September 2017

Belfast anarchist bookfair 2017 - 9th Sept

Date:

The WSM will be at this years Belfast Anarchist Bookfair at the Catalyst Art Gallery, come along to our stall - one of over a dozen, see below - to pick up some good anarchist reads from Ireland and to say hi.

10th Belfast Anarchist Bookfair
Catalyst Arts
Ground Floor, 5 College Court, BT1 6BS Belfast
9th September 2017 1pm – 7pm

Post Charlottesville: Freedom of Speech and Expression

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I think we can all admit that the last year has been hectic, a man-baby reality TV star has nuclear launch codes and I’ve found myself having arguments with people that I never could have imagined having before. And in the past few weeks I’ve actually had to argue why letting Nazis, actual Nazis, organise is a bad thing. And it’s the same reply every single time, because free speech and free expression.

Because we all have the right to express any idea in the marketplace of ideas and if we can defend our position, argue well and appeal to the nobility of human reason - we will be heard. So if we all agree that the ideology behind fascism is repugnant, then why has it persisted and indeed, grown in the months following Trump’s election?

Looking back at 2016 March for Choice and forward to 30 Sept

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As it’s been almost a year since March for Choice 2016, I decided to reflect on what was to be the first of many protests against the State over my right to choose.

Without much luck considering the weather and bus strike circumstances, it was a wonderful day to be among the 25,000 that marched the streets of Dublin on a rainy Saturday afternoon in September. There was a certain atmosphere that was indescribable, among the thousands of flags, posters, chants, smiles, flares, megaphones and umbrellas it was day that I will never forget. On a National level the March for Choice was something much needed in the media to refocus attention on repealing the Eighth Amendment. With Pro-Life campaigns in full swing, between leaflets at churches and canvassers at my door, a show of strength - of young people like me mobilising, was needed to make it very clear that they are the receding tide.

Wage theft defeated by solidarity in Sydney

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An Irish anarchist reports from recent victory in Sydney against wage theft in the hospitality industry. The Sydney Solidarity Network was formed a number of years ago along the lines of the Seattle Solidarity Network.

George Hook, Leo and the place of women in patriarchal-capitalist Ireland

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Over the last few days we’ve been given a couple of direct insights into the minds of our political elite, in particular in relation to how women are to be viewed in modern Ireland. On his daily talk show last Friday, rugby pundit, and right-wing mouth piece George Hook went on a three minute tirade, moralising about rape of a young woman in the UK. The outcome of his spiel: blaming a rape victim for being assaulted while unconscious.

Kilkenny shows Youth Defence the door

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Saturday 22 July and Youth Defence, the real bottom of the barrel of the anti-choice campaign, brought their roadshow to Kilkenny. They have embarrassing historical ties with neo-nazis and plenty of shady American dollars to pay for their slick corporate stall, glossy flyers and huge banners, mostly featuring mangled foetuses and scare tactic slogans.

Irish Housing Network aid residents threatened with eviction in Offaly

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Members of the Kildare branch of the Irish Housing Network were invited to attend a meeting in Tullamore 9th September  by concerned residents of 'Lann Elo', a facility. Five members of Housing Action Kildare (IHN), two local Offaly county councillors, one Fianna Fail TD and one Sinn Fein TD were in attendance, along with eight residents.

Eight residents and a number of young children were advised in writing on 23rd August that they had to be out of the facility by 6th October or their cases may be referred to the Residential Tenancies Board. This caused a great deal of unnecessary stress for residents, especially those with young children as they did not know what this process would entail.

It was the X-case which politicised me - and I'll march again on the 30th

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Choice is a political issue.  I emigrated to the UK in the 80’s and when I returned to Dublin it was the X-case which politicised me.  It was incomprehensible to me as a 23 year old that this young 14 year old girl who had been raped was not allowed to leave the country.  
 
I was not the only one who felt strongly about this, and there were massive marches asking for the young woman to be let go to the UK to have an abortion. That was 1992 [in the picture I am there holding the placard on the left]. I felt like I had to leave this place to come back and see it with new eyes, and see how dysfunctional it truly was, and remains. 

We will march for choice. Will you?

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Ask yourself a question.

A relative, a friend, a neighbour, a co-worker or a stranger on a bus says to you that they were pregnant but exercised their right to choose and secured a termination. Would you then imprison them for 14 years? If you wouldn’t jail someone for exercising their right to choose, would you want to be associated in any way with their jailors?

If the answer to the above is ‘no’, then you might consider joining the 6th Annual March for Choice will take place in Dublin this Saturday, 30th September. We anarchists of the Workers Solidarity Movement will be assembling with thousands of other pro-choice people at the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square from 1.30pm, before we march on Dáil Éireann at 2pm.

Co. Clare mobilises for the March for Choice - interviews from Ennistymon

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We caught up with abortion rights activists in Clare as they held a public information stall in Ennistymon, they will be running buses to the Sept 30th March for Choice in Dublin. [Video]

Buy a Ticket! Dublin Bus to Belfast RALLY FOR CHOICE

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Online ticket sales have now closed. The bus will be leaving Hugh Lane Gallery at 10 am sharp. Please message the WSM Facebook page or email activity@wsm.ie if you wish to be placed on a standby list in the event there are any cancellations in the run up to the Rally.

