We want to share our experiences of these struggles and look at the problems they face and the potential for winning that each one contains. Often these are questions that are forced out in the need to cover immediate business at campaign meetings.
Finally we want to look at the end goal that unites many of us &endash; the abolition of capitalism and its replacement with a society where people's needs rather than money are the key priority. Our experience is that while many on the left still pay lip service to this concept some are less and less convinced by it in the face of an apparently 'triumphant' capitalism.
The aim of the day is to achieve real and meaningful discussion that can aid all those involved. We are asking each of the campaigns for a speaker and will also provide a WSM speaker on each topic &endash; most often one of our members most active in that struggle.
Although racism already existed in Ireland towards Travellers the state's racism towards asylum seekers in the last couple of years shook us all. Good work is being done in campaigning against this racism by groups such as the Anti-Racism Campaign and Immigrant Solidarity. Yet is it the case that we are now doomed to a perpetual 'holding the line' to prevent further rises in racism? Or is there a strategy by which we can defeat racism in the 'here and now'?
The significance of the Zapatista rebellion initially lay as much in the fact that they dared to rebel after the 'end of history'. While the rebellion and the autonomous communities it has created are certainly worth defending a real question remains as to how relevant it is as a constructive model. Some point to the village and regional councils as a real model for those struggling elsewhere. Others see the continued isolation of the rebellion in Chiapas as a demonstration that the Zapatistas lack any real alternative relevant to the mass of the world's population.
The right of Irish women to access abortion remains the question that really challenges the liberalisation of Irish society in the last decade. Are the gains that have been made substantial or are they little more then minor concessions forced from a state that is still clerically controlled? A new referendum is now on the agenda &endash; could this open the door for a 'right to choose' or will it represent a chance for the bigots to roll back the 'liberal agenda'?
For over a decade the unions have been in a partnership with the bosses and state. This partnership means promising not to strike on a wide range of issues while accepting low pay rises. The problems with partnership are obvious and at least 1/3 of the unionised workforce has voted against previous deals. However partnership has severely eroded 'shopfloor' organisation as little is left to local meetings except individual cases. Despite the apparent widespread opposition as evidenced by Carol Ann Duggan's 42% vote in the SIPTU elections it has proved extremely difficult to bring together any number of activists to campaign against 'Partnership'. Are there untried possibilities or are we in effect waiting for new waves of struggle creating a new layer of activists?
Most (if not all) activists in the campaigns we are involved with also look forward to a day when capitalism itself can be abolished. But, in particular after the defeats of recent years, we are less and less certain of how this can be done. Modern developments in capitalism from the electronic economy to the smart bomb can make the prospect of a successful revolution seem more and more remote.
In this final session we ask how relevant anarchism and the revolutionary project in general is in the modern world. If our answer to this is perhaps obvious we hope that in the discussion we can explore some answers to the real problems we face in convincing others!.
Each discussion will have two speakers, one from the specific campaign and one WSM member of that campaign. Each will take for about 10 minutes and there will then be about 30 minutes for questions and general discussion.
Campaigns that have been asked to provide a speaker are the Anti-Racism Campaign, the Irish Mexico Group, the Dublin Abortion Rights Group and SIPTU Fightback.
Childcare is available if needed. Contact us by Thursday 11th Nov.
A bookstall with a wide range of titles will be available between sessions and at the start of the day.
We plan to have a social in the evening including we hope a showing of a subtitled edition of 'Liberteras' a recent big budget Spanish film about women anarchists in the Spanish Revolution of 1936.
If you are interested in attending contact us at revolt@newmail.net