Workers Solidarity Movement

A survey of more than a thousand Northern Ireland voters has revealed a high level of disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the current Stormont government. A Belfast Telegraph/LucidTalk poll found that only one in ten people believe the government is performing better than direct rule, and that half would label its performance as poor or very poor. This means that it is rated almost as badly as the Greek administration which was trounced in that country’s last recent election.

Witness Bahrain Ireland has called a demonstration this Tuesday because two RCSI alumni (who trained in Dublin) will be sentenced this Thursday (14^th June) under scurrilous circumstances.  It is hoped that bearing witness and raising awareness about this issue will prompt the RSCI to use its influence in Bahrain[2] to help persecuted medical workers (some of whom the RSCI employs and have trained).  The two medical workers [due to receive their final sentencing on Thursday 14th] were arrested, tortured and sentenced in a military court for treating peaceful demonstrators who were victims of police brutality.[3] The RSCI response to this should be prompt, vigorous and completely unequivocal. 

Spain began this week in bailout territory. Despite the increasingly shrill warnings of imminent catastrophe from Madrid, the battle of wills between the Spanish capital and Brussels, Berlin and Frankfurt has managed to avert the hour of judgement thus far. But can they achieve the aim of preventing the fall of Spain before the second Greek election?

“Is voting in the referendum on the Fiscal Compact Treaty a waste of time?” This will be one of the items to be discussed at the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair which takes place this Saturday (26th May) in Liberty Hall.

Organisers of the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair have announced that the Bookfair, to be held this Saturday (26^th May) in Liberty Hall, will include a major Photographic Exhibition entitled “ A Decade Of Resistance: Images of Struggle 2002 – 2012”.

The exhibition will feature photographs by activists and photographers Andrew Flood, William Hederman, Aileen O’Carroll and Paul Reynolds and, according to organisers “documents an array of anti-capitalist, anti-war, pro-choice, environmental and other protests, starting with a mass trespass at Shannon Airport in October 2002 and ending with a Reclaim The Streets in Dublin in April 2012.”

In a new twist to the decade long struggle against Shell Rossport Solidarity Camp has revealed that Mayo County Council (MCC) has issued an eviction notice to the landowner of the field where the Rossport Solidarity Camp is located. Mayo farmer Gerry Burke has been threatened with fines of over €12,000 and two years in prison.  Despite these theats the annual June Bank Holiday solidarity gathering will go ahead in a couple of weeks.

Hundreds of people from all over Ireland are expected to attend the 7^th annual Dublin Anarchist Bookfair which takes place in Liberty Hall, Dublin on Saturday 26^th May. The Bookfair, organised by the Workers Solidarity Movement, will consist of a day of meetings, debates, discussions and films and will also host bookstalls and information stands from a large number of political organisations and campaigning groups.

This May sees the return of the annual Anarchist Bookfair to Dublin, the seventh to be held to date. Since the first, back in 2006, the event has grown hugely in scale, against the background of the bursting of the Celtic Tiger bubble, the IMF/EU bailout and the catastrophic effect of austerity on Irish society. The Bookfair consists of a day of meetings, debates and discussions and will also host bookstalls and information stands from a large number of political organisations and campaigning groups.

The decision to approve the new Welfare Reform Bill earlier last month signals yet another devastating blow to those living on or below the British government’s very own recommended guidelines on poverty. Prior to the initial bill being passed, attempts were made to water it down in the House of Lords but that too fell on deaf ears, despite the fact that it may violate international conventions on human rights.  However in welcoming the move, one Tory politician jokingly remarked: “desperate times, calls for desperate measures”, but desperate for who? Certainly not those on a politicians salary in Westminster or up in Stormont.

SIPTU issued a press release on 24/4/12 as follows: SIPTU members in the Musgrave Group are continuing their strike action at the company’s warehouse in Cork in a dispute concerning changes to their conditions of employment. The industrial action, which began on 18th April, involves approximately 135 salaried staff members withdrawing their labour at the Cork Chill warehouse.