News

Trans Pride 2019 in Dublin

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Around a thousand people took part in the second Dublin Transgender Pride Parade last Saturday, July 6. This is almost double the number that marched last year. Upon assembling at Parnell Square the colourful procession made it's way down O' Connell Street, through Eden Quay, Customs House Quay and Lombard Street, before arriving at it's destination of Merrion Square. It was watched by crowds of onlookers who offered encouragement and support in the form of cheering and applause.[video]

Pride Alternative protests 1st cop bloc on Dublin Pride

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The presence of uniformed cops marching as a bloc on Dublin Pride meant that for the first time Pride Alternative was organised. Many participants may not have been aware that just across the street 3 van loads of riot police were lurking down a laneway, presumably there so that if there was any attempt to block the cop bloc they would have charged in. Thats so, so far from the roots of Pride in the riots that followed police raids on the Stonewall Inn.

Dublin protests against Trump visit

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Donald Trump's visit to Ireland is defined, as you might expect, by cynicism. He seems to be here mostly in order to promote his hotel in Doonbeg. This is the hotel that rather famously, despite him being a major climate change denier, perhaps the leading climate change denier, that he has applied for planning permission to build a seawall to protect the hotel against rising sea levels!

Extinction Rebellion video report from Dublin

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Saturday 20th saw another #Extinction Rebellion rally take place in Dublin.  Our video shows as it marches to block O’Connell bridge.

Several hundred people marched through Dublin this afternoon as part of Extinction Rebellion Ireland. They then moved to block the northbound lane of O'Connell bridge. This is in the context of the UN science report that says we only have until 2030 so that's now getting nearer to 11 than 12 years to reduce  greenhouse gas emissions enough to prevent a disastrous climate change of 2 degrees centigrade or higher. We are already seeing devastation in many parts of the world most recently in Mozambique and in Iran where unusual big weather events caused very heavy flooding.

School students walk out against Climate Change

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Thousands of school pupils packed into Dublin City centre 15th March to protest the ongoing inaction at looming Climate disaster. While many of may not see the worst consequences of climate change in our lifetimes this generation will certainly witness the start of the really bad times unless action is taken in the next decade to slow and then reverse the release of Climatre Change gases.

Review of Conor McCabe talk on Money

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Conor McCabe delivered a talk entitled ‘Money’ hosted by Comhlámh. Conor is a research fellow, writer and educator. The talk is available to view as a video on Comhlámh’s FB page.

His talk started with a joke, but the joke was just reported as staight news. The OECD produced figures that showed that the Irish worker is currently the most productive worker that has ever existed, globally. The Irish worker in 2017 was adding €87 to the value of the economy for every hour worked. The joke is that this figure is arrived at by crude mathematics which divides the size of the Gross Domestic Product, by the number of hours worked, not taking into account our functioning as a tax haven. That’s the joke, but at a time when the nurses are on strike for fair pay it is hard to find any of this funny.

Huge march for the nurses but serious concerns over proposed deal

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In the aftermath of the huge march in support of the nurses on Saturday [video] the government suddenly found a pay deal it could put on the table, leading to the INMO suspending the strike until that deal is discussed and voted on.

According to RTE the suggested deal, which some nurses have expressed strong reservations about, would see a "new grade being created including the Enhanced Nurse Practice Grade which is a pay scale that is higher than the existing scale, by an average €2,000 to €2,500 – around 7% - and will range from €35,806 to €45,841 per annum. Nurses would be eligible to apply for the enhanced grade after four years' service."

Nurses strike to defend health system & demand pay parity begins

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This morning saw pickets being placed on hospitals all over the country as nurses and midwives strike against low pay. Pay now so low relative to rent and house prices that its impossible for many to find decent accommodation in the major cities on what they take home.
 
In that sense the strike has a direct importance to all workers. The Nurses strike is also essential to countering the right wing ideology that low corporate tax rates are more essential than good public services & housing. That ideology has ruled us for decades with all parties in power imposing it and is unchallenged in the media.

Alan MacSimoin - Rest In Power

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The WSM are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the death of Alan MacSimoin, one of our founder members, a friend, and a key central figure in building the anarchist movement in Ireland for over four decades. Alan had not been a member of WSM for some years but remained politically active right to the end. His last Facebook post on November 29th was supporting the locked out bricklayers at Mary’s Mansions. Alan will be sorely missed by all in the WSM and we offer our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.


Alan (right) leading a small pro-choice march in 2002

WSM marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women at their strategy gathering

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The WSM took some time out from our future directions discussions session at Cloughjordan eco village over the week to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

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