283 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
283 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
Workers Solidarity No. 42
|
|
Irish Anarchist Paper
|
|
|
|
Net addition
|
|
|
|
|
|
Shout it out
|
|
Loud and Proud
|
|
|
|
ANARCHISTS believe that most people want to live in a
|
|
society better than the one we live in now.
|
|
|
|
The coming into effect last June of legislation which
|
|
decriminalised certain male homosexual acts was the
|
|
subject of much celebration in the gay community. The
|
|
Minister who introduced the legislation, Maire Geoghan
|
|
Quinn was awarded the Magnus Hirschfield award for her
|
|
contribution to the gay community by the National
|
|
Lesbian and Gay Federation. For many it was felt the
|
|
battle for equality had been won. This was certainly
|
|
the outlook in the national and international press.
|
|
Champagne flowed freely in the capital's gay pubs and
|
|
clubs.
|
|
|
|
The period since then has been virtually silent in the
|
|
gay political movement. The one exception was the Donna
|
|
McAnnellan affair. Donna was sacked from her employment
|
|
in a gym in Cork because she was a lesbian. She lost
|
|
her appeal in January to the Employment Appeals
|
|
Tribunal (EAT). Apart from a couple of half hearted
|
|
press statements from the NLGF, publicity Donna
|
|
organized herself and a very small demonstration,
|
|
activity was negligible.
|
|
|
|
Admittedly cases such as Donna's are now covered by a
|
|
provision in the Unfair Dismissals legislation which
|
|
place a sacking because of somebody's sexuality on the
|
|
same level as sacking because of sex, race or religion.
|
|
|
|
In effect dismissal in such situations is presumed to
|
|
be unfair but the maximum the employee can obtain is a
|
|
year's wages. The usual award made by the EAT is a lot
|
|
less than that. Re-instatement is very rare. Most young
|
|
gays, lesbians and bisexuals work in poorly paid jobs
|
|
like most young people in Ireland so even a year's
|
|
wages will not amount to very much.
|
|
|
|
What Donna faced is the reality for working class gay
|
|
people. Being gay in working class Ireland is not a lot
|
|
easier after the legislation than before. Employment
|
|
appeal legislation only works if you succeed in getting
|
|
a job and holding onto it for a year. A young "out" gay
|
|
person is unlikely to succeed in doing that in their
|
|
local community.
|
|
|
|
Gay social venues, at least in Dublin, tend to be
|
|
dearer than almost any other venue and they only exist
|
|
so long as the people running them are making enough
|
|
money. Hence rumours that the owner of "The George",
|
|
Dublin's only major gay bar, is about to sell for a
|
|
million pounds. Fifis, a gay club, has already been
|
|
sold for a large sum. The concept of the "Pink Pound"
|
|
is lauded in the gay press in Ireland and England.
|
|
Basically the idea behind this is that capitalists
|
|
should welcome gay people because they have more money
|
|
to spend on consumer items, expensive holidays, etc.,
|
|
because they don't have children. This idea is largely
|
|
irrelevant to working class gay people
|
|
|
|
Most young gay people keep their sexuality to
|
|
themselves for fear of being kicked out of home. They
|
|
know that support from the State in such situations is
|
|
minimal and inadequate. A large proportion of young
|
|
homeless men are on the street for this reason. In fact
|
|
one of the ironies of the Emmett Stagg affair recently
|
|
was that he is the Minister with responsibility for the
|
|
homeless. A large number of homeless become rentboys to
|
|
survive. He should have been hounded because of his
|
|
record in housing, not because of his sexuality.
|
|
|
|
The reality is that a lot more battles have to be
|
|
fought before gay liberation is won. Even the new
|
|
legislation is not irreversible. Equality legislation
|
|
gained in the 1970s is now being rolled back in the
|
|
United States.
|
|
|
|
The gay political movement did not always see its
|
|
interests as lying with the government of the day or as
|
|
being a single issue unrelated to other issues of
|
|
oppression. They saw the struggle as being linked in
|
|
with other oppressed groups. For example, Gays against
|
|
Imperialism was formed in 1981 and identified the
|
|
struggle for gay liberation with the struggles for
|
|
"national liberation" around H Block and Armagh prison.
