Workers Solidarity Movement

When a force of 80 – 100 gardai arrived at the Thomas Cooke office in Grafton Street Dublin at 5a.m. on Tuesday 4th August, smashed the door down, and dragged 28 protesting workers off to the Bridewell Garda Station, the Irish state was attempting to deliver a strong message to all workers.

In a bid to close its outlets in Ireland, the Thomas Cook travel agents has begun by attempting to sack 44 workers at its two offices located on North Earl St. and Grafton St. in Dublin’s city centre.

Against a backdrop of recent resignations from the Provisional movement, election stagnation in the Republic reflected in growing disillusionment amongst the rank and file. In the words of Toiréasa Ferris "Sinn Féin simply means nothing to the bulk of people in the South....Forget the notion of trying to be a catch-all party that appeals to everyone. That way we’ll end up attracting the loyalty of no one". Scathing criticism, but perhaps a smokescreen to give the appearance of a leadership which tolerates dissent while maintaining firm control.

The Ryan report into the abuse that occurred in the industrial and reformatory schools – which were run by the religious orders and supposedly under the supervision of the state – has recently been released. At this system’s height there were 7,998 children in the care of the state. Since the release of the report we have heard politicians rushing to condemn this system and saying how shocking it was. I find it incredible to hear the politicians pandering to the press in their condemnation of the old industrial school system when they know that children under their care in 2009 are being neglected still.

I arrived in occupied Erris on Friday evening having travelled down to take part in a national meeting of Shell to Sea groups. It had been a busy week for the campaign as the state had reacted to the ongoing resistance to Shell in Erris by seizing fishing boats, sending 7 people to jail without trial and banning two more from Co. Mayo. Not only had hundreds of state forces including the police, navy, air force and possibly the army been deployed to suppress protest in Erris but those of us doing solidarity work elsewhere had found from time to time that we were being followed by the secret police.

The passing of US anarchist prisoner, Harold H Thompson last October marked the end of a revolutionary, a fighter for the libertarian ideal, who remained unbowed and unbroken in the face of a social order built on domination and exploitation.

The refusal by British Justice Secretary Jack Straw to grant the great train robber Ronnie Biggs parole exposes the extent of injustice and corruption which underpins the class system.

In any country with a half way critical media, the last few months would have been disastrous for Shell. In a crucial period in Shell’s imposition of an experimental gas pipeline on the people of Erris it emerges that Michael Dwyer, one of the security guards on this project, was part of an attempt to trigger a civil war in Bolivia. Soon after that it became clear that at least three others who had worked as security guards at the Shell compound had travelled to Bolivia with Dwyer and were wanted there for questioning. Some, it emerged, had links to fascist organizations in Eastern Europe.

The Iranian government’s campaign to mold ‘model’ Islamic citizens has not only fashioned a profound crisis of loyalty to the religious ‘ideals of the revolution’, it has nurtured action that many have silently prayed for - as the public sphere, the last bastion of the religious elites grip on power, was shot open by their own guns Sunday.

Since the publication of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse last week, we have heard a litany of so-called apologies and calls for the religious orders responsible for the running of what should rightly be described as child labour camps to ‘face up to their responsibilities’.