Workers Solidarity Movement

After an injunction was obtained against the occupiers of the evicted house on Summerhill they vacated it only to march to another vacant house at 34 Fredrick street and occupy that.  At the time of writing an injunction has again been granted but this time the occupiers have said if there is sufficient support they intend to remain in occupation.  Since lunchtime today when the injunction came into effect dozens of people have been on the pavement outside the occupation.

As the occupation of 34 North Frederick St. passed the week mark, those occupying on Saturday 25th August were made up exclusively of women and children. This was a deliberate action in response to the visit of Pope Francis to Dublin.

As many as 10,000 people took part in the Stand for Truth rally yesterday, and marched in complete silence to the site of the last Magdalene Laundry to close on Sean MacDermott street [video].  In effect this was a counter protest to the Papal Rally taking place uptake road in the Phoenix park in the aftermath of Pope Francis pretending not to know about the institutions while talking to selected survivors.  In fact he met Philomena Lee in the Vatican in 2014, the Irish Times

If anyone says to you that 'there are extremists on both sides' in the referendum campaign, do be sure to point out that it's only the 'No' side that has the Far Right activists and the people with the big gory pictures that stand outside maternity care centres trying to harass and shame women.

The man in the pictures on the left is Justin Barrett, former leader of Youth Defence, and current leader of the anti-immigrant, homophobic, National Party.

The National Party wants 14 years imprisonment for women who access an abortion and the death penalty for doctors who provide abortions. Justin Barrett has attended neo-Nazi events in Germany and Italy in the past and his Far-Right party have been putting up posters around Ireland calling for a 'No' vote.

Anti-choice advocates like Youth Defence / Precious Life and the Iona Institute claim to be driven by an indiscriminate empathy and a genuine concern for human beings' universal right to life, hence invocations to 'Love Both' and the 'pro-life' label.

Are these claims to be taken seriously? Not for a second, as clearly illustrated in this pro-choice comic (PDF).

Why have there been pickets outside massage parlours on Dorset St? Do they really pose any danger? Do these protests help those who work there, or actually make them more afraid and isolated? Watch the video below.

Will the Irish state offer asylum to queer men in Chechnya (and, in fact, all queer people there) who are enduring a state-lead campaign of terror and persecution of the gravest nature, or are queer people's lives another vote-catcher?

We described both what is happening in Chechnya and the Dublin counter-demo in detail here, as well as warning against these atrocities being seized upon for an anti-Muslim agenda.

On April 20th, a crowd gathered from 4-7pm outside the Russian Embassy in Rathgar, Dublin, to protest the recent campaign of violence against queer men in Chechnya and show solidarity with those under attack and all queer people across the planet (#chechnya100ireland). Gardaí reported that it was the largest ever protest outside the embassy.

Several placards included the (downwards) pink triangle, a reference to queer men being condemned to Nazi concentration camps. Others read ‘LGBT People Exist Everywhere’, ‘You Can’t Imprison My Sexuality’, and ‘Queer Solidarity Means Migrant Rights’. Demonstrations have also taken place in Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Paris, and Vienna. The demo was called by a couple concerned queer women who decided something had to be done - a lesson to us that we don't need to wait for 'Someone Else', a tendency we all have in this passive society.
 

Yes Duplicity: Irish State, Give Queer Chechens Asylum Now

It is emerging that thousands of children were starved to death in state funded homes run by nuns in Ireland. The Daily Mail today carries a detailed report which quotes Philip Redmond, a survivor of Sean Ross Abbey Hospital, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary where of the 167 babies born in 1942, there were 72 deaths. Mr Redmond says "As far as Bessborough is concerned, there is little doubt in our minds that as many as 2,000 died while we believe another 1,200 died in Sean Ross Abbey" This figures are to be added to the estimated 796 bodies found in a waste tank in the grounds of then Tuam home - see the earlier piece on this page.