March 2013

DUB: Feminist Walking Tour 2013

Date:

Dublin's annual Feminist Walking Tour will take visitors from the north side to the south side, exploring women's struggles, activism, and achievements through history. Free to all, activity sheets for kids will be provided, and join us afterwards for drinks at the Pav Bar* in Trinity College. Food will even be provided!

 

Saturday, 9 March 2013
14:30 - meet in front of Hugh Lane Gallery on Parnell square

10 Days of Abortion Rights Action

Date:

Abortion Rights Campaign announced 10 days of action demanding the government bring in X Case legislation before the Dáil is out for Summer.  During this 10 day period, thousands of postcards will be distributed physically and online around the country which the public will be urged to sign and return to their government representatives at Dáil Éireann. The message on the postcards will call for legislation in line with the 1992 Supreme Court Ruling on the X Case and make provisions for abortion access in Ireland for those whose lives are threatened by suicide.

Swiss vote Yes to curb top executives pay

Date:

This Sunday, 3rd March, Swiss voters, by a whopping majority of by 68%, struck fear into the corporate world by backing a citizen’s initiative referendum to curb top executives pay. Over two-thirds of the citizenry backed a package of proposals including a ban on “golden hellos” and “golden parachutes”, making shareholder votes on pay binding on corporate boards, requiring yearly term limits to board membership and requiring pension fund shareholder votes to be transparent, along with jail terms for executives that break the rules. The citizen’s initiative passed against the background of vocal screeching from the united ranks of the corporate elite, Switzerland’s largest multinationals including Nestlé, Credit Suisse, Novartis, ABB and nearly all the political parties.

DUB: Vote “NO” to Croke Park 2. Defend Education. Defend Public Services

Date:

A grass-roots rally of public servants in the education sector will take place in the Gresham Hotel Dublin at 12:00 on this Saturday 9th March 2013.

Who's afraid of the invisible PIG?

Date:

 

Over a quarter of a million people demonstrated against government austerity and Troika rule in Lisbon this Saturday gone. Hundreds of thousands more demostrated in towns and cities the length and breadth of Portugal. The biggest demonstrations against austerity yet in the Eurozone. Who's afraid of the Eurozone's most rebellious PIG? The Irish media, apparently, given the failure of RTE, Irish Times or the INM stable to cover the story. Maybe they think we'd get funny ideas? In any case, the next time someone tells you about media censorship in place like Russia, China and North Korea, don't forget to mention the Irish media's coverage of Portuguese resistance to the Troika. 

Abortion - The Lives and Health of Women in Ireland

Date:

In the week of International Women's Day and the Abortion Rights Campaign 10 days of Action, the National Women's Council of Ireland will host a joint event with Doctors for Choice on Abortion - The Lives and Health of Women in Ireland.

Dub: Queer Ball for Choice

Date:
 
Celebrate International Women's Day in a deliciously queer fashion at Seomra Spraoi!

An evening of food, performance, discussion and dancing...

We'll start at 6 pm with a workshop called "Gender and Choice: Binaries, Bodies, and the State."

Dub: Abortion Rights Campaign: Artists Talk

Date:

As part of the Abortion Rights Campaign 10 days of Action an artist's talk will be held in conversation, with Leszek Wolnik & Emma Campbell, who will be discussing their current exhibitions "10 weeks" at The Copperhouse Gallery. Daniel Jewesbury will facilitate the conversation. The talk will feature audio and written responses by the public to '10 weeks' and the artists welcome audience engagement and comment.

Hundreds picket EU Health Ministers meeting demanding Action on X

Date:

Several hundred people took part in a demonstration in Dublin last night demanding the government legislate for abortion access as laid down in the X-Case judgement over 21 years ago. Government after government have refused to introduce this legislation due to politicians own conservatism and their fear of the huge resources of the US funded anti-choice movement.  But the massive mobilisations that followed news of the death of Savita Halappanavar after she was refused an abortion in a Galway hospital in the Autumn have forced the Labour Party & Fine Gael to finally begin the process of introducing legislation.

Education workers to hold rally for No vote to Croke Park 2 in Dublin

Date:

A Rally of education workers to call for a rejection of the Croke Park 'extension' deal will be held in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin, on Saturday next 9th March at 12 noon.  The rally is bring organised as a result of an initiative from 5 branches of the Teachers Union of Ireland which called an organising meeting last week. This meeting was attended by over 60 union members, mainly branch and district officers, from the 4 teaching unions (TUI, ASTI, INTO and IFUT) as well as representatives from SIPTU's Education branch and from some other public service union.

