Workers Solidarity Movement

UNITE issues strike threat - "We have begun planning for a campaign of civil disobedience and industrial action that will make clear the level of anger and fortitude that exists among the people who political leaders have failed utterly.”

Free Education for Everyone (FEE) has begun a peaceful protest at Anglo Irish Bank on Forster street, Galway, calling for an immediate General Election. FEE places the blame for Ireland’s current economic situation directly on the Fianna Fail politicians, who refused to regulate the financial system, and on the bankers, who took advantage of the lack of regulation to gamble on the markets. Once those bets fell through the Irish people were threatened: that failing to bail out the bankers would result in national ruin.

The 1% Network has called on all workers to attend the march organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions on Saturday morning next to “show their opposition to the anti-people policies of the Irish government, the European Central Bank and the IMF”.

An article from 1980 that details the available information on extensive prospecting taking place in the Wicklow granites in the context of the succesful campaign  against the plan to build a nuclear reactor at Carnsore that this issue of the Contaminated Crow mostly dealt with.

In an important gesture of solidarity in the face of media attacks on student protesters and the attempts by the USI student union leadership to undermine effective protest university teachers who are members of the National University of Ireland Maynooth IFUT Branch Committee sent the letter below to NUI Maynooth Student Union President congratulating the students on demonstrating in defense of Irish education and expressing grave concern at the Garda attack on the studnents that took place on the Wednesday November the 3rd.

During the 1907 Dock strike in Belfast there was a police mutiny involving 70% of the Belfast police.  In this article John Gray argues that "When we look at the 1907 Dock Strike in Belfast and the police mutiny of the same year simple myths begin to evaporate. We find unskilled workers, mainly Protestant, fighting the employers, many their future leaders in the UVF, we find policemen, many Protestant, mutinying, we find the Independent Orangemen mustering hundreds of Protestant workers under a platform asking Protestants as Irishmen to play their part in the development of Ireland as a nation." The article is from Anarchy No 6, published in London in 1970

Students from Free Education for Everyone (FEE), who organised todays occupation of the Department of Finance, have released the following statement detailing why they organised the occupation, who took part and the giving some details of the brutal Gardai attack on the occupiers.  A WSM member who was present and whose arm was injured in the Gardai assault revealed that as soon as the Gardai entered the occupation they started punching people in the face despite the face that the students were telling them it was a peaceful protest and they were not resisting them.

“Brian Lenihan might claim that there is no pot of gold to be had from the wealthy.  We intend to show him otherwise” - Gregor Kerr, 1% Network spokesperson

The 1% Network has announced details of the route of its Halloween Treasure Hunt, due to take place on Saturday evening, 30^th October.  Among the venues which the event will visit are the homes of well-known developer Bernard McNamara and former AIB chairman Dermot Gleeson.

Like millions of others, I was absolutely delighted to see the trapped miners in the San José mine in Chile getting out alive from their stressful, claustrophobic confinement which they'd been in for almost 70 days as a result of negligence on the part of the mining companies. I could only be thrilled to see this terrible story of grief and suffering come to a happy ending and see tears exchanged for bursts of laughter. But at the same time, mixed with my joy at seeing these 33 condemned men return to life, I still had a feeling that was a mixture of revulsion and anger at the show put on by the very people who had dug what could have been these men's graves. I have no wish to be a killjoy, but when the natural euphoria that has engulfed the country calms down, a great many questions will need to be asked.

Videos from last Saturday's 1% Network walking tour though the Dublin of the 'Golden Circle' have begun to be released.  The first video, by Dublin based videographer Dave Donnellan, shows highlights of the tour including snippets of the descriptions delivered at different points of the tour.  We will be adding more video here as it becomes available.

1% Walk Through Dublin from Dave Donnellan on Vimeo.