|
|
Following the Charles Self Murder case in 1982 and the
|
|
subsequent harassment by Gardai of hundreds of gay men
|
|
the Gay Defense Committee was set up.
|
|
|
|
It was people like that who organised the 1,000 strong
|
|
demonstration in protest against the judgement in the
|
|
case of Declan Flynn who was murdered in a queer
|
|
bashing incident in Fairview Park in 1983. The gang who
|
|
admitted to killing him and assaulting other gay people
|
|
were given suspended sentences. This march attracted
|
|
the support of trade unions, civil rights and left wing
|
|
groups. At that time the issue of gay rights was taken
|
|
up within the unions, the result being an ICTU policy
|
|
document with detail as complete as pension rights for
|
|
surviving partners. These negotiation guidelines have
|
|
been incorporated into much of the civil service as
|
|
well as some private sector companies.
|
|
|
|
For the gay movement to see its interests as lying
|
|
completely with the government and the introduction of
|
|
progressive legislation is a mistake. The struggle for
|
|
real gay, lesbian and bisexual equality is far from
|
|
over. Tactically the real needs of the gay community
|
|
will not be met by relying on the government but the
|
|
issue is wider than this. Oppression because of sexual
|
|
identity is but one facet of state oppression.
|
|
|
|
Gays are not oppressed on of a whim but because of the
|
|
specific need of capitalism for the nuclear family. The
|
|
nuclear family, as the primary - and inexpensive -
|
|
provider and carer for the workforce, fulfilled in the
|
|
nineteenth century and still fulfills an important need
|
|
for capitalism. Alternative sexualitie represent a
|
|
threat to the family model because they provide an
|
|
alternative role model for people. Gays are going to be
|
|
in the front line of attack whenever capitalism wants
|
|
to reinforce "family values". The introduction of
|
|
Clause 28 in England is a good example of this. The
|
|
government made it illegal for public bodies to
|
|
"promote' gay sexuality (i.e. to present it as anything
|
|
other than a "perversion").
|
|
|
|
This oppression is one reason why the gay and lesbian
|
|
movement is of particular interest to Anarchists. It is
|
|
not that we believe that all gays and lesbians are
|
|
revolutionaries. It is because we believe that the
|
|
experience of fighting oppression can show people the
|
|
nature of the state and that it is possible to fight
|
|
it. It is through fighting that people learn it is
|
|
possible to win. One group winning a battle gives other
|
|
oppressed groups confidence. People gain confidence
|
|
through winning struggles.
|
|
|
|
NLGF feels quite confident with the coming to Dublin
|
|
this summer of the International Gay & Lesbian Youth
|
|
conference, and the sending of an Irish delegation to
|
|
the twenty fifth anniversary march in commemoration of
|
|
the New York Stonewall riots, which kicked off the
|
|
modern gay movement. It should take advantage of this
|
|
new found confidence to rethink about its politics.
|
|
|
|
Louise Tierney
|
|
|
|
|
|
Their Morals and Ours
|
|
|
|
The reasons why Emmet Stagg should resign
|
|
|
|
In February 1992, Emmet Stagg - a self-proclaimed
|
|
"socialist" closely identified with the left wing of
|
|
the Labour Party - resigned from Labour's Parliamentary
|
|
Party, claiming that Dick Spring was preparing to lead
|
|
the party into coalition and proclaiming that he would
|
|
"never vote for a right wing Taoiseach from Fianna Fail
|
|
or Fine Gael."
|
|
In January 1993 - less than eleven months later -
|
|
this opponent of coalition stood up at Labour's Special
|
|
Conference to second the motion that they enter a
|
|
"Partnership Government" with Fianna Fail and duly
|
|
trooped through the lobbies to vote for Albert Reynolds
|
|
as Taoiseach.
|
|
On formation of the government he was rewarded for
|
|
his change of heart by being appointed Junior Minister
|
|
with responsibility for Housing.
