Cork Home Helps March Against Health Cuts

by WSM Mon Sep 29, 2003 17:59

Cutback after cutback is in the pipeline. The Home Helps are the latest target. To save money the SHB are cutting hours. Home Helps will suffer but so will plenty of older people who rely desperately on the service. But that is not all. Remember that famous election promise: SHORTER WAITING LISTS WITHIN TWO YEARS - WE PROMISE! Yet the waiting lists are as long as ever and getting worse - we are paying the price. Tragically, last July, a young family paid the ultimate price when they lost their daughter to these cutbacks - apparently "we" couldn't afford to pay for an intensive care nurse for Roisín Ruddle's operation. Michael Martin fobbed that tragedy off with 'an inquiry'. Although the Ruddle death can be directly attributed to the cutbacks, no Minister has been hauled up to pay even so much as a fine. As the say "One law for the rich ..."

Politicians won't change what is wrong but you can. In the past year Ireland has woken up to a new form of protest: DIRECT ACTION. It's about you having an effect. It's about going beyond the politicians and lawmakers and taking matter into our hands. It's about us standing together to get things sorted.

Some examples:
* Residents of Sunvalley Drive blocked the roads in their area to demand the clearance of the rat infested, rubbish filled wasteland.
* At Buckley's Field in Blackrock, residents have blockaded the last area of green space there to prevent the City Council from building on it.
* In the bin tax protests neighbours across Dublin have banded together to force the councils to collect all bins or none.
* Earlier this year hundreds engaged in a mass trespass at Shannon Airport. In Cork City itself over 3000 people went on a mass sit-down to show their disgust at the war in Iraq.

SOLUTION

Right now there is huge dissatisfaction with what is happening. Nurses, hospital workers and doctors all know what the problem is: there is too little money but there is also the problem of how the health service is operated. The SHB is a hierarchy. Those at the top have all the power and they control the purse strings. They order and 'manage' but they don't know what the real issues are or how to tackle them. But health workers do. Nurses, doctors and Home Helps see the issues day in and day out. They have a feel for the problems and how to cut through the bureaucracy that is now log-jamming the system. If we want to solve 'the health crisis', realistically we must look at reorganising the system. The health service needs money but it also needs a democracy - one where the people who make the system work, the workers, have a real and meaningful say. The first step now must be to build an alliance of health workers who can tackle the present cuts. Resisting the cuts is the immediate problem, but a total reorganisation must also be on the agenda.

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Reverse side

Are YOU an Anarchist?

ANARCHISM is a very simple idea. Basically society and the places where we work and live should be organised in a non-hierarchical way, without bosses. We want an end to the system whereby the world is divided into order-givers and order-takers. We want a re-distribution of wealth.

WHY should bosses, politicians, bishops or anybody else to tell us how to live our lives. Anarchists look to a society that will be based on the idea of "from each according to ability, to each according to need". We want to bring about a society based on real grassroots democracy where power remains at local level and is organised upwards through workplace and community councils. We do not want to become rulers nor do we want to seize power "on behalf of the working class". We have no interest in replacing one set of bosses with another. Instead we work for a free socialist society where everyone can have a direct say in making the decisions that affect them.

THIS society will only be brought about through revolution! There is an old anarchist slogan that says that if elections changed anything they would be illegal. The thinking behind it is that real democratic change cannot come from the top down but must be built from the bottom up. Instead of voting in elections and effectively giving someone else control of our lives, we stand for direct action and solidarity among and between workers.

THE Workers Solidarity Movement are involved in many struggles, both local and national, to win improvements in the here and now. Our members are active in their trade unions, around where they live - anywhere in fact where people are organising and struggling against the system. We are active in the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign and against double taxation. We are involved in the campaign to get back the Old Head of Kinsale from the mega-rich and restore public access. We are active in the Pro-Choice movement and for the rights of women to have safe abortions provided here in Ireland. We produce a paper, Workers Solidarity, 6 times a year and distribute 6,000 of each issue. We also produce pamphlets and leaflets explaining about our ideas and how we, as workers, could build a better world. If you want to find out more about anarchism or the WSM, come along to our meetings or contact us via email or on the WEB.

Email: [email protected] Web: www.struggle.ws/wsm
Workers Solidarity Movement

by Dubh Mon Sep 29, 2003 20:00

This is new stuff for corks 2 wsm members - should keep them busy. Hows the recuiting drive going lads? Seems to be what this is all about.

wsm/swp/sp/sparts/ism/etc etc - all focussed on recruitment on the backs of important issues. Good luck to the home-helps! But, hey, watch out for paper sellers.

by Ois Tue Sep 30, 2003 16:58

The WSM don't sell papers as they give it out for free.

