Irish workers and the Celtic Tiger : The reality behind the neoliberal ‘success story’

This is the second of three talks I delivered at the Prague S26 counter summit. When I left school in Ireland the first job I applied for was in McDonalds. They didn’t advertise jobs, there was no need but instead whenever they needed people they mailed out to a list of those who had called […]

Interview with former Black Panther Ashanti Alston in Ireland

These are two audio interviews with US anarchist Ashanti Alston who the WSM have brought to Ireland to speak at the Anarchist bookfair.  Ashanti describes himself as a former member of the Black Panther Party and a former soldier in the Black Liberation Army, in connection with which he served 14 years in prison in […]

The Zapatista Intercontinental Gathering for Humanity and Against neo-liberalism

In the late summer of 1996 I was one of the two Irish delegates to the 3,000 strong international meeting held in the rebel areas of Chiapas Mexico.  The experience of getting to the meeting through miles of jungle and military checkpoints was an experience in itself but the meetings themselves were an extraordinary thing […]

Report on the Second Encounter for Humanity and against Neoliberalism

This report of the second Zapatista encounter in Spain is something of a break with my normal writing style as I got swept up in the romance (and as it happens a romance) of the second encounter in Spain.  Don’t panic, the center section is a fairly detailed description of some of the actual discussions […]

Were Irish union leaders behind the public sector pay cut?

Did the idea of the so called ‘Pensions Levy’ come from some of the very Irish Congress of Trade Unions leadership who are supposed to negotiate on behalf of workers. This is one revelation that emerged on Saturday morning at a meeting of over 100 public sector trade unionists and two delegates from the Waterford […]

The Nice treaty, anarchism and Nationalism

The Nice referendum is one of those odd occasions where anarchists are recommending the same vote as individuals and organisations we find odious. For instance some of those calling for a No vote are making racist panic arguments saying a Yes vote will result in 7.5 million Eastern Europeans moving to Ireland! It’s rather obvious […]

The Nice Treaty and globalisation

This article was written at the time of the second Nice referendum in Ireland as part of ‘Libertarians Against Nice’, a WSM initiated campaign that distributed 15,000 leaflets as well as carrying our other activity.  Because of right nationalist opposition to the treaty we were keen to publish material that put forward a distinct perspective, […]