Over 30 years of anarchist writing from Ireland listed under hundreds of topics
Londres brûle – causes et conséquences des émeutes, une perspective anarchiste
Date: Fri, 2011-08-19 13:41
Le meurtre de Mark Duggan par la police a engendré quatre nuits d’émeutes dans toute l’Angleterre. Le déclencheur immédiat en a été le meurtre lui-même, mais aussi la goujaterie de la police envers la famille et les amis de Mark. Cependant, les émeutes ont rapidement pris une dimension plus large, exprimant une colère et une aliénation plus générales, colère qui trop souvent a été mal ciblée, frappant les cibles les plus proches et à portée de main. Il y eut par conséquent de grandes destructions de biens, dans des quartiers déjà déshérités, et des attaques anti-sociales contre des riverains. Malgré ces aspects, les racines des émeutes résident dans les conditions économiques et politiques qui régissent ces zones, non pas dans la “piètre éducation” des parents ou dans la “criminalité aveugle”. Ces conditions ont été créées par cette même élite de politiciens et d’hommes d’affaire qui en appellent maintenant à un retour à la normalité et à la répression. [Thanks to liberationirlande for the translation of this article, you can read the orignal in English]
(Image: By SkyFireXII via Flickr Creative Commons 2.0)
Public sector unions to ballot on strike action to defend jobs, pay and conditions
Date: Fri, 2011-08-19 10:14
Up to ninety thousand public sector workers are to be balloted by the largest trade unions Unison and NIPSA on whether to take strike action to defend jobs, pay and conditions. Health and education workers will vote on the ballot between the 22nd August and 20 September as Unison regional secretary Patricia McKeown warns that essential services are facing "the biggest budget cuts in their history."
Resist plans to close Belfast City A&E
Date: Thu, 2011-08-18 10:18
The cut-backs in essential public services continues unabated with plans by the Northern Ireland Health minister Edwin Poots to close the Belfast City A&E award by October. This is an attack not only on the staff but the entire community and should be treated as such.
Book-launch and Talk: Tommy McKearney's, ”The Provisional IRA from Insurrection to Parliament” Tuesday August 23rd 7:30pm @solidaritybooks
Date: Tue, 2011-08-16 15:49
On August 23rd Solidarity Books on Douglas St., Cork will host a booklaunch for the new book by Tommy McKearney, ”The Provisional IRA from Insurrection to Parliament.” Tommy McKearney was a senior member of the Provisional IRA from the early 1970s until his arrest in 1977. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he served 16 years during which time he participated in the 1980 hunger strike in the Maze. He is now a freelance journalist and an organizer with the Independent Workers Union.
Iarnroid Eireann's discrimination against same sex couples is not new
Date: Tue, 2011-08-16 15:36
This weekend witnessed the shameful discrimination against a same sex couple when they attempted to use a travel pass at Hueston station in Dublin. The incident occured ironically enough as the couple concerned returned from a march demanding same sex marraige equality in Ireland. The scandal has been passed off by the hierarchy of Iarnroid Eireann as something of a one off incident and that the company has changed their ways. In fact this policy has been in place since at least 2008.
London burns - causes & consequences of the riots - an anarchist perspective
Date: Sat, 2011-08-13 17:43
The police killing of Mark Duggan resulted in four nights of rioting across England. The immediate trigger was the killing itself, and the disrespect shown by the police to Mark’s family and friends. But the riots rapidly broadened to expressions of a more general anger and alienation; an anger that was all too often unfocused and striking out at the nearest target of opportunity. This resulted in widespread destruction of resources in already deprived neighborhoods and some anti-social attacks on bystanders. Despite this, the roots of the riots lie in the economic and political conditions of these districts, and not in ‘poor parenting’ or ‘mindless criminality’. These conditions were created by the very politicians and business elite who now call for a return to normality and repression. [French translation]
(Image: By SkyFireXII via Flickr Creative Commons 2.0)
Eyewitness to the London riots - it's all about class
Date: Wed, 2011-08-10 23:37
Workers Solidarity interviewed Hackney local and education worker, Alex Carver, about the roots of the London riots. Alex is a long standing activist in the IWW union, housing struggles in the East End, and the big left events since the start of the recession, most recently the M26 Militant Workers Block and the J30 Strike project. He was a direct witness to the rioting on Monday. Here he tells Workers Solidarity why he thinks that the riots are best understood by loooking at class rather than race.
Organising against the household tax - You have a role to play
Date: Wed, 2011-08-10 10:25
Workers Solidarity Movement members are currently centrally involved in helping to establish a campaign against the new household tax announced by the government. For this campaign to be successful it will have to be built at a local level in every area of Dublin and in every town and city around the country. The central plank of the campaign will be non-payment and it will be based on the successful anti-water charges campaign of the 1990s.
Fuel Poverty on the Rise
Date: Mon, 2011-08-08 19:39
Northern Ireland suffers from some of the worst poverty in Western Europe according to a report produced by a consumer watchdog. The Price of being Poor released by the Consumer Council found that our wages are the lowest in the UK and those who have least are expected to pay more for essential good and services such as the use of transport and fuel poverty.
Waterford Gardai convicted of assault
Date: Mon, 2011-08-08 19:27
Three Gardai have been convicted in Waterford in the case of a man set upon and assaulted in the city centre. Anthony Holness was taking a piss in New street when he was set upon by the Gardai who beat him and arrested him. Garda Daniel Hickey and Sgt Martha McEnery were both convicted of assault whilst Garda John Burke was convicted of intending to pervert the course of justice, in his case by moving away the cctv cameras from recording the scene.