A WorkersSolidarity108 March/April 2009 Twenty-Five Years of Irish Anarchist News They Didn’t Share the Wealth WHY SHOULD WE SHARE THE PAIN? There is no money left in Ireland. At least that’s what you might think after listening to Brian Cowan, Enda Kenny, IBEC and the parade of capitalist economists and pundits who parrot this nonsense. Yes, we are heading into a deep recession but guess who is expected to pay the cost? The Government has no problem finding money to bail out bankers and speculators, it’s only when cash is needed for spe- cial-needs teachers, the sick, or to improve run-down schools and hospitals that nothing can be found. The attack on pay & pensions is class struggle by employers and the government against working people. It may sound old-fashioned to talk of class struggle, but what else do you call it when one class wants to preserve its wealth at the expense of the other class? When private sector work- ers see 90% of pension funds they paid into for years going down the tube, Brian Goggin of Bank of Ireland thinks he is hard done by because he will “take home less than €2 million” this year. We had a financial regulator, Patrick Neary, who waltzed off with a golden handshake of €600,000 and a pension of €140,000 per year. That pension alone is the equivalent of what four workers and their families on the average industrial wage live on. And what did Neary do to deserve this, apart from turning a blind eye to massive financial ‘irregularities’ in Even children know who should pay for the recession the banking industry? Workers in the public service are told to suffer a €1.4 billion a right. The attack on the public sector is just the start. Private cut in wages, those on €35,000 will see their pay cut by €43 sector wages are being driven down too. Even the Minimum a week. Yet the wealthiest 1%, with €87 billion in assets, pay Wage of €8.65 an hour is criticised as too high by Fianna Fail nothing at all. To add insult to injury the government has torn ministers like Billy Kelleher, who ‘earns’ a cool €139,266 before up the Public Sector Pay Agreement, denying 260,000 workers expenses (and that’s after his 10% cut). their small but agreed pay increases. Their goal is to subject working people to a Thatcher-style de- At the same time billionaire businessman Sean Quinn can feat. They want wholesale wage cuts across the economy. If lose €1 billion and say it’s no problem “you win some, you we don’t fight back they will keep coming back to take more lose some”. When you have an annual income of €500 million out of our pay packets, close down more of our services and that’s very true! give our children a lower standard of living than we had. The rich are good at looking after their class interests – we should IBEC’s aim is to reduce Irish wage rates and to make us think take the same attitude. They didn’t share the wealth in the that a reasonable pension in old age is a privilege rather than Celtic Tiger years, why should we share the pain today? Derry Direct National Strike Waterford Shows Inside: Action NOW! the Way Anarchist News & Analysis WorkersSolidarity 108 Campaigning to Defeat College Fees Free Education for Everyone held its At the end of the protest, FEE led a three first National Conference on Saturday, hundred strong breakaway march to the January 31st. Over forty student ac- Dail where a token sit-down protest was tivists traveled from UCD, TCD, May- held for just over an hour. Afterwards, nooth, Galway, Limerick and Cork. the group went en masse to the USI ‘campaign training’ open meeting in the The morning’s session was devoted to an Dublin Institute of Technology where we internal debate on what kind of campaign made the point that February 4th should is needed to defeat fees, reports from the be the start and not the end of the cam- five FEE branches around the country up- paign to defeat fees. Interestingly, in his dating everyone on their recent activity photo by Paula Geraghty (indymedia.ie) speech Dave Curran mentioned the pos- and a discussion on developing a nation- sibility of a one day nationwide third al structure for the campaign. A public Fees’ organized by USI. FEE put a lot of ef- level education shut down, a tactic that forum entitled “How can we defeat fees?” fort into building for this protest - both FEE had been encouraging USI to take for followed with a panel consisting of Dave to ensure the biggest attendance possi- weeks. Curran, Vice-President of the Union of ble, and to make crucial points about the Students in Ireland (USI), Aidan McGrath, need to go beyond this demonstration, With Batt O’Keefe bringing his proposal chairperson of the National Youth Organ- and build a real movement across the for third level fees to cabinet in April, time isation, Julian Brophy (UCD FEE) and Aine country that can genuinely defeat fees. is not on our side. Get involved, email FEE Mannion (Galway FEE). In the end, a slightly lower than expected at [email protected] but positive number of 15,000 students February 4th saw the long anticipated and supporters marched through the J. Carax ‘National Day of Action against Student streets of Dublin. 