September 2007

Grassroots Gathering,follow up meeting

Date:

Following up to the meeting on Saturday the 25th of August a further meeting will be held this Saturday to discuss the organisation of a gathering in Dublin before Christmas.
All interested in having an input should attend.

Anarchism and Community Organising

Date:

Community and grassroots organising are powerful tactics in the toolkit of Anarchism. To clearly answer *how* Anarchists can help to promote grassroots and community organising we must first look at *why* Anarchists should support and engage in community organising in the first place.

Workers Solidarity 98 - July/August 2007

Date:

The July/August 2007 issue of Workers Solidarity is now online and can be downloaded as a PDF file.
 

Justice For Terence Wheelock

Date:

Public meeting
Saturday 15th September
1pm
Lourdes Youth and Community Parish Hall
Sean McDermott Street
Dublin 1

Communism vs. reforms, mistakes of the Communist Party of Ireland

Date:

This critique of the program of the Communist Party Of Ireland was published in 1922 by the British Workers' Socialist Federation group. Thye had broken from the 3rd international over electoralism and other issues.

Sit down protest and site occupation at Rossport August 2007

Date:

The campaign against Shell’s attempts to force a high-powered gas pipeline through the Rossport area of Co. Mayo continues as locals and supporters gather at the site of the proposed refinery at Bellanaboy in the early hours of Friday the 14th.

The morning began with a good turnout – aprox 200 people were outside the gates and blocking trucks by 7.30.

Evidence disappears in Store Street Garda station Wheelock case

Date:

In July the Garda Ombudsman announced that it will begin an inquiry into the arrest and death of Terence Wheelock following injuries sustained in custody at Store Street Garda station in June 2005. This announcement follows two years of silence, denial and cover up by the Gardai and the political establishment.

Why Ireland never got nuclear power

Date:

The debate has started. One of the ESB unions, Unite-Amicus, wants the government to build nuclear power stations. We are told that it’s a “clean technology” that will reduce climate change.

Workers Occupation of Reilly Bookbinders in Wicklow Pays Off

Date:

The boss is shown the door and the workers take over. That’s what happened for a month at Reilly Bookbinders on the Murrough Industrial Estate in Wicklow town.The company had been in Wicklow for 30 years. Then four years ago it was taken over by Dunne and Wilson (Ireland) Ltd.. Two years later the building from which the company operated was sold to the Wicklow Enterprise Centre for over €900,000. It is understood to have been acquired by Dunne and Wilson for between €400,000 and €450,000. Then, this summer, boss Richard Geraghty told staff that the lease was up on August 1st and their work was being relocated to the Czech Republic.

Three sentenced for Shell in Erris

Date:

For the past eight years the people of Rossport in North West Mayo have been struggling against an at- tempt by Shell and other companies to build a dangerous and destructive gas processing terminal near to their homes and their community. This development would benefit no-one but wealthy shareholders as the Irish Government handed over the extraction rights to the oil companies in the 1980s and 1990s.

Thats capitalism - WS99

Date:

Just 1% of the population owns 34% of the wealth in the 26 counties (excluding the value of residential housing). That’s according to the Bank of Ireland report ‘The Wealth of the Nation’.

***

May saw absolutely no job losses announced. May was also the month of the Dail election. Did Fianna Fail ask their business pals to hold off any bad news? In June things got back to ‘normal’ with job losses at Eircom, Dell, Lapple, Wrapite, Molex, the ESB and Hovid.

****

Is Equal Pay Possible?

Date:

You thought that equal pay had been sorted years ago? Well, according to the United Nations, women and girls do two thirds of the world’s work for 5% of the income. Of the world’s 550 million working poor, those unable to lift themselves and their families above the $1 per day threshold, 330 million, or 60%, are women.

Climate Change; Delusion and Hypocrisy

Date:

There no longer remains any doubt that climate change has been caused by the activities of humans. The resulting problems of flash flood, more severe droughts, hurricanes etc alongside increased resource and water wars will have drastic economic, social and political consequences right across the globe. For many people both in the richer developed north and the global south, the ensuing climate chaos will only further exasperate their already precarious lives and livelihoods.Whilst governments like our own make almost daily pronouncements about ‘tackling’ climate change, and the media have weekly reports of increasing chaotic and unpredictable weather conditions, both have carefully avoided talking about its main cause. The one thing that historically has caused and continues to perpetuate the effects of climate change is putting private profit before public welfare.

About Anarchists Against The Wall in Israel

Date:

“Anarchists Against the Wall (AATW) is a direct action group that was established in 2003 in response to the construction of the wall Israel is building on Palestinian land in the Occupied West Bank. The group works in cooperation with Palestinians in a joint non-violent struggle against the occupation.”

Operating under the principle that “It is the duty of Israeli citizens to resist immoral policies and actions carried out in out name”, the AATW is actively resisting the construction of the wall with more than protesting in the streets, governed by the belief that the Israeli segregation of the Palestinian people will not end by itself. Instead, they believe that the only way to end the occupation is by creating a social climate that is “ungovernable and unmanageable” for the Israeli state.

Next Shell to Sea Action

Date:

Next Shell to Sea day of action

The 1907 Belfast strike

Date:

In 1907 Belfast saw the first big battle between the working and employing classes in Ireland. The dockers' and carters' strike was the spark which lit a fire of working class militancy. Workers were flexing their muscle, Catholic and Protestant were uniting, 'Larkinism' was giving the bosses nightmares. Even the police got caught up in the new mood and mutinied.

Dublin Shell to Sea Public meeting

Date:

Shell to Sea public meeting in Dublin

Seomra Spraoi launch weekend

Date:

Come check it out

Postman Pat says 'Stuff Your Paycut!'

Date:

From June to mid-August, postal workers in the North and in Britain were taking industrial action. Management are on the offensive, and the action was to protect existing conditions.

In a display of cross-border common purpose An Post bosses are also having a go, with conditions under attack as a prelude to selling off parts of the service to private companies. So, An Post workers have a special interest in how the Communications Workers Union dispute progresses

Workers control and nationalism in Ireland in 1922

Date:

The Limerick General Strike of 1918 called the Limerick Soviet (workers' council) into being. This was the first incident to draw general attention to the new spirit developing amongst Irish workers. The Limerick General Strike was however a strike against the imposition of British military permits and though it was regarded with distrust in some Nationalist quarters, it was supported by numbers of Limerick employers and shopkeepers. That the Limerick Soviet was used by workers to bring down prices and force up wages was a fact overshadowed by the military permit question.