Workers Solidarity Movement

On Saturday 28th January Unlock NAMA opened an occupied building in the center of Dublin for a day of lectures about NAMA, Ireland's 'Bad Bank.' The event was cut short by a large number of police who turned up and ordered them out of the building. In this 40 minute interview Andrew Flood interviews Cat & Moira from Unlock NAMA about the occupation, what NAMA is and what Unlock NAMA demands.

Image: All rights reserved by Paul C Reynolds - used with permission

Three occupations in Cork highlight the ideas of direct action, self-organisation and solidarity

At a time when Ireland's rich class and their government are relying on passivity and apathy from the country's working class to push through their austerity agenda with the minimum of resistance, the presence of three separate occupations of workplaces and vacant NAMA commercial property in Cork is a hopeful sign that 'the powers that be' are not going to have it all their own way, as they attempt to make everyone else pick up the tab for the economic carnage their actions have unleashed upon this society. Although each occupation is separate and different in origin and potential outcome, each one shows that people do understand the necessity and the effectiveness of direct action in this time when bosses and property owners are trying every trick in the book to slough off their debts and evade public accountability while doing so.

1 billion euro in welfare cuts are being hinted at by the government for Decembers budget. One of the areas identified for potential savings is rent allowance. Rent allowance payments total 500 million per year, they are subsidies to help pay the rent of people who qualify due to low incomes, mostly people on the dole or other welfare payments. There are 95,000 recipients.  The money goes to private landlords and is paid on half the housing rental property in the state.

The second program of Dublin WSM's community radio show, Radio Solidarity - focusing on the Economy - was broadcast on Near FM on the 23rd of March. The Program focuses on the Irish Economy - or how we went from dancing on rivers to drowning in one. We cover a range of stories, from the Economy, NAMA, explaining it, looking at specific properties, and finally looking at a campaign that may provide a solution to this mess.

It was announced today that the NAMA board members received a huge pay hike with the board's chair receiving a 70% pay increase. This is in stark contract to the two successive wage cuts of between 14% - 18% of income for all public sector workers.We've consistently heard the idea that we "all need to pull together" to get out of this recession, and that painful cuts are necessary. This however has shown itself to be little more than a slogan.

Anarchist organisation Workers Solidarity Movement has stated that the foisting of NAMA on the Irish people is a clear reason why people should reject the Lisbon treaty, and has rejected attempts by establishment politicians to claim that there is no connection between the two.

The economic crisis we face in Ireland is that huge amounts of money have been lost with the collapse of the property bubble. The question is, who will pay? Will it be the crooked bankers and dodgy developers responsible for this mess, or us, the ordinary working people?

When Brian Lenihan announced his budget last October, two of the measures in particular were met with howls of outrage and his government was forced to back down post haste. The first of these - and the one most people remember because of the dramatic pictures of the Age Action meeting in Westland Row church where Minister of State John Moloney was booed off the stage – was the attempt to take away the automatic entitlement of over-70s to medical cards.