They also don't recruit, they won't ask you to join until you've attended 3 of their meetings because they think that you should know what your joining before you join (that's a policy they have).

By the way I'm not a member. Just someone who has worked with them and that just wants to correct this deliberate attempt at mis-information.

by Anthony Tue Sep 30, 2003 23:11

I've worked with the WSM on a few different campaigns/projects and it was only after a year that they asked if I would consider joining them. I've found them to be intelligent, hard-working, and a sound bunch of people but I had to turn them down as I'm not (yet) convinced enough of the possibility of a libertarian socialist society. I have a lot of respect for them and for a non-aligned person such as myself, they are great to work with. The fact that they give away their paper for free and are not always looking for a signature on a petition means that for someone new to any kind of activism or campaigning, they are a lot more approachable than some of the other left wing groups.

by Durretti Wed Oct 01, 2003 19:59

I can understand where Anthony is coming from in that they're generally an okay bunch but for fucks sake this leaflet (reproduced above) is mostly about advertising the WSM. And it ain't a few line at the end - it's a bloody missive!!

by Counter Wed Oct 01, 2003 20:39

one half the leaflet is about the particular issue that was being protested. Not one single mention of the WSM

3 of the 4 other paragraphs are about anarchism. This contains no mention of the WSM

The last paragraph is about the WSM and gives practical examples of what anarchists are involved in. It is the only paragraph which mentions the organisation.

So when you say that the leaflet "is mostly about advertising the WSM", how do you calculate that?

To me this type of proportion: 1/2 to the issue, 3/8 to the idea of anarchism, 1/8 to the organisation is a pretty good mix. Do you have a problem with people handing out leaflets promoting anarchism? Or is it only if they mention the organisation that produced it?

by Andrew Thu Oct 02, 2003 11:47

I wouldn't assume either 'Dubh' or 'Durretti' are who they claim to be. A particular trot has been posting under various 'anarchist' ID's here for over a year trying to sow disunity in the movement here. I'd imagine for instance that an anarchist might actually know how to spell Durruti!

Dubh might be genuine, if so all I can say is that one problem with anarchism is that we often fail to explain our ideas to others in a formal way. So while anarchists put in a hell of a lot of work in many struggles they are often 'invisable' except to the few who know them already. Convincing more then yor immediate mates requires leaflets etc that explain the basis ideas. So thats part of what we do.

by Amused Thu Oct 02, 2003 22:36

Your comment sounds like 'trots under the bed' stuff. Woooh, watch out, they're behind you!

Jokes aside, don't you think it's just possible that some activists dislike the way that the WSM pushes itself when working with serious issues? I think the leaflet reproduced above is open to criticism - don't you?

by Yossarian Fri Oct 03, 2003 14:05

According to most anarchists, all ideas, thoughts, writings, etc. are open to criticism with no exception to those of anarchists. However such criticism should be based on reason rather than mouthing off lies to slander a particular person, organisation or idea.
I would find it extremely unlikely that "some activists dislike the way that the WSM pushes itself when working with serious issues" because as far as I have observed, the WSM hardly pushes itself at all - unless you count handing out free papers which they finance and produce themselves, writing their political affiliation along with their real names when commenting in public forums as many people request and getting involved in cross-party campaigns whilst argueing for an anarchist perspective.
They were previously criticised for setting too high a bar for joining which they appear to have taken on board to some extent in recent times. One result of this is that at the end of some of their texts they invite people who are interested by what they read to contact them. Hardly pushing.
This is not intended as a homily to the WSM but it is annoying to see such baseless sniping at a hardworking organisation. Criticise them by all means but keep it real!
I am not a member of the WSM either.

by Andrew - WSM Fri Oct 03, 2003 15:41

Sometimes just cause you paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you. I find the idea of an anarchist mispelling Durruti as likely as a trot mispelling Carl Marks. But anyway...

It may be that "some activists dislike the way that the WSM pushes itself when working with serious issues". I just haven't met them yet and I'm not convinced that the postings above are anything but trolls. Put your name to your post and I might take you more seriously.

My own opinion is that we should push ourselves a little more. We have been pretty anonymous at all the bin tax protests for instance while others have had all their members selling papers, carrying banners and even urging people to 'join the party' through a megaphone. I'd not like to see us go that far but we should have had some people distributing our paper rather then all of us distributing campaign leaflets (IMHO).

So in that context I'd be had pushed to take any opinion that we push ourselves too much seriously. But perhaps there is something I've missed!

"I think the leaflet reproduced above is open to criticism - don't you?"

Everything is open to criticism don't you think? Should the particular criticism posted by 'Dubh' be taken seriously? Not in my opinion. Apart from anything else, for the reasons outlined by 'counter' Dubh is factually incorrect. And factually incorrect, anonymous posts are not worth taking seriously.