Workers Solidarity Movement

The PSNI’s Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie may have achieved a silver fainne in Irish language speaking (better Irish than Gerry Adams), but just one in four people in Northern Ireland would encourage a close relative to join the PSNI according to a poll conducted by Belfast Telegraph/Lucid Talk. That figure among Catholics drops to just one in ten.

A survey of more than a thousand Northern Ireland voters has revealed a high level of disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the current Stormont government. A Belfast Telegraph/LucidTalk poll found that only one in ten people believe the government is performing better than direct rule, and that half would label its performance as poor or very poor. This means that it is rated almost as badly as the Greek administration which was trounced in that country’s last recent election.

It was as if our streets were paved in gold as the Olympic torch made its way across this bright new shiny Northern Ireland. We listened to  our local business leaders and political class lining up to praise this symbol of hope and reconciliation, but beneath this spectacle of spin and ‘regeneration’ smokescreen is a showcase of corporate class privilege and profiteering.

Just Books, the anarchist bookshop, is back selling a wide range of topics such as: Irish and international labour history, Irish politics, anarchism, anti-capitalism, feminism, communism, socialism, sex and sexuality, current affairs, globalisation, racism/anti-racism, environmental issues and more at the Na Croisbhealaí Béal Feirste cafe. 48 King Street Belfast which is open 12-5pm Tuesday to Saturday.

In a new twist to the decade long struggle against Shell Rossport Solidarity Camp has revealed that Mayo County Council (MCC) has issued an eviction notice to the landowner of the field where the Rossport Solidarity Camp is located. Mayo farmer Gerry Burke has been threatened with fines of over €12,000 and two years in prison.  Despite these theats the annual June Bank Holiday solidarity gathering will go ahead in a couple of weeks.

Last night a WSM member along with members of the pressure group 'Republican Network for Unity' was stopped and searched under the Justice & Security Act.  This happened while they were conducting an interview highlighting the growing problem of police harassment in a personal journalistic capacity.

Thousands of civil service workers in Northern Ireland have been taking part in a 24-hour UK-wide day of strike action today. Members of Nipsa, Unite, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and the University and College Union (UCU) are protesting against pension cuts.  Workers have been picketing outside job centres, tax offices, passport offices and other public sector workplaces. Several hundred attended lunchtime rallies in Belfast and Derry.

Tens of thousands of public workers from the North are expected to take part in the UK wide industrial action this Thursday in protest over cuts to pension and attacks on living standards. In the North, civil servants are expected to join immigration officers in the day of action while healthcare workers are taking limited action over lunchtime, involving Nipsa and Unite! members. While this latest strike action is sending out a message that we won’t work longer, pay more into the pension fund and get less, it is significant climb-down from the public sector strike last November which was the largest in decades.

The 4^th Belfast Anarchist Bookfair took place on Saturday in the Warzone centre in Little Victoria Street. Set up late last year the centre is a neutral space in the heart of the city including a coffee space which promotes alternative gigs and music.  There was a steady stream of people throughout the day event which began at 12pm with many new people coming across anarchist ideas and the wider movement for the very first time.

The WSM are calling for people to march with us on an anti-authoritarian block for this year’s May Day march which is happening on the day itself, Tuesday 1st May, assembling in Parnell Square from 18.30hrs.

The Dublin Council of Trade Unions are the organisers of this event, and this year the theme is the anti-household tax, which has seen the start of a movement against the presiding wisdom of the 1% and the government for stringent austerity. People have seized onto the idea that it is not alright for us to continue to pick up the tab for the bosses, the developers, the banks, and the rich.