Speeches from the 2019 March for Choice Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-10-08 | These are the speeches made at the 2019 Dublin March for Choice organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign. They include the ISL interpreter in shot but ARC often have fully subtitled versions available some weeks after the march.For footage of the march itself and analysis of the current situation see https://www.wsm.ie/c/2019-march-choice-big-fight-coming-2021
Balbriggan locals disrupt far right meeting in their community Workers Solidarity Movement 2020-02-12 | Balbriggan locals protested when they discovered a far right group had moved into an abandoned gym down a dark laneway and intended to hold a series of meetings there. They stopped the leader of the National Party getting in, he is on record saying he wants to execute doctors who provide abortions. Some people then attempted to enter the meeting only to find their way blocked by Garda who were working with masked fascists.This footage was originally a live stream from the protest and the point of view isn't necessarily representative of the organisers. The linked thread provides a lot of additional context twitter.com/WSMIreland/status/1221869330448764928
Rally 4 Peace Dec 14th Workers Solidarity Movement 2020-01-06 | Anti-fascist rally that took place on December 14th in Dublin
The reality of those far right free speech protests Workers Solidarity Movement 2020-01-06 | In 2019 Dublin saw far right groups take part in what we're called 'free speech' rallies. Yet these groups wants to ban mosques, deport migrants, bad gender studies and have even raved about executing traitors as well as opposing the abolition of the blasphemy law. You might think such protests are simply an excuse for fascists to hide behind and as our video clips show you'd be right.
March for Choice 2019 - lower numbers & a big task ahead Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-10-08 | The 2019 annual March for Choice in Dublin was smaller than the previous two marches as many assumed the abortion referendum that Repealed the hated 8th amendment had settled the issue. In fact the legislation brought in by the Fine Gael government in the months after the referendum left some groups behind, in particular migrants and forces everyone to go through a medically useless 3 day waiting period. Despite being warned about this and other issues including the trans exclusive language Fine Gael went ahead with the flawed legislation so some still have to travel and not everyone has the papers or resources to be able to do so. The legislation is up for review in 2021 and the anti-choice organisations are gearing up to try and roll back the legislation, the pro-choice movement needs to not only stop them doing so but needs to try and force whoever is in power to remove the flaws in the legislation.Documents mentioned in narrationARC submission on draft legislation https://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ARC-submission-on-the-Health-Regulation-of-Termination-of-Pregnancy-Bill.pdfRace, Identity & the State after Irish abortion referenda https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0141778919845881Speeches at end of march youtu.be/tn7wSjtslWo
All of the Dublin Climate Strike with a call for collective action Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-09-21 | As part of the global climate strike about 25 thousand students marched through the center of Dublin City demanding Climate Justice. This was in fact only one of many demonstrations that was taking place around Ireland even the small dormitory towns around Dublin like Maynooth hadtheir own demonstration. So the actual numbers protesting in Ireland was probably in the region of 40,000. The video you're watching here is the entirety of the Dublin march passing with a commentary focusing on the need for collective rather than individual action to halt Climate breakdown.
Eamonn & Izzy speak at Irishtown Garda station against racism, hate & direct provision Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-08-11 | Ahead of the SpeakersUnicorner march on the fascist rally outside Googles Dublin office Eamonn & Izzy spoke about the role of social media in stirring up hate and in particular its consequences in rural Ireland.
Lucky Khambule speaking at SpeakersUnicorner anti fascist rally at Irishtown Garda station Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-08-11 | Lucky Khambule of MASI speaking on opposing Direct Provision in the context of the far-right hate campaign that has mobilised outside google offices in Dublin over the last month. Shortly after this the protest marched there to hem in the fascists and outnumber them by about 10 to 1 leaving them visibly shook & demoralised. See out twitter feed for moreThe Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland is an independent platform for asylum seekers to join together in unity and purpose. The collective seeks justice, freedom and dignity for all asylum seekers. https://www.masi.ie
The far right on the 2019 Rally 4 Life Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-07-16 | We report from the annual anti-choice bigot parade in Dublin with the news this year being the much more visible organised far-right presence.
Trans Pride 2019 in Dublin Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-07-08 | Around a thousand people took part in the second Dublin Transgender Pride Parade last Saturday, July 6. This is almost double the number that marched last year. Upon assembling at Parnell Square the colourful procession made it's way down O' Connell Street, through Eden Quay, Customs House Quay and Lombard Street, before arriving at it's destination of Merrion Square. It was watched by crowds of onlookers who offered encouragement and support in the form of cheering and applause.The parade participants bore flags and banners displaying slogans such as 'Trans rights are human rights', 'I'm marching for my trans friends who aren't out', and 'T.E.R.F.-free zone'. The acronym 'T.E.R.F.' refers to Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists, a group who claim transgender women aren't actually women.According to some of the parade's organizers Saturday's event was intended to bring attention to some of the forms of discrimination that transgender individuals in Ireland are forced to endure. These include having to wait for three years or longer to access hormone treatment, the absence of any surgical treatment in Ireland, and an increasing number of attacks on transgender individuals.Thomas White, one of the organizers, said in an interview with the Irish Times that 'trangender people face challenges that gay, lesbian, and bi people don't. Being transgender goes much further against what society determines to be acceptable'.The Dublin LGBTQ Pride website, which advertised the parade, states that 'neither sex or gender is binary. They both exist on a spectrum and we want to make that known. The societal expectations that the gender binary enforces act like a prison for all of us, not just gender non-conforming poeple, trapping us in outdated and often sexist gender roles which we are punished for breaking away from. Rigid gender roles have no place in the progressive society that we need to create if we want trans liberation'. Judging from the number of participants as compared to last years' parade, and from the enthusiastic support of onlookers, this years' parade was a great success.
