Workers Solidarity Movement

Enda Kenny’s speech in the Dail about the Cloyne report seems to signal that the south- ern Irish ruling class is preparing to break with the Catholic Church. While Kenny’s statement has been the strongest to date it is a pitiful reflection of the state that it has taken it this long to categorically condemn the Roman Catholic Church that, after Cloyne, is tainted beyond what even their most ardent supporters thought possible.

The cracks beneath the surface in the peace process were once again exposed on the streets of East Belfast last night in the second night of serious sectarian rioting. A UVF led mob numbering in the 100's has been engaged in attacks on catholic homes at the edge of the Short Strand.  This is the reality of a peace dividend which has failed to deliver to working-class communities and stands in stark contrast to suburbia only 5 miles away which produced golf champion Rory McElroy.

Sevinc Karaca, a Turkish anarchist and feminist, describes the fine line that Muslim women must navigate between Islam and the West. "In all Muslim countries, women had to wait until the 1970s and 1980s for a feminist movement that questioned the practise of religion and its role in the oppression of women. As Feminists in the West beat around the bush with an air of multi-culturalist political correctness and go out of their way to show respect for exotic religions, there is a growing number of feminists in countries like Turkey and Iran and among the diaspora in non- Muslim countries whose policies and strategies for feminism do not take the route of Western Liberal Feminism. The majority of feminist ideologies and activism in the developed world today do not address and support the struggle of their Muslim comrades openly, directly or sufficiently."

Thousands of protesters opposed to Pope Benedict XVI and his state visit to Britain marched through London on Saturday, slamming the Church over sex abuse, gay rights and a range of other issues. A coalition of demonstrators united under the "Protest the Pope" banner started marching at the edge of Hyde Park, where the pontiff was to later hold an open-air prayer vigil for an estimated 80,000 Roman Catholic victims.

Unfortunately, when making the most recent Radio Solidairity program, we couldn't fit in all the interviews that we did for the show.  In the show we were showing how the Irish Catholic church contolled and dictated Social policy for the most part at the behest of the State itself. 

Radio Solidarity program no. 3 - focussing on the Church and how it silenced Society - is up on the NearFM podcast site. In this show we tackle the Church and State, their joint complicity in the abuse of children, the subjugation of women and the policing of social norms. This months guests include Dr Helen Keyes, Dairmauid Ferreter, Mags O Brein, Mannix Flynn as well as the usual RS crew

In this  Radio Soldarity  we explore the recent rupture between people and the Irish Catholic Church due to the recent turmoil and revelations which have been exposed. 

Despite the Catholic hierarchy’s shameful efforts to silence the survivors of abuse, we now have some idea of what was happening behind the walls of church-run institutions across Ireland. In the wake of this, many people have begun asking whether the Catholic Church should continue to have any control whatsoever over state-funded education. As it stands, the Church still control 92% of primary schools. However a MRBI/Irish Times poll in January of this year found that a majority of Irish people now want this situation remedied.

Up until 2006 all WSM articles published after 1990 were hosted as part of the Struggle collection on another server.  We hope to eventually move all the articles stored there to this site but in the meantime these subject indices take you to the pages still stored on that site.

PAYE taxpayers are only not being forced to bail out bankers and speculators, we are told that we also will have to meet the compensation and legal bills of a giant paedophile network. And we should be grateful that the child abusers are throwing in a few bob towards the cost!