Hundreds Attend Anarchist Bookfair in Dublin

by 1 of Bookfair Organising Group Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:57

Just a few pictures from the day - hopefully someone else will have more to publish

by 1 of Bookfair Organising Group Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:02

A few pics from the walking tour on Sunday

by Gregor Kerr Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:08

Text of talk delivered at meeting on 'Making Cops Accountable - What communities can do to organise resistance!'

The first thing I want to do is to commend the many people who have done sterling work to expose police corruption and unaccountability both in Ireland and elsewhere in recent years.

In particular I want to commend the Wheelock family. One of the worst things that can happen any family is to lose a loved family member in circumstances such as the manner in which Terence was killed. To stand up to demand answers from the organs of the state is extremely difficult in such circumstances. To withstand harassment as a result to the extent that the Wheelock family have done compounds the difficulty. Wilting in the face of such harassment would be understandable. But that’s not going to happen. And that level of strength and courage is an example to all of us.

There have been other families who have had to make the same brave stand in recent years. I’m thinking in particular of the families of John Maloney from Crumlin, Dublin and Brian Rossiter from Clonmel Co. Tipperary. There are many more. Deaths in Garda custody are unfortunately all too common.

And this abuse of power is not unusual. The contributions of the other speakers at this meeting have made that clear. The 5 reports of the Morris Tribunal into the behaviour of the Gardaí in Donegal – published last year - make it clear. Indeed anyone who lives in a working class area of this city doesn’t need to come to a meeting like this to realise that this abuse of power exists – they see it every weekend in the way in which people – and especially young men – in their communities are treated. Similarly anyone who over the past couple of years has attended any of the protests against Shell in Rossport Co. Mayo will have had first hand experience of that abuse of power

Indeed Justice Morris reported that he was “staggered” by the amount of “indiscipline” and “insubordination” that he found in the Garda force, and that this was “not an aberration from the generality”. And, despite the depth of his inquiry, he was only looking at the tip of the iceberg. Within a square mile of this very room, hundreds of people have stories to tell about their mistreatment at the hands of cops.

Standing up to this mistreatment is not an easy thing to do. Giving communities and especially young people the courage, the encouragement and the ability to challenge these power abuses is something which all of us who care about inequalities in society should be trying to do. It is practically impossible for individuals to stand up to this mistreatment. Individuals can easily be portrayed as cranks and, more importantly, can find themselves subjected to even more harassment if they make a stance – just as happened to the Wheelock family when they were forced from their family home of 20 years after a campaign of constant garda harassment.

But it’s a different story if the whole community is empowered to stand up. A community standing together shoulder to shoulder has the strength to protect the individuals within it. It’s when the cops know that if they abuse one person or family the whole community will stand up to them that their ability to continue to abuse and intimidate will be taken from them.

‘An injury to one is an injury to all’. We’ve all heard that phrase, it’s a phrase that calls on us to stand up against injustice wherever we see it. But probably a more important way to look at that phrase would be to change it to ‘A victory for one is a victory for all’. When any one family or any one individual or any one community forces the organs of the state to be held to account it’s a victory for all of us. It’s a victory for all of us because it will mean that no longer can the cops expect to get away with such abuses of their power. It makes them more wary, it makes them more cautious.

More importantly it gives us – the community – the confidence to realise that we are not powerless, that we can stand up for ourselves.

On the other hand, the more they get away with these abuses the more confidence it gives them. When the cops in Mayo can get away with beating people up in broad daylight, that gives the whole force the message that they’ll get away with such behaviour. And if they can get away with it in those circumstances, then they know that what they do in the back of a van on the way to Store Street on a Saturday night is less likely to be held up to scrutiny.

I’m an anarchist so I don’t believe that it’s ever going to be possible to hold the gardaí fully accountable as long as we live in the hierarchical capitalist society that we do.

