Workers Solidarity Movement

Look at the world. There is so much wrong with it. Africa is being decimated by AIDs. Children are dying in Iraq because they can't get basic medical treatment. Millions of people worldwide daily live in the shadow of poverty, millions of people fall through the cracks. Even in Ireland, rich in comparison to many places in the world, the best most of us can hope for is to spend the most of our lives working for somebody else.

We traveled in Africa for just over a year and, whenever possible, tried to meet with anarchists in the countries we visited. In Africa the organised anarchist movement is quite young, starting with the formation of the Workers Solidary Federation in South Africa in 1995. Unfortunately due to internal problems this organisation disbanded about 2 years ago. The people we met from the old WSF were now involved in anarchist publishing organisations as well as being heavily involved in struggles such as the anti-privatisation forum. They hope one day to reform the WSF.

A 14-page pamhlet, made up of compilation of articles from Workers Solidarity. Compiled and edited in 2001.

The campaign against double taxation bin charges is reaching a critical point. As the number of people joining the non-payment campaign continues to grow, and as an election grows ever nearer, councillors from all political parties are jumping on the bandwagon of opposition to the charges. No doubt by the time of the election, they'll all be proclaiming their steadfast opposition to the charges, and hoping that the voters will have forgotten their past actions in voting for them.

Anarchist organisations that have been influenced by the Platform are well aware that it is no Bible full of absolute truths. There is no grouping anywhere that would be so stupid to treat it as one. Anarchists have no need of such things. It is just one of the signposts pointing us in what we believe is the direction of making anarchism the most realistic and desirable alternative to both the present set-up and the authoritarian alternatives served up by most of the left.

Amsterdam, Geneva, Cologne, Seattle, London, Washington, LA, Prague. What do these cities have in common? In the last four years they have been the site of a new phenomenon, the Global Protest. For decades, the organisations that manage capitalism have met to divvy up the world among themselves. For the first time, their role as dealers of poverty and misery has been exposed by thousands of angry protesters. The symbolic value of these protests cannot be under estimated. If only for a brief period of time, a few days here and there, people have come together to say 'Enough!'.

The housing crisis for home buyers and private renters is in part due to the arrival of thousands of people into the country. The vast bulk of these people were born in Ireland but became 'economic' refugees and left for other countries to find work over the last few decades. The lucky ones did so legally but many thousands however were forced to enter the US as 'illegals'.

If you've ever owed money to a bank, you'll know it's not a pleasant experience. Depending on whether they think you're good for the money, the bank will either screw you in the short term or milk you dry over the longer haul. Banks are in the business of making money and generally they'll stop at nothing to get their way.

The Czech anarchist organisation Solidarita/Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists is working as part of INPEG, the Czech alliance organising the protests in Prague this September. In October one of their members will be speaking in Ireland about these protests. Vadim Barek, Solidarita's international secretary explains what the IMF means to workers in the Czech republic and why they are organising against the summit.

The world's 225 richest people have a combined wealth equal to the combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people.