Workers Solidarity Movement

A large anti-choice march will pass through Dublin today and the organisers will attempt to massively exagerate the number taking part as part of their campaign to keep the hated anti-women 8th amendment.  WSM will be there providing a count of the real numbers of people marching and we would strongly encourage our supporters to retweet and share the results as well as challenging any false exaggerated reporting of the numbers you may see.  Along with the rest of the pro-choice movement we are not mounting a counter-protest this year, we will simply be there to observe and to count.  From 14.00 track @wsmireland on twitter and keep an eye on our Facebook pages, in particular Solidarity Times which will carry a livestream from around 2.15.

Graphic - how many people can be crammed in at rock concert density on Merrion square.

Belfast stood in solidarity with our sisters and comrades in the south as they took to the streets in Dublin and elsewhere to protest for a Repeal of the hated 8th Amendment.  A tiny contingent of protesters from Precious Life turned up to counter the demo and continued with the recent tradition of being massively outnumbered in Belfast.

While the battle to repeal the 8th has been ongoing for years, it is now truly beginning to heat up with a referendum due to be held this summer. The anti-choicers are beginning to panic as they become more anxious that they will lose control over our bodies.

The evening of March 8th evening saw thousands march through Dublin for Internationals Womens Day but also to demand Repeal of the 8th Amendment which bans abortion in Ireland.  The governement have finally been forced to call a referendum to get rid of the 8th - speakers at the rally at the end talked about how this could come about and the formation of a new organisation to joinly campaign for repeal.  Demonstrations and other events took place across Ireland to mark this.

International Working Women’s Day is steeped in the radical history of women demanding improvement in our daily lives and in our working conditions. IWWD dates back to 1857 in New York City. Women garment workers went on strike to demand a 10-hour working day, better working conditions and equal rights.  In honour of this strike, another was held  in 1908 by women needle trade workers.  They demanded voting rights and, an end to sweatshops and child labour. Two years later, the socialist, Clara Zetkin, proposed that the 8th of March be commemorated as International Working Women’s Day.  It was first celebrated nationally in the Soviet Union after the Russian Revolution, a  revolution which  began with a strike  of women textile workers.

On International Women’s Day, women stand in solidarity with each other against oppression. We demand control over our lives. We demand an end to exploitation and oppression. We demand freedom.

Position paper on Fascism as collectively agreed by the February 2018 National Conference. This paper sits under 'The Role of the Anarchist Organisation' and above 'No Platform for Fascists'.

Fascism

        a Workers Solidarity Movement position paper

What is the Purpose of this Position Paper?

It is important to have a firm understanding of what fascism is beyond vague generalities about racism and authoritarianism so that we may correctly spot it and be effective in preventing its success, especially given that fascist organising requires an emergency response.

The announcement that there will be a referendum to Repeal the hated 8th amendment is the product of decades of active campaigning.  Pro-choice campaigners built for repeal ever since the referendum was passed in 1983. If at first this seemed like a distant demand now repeal looks by far the most likely outcome in May.  The story of how this happened illustrates how change comes in general.  That is not through elections but through people getting organised to demand that change, regardless of which politicians happen to be running the show in any particular year. 

Strike4Repeal launched in January 2017, it exists currently as an ad hoc group of pro-choice activists, academics, trade unionists, artists and students. We directed a single demand towards the government: a national strike would take place on the 8th March unless a referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Constitution was called.

In December, we in Strike4Repeal came together once more to announce that a second strike action will take place if it becomes clear during Dáil debate that full abortion access will not be legislated for or if there is no straight repeal question on the ballot in the upcoming referendum. [ Video ] [Audio]

Irish pro-choice campaigners are celebrating - this is why... Abortion is highly restricted Ireland, thanks to an amendment inserted into our constitution in 1983. The government has said there will be a referendum on abortion next summer.

A new intention to #Strike4Repeal has been announced as we still wait for a referendum and as importantly to see what it is we will get to vote on.

Pledge to Strike 4 Repeal here: https://goo.gl/forms/DTDfA9tQ0kZ0HQ6F3

Anti-choice advocates like Youth Defence / Precious Life and the Iona Institute claim to be driven by an indiscriminate empathy and a genuine concern for human beings' universal right to life, hence invocations to 'Love Both' and the 'pro-life' label.

Are these claims to be taken seriously? Not for a second, as clearly illustrated in this pro-choice comic (PDF).