Workers Solidarity Movement

This is a collection of articles on Education struggles in Ireland and elsewhere over the last decade. Most have been written by anarchists and are first hand accounts of struggles the authors were involved in. We are making them available so new generations of activists could learn what worked and did not work in these earlier struggles.

The issues of Workers Solidarity in 2009

For almost twenty years those of us who argued for an alternative to capitalism were told There Is No Alternative (TINA). We were presented with two arguments, firstly that capitalism was resulting in increased prosperity across the world and over time there would be a trickle down of that prosperity so that even the poorest would benefit. And secondly that socialism meant dictatorship and inefficiency so whatever our ideals it was no real alternative.

The Irish government has called in as financial adviser Henrietta Baldock of the remarkable loss making machine that is Merrill Lynch

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!

The Workers Solidarity Movement proudly presents the 4th annual Anarchist Bookfair which will take place on weekend of the 7th of March in Liberty Hall. The Bookfair this will host workshops, stalls from campaigning groups and book stalls.

November saw WSM public meetings about anarchism in Cork and Dublin, with 40 people at one and about 60 at the other. With the crisis and a growing employers’ offensive on wages there is a greater openness to radical ideas, and we will be holding more meetings around the country over the next couple of months.

The Education Cuts announced in October’s Budget have unleashed a wave of protest across the country. During the months of November and December approximately 120,000 people took to the streets of Dublin, Galway, Tullamore, Cork and Donegal to register their anger at the government’s attempts to make schoolchildren pay for the financial crisis. Cowen, Lenihan and O’Keefe have been left in no doubt about the level of popular opposition to these cutbacks. In addition thousands of 3rd level students have also taken to the streets and participated in marches, pickets and blockades to protest at the proposed re-introduction of fees.

The Grassroots Gathering is a twice-yearly coming together of anarchists and libertarian socialists who are active in political groups and campaigns up and down the island of Ireland. The second of 2008's Gatherings was held in Cork on 14th-16th November. The 90 or so attending, combined with the quality of the discussions, left its organisers very pleased with the weekend. It showed that there's a lot of life left in the Grassroots Gathering as a show-case for trends and thinking among Ireland's libertarian left.

Workers Solidarity’s Vincent O’Malley spoke to his local Citizens Information Centre about some of the obstacles facing people who have lost their jobs.