Workers Solidarity Movement

The announcement from the government that households are to face a charge of €100 per annum from January 1st with separate water and property taxes to follow by 2014 has met with fierce opposition across the country.  Radio and television shows have been inundated with texts and phonecalls from irate people who see this latest tax as a step too far and who have been pledging to resist the charge.  In a TV3 IrelandAM poll this morning, Wednesday, 87% of people answered ‘Yes’ to the question “Would you consider boycotting the household charge?”

Rossport Solidarity Camp (RSC) reported Friday morning that Shell was finally resumed work at the compound in Aughoose. In response a national day of a action has been called for 29th July. The compound in Aughoose is where Shell intend to start digging the tunnel to house a section of the experimental high pressure raw gas pipeline that has been opposed for a decade by the local community.

One of North Belfast’s top psychiatric doctors Dr Maria O’Kane said at least 70% of patients her staff are treating in the Mater Hospital in Belfast for suicide and self harm issues have a history of alcohol misuse.

Following on from this weeks July 12th rioting across the North and report from a WSM member present during the disturbances in Ardoyne, Guardian presenters Hugh Muir and Peter Sale have produced an excellent podcast reviewing the roots of the latest trouble. The podcast interviews convicted members of 'dissident republican' organisations and examines the socio/economic and political context of the latest sectarian violence. The podcast concludes that the violence remains within the fringes of the working-class, but is dangerous nevertheless.

Life is not easy in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia for young Miloš, between seductresses and...

Closely Watched Trains,
Czechoslovakia (1966) 92 mins
directed by Jiří Menzel

"one of the pinnacles of the Czech New Wave of the 60s" The Guardian

"earthy humor...wonderfully sly...charming and poignant comprehension of the psychology of sex" N.Y. Times

Sunday July 17th 8 pm at Solidarity Books 43 Douglas Street http://solidaritybooks.org admission free, donations appreciated

It is this time of year again when the spectre of sectarianism and division comes to the fore in the north of Ireland. It is a time when communities, kerbstones and poles are marked and carved into territory. There are those who will be living in fear and silenced from speaking out while the rest of us are told to turn the other check in the interests of peace and stability. It is unfortunate, if perhaps somewhat inevitable, that the now annual battles around the ‘marching season’ fall along religious lines. The Orange parades are being used to test the supposed 'neutrality' of the northern regime and the PSNI in particular. The losing side in this dangerous game however is likely to be the working class, as the confrontations and the sectarian attacks that occur around the Orange marches drive people further into ‘their own’ communities.

Film Night on Sunday nites hosted by Couchsurfers International 

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area, South Korea (2000) directed by Park Chan-Wook (director of acclaimed Old Boy) Sunday July 10th, 19.30 at Solidarity Books In the DMZ separating North and South Korea, two North Korean soldiers have been killed, supposedly by one South Korean soldier.

The government has made it clear that it is determined to press ahead with its attempts to impose not one but two new taxes on us.  Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan is preparing to bring plans to government for a household tax, probably starting at €100 per year, from 1st January.  This tax will be added to by a water tax, expected to be introduced within the next couple of years.

The June bank holiday weekend saw hundreds traveling to Erris for the Party Against the Pioe festival organised by the Rossport Solidarity Camp. The festival was held beside the Shell construction compound at Aghoose, where the tunnel for the last stage of their controversial experimental raw gas pipeline is to be started. This compound has been the site of many protests, including one earlier in the week when security punched a female Shell to Sea campaigner in the face.

Around 60 anti-water tax campaigners placed a picket on the water metering conference at Croke Park this morning. Such a large turnout at 8.30 am must have caused concern for the attending companies who view the government plan to charge for and meter water as an easy way for them to make a fast buck.  It has been announced that 600 million euro is to be spent imposing the plan. It's fast becoming clear that the introduction of water charges will face serious resistance and those attending must be aware that the previous attempt to impose a water tax was defeated by such mass resistance in the 1990's.