May 2014

Mayday: Building A New Workers Movement - International Anarchist statement

Date:

The WSM is one of the signatures on this international anarchist statement produced for Mayday 2014 involving 8 groups in 7 countries at time of publication.  This is part of our ongoing involvement in the Anarkismo.net network involving anarchist organisations in some 30 countries.

 

PDF version of the text & graphic

The British Miners strike of 1984-85 -Video & Audio from DABF 2014

Date:

At this session at the Dublin anarchist bookfair Dave Douglass talked about his experiences of 1984 - the year the British mines almost defeated Thatcher. "That fight in 84-85 involved the whole community, it was not only about unions. It was partly about unions but it was about an industry, it was about a way of life. The miners were almost an ethnicity, with father to son for hundreds and hundreds of years in the same miner family. And we had a very strong revolutionary and radical tradition. So, all of the politics of power, fuel power was about political power and not just about energy. It was about more than that. It was about "Who rules ?""

Priceless land: Resisting Displacement in Colombia ; resisting Fracking in Ireland - Audio from DABF 2014

Date:

Nelly Cuadros a community activist from the central department of Tolima, Colombia shared with the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair her stories of resistance, and lessons on uniting against injustice. Women play a central role in these communities and, in spite of discrimination as both peasants and women, are emerging as important social leaders for this pivotal time.

This talk was part of Latin American Solidarity Week. As a last minute addition to the program Leah also spoke about the struggle against Fracking in Ireland

Audio of 10 Minute Campaign Talks at the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair 2014 - Stop NATO, Vegan, IOPS

Date:

A space at which people involved in a variety of struggles explained them and sought solidarity. There were three talks, Vegan Information Project , Stop NATO in Cymru and the International Organisation for a Participatory Society (IOPS). 

Sex Work as Work: Audio of A Conversation with Selma James at the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair

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Selma James lead off a discussion on sex work at the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair alongside, sex worker Jenny O, and Wendy Lyon who blogs at Feminist Ire

There is then a 30 minute discussion with the audience around anarchism, sex work and feminism.

 

Sex Work as Work: A Conversation with Selma James at the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair by Workers Solidarity on Mixcloud

 

Fury in Turkey over miner's deaths - Statement by Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet

Date:

We are relaying yesterday's statement from our comrades in Turkey's Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (Revolutionary Anarchist Action) on the mining catastrophe in Soma, the AKP and state corruption behind it and the police repression of protestors in Turkey's major cities.

 

Dublin Housing Action: Past, Present and Future

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Over the years, Dublin’s working class has organised to fight landlords, developers and politicians in search of decent housing and well-being for all. This panel at the 9th Dublin anarchist bookfair considered how some of these earlier campaigns and direct actions can inform today’s struggles.

 

Dublin Housing Action: Past, Present and Future - Anarchist bookfair 2014 audio by Workers Solidarity on Mixcloud

 

Religion in the Irish education system

Date:
“Father Ted: It’s not as if everyone’s going to go off and join some mad religious cult just because we go off for a picnic for a couple of hours.
 
Father Dougal: God, Ted, I heard about those cults. Everyone dressing in black and saying our Lord’s gonna come back and judge us all!
 
Father Ted: No... No, Dougal, that’s us. That’s Catholicism.”
 

An Anarchist Critique of Horizontalism

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Horizontalism is an emerging term used to describe the key common characteristics of the waves of rebellion of the last decade. Occupy in 2011 was the peak to date but the term Horizontalism itself appears to originate the rebellion in Argentina after the 2001 banking crisis there. Marina Sitrin in her book on that rebellion says the term was used to describe the neighborhood, workplace & unemployed assemblies that emerged to form “social movements seeking self-management, autonomy and direct democracy.” 
 

Eviction attempt defeated in Grangegorman

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Supports defend squat in DublinWednesday 21st saw another successful defence against an eviction in Dublin.  This time in the Stoneybatter area.  We put out an alert after we were told that a gang of 3 men with crowbars "came this afternoon and broke in to one of the houses. About 40-50 people showed up outside to show support, then 5 Garda showed up. People inside resisted and argued until the alleged owners and Garda left the house and left the street to a large round of applause.

Everything is cool now. The street was closed off and there was lots of music, food, fun, and we managed to get the support of many parents and school children on the way home from school.

Generally speaking, the Garda didn't know what to do and there was wide public support. Small victory for now"

Dub: Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth - discussion with author James Davis

Date:

James Davis is visiting Dublin and will be giving a talk for the WSM on the topic of Catastrophism in Seomra Spraoi (10 Belvedere Court) at 20.00 on Weds June 25th.

We live in catastrophic times. The world is reeling from the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression, with the threat of further meltdowns ever-looming. Global warming and myriad dire ecological disasters worsen—with little if any action to halt them—their effects rippling across the planet in the shape of almost Biblical floods, fires, droughts, and hurricanes. Governments warn that there is no alternative to the bitter medicine they prescribe—or risk devastating financial or social collapse. The right, whether religious or secular, views the present as catastrophic and wants to turn the clock back. The left fears for the worst, but hopes some good will emerge from the rubble. Visions of the apocalypse and predictions of impending doom abound. Across the political spectrum, a culture of fear reigns.