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Job losses, wage cuts, cuts in essential public services, pension levies..... Our living standards and our social services are under huge attack.
The WSM is calling for a No vote in the 2nd Lisbon referendum on the grounds that people in Ireland can do a lot better than a choice between the clowns in the Dáil or those in Brussels. We oppose the EU's policies of privatisation, militarisation and attacks on workers' conditions but don’t insult people’s intelligence by saying that our current society in Ireland with its severe recession, diabolical public services and corruption is anything better. The major lack of democracy in our lives is not between us and the EU but between the Irish government and us.
Thomas Cooke workers refused to go quietly when they were tossed onto the dole. Cooks had made £400m profit in 2008 and their boss, Manny Fontela-Novoa, took home €7 million. This was not a failing business.
One of the great problems that people encounter in making up their minds about the Lisbon treaty is that, depending on who you talk to, the treaty can appear to be an altogether different thing. According to those who are campaigning for a Yes vote, it merely serves to tidy up the existing European treaties, with a few changes to allow the EU to function more efficiently.
It’s the time of year where we plebs get a chance to rectify our impertinence in rejecting the Lisbon Treaty. In itself, rerunning the referendum is hardly an affront to democracy. After all, people are simply being asked to confirm the decision made.
To all supporters,contacts etc,
A motion in support of the striking workers and calling for intervention to end the dispute will be put before Dublin City Council at Monday evenings meeting. We will be hoping for unanimous cross party support for this but nothing is guaranteed yet. We are calling on supporters to gather at City Hall before the meeting to demonstrate our support for the workers.
Monday 7th September
City Hall (end of Dame Street)
6.15 - 7.15pm
In relation to the injunction taken by MTL to prevent the naming and shaming of scabs, see media links below, and update on the official site website .
The case is to resume again next Thursday 10th September at 11am.
We are calling on supporters to demonstrate at the High Court , gathering between 10.30 and 11am. This may be a full hearing of the case, and will likely continue for a number of hours.
Thursday 10th September
High Court
Assemble: 10.30 to 11am.
The indications from the Labour Relations Commission is that of cautious optimism, to use a near meaningless cliche. There is still a way to go, and we cannot be certain of the companies true intent. We will keep you updated.
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/eycwojaukfql/rss2/
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0904/1....html
A special issue of Workers Solidarity, no 111 is now online. It concentrates on making the argument for a No vote in the second Lisbon referendum as part of the WSM 'No to Lisbon' campaign.
Download Workers Solidarity 111 - No to Lisbon (Southern edition)
The McCarthy or “Bord Snip Nua” report on public spending outlined a range of proposed cuts in government expenditure. Of the €5.3b in possible savings, it can be safely said that at least €4b of this (and probably more) targets the working class. Indeed, a full third of the cuts are aimed at pensioners and unemployed. In the private sector, attacks on our class continue in the form of pay cuts, short time and lay-offs.
The Workers Solidarity Movement is twenty-five years old this autumn. A quarter of a century ago anarchists in Ireland came together to establish an organisation to promote and fight for our ideas.
The Workers Solidarity Movement is calling for a No vote in the Lisbon referendum. It is a treaty for the rich, people in Ireland can do a lot better than a choice between the clowns in the Dáil or those in Brussels.
We oppose the EU's policies of privatisation, militarisation and attacks on workers' conditions but don’t insult people’s intelligence by saying that our current society in Ireland with its severe recession, diabolical public services and corruption is anything better. The major lack of democracy in our lives is not between us and the EU but between the Irish government and us.
The upcoming Lisbon vote is one of the rare occasions that the people get a direct say. But it’s only a very limited say. We get to choose between either a gombeen republic or an embryonic European state, neither of which makes for an exciting prospect.
Whichever way the vote goes, there is no indication that either a yes or a no vote will substantially alter the exclusion of the public from major public decisions. That requires a rethinking of the kind of society we want.
The problem is not the treaty alone but the EU as an institution.We call on people to Vote No to Lisbon but also to organise to take more control of our lives and to build real democracy in our communities and our workplaces.
Today the word "communism" is most often associated with the totalitarian one-party states of Soviet Russia or China. Nothing could be further from the anarchist goal of a stateless, free society. So the association of anarchism with communism seems, at first sight, perverse.
The DUP’S Sammy Wilson has recently accused anti-racism groups of exaggerating the scale of racism to access public funding. This statement comes not long after more than 100 Romanians were forced to flee their homes in South Belfast due to racist intimidation and attacks.
The Workers Solidarity Movement(WSM) has called for a No vote in the Lisbon referendum, referring to it as “a treaty for the rich”, and claiming that “people in Ireland can do a lot better than a choice between the clowns in the Dáil or those in Brussels”.
Shell to Sea campaigner Maura Harrington has received a 3 months sentence todayin court. She is currently en route to Mountjoy,there will be a protest at the jail from 6pm
Retired school principal Maura Harrington has been jailed for the fourth time this year in connection with her opposition to Shell’s experimental inland refinery and high-pressure pipeline in north Mayo.
During his recent visit to Dublin, Workers Solidarity took the opportunity, over “bad coffee”, to chat to 93 year old Roma Marquez Santo about some of his experiences of the Spanish revolution. In 1936 Roma was a metal worker and a member of both the UGT trade union and the POUM, an anti-Stalinist communist party.
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.’
NAMA is nothing short of straight class robbery – robbery from ordinary workers in order to shore up the property developers and big bankers who got us into this mess in the first place. It can be described as unfair, it can be described as immoral but in reality it’s naked capitalism at work.
Anarchist organisation Workers Solidarity Movement (WSM) has launched two ‘Vote No to Lisbon’ posters. One features pictures of John Gormley, Bertie Ahern, Brian Cowen and Mary Harney under the slogan ‘Would you buy a second hand treaty from these chancers?’ The other urges people to vote no to Lisbon but also to ‘Organise For Real Social Change’.