Workers Solidarity Movement

An Irish anarchist living in Melbourne, Australia gives his perspective on the 'asylum seeker' debate there leading up to the forthcoming elections. He argues Irish workers should be standing in solidarity with the most marginalised and dispossesed in our society. In the words of one Aboriginal activist; ' “As people who know what it’s like to be invaded by boat people we are in a better position to judge how the current boat people should be treated. Where the original boat people who took our country were armed to the teeth and bent on conquest, asylum seekers in 2012 are unarmed and seeking sanctuary."

Facing Deportations – speakers from the 2013 Dublin anarchist bookfair on how we can organise to prevent deportations, the session aimed to share the direct practical actions that need to be done and to raise awareness, unveil truths and correct misconceptions surrounding the issue of asylum application and deportation.

This article was prompted by a number of recent events.  Firstly, the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) organised a meeting on April 3rd to organise a campaign aimed at ending the inhumane system known as Direct Provision . And secondly, ADI (Anti-Deportation Ireland) held a workshop at Dublin’s Anarchist Bookfair on April 6th, followed by an ADI public meeting in Dublin on April 11th.  Both ADI events aimed to build a campaign against deportations in Ireland.

Europe's wall of shame has been completed in Greece's northeast ground border with Turkey. The wall is four-metre-high and is blocking a 10.365 meters-long strip of land from army guarding post of Kastanies down south to river Evros. The name of the company constructed the wall on behalf of the Greek state is DAGRES A.T.E ( ΔΑΓΡΕΣ Α.Τ.Ε).

Racism is definitely not a "new fruit" in Greek society and not a unique phenomenon to this country. I have witnessed it with my own eyes as it manifested throughout the years I was living there so I can share with you a little knowledge of how it ripens.

In Greece being different is not a good thing, as you will suffer a lot if you are a minority! Your life will be a living hell, if you are a woman or find yourself in a minority like being a  lesbian, gay, gypsy, Pakistani, Albanian, Egyptian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Nigerian... In other words it will take a lot of effort to escape being discriminated against and that's without mentioning the people that are prepared to stand up for all these people, the likes of socialists, autonomists, anarchists, people that volunteer in NGO's or anyone that cherishes humanism/altruism. For people to fit in, in a land the locals like to call Hellas (and of the sun) to survive within it is to stay silent and live life in a comatose state.   

A group of 50 protestors, mainly asylum seekers, has gathered outside the Mosney Centre in Co.Meath to protest at the planned movement of some of the internees to other facilities in the country.

In the aftermath of the racist attacks that forced over 100 Romanians to flee their homes in South Belfast, the local Workers Solidarity Movement branch is hosting an afternoon of discussion about how we can tackle racism. This will be happening in the city centre on Saturday July 18th. Watch out for posters or check www.wsm.ie for the time and venue.

The recent racist attacks in Northern Ireland against migrant workers are an indictment of the status-quo which thrives on blaming minorities for the problems inherent in capitalism. It is the political class and sections of the tabloid press who constantly provide the ammunition for racist attacks.

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.

Welcome to the new era in the north, in which waiting lists for social housing are at their highest in over 30 years, landlords like the local Rooney brothers continue to plunder our communities to make way for ‘yuppie’ flats. Meanwhile, our local politicians are expected to receive a 16% pay increase while we are expected to bend over backwards for the bosses and supposedly wait for the ‘trickle down effect’.