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It is now or we have to wait for a long time Apr 21 22 30 years Haringey Solidarity Group May 21 21 “Clap for Carers” but now they want our money as well Apr 13 20 Massive National rally of community campaign against new Household tax in Ireland ireland / britain |
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news report
 Tuesday March 27, 2012 20:53 by Andrew - WSM
 Saturday's National Rally against the Household Tax in the National Stadium was literally filled to overflowing. As well as nearly 3,000 people crammed into every possible space in the Stadium another 4 to 500 were in the car park at the side, unable to fit into the building. And the thousands who attended were angry, energized and expectant of victory. The National Stadium normally hosts boxing marches but the atmosphere on Saturday topped that of watching a home fighter coming out on top in a close fought bout.
From an hour before the event it became clear rally of the grassroots activists that make up the campaign was going to be huge. Stewards were hearing of additional buses coming from places around the country and the expected buses were starting to arrive, slowing traffic on the North Circular Road to a halt. As people started to stream through the doors a 600 strong march arrived from the nearby districts west of the conference from Rialto, Inchicore & beyond. All 2200 seats were rapidly filled with hundreds more standing in every available remaining space and hundreds more in the car park. Although a lot of the speaking time was dominated by the politicians supportive of the campaign this was really a day that gave a voice to the thousands of ordinary people whose day by day organizing over the last months is what will give us victory. In the time given over to speakers from the floor many of them expressed both their anger at the government and their belief in victory. There were also several speakers from trade unions and both the Dublin Council of Trade Unions spokesperson and the UNITE speaker said workers who refused to implement the charge should be supported by their unions. It was notable that there was some heckling of a couple of the unions speakers, arising it appears from the sense of many that after the public sector strike and the massive demonstrations the unions failed to act to stop the austerity drive. After the rally we talked to one of the Workers Solidarity Movement members active in the Wicklow campaign about what they thought needed to be done next to ensure victory. Q: Joe what can people do in their local campaign groups to make the campaign more effective? Joe: Where you are involved with your local campaign group, ensure that it meets up regularly and that decisions are made democratically and through discussion, so that people really have a sense of ownership of the campaign. This method of organising actually encourages participation, as people being sent tasks to carry out such as leafleting through an email or text message is disempowering and feels much like orders being given as opposed to a group of people working towards a common goal to benefit themselves. Q: How do you think things like co-ordination and democracy can work in a campaign of this size and geographic spread? Joe: Where there is a case in your area where several local groups are looking to work together (probably a county-wide area), and in regards to having representation on the national committee, try to encourage a democratic structure based on recallable and mandated delegate meetings in your county area, and delegates from this grouping to the national committee. The local campaign groups should be open to and made up of all the members of the campaign in a given area, and the membership of the campaign should have the final say on how their local campaign is run. A delegate is a person who is given a mandate by the local campaign group to convey the local group’s opinions and decisions, and to meet up with other delegates to co-ordinate activities. Delegates should be rotated around the members of the group, and should be instantly recallable if they go against their mandate given to them by the group. This has been put into effect in the Cork Campaign Against the Household Tax, a report of which can be found at this web address: http://tinyurl.com/6uomhx7 Q: The WSM has put a lot of emphasis on people needing to see themselves as campaign Organisers rather than just activists who turn up to events. What do you see this meaning in real terms? Joe: Talking face-to-face with your neighbours and co-workers is absolutely key for the ideas of the campaign and boycott movement to spread; often an anonymous leaflet put through a letterbox isn’t enough. To this end, calling around to your neighbours doors with a leaflet to ask them to join the boycott should be a priority activity. However, a small group of activists slowly canvassing a whole town or area will not succeed in time, nor will it grow the campaign or empower people to get involved. Rather, when a neighbour or co-worker is supportive of the campaign, they should be asked to talk to their immediate neighbours and encourage them to get on board, join the campaign and put the “Not Paying” window posters in their windows. This encourages a “chain-reaction” of local organisers who work in their own communities, and encourages self-organisation. For more information on this method of organising, the “organiser model”, please see the article at the following web address: http://tinyurl.com/79bac6j Q: There are loads more protests coming up including the march on the Fine Gael conference, how important are these for winning? Protests and public meetings are fantastic and should be part of any protest movement, but the main tactic that will win this struggle is encouraging a massive boycott of the household tax. This is the only way the tax will be beaten. Also, encourage direct action within your local campaign group, and don’t be afraid to protest inside your local TD’s office! As anarchists, we think the mass direct action is absolutely brilliant. This campaign has shown so far that people really are capable of organising themselves and their communities, and are taking power back into their own hands from our elected “representatives” and the government who sit in the Dáil. We think that society should be run by those who live and work in it, and that ordinary people are perfectly capable of running society themselves.