Speeches from Pride Alternative in Dublin 2019 Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-07-01 | These are some of the speeches from the Pride Alternative event held on Rosis Hackett bridge during Pride Dublin 2019. See the video uploaded yesterday for background and the MERJ speech
The cop bloc on Dublin Pride 2019 & Pride Alternative Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-07-01 | The presence of uniformed cops marching as a bloc on Dublin Pride meant that for the first time Pride Alternative was organised. Many participants may not have been aware that just across the street 3 van loads of riot police were lurking down a laneway, presumably there so that if there was any attempt to block the cop bloc they would have charged in. Thats so, so far from the roots of Pride in the riots that followed police raids on the Stonewall Inn.Pride Alternatives was protesting at that Garda & PSNI presence but also at the growing commercialisation of Pride and the media sponsorship of RTE and in particular its deliberate whipping up of a transphobic shit storm during the year. We’ve included the speaker from MERJ in the video who talks extensively about the issues with Pride in its modern form. We will be uploading further videos of speakers in the next couple of days.If you want to know more about the Stonewall riots we recommend the excellent Working Class History podcast which has two episodes that are based around extensive interviews with a couple of participants. Episode one can be found heresoundcloud.com/workingclasshistory/stonewall-riots-pride-50th-anniversary-lgbtq-1
Dublin protests the Trump visit to Ireland Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-06-07 | Donald Trumps visit to Ireland is a blend of cynical stunts from promoting hotel to hoping for a few Irish American votes in 2020. He stayed well away from the major population centres to avoid seeing protests but they happened in all the cities. Last night saw thousands of people take to the streets of Dublin to say Trump and his hard right agenda running from misogyny to climate denialism is not welcome.
Extinction Rebellion at Dublin anti-Trump protest Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-06-07 | Extinction Rebellion spoke at the Dublin protest against the visit of denier in chief Donald Trump to Ireland“Trump is not the only leader who is a climate change denier. We do not have to look far from home. Climate delayers and climate change deniers are as good as each other - Now is the time for civil disobedience, now is the time to become a rebel because there’s no time after this.”For more on Climate Change see https://www.wsm.ie/climate-change
Extinction Rebellion rallies in Dublin Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-04-24 | Saturday 20th saw another #ExtinctionRebellionrally take place in Dublin. Our video shows as it marches to block O’Connell bridge.Several hundred people marched through Dublin this afternoon as part of Extinction Rebellion Ireland. They then moved to block the northbound lane of O'Connell bridge. This is in the context of the UN science report that says we only have until 2030 so that's now getting nearer to 11 than 12 years to reduce greenhouse gas emissions enough to prevent a disastrous climate change of 2 degrees centigrade or higher. We are already seeing devastation in many parts of the world most recently in Mozambique and in Iran where unusual big weather events caused very heavy flooding. In Mozambique in particular that's leading to serious food shortages both of these events have been connected with the climate change process by scientists. The problem is we live in an economic system capitalism that's promised on continuous growth and in fact goes into crisis if that growth falls much below 3% a year. 3% doesn't sound very much but it basically means every 24 years production doubles and with the doubling of production the emission of greenhouse gases rises by a similar fraction. That's why we're running out of time and we have to look at how we are going to manage to force change the sort of change at scale that's needed to prevent the continued emission and in fact increasing emission of greenhouse gases
Ode to ARC Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-03-08 | On International Womens Day two years ago we gathered on O'Connell Bridge and in towns all around Ireland as part of Strike 4 Repeal, demanding that the government call a referendum on the 8th amendment. On International Womens Day last year, we marched under the banner of Votes for Repeal. We had a proposed referendum date, the structure of a campaign, energy, commitment and determination. But the result was far from certain. On International Womens Day this year, Ireland is free of the 8th amendment. Barriers to access remain and the work of ensuring free, safe, legal and local abortion care for everyone who wants and needs it continues. But we are in a place we did not think we would be a few short years ago. We have moved out from under the shadow of the 8th. We got here through collective action, hard compromises, exhaustion, friendship, compassion, determination and grit. I wrote this piece partly as a reaction to frustration at the praising of politicians as the champions of the campaign, and the blanking out of the campaign as a grassroots women led movement. I wrote it partly out of wanting to pay tribute to the women I met and worked with over the past 2 years or so in ARC. I also wanted to pay tribute to the quiet, mundane, essential work, to the sheer scale of the work, to the support and solidarity, to the feeling that washed over me on the 25th and 26th of May. I wanted to pay tribute to the fact that so many people in so many ways did their absolute best.Maybe it will make you think of people you organised with. Maybe your experience of the campaign was different but some of the sentiment may be similar. I wrote it with respect, admiration and love for the women I saw making huge sacrifices and compromises daily, working with skill, drive, commitment and determination, the women who held me together, the women who did their best and so much more. And, in ways, I wrote it for every person in every county who was part of getting us to 66.4%. --- Words at marymcoogan.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/an-odeListen to the background interview about this video at mixcloud.com/workerssolidarity/whose-the-manager-ode-to-arc-background-interviewFor more on the campaign see http://www.wsm.ie/repeal-8thl and https://www.abortionrightscampaign.ie
All of the National Rally for Nurses & Midwives Workers Solidarity Movement 2019-02-09 | The complete footages of the thousand who marched through Dublin to Stand with Nurses & Midwives in their struggle to protect the health service and win pay parity. This march takes place ahead of next weeks escalation of the strike as the government continues to refuse to negotiate about pay.