Dub: Anarchism & Environmentalism

Date:

Friendly free discussion for people who are new to anarchism & seek answers to basic questions. The 2013 Conversations about Anarchism start off March 7th in the WSM space in Seomra Spraoi. The topic is Anarchism & Environmentalism

Was Croke Park “the best deal available?” And more importantly why?

Date:

INTO (Irish National Teachers Organisation) general secretary Sheila Nunan and other union leaders have said that the Croke Park extension deal is “the best deal available through negotiation” and that the negotiators “left nothing at the table”.  And they are probably right.  But saying that this is the best deal available through negotiation is not quite the same as saying that it is the best deal achievable.

Cork International Women's Day 2013 at Solidarity Books

Date:

This Friday, March 8th sees the fourth year of celebrations on Douglas Street to mark International Women’s Day. We’ve got a programme covering the whole day, taking in quilting sessions, film screenings, dance and theatre performances, food and of course enough time to catch up with one another in between. With some help from our neighbours in Cork Open Centre and Very Healthy Food, the programme will run from 10am until 8pm. Give it a glance and drop down at some stage (if not for the whole day). All our events are free to attend, but as ever, donations are really appreciated.

International Women’s Day – Friday March 8th, Solidarity Books, 43 Douglas Street, Cork

NUI Students have massive pro-choice vote in referendum on union policy

Date:

Some great news for International Womens Day. The students of NUI Galway have voted Yes in a pro-choice referendum by close to a massive 70%. The wording (below) was very clear and included a mandate for action. Well done to all who campaigned in this referendum. 

Voting NO to Croke Park - what happens next?

Date:

The government says if we Vote no to Croke Park they will impose it anyway.  Many of the union leadership try and scare us into voting Yes with this threat and by saying the only alternative is strike action.  Both are right.  If we just vote no than the government will attack us. And when they do the only way we can win is if we are willing to fight back - that will mean industrial action.  It will almost certainly mean at least the credible threat of an indefinite strike.

An Irish emigrant in Sydney - life, work & radical politics

Date:

In Sydney's Sun Herald there's a graph of unemployment in Europe with the title "Painful Recovery" it has percentages from Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and the overall EU.It says "Monthly unemployment. Ireland's unemployment is no longer surging but that is largely because 1600 people emigrate every week to find work". So apparently all that guff about how generous social welfare is in Ireland is a lie, as thousands seek work elsewhere and quite a few in Australia. (Sunday March 10th page 29).

Mass Civil Disobedience in North Illuminates Role Of States In Abortion Discussion

Date:

In an act of mass civil disobedience directly challenging the legitimacy of the state to regulate women’s reproduction against their own will, over 100 people in Northern Ireland under the banner Alliance for Choice have signed an open letter declaring they have taken, or supported others to take, a pill to induce an abortion.

Croke Park II - the view from the north

Date:

The Croke Park 2 deal soon to be voted on in the republic will force all public sector workers there to accept 1 billion cuts to be delivered through wage cuts & longer working hours leading to fewer jobs.  So far only a few unions balloting their members are calling for a NO vote to the extension of the Croke Park agreement. By most unions the deal is being sold as the only way to avoid worse cuts.  Instead, a walkout and a indefinite strike is what needs to happen. Public sector workers can reclaim the Unions from so called realpolitik and keep hold of the hard won collective bargaining rights for workers not yet lost in Croke Park one.

West Belfast - 2nd highest levels of child poverty in the UK

Date:

The recent report commissioned by the ‘End Child Poverty’ campaign has found that out of 650 parliamentary constituencies, West Belfast has the second highest levels of child poverty in the UK. Manchester Central being the only constituency to record higher levels of child poverty and deprivation. 43% of children within the West Belfast constituency grow up in poverty. And while this is a reduction on the previous year from 46%, other areas saw a greater percentage drop in poverty levels over that year.

SIPTU Croke Park recommendation shows the alternative is striking to win

Date:

It is no great surprise that the SIPTU NEC have recommended acceptance of Croke Park II. But in their statement they admit far more than the should have and point not only to why it should be rejected but also what is needed to win.  That is the willingness to threaten effective industrial action aimed at bringing down the government if they attempt to impose Croke Park II after we vote no.