I want to look at this issue from two perspectives
1. The fact that it is the very act of giving one group of people – the cops – power over another group – ordinary people like us – that inevitably leads to such abuses of power.
2. The fact that the police force is there to protect the status quo and will do whatever is necessary to do so. The cops are ultimately answerable to their political masters. By that I don’t mean the politicians in Dail Eireann but the real political masters – the political masters who are to be found in the boardrooms of multinational companies and the owners of capital.

To look at the first of those contentions – We all know that we live in a hierarchical society. By that I mean that society operates like a pyramid – in a top-down manner. Decisions are made at the top of the pyramid and handed down to the rest of us. Laws are made at the top of the pyramid and handed down for the rest of us to obey. Given that the vast majority of us have no input into the creation of those laws, have no meaningful ownership of the rules by which society operates, it is necessary to have a group of people whose role is to enforce those laws on the rest of us, to make us obey.

Of course it can be argued that cops have responsibility for maintaining the safety of citizens, and this is certainly true. Given the nature of our society and the levels, for example, of anti social behaviour which currently exist it’s not an option to wait for the creation of a free and equal society when much of this anti social behaviour will be done away with. Communities and individuals need and demand that they should be able to live in safety.

It’s not my intention in this talk to discuss the causes and solutions to issues of crime and anti-social behaviour but that’s an issue that deserves discussion. It’s one of the most pressing day-to-day issues facing many individuals living in working class communities so there’s an onus on us to come up with some real answers in the here and now.
What I do want to say is that it is the very fact that society is policed in this top down manner, that – as I said already – cops exist to make us obey, and therefore have to have power over us, that leads to the abuse of that power. It’s as inevitable as night following day. Power corrupts. Give anybody or any group power over others and that power will inevitably be abused. Just look at the way the Catholic Church in Ireland abused the vast power it was given for decades.

So the abuse of police power cannot be viewed as the consequence of ‘a few bad apples’. It’s a waste of time appointing a whistleblower system or a ‘Confidential Recipient’ as the government has done this week. The system will always protect itself. The power structure will always defend itself. The very corrupting effect of power will always circle the wagons and ensure that its armour is not pierced. If a chink was allowed in that armour, if one cop was to spill the beans about what he or she has seen, then that power’s ability to hold the line would be gone for ever.

When the abuse of power taking place within the Catholic Church began to be exposed, suddenly its grip on power was under huge threat. One person talking out gave others the courage to do so and suddenly everyone realised that the power structure wasn’t that powerful after all. I’m not saying that Catholic Church power in Ireland has been destroyed – far from it. But it has certainly been greatly damaged. There is no way that the police force can allow its power to be threatened in a similar way.

And that brings me to the second contention that I mentioned earlier. This situation of the power structure encircling itself is necessary because the ultimate role of the police force is to defend the status quo. And defending the status quo means that policing is inevitably political. In situations such as that in Rossport, the cops will always be there to defend the multinational company rather than to uphold the rights of ordinary people. Anybody who has ever attended a picket or a protest will probably have had the experience of having their name and/or their photograph taken – even though there’s supposed to be a right to peaceful protest.

The state exists basically to ensure the continuation of the pyramidal structure of society that I referred to earlier on. In the very tip of that pyramid are those that have all the political power and the capital. And they’ve built an effective bulwark to ensure that they stay there and that the rest of us down at the bottom of the pyramid are kept in our place. In order to do that, the state has to have a monopoly on the use of force. And in the vast majority of cases the police force is the mechanism by which it is ensured that things continue to be run in the interests of that tiny minority and that tiny minority continue to hold on to the vast majority of the world’s wealth and resources.

And for that to happen, the police will ensure that at every level of society people are ‘kept in their place’.

All of that seems very depressing. Basically what I’m saying is that cops cannot be held to account in any meaningful way while a hierarchical society continues to exist. But while I’m saying that I’m also saying that we should all of us be striving to maximise the amount of accountability which we can impose on the cops. As I’ve said already, empowering individuals and communities to stand up for themselves gives us all the confidence to realise that we are not powerless, that we can stand up for ourselves.

