Over 30 years of anarchist writing from Ireland listed under hundreds of topics
Irish billionaire wants your help to break French strikes
Date: Wed, 2016-06-29 15:30
Irish billionaire capitalist Michael O'Leary has launched an online petition asking you to back a capitalist and state move against French air traffic control (ATC) unions. It's called 'Keep Europes Skies Open'.
The end goal of such a move would be to outlaw strikes through state legislation, force unions to submit to binding state backed arbitration and promote the use of scab labour to undermine workers striking for better conditions.
Michael the billionaire is hoping working class people like us can be enticed into undermining French ATC unions by encouraging us to put our holiday plans ahead of the livelihoods of French workers.
That's not going to happen Michael.
Making sense of the Brexit tide of reaction and the reality of the racist vote
Date: Mon, 2016-06-27 16:21
The Leave / Brexit vote in the referendum came in the end as a surprise, a narrow win for Remain was expected. This may be because the core Leave vote was in the run-down white working class communities of the now desolate English and Welsh industrial zones. A population trapped in conditions of long-term unemployment and poverty who no one really pays much attention to anymore.
Some on the left have seized on the makeup of this core vote to suggest that there was some progressive element to the Brexit vote despite the campaign being led by racist hatemongers and wealthy US-oriented neoliberals. Mostly that’s a mixture of wishful thinking and post hoc justification for having called for a Leave vote in the first place, but it is true that a section of the working class, C2DEs in marketing speak, voted to Leave in close to a 2:1 ratio. Is the class composition of that vote enough to automatically make it progressive regardless of content? And what does it tell us that a section of the radical left seems to think the answer to that question is yes, that it is enough to be anti-establishment?
10 point guide for post Brexit resistance as racist right wins EU referendum
Date: Fri, 2016-06-24 11:11
1. The Brexit vote for the UK to leave the European Union demonstrates that even weak parliamentary democracy is incompatible with escalating neoliberal inequality. In the UK as elsewhere a tiny segment of the population have taken a larger and larger share of total wealth in the last decades. Particularly under austerity almost everyone else has seen their share of the wealth they produce decline massively.
2. The Remain campaign was headed up by the political class of the neoliberal establishment and backed by model neo liberal corporations like Ryanair. But because the anger against rising inequality was successfully diverted through scapegoating already marginalized people, in particular migrants, the Leave campaign was also lead by wealthy elitist bigots whose variant of neoliberalism looks to the former colonies and the US rather than Europe.
Derry 3 admit providing the abortion pill to make law unworkable
Date: Thu, 2016-06-23 14:05
Three women have just (23rd May) handed themselves into the Strand Road Police Station in Derry admitting to breaking the anti-choice abortion law. They will either admit to providing the abortion pill or taking it themselves.
We have openly and defiantly broken their law and they have ignored this, these three brave women have decided to force their hand.
Campaign to abolish the Special Criminal Court and Offences Against the State Act set up from Dublin meeting
Date: Wed, 2016-06-22 15:20
Last Thursday 16th June a meeting was held by activists that are opposed to the use of the Special Criminal Court. Speakers included Maureen O' Sullivan, Nicky Kelly (who was wrongly convicted in the Special Criminal Court), John Lynns and Aengus O Snodaigh.The matter was discussed and debated throughout the meeting and the end result is to create a campaign for the abolishing of the Special Criminal Court and the Offences Against the State Act. Everyone at the discussion voiced their concerns at the human rights abuses carried out by the state using the court and the Act.
Observations on Brexit and Lexit in the UK EU membership referendum
Date: Wed, 2016-06-22 14:27
ANARCHISM AND DIRECT DEMOCRACY
1. Anarchists are generally hostile to decision making mechanisms that demand people put their faith in others to make decisions on their behalf without mandate or recall. We favour systems of direct democracy where the people either discuss and vote on an issue directly, or delegate other people to meet up for such discussions but these delegates are both mandated and recallable.
2. However, we insist that even a perfect democracy has no right to oppress a minority. There can be no democratic mandate for racism, sexism or homophobia.
Anti-choice bigot attacks pro-choice organiser in Belfast
Date: Mon, 2016-06-20 12:40
This is a personal account from a member who was recently subjected to a sexist, homophobic attack. This post mentions male violence, anti-choice mentality, and the toxicity of masculinity.
Toxic masculinity has been a trending topic of discussion lately with the case of Brock Turner who raped an unconscious woman and received a meagre 3 months in jail for his atrocious crime, and the homophobic Orlando shooting committed by Omar Mateen a week ago which claimed the lives of 49 people and injured over 50.
Dublin bus for Belfast Rally4Choice 2016
Date: Thu, 2016-06-16 10:59
The WSM and Need Abortion Ireland are running a bus to the July 2nd Rally for Choice in Belfast. Tickets will be 10 euro and we would encourage you to buy a ticket as soon as possible as if we fill the bus soon we will then get a second bus. If you can't go or if you have some spare cash you can make a donation towards the cost of the bus at our paypal link below. Donations of 10 euro or more will allow us to subsidise some of the tickets for those on very low or no income.
ONLINE SALES HAVE CLOSED. THERE WILL BE A FEW SEATS AVAILABLE TOMORROW AT 10AM ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED BASIS. GET TO THE HUGH LANE AT 10 AND YOU'LL HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF BEING ABLE TO TRAVEL.
The roots of the 2016 rebellion in France
Date: Wed, 2016-06-15 12:55
Since the beginning of March there has been in France a strong protest movement against the El Khomri bill. This bill is supposed to be a complete reorganisation of our labour code. The law would encroach upon our established social rights and degrade our working conditions (increasing working hours, easier redundancy, weaker defences in case of conflict with an employer, etc).