Workers Solidarity Movement

The speeches given before and after March for Choice 2016 provided a broad introduction, through the personal stories of the speakers, to the complex intersecting oppressions imposed by the 8th Amendment on women along with some trans-men and non binary people in Ireland. An oppression that doubles up on those who are also in the Asylum system, disabled, or Travellers.  If you are used to protests where the speeches are mostly from politicans telling you what you already know this wasn't one of them.

Tuesday 3rd October evening hundreds of Polish women and their allies gathered outside the Polish consulate in Dublin to protest the anti-woman bill being pushed in the Polish parliament that will criminalise women who have abortions in all circumstances. Ahead of last nights 'Dublin - Solidarity with Polish Women on Strike' protest the organisers said;

We march today to demand change. So much is wrong in our country and our world. People are denied their Bodily Autonomy or endure Direct Provision racism. Some struggle to find decent work or keep a roof over their heads. Meanwhile, our media is dominated by one super rich villain. Beyond this island, the news is worse. Oil companies are driving us into climate disaster.

The 5th annual march for Choice takes place September 24 and once more we are bringing together an anarchist bloc for the march, which is organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign.

Last week we were blown away by the amazing level of solidarity that was offered to those of us who are working tremendously hard to introduce free, safe, legal abortion in Ireland when a photo emerged on twitter of two members of the International Freedom Battalion in Rojava next to a sign that said “Ní saoirse go saoirse na mban” (Until the women are free none are free) and “Repeal the 8th”.

The image went viral and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive with many people tying in that no one struggle exists in isolation from the other, reinforcing the importance of international solidarity in trying to create a new world.

About 200 people took part in a protest last night at the misleading pregnancy advise centre on Berkely road exposed yet again by a Times investigation, see their video below.

This protest was organised at very short notice by Real-Productive Health. They had organised a protest about a year back as well but this operation has been misleading women in crisis for about a decade with similar protests happening on many occasions over those years.

The government are trying every trick to delay a referendum to repepeal the hated 8th amendment. Every day they do so means another 12 women have to make the difficult journey to England to access abortion. Department of Health figures reveal that 25,000 people from Ireland have had to travel to access abortion in the last five years.

Starting at 5am today two women making the journey are tweeting about their experiences of doing so.

Follow & retweet the account @TwoWomenTravel as two women travel to England for an abortion & tweet @EndaKennyTD at each stage.

Due to a small group of sexist whingers, the beautiful Repeal the 8th mural by Maser at Project Arts in Dublin has been removed.

Over 200 letters of support were sent to the centre thanking them for their support of the campaign to Repeal the 8th Amendment of the Constitution, which equates the life of a foetus to that of the mother and sees that anyone who has an abortion in Ireland will spend 14 years in jail.

Dublin City Council claimed the mural was in violation of the Planning and Development Acts and that the mural changes the tone of the street and impacts on the area. If they think a bit of street art is bad they’d want to take a look at how denying bodily autonomy to half the population and treating them like criminals impacts upon people.

TDs voted against Mick Wallace’s bill July 7th to allow for abortion in cases of Fatal Foetal Abnormalities. This is the second time that TDs have voted this way when Clare Daly’s bill was shot down last year.  The vote comes less than a month after the UN Human Rights Committee declared Ireland’s abortion laws to be a violation of human rights.

Have you been noticing pro-choice graffiti around Belfast recently?  There has been a massive increase in the amount of political propaganda around Belfast the past few weeks, which has most likely been inspired by the recent criminalisation of a young woman for having an illegal abortion here; something that many women are forced to do.

Our reporter talked to some of the people involved.  
"It’s important to strike every blow we can against things as they stand, no matter how small the blow provided the outcome is bigger than the input.

We are constantly subjected to sexist advertising on billboards and outside shops and religious propaganda on buses, it is only right that we take back the city to display our demands, and our messages.