175 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
175 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
Workers Solidarity Winter 94/95
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Issue 44 Electonic addition
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Part 1
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paper of the Irish anarchist
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Workers Solidarity Movement
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That's capitalism
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Africa's annual debt repayments - mostly to US and
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European banks - amount to $10 billion. This money,
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according to UNICEF, would be more than enough to
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provide primary healthcare, education and sanitation
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services for every single person in Africa.
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*****
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A major report presented to the Eastern Health &
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Social Services Board on January 10th confirmed that
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the six counties are suffering growing inequality
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and social disadvantage. Despite being "an integral
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part of the UK" the North consistently has the
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highest unemployment rates and the lowest average
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household incomes. The richest 20% of the
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population have almost eleven times as much wealth
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as the poorest 20%.
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*****
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Union activists in Indonesia have long suffered
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repression. Last year repression turned to murder
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as worker militancy increased. Marsinah, a 23 year
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old textile worker, was murdered after leading a
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strike in East Java last May. Police were directly
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implicated in the murder of 26 year old organiser,
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Rusli, from Medan in Sumatra. Police were also
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involved in the death of Titi Sugiarti, a West
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Javanese textile worker. This case has been taken
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up by Indonesia's Legal Aid Foundation. Titi was on
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strike to improve pay and conditions but was later
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found drowned in a one metre deep pond. Police
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claimed she had "slipped" in, but later
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investigation indicated she had been bound and
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tortured prior to death.
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Pity Ireland's rich. Always moaning about"high
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levels of taxation", they can buy a yuppie type
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apartment and rent it out. They don't have to pay
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income tax on the rent because they can write off
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the building costs. This means that an apartment
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priced at #55,000 will only cost them #8,000 in real
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money.
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General Electric is one of the largest corporations
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in the world. Last year it sacked eleven workers at
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its plant at Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. This followed
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an attempt by workers to organise across the
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US/Mexico border and join the United Electrical,
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Radio and Machine Workers of America. Following
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adverse publicity, GE offered financial compensation
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to six workers. None, however,has been re-instated.
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Britain's "water" industry is one of the best
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examples of capitalism there is. Since
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privatisation the average household bill has gone up
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by 69%. Meanwhile average retail prices have risen
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by only 25%. What about share dividends to the new
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owners? These have risen by 40% since 1990 alone.
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***************
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For starters
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THE GROWING interest in anarchism has seen the
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appearance of a new magazine, Red & Black
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Revolution. There are only so many pages in Workers
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Solidarity so we decided to publish a journal that
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would have room for longer articles. Issue one
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looks at why the 'left' collapsed, the anarchist
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alternative, the Mexican EZLN rebels, the origins of
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the differences between Anarchism and Marxism, the
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syndicalist revival, the story of the TUUAP campaign
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in the unions, and more.
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[available in electronic format from Spunk press,
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access methods listed at bottom of this message]
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Find out more
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The world's wealth is produced by us - the working
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class. We ought to enjoy the benefits.
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The Workers Solidarity Movement is an anarchist
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organisation that fights for a 32 county Workers'
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Republic.
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We stand for a socialism that is based on freedom
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and real democracy, a society based on workplace and
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community councils.
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This kind of socialism has nothing to do with the
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state capitalism that was practiced in Russia, and
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still is in China, Cuba and other police states.
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We oppose coercive authority, and hold that the
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only limit on freedom of the individual should be
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that they don't encroach on the freedom of others.
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As part of our fight for anarchism we are involved
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in the struggles for higher wages, for trade union
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democracy, for womens rights, for jobs.
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We oppose all divisions in the working class. We
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fight against all attempts to set Protestant against
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Catholic, men against women, skilled against
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unskilled, old against young, hetrosexual against
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homosexual.
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We are opposed to the British state's presence and
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to partition. We defend peoples' right to fight
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back. But we are not nationalists, we do not merely
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want to get rid of the border. We want to unite our
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class and create a totally new Ireland.
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**************
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Contents
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(In following parts to be posted over the next week)
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Part 2 Shorts on Ireland
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Democratic left's disposable radicalism
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Competition or con
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Anti-Traveller thuggary on increase
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Lies, damned lies and statistics
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Trusting the politicians
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No room at the refuge
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Disconnection threats defeated in Dublin
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Wexford strike declared illegal
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Part 3 Features
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What's happening in the 6 counties
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A new loyalist party?
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..Time to stop beating the Orange drum
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Child molesters & Churchmen
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Part 4 World anarchist news
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This is not SIPTU
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Into the 21st Century
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Interview: International organisation
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Nigeria: Raids on anarchist meetings
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Moldova: Anarchists allowed to leave
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UN report
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Asian unions check out anarchism
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"Anarchism" in Russian and Arabic
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The need for an anarchist organisation
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Solidarity with young and unemployed
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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The Workers Solidarity Movement can be contacted at
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PO Box 1528, Dublin 8, Ireland
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or by anonymous e-mail to an64739@anon.penet.fi
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Some of our material is available via the Spunk press electronic archive
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by FTP to etext.archive.umich.edu or 141.211.164.18
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or by gopher ("gopher etext.archive.umich.edu")
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or WWW at http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.html
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in the directory /pub/Politics/Spunk/texts/groups/WSM
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for an anarchist mailing list send the message
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subscribe firstname secondname to anarchy-list-request@cwi.nl
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