Workers Solidarity Movement

Our members in Cork and Dublin have been active in the Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes, at local, regional and national levels, helping with stalls, leafletting and demos, and arguing for greater grassroots democracy within the campaign.

In October we published the latest issue of the free, political analysis mag The Irish Anarchist Review.

Several WSM members travelled to and took an active part in the International Gathering of a couple of thousand anarchists in Switzerland in August, the Anarchist Studies Network Conference in Loughborough University in September and the London Anarchist bookfair in October,.

Cork, Dublin and Galway branches have been involved with building opposition to the recent Youth Defence bigotted “road show”, and in helping mobilise for (and publishing many fab photos of) the national March for Choice, and the demonstrations in support of the Marie Stopes Clinic, as well as helping to organise local pro- choice events.

In Galway our members have been working in solidarity with local asylum seekers’ sadly unsuccessful fight to stop the closure of Lisbrook House.

In Cork our local branch, along with other volunteers have been keeping the friendly, neighbourhood anarchist bookshop and community space up and running. Solidarity Books hosts weekly community meals and weekly showings of radical films as well as providing a cheap, comfortable, welcoming venue for the meetings of various campaign groups. We have run educationals on e.g.: the anarchist movement in Germany and Russia, and abortion rights.

Solidarity Books also held a very successful bookstall at this year’s Grassroots Gathering in Galway, and WSM members led some of the discussions at the Gathering (e.g. on fighting austerity, and on using the social media)

WSM members in Cork have been involved in helping organise the LGBT Pride Festival and march, as we have been for the past several years, and we have been actively involved with our local branch of the Independent Workers Union

Dublin WSM have also been organising the popular informal ‘Conversations about An- archism’ discussion series in Seomra Spraoi.

This article appeared in
Workers Solidarity 128 - Nov/Dec 2012