Workers Solidarity Movement

Despite the distraction of the presidential election charade, the past couple of months have been busy ones for WSM members as government spending cuts continue to bite.

One manifestation of this has been the massive reduction in Special Needs Assistants (SNA’s) in the education system. Our members were present at the Alliance Against Cuts in Education protest held on September 14th last (see http://www.wsm.ie/c/sna-cuts-education-march-sept11), while we have also been involved in the campaign to save Loughlinstown Hospital A&E services (http://www.wsm.ie/c/loughlinstown-24-hour-ae-due-reduce-hours-1st-novemeber).

WSM members continue to be active in organising the anti-household tax campaign, which is ongoing countrywide, following a successful national forum held in Dublin in early September (see article elsewhere in this edition for further details). We also supported the ongoing Occupy Dame Street and Real Democracy protests (see article elsewhere).

Solidarity activity forms an important part of anarchist practice and, to this end, we supported a couple of pickets of the British embassy in support of the Dale Farm residents in the UK who are battling attempts to evict them by Basildon Council (see http://www.wsm.ie/c/dale-farm-families-travellers-eviction-dublin). Keeping with the spirit of internationalism, we attended the London Anarchist Bookfair in late October, where the latest edition of our magazine, Irish Anarchist Review, made its traditional debut.

Anti-Fascist activities have also formed an important part of anarchist history and thus the invite to Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party (BNP), to speak in Trinity College by the Philosophical Society posed a challenge. We supported a successful Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) “flash-mob” of the society’s meeting a week before Griffin was due to speak which led to the banning of him and any other BNP members from Trinity grounds.

On foot of a number of expressions of interest in Anarchism, we commenced our “Conversations about Anarchism” series of meetings in Dublin in October, an open discussion about anarchism in the form of a conversation around a set of questions. The idea is to create a space where people interested in finding out about anarchism can have a relaxed conversation with each other. (See http://www.wsm.ie/c/dub-conversations-about-anarchism-no-1-basics).

In the West, our members travelled to Mayo for a further Shell 2 Sea day of action in September, while in Galway, our branch mobilised for a Free Education for Everyone (FEE) picket of the Fine Gael “think-in” in the city in advance of the reopening of the Dail (http://www.wsm.ie/c/galway-action-against-fine-gael), while we also held a public meeting on anarchism in the Imperial Hotel in late October.

Our members in Cork remain busy running Solidarity Books on Douglas St, where, in addition to book-selling, the film night series also came to a conclusion with showings of “Listen to Venezuela” and “Debtocracy”. We also had a presence on a Free Brendan Lillis protest in the city (see article elsewhere) and are active in Independent Workers Union campaigns in the city (see www.union.ie).

The ongoing Euro zone debt crisis and the further massive attack on public services to come in the December budget will continue to keep WSM members busy in their unions, voluntary organisations and communities. If you would like to learn more about us or get involved then we would be very happy to hear from you.

For further information on the above and other breaking news, check out www.wsm.ie

This article is from Issue 124 of Ireland's anarchist paper Workers Solidarity November / December 2011