Workers Solidarity Movement

Last week some of the Ireland to Calais refugee solidarity convoy were on the road in the vicinity of the Calais migrant camp when they witnessed and recorded a pepper spray drive by attack by the French police on a group of women standing by the road side.

Graffiti has appeared at the site of the bomb explosion in Ankara yesterday that reads "It was not terror that killed us, it was the state." This is reflecting the widespread belief that the true origins of the bombing that killed around 100 people at the pro Kurdish peace demonstration are to be found in Erdogan's AKP party desperate attempt to intensify conflict in the hope of polarizing the electorate ahead of Novembers elections. The same process in other words that those killed yesterday were demonstrating against.

An interview with a couple of the people involved in The Barricade Inn, the squatted social centre on Parnell street, including a video tour of the interior.

About 10 days ago three van loads of riot cops arrived at the door to No 2 Gardiner Place at around 9am,  There they formed a Roman style tortoise shell shield formation and proceeded to start to batter the door down.  Once in they stormed through the building, arresting the residents and dragged them down to the High Court for an eviction / injunction hearing at which they were forced to agree not to try and re-enter the house.  No media outlet deemed any of this worthy of coverage.

Solidarity Times had been in the building the previous week, shooting some video in anticipation of a campaign in opposition to the eviction.  We’re assembled a video report on the space from that footage as yet another example of the vast amount of empty housing that is around even inner city Dublin. Homelessness is not caused by a lack of usable buildings but by deliberately leaving such buildings empty and boarded up in order to create the scarcity that is seeing rent hikes and a new property bubble.

Sometimes the old ones are the gold ones. The attempt by the Irish state to damage the electoral chances of the Anti Austerity Alliance by hitting them where it matters - in the pocket - reminds us of how shallow parliamentary democracy is. The Anti Austerity Alliance is the political front the Socialist Party runs under but for the next elections its unified with the SWPs People Before Profit as the rather lengthy AAA - PbP.

It's broadly understood that cash determines who wins an election more than any other factor. Indeed with the US presidential election, for almost a century, the winner has always been the candidate who had the most money behind them. So in terms of influencing the outcome of an election denying a party the right to fundraise is probably the single most effective tactic short of banning them outright.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Dublin Saturday 26th September on the warmest, sunniest day in quite some time, to demand the fundamental right to abortion services on this island. The 4th annual March for Choice, organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign, began with a gathering at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square.

Last Saturday the 26th of September saw thousands of people take to the streets of Dublin for the now annual March for Choice. The march is organized every year by the Abortion Rights Campaign.

The current key demand is that for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. This amendment passed in 1983 equates the life of a mother with that of a foetus. It's implementation through the legislation of the Labor Party party and FIne Gail government means in effect that a doctor who helps a pregnant person have an abortion or someone who procures one in Ireland could face a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

The opening of the Dail was marked by protests by organisations campaigning on housing and homelessness and by over the top policing of them.  Steel fences and dozens of Garda were used to hem a crowd that was probably never larger than 120 into the end of Molesworth street, presumably least any TD have to interact with them as they sought to flee the Dail.

The photos shows the Jobstown 23 'Drop the Charges' banner on its way down the Quays to the courts on Parkgate street. The Jobstown 27 charged in connection with the protest last November which saw Labour Party leader struck in her car because of a sit-in just in front of her. 

Revenge came initially in the form of over the top dawn raids on the houses of water charge activists and now after a long delay many are charged with crimes as serious as false imprisonment  - the maximum sentence for this is 14 years - despite the fact that several Garda were also around her car at all times. The number facing charges means this may be one of the largest political trials in Ireland for some decades.

There are many, many inspiring solidarity actions happening across Ireland at the moment. We've been following in particular the spontaneous formation of X to Calais groups around the county, modelled on the Cork to Calais one.

Before the government had indicated any intention to act these groups were formed in cities, towns and villages right across the country in order to collect needed supplies, form convoys and drive them to the migrant camps across Europe starting with the inspiring site of consistent self organised resistance at Calais.