Workers Solidarity Movement

Wednesday 21st saw another successful defence against an eviction in Dublin.  This time in the Stoneybatter area.  We put out an alert after we were told that a gang of 3 men with crowbars "came this afternoon and broke in to one of the houses. About 40-50 people showed up outside to show support, then 5 Garda showed up. People inside resisted and argued until the alleged owners and Garda left the house and left the street to a large round of applause.

Everything is cool now. The street was closed off and there was lots of music, food, fun, and we managed to get the support of many parents and school children on the way home from school.

Generally speaking, the Garda didn't know what to do and there was wide public support. Small victory for now"

We are relaying yesterday's statement from our comrades in Turkey's Devrimci Anarşist Faaliyet (Revolutionary Anarchist Action) on the mining catastrophe in Soma, the AKP and state corruption behind it and the police repression of protestors in Turkey's major cities.

The WSM had its Autumn national conference in Dublin on the 23rd November.  National Conference is the ultimate decision making body in the WSM. It happens every six months usually over a day or two. As well as discussing motions time is also spent on discussing the past six months activity and prospects for the next period. Conference also hears reports of activity from all branches, officers and working groups.  This covered areas like the Irish Anarchist Review, WSM Website, Dublin Anarchist Bookfair and our pro-choice and anti racist work.

The recent Belfast Telegraph poll may have revealed cracks in the zero sum sectarian politics that dominates the political landscape in Northern Ireland but if there is anything that cannot be white washed away is the relevance of class.  While we see a reoccurring positive pattern of more liberal attitudes towards issues such as gay marriage and abortion rights as well as growing younger population tuned off by orange/green style of politics, religion still remains the main factor in voting for political parties, while the constitutional question is settled for a generation. (1)

Today (Weds) was very quiet; there was no eviction attempt. We were prepared for the worst, but no cops called around, nobody claiming to be the owner, nothing.Just to recap, we are preparing ourselves to resist eviction because previously, on Friday, two people claiming to be agents acting on behalf of a company, which they claimed own two of the houses, came to illegally board them up. When we weren't letting them do so, they called the cops. The cops decided not to do anything because they did not have the paperwork or legal authorisation to evict us^[1]. However, the “owners” and the cops did say that they'd be back on Wednesday (today) with “papers”.

A group of political squatters in Dublin are facing eviction from a row of empty, unused, rotting houses in Lower Grangegorman. We got a chance to speak to them and hear their side of the story. They are calling for people to come and help them resist eviction from Wednesday onwards.

-- 300,000 empty houses in Ireland, 5,000 people homeless --

A crowd of over 500 people took part in Saturday’s  pre-budget march called by the Dublin Council of Trade Unions. The DCTU’s core message was to demand progressive taxation and public investment as an alternative to further cuts in public spending. 

As always, the Spectacle of Defiance and Hope contributed greatly to the atmosphere of the rally with impressive visual and musical displays. A hearse and coffin led the protest, followed by nine giant posters bearing the much unloved faces of nine government ministers with the blood red inscription “Austerity Kills”. The Spectacle’s second message reverberated in song through the streets: “Arise, arise, arise!”

About a 1000 people took part in the annual March for Choice in Dublin on Saturday 28 September. Because there was an all island final on huge numbers of people saw the march through town and quite a few stopped to clap the march passing. The march was organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign

On the weekend of 22^nd – 25^th August Dún Laoghaire will host a series of events to mark the centenary of the 1913 Lockout. 

The weekend will kick off with the launch of an exhibition ‘Dún Laoghaire & The 1913 Lockout’ and a Commemorative Book.  The exhibition and book will be launched by Myles Dungan, historian and broadcaster with readings by Martina Devlin, author and journalist.  This launch is on Thursday 22^nd August at 6:30p.m. in the National Maritime Museum (Moran Park), and the exhibition will run at this venue until 18^th January 2014 – the same period as the 1913 Lockout.  The Commemorative Book will feature contributions by Padraig Yeates, Joe Duffy, Myles Dungan, Martina Devlin, May Moran and Mike Lee and will be available for sale at the launch and at all the weekend events for €10.