August 2010

"How I came to be involved in struggle" - Radio Solidarity Prog. 6

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Radio Solidarity - Prog. 6 - "How I came to be involved" is now available to listen to on the Near FM podcast site.

In this show, we at Radio Solidarity went out and spoke to people who are actively engaged in struggle and have a definitive idea of how to change the world for the better.

A Summer School for Radicals and Activists

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Activist Fleadh – A Summer School for Radicals

Introduction
Thesummer school is an exciting opportunity designed to enable us all - activists and non-activists, radicals of all ages and people in many different communities, movements and struggles - to find spaces to talk to each other about what we have in common:

...- What are the big structures of power and inequality that shape our world, and how do we meet them?
- How can we find effective ways of protesting, disrupting, constructing alternatives and taking action?

Climate Camp 2010- 12th to 16th of August- Victoria Bridge, County Tyrone.

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Climate Camp 2010- 12th to 16th of August- Victoria Bridge, County Tyrone.

This year's climate camp will take place form the 12th to the 16th of August in County Tyrone, to support the local community campaign that is in opposition to the building of a new A5 road between Dublin and Derry.
Check our more about the A5 Alliance campaign on: http://www.alternativea5alliance.com/home and http://sluggerotoole.com/2010/06/03/terror-in-tyrone-–-white-elephant-alert/ for other oposition.

For more info see http://climatecamp.ie/

Community stop Shell drilling in Sruwaddacon Estuary in Erris

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On Tuesday morning forty people from around Sruwaddacon Estuary in Erris brought Shell’s survey work in the area to a complete standstill when they walked out onto the mudflats at low tide to assert their cockle-picking rights and disrupt Shell’s borehole drilling survey.  Shell has two barges drilling over 80 test holes in this Special Areas of Conservation, work that is opposed by the local community as part of their ongoing resistance to Shell's plan to run an experimental high pressure raw gas pipeline near their houses.

WSM sign solidarity statement with Mapuche Political Prisoners

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The WSM has signed an international statement that highlights the ongoing resistance of the Mapuche, an indigenous people in Chile who make up perhaps 5% of the Chilean population but comprise the majority of political prisoners in Chile.  The statement originated with anarchists organisations in Chile who are in solidarity with the Mapuche.

Manifesto of Libertarian Communism - Georges Fontenis

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The ‘Manifesto of Libertarian Communism’ was written in 1953 by Georges Fontenis for the Federation Communiste Libertaire of France. It is one of the key texts of the anarchist-communist current. It was preceded by the best work of Bakunin, Guillaume, Malatesta, Berneri, the Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists written by Makhno, Arshinov and Matt, which sprang from the defeats of the Russian Revolution, and the statements of the Friends of Durruti, also a result of another defeat, that of the Spanish Revolution.

Statement against police brutality in Colombia signed by WSM

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At the urging of our comrades in  the Colombian anarchist organisation Red Libertaria Popular Mateo Kramer the WSM has signed this international statement.  Red Libertaria Popular Mateo Kramer describe the current political reality in Colombia as follows. "As repression assumes fearful proportions in Colombia, sheer violence is the mechanism to impose a terrorist mafia regime, an enclave subservient to US imperialist interests in the region. The current regime represents the political expression of the harshest class violence against workers in the region. This is not shameful for the Colombian people but it represents a menace to all of the Latin American people. Those libertarian organisations who have signed this statement do so in order to show solidarity with the libertarian movement in Colombia which, along with the rest of the people’s movement, knows no quarter in its struggle against State Terrorism and Imperialism."

Obituary: Georges Fontenis

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Georges Fontenis One of the best known French anarchists, Georges Fontenis, died on August 9th at the age of 90.

Our comrades of Alternative Libertaire described him as “an untiring fighter for libertarian communism, a supporter of the Algerian independence fighters, a trade unionist, one of the leading figures of May 1968 in Tours and a pillar of the Freethought movement”.   Until the very end he was also a member of Alternative Libertaire.

Electricians at St James hospital strike against outsourcing

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Technical Engineering and Electrical Union (TEEU) members at St James are on strike today against management breaking agreed procedures in out sourcing work that includes the resetting and repair of fire alarms.  The electricians have already held two half day stoppages with todays actions following the failure to reach agreement at the Labour Relations Commission last week.

Resistance continues as Shell to Sea campaigner freed after 118 days in prison

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A still defiant Shell to Sea campaigner, Niall Harnett, has been released after spending 118 days in Castlerea prison. On his release Niall announced that "I am going straight back to the Rossport Solidarity Camp to be with my fellow activists and Shell to Sea friends in the local community. We seem to bring out the best in each other, unlike Shell and the Irish government, who bring out the worst in each other."  Niall's release today means that for the first time in many months no Shell to Sea campaigners are in prison, however resistance to Shell still continues in Erris.