|
|
|
|
*2 In May 1993, in his capacity as minister for
|
|
Housing, Stagg was criticised for failing to provide
|
|
adequate funding for the maintenance of Dublin
|
|
Corporation housing. His response was to blame the
|
|
"restrictive union practices.." of Corporation
|
|
maintenance workers and to threaten privatisation of
|
|
the maintenance work. When it was put to him by a
|
|
"Sunday Tribune" journalist that this statement was
|
|
somewhat at variance with his previous supposedly
|
|
"socialist" views, he responded - "maybe I wouldn't
|
|
have said something like that two years ago, but I
|
|
wasn't a Minister two years ago."
|
|
|
|
*3 Stagg's appointment as the first ever Junior
|
|
Minister with direct responsibility for housing was
|
|
hailed by supporters of the Fianna Fail/ Labour
|
|
coalition as evidence that the new government marked a
|
|
new departure and was placing the homeless crisis at
|
|
the top of its' agenda. However the number of people on
|
|
housing waiting lists throughout the state has
|
|
continued to climb and Eastern Health Board Social
|
|
Workers have been in dispute since last year in an
|
|
attempt to highlight the lack of crisis accomodation
|
|
for homeless teenagers in Dublin. Stagg's appointment
|
|
has merely been a window- dressing exercise and the
|
|
housing crisis continues unabated (See "Waiting on the
|
|
Waiting List", Workers Solidarity no.41)
|
|
|
|
*4 Emmet Stagg's sexuality is indeed a matter for
|
|
himself. However a positive statement from him
|
|
following the Phoenix Park controversy confirming his
|
|
bi-sexuality could have done a great deal to challenge
|
|
the homophobic nature of sections of our society. He
|
|
clearly decided that his position in government was
|
|
more important to him.
|
|
He is a member of a government which has introduced
|
|
tax on certain social welfare payments, brought in the
|
|
draconian Public Order Bill, stitched up workers yet
|
|
again through the "Programme for Competitiveness and
|
|
Work" and failed to tackle the twin crises of
|
|
unemployment and poverty. Yet Stagg still claims to be
|
|
a "socialist". Who's he trying to fool?
|
|
|
|
Gregor Kerr
|
|
|
|
This is the first part of the latest issue of Workers Solidarity,
|
|
produced by the Irish anarchist group, the Workers Solidarity
|
|
Movement. We are changing the format for this posting to
|
|
two parts consisting of short articles and then posting longer
|
|
related articles separately. They should arrive on this
|
|
list/newsgroup over the next few days. Some lists/
|
|
newsgroups will only get postings relevant to them. To
|
|
get other parts reply to this address with a request or
|
|
watch out for them on alt.society.anarchy between the
|
|
13th and 24th of June.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The parts and their contents are.
|
|
|
|
Workers Solidarity 42 (Editorial and shorts) 1/6
|
|
For starters
|
|
That's Capitalism
|
|
Stake your claim to cash
|
|
PLC students demand grants
|
|
Telethon - A hypocritical sham
|
|
If the cops don't like you
|
|
French show how to fight... and win!
|
|
Bosnia, Rwanda and UN intervention.
|
|
|
|
Workers Solidarity 42 (More shorts) 2/6
|
|
|
|
Significant minority say NO to union leaders
|
|
Don't vote...it only encourages them
|
|
Letter
|
|
Prepare to Sink the service charges
|
|
Find Out More
|
|
|
|
WS 42 Gay Pride 3/6 <-This mailing
|
|
|
|
Loud and Proud
|
|
The reasons Emmet Stagg should resign
|
|
|
|
WS 42 Ireland, Sinn Fein and the peace talks. 4/6
|
|
|
|
Yes to peace
|
|
|
|
WS 42 Year of the Family 5/6
|
|
|
|
Parents, puritans and poverty
|
|
Gas masks and pantyhose
|
|
|
|
WS 42 Evolution and revolution 6/6
|
|
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
|
|
|
|
The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
|
|
PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
|
|
|
|
Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
|
|
|
|
by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
|
|
or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
|
|
|
|
in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
|