Families such as the Wheelocks must be supported in their fight for justice because it’s the right thing to do but also because ultimately it’s by building confident communities capable of standing up for themselves that we can hope to build a free and equal society where the power structures that allow these abuses to continue are done away with.

by moderate Tue Mar 25, 2008 13:08

I'm very sorry that I wasn't able to get along - and thanks for the report (at last!)lol. I recognize a couple of old comrades from the excellent photos who I thought had dropped out of the movement long ago. It would have been great to meet up with them all again to chat about past campaigns , pick up on the gossip , maybe exchange a few recipes . lol

"Most importantly of all, on an informal level there was plenty of chat, discussion and debate"

That's the part about it I think I would have liked best - meeting and chatting to people . Not only old friends of course .A friend who was able to get along spoke to a man there on Saturday who was from Finglas .He was apparantly nothing at all like the stereotype Fingalian you read about in the corporate press.

Anarchists should never be frightened to meet new people with new ideas even if those ideas may challenge some of the old orthodoxies that have stymied the movement's growth for so long. Perhaps we may even learn something ! As the report said "We’re not sensitive, we don’t mind criticism"

by AH Tue Mar 25, 2008 14:11

"the biggest and most exciting event on the political left in Ireland."
!!!

What's the word ? Un- Unsub?
unsubstan?

Unsubstantiated... That's it.

by Andrew Tue Mar 25, 2008 14:31

AH I'm not aware of a bigger annual event, in fact the Anarchist Bookfair sounds like it is now two to three times the size of the next biggest ones. But perhaps you can clarify what you think is bigger?

by jaysus Tue Mar 25, 2008 17:17

"The Dublin Anarchist Bookfair – held this year on the weekend of 14th and 15th March – has firmly established itself as the biggest and most exciting event on the political left in Ireland."..............?

Can you see why people have a problem with the WSM's ego problem? Get a grip.

by not surprised Tue Mar 25, 2008 17:21

"he biggest and most exciting event on the political left in Ireland."

How dare you presume to speak for the political left in Ireland?

Typical WSM

by Krossie Fan Tue Mar 25, 2008 17:48

Iran is very interesting for anarchists, left-wingers and feminists for two main reasons.

One.
A very interesting contrast between a young population with many secular influences, struggling actively in universities, women’s groups and emerging labour struggles and a repressive theocratic state.

Two
The possibility of U S and/or Israeli intervention.

Today I’m going to focus on the class nature of Iranian society, the tradition of struggle and where its at today. I’m going to leave the issue of intervention out of the talk and, maybe, more for discussion.

Iran – Its present class and state position.

Iraq is a huge country of over 70 million people divided into 5 main nationalities (Kurds, Turks, Arabs, Balouchis and Persians). As things stand there are two dynamics within Iranian society. These are sometimes portrayed simply as a conflict between Shia Islam and secular ideas but this doesn’t fully capture it.
What you have at present is a sort of home grown version of the US Neo cons in charge since 2005 with various other conservative religious and somewhat more liberal factions in the ruling milieu but not in charge right now.
These are facing a rising tempo of class struggle as well as student protests and feminist agitation.
Iran is very young country (65% of it’s population is between 18 and 25) facing very many chronic economic and social problems.
According to Torab Saleth:

The majority of the population in Iran is now officially under the poverty line. This is a country rich in natural resources, which has almost quadrupled its foreign exchange receipts over the last 10 years. With over 10 million unemployed, wages have been pushed so far back that those who do find work have to do more than one job just to survive.

Selling kidneys or the whole body is now the largest source of income for the urban poor. Right now, there are tens of thousands of workers whose wages have not been paid for well over a year. There is absolutely no protection under the law for almost 85% of the work force employed in small workshops. The rate of suicide among the Iranian working class is now higher than Britain during the industrial revolution.

In addition

Iran’s infant mortality rate is a massive 38.1/1000, addiction to class A drugs (heroin mostly) effects 3-5 million and prostitution is rampant.

And this is not to even start into the long, long list atrocities and oppression visited upon the Iranian people by the ruling theocratic regime since 1979.

