Workers Solidarity Movement

One in eight people in prison in the 26 counties left school at age 12 or younger. Less than 17% stayed in school until age 17 or older. According to the Prison Adult Literacy Survey released in September, 52% of prisoners are functionally illiterate. Yet the government prefers the option of jailings rather than putting the necessary resources into the schools - which would doubtlessly reduce the incidence of petty and anti-social crime.

A passion for freedom, opposition to all forms of hierarchy and the advocacy and use of direct action have historically been some of the most important and enduring characteristics of anarchist politics. The recent publication by the Kate Sharpley Library, of two pamphlets provides us with a glimpse of how these ideas and practices have evolved over time.

September in Chile is the month of protests. It is the month where in protests and angry demonstrations throughout the country Chileans commemorate September 11th 1973, the day of Pinochets bloody (US facilitated) coup. Throughout Pinochets reign of terror September the 11th was marked by protests which were systematically and viciously repressed by the police. Although in 1990 Pinochet was forced to leave, the tradition of the September 11th protests has continued every year. This is because, despite the dictator's departure, little has in fact changed fundamentally in Chile.

The 'anti-globalisation' movement has sometimes been characterised as 'One No, many Yesses', meaning that while everyone disagrees with the way things are now they all have different ideas on what they would like to see replace the present state of affairs as well as on the tactics needed to get there. The World Social Forum, and the spread of social forums around the world, in some respects is a reaction to this. One of the ideas of this concept is to allow a space for dialogue for the different actors (trades unions, Non Government Organisation's, social movements etc) to try to hammer out some common ideas on how to reach the future society. However, the process has not been unproblematic and has led to controversies and to accusations that the structure and functioning of these bodies are undemocratic and unrepresentative of 'the new movement'.

In Workers Solidarity, No 76 August 2003, we published an article under the title "Iraq war aftermath: slaughtering democracy" by Chekov Feeney. We received a reply to this from R. Knife, an (Iraqi) Kurd living in Ireland. Unfortunately it is to long too print in full in the printed version of the paper but you can read the full text below. We also print a response from Chekov. [WSM material on the Iraq War]

During the year a spate of reports have 'discovered' what a lot of workers already know - that equal pay for equal work just doesn't exist. Although legal victories and a raft of employment equality legislation have made some dents, the fact remains that discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity and age (to name just a few) persists and is widespread. It seems obvious to ask: why?

The second intifada began in September 2000 and since then over 2,500* Palestinians have been killed and 41,000 have been wounded. These stark figures alone do not tell the full story of the subjugation and the brutal oppression of the people of Palestine. The Israeli occupation forces have engaged in the systematic destruction of the infrastructure of the Occupied Territories. They regularly carry out punitive raids using explosives and bulldozers that result in residential areas being reduced to a lunar landscape of rubble.

Articles in this issue include a debate on the Black Bloc, a look at the failings of the Irish Anti war Movement and a piece which explores the anarchist contention that socialism cannot come without freedom

In Britain the 'Effects of Taxes and Benefits on Household Income' report revealed that, under Thatcher, 1979-90, the fifth of the population with the lowest incomes had their share of post-tax national income cut from 10% to just 6%. The richest fifth increased their share of post-tax national income from 37% to 45%.

The NEFAC web page is to be found at http://nefac.northernhacking.org/ This would be my first and only major problem - well niggle really. Basically its not the most obvious or intuitive address. On the other hand it's the first thing that comes up when you put "North East Federation of Anarchist Communists" into google. (They are located in the US and Canada).