Workers Solidarity Movement

Look at the world. There is so much wrong with it. Africa is being decimated by AIDs. Children are dying in Iraq because they can't get basic medical treatment. Millions of people worldwide daily live in the shadow of poverty, millions of people fall through the cracks. Even in Ireland, rich in comparison to many places in the world, the best most of us can hope for is to spend the most of our lives working for somebody else.

The big event of the Autumn was in Prague when the fat cats of the World Bank gathered for a jamboree, and thousands of anti-capitalist protesters took to the streets. In Ireland the WSM helped organise the Carnival for Global Economic Justice which included events in Belfast, Cork, Derry, Dublin and Galway. The following week saw the WSM host public meetings in Belfast, Cork, Dublin (and at the Anarchist Bookfair in London) which were addressed by Vadim Barak of the Czech Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists-Solidarita and Andrew Flood, a WSM member who took part in the protests.

Regular readers of Workers Solidarity will have noticed that this issue is quite late in coming out. We are currently dicsussing our publications (Workers Solidarity and Red & Black Revolution) with a view to making changes in the way they are produced and sold.

"FU AEEU LEADERSHIP" said Dagenam and Enfield members in September. Following Amalgamated Electrical & Engineering Union leader Ken Jackson's 'partnership' fantasy comments about a "strike free Britain" at the Trade Union Congress, workers showed him what they thought of his 'roll over and play dead' attitude by walking out as part of pay negotiations at the AEEU represented Ford car works.

Source: Anarchist Trade Union Network, Britain

ANTI-UNION REPRESSION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Irish syndicalism - WE HAVE LEARNED with regret that the Irish section of the International Workers Association, Organise!, has decided to dissolve itself. Although we had political differences with this anarcho-syndicalist group - in particular with their approach of trying to build new revolutionary unions - we welcomed their existence as offering another option to those interested in anarchism in Ireland.

IN AN ARTICLE in issue no.3 (Autumn 1998) of the Socialist Party magazine 'Socialism 2000', written by John McCamley, it is stated "The [anti racist] movement has to be national, support has to be well organised and coming from all corners of Ireland. We would have to act fast. There won't be time to make decisions on every single issue at weekly meetings so there would have to be some sort of co-ordinating committee. These are the simple facts and nothing to do with an attempt by anyone to "take control" of the movement in an undemocratic way. There are ongoing discussions in the anti-racism movement on what direction to take from here.

How low can they go? - 1,400 mentally disabled people in the 26 counties have no suitable place to live. Another 1,000 desperately need suitable day care. Last November their parents appealed to the government for £60 million to provide these essential services for their children.

IDEAS & ACTION was a day of anarchist discussions hosted by the Workers Solidarity Movement last March. Forty people came from Belfast, Cork, Galway, Dublin, Coleraine and Lurgan to share ideas and experiences. Speakers were anarchists involved in trade union, environmental, abortion rights and anti-racist struggles. Participants felt it to be both interesting and useful, with the Belfast-based 'Organise' group offering to host a second such event early next year.

'IDEAS AND ACTION' is a day of discussions happening in Dublin on March 28th. Anarchists active in the successful anti-water charges campaign in the South and in the struggle against the Job Seekers Allowance in the North will share their experiences. Anarchist trade unionists will talk about building workplace organisation and the opposition to 'social partnership'.

Irish anarchism has no historical tradition, as a movement it is only coming into existence. We do not yet enjoy the popular understanding of and respect for anarchist ideas that can be found among thousands of militants in countries like Sweden, Spain, France, Italy or Korea. But that is not to say that we have no history at all. We are beginning to uncover forgotten events...