Ireland marches against the housing crisis - Dec 1st 2018 Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-12-02 | Thousands marched through Dublin as part of a national demonstration against the ongoing housing crisis. The video shows the full march passing a single point, with edits to skip the periods of time when the march remained stationary.Read our 8 points on housing and capitalism at https://www.wsm.ie/c/housing-crisis-notes-big-picture-ireland
No LNG terminal on the Shannon - Climate Change & Methane Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-11-20 | We interviewed William an environmental researcher living in County Clare about the planned Liquefied Natural Gas terminal on the Shannon. Construction of it will mean Ireland will fail to meet its Climate Change commitments and will instead be tied into pumping out additional Greenhouse Gases for decades. As the LNG will come from the US it will include fracked gas, a process banned in Ireland that releases three times as much of the very powerful Climate Change gas methane as conventional gas.William is working as part of Futureproof Clare who are campaigning against Shannon LNG. The plant would be on the Shannon estuary at Ballylongford in North Kerry.
Extinction Rebellion solidarity rally against Climate Change in Dublin Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-11-18 | Dublin saw a few 100 people gather yesterday to take part in a rally in solidarity with Extinction Rebellion, the group which has recently emerged in Britian and which yesterday occupied 5 bridges across the Thames, blocking them for about 4 hours and resulting in large numbers of arrests. This act of Civil Disobediance is in the context of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that says we have only a decade to reduce emmissions by about 45% in order to try and keep Climate Change down to a 1.5 degree centagrade increase in global tempertures.In Ireland we have a particular problem with the plan to construct a Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in the Shannon that would import Fracking gas from the United States and would result in considerable release of greenhouse gases for the next couple of decades, well past that UN deadline. Particularly in the short term the methane released is a very much stronger global warming gas than carbon dixode is, see tinyurl.com/climatemethane for more
The Presidential election in Ireland and the racist bump Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-10-31 | Last weekend saw a presidential election in Ireland where the clear victor was a left wing poet called Michael D Higgins who got 56% of the vote. However a no hope candidate who was, 1 of 3, yes 3 hosts of the TV show Dragons Den running for president managed to boost his vote from close to nothing (2%) to 23% through the simple trick of Trump like racist remarks directed at the Traveller Community, a very small ethnic group who until recently were nomads but were forced to all but bandon that life by the Irish state over the last couple of decades. In the aftermath of the result the media reached for the same sort of lazy analysis about 'econoic anxiety' and people 'left behind' that was seen in the US after Trump was elected. In this video Andrew argues that the exit poll data tells a very difrerent story.I'm going to have a look at the actual evidence of who voted for Peter Casey and why they did so as found in the RTÉ / RedC Exit poll. In doing so I'm disagreeing with the emerging media narrative which speak's of 'economix anxiety' and 'silent majorities'. Instead the poll suggests a voter base of older rural men who want to be able to say racist stuff about the Travelling community without 'fear' of being told they are racist asses but who also probably voted agains the removal of the ban on blasphemy from the constitution.The RTE / RedC data is to be found at https://redcresearch.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/296718-RTE-Exit-Poll-Oct-2018-Final-Report.pdfEileen Ní Fhloinn piece for the Journal is well worth a read https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/opinion-travellers-ireland-4309098-Oct2018/"Activist Eileen Ní Fhloinn says it worries her as a Traveller woman “to see the brazen and openness of anti-Traveller sentiment that’s out there on social media and political forums”."
The North is Next - statements from the 2018 Dublin March for Choice Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-10-03 | In the aftermath of the massive victory in the abortion referendum this summer many activists are focused on winning change in the north of Ireland. The north still under UK jurisdiction but the 1967 act which allowed access to abortion in some cases was never extended to the north. Women and pregnant people there still have to travel and while the south never dared bring a prosecution for the use of abortion pills there have been 3 such cases in the north.Cross border social movements that are not about partition are very unusual outside of the trade unions. But the pro-choice movement is becoming such a movement, one with serious potential to break the sectarian log jam as attitudes to abortion access do not simply map onto the lines of sectarian division, both the catholic and protestant hard right being virulently anti-choice. This is all the stronger because the Abortion Rights Campaign has actively pursued an intersectional approach that reaches far beyond treating abortion access as a 'single issue'.This segment ends with the speeches given to the March for Choice by Alliance for Choice members and Kellie O’Dowd and Emma Campbell. You'll find a video of all of the speeches posted previously to this channel.
