Workers Solidarity Movement

It is this time of year again when the spectre of sectarianism and division comes to the fore in the north of Ireland. It is a time when communities, kerbstones and poles are marked and carved into territory. There are those who will be living in fear and silenced from speaking out while the rest of us are told to turn the other check in the interests of peace and stability. It is unfortunate, if perhaps somewhat inevitable, that the now annual battles around the ‘marching season’ fall along religious lines. The Orange parades are being used to test the supposed 'neutrality' of the northern regime and the PSNI in particular. The losing side in this dangerous game however is likely to be the working class, as the confrontations and the sectarian attacks that occur around the Orange marches drive people further into ‘their own’ communities.

More than 20,000 people demonstrated for electoral reforms across Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, on Saturday in a rare protest that was declared illegal by police.

A Dublin family has expressed its outrage at the imposition of a €100,000 fine on a leading construction company for the death of a worker in 2007. 28-year-old father of two, Eddie Fowler, died on 18^th January 2007 following a workplace accident on the site of the Charlestown Shopping Centre in Finglas.  Mr. Fowler was fatally injured when he was struck by a plank which blew off scaffolding in high winds.  An inspector from the Health and Safety Authority, Kay Baxter, told a court hearing that workers should not have been allowed onto that section of the site that day. 

The 2011 census results show that Ireland is not suffering a housing shortage. But taken with local authority waiting list figures and homeless statistics , it shows clearly that we have a housing distribution crisis. The latest statistics from the Central Statistics Office regarding the latest census shows 294,202 vacant housing units in the state; that's almost 15% of all houses in existence.  To better illustrate the meaning of this let us take the example of Cork City because that conveniently excludes the issue of holiday homes in rural locations. Cork City has 6,386 vacant houses according to the CSO or 11.4% of homes in the city.

WSM and other pro-choice activists took place in a counter demonstration to the “Rally for Life” which took place in Dublin yesterday. The anti-abortion rally was organised by Youth Defence (including “The Life Institute”(previously Mother & Campaign – an outgrowth of Youth Defense) and Belfast Based "Precious Life". Approximately 2,000 people seem to have attended. The pro-choice counter demonstration, organised at short notice was still attended by around 300 people. Many attending the anti-abortion rally came from all over Ireland and even included a small group of migrants from the Philippines. There were some tense exchanges between pro-choice campaigners and anti-abortion marchers.

After spending tens of thousands of euro in promotion Youth Defense's anti-choice march finally took place in Dublin. Despite the free coaches and months of preparation even RTE admitted that only 2-5,000 took part, making it a tiny fraction of the Pride Parade of the previous Saturday. And from observation a large part of that crowd was composed of unhappy looking young children dragged along by relatives, priests, monks, nuns and the very elderly.

Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn backed down in mid-June on his threat to amend Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act, which would have had the effect of allowing unqualified personnel to continue to work as teachers in primary school classrooms.  The Minister made his decision less than 48 hours before a protest organised by members of the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) was due to be held.

As the new government backtracks on their election promises in record time (no surprises there), the problems facing workers, the unemployed and students continue to mount. While the visit of Queen Elizabeth may be seen as a distraction from these more important issues, the WSM nevertheless attended protests against her visit, including the banquet in Dublin castle, whose attendees epitomised the privileged minority who hold the power and wealth in this country. As detailed elsewhere, we mobilised in both Dublin and Cork against the visit. Check out http://www.wsm.ie/c/cork-protests-british-queens for a more in-depth look at events in the south.

Over 200 people took part in co-ordinated rallies and marches in Dublin last night to express solidarity with Palestine through support for the 2nd 'Stay Human' Freedom Flotilla to Gaza and protesting outside the launch night of Riverdance at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.  Riverdance are intending to break the boycott of Israel by playing 9 dates there in September.  The march then went to the Israeli embassy where there was a live hook up with the MV Saoirse, the Irish ship in the Flotilla to Gaza.

Saturday June 25th saw another massive Pride in Dublin with the Garda estimating that as many as 26,000 took part in the parade and another 100,000 spectated.  While Pride has very much become more of a social and commercial event since its early years in Dublin it also remains a strong political expression of the ongoing struggles against Queer oppression.