Crucial to much of the struggle still taking place and, indeed, increasing in Iran is that of the revolution almost 30 years ago.
Here you saw the defeat and suppression of a massive, armed popular uprising.
However mass workers demonstrations and strikes, along with protests by hundreds of students and women continue to this day. Without a doubt a factor here must be the ghost of a struggle which has never been entirely bested by the Iranian theocratic state.
I want to look back briefly on the revolutionary struggles and their aftermath drawing mostly from two articles:
The Working Class in Iran: some background - Class Struggles from 1979-1989 by Mostafa Saber

http://libcom.org/library/working-class-iran-some-backg...saber

and
The Class nature of the Iranian Regime by Torab Saleth – who recently visited Dublin to speak at a HOPOI public meeting.
(shorter version of articel published in critique - http://www.indymedia.ie/article/83485)

The Iranian working class really began to develop as a social force after the 1960s land reforms. This resulted in one of the most rapid episodes of mass proletarianiztion in world history as millions of peasants were driven into the labour market. Rapid economic growth in the 1970s absorbed most of these millions straight into work. As Saber points out the Iranian working class is very young as a class - only one or two generations old.
Workers were the backbone of the mass revolution from 1978 - 1979. During the four months leading up to February 1979 there was a general strike in involving 4 million workers. According to Saleth (Quoting directly):
Strike committees had sprung up everywhere and neighborhood committees were controlling most urban areas. On the night of the insurrection in Tehran alone it was estimated that more than 300,000 revolvers and machine guns were ransacked from various military arsenals and distributed amongst the population.”
In establishing their counter revolutionary regime the Ayatollahs cleverly played up their anti-imperialist credentials.
As Saleth puts it “in order to control the mass movement they had to lead it…”
Like many a one before this was a counter-revolution germinated from within a genuine mass revolutionary movement.
The bourgeois and their clerics were quick in establishing their own populist local networks (in a very similar to the manner that Hisbollah operate in today) To quote Saleth again:
…as early as 1977 …there also appeared other "Islamic" masses well organised and led by a faction within the Shiite hierarchy in coalition with a powerful group of the bazaari merchants. This block consisting of a loose coalition of various religious bourgeois political currents from liberal Islamic to fundamentalists, had mass support within the traditional sections of the numerically significant urban and rural petty bourgeoisie and through its various religious networks and charity foundations linked to the local mosque could also mobilize support amongst the poor and the lumpen proletariat.

Soon this second force proved to be more powerful than the revolutionary masses. Indeed, if the leadership of this faction could have had its own way, there would not have been any revolution at all. It had already set up the secret Council of the Islamic Revolution that had successfully negotiated a transition of power from above with both the US masters of the Shah and the internal Royal Army and Security Forces.
The insurrection took place because the commanders of the Royal Guard did not abide by this agreement and mobilised their units to crush the pro-revolution Air Force Barracks in the capital Tehran. In reaction to this attack, the air force technicians opened the arsenals to the population which led to an armed insurrection few hours later.
The block which took power the next morning, not only saved the bourgeois state from an almost certain destruction but also hugely strengthened the reactionary forces by the addition of a multitude of new and permanently mobilised paramilitary groups like the Guardian Army of the Islamic Revolution (pasdaran) or the Mobilisation Corps (basij). It soon disarmed and crushed the revolutionary mass movement and beheaded its leadership. At first it collaborated with the liberal sections of the anti-shah bourgeois opposition but as soon as it had consolidated its own base it pushed all other factions out of positions of power and openly established a theocratic Islamic regime. This same block still rules Iran.
And it is the various clashes between this divided religious block that pass for democracy in what is actually a theocratic state.
We also have to remember that the working class was relatively young and new on the stage but that there was no shortage of miss -“leaders”. Most of the left was Leninist, Maoist or Stalinist in character. The main Iranian Communist Party the Tudeh, as well as the Trotskyist Fourth Internationalists all collaborated with what they termed (some still do) a “post revolutionary” or “anti imperialist regime” Of course (as happened in other times and places) they paid the price in blood for this collaboration.
And even allowing for all of this the counter revolution was extraordinarily blood thirsty. Worker’s councils or Shoras which held sway from 1978 to 1982 were violently suppressed by the emerging Shia theocratic regime of the Ayatollahs from late 1981. Depending on estimates 20-100,000 were killed as the counter-revolution established itself.
Iran is still controlled by a complex coalition of ruling factions whose origin goes directly back to the 1970s as does the origin of much of the high tempo of class struggle and feminist and student agitation in the country today
Here’s is one mind bending description of how this rule works and how the factions line up from the libertarian Communist magazine from Bighton: Aufheben