All the speeches from March for Choice 2018 Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-10-02 | This video is all of the speeches made at the rally that ended the 2018 March for Choice organised by the Abortion Rights Campaign.Speakers wereMC Tara FlynnAbortion Rights Campaign co-convenorsSarah MonaghanDenise OToole Evie Nevin - Disabled People Together for Yes Zanele Zibindi Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland Andy Martin - Transgender Equality Network IrelandSíona Cahill - Union of Students in IrelandAlliance for ChoiceKellie O’DowdEmma CampbellArlette Lyons -Terminations For Medical ReasonsApologies for the failure to keep the sign language interpreter in shot
All of the 2018 Dublin March for Choice Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-10-01 | This video shows the seventh annual March for Choice passing through Dublin. The March is organised every year by the Abortion Rights Campaign. This year it happened in the context of winning the referendum to overturn the ban on abortion that was in the Irish constitution but it's happening right before the legislation is introduced that will implement that and allow for abortion access in Ireland.
Pushing Back the Alt Right - #DABF 2018 Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-09-18 | For the launch of the 2018 Dublin anarchist bookfair we've brought anarchist author Mark Bray over from the US to tell us about 'Pushing back the alt-right in the US'. Mark, who is the author of The Anti-Fascist Handbook wlooked at what worked for anti-fascists over the last year.This was a period that opened with the large neo-fascist mobilisation in Charlottesville during which they murdered anti-fascist protester Heather Heyer. It also saw several other major battles where fascists attacked anti-fascists but where they were more and more often defeated. In the last months their main spokespeople admitted there post Trump election hopes of expansion had been contained by anti-fascist mobilisations.
3rd building occupied by Take Back the City campaign Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-09-10 | Saturday 8th of September saw another building occupied in Dublin as part of the Take Back the City campaign, this is the 3rd occupation in a little over a month. The new occupied building is on 41 Belvedere Place as the video shows over 100 people gathered outside in support of the occupation.The Take Back the city campaign activists had gathered at the GPO earlier that evening and then marched as a block up O'Connell Street to the site of the current occupation. Oat one point the chants on the march named the three largest political parties who have been in government this decade “Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fail’ with the response “Jail, jail, jail them all.” The Labour Party is now in opposition and doing its usual about turn to insert itself into struggles as if it was somehow not responsible for the policies being fought against. Our footage moves on to some taken early in the week which shows the second building occupied on Frederick Street not far from the current occupation. The first building occupied on Summerhill Place was abandoned after an injunction was granted, power the decision was taken to hang onto Frederic street when that was injuncted a couple of weeks ago. So far the Garda have not dared move to enforce that injunction.We then show a boarded up building, there was a previous round of occupation’s around 2015 all of which were evicted. Unlike the current phase they aimed to provide accommodation for people through the direct action of occupying and moving people in. In contrast so far the current campaign has activists taking buildings to highlight the number of vacant homes that have been left empty, with over 100 people volunteering to do shifts to keep them occupied. This aspect is controversial as there is still much lower key squatting going on but it would be logical, as the current campaign builds, to turn the occupied buildings in to homes if and when the intimidatory effect of injunctions is removed. There are no meaningful ’squatters rights’ in Ireland which is why speculators feel safe leaving so many usable homes lying empty while huge numbers of people are caught up in the housing crisis. In other European cities as other times the presence of strong ’squatters right’ meant not only directly housing thousands of people but also meant speculators were far more inclined to rent out buildings rather than leaving them empty.Our footage shows the Bolt hostel but this isn't footage from 2015 this was taken last week, three years after the court ordered eviction when it still lies empty. The Bolt is a particularly strong example as the building was in a relatively good state and a team of volunteers were using it to provide emergency accommodation.These occupations are taking place in the context of a terrible housing crisis that exists in Dublin and other Irish cities. In Dublin it's probably the case that almost every worker is now affected by the crisis. Rents are skyhigh, so to are property prices but wages for most workers remain very low. A huge amount of workers are probably spending up to 50% of their income on either rent or mortgage repayments.Ina addition the rental sector has no security attached to it at all. It's easy to evict tenants, the legal protections are mostly a joke. All this needs needs to change
