Workers Solidarity Movement

The national strike called by ICTU should be just the first day of action in what must become a strike wave across every sector until all pay cuts are withdrawn. The super-rich can shoulder the costs of their crisis themselves.The bosses have spent months using the media to try and divide one set of workers form another and to set those still in jobs against the unemployed. They know that divided we are weak. March 30th is the moment we can throw that back in their face, a huge demonstration of class unity that can force them to back down or face the consequences.

Private, fee-paying schools for the wealthy received more than €100 million from the 26 county taxpayer last year. €99 million was spent on paying teachers’ salaries, and a further €2.1 million on building works in 17 fee-paying schools in 2008. Blackrock College in Dublin tops the list, receiving €3.9 million. Other schools receiving more than €3 million in annual support include Kilkenny College (€3.5 million), St Andrew’s College (€3.4 million), Belvedere College (€3.3 million) and Wesley College (€3.1 million). Most of the schools in receipt of this free taxpayers’ cash charge fees of about €5,000 per year.

“People who got mortgages they can’t afford to pay back were greedy and foolish and should suffer the consequences…They signed a free contract, they’re adults and they have to take responsibility for their actions”. This is the kind of thing that gets thrown around a lot in recessions. It conveniently ignores a few things.

There was the whiff of something in the Derry air. The constantly rising civilian death toll in Gaza had already produced the same outpourings of rage on the streets of Derry as it had around the world. Thousands of signatures had been gathered calling on Raytheon to be given the boot, while ever larger crowds had gathered for vigils at the cenotaph, marches through the city, rallies at the Guildhall and at a nonviolent blockade of Raytheon itself. Now more and more of us were becoming determined that we do not have to resign to feelings of helplessness in the face of Israel’s war atrocities. Our burning rage was igniting something positive.

The workers at Waterford Crystal occupying the plant are an example to us all. Rather than accept the closure of the business, the loss of all the jobs and the destruction of the area’s premier industry; workers seized the buildings making liquidation impossible for the receiver.

Free Education for Everyone held its first National Conference on Saturday, January 31st. Over forty student activists traveled from UCD, TCD, Maynooth, Galway, Limerick and Cork.

In February, the WSM continued its series of public meetings about why capitalism is in crisis and why working people should refuse to make sacrifices to benefit the rich. Limerick and Bray were the latest. We will be continuing our efforts to spread anarchist ideas in this vein over the coming months, with meetings planned for Drogheda, Galway, Derry, Navan, Tralee, Tipperary and Ballina. Also, our next radio show will be appearing on NEAR 90.3 FM, a Dublin community radio station, in the near future.

January - February 2009 Edition of the Workers Solidarity freesheet.

PDF of Workers Solidarity 107 Southern Web Edition 0.91 Mb
PDF of Workers Solidarity 107 Northern Web Edition 0.92 Mb

Make Them Redundant
Moving From Protest to Success
Lower Pay, Less Jobs - Whose National Interest?
A Quick Guide to Social Welfare for the Newly Jobless
You Can't Eat a Flag
Loansharks Prey on 40,000 Across the North
Organising in Challenging Times
What the hell is a social centre?
Thinking About Anarchism - The Selfish Gene?
That's Capitalism!

Mark Malone spoke to Workers Solidarity about Dublin’s social centre. He is a member of the WSM and also of the Seomra Spraoi Collective.

A recent report produced by ‘Belfast Healthy Cities’ into the direct link between wealth and class confirms what most of us already know - class pervades every aspect of our lives from the cradle to grave. According to the report, if you live in the Shankill or Ardoyne, for example, you can expect to live several years less than someone from affluent areas just a few miles away. So much for the new era!