Politically, there has been a chronic crisis in the Iranian regime almost since its inception, with the ruling clerics constructing an intricate system of inter-related state functions in order to consolidate their power and mediate between the plethora of rival factions.

(From ‘the Supreme Leader’ whose power is effectively unlimited as commander-in-chief, but is nonetheless appointed and in theory dismissed by ‘the Assembly of Experts’, to the second highest position in the hierarchy, that of President, who is elected but where candidates are vetted by ‘the Council of Guardians’, half of whom are appointed by the Supreme Leader. This is without mentioning the Majiles, or parliament, which is again elected but whose candidates and laws are also subject to the approval of the Council of Guardians, or the raft of minor miscellaneous committees that have authority over each other in various intermeshed ways.)

It has been said that “the most important function of elections in the Islamic republic rests precisely here: namely the redistribution of power among the various ruling factions.”14 This complex arrangement has thus developed to accommodate factional struggles within a continuous regime, a well as to allow token popular participation to mitigate the distinct lack of popular interest in living in a theocratic state. Alongside this a vast military and secret police apparatus has been constructed to ensure respect for the ‘Islamic principles and values’ on which the cleric’s authority is based.
(my emphasis!)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected in July 2005 and immediately stepped up strident anti US rhetoric and started nuclear brinkmanship – recommencing uranium enrichment programme
Ahmadinejad is not an old school Aytolloh being an ex military man and a populist politician. The Iranian ruling class has several factions which use elections purely as a kind of pass the parcel exercise in shifting power over the different gangs. Religious scruples have not prevented them from implementing tough policies as and when demanded by the IMF. A US boycott has led to them seeking and receiving massive investment from China, India, Russia and many E U states. The ruling factions are all happy to embrace some sort of state capitalism which leaves their own power intact while allowing a certain fiction of dissent between their various factions.
Ironically the US destruction of the Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan and their present backing of a Shia dominated government in Iraq has played into the hands of the Iranian neo-cons. Iran has been further boosted by their proxies Hezbollah in the Lebanon giving the Israelis a bloody nose a year and a half ago.

However there is a rising tempo of struggle in Iran today.

This is does link back to the 1970s and some traditions have carried right the way through for 30 years – for example the non-participation in the official May Parade in Teheran Football Stadium organized by the state controlled Islamic councils, workers houses and Islamic societies. These could probably be seen as even a good bit worse then our own yellow pack trade unions. Their function is purely to completely prevent any collective organization of workers.

Yet for 30 years thousands of workers have taken to the streets and had their own parade. This Mayday (as ever) this was followed by violence, repression, arrests and even torture of workers. (http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/05/359093.shtml)
Saber’s article provides a really important continuity here showing how worker’s organization throughout the 1980s continued in mass defiance of the Worker’s houses. Without much organized political leadership and in the face of mass repression class struggle continued and continues in Iran. However it has been highly difficult to build mass, public, durable organizations.
As Saber points out - his has always been the case going right back to the time of the shah – there has never been a period where workers had freedom to build their own long-term organizations in Iran. In the brief period of revolution workers immediately set to building shoras or councils and not trade unions.

