May 2008

It’s never been so good for Northern Ireland’s rich club

Date:

While the rest of us are slaving away to make end’s meat and facing the brunt of the ‘credit crunch’. We are continually told by our political rulers to be ‘competitive’ for the bosses waiting for the promised ‘trickle-down effect’ that never arrives. Staggering rises in energy prices above the rate of inflation, imposition of un-wanted water charges while hundreds of people die every year due to ‘fuel poverty’ it seems the North elite rich club have never had it so good according to the latest Sunday Times rich list. There is now a record of 61 people from the north among Ireland’s richest 250 and they are getting richer! Last year their wealth increased to a combined £10.7 billion! On top of the list like every year is Fermanagh’s Sean Quinn worth about £3.7 billion, who does allot of dealing in insurance and property market. Alright for some eh?

Belfast: Direct action gets the goods!

Date:

Following three successful pickets of Delaney’s restaurant in Belfast sacked worker Dasa Kacova has won all her demands and been offered her job back.

Housing Executive to cut 400 jobs

Date:

Members of the public service union, NIPSA, were protesting outside the Housing Executive on March 26th. The Union has accused management of sacking over 60 temporary staff in the past few weeks without any consultation, and without any arrangements being made to cover the work. Bosses had previously agreed to take no action until the union had seen new staffing plans, but then went ahead and broke the agreement.

Mayday 2008 anarchist statement

Date:

International Anarchist statement for International Workers Day 2008

Workers Solidarity 103

Date:

Issue 103 of Workers Solidarity -May-June 2008

Articles in this issue include:

  • No to Lisbon
  • Water tax is a double tax
  • Celebrating May Day
  • Nine Derry people face jail for decommissioning weapons
  • Thinking about anarchism: why managers mess up
  • American Soldiers Speak Out Against The War
  • Health March: Enough is Enough
  • Review: Flat Earth News
  • Housing Executive to cut 400 jobs
  • Belfast: Direction action gets the goods!

Belfast: Just Books Presents Ken Loach's Bread and Roses

Date:

7pm Saturday 10th May

Campaign for a Decent Health Service Lobby of Dail

Date:

Campaign for a Decent Public Health Service

Dublin Council of Trade Unions
Youth Committee ICTU
Patients Together

Lobby by
trade unionists, patients', hospital and health groups
1 –2 p.m., Wednesday 7th May 2008, Dáil Eireann, Dublin

Building the Anarchist Alternative

Date:

All welcome

Cork Women's Right to Choose interview - Putting Politics Before Health

Date:

Abortion is a criminal offence in Ireland, even in cases in which a woman is carrying a non-viable foetus, is pregnant as a result of rape or incest or where pregnancy threatens her health. The state has not clarified the circumstances in which abortion to save the life of the women is permissible. The following is an interview with a member of the Cork Women's Right to Choose (CWRTC), an activist group campaigning for abortion rights in Cork (first published in Rebel Worker).

Archive of anarchist educationals on Women's Issues to 2008

Date:

The following is a list of talks given to WSM branches and public meetings on women's issues and feminism up to 2008.

The successful struggle against Nuclear Power at Carnsore Point in Co. Wexford, Ireland

Date:

Britain, France, Germany, the US, and a host of other countries the last 25 years have seen very large movements seeking to close down nuclear power stations. Ireland hasn't. We didn't need to. A big victory was won here when we stopped the then Fianna Fail government going ahead with their plans to build not one, but four, nuclear power stations at Carnsore Point in Co. Wexford in the late 1970s.

Anarchism and the Environmental Movement

Date:

The major problem with any discussion of the 'Green Movement' is that it does not exist as a single body of ideas. Instead both individuals and organisations hold a range of positions from anarchism right across the political spectrum to ideas influenced by fascism. Any of the terms, environmentalist, ecologist etc are very vague definitions of a wide bodies of idea and practise, probably even wider and vaguer then socialism. Therefore we should not create a false choice between anarchism and environmentalism but rather ask what sort of environmental theory and action should anarchists favour on the one hand and on the other explain why any environmentalist should also be a class struggle anarchist

El anarquismo y el movimiento ambiental

Date:

El problema principal con cualquier debate sobre el "Movimiento Verde" es que no existe como un solo cuerpo de ideas. En lugar de eso tanto individuos como organizaciones sostienen un rango de posiciones desde el anarquismo a través del espectro político hasta las ideas influenciadas por el fascismo. Cualquier término, ambientalismo, ecologismo, etc son definiciones muy vagas de unos amplios cuerpos de ideas y prácticas, probablemente incluso más amplios y más vagos que el socialismo. Por eso no deberíamos crear una falsa elección entre anarquismo y ecologismo sino más bien deberíamos preguntarnos qué tipo de teoría y acción ambiental deberíamos favorecer los anarquistas por un lado y por el otro explicar por qué cualquier ecologista también debería ser un anarquista de lucha de clases.

Mayday 2008: A Fine Day for the Working Class

Date:

For those of us involved in the fight for workers' power, the 1st of May gave us much to be cheerful about. Traditionally a day to celebrate working class solidarity and militancy, workers in America and Iraq, marked May 1st with a wonderful demonstration of both of these fine qualities.

Belfast residents take to the streets!

Date:

It seems that trigger happy Regional Development minister Conor Murphy is at it again with proposals for residents in 5 pilot areas in and around the city centre to pay a flat rate tax of £40 annually regardless of household income for the privilege of parking outside their own home despite firm opposition.

The Colombian Conflict: Voices of the Grassroots

Date:

We invite everyone on May 15th at 19:00 to Wynn's Hotel, for the public talk on the Colombian conflict delivered by representatives of various social movements in Colombia who have been in the frontline of the struggle for social justice. We invite different sectors of Irish society to express their solidarity with those who in the grassroots are helping to building up eveyday a new and just society.

People, Pollution, Profit and Production

Date:

The last century has been marked by the most explosive growth of pollution and production in the entire history of humanity. The changes brought about by industrialisation under the economic system of capitalism have lead to a large number of systemic problems. Anarchist communism is in a unique position to solve these systemic problems.

When we as workers engage in the production of goods and services, we do so for the benefit of the owners of the means of production. These capitalists, utilise our productive efforts to extract profits. This profit motive underlies many of the ecological and social problems that exist in modern society.

Shell to Sea

Date:

I know a lot of people might be going to a certain 21st birth day tonight but, maybe, swing by Murrays on the way.

Film Review: Injustice

Date:

“The police are not concerned about protecting me or any of the working class, because they are put here by the ruling class to protect the interests of the rich from the poor. To enforce their laws that keep together their system, that keeps them at the top and the majority at the bottom”.

Limerick City Centre - Vote NO to Lisbon Treaty Stall

Date:

Anarchists in Limerick will be holding a Vote NO stall...