of June

Anti War: Back to Basics

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This March marks the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Everyday we see the result; bombings, killings, torture and other atrocities. There are no reliable estimates for those who have died but most put the figure at 100,000 or higher. It’s clear that the invasion didn’t help the people of Iraq and it is equally clear that the occupation is making the situation worse.

Pat Rabbitte and Immigration

Date:

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte showed his opportunism when he called for a look at work visas for EU nationals. He raised the spectre of 40 million poles chasing “Irish Jobs”. It was a thoroughly disappointing turn by Labour but hardly surprising.

1916: 90 Years on - Gombeen Nation

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This Easter marks the ninetieth anniversary of the 1916 rising. There is an unedifying scrabble by every politician in the state to wrap the green flag around themselves and stake their claim to be the inheritors of the tradition.

Joanne Wins: We All Win

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Friday February 24th saw one of Ireland’s biggest and most anti-union firms back down. Dunnes Stores wrote to sacked shop steward, Joanne Delaney telling her that she had been reinstated in her job at the Ashleaf Shopping Centre in Dublin.

WSM Speaking Tour

Date:

The Workers Solidarity Movement has been running a national speaking tour since the start of the year.

Thats capitalism

Date:

Our Money? - Their money? - Loadsa Money - Taxpayers Money? - Offensive

State authority - Thinking about Anarchism

Date:

Mary Harney has banned the sale of magic mushrooms!! In a decision taken in record-quick time, Harney and her government colleagues decided that they couldn’t have us all going around sampling mind-altering fungi and maybe even enjoying them. More importantly the decision was made that we couldn’t be trusted to decide for ourselves what was safe/unsafe for each of us to try. We need such decisions to be made for us because apparently we are incapable of deciding for ourselves.

Cartoons and Caricatures

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By now we are all familiar with the cartoons commissioned and published by the Danish magazine Jllands – Posten which aroused such anger in the Muslim world and in Muslim communities worldwide.

Wal Mart: Cut Price Employees?

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The supermarket giant Asda, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, has recently taken over 12 Safeway stores in Northern Ireland. It has also been ordered to pay £850,000 in compensation to staff at their huge distribution centre at Washington in the north east of England

Changes in Bolivia: The victory of Evo Morales

Date:

The victory of Evo Morales in the presidential elections in Bolivia in December has underlined once more that across Latin America there is a demand for change. The first significant victory came back in 2002 when Lula, the leader of the Brazilian Workers Party was elected to power after a long and arduous campaign that stretched back almost two decade. It is claimed that Lulu’s victory and his pronouncements about making Brazil a fairer society sent ‘shivers’ through world stock markets.

The Love Ulster Riot In Dublin

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A small band of fringe nationalists decided to stop the Love Ulster parade. There is no question but that crowd of loyalists are sectarian bigots. During a protest against the release of republican prisoners as part of the Good Friday agreement, their leader, Willie Frazer, was asked about loyalist murder gang prisoners “They should never have been locked up in the first place,” he replied.

Rossport Solidarity Camp Reopens 2006

Date:

Rosssport Solidarity Camp is re-opening at the moment, in preparation for any attempt by Shell to recommence work, something that they couldn’t do over winter, due to the fatal combination of rain and bog.

Dublin May Day march

Date:

Celebrate May Day

Saturday April 29th
Assemble 2.30pm at Parnell Square.

March with the WSM

1916 – what are they celebrating?

Date:

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.

1916, left republicanism, anarchism and class struggle

Date:

This article is an anarchist analysis of the 1916 insurrection and the war of independence in the context of the struggle for socialism in Ireland and internationally. It concentrates on the 'unknown' but intense class struggle that ran alongside the war of independence and the role republicanism played in the suppression of that struggle. It asks 'what is freedom' and shows how anarchism originated amongst earlier European left republicans as an answer to the limitations of republicanism.

Image: O'Connell street after the insurrection