He tells us: “There were scarcely any factories in these years in which councils were not formed…”
However in only a few cases did they attempt to run factories and in only a few cases did larger groups begin to federate. None the less strikes throughout the 1980s continued to rely on general assemblies of workers often involving thousands of workers meeting to make decisions…

In 1981 the great world sage, theologian and philosopher Aytolloh Khomeini declared of Mayday:
"There is no need for a [special] day for workers. All creatures of the world are workers. The ant, too, is a worker. Even the God Almighty is a worker."

But the workers didn’t go away – according to Saber:
“Since 1981, the most important fields of struggle of workers have been: the struggle against the Islamic Labour Law, struggle for enforcing the First of May as the Workers' Day, struggle against the war, defence of wages and living conditions, struggle against redundancies and resistance against increasing the working hours. These have taken the form of continuous strikes.”
He goes on to give details of struggles involving thousands and even tens of thousands of workers. These met with some success. For example in 1983 a new labour law which proposed even to replace the name worker with “work taker” was withdrawn – a crucial victory as Saber puts it:
The workers' show of outrage and protest and the prospect of its escalation was so strong that even the Islamic Societies and the Workers' House were forced to voice opposition to the first draft. In the end, the regime had no alternative but to back down in disgrace: Khomeini and the other ayatollahs retracted their earlier backing, and the first draft was withdrawn along with the Labour Minister who had proposed it. This was a victory for the workers; a victory not limited to a mere defence of workers' basic rights, but with far wider social implications.
Workers had made the Islamic Republic, at the height of its power, to back down on its Islam (my emphasis).
It was not until 1989 that a watered down but still appalling set of laws was implemented.
Mayday (like international Women’s Day) continues to be contested. For example in 1985 (Saber):
“…the official ceremonies were held in Tehran's largest stadium. But the seats remained empty, and the 3-4 thousand who had been brought there by force and by threatening to confiscate their cards, booed the speech by the President (Khamenei, who had by now succeeded Khomeini). The following year the official events were held in a smaller stadium. But once again the result was only more disgrace for the government. In 1987 the official ceremonies were reduced to small events in five places in Tehran, but even these were openly boycotted and scorned by the workers. Official May Day events have now become a problem in which the regime has got bogged down.”
And this pattern has continued right up to 2007. Saber also points to mass protest against the Iran Iraq war and continuous waves of strikes from 1983-1989. For example in 1984 he estimates at least 200 strikes and protests. In 1987 a strike in the Mellei show factory involved 12,000 workers
– Meantime Aufheben document huge strikes and demonstrations in the last 5 years

In mid 2003, a wave of strikes and worker-student demonstrations were brutally suppressed with over 4,000 arrests. In the autumn of 2004, copper miners in the city of Babak staged sit-ins against compulsory redundancies. The state responded by sending in special commando units that fired on miners and their families from helicopters. In response to this repression, workers in Babak and Khatoonabad launched a general strike. Early in 2005, textile workers in Sanandaj, western Iran went on strike. Mobilising support from workers across the country, their 2-month strike won major concessions; including the reinstatement of sacked workers, strike pay, treatment for sick workers, the introduction of permanent contracts and safer machinery. In fact according to the Iranian government’s own figures, in the period from April to July last year there were more than 2000 workers’ actions, including strikes, occupations and road blockades.
Of course, unions and strikes are illegal in Iran, which makes these events even more significant; yet they were themselves overshadowed by the massive Tehran transit strike in January this year(2007) involving 17,000 workers. Within hours of the start of the strike hundreds of workers’ homes were raided by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), the notorious secret police. Hundreds were arrested and imprisoned without charge.19 Thousands were laid off, and there were violent clashes between demonstrators and the security services. The wives and children of striking workers were snatched from their beds and beaten, presumably to underline the populist character of the regime which talked of “taking the oil money back to the people’s table”.

