user preferences

New Events

Ireland / Britain

no event posted in the last week

Report on the Fall 2008 National Conference of the WSM

category ireland / britain | anarchist movement | news report author Thursday November 06, 2008 19:37author by National Secretary of the WSM Report this post to the editors

Report of the National Secretary for the Fall 2008 Conference held at the Teachers Club in Dublin on the 25th and 26 of October.

Report of the National Secretary of the Workers' Solidarity Movement (WSM)

Lisbon Campaign

During the period since the Spring conference the WSM was involved heavily in the campaign for a No vote to lisbon. This involved distribution of 50,000 leaflets and 2000 posters in addition to the 20,000 issues of workers Solidarity.

Rossport

The situation around Rossport also saw increased activity with the re-formation of the Rossport Solidarity Camp on the 16th of August 2008. A big campaign centred around stopping the laying of pipes in Glengad. Eventually the Solitaire, a pipe laying ship left Glengad without successfully providing the pipes for the project. Shell decided to temporarily suspend this aspect of construction.

Health Care

The WSM also took part in several marches in opposition to cutbacks and privitisation in the health service in both Dublin and Cork. Over a thousand people marched in Dublin on October the 11th 2008 and at the Cork march on Oct the 20th of 2008 we saw more than 3000 people attend.

Membership

The current membership has decreased slightly due to a few resignations and a number of members moving overseas. At the same time there has been a decrease in the number of new recruits. This is probably reflective of a climate of decreased struggle.

Strategy

The conference saw the adoption of a strategic plan. This includes an aim to grow the membership of the WSM more actively, to promote the development of libertarian networks in industry and to help to create libertarian neighborhood centres.

Bank Collapse

The climate has changed significantly in light of the bank collapse and there is a renewed feeling of excitement around organising. We have decided on a sustained campaign to offer libertarian viewpoints to the economic situation. This will include country wide public meetings, a large postering campaign and the distribution of 50k leaflets.

Red & Black

The theory journal "Red & Black Revolution" will be discontinued soon and replaced with a new, free, journal, "Ideas & Action". The journal is intended to get wider participation of the WSM membership in producing articles and contact a wider audience.

Delegate Council

Members also agreed to make structural changes to the mechanism of decision making in Delegate Council. We encountered difficulties in making decisions in a timely fashion due to the entirely mechanical function of delegate council. Motions that had been voted on in parts or were slightly different could not be effectively voted on at delegate council and would have to be taken back to the membership and voted on at the next delegate council. This ment that some important decisions could take months. Delegates now have a more open mandate such that these differences can be reconciled in Delegate Council. In the event of a decision that does not reflect the wishes of branch members a new motion can be put forward to remove the prior decision and if need be delegates can be recalled.

Queer Oppression

We adopted a new position on Queer Oppression (http://www.wsm.ie/news_viewer/835). The old position paper was quite old and much of it was outdated. The current one should be more relevant to current struggles.

Travellers' Rights

A new updated position paper on Travellers' Rights (http://www.wsm.ie/news_viewer/831) was adopted. The paper outlines the struggle against oppression and racism and manifestations of the struggle historically.

Statement from the National Secretary

I'm making this report as the incoming National Secretary having been elected by the membership in the Autumn 2008 National Conference of the WSM. This is a critical time for the WSM but more so for the working class. The current situation requires quick decisive action to prevent the bankers, the politicians and the rich from raising taxes and cutting public services while paying themselves out of the public coffers. As National Secretary I put forth the hope that we in the WSM and the working class in general can make ourselves as effective as possible for the coming task.

This page can be viewed in
English Italiano Deutsch
La une du numéro 27 de Cause commune

Latest News

Ireland / Britain | Anarchist movement | News Report | en

Mon 22 Mar, 09:49

browse text browse image

textSolidarity Books (Cork) is up and running! 18:13 Mon 21 Dec by Cork WSM 0 comments

dsc01922.jpg imageSuccessful anarchist event in Belfast 17:57 Sat 25 Jul by Workers Solidarity Movement 0 comments

Harold H Thompson 1942-2008 imageRemembering an anarchist revolutionary 21:12 Sun 05 Jul by Sean Matthews- personal capacity 2 comments

marchingwsm.jpg imageBelfast May Day - anarchists in the sunshine 14:21 Thu 14 May by Andrew & Sean 0 comments

text2008 The Cork Grassroots Gathering 18:07 Mon 09 Feb by Ray 0 comments

bookfair_08.jpg imageStrong attendence at Irish anarchist bookfair 15:19 Wed 26 Mar by Gregor Kerr 1 comments

WSM on Dublin May day march the following day imageReport on WSM Spring 2007 National Conference 16:21 Tue 29 May by WSM National Sec. 4 comments

textAnarchist activity in Ireland 18:06 Tue 24 Apr by WS 0 comments

bookfair_0061.jpg imageReport and Pictures from the Dublin Anarchist Bookfair 14:15 Mon 05 Mar by J.Carax 0 comments

rbr12cover.gif imageRed & Black Revolution 12 is out 18:45 Fri 02 Mar by RBR 2 comments

more >>

Press Releases

imageWorkers Solidarity 110 now online Jul 13 Workers Solidarity 0 comments

textDeath At The Hands Of Capital Apr 03 0 comments

imageA good time to join the WSM Jan 28 WSM 0 comments

imageIdeas & Action - A new movement magazine Jan 06 WSM 4 comments

textLaunch of An Anarchist FAQ Nov 07 An Anarchist FAQ 4 comments

more >>
© 2005-2010 Anarkismo.net. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Anarkismo.net. [ Disclaimer | Privacy ]