Workers Solidarity Movement

This morning around 50 Shell to Sea campaigners kicked off the Week of Action against Shell's experimental high pressure gas pipe in Erris by tearing up the bog road Shell has laid as part of its attempt to finish the pipeline.  They also destroyed the sandbag dam that Shell were attempting to build across part of the estuary in order to be able to work on the pipeline route regardless of the tides.  This was accomplished in full view of about 15 security from IRMS - the security company hired by Shell to repress protest.

SIPTU members engaged in a second day of strike action at the Shanganagh Waste Water Treatment Plant, Co. Dublin, have expressed serious concern over the possible environmental impact of the dispute at the facility. The facility treats water for domestic and commercial purposes for 248,000 people living in Dublin and Wicklow. Workers believe that due to the current reduction in manning levels at the facility key processes, including the testing of water being discharged into Dublin Bay and the treatment of effluent stored in the plant, may become compromised.

A Dublin anarchist bookfair meeting at which two speakers - Milton Sánchez Cubas (President of the Celendin Interinstitutional Platform (PIC), a network of 40 grassroots organisations from Celendin Department of Cajamarca, Peru) and Aida Julieta Quinones Torres (a member of the Environmental Committee for the Defense of Life which monitors the socio-environmental impact of the La Colosa mine, in the department of Tolima, Colombia) –looked at the impact on their communities of exploitation by mega-extractive multinational corporation and explained how they organize to face this threat

hell has admitted that on Monday, the 8th April, they had to vent all the nitrogen currently in the gas pipes at the Bellanaboy refinery, after they mistakenly cut a gas pipe. Shell claim the reason for this was the gas pipe was mistaken for a water pipe in the refinery and was cut.  The gas pipes on the refinery site are currently filled with nitrogen to inhibit corrosion.   The incident only came to light because a local resident contacted Midwest Radio with details of the incident.   Shell confirmed the incident took place one week after the event. 

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. 

In previous issues, we examined aspects of the challenge of climate change. We have argued that carbon trading is merely an enclosure of the atmospheric commons, while carbon offsets are a form of neo-colonialism whereby the “developed north” continues to pollute while the “global south” are paid not to (please see: wsm.ie/content/high-price-lot-hot-air and wsm.ie/content/offsetting-democracy). Another, more radical, proposal is one based on prevention, that is, the non-extraction of fossil fuels. The argument is that once extracted, the use of fossil fuels is inevitable, and that any mechanisms to mitigate the increase in CO2 emissions will be unworkable.

—Documentary filmmaker Robert Kenner uses reports by FAST FOOD NATION author Eric Schlosser and THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA author Michael Pollan as a springboard to exploring where the food we purchase really comes from, and what it means for the health of future generations. By exposing the comfortable relationships between business and government, Kenner gradually shines light on the dark underbelly of the American food industry.