Undeterred, demonstrations and strikes, including a no-fares action where drivers let people ride for free to attack profits directly, continued, both over the initial dispute over pay and the right to organise and for the release of workers imprisoned for months since the start of the strikes. The transit workers strikes continued into April and sparked a new wave of strikes over unpaid salaries and low wages which spread across the country – with walkouts in the northern provincial capital of Rasht, the western province of Elam, pharmaceutical workers in Tehran and coalminers in the northern town of Gilan.
In July 2006, Iran-Khodro car factory workers walked out demanding the introduction of a minimum wage. In August workers at the Par-ris mill struck over differential contracts which awarded 1-month, 3-month or 1-year contracts to workers on the basis of their previous passivity to the bosses’ demands. After a week on strike, riot police attacked the picket with batons and tear gas, injuring several workers and arresting many, most of whom escaped en route to detention by jumping and running from the police buses, while two – a reporter and a worker from another factory who was on the picket in solidarity - were imprisoned overnight.
The company, in full co-operation with the police declared none of the workers’ demands would be met and that one worker identified as an organiser was to be immediately sacked, meaning he would not be eligible for any social security because he was dismissed for organising activities. This prompted a solidarity statement co-signed by many (illegal) unions and workers groups across Iran, including the Tehran bus drivers, signifying the building of links between workers of different industries as workers.
As of September this year (2006), around 3,000 workers are involved in strikes at the Khodro diesel factory over massive pay cuts. One worker reportedly tried to hang himself in protest, while bosses are threatening mass sackings unless the workers concede to their demands.

So despite the lack of permanent public workers organizations there is quite a history of mass worker’s struggle since the 1960s.
This tradition is felt right up to today.
Even more encouragingly as pointed out by Torab Saleth in his recent Dublin talk as well as this tradition there is much new struggle and new interest in politics in Iran. As he made clear there are new developing socialist movements – separate from those traditional left forces that survived emerging very recently. At this stage many have yet to even define them selves besides being generally socialist and I think there could be much to play for libertarians here!

Ironically the best position Iranian women ever reached seems to have been in the 1930s as explained in an article by Lynette Dumble
(Struggles and Brutality in Iran: the fundamentalist backlash against women's progress)

In the 1930s a growing indigenous women’s movement in Iran had made some major gains for Iranian women:

In the 1930s, the women's movement made significant headway in numerous directions: A new civil code in 1931 gave women the right to ask for divorce under certain conditions, and the marriage age was raised to 15 years for girls and 18 years for boys. In 1936, consequent to women appearing without their veils at a graduation ceremony at the Girls' College in Tehran, women were barred from wearing the chador and scarf in public.

In the same year, women entered Tehran University for the first time.

There was massive involvement by women and women’s organization in the struggle against the Shah in the 1970s. This was all swept away after the referendum whereby the emerging Iranian democracy voted to shoot itself in the head and pass power over the raving Shia fundamentalism under Ayatollah Khomeini:

According to Dumble:
Hard won women's rights were the first to go as the segregation of the sexes became the focal point of the new state regulations. Within months of the establishment of the Islamic Republic, a declaration from Ayatollah Khomeini's office abolished the Family Protection Law. Shortly after, women lost their right to sit as judges, those working at government offices were ordered to observe the Islamic dress code, the marriage age girls was reduced back to 13 years, and married women were barred from attending regular schools.
The situation for women in Iran is desperate at present. Girls are married off as early as 9, divorce is instant for men but not available to women, stoning for adultery is on the statute books (men can also be stoned mind you – though due to international pressure and agitation in Iran – there have been no actual stoning to deaths for a few years)
The developmental trend in the Iranian ruling class with efforts to kick start the economies have lead to some limited gains for women. Noticeably there is some access to family planning and child care though, needless to say, abortion is a no no.

There have been several women swept into parliament on huge votes (in itself indicating something). Women are 60% of college students and growing. Some placed hopes in the regime of Khatami – who was elected as a reformer in 2001 with a huge popular vote. Unfortunately he proved a very limited liberal and was undermined on all sides. Khatami proved no more then a slightly more liberal wing of a ruling class busy passing the ball around between themselves. He achieved no reforms what so ever – probably less then had to be conceded anyway in order to develop economically.

Recently there has been evidence of women organizing much like students though under conditions of repression and secