Workers Solidarity Movement

In this audio download from the third of the Rethinking Revolution sessions  Aileen O'Carroll draws on the stories and diaries of those working in IT company’s to talk about the secrets and contradictions of working in a global industry. The myth is that IT workers happily work a 60 hour week but like workplaces of a previous era, there is a struggle over the nature of work and the length of working time within our lives. The left tends to focus on the formal visible struggles conducted through trade unions. What can this other level of often individualised struggle teach us in the fight for a new world?

Approximately 40 people packed in Solidarity Books in Cork to hear Elsie Haas (a Haitian film-maker and journalist, based in Paris) and Jose Antonio Gutierrez (of the Latin American Solidarity Centre in Dublin) talk about the political and economic history of Haiti and how the recent US intervention in the country, following the earthquake, is just a continuation of the UN-led occupation since 2004, following on from 200 years of occupations and imperialism.

During industrialisation, the northeast became an integral part of the British industrial output centred on the industrial triangle of Belfast, Merseyside and Glasgow. ‘Free trade’(heavily subsidised by the state of course) underpinned the empire and access to overseas markets were essential to the economy of Belfast and its periphery.

The recent attacks in South Belfast in which over a 100 Romanian families were forced to flee the North should serve as a wake up to everyone. Racism is not a new phenomum in the North, nor is it confined to one section of the community or social class, or cannot be simply reduced to economic factors. The rise of the far right in countries such as Hungary and Italy and the breakthrough of the British National Party (BNP) in the recent EU elections have only compounded fears and anxiety.

What do anarchists want? To put it briefly, we want to get rid of capitalism and replace it with a society organised to serve the needs of the many, we want to make real the old call of “from each according to ability, to each according to need”. This will be a socialism where everyone affected by a decision can take part in making that decision, and where the liberties of the individual are respected.

On Saturday 9th May, the Belfast branch of the WSM held a public meeting at An Culturlann in West Belfast on ‘Can Direct Action achieve success’.

Contributions from former Visteon workers, Dessie McEnroe and Mark O’Hara on their participation in the occupation, building links with fellow workers and lessons learnt.

Here is a short report and audio recording from the discussion.

Torab Saleh who took part in the Iranian revolution of 1979 spoke in Dublin of his personal experiences of that time and the challenges it presented to him and others on the left. This is the audio recording of that meeting.

Torab Saleh on the Iranian revolution of 1979 - HOPI meeting in Dublin by Andrew Flood on Mixcloud

This is a recording of Stanley Aronowitz speaking on 'Popular Education in a Time of Struggle' to a Workers Solidarity Movement meeting in the Seomra Spraoi Social centre, Dublin the end of March 2009. Stanley Aronowitz is professor of sociology, cultural studies, and urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is also a veteran political activist and cultural critic and an advocate for organized labor.

In March Ashanti Alston, a former member of the Black Panther Party and a Black Liberation Army solider, came to Ireland to speak at the Dublin anarchist bookfair. This is the video of his presentation. In it he talks about his experiences in the Black Panthers and BLA, the lessons he draws from them and what he thinks of revolutionary politics in Ireland.

In 2007/8 WSM member Andrew Flood spent a total of 16 weeks touring North American and Canada, giving talks in 44 cities. The topic was 'Building a popular anarchism in Ireland' which involved a history of anarchist involvement in struggle from around 1997 to 2007. This video is formed from the audio of the talk and images of the anarchist movement in Ireland from the mid 1990's to the present day.