Workers Solidarity Movement

This is the recording of the 'Israeli Apartheid, BDS and Grassroots Resistance in Palestine' from the 2010 anarchist bookfair. The speaker is Freda Hughes from the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Topics covered in the one hour audio include the apartheid wall and settlements, experiences of the occupied territories, popular committees and Bi'lin, the cage protest and other direct actions, how Israeli activists argue for the boycott, Zionism, the freedom flotilla, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.

This collection of articles looks at how the media try to discredit protesters in relation to Ireland, London and the US. They were mentioned by Barry Finnegan on Radio Solidarity Show 4.

This interview is with the well known Czech camera man Jan Línek who was on the ship alongside the Mavi Marmara when the Israeli military killed at least 10 activists. In it he describes conditions on board, the struggle by the activists to protect the captain, how his camera was confiscated and how he was tricked into signing deportation papers on shore and then told he wasn't getting his camera back. When in prison they were denied sleep and he witnessed an Irish man being beaten in front of him.

Israel's attack on the Mavi Marmara, Turkish Flotilla of IHH (Humanitarian Relief Foundation) this morning struck a very dangerous cord with Turks of all sides, it also received the mixed reaction of a very divided and confused society . Turkey has had a love and hate relationship with Israel from the beginning, being one of the first states to recognize the State of Israel.There is a considerable amount of USA/CIA backed liberal opposition to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's and his party AKP's repositioning of Turkish foreign policy from being "the only friend of a loner aggressive child in the class" to being a friend of Syria and Iran. This reaction takes place despite the obvious backing of his party by the USA in Turkey. Similar opposition has been expressed about Erdoğan and Brazilian President Lula's deal/ mediation with Iran to nuclear fuel swap deal last week.

The Israeli military have released a video which claims to show heroic passengers attempting to beat back the IDF pirates that are boarding their ship in order to hijack it. Although of course that is not the spin that the IDF put on it.

In Greece there are more people with a class consciousness that in other parts of Europe. But still is not that significant a percentage of the population in order to have a massive change. The trade unions, the majority of them, are affiliated to the big parties, Conservative and Socialist, except for PAME that is affiliated to the Communist Party. The problem with them is that even though they hold 10% of the electorate they do not bring fresh ideas. The anarchists marched only in detached blocks, there was a bit of vanguardism, but now they are starting to march with their unions and with their social organisations what is a positive development.

Welcome to the first issue of The Irish Anarchist Review, the new political magazine from the Workers Solidarity Movement. This magazine will explore ideas and practical struggles that can teach us about building a revolutionary movement today. We decided to cease printing Red & Black Revolution, and start this project, aimed at provoking debate and discussion among anarchists and the left. For this purpose, we will be pursuing a non-sectarian approach, taking ideas from various left currents, mainstream discourse, and reflections on experiences of life and struggle. We will take, print, and discuss, anything that we find useful for our needs. We hope that readers will have a similar attitude, and will use the magazine to discuss, debate and develop ideas. We will also welcome submissions and responses to articles.

The book can be read in a number of ways; on one hand it rescues the IWW from Stalinist critics that fashionably flounced after Russian Bolshevism; it gives insight to the politics and personalities of the union itself and rescues Hill the man. But as suggested by the subtitle, it’s Rosemont’s treatment of how the IWW built a counter hegemonic working class culture that is the most interesting facet of this brick thick work.

“Anna Sam”, as you might guess, is a pseudonym, the handle of a French blogger who decided to put her years behind the till to good use on a website describing the day-to-day experience of supermarket workers in all its tedious glory. In a way it’s refreshing to discover that the psychology of the checkout girl / boy appears to be the same wherever you go - my own days at Centra and the like are well imprinted on the brain, but they could have been an atypical reflection of my general misanthropy, grumpiness and ill will towards the rest of the species. But Anna reports more or less the same irritations - the only difference being that, on account of her gender, she must also bat away the sleazy or sheepish advances of French manhood on a daily basis.

In August of 2008, Italian media activist Alex Foti visited Dublin. In the middle years of this decade, Alex Foti became known across activist circles for involvement in the Euromayday Parades. In a special themed issue of Green Pepper, Foti and the Chain Workers Collective sketched a very attractive understanding of the work discipline of contemporary capitalism. In their understanding, society had found itself in a situation of profound disjuncture with our working pasts - life today was defined by contingent employment rather than the traditional job for life.    

Working through Chainworkers, Foti and others developed the Euro Mayday Parade as an opportunity for this sentiment pool to express itself in European cities, along the way they developed a graphical tool set and pioneered a new vision of a combatative class movement that drew huge attention to the question of workers marginalised from the traditional unions.