Workers Solidarity Movement

This is an excellent work. It is wide ranging, both in terms of subjects covered and geography. The latter makes a welcome break from most accounts of anarchism, which are sadly all-too Eurocentric. The former sees anarchist analysis expanded from the usual subjects of political authority and economic class into gender and imperialism (and national liberation struggles). It covers such perennial issues as anarchist organisation (including ‘Platformism’), the Spanish Revolution and a host of others.

On Saturday evening at Semora Spraoi RAG were screened two abortion rights documentaries, 'The Coat Hanger Project' and 'Abortion Democracy : Poland/South Africa'. The makers of both documentaries were present so the screenings were introduced by them and there was a wide ranging discussion after the films had been show. The audio of the introductions can be listened to below.

A few years ago a comrade from Leeds introduced me to the life and times of this colourful figure, Dr John Creaghe who helped spread the flames of anarchism across three continents. In the words of the famous Italian anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti this pamphlet is dedicated to the ‘nameless in the vast crowd of nameless ones.’

Unlike most literature on the ‘conflict’ in the North, this book assesses the impact and effectiveness of the armed struggle. It devotes significant attention towards the motivations of men and women who joined the IRA and the rigid hierarchal structures which underpinned the organisation to explaining the eventual outcome and ineffectiveness of the armed struggle.

Born of a Catalan mother whose family fought Franco’s forces in the Spanish Civil War and a father who juggled a nursing career and a passionate interest in painting, Cantona’s humble lineage portrays a character quite different to the one we should have expected from the one on the field, with his upturned collar and puffed out chest, his air always suggested that of a French nobleman; that and his football eventually led to him to be known as King.

This book sets out to show that unequal societies are bad for everyone in them. It does this by collating decades of research in the areas of health, crime, trust, mental health, obesity, education, teenage pregnancy and social mobility, all of which demonstrate statistically the connection between social inequality and social problems. The authors explain that, in hierarchical societies that are unequal in wealth and status, our social class affects all aspects of our lives. From an Irish perspective, one of the most interesting points they make may be about the connection between inequality, levels of trust in society and corruption.

In Workers Solidarity 105 we reviewed David Simon's 'The Wire'. His follow on project 'Generation Kill' which features some of the same actors is a 7 episode series following the United States Marine Corps' 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the invasion of Iraq . It's based on the book published by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright.

The book seamlessly alternates between the direct testimony of the ‘Sweatshop Warriors’ themselves and analysis of the growth and spread of globalised capitalism. This book was published in 2001 but 7 years later its strength still lies in its simplicity.

It gives voice to “immigrant women workers who are barred from rooms where deals get cut…who get punished for telling the truth; who are asked to speak only as victims…” And by giving a platform to these too often unheard voices, the book demonstrates that self-organisation is the key to successfully fighting back against the exploitation and abuse faced by those at the bottom of the economic ladder.

Raked over in newspapers since the fifth and final series made its way on to TnaG, it's hard to write anything new about the Wire. It's a portrait of America through Baltimore and the cop show vehicle; of failing school systems and crumbling communities, where drugs gangs and cops act in similar flurries of selfish brutality.

Meeting The WSM believes that the world can be made a much better place, and that millions of ordinary people like ourselves can take on that job. And that puts us into conflict with the bosses.

We are anti-capitalists because capitalism can never satisfy the needs of the majority. It is locked into a cycle of boom and slump. It is based on a division of society into bosses and workers, order-givers and order-takers. Its unwritten motto is ‘greed is good’.The world we live in is capable of feeding, housing, clothing and providing for the leisure and scientific needs of the world's population yet capitalism means that there can be a shortage of good public housing while building workers are unemployed. It means tax reliefs for the super-rich while public services like hospitals and schools suffer spending cuts.