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HauptseiteSupport Sudanese anarchists in exile Joint Statement of European Anarchist Organizations International anarchist call for solidarity: Earthquake in Turkey, Syria and Kurdistan Elements of Anarchist Theory and Strategy 19 de Julio: Cuando el pueblo se levanta, escribe la historia International anarchist solidarity against Turkish state repression Declaración Anarquista Internacional por el Primero de Mayo, 2022 Le vieux monde opprime les femmes et les minorités de genre. Leur force le détruira ! Against Militarism and War: For self-organised struggle and social revolution Declaração anarquista internacional sobre a pandemia da Covid-19 Anarchist Theory and History in Global Perspective Capitalism, Anti-Capitalism and Popular Organisation [Booklet] Reflexiones sobre la situación de Afganistán South Africa: Historic rupture or warring brothers again? Death or Renewal: Is the Climate Crisis the Final Crisis? Gleichheit und Freiheit stehen nicht zur Debatte! Contre la guerre au Kurdistan irakien, contre la traîtrise du PDK Meurtre de Clément Méric : l’enjeu politique du procès en appel Ireland / Britain | Community struggles | News Report | en Sat 20 Apr, 09:14
This is a statement from some activists from Haringey Solidarity Croup express its support and solidarity to UK National Health Service (NHS) and other workers. In the meantime expresses its anger about that people been asked to pay the money to NHS while the health system is being suffered for almost two decades on the hands of the current government of conservative party and the former one of Labour. The demand is unreasonable while the UK is 3rd richest country in Europe and 6th richest country the world. The statement clarifies the current position of NHS and treatment of the government to NHS. Six men were on trial accused of falsely imprisoning the then Tanáiste (deputy Prime Minister) and Labour Party TD, Joan Burton, and her colleague in Jobstown, a working class suburb of Dublin, on 15 November 2014. The charge of false imprisonment carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. All six men claimed that they were exercising their right to protest, and that the protest was peaceful. This was part of a mass campaign that successfully defeated the attempt to introduce water charges. Following a nine week trial, the six have been found not guilty. The Irish government's attempt to introduce domestic water charges in Ireland is not going well. In fact, for them it's been a disaster because it's sparked off a huge upsurge in working class self organisation and direct action. Saturday saw thousands of anti-water charges campaigners flooding the streets of Dublin o to again voice their opposition to Irish Water & water charges and as a show of strength for the movement.
People in deprived areas in Northern Ireland are three times more likely to take their lives. Health minister Edwin Poots said, ‘Unemployment rates in deprived areas further affect people and this is a major concern. Studies indicate that a 1% increase in unemployment is met with a corresponding 0.79% increase in suicide. A huge secretive Garda security operation last night swung into operation in Dublin Port as Shell's Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) left the port as part of a huge convoy of Garda vehicles. News of the operation had leaked at the last minute meaning that with only an hours notice a handful of Shell to Sea campaigners managed to get down to the port entrance despite the pouring rain. Most of us were pulled over and questioned by Garda at least once and the Garda helicopter stayed overhead as various Garda vehicles including a van load of riot cops with the door open drove past us repeatedly. In a new twist to the decade long struggle against Shell Rossport Solidarity Camp has revealed that Mayo County Council (MCC) has issued an eviction notice to the landowner of the field where the Rossport Solidarity Camp is located. Mayo farmer Gerry Burke has been threatened with fines of over €12,000 and two years in prison. Despite these theats the annual June Bank Holiday solidarity gathering will go ahead in a couple of weeks.
