Workers Solidarity Movement

The Education Cuts announced in the Budget have unleashed a wave of protest across the country. 12,000 parents and teachers protested outside the Dail on Wednesday 29th October. Regional protests have since been held in Galway (attended by over 8,000), Tullamore (4,000), Cork (30,000) and Donegal (8,000). The national demonstration in Dublin on 6th December brought a massive 60,000 people onto the streets. All in all, over 120,000 people have joined the protests to say loudly and clearly that our children should not have to pay for the financial crisis. In addition there have been local demonstrations and pickets outside the clinics of Fianna Fail and Green Party TDs across the country.

I was a student at Trinity College Dublin in the last four years of the 1980's. The following account is based entirely on my recollections of student activism in those years, unfortunately I don't seem to have archived any of the actual leaflets or papers produced back then. At the time we were always disappointed with the level of struggle, it’s only in hindsight that I realize that period was one of relative militancy in terms of student struggles in Ireland.

Workers have been occupying the Waterford Glass factory in Kilbarry for five days now after the receiver was unable to borrow further funds to keep the plant operating. Yesterday as 150 workers continued the occupation members of the Cork WSM visited the plant and interviewed Joe Kelly, the chairman of the Crystal Unite branch. The Cork branch later issued a statement in support of the occupation.

They got us into this mess but now they want us to pay the price for it too!

With the economic crisis now in full swing, anarchists are arguing for fundamental change and an end to capitalism. How can we achieve this and how should the new society be organised?