Sarah Clancy - Cherising for Beginners - #Stand4Truth Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-08-27 | Sarah Clancy performs her poem 'Cherising for Beginners' at the Stand for Truth rally on the day of the Papal rally in the Phoenix parkCherish the meek cherish the ranchers cherish the guardscherish the bankerscherish the virgins then ride them and cherish their sisters,cherish tax exiles and entrepreneurscherish the rewards of intergenerational privilege or if that's too hard for beginners sure cherish the Rose of Tralee for starters, cherish the goal and the point and the foulcherish the priest's dirty sheets but not the women who wash them, don't mention her or what she might need, go on though and cherish the IFSC and its type of laundries-those ones are fine, they are grand sure. Cherish Them.Cherish the pope and his band of transglobal bootlickerscherish the bishops who moved paedophile priestsaround like chess piecesand were afflicted with severe mental reservations every time child rape was mentionedcherish the bureaucrats who know that the institution always comes firstcherish the shame they implanted on the whole population then cherish the suicidesas collateral damage in an otherwise virtuous strugglecherish the high moral groundthey reached by tramping on the graves of dead babies, cherish the ring kisserswho made it all possiblesure give them a big round of applausedon't the y deserve itCherish the men because they couldn’t help itif the women and girls went and fell pregnant, cherish the foetus, the heartbeat, but not the person it's inthen cherish the small graves in their undisclosed wastelands cherish the shovels and boot soles that dug them- let there be no doubt about it- Yes We Can! cherish the childrenif they're from the right classaren’t travelling people and are not for god’s sake seeking asylum,don't forget too that we must cherish the muteand cherish the sheepishbut hate those in need,worship Fr Peter McVerry himself,go ahead make him an iconbut don’t listen to what he’s saying about anything.Cherish the poor for how you can use them to frighten those who are just one rung above cherish the people who learned early and often what happens to those with big mouths, cherish your local TDs, and the crowd in Listowel who didn't care that he raped her sure wasn't he one of their own? Yea cherish the rapist, why don't you?Cherish the golf course and its sprinklerssure Irish Water will save uscherish piece work and internships, and zero hour contracts aren't you lucky you have a job at all?Do you not remember the coffin ships and are you not grateful? Yea cherish your own exploitationcherish the school board,for our lack of gay teachers, cherish women's place in the homethen cut their allowances, sure they don’t deserve themhaving all of those children repeat after me- Cherish Privatisation;and if you don't then you better learn to cherish the knock on your doorin Jobstown in the morning.Consider this a warning.Cherish Dev and Pearse and blood sacrifice but don't mention James Connolly who said until Ireland's women are free none of us will be, most of all though cherish outsourcing and remember your call is important, you too will be cherished equallyif you can afford it as soon as an operator becomes availablewhich may well take another hundred years.
Stand 4 Truth - demanding accountability from catholic church during Papal visit Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-08-27 | As many as 10,000 people took part in the Stand for Truth rally yesterday, and marched in complete silence to the site of the last Magdalene Laundry to close on Sean MacDermott street. In effect this was a counter protest to the Papal Rally taking place uptake road in the Phoenix park in the aftermath of Pope Francis pretending not to know about the institutions while talking to selected survivors. In fact he met Philomena Lee in the Vatican in 2014, the Irish Times reporting at the time that afterwards, Ms Lee said: “I hope and believe that his Holiness Pope Francis joins me in the fight to help the thousands of mothers and children who need closure on their own stories.”Some 30,000 were confined in these institutions, most often for the ‘crime’ of having child without being married. Another 100,000 people were sent to other institutions run by the church like the industrial schools, yesterdays event also stood with them in demanding real accountability for the crimes that the church committed, and for the cover up that goes right to the top of the Catholic Church, including the current forgetful pope.If the Papal visit was meant to help the recovery of a totally discredited catholic church it can be described as a disaster that only revealed how few practising catholics remain in Ireland. During the previous Palpal visit in 1979 one million people attended the Papal rally in Dublin alone, yesterday saw barely 10% of that number attend and many of those were international tourists. In ’79 Papal bunting was everywhere, yesterday the council built estates bordering the park has almost no houses displaying any, our writer counted only two in an estate of 250 houses (and twice as many that still had Dublin GAA bunting up from the match a couple of weeks back). On Saturday Dublin was brought to a halt so that the Pope could parade through the city, they said 100,000 were expected to view him. In the event only about 15,000 lined the route and how many of them were in town anyway and finding themselves trapped by barriers decided they might as well watch the spectacle and post a selfie.The Catholic Church which on the weekends evidence can now only claim to represent, at best, 10% of the population still owns many of the schools, hospitals and community spaces in the country. They have failed to pay significant compensation for the decades of abuse they subjected the 130,000 to. It’s high time the schools, hospitals and community spaces were taken into public ownership, without further compensation.