4th Dublin Anarchist Bookfair Contacts Campaigning Groups Seomra Spraoi Liberty Hall Free Education for Everyone March 6th March 7th Anarchist Organisations Campaign to stop the reintroduction of college fees and to promote the right to Workers Solidarity Movement Film, debates, workshops, meet- free education for all. PO Box 1528, Dublin 8. ings, and lots of anarchist & [email protected] www.wsm.ie radical books. Guest speakers http://free-education.info/ [email protected] include Martha Ackelsberg, au- [email protected] | [email protected] thor of Free Women of Spain; and Shell to Sea Ashanti Alston, a member of the Campaign to move Shell’s gas pipeline Revolutionary Anarcha-Feminist Black Panther Party in the 1960’s offshore from Co. Mayo. Group and early 1970’s. http://www.shelltosea.com PO BOX 10785, Dublin 1. http://ragdublin.blogspot.com/ Admission is free. More informa- Hands Off the People of Iran tion at www.wsm.ie/bookfair Anti-imperialist network for solidarity with Libertarian Networks Iranian trade unionists & the women’s rights movement. Organising The Fightback Indymedia Ireland http:// www.hopoi.org Alternative user-generated Irish news. How do we combat the employers’ offensive http://www.indymedia.ie Choice Ireland Abortion rights action group Seomra Spraoi A Waterford Crystal worker, Denis [email protected] Keane (Executive member, Civil & Dublin Social Centre http:// www.choiceireland.org 10 Belvedere Court, Dublin 1. Public Services Union) and Julian http://www.seomraspraoi.org Brophy (Free Education for Every- Alliance for Choice (NI) one) share their personal views, http://allianceforchoiceni.org Galway Social Space alongside a speaker from the Workers Solidarity Movement. 24 Middle Street, Galway. Residents Against Racism tp://www.galwayspace.org Opposing racism and deportations. Saturday 7th March, 3pm 24 hour helpline: 087 666 2060 Liberty Hall, Dublin WorkersSolidarity Raytheon: 108 This time it’s 9 Derry Women! There was the whiff of something in the Derry air. The constantly rising ci- vilian death toll in Gaza had already produced the same outpourings of rage on the streets of Derry as it had around the world. Thousands of sig- natures had been gathered calling on Raytheon to be given the boot, while ever larger crowds had gathered for vigils at the cenotaph, marches through the city, rallies at the Guild- hall and at a nonviolent blockade of Raytheon itself. Now more and more of us were becoming determined that we do not have to resign to feelings of helplessness in the face of Israel’s war atrocities. Our burning rage was ignit- ing something positive. There was the definite smell of something very good cooking among those who had been to the last Derry Anti War Coali- tion meeting. There was a buzz about the evening before when text message went around asking people to meet the next ish military while eating a bag of chips to raptuous applause from the crowd, day at a location not far from the Raythe- with some friends in the Bogside. As is but only after securing an undertaking on plant. Something serious was going usual in these cases, the State “investi- from the police that they would not be to be done, and there were a hell of a lot gated” itself and exonerated itself. Helen arrested or charged and that bthe police more of us around to do it this time. We would have a very keen sense of what it would instead investigate Raytheon for all made plans to go down there to see if feels like for ordinary people to be treat- its complicity in Israeli war crimes. we could support, or perhaps do more. ed as expendible sub-humans. No one seriously believes that the Police I was just putting on my shoes the fol- She also knows that the state doesn’t just are going to go anywhere with that, but lowing day when the next text message grant justice out of the goodness of its it allowed the women to make the point went around. “9 women from the Derry heart. Justice has to be fought for by or- that it is the Raytheon Corporation and Anti War Coalition have gained access 2 dinary people, hard.