Workers Solidarity Movement

Recent years in Ireland have seen growing community based resistance to the imposition of austerity programs: the introduction of regressive taxes such as the property tax and water charges, and the homelessness crisis as a direct consequence.

The ongoing attempt to establish Irish Water, a state backed water utility company, designed to pave the way for privatisation of our water and infrastructure, has been met with unprecedented broad based resistance from communities across the country.

Similarly the obscene growth in homelessness across the country is being met with growing grassroots resistance through groups such as the Dublin Tenants Association and Irish Housing Network.

While few, if any, foresaw the rapid rise in direct action and community organisation that we see at the moment, it has quickly become the norm for people involved in political organising. Occupations of state buildings, blockades of contractors, direct confrontation with police and struggles around housing have come to characterise politics in Ireland recently. While some political forces seek to use this surge in working class political activity for electoral gain, anarchists seek to use this opportunity to encourage direct action and democratic forms of organising in order to strengthen the organisational and political capacity of our communities.

Panel participants are
- Brian A., an anarchist organiser and active member of the WSM for six years. He has also participated in community organising, centring on resistance to property taxes and Irish Water for the past three years.
- Mick O’Broin, an activist with the Dublin Tennant’s Association and Provisional University. Mick will talk about the politics of self-organising in the context of the crisis in the private rented sector and its usefulness in creating networks and empowerment.
- Aisling Hedderman is part of the North Dublin Bay Housing Crisis Community, a grassroots community of parents and individuals directly affected by the housing crisis. The focus of the group is in offering support, spreading awareness and taking direct action against this systemic failure.

This video is from the 2016 Dublin anarchist bookfair, for more video from the bookfair clink on the Anarchsit Bookfair tag