  • Tickets are €10 per person
  • If you cannot attend please consider making a donation to help us subsidise tickets for those on low or no income.
  • Meeting for the bus at the Hugh Lane Gallery on Parnell Square at 10am sharp, returning at 7.00pm
  • Click on the button, enter the amount corresponding to the number of tickets you want: 1 ticket = €10, two tickets = €20 etc.
  • Be sure to leave your Name, Email, and Mobile Phone Number so we can contact you, with confirmation and updates. (Please allow time for confirmation).
  • If making a donation, just enter “donation” in the address field

For any queries contact: activity@wsm.ie
Image result for rally for choice belfast

Rober Emmets courtroom speech prior to his 1803 execution

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This is the text of the speech Robert Emmet delivered from the dock in Green Street when on trial for his role in organising the rebellion of 1803.  He was sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered and executed outside St Catherines on Thomas street, 20th September 1803. We are posting this on the 114th anniversary of the exection.

The 1803 rebellion Ireland and Robert Emmet

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The 1803 rebellion followed only five years after the rebellion of 1798.  1798 involved tens of thousands under arms, rising across the country over months and the liberation of parts of Wexford, Wicklow and Waterford for long enough for a republic to be declared.  It was smashed by the British empire with great brutality directed at those under arms but also the civilian populations.  As many as 30,000 may have died.

Despite this Robert Emmet who was the brother of one of the 1798 leaders reorganised and with Thomas Russell and others attempted another rebellion in 1803. 

Why YOU need to get out and March for Choice on the 30th Sept

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We are in the 4th decade of the struggle to get rid of the 8th amendment - no one under the age of 52 could even have voted for it.  But this year should be the year and that's why everyone should be on the March for Choice in Dublin, September 30th.

The Personal and Political within Catholic Ireland

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Sci-fi is a genre that I’ve never been able to get into and have never had the desire to change this. I find myself in the strange position now, however, of wishing I was some kind of sci-fi expert so that I could easily find a term for something that is half alive and half ghost. If there were such a term I’d use it to personify catholic Ireland, an institution that is still alive but dying with a ghost that wields most of its power.

Catholic Ireland was a violent, brutal regime that existed – among many other reasons - to dehumanise, torture and inflict as much pain as possible on women. The church sexualised us from no age through instilling notions of modesty and chastity in us. They then shamed us and hid us away when we did have sex and the evidence was there to prove it. While in hiding they tortured us in laundries and traumatised us in Mother and Baby Homes.

Lessons for Ireland from the Pro-Choice movement in Italy

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I moved to Ireland from Italy shortly after the Strike4Repeal of the 8th of March, a mass mobilisation on the streets of Dublin in protest of Ireland’s archaic abortion laws, which I followed closely on social media. While still in Italy, I had been involved in organising a successful feminist demonstration in the city where I lived, on that same date (International Women’s Day), and I felt deep sympathy and admiration for the Irish pro-choice activists and the amazing work they were carrying out. At first glance it was unbelievable to me that in a western-European country people still had to take the streets to demand access to abortion. While the Irish situation initially felt like something I could not relate to, I soon remembered where I was from and I had to think twice: despite abortion being legal in my home country, safe and effective access to abortion service is currently utopia.

Emergency gas flaring at Corrib refinery as unscented raw gas allowed into grid

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Emergency gas flaring has had to take place at the Corrib refinery because unscented gas was allowed into the national grid. Terence Conway of Shell to Sea reports from the gates of the refinery in the video.

The pro-choice & feminist movement in Greece with relevance to Ireland

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The legal right for abortion in Greece was established in 1986. Trying to find more info about this time and by digging into Greek feminist history, I bumped into that article about feminists and their struggles. I came out of my research feeling positive and empowered. Sometimes, when people get involved in struggles to bring about change, they forget that things don’t really change that easily. The articles I found made clear that that abortion rights were achieved in law only after years of women’s struggles. The same holds true in Greece, not only for abortion rights but for contraception and divorce rights. It is difficult now to imagine that only 31 years ago people were fighting for these basic rights.

Image banner says: "Get the laws off our bodies"

6th March for Choice 30 Sept - march with the anarchist bloc

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The 6th annual March for Choice takes place September 30th in Dublin and once more we are bringing together an anarchist bloc for the march - join us on the day.

It's going to be an important march as the government have promised a referendum next year but have not yet announced a date or indeed what we will actually be allowed to vote on.  There is a real danger that rather than a vote to delete the 8th Amendment they will seek to replace it with text that would still seek to deny bodily autonomy and allow abortion access in very restricted circumstances.  Some 12 people a day are forced to travel to access abortion and more use pills at home under the theoretical threat of a 14 year jail term, the danger is that many of these people would still be unable to access abortion and pregnant people would continue to find the 8th amendment denied them control in their own pregnancy.

New pro-choice group launched in Kildare

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A new pro-choice group has formed in county Kildare to campaign for the Repeal of the 8th Amendment. The 'Kildare Coalition to Repeal the 8th' is comprised of people new to activism as well as veteran organisers. Around 20 people attended the first county-wide meeting last Thursday.

The new group has already gotten up posters in north and south Kildare for the big pro-choice march this Saturday as well as having articles placed in local papers. Hundreds of leaflets have been handed out and a coffee morning was held in north Kildare to raise funds. They plan to affiliate with the national Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment.

The county wide group will be meeting monthly to coordinate the efforts of local pro-choice groups throughout Kildare. Look out for their county banner on Saturday.
If you are from Kildare and would like to get involved, you can contact them at this email address: kildare4Repeal@gmail.com