Analysis of the EUsummit protests in Dublin - Mayday 2004

ireland / britain | anarchist movement | feature

Monday May 16, 2005 23:13

by Andrew - Anarkismo

The MayDay weekend of 2004 in Dublin saw an European Umion summit in Dublin, Ireland. A libertarian network called the the Dublin Grassroots Network succesfully organised four days of protests and actions over the weekend. The Workers Solidarity Movement whose members were involved in the DGN published five articles over the following year in its publication Red and Black Revolution that looked at the organisation of these protests in great detail and analyised the consequences.

The MayDay weekend of 2004 in Dublin saw an European Umion summit in Dublin, Ireland. A libertarian netwrok called the the Dublin Grassroots Network succesfully organised four days of protests and actions over the weekend. The Workers Solidarity Movement whose members were involved in the DGN published five articles over the following year in its publication Red and Black Revolution that looked at the organisation of these protests in great detail and analyised the consequences. We collect these five articles together here along with many other individual ones and links to hundreds of articles on indymedia.ie

EUsummit protests in Dublin - Mayday 2004

Looking back on the Dublin EU summit protests - Mayday 2004
In 2004 the Mayday weekend the libertarian Dublin Grassroots Network (DGN) organised a series of anti-capitalist events during the summit that marked the Irish presidency of the EU. Thousands took to the streets, despite police intimidation and a massive media scare campaign, to take part in a weekend of demonstrations, street theatre, direct actions and street parties.

Learning from Dublin Mayday - some organisational problems
Many of the problems that we encountered were probably unavoidable and can be put down to lack of experience, bad or unclear decision-making or overwork. However, there are other issues that cannot be so easily dismissed-in particular the lack of accommodation and other facilities for visiting protestors and insufficient support for defendants from DGN following the protests.

Learning from Dublin Mayday - anti-capitalism: where to now?
The experience of Mayday brings up us back to some of the perennial questions thrown up by counter summits protests: how do we broaden our movement and what role does direct action and confrontational tactics have in that process. The following article is a personal account of DGN's approach to such issues in relation to Mayday and goes on to argue for increased tactical flexibility from anarchists within the anti-capitalist movement.

Media Mayhem - Anarchists and the Mass Media
This article examines the mainstream media and looks at the various factors which ensure that it effectively works as a propaganda tool for the powerful. It looks at ways in which anarchists can deal with this situation, by creating our own media, but also by challenging the hostility that they habitually encounter from the mainstream. It is mostly based on the experience of the 2004 Mayday protests in Dublin.

Playing the Media Game - Dublin Mayday 2004
This article using the example of the 'Dublin Grassroots Network' looks at how anarchists can interact with the media without compromising their principles. Perhaps the two biggest problems in dealing with the media are firstly that the media can, through the questions they ask and the pressures they bring, begin to set the political agenda of the group. Secondly servicing the media machine can take up all a group's time and energy (to the detriment of the other activity)

Anarchy and organisation
This talk used the example of the Mayday protests to show how an anarchist organistion like the WSM involved itself with broader forces

The political background

What's wrong with the EU - PDF pamphlet

The Workers Solidarity Movement pamphlet published a PDF pamphlet in advance of the Dublin May Day EU summit protests which brought together articles that critique the policies of the European Union.

You can download and print out a PDF file from
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/pamphlet/EUpam.html
Or read the articles online at
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pamphlets/eu/index.html

What's wrong with the European Union?
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pamphlets/eu/index.html
The EU is one of the motors of capitalist globalisation, the rule that all decisions should be made on the basis of profitability alone.

The neoliberal agenda at the heart of the EU
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pamphlets/eu/neoliberal.html
EU decisions are driven not by the needs of the people of Europe but by the wishes of the European based corporations. These corporations produce drafts that are later turned into EU policy

Fortress Europe
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pamphlets/eu/fortress.html
Increased integration of EU asylum and immigration policy. One of the first steps towards the creation of Fortress Europe was the Schengen Agreement which was originally signed in 1985 by five EU states

The EU, militarism and Ireland
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pamphlets/eu/militarism.html
The story of the European Union and militarism goes back as far as 1955 when the Western European Union (WEU) was formed. This was the main avenue for joint European security efforts and was closely tied to NATO

The libertarian alternative to the bosses Europe
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pamphlets/eu/alternative.html
For us, the libertarians, these struggles are not a means to conquer the power of others. For us, these struggles are a means to radically change society. Instead of power, we want freedom; instead of privilege, we want justice.

You can download and print out a PDF file from
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/pamphlet/EUpam.html
Or read the articles online at
http://struggle.ws/wsm/pamphlets/eu/index.html