Workers Solidarity Movement

Union members and social activists are gearing up for what may be the largest, global coordinated action against Starbucks ever.

On Saturday July 5th anarchists, trade-union members and social activists in Dublin, Belfast and around the world will be leafleting and protesting against the anti-union practices of Starbucks. In Dublin a protest will be held at the Starbucks on Dame St. at 2pm. Earlier on sturday in Belfast two simultaneous protests will be held at the Starbucks at 90 Botanic Avenue and Cornmarket. In England, Europe, Canada, the USA and Latin America simultaneous protests will be held.

Union members and social activists are gearing up for what may be the largest, global coordinated action against Starbucks ever.

On Saturday July 5th anarchists, trade-union members and social activists in Dublin, Belfast and around the world will be leafleting and protesting against the anti-union pratices of Starbucks. In Dublin a protest will be held at the Starbucks on Dame St. at 2pm. Earlier on sturday in Belfast two simultaneous protests will be held at the Starbucks at 90 Botanic Avenue and Cornmarket. In England, Europe, Canada, the USA and Latin America simultaneous protests will be held.

The Workers Solidarity Movement welcomes the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. This treaty dealt with structural changes in the EU and as such no matter what it contained could not give us more control over our lives. This can only happen when we have democracy in our workplaces and communities.

A new moderated discussion forum for anarchists in Ireland has been launched as part of anarchistblackcat.org, a growing global anarchist project that a number of WSM members are involved in. The forum is open to anarchists and those interested in anarchism across the island and those elsewhere interested in events in Ireland.

With a large number of conflicting interpretations in circulation, many voters’ voting decisions depended on whom they trusted the most. 

When it came down to it, the side that was represented by politicians and IBEC was always going to be in trouble. In the end, the loyalty test split the electorate on class lines. The wealthier constituencies trusted their politicians and business leaders more, the rest of the country sided against them and with the left or the nationalists.

The NO victory in Ireland is a clear demonstration of the lack of support among the people for the European project being promoted by the Brussels technocrats and the transnational corporations grouped together in the capitalist cartel, the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT). This rejection by the country with the highest levels of approval and popularity for the EU shows that a different form of European unity is needed, a real unity of all the people. And the gap between public opinion and their "representatives" is a clear sign of the crisis in representative democracy and the need for direct democracy.

A number of weeks ago, a member of the INTO (Irish National Teachers Organisation) submitted a letter for publication in the union magazine ‘In Touch’. This was in response to a request in the previous issue of the magazine for members to write letters for publication.

March 15th saw Dublin’s third annual Anarchist Bookfair. Despite a day-long downpour, over 800 people passed through. Thirteen different meetings were held on topics as varied as the health service, the Lisbon treaty, climate change, feminism and class, and trade union organisation. Interest in finding out more was reflected in the €3,000+ worth of books and pamphlets purchased from stalls operated by Workers Solidarity Movement, CAZ Books, Just Books, Anarchist Federation of Britain, Irish Socialist Network, Oxfam Bookstore and others.

So building social housing is "not viable" for the profiteers at construction firm Michael McNamara & Co. What they really mean is that they've got themselves in a bit of a sticky situation by riddling the country with overpriced and unsustainable housing developments and the profits from the "Public Private Partnership" aren't sufficient to get them out of it.

Passed by WSM National Conference, May 2008.