Workers Solidarity Movement

Remember the good old days - before the election - when the Green party used to be in favour of the anti-war cause and used to support the searching of CIA ‘rendition’ planes passing through Shannon? Remember how the Greens used to believe that the reason why the then Fianna Fail/PD government wouldn’t sanction the searching of these planes was because they were in George W Bush’s pocket?

After a month of fooling around, the government has finally declared that they will implement water charges for schools, backdating them to 2007. These charges come as a serious blow to Irish schools, which are already among the worst funded in the OECD. In many schools, funding does not cover basic requirements such as computers or gym equipment, forcing them to fundraise among parents of students.

November saw WSM members gather for their national conference. These take place twice a year and all members can attend, submit motions and vote. The National Secretary reported that membership had increased by 25%. Although we are still a small organisation this was encouraging, as was the increased circulation of Workers Solidarity. A report is available at www. wsm.ie/story/3156.The closing weeks of 2007 saw WSM members who have been working with the Wheelock family’s campaign for an inquiry into the death of Terrence after his arrest by gardai from Dublin’s Store Street station help organise a public meeting, which saw 200 people fill the ballroom of the Royal Dublin Hotel.

November saw WSM public meetings about anarchism in Cork and Dublin, with 40 people at one and about 60 at the other. With the crisis and a growing employers’ offensive on wages there is a greater openness to radical ideas, and we will be holding more meetings around the country over the next couple of months.

Working all your life just to make ends meet; having no say in the decisions that affect you; try to do something about it and they'll lock you up. Yes, that's capitalism!

In a time of International repression against activists all over the globe, we are calling out for letters of support and solidarity for anarchists arrested and facing severe repression after the G20 economic forum protests of November 2006 in Melbourne, Australia.

Over 200 people packed into the Royal Dublin Hotel on Dublin’s O’Connell Street in early December for a public meeting on the topic ‘Democracy and Policing: How accountable are the Gardaí to the Irish people?’

Last year a Belfast anarchist travelled to the West Bank to work with the International Solidarity Movement and Palestinians and wrote this report on his impressions of the Palestinian struggle.

Argos workers throughout the 26 counties are holding another one-day strike on the 18th December.

Pity poor Bertie and his cabinet. They worked very hard designing a budget which gives an extra €12 a week to pensioners (though only from next July). What thanks did they get from an ungrateful nation?