Workers Solidarity Movement

It has been said that the Irish are “obsessed with property”. Indeed the level of knowledge of the property market possessed by the average Irish taxi driver is Ireland is reputedly comparable to that possessed by full time real estate agents in some countries. In the run up to the 2007 election the various parties were scrambling to come up with an olive branch to offer the electorate in the property arena. The increasing difficulty faced by first-time buyers, and the pressure felt on the government was reflected to some degree in election promises including abolishing stamp duty entirely for first-time buyers and building more social housing.

The 'Miss D' case put in context with the struggle in Ireland for women to have full control over their own bodies and the position taken by the WSM on this issue. A few weeks ago, a 17 year old girl, 4 months pregnant, known as 'Miss D' was brought before the courts to determine whether or not she should be allowed to travel to England for an abortion. The baby she was carrying had been diagnosed with anencephaly, a condition that leads to still-births. The longest an infant has survived outside the womb with this condition is a few days. Yet the Irish government were unwilling to let Miss D have an abortion, denying Miss D's basic human rights under the guise of 'letting the baby die with dignity'.

DAY OF PROTEST
1-2pm
WEDNESDAY 6th JUNE

HANDS OFF OUR POST OFFICE

  These three pieces were written by WSM members for indymedia.ie about the results of the 2007 election and its impact on the left. See our Election 2007 page at http://www.wsm.ie/election07 for what we had to say in advance of the election.

The playwrite Sean O'Casey was the first secretary of the Irish Citizen Army and in 1914 had drafted its constitution . He wrote this history of the Citizen Army in the period after the 1916 rising. By the time of the rising he had resigned from the ICA in protest at its decision to allow joint membership with the Irish Volunteers. O'Casey played no part in the rising although with other civilian men he was interned in the course of the rising.

'Voices of Republicanism' is a documentary on the current state of the Republican movement produced for indymedia.ie. Through discourse with activists from a wide range of political backgrounds and of varying ages we attempt to provide a small insight into the movement. This is a documentary through the words of people who were there and have seen it, those who still carry the torch of Republicanism and those who have made a break with the movement entirely.

Information evening and workshop in Dublins Social Centre on the upcoming Anti-G8 mobilisations in North Eastern Germany.
Do come along!

The greedy consultants are taking advantage of the current crisis in the health system to help line their own pockets. They're not going on strike in solidarity with the nurses' justified industrial action. Instead, they've recognised the opportunity to make the health service unworkable and so increase the pressure on the Health Services Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health to make their new contracts even sweeter and grab some more cash in the process. They're delaying the much needed reforms in the health service and the increases in consultant numbers, that would benefit all of Irish society, for their own selfish reasons.

We all know that the health service is in a terrible state. Elderly patients on trolleys and in chairs for days while they wait for a bed. Operations cancelled, stressed staff, people having to wait years just to see a consultant.

Why? Ireland is now a wealthy country, there is a lot of cash out there. But, as long as the rich and the politicians have their private hospitals, like the Blackrock Clinic and the Bon Secours in Cork, why should they care about what happens to the rest of us?

People's apathy, particularly young people's, towards elections is normally presented as some sort of failing in civic responsibility. However, indifference towards the outcomes of elections is actually a sensible position to have - it recognises that the emperor has no clothes.