Workers Solidarity Movement

At 9:30 this morning, people gathered on O'Connell Street In Dublin to protest against the presence of war criminal and ex British prime-minister Tony Blair. Blair arrived at Easons at around 10am for the book-signing of his recent autobiography, escorted and protected by a sizable gardai presence. Despite the heavy rain, hundreds of protestors took part.  At least one protester managed to get past the heavy security to try to make a citizens arrest of Blair for his war crimes.

Along with other socialist groups the WSM has launched the 1% Network, a coalition that aims to highlight the gross inequality in Irish society where the richest 1% of the population own 34% of the wealth.  The network will be carrying out a number of activities in the run up to the budget including a walking tour of the private mansions, corporate headquarters, secret meeting spots and private banks on October 9th.

Police in Darwin in Australia have ended a seven hour protest by refugees being incarcerated in a detention centre. Over ninety refugees from Afghanistan escaped the detention centre in the northern territory in over a 30 degree- temperatures to the nearby Stuart Highway holding placards demanding to be processed and treated like human beings. 

A group of 50 protestors, mainly asylum seekers, has gathered outside the Mosney Centre in Co.Meath to protest at the planned movement of some of the internees to other facilities in the country.

Perth public transport system in Western Australia was brought to a standstill last Friday after 97 drivers rang in sick.  Commuters suffered long delays and the much anticipated football match between Freemantle Dockers and Brisbane was disrupted by the action.

Hundreds of Roma have been deported today by the French government as part of their attacks on Roma camps. To date, over 8,000 Roma have been deported from France since the start of the year, out of a population of 15,000 in the county. There are between 10-12 million Roma in Europe.

Yesterday saw the first day of the new An Bord Pleanala oral hearing into Shell’s attempts to impose an experimental gas pipeline on the people of Kilcommon in Co. Mayo. Shell stand to make billions out of the Corrib gas field with the Irish state seeing almost no revenue from these profits or the profits that are likely to arise from other oil & gas discoveries now being made. Claims for a field much bigger than Corrib off the west coast have been made in the last few days.

Earlier this week the government announced its intention to give away the last exploration blocks in the Irish sea to private corporations under its "open door" policy.  Today in Erris Shell starts the latest round of its long attempt to impose an experimental raw gas pipeline on the community, back from its defeat early in the new year when the long running community protests forced An Bord Pleanala to block the original ludicrous route for the pipeline that took it through the village of Rossport.  Meanwhile the community continue to resist Shell with borehole drilling being stopped for three hours on Monday as protesters evaded security at low tide.

Talks are underway at University Hospital Galway between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and union officials representing HSE staff in the west. The unions claim €90 million worth of cuts are being planned by the HSE, a claim which is denied by the Executive. IMPACT trade union spokesman Padraig Mulligan said there are very real fears that the HSE will cut jobs and reduce services.

On Saturday (14th Aug), around 60 people from different organisations, parties and community projects plus some individual activists gathered in Kilbarack community development centre for a 2 day activist workshop. The whole event was pleasantly very well organised with a lovely lunch provided.