A-Infos (en) Workers Solidarity #77 - Organising for Change

[Worker <a-infos-en@ainfos.ca>]

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The last year or so has seen a hectic period for activists in
Ireland. From the May 6th Gardai attack on Reclaim the Streets in
Dublin, through the anti-war campaigns, people have been coming
into conflict with the state. In Dublin, we are now in the middle of
a struggle with local anti-bin tax groups across the city taking
action to defeat the councils refusal to collect rubbish.
There are some common lessons from these struggles. The
government's continued support for US military refuelling at
Shannon even after 100,000 had marched on February 15th shows
how easily the government can ignore 'public opinion'. The
introduction of service charges across the country, culminating in
the Dublin bin tax, is another example of the government ignoring
the popular will. The first time in service of imperialism, the
second in the service of those who really run the country, the rich
and the corporations.

The Garda attack on Reclaim the Streets showed not only the
state's willingness to suppress those who move beyond
complaining but the massive Garda cover up that followed it
shows how even in clear cut cases it is one rule for us and
another for them. All the more obvious when you consider that
over 60 people who took part in anti-war protests were arrested;
some have spent weeks in jail and others have been fined
thousands of euro. Most of these arrests were at Shannon airport
and over 20 people have been banned from the whole of County
Clare for the next two years.

These are the cases everyone knows of, but there are others. The
violent eviction by hired thugs of squatters from a house in Parnell
Square in July saw the Gardai arrest not the thugs but one of the
occupants. The massive fines against Cork activists protesting at
the exclusion of all but the very rich from the Old Head of Kinsale
shows again that the law is on the side of the rich. The examples
could go on and on.

These examples show how the odds are stacked against us, but
often ordinary people stand together and win despite this. We feel
confident that the bin charges in Dublin will provide one such
example of a victory in the coming months.

But the defeat of the bin tax will not mean the government turns to
tax the rich and the corporations. In the 90's we defeated the
Water Charges only to see what is essentially the same tax being
reintroduced with a different name. Fighting and winning some of
the time is not enough. We need to also organise to transform
society and to do away with the divisions into rich and poor, order
givers and order takers.

The organisation which produces this paper, the Workers
Solidarity Movement, is one of a number of anarchist groups in
Ireland. We are anarchists because we recognise that as long as
we limit ourselves to protesting the worst aspects of capitalism
we are trying to hold back a flood with wet tissue paper.

For many of our readers the experiences you shared with us over
the last year demonstrate the truth of this far better then any well
crafted words. Now is the time to do something about it, to
organise not just for the struggles of today but also for the
revolutionary transformation that is required tomorrow.

We are not insisting that the only way to do this is to join the
WSM. We welcome new members but we recognise not only are
there already other libertarian groups who share our broad goal but
that this struggle does not belong to any organisation; it belongs
to all those who are exploited. But we do offer one way to
organise in the here and now towards building a libertarian
movement that will overthrow capitalism.

It is up to each individual to choose what is the way they wish to
go forwards. But just as combining against the bin tax or against
the war makes us stronger so too does combining in political
organisations. Whether this means joining ones that already exist,
or with others creating something new is up to you. But it is in all
our interests that we start to organise now for the long term
struggle that lies ahead.

If you'd like to join the WSM just talk to any of our members,
write to us at PO Box 1528, Dublin 8 or email us at
wsm_ireland@yahoogroups.com. We'll tell you what's involved,
you can also check our website

This page is from the print version of the
Irish Anarchist paper 'Workers Solidarity'.
http://struggle.ws/wsm/paper.html

Print out the PDF file of this issue
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/ws/77.html

Print out the PDF file of the most recent issue
http://struggle.ws/wsm/ws/latest.html


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