124 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
124 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
For Starters
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WE ALL MADE a difference. As the opinion polls
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showed support for divorce slipping some feared that
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this basic civil right would be defeated again. Then
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Patricia McKenna won her High Court case to stop the
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government funding the 'yes' side. Meanwhile the
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anti-divorce groups were pulling in big money to fund
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their propaganda.
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Instead of fatally damaging the 'yes' side, her case had
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an unforeseen result. A lot of people who had not
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intended to do anything got worried, and then got
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stuck in. In the end the good guys won by a whisker.
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But, however small the majority, we did win. And
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every single person who put leaflets into their
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neighbours' letter boxes, stuck up a few posters, talked
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to their family & friends... everybody who worked for a
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'yes' victory made a difference. Every vote was needed.
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So, the next time you wonder if there is any point in
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getting involved in campaigns or struggles for change
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think of the divorce referendum. Every person has a
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contribution to make, and sometimes an extra one or
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two people can, literally, make all the difference.
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The fight in our neighbourhoods
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WSM members have been involved in the anti-water
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charges campaign since its inception. We have helped
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organise local meetings, protests at Labour & DL
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conferences, pickets of court cases. We have worked to
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win trade union support, and assisted in the building a
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movement which, in Dublin alone, now has over 8,500
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paid-up members. We have written about it in our
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paper and produced a special edition of our Anarchist
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News bulletin. Why so much effort?
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Because it is about working class people saying we
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refuse to continually foot the bill for everything while
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the rich avail of tax amnesties. Because it is about
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people taking direct action: getting organised and
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refusing to pay the double tax instead of naively relying
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on the empty promises of politicians. Because it offers
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an opportunity for rebuilding class consciousness and
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confidence. That's why!
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As councils move to cut-off the water supply of non-
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payers the heat will be turned up as the campaign
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protests, obstructs and reconnects. The state will
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probably take a more aggressive stance than they have
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up to now. One immediate task is to set up local
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groups and involve more non-payers in them. Just as
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trusting politicians won't win anything, neither will
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relying on a relatively small number of activists to
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organise events.
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Instead of leaders and followers, we need involvement
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- working class people managing their own struggle.
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We can turn more supporters into activists, build
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strong local groups, and defeat the water tax. Let's do it.
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Another anarchist magazine
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Readers looking for more detailed information and
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ideas than we have space for in this paper should get
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hold of the Workers Solidarity Movement's magazine,
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Red & Black Revolution. Issue no.2, which appeared
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recently, carries an exclusive interview with Noam
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Chomsky. Here he gives his views on anarchism and
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Marxism, and the prospects for socialism.
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Other articles look at Sinn Fein's pan-nationalist
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strategy (by Gregor Kerr, a former National Committee
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member of the Irish Anti-Extradition Committee), Irish
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Travellers' struggles for civil rights and ethnic
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recognition (by Travellers' rights activist Patricia
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McCarthy), management attacks and union leaders
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love of partnership (by SIPTU Regional Committee
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member Des Derwin), how single issue campaigns can
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get sucked into the system they were set up to oppose
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(by former unemployed activist Conor McLoughlin),
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what anarchists mean by revolution, the trials and
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tribulations of the modern Russian anarchist
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movement, and a report from the European libertarian
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gathering in Spain last summer.
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Copies can be obtained from shops like Bookworm in
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Derry, The Other Place in Cork, Books Upstairs in
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Dublin, or direct from the WSM for #1.50 (#2.00 inc.
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post & packing).
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Irish anarchist papers
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As well as the WSM's Workers Solidarity, Red & Black
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Revolution and Anarchist News, there are two other
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anarchist papers being produced in Ireland at present.
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These reflect the wider international growth of interest
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in anarchism.
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Ainriail
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30p+postage from TFC, P.O. Box 102, Galway.
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>From Galway, this aggressive little paper is produced by
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The Frontline Collective. This new anarchist group
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seems to be making an impact around the city. They
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introduced their first issue last year with "if you're one
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of those people who've swallowed all the crap about
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there being 'no such thing as working class anymore'
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or that 'we live in a classless society' then this is the
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time to stop reading".
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Organise! (The Voice of Anarcho-Syndicalism)
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60p+postage from Organise!, P.O. Box 505, Belfast BT11
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9EE.
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This Belfast-based anarchist-syndicalist bulletin now
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appears as a magazine. Vol.2 no.3 includes articles on
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whether there can be a left wing loyalism, the 'peace
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process', water privatisation, the French government's
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nuclear tests, and a review of Ken Loach's film 'Land
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and Freedom'. The group producing the magazine
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seek to build an alternative to the existing trade
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unions, a revolutionary union like the CNT in Spain.
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