Workers Solidarity Movement

Anti-choice groups have been engaged in a protracted campaign of spreading FUD (Fear - Uncertainty - Doubt ) ever since the tragic fact of the death of Savita Halappanavar after she was refused an abortion in Galway hospital emerged.  Because they know that it is too soon for them to be seen to attack her husband Praveen for his courageous public stance they have focused on attacking those supporting the families demand for a change in the law.  

One tactic has been to suggest that pro-choice groups found out about the death in an underhand manner.  A smear that last weekend's Sunday Independent disgracefully republished - despite being informed of its false.  This morning Galway Pro-Choice issued the press release that follows which demonstrates not only that it was Savita's friends and family who initatied contact and that GPC then went though a full range of possibilites with them including not releasing the story of what had happened at all.

Saturday 17th Nov 2012 saw a Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) protest in the center of Dublin against the attacks on Gaza by the Israeli state.  Speakers at the protest on O'Connell street included a Gaza resident and a member of the Israeli Anarchists Against the Wall group - both speeches are in the embedded video.

On Saturday saw an estimate of fifteen thousand to seventeen thousand people marching in Dublin from the Garden of Remembrance to the Daíl in solidarity with Savita Halappanavar's family and for abortion rights. Savita Halappanavar was a woman in Galway who had died after being refused an abortion.

The march opened with a speech from Ruth Coppinger from the United Left Alliance, who spoke about motion that was tabled in April to legislate for X, but said that legislating for X is not enough, as no woman should have to be put through pain and agony in order to receive a life saving abortion. She also noted that the cases of rape and incest should also be grounds for abortion, when considering the X case. 

  Nine men appeared in Cork's District court charged with offenses alleged to have occurred at a whiteline picket in the city on June 30th.  The charges essentially argue that the men were obstructing traffic.  Whiteline pickets are a common feature of protests across the country and are most often used in relation to prisoner issues. A whiteline picket is where a number of protestors stand on a continuous whiteline in the middle of a street holding placards highlighting the particular issue.

Today we are marching in protest at the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar, a pregnant woman who died after being refused a termination, despite requesting one several times.

For years many people have been aware that the failure of successive governments to legislate could result in a tragedy. Whether through cowardice or callousness, since the X case ruling and three referendums allowed for abortion under restricted circumstances 20 years ago, no laws have been drafted to allow doctors to carry out those abortions.

Savita’s death should not have happened. Just as her husband Praveen has pledged to fight for a change in the law to ensure that no other woman dies in the way that Savita did, so every one of us here should pledge to fight for that law change.

Our members in Cork and Dublin have been active in the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes, at local, regional and national levels, helping with stalls, leafletting and demos, and arguing for greater grassroots democracy within the campaign.

On the weekend of 5th-7th October, Anti-Fascist Action Ireland held a series of events to celebrate their twenty one years in existence. The organisation was founded in 1991 with the aim of fighting fascism both physically and ideologically as and where the need arises.

Despite increasingly desperate attempts by the government to extract their pound of flesh from householders,the Campaign against Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT) continues to rack up victories.

The London Anarchist bookfair is the biggest event on the UK anarchist calendar and this year was the first time I was able to go. Getting to the Mary's University venue in East London was a bit of an adventure and made more difficult with the underground being partially closed. Although I missed the lifestyle anarchism lecture earlier in the day, I did get to the other main talk that piqued my interest – the two hour Anarchist Economics lecture in the Mason Lecture Theatre with the speakers posted as “David Graeber, Michael Albert and others”.

An 8 minute video from the demonstration last night at the Dail which 3000 people attended.

March on Saturday at 4pm from Parnell Square, bring a candle to light at the Dail at 5, the same time candles are being lit in Galway and elsewhere.