Workers Solidarity Movement

WSM member Andrew Flood will present a talk for Dublin Shell to Sea on the struggle in Erris against Shell.

On Saturday evening at Semora Spraoi RAG were screened two abortion rights documentaries, 'The Coat Hanger Project' and 'Abortion Democracy : Poland/South Africa'. The makers of both documentaries were present so the screenings were introduced by them and there was a wide ranging discussion after the films had been show. The audio of the introductions can be listened to below.

L'insurrection - le soulèvement armé du peuple - a toujours été proche du coeur de l'anarchisme. Les premiers documents programmatiques du mouvement anarchiste ont été rédigés par Bakounine et un groupe d'insurrectionnistes républicains de gauche européens lorsqu'ils se rapprochèrent de l'anarchisme en Italie dans les années 1860. Cette démarche ne marqua pas une rupture avec l'insurrectionnisme mais avec le républicanisme de gauche, peu après que Bakounine eut participé à une insurrection à Lyon, en 1870.

This text was originally written by Italian anarchist communist Luigi Fabbri either before or during the First World War. In it he addresses problems he sees as stemming from the stereotyping of anarchism in bourgeois literature and media and the unfortunate feedback effect this was having on some militants practice of anarchism and language. Long a popular pamphlet, the absence of an online version in English has been a lack until now. This English translation is the work of Chaz Bufe who has kindly given permission for its use.

During his recent visit to Dublin, Workers Solidarity took the opportunity, over “bad coffee”, to chat to 93 year old Roma Marquez Santo about some of his experiences of the Spanish revolution. In 1936 Roma was a metal worker and a member of both the UGT trade union and the POUM, an anti-Stalinist communist party.

Today the word "communism" is most often associated with the totalitarian one-party states of Soviet Russia or China. Nothing could be further from the anarchist goal of a stateless, free society. So the association of anarchism with communism seems, at first sight, perverse.

It’s the time of year where we plebs get a chance to rectify our impertinence in rejecting the Lisbon Treaty. In itself, rerunning the referendum is hardly an affront to democracy. After all, people are simply being asked to confirm the decision made.

One of the great problems that people encounter in making up their minds about the Lisbon treaty is that, depending on who you talk to, the treaty can appear to be an altogether different thing. According to those who are campaigning for a Yes vote, it merely serves to tidy up the existing European treaties, with a few changes to allow the EU to function more efficiently.

The WSM is calling for a No vote in the 2nd Lisbon referendum on the grounds that people in Ireland can do a lot better than a choice between the clowns in the Dáil or those in Brussels. We oppose the EU's policies of privatisation, militarisation and attacks on workers' conditions but don’t insult people’s intelligence by saying that our current society in Ireland with its severe recession, diabolical public services and corruption is anything better. The major lack of democracy in our lives is not between us and the EU but between the Irish government and us.

Mayawati, the Prime Minister of India’s Uttar Pradesh province has spent €177 million of taxpayers’ money on massive statues of herself and of her party’s symbol, the elephant. She also spent €11.2 million on a private jet to save her 10 minutes on her visits to New Delhi.