Occupation of 35 Summerhill Parade to protest evictions in Dublin Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-08-08 | In May 5 houses were occupied and 120 people thrown on the street. On August 7th a range of housing activist groups organised a direct action that marched from the GPO to Summerhill and occupied No35. They are demanding a compulsory purchase is used to obtain the 5 houses empty since May and turn them into public housing.For more see https://www.wsm.ie/c/occupation-summerhill-parade-dublin-protest-evictions
Footage from Dublin Pride 2018 and the radical anti-corporate bloc Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-07-02 | This year WSM members marched on Pride with the Abortion Rights Campaign and as part of Queer Action Ireland’s (formerly Working Class Queeroes) radical bloc with MERJ and others.We were joined by many grassroots campaign groups, with the abortion rights campaign group, the Migrants and Ethnic-minorities for Reproductive Justice - MERJ group, the anti-racism network - ARN, the queers for sec workers rights, Irish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other pro-Palestine activists.Nearly at the end of the march we were standing on the side of the march all together chanting against the corporate involvement and sponsorship in the pride, against deportation and the pinkwashing. This video is a simple assemblage of footage we shot during Pride, see our write up for a photo album at https://www.wsm.ie/c/pride-dublin-25th-anniversary-decriminalisation-2018
Solidarity Demo: Jailed & Tortured Russian Anarchists/Antifascists Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-06-22 | The Workers Solidarity Movement held a small demonstration outside the Russian Embassy in Dublin, Ireland, to show our solidarity with the anarchists & antifascists who have been falsely convicted of 'terrorism' and other phony charges, and been viciously interrogated, beaten, and even tortured with electricity, and also to show solidarity with all of the targets of the Russian state, in its paranoid, tyrannical, attempt to crush all possible dissent.Read more (in English) here: therussianreader.com/2018/04/15/the-penza-petersburg-terrorism-case-29-january-15-march-2018https://www.wsm.ie/c/solidarity-russia-prisoners-anarchists-antifascists-penza
Generation Identity rallies with Loyalists in Belfast to defend Robinson rape trial sabotage Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-06-12 | On Saturday 10 June, loyalist supporters of the far-right anti-Muslim group, Britain First staged a march and demonstration in the name of ‘free speech’ for the founder of EDL (English Defense League), Tommy Robinson (whose legal name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon). Britain First is a militaristic, violent right-wing extremist group who specifically targets Muslims and migrant communities. One fascist group, Generation Identity, which is trying to organise in Dublin was also present at this loyalist organised protest, its lone flag sticking out in the sea of union jacks.Read more at https://www.wsm.ie/c/generation-identity-loyalists-britain-first-belfast-june2018
Mollys Soliloquy for Repeal Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-05-18 | The last words of James Joyce's Ulysses are spoken by Molly Bloom, "and yes I said yes I will Yes."What if Molly Bloom was alive now? Dedicated to all the Repealers.It started with a long kiss that I said to him I was a wanting yes and my breath nearly gone ...
Rally 4 Life - threats, assault and a poor turnout Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-05-16 | On Saturday one of our photographers was assaulted and threatened at the ‘No’ campaigns’ anti-choice Rally for Life. He wasn’t injured and although his camera was punched (see video) no damage was done but this is yet another example of how the No campaign, having failed to make any impact in the polls, are becoming nastier in their desperation.The ‘Love Both’ anti-choice rally itself was very poorly attended, attracting around 1500 people. The feeling in the crowd was one of tiredness and demoralisation with a few people even admitting out loud that the turnout was miserable. Radical Queers Resist were holding a small silent counter protest opposite the entrance to the rally so after counting the crowd we headed over to this.You can read more about what happened at https://www.wsm.ie/c/photographer-threatened-assaulted-rally-life
Belfast activists canvass for Yes in Cavan Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-05-14 | With just under two weeks to the Repeal referendum pro-choice activists from Belfast travelled across the border to help canvass Cavan for Yes.This is a report of the 23 Belfast activists who traveled to Cavan this weekend to help out the local Together for Yes group. Cross-border solidarity is vital in this campaign and our northern sisters and comrades are only too happy to participate in the campaign. Cavan was one of the strongest Yes constituencies in the 1983 referendum, take a look to see how the activists got on.
What is Hierarchy? | Anarchist Introduction Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-05-08 | Anarchists predominantly focus on hierarchy as the common root of our social problems. But what is it? And what, for that matter, is power? Is power always bad, or only in certain ways? If so, what are those ways, and why? What the alternative to hierarchy? And in the attempt to create that alternative, is being organised a form of hierarchy?These questions will be addressed in this basic introduction to the anarchist analysis of hierarchy and its alternative.TEXT VERSION:https://www.wsm.ie/c/thinking-about-anarchism-hierarchy-Music credit to bensound.com
Crime and Community Policing | An Anarchist Perspective Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-04-26 | The issue of crime and anti-social behaviour and society's responses to it is possibly one of the most pressing issues facing many people - especially those in working class communities. But how do we deal with it in a fair and effective manner? And for that matter, what even is 'crime'? What causes it, and if we want to get to the root of the problem does that mean making far-reaching social changes or keeping society roughly the same?This podcast addresses this issues, using plenty of real-world examples to illustrate the ideas.TEXT VERSION:https://www.wsm.ie/c/crime-community-policing-anarchism-Music credit to bensound.com
