Workers Solidarity Movement

In case you missed it, David Cameron does not believe that reparations or even apologies are the right approach when dealing with the legacy of the enslavement of the Jamaican people at the hands of British Imperialism.

Here's 6 reasons why you should support the decriminalization of abortion and the pro-choice position.

The demand for abortion rights is a shallow one if all that it means is a right to a safe and legal abortion. The demand for abortion rights must be brought into the greater battle for full reproductive freedom.

Reproductive freedom means that if someone is pregnant and does not wish to be they are supported, financially and emotionally in that decision. Likewise, if someone wishes to have a child they should not be constrained by, for example, financial issues.

Last Saturday the 26th of September saw thousands of people take to the streets of Dublin for the now annual March for Choice. The march is organized every year by the Abortion Rights Campaign.

The current key demand is that for the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. This amendment passed in 1983 equates the life of a mother with that of a foetus. It's implementation through the legislation of the Labor Party party and FIne Gail government means in effect that a doctor who helps a pregnant person have an abortion or someone who procures one in Ireland could face a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

Over 1,000 abortion pills were seized last year at customs, a figure that represents double the amount seized the two years previous. This fact is very much in contradiction with the myth of the anti-choice side that there is no demand for abortion in Ireland.

Despite the fact that abortion is illegal in Ireland and having an abortion, or even helping someone have one, is punishable by up to 14 years in jail it is a well known fact that abortions still occur.

To those involved in left-wing or anti-establishment activism the word "solidarity" has a different meaning to those not involved in anti-capitalist or feminist struggle.

Among leftists it's not only an emotion, it's something that you feel in your gut. It's something that spurs you into action and that drives you forward even when the end destination is nowhere near in sight.

A Judicial Review into the North's abortion law has begun today and is expected to last three days. The final decision of the case taken by the Human Rights Commission (HRC) is not expected until the Autumn. Women's right to bodily autonomy must be vindicated without delay.

Currently in the North you can have an abortion if the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, including risk of suicide, and if you are under 9 weeks gestation.

The Court of Appeal has reserved judgement on a legal challenge to the exclusion of women from N. Ireland from NHS abortion services.

Last May Mr Justice King ruled in the High Court that the residence-based exclusion was lawful, despite the fact that people living in the North pay the same amount of taxes as everyone else in the UK and should therefore be entitled to the same services. The case was brought forward by a woman known as A in order to protect her identity and her mother.

Three years ago, A, like many other women from the island of Ireland, had to raise the nearly £900 to avail of an abortion in England.

Today in the North of Ireland it will become illegal for people to pay for sex work.

In spite of protests by sex workers and their allies Stormont has ignored their voices.

Despite 98% of sex workers who were surveyed by the Department of Justice last year coming out against the bill, 81 MLAs (out of 108) voted in favour of it. This represents a complete contempt towards sex workers as they struggle for labour rights.

The new law is extremely irresponsible and it will do nothing to protect sex workers; it will only drive them further underground and put them in more danger. Banning the purchase of sex isn't going to stop it happening and it would be foolish to think so.

On May 5th the Belfast branch of the Workers Solidarity Movement organised a demo and protest in solidarity with Baltimore.

We arranged candles in a circle with flowers in the middle as a vigil to those who have been murdered as a result of police and state-sponsored violence and racism. We then played interviews from Baltimore and Black America out on a speaker in order to allow those directly affected to speak for themselves.

Every 28 hours a person of colour (POC) is murdered by the police force in America. So far 157 known POC have been murdered - we printed out their names to show that they are not just numbers or statistics. Instead of reporting this the media and those with privilege have decided that it is much more important to talk about looting. This is the narrative in a neo-liberal, racist, society that places profit over the lives of people. In a society that is founded upon violence to act violently is to act in self-defence. Freddie Gray didn’t have the opportunity to act in self-defence against the torture he endured which eventually killed him.