A large force of Garda and council workers were deployed at 3.30am today, International Women's Day, to clear Occupy Dame Street (ODS) camp. The camp was completely demolished in the course of the eviction, campers intimidated and their personal property stolen. This was a level of force way out of proportion with the numbers in the camp (about 15 people) and stands in contrast with the lack of resources put into investigating what happened at Anglo, the collapse of which has left a debt of 26,000 Euro on every single person in the country. [Italiano]
The end of February saw 19 Shell to Sea campaigners, including a WSM member, being prosecuted on 80 charges for civil disobediance against Shell's decade long attempt to impose an experimental high pressure raw gas pipeline on the communities of Erris. Over 8,000 euro in fines were handed down by this special sitting of the Belmullet court and Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway was given two 3-month prison sentences under section 8 of the Public Order Act for blocking the road on two seperate occasions, a 'crime' that anyone following the struggle will be aware Shell's private security company committs three times a day with the co-operation of the Gardai. (Image: Community show support in advance of the court cases, J Bender, RSC)
Despite the opposition of the governing SInn Fein party, relatives of families of the victims of Bloody Sunday and political supporters, including Irish anarchists, marched in remembrance last Saturday. A report from the anarchists present and a background to the issues behind those determined to continue the annual commemoration. [Italiano] Mid-December saw the eventual publication of the long-threatened household tax legislation. The first three months of 2012 will present every household in Ireland with a choice: whether to succumb to this new home tax, which along with the proposed water tax will rise to approx €1,200 per annum within a couple of years, or to refuse to register, refuse to pay and make a stand against the costs of bailing out bankers and developers continuing to be hoisted on our shoulders. more >>
We can contact other local groups wherever they are and make our campaign bigger and nationwide. We can win the price war. Nowadays, organising ourselves and creating campaigns are much easier than thirty years ago during the poll tax era. New technology and social media platforms have given us more opportunities to call and contact people, whilst providing more and better skills to plan and organise.
The outraged media reaction to a jury doing its job and finding the Jobstown defendants not guilty is quite extraordinary. Rather than do the right thing and launch an investigation as to how 180 cops could produce evidence that was directly contradicted by video evidence, the media have gone on a rant against Twitter! Rather than finding it suspicious that nearly 3 million in public funds was spent by the DPP on a case that any proper check of available evidence should have indicated was never likely to convince a jury, the media suggest instead that the problem lay in the exact charges brought. The trial was part of a large scale state operation to suppress a mass anti-austerity community campaign.
The occupation of Apollo House in Dublin was the largest direct action in Ireland in recent years, but it did not materialize out of nowhere.
“The law is essentially the weapon of the privileged, it is made by them for the purpose of enshrining their power and the people need to dismantle it entirely if they want to be genuinely free” – Errico Malatesta
A housing direct action is took place this morning at the Dublin City Council (DCC) office in Bunratty Civic Centre, Coolock in Dublin. Mother’s and their children who are in need of housing occupied the offices in order to force the council to answer their questions. In particular they want to know why many people are discovering there isn’t even emergency accommodation available. more >>
30 years Haringey Solidarity Group: A Celebration of 30 years of radical ideas
On Wednesday The Barricade Inn Collective received court summons papers informing us that the following day (Thursday 22nd October) the estate holders of the building would be seeking an injunction against us. Court was adjourned and the case will be back in court next Wednesday (28th October).
The Workers Solidarity Movement has decided to withdraw from the Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes. Please see statement below. We have made a donation of €1,000 towards paying off the debts of CAHWT.
With the full backing of the Glasgow chapter of Liberty and Solidarity and local community newspaper 'The Burgh Angel' , Hamiltonhill Action Group will be holding a demonstration with the Scottish Tenants Organisation on Thursday 24th September, against the Glasgow Housing Association's (GHA) refusal to invest money in their community.
The second issue of 'The Libertarian' a local newsletter distributed in Dublin 8 by the WSM is online. more >> |
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