Direct Action - Warplanes, Strikes, and Pipelines Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-04-26 | How do we fight for a better world in ways that not only get the job done, but build a sense of collective power and solidarity that carry into the future? The phrase 'direct action' can be thrown about a lot, but what is it, and what's so good about it? How is this different to the way politics usually works? And how are these two approaches incompatible?TEXT VERSION:https://www.wsm.ie/c/direct-action-anarchism-Music credit to bensound.com
Competition is Irrational, Choose Co-operation - An Anarchist Perspective Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-04-26 | Competition is often touted as being at the core of what makes this civilisation, this capitalist society, successful. But how rational is it really to base a society on competition, on a win-lose profit-seeking model? Anarchists emphasise the importance of co-operation, and it is one of the fundamental characteristics of the society we are seeking to create. This is not out of some lovey-dovey naivety, but because co-operation is the most effective way for humans to satisfy their wants and needs.TEXT VERSION:https://www.wsm.ie/c/anarchism-competition-cooperation-introduction-Music credit to bensound.com
Housing is a Human Right march attracts thousands Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-04-09 | Saturday 7th April saw 3000 people take to the streets of Dublin for the Housing is a Human Right march. Some 10,000 people are in emergency accommodation, 3700 of them children. Meanwhile landlords & property speculators pocket a massive portion of the wages of those who are working either via rent or if post 2000 'homeowners' through massive morgage payments.See https://www.wsm.ie/c/housing-human-right-march-apr2018 for more
Launch of Together4Yes in Dublin Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-04-06 | Launch of the Together for Yes campaign in the Pillar Room of the Rotunda Hospital last Thursday 22nd of MarchTogether for Yes is a broad alliance, very broad because it unites all of the people who see this law for what it is, and the time has come to address it, by repealing it. This is issue which has blighted this island, and will continue to do so, even after we win the vote to repeal the 8th amendment, as we cannot forget about the active denial of reproductive rights that exists in northern Ireland. But in the room last Thursday, the atmosphere crackled with static, there was anticipation to get this started, to enact the campaign, and to repeal the 8th amendment, to move towards free safe medical reproductive care for people in the republic of Ireland.More details at https://www.wsm.ie/c/together-yes-launched-8th-referendum
TCD Students Chanting Education for the masses, not just for the ruling classes Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-04-05 | Students in one of Dublin's largest colleges occupied buildings on campus in response to management attempts to repress the occupation of the Dining hall on 14 March 2018.The video shows a rally on the steps of the building where students are chanting "Education for the masses, not just for the ruling classes". The struggle is to abolish a 450 euro fee for supplemental exams that would punish students who are not from wealthy backgrounds.The students won their struggle and the fee was abolished, more details at https://www.wsm.ie/c/takebacktrinity-occupations-spread-fee-abolished
Ethel Buckley of SIPTU pledges SIPTU support to Repeal the 8th on IWD Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-03-20 | SIPTU, Ireland’s largest trade union, supports repeal of the Eighth Amendment. Ethel Buckley spoke on behalf of SIPTU, she is the deputy general secretary. SIPTU organises over 200,000 workers almost 100,000 of whom are women, they have been on the frontline of the fight for women’s equality for over a century. Their first generation of union leaders, among them James Connolly, Constance Markievicz, Helena Maloney were clear that the struggle for a woman’s right to vote, a woman’s right to decent work and a woman’s right to manage her own life was, is, and ever shall be a fight for the trade union movement. Video was recorded at the 2018 March 8th International Women's Day march in Dublin which called for Repeal of the 8th amendment, more at https://www.wsm.ie/c/dublin-international-womens-day-referendum-repeal-8th-2018
Together for Yes unofficial launch at International Womens Day Dublin Time to Repeal Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-03-16 | The Repeal march on International Women's Day in Dublin also served as something of a soft unofficial launch of the Together Yes campaign as at the start of the closing rally we were told a new coalition was to be launched and then there were three speakers from each of the constituent groups.We weren't told the name (now announced as Together for Yes) but the speakers from the Coalition to Repeal, National Women's Council of Ireland and the Abortion Rights Campaign did a fine job of outlining the arguments to Repeal the 8th Amendment. Sign up for the new coalitions email list at https://www.togetherforyes.ie/Twitter - twitter.com/Together4yesFacebook - facebook.com/Together4yesYou can view our video of the IWD march itself at youtu.be/6qFRZcEdlBg
IWD march in Dublin as government finally forced to call Repeal referendum Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-03-15 | March 8th is International Women's Day and IWD 2018 in Ireland was a big day because it was when it was confirmed that a referendum to Repeal the hated 8th amendment to the Irish constitution would go ahead. Demonstrations and other events took place across Ireland to mark this, the video shows one of these, the IWD march in Dublin taking place just after work at 17.30 on a Thursday evening.The audio from the video after a few seconds is overlaid with the WSM International Women's Day statement which you can read at https://www.wsm.ie/c/wsm-international-womens-day-message2018An national anti-choice march took place the following Saturday with free buses laid on from around the country. The organisers had told media ahead of that march they expected 120,000 but on the day only 9,000 people turned up. Because they then tried to spin that number into 100,000 a major controversy erupted about that claim and media reporting of the claim, you can read more about how many actually marched at https://www.wsm.ie/c/save8rally-proof-9k-not-100kFor those curious about how many marched on the workday evening we didn't do the same counting operation but afterwards we did use the same Crowdsize App to calculate that no more than 6000 people could fit into the space the rally at the end occupied if it was densely packed. The end of the video is shot there so you can judge for yourself whether thats a densely packed crowd. If you are interested in comparing the mobilisation ability of both sides then, rather than using this weekday evening march, we’d suggest looking at the September March for Choice which was also a national mobilisation on a Saturday. It’s an easy comparison as it followed the same route and held its rally at the same endpoint - that comparison reveals it to have been the somewhat bigger of the two, see above article for details.For more details see https://www.wsm.ie/c/dublin-international-womens-day-referendum-repeal-8th-2018