ESB Cuts-off 30 Households a Day

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It has been revealed that the ESB (the Electricity Supply Board, a State-owned company) has been cutting off an average of 30 people a day from the electricity supply due to their inability to pay the bills.

More job losses but no further slump for now? NTMA sells 1.5 billion in bonds

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In what was described ahead of time as the most "important bond auction of the year" the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) sold 1.5 billion in bonds, a result which may steady the international markets at whose whims workers in Ireland have discovered their employment and living standards are subject to.  There was nervousness ahead of the sale due to the rise in the cost of servicing Irish debt in bond sales last week.  Meanwhile thousands of bank workers are losing their jobs.

Response to Pakistan floods shows barbarism of system

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Radio, television and newspaper reports of the recent devastating floods in Pakistan are at last beginning to refer to the sheer scale of the problems faced by the victims.  Figures for the number of people affected vary widely.  According to the Irish Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power, reported in today’s (Tuesday) Irish Times, “the United Nations estimated that 40 million people had been left homeless; that eight million of those were in urgent need of immediate food and shelter; and that the combination of rising water and humidity had made a cholera epidemic a real danger”.  RTE’s website says “Aid agencies are saying that the world does not fully understand the scale of the flooding disaster ….. One fifth of the country has been hit by severe flooding, with more than 20m people affected…..The UN believes up to 3.5m children are now at risk of contracting water-borne diseases….”.

The DE-ENERGIZER – the truth behind policy or who is REALLY Paying for this Crisis

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The news has emerged over the weekend that 900 homes a month are being disconnected from the electricity grid because they were not able to pay their bills. (1) A further 11,000 bill payers a month are entering into  special re-payment options  because they’ve already contacted the Electricity Supply Board to say that they are having difficulty making the payment.

The newspeak word that was used in the press release by the ESB was ‘de-energizing’ customers. 

 

87% believe wealth in Ireland is unfairly distributed - almost half in favour of establishing a maximum wage

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The 2010 Inequality Survey published by independent thinktank TASC has shown that 87% of respondents believe that wealth in Ireland is unfairly distributed.  This is up from 70% in the equivalent survey carried out in 2008. 91% of respondents believe that active steps should be taken by Government to address this inequality and reduce the income gap between low and high income earners.

Report from the Activist Fleadh in Kilbarack

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On Saturday (14th Aug), around 60 people from different organisations, parties and community projects plus some individual activists gathered in Kilbarack community development centre for a 2 day activist workshop. The whole event was pleasantly very well organised with a lovely lunch provided.some activists at the fleadh

HSE plans €90m cuts in the West of Ireland

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Talks are underway at University Hospital Galway between the Health Service Executive (HSE) and union officials representing HSE staff in the west. The unions claim €90 million worth of cuts are being planned by the HSE, a claim which is denied by the Executive. IMPACT trade union spokesman Padraig Mulligan said there are very real fears that the HSE will cut jobs and reduce services.

What else could the Anglo 25 billion be used for?

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The NAMA bailout of the property speculators bank, Ango Irish Bank, is now costing the rest of us 25 billion euro.  Twenty five billion euro is a figure that is almost meaning less to almost all of us.  A worker earning the minimum wage would have to work for 1.4 million years to earn 25 billion (before tax).  The economist Ronan Lyons listed 100 things that 25 billion could have been spent on in, some flippant but others which give a real sense of just what the real cost of the 25 billion that the richest 1% have robbed off the rest of the population through NAMA is.

Haiku for the Trade Union Fightback 2009 - 2010

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The erosion of a democratic structure of the Unions has lead to a greater ability by the leadership to exert control over the Union.  Where there were assemblies of workers – arguments can be had and positions taken – but thanks to over 23 years of partnership – you don’t have them in many workplaces.   So where you had functioning branch structures it was possible to explore and debate ideas over the strike process.

Shifu and the possibilities for Chinese Anarchism

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In July 1914, the Shanghai Association of Anarchist Communist Comrades published its statement of principles, concluding with the resolution that, "the implementation of anarchist communism depends on the strength of our party. If we wish to increase our party's strength, uniting as a whole body and advancing together is our most important task today. Wherever they are, all our comrades should unite with those who share the same purposes and establish groups in free association.” The key member of this group was a Chinese anarchist known as Shifu who was to die a mere nine months later. Although the group carried on after his death, the core concept of this paragraph was never to be implemented.