A-Infos (en) Ireland, March with Rossport - Report, photos and and anarchist WSM leaflet text

    About 900 people marched through the rain on Saturday in Dublin in 
solidarity with the community in Rossport who are opposing Shell Oil's attempts 
 to build a dangerous pipeline close to their home. Despite the damp the mood 
was upbeat. There were speeches at the beginning and the end - an irritating 
development in Dublin marches lately. There was a high police presence, given 
that the Irish/England rugby match was being played lately in the day. As it 
was, the Garda’s prediction that the march would be manipulated by rogue 
elements into causing a full-scale riot (you couldn’t make this up!) proved 
unfounded. Republican Sinn Fein left the march after ten minutes, and headed 
off to have their own protest about the rugby match. The march continued around 
the normal route, around the block and back to the GPO. Afterwards everyone 
headed back to the Teachers Club for tea and sandwiches (and an excellent game 
of rugby).

The WSM distributed the following leaflet along the route of the march

--- Text of WSM leaflet ---

The people of Erris need your help! Their community has been turned into a 
prison, and their lives endangered by a state acting on a behalf of a 
multinational corporation. Anyone who thinks we live in a democratic society 
can think again. People in Erris have long opposed Shell’s pipeline and 
terminal but time and time again, their voices have been ignored. When they 
took matters into their own hands and tried to stop this unsafe project 
themselves they have been intimidated, beaten and locked up. If you want to 
help you can join them on their blockades, get active in your local Shell to 
Sea group and talk about these issues to your friends and workmates. If you’re 
in a union, you can propose motions to support Shell to Sea and bring the 
banner on demonstrations.

But this struggle isn’t just about Erris, it’s about all of us. The resources 
off the coast of Ireland are worth hundreds of billions of euro. The State 
could have used this money to finance a decent public health service, an 
inclusive education system, or a proper transport infrastructure, but they gave 
it away to big business instead. All the while, they’re building more prisons 
and privatising our public services. As always, the state is on the side of big 
business and not the ordinary people of this island. We need a movement capable 
of forcing them to use these resources for the benefit of all the Irish people.

The Workers Solidarity Movement have supported the struggle in Erris and the 
Shell to Sea campaign since they began. As anarchists we believe that the 
problems faced by the people in Erris result from the type of society we live 
in, a society which is run in the interests of profit rather than human 
happiness, a society in which big business and their pets in government make 
the rules for the rest of us to follow. We can’t vote our way out of these 
problems, none of the parties will do anything but manage capitalism a little 
bit differently. If we want a fair society, we’ll have to fight for it.

To get involved in the Shell to Sea campaign, visit shelltosea.com to find out 
details of your local group.

More images and reports at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81188

Pictures at:
http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=5010
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