Only 9000 march in Save 8th rally but organisers claim 100k Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-03-11 | This video shows all of the 9000 people who marched in the anti-choice #Save8Rally in Dublin 10th March 2018. It's an hour long and shows the march as it passed the small counter protest on O'Connell street.The organisers lied to their own supporters multiple times from the stage at the end in telling them 100,000 people marched. Organisers tend to be optimistic in their guesses but there is optimism ('maybe it was 20k') and then there is making multiple announcements to a crowd in a space that can only fit 15,000 that there are in fact 100,000 of them there.In any case with this complete video of the march you can make your own judgement independent of the 8,930 our two counting teams averaged at. You don't need to count for the entire hour of this video just dip in at a couple of points and count for one minute.Below are the number of people you would need to see pass to match the figures given out by organisers, RTE ('tens of thousands, we went for the lowest in that range, 30k) and out own 9000 count.100k requires 1667 ppm30k requires 500 ppm8930 would be 149 ppmYou can also view the 36 minutes of live footage previously streamed to the page from one of our counting teams and count segments of that. You may end up thinking our 9000 figure is out by one or two thousand, you will not however consider 'tens of thousands' to be anyway possible, never mind 100,000.Read the full write up of how we counted and what the results were https://www.wsm.ie/c/save8rally-proof-9k-not-100k
Neo nazi smear attempt captured on camera at IWD march in Dublin Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-03-09 | We captured the alt-right/ anti-choice attempt to smear the International Women’s Day / Repeal march when shooting crowd footage. We were recording on the other side of the march but in this clip you'll see a photographer in pink taking the sequence of images that later appeared on neo-nazi pages in the ludicrous attempt to smear the campaign. We are not suggesting the photographer was knowingly involved, quite possibly the neo-nazis stole his images, but we would like to know who he is. We've heard from some of the women tricked by the nazis who are understandably upset. From other sources we believe the guy with the beard distributed the placards, further confirmation of this welcome. We believe we know who his is, again further confirmation welcome.The attempted smear (the placards have a logo similar to the 1930s British Union of Fascists) isn't worth taking seriously and we spent several hours last night watching the attempts by neo-nazis to circulate it online and failing.What changed is that this morning actual spokespeople of the anti-choice No campaign also started circulating this crude Neo-nazi smear. Giver the historic links of anti-choice groups with neo-nazis in Ireland and elsewhere we'd like to hear those spokespeople clearly retract their involvement in circulating the smear and clarifying what if any remaining contacts there are with the Neo-nazis.Neo-nazis like the original nazis are anti-choice extremists who want 'the nation' to control women's bodies to force 'racially pure' women to have more children while sterilising, forcing abortion on and killing other women. That is their history in Nazi Germany & goal today even if they have rebranded as ‘alt-right’.
Strike for Repeal 2018 - call to action from WSM Workers Solidarity Movement 2018-01-08 | Strike4Repeal launched in January 2017, it exists currently as an ad hoc group of pro-choice activists, academics, trade unionists, artists and students. We directed a single demand towards the government: a national strike would take place on the 8th March unless a referendum on the 8th Amendment of the Constitution was called. In December, we in Strike4Repeal came together once more to announce that a second strike action will take place if it becomes clear during Dáil debate that full abortion access will not be legislated for or if there is no straight repeal question on the ballot in the upcoming referendum.Pledge2Strike form: tinyurl.com/y7nxszz9 Strike Assembly event page: facebook.com/events/322845051455332
Parliament or Democracy? | History & Lessons Workers Solidarity Movement 2017-12-19 | We live in a democratic society. Or do we? If democracy means ‘people rule’ then why do we not feel in charge, and why do the rich get richer while the poor get poorer?This WSM pamphlet ‘Parliament or Democracy’ traces the hidden history of two political approaches of starkly different natures. Few know that parliament, what we call ‘democracy’, was designed as a way for the wealthy elite to hang onto power in the transition from feudalism, while appearing to appease the popular demand for democracy.So what is real democracy then, and how would it work? Has it ever existed before? Strap yourself in for this political journey, a lively account with meticulous research and compelling arguments.TEXT VERSION / PDF:https://www.wsm.ie/c/anarchism-parliament-democracy-Music credit to bensound.com
A Free Mass Society? Anarchism or Primitivism Workers Solidarity Movement 2017-12-07 | Can we have a society which is at once large-scale and free? Some people, the primitivists, think we can't and suggest we have to go back to a situation before 'mass civilisation' began in the agricultural revolution. Anarchists disagree, in fact the idea that we can live in peace en masse without the state was readily defended by anarchists in the 19th century against liberals and monarchists alike.Text versions:Civilisation, Primitivism, and Anarchism: anarkismo.net/article/1451 Is Primitivism Realistic? An Anarchist Reply: anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=1890 Supplementary article on 'peak oil': https://www.wsm.ie/c/politics-peak-oil-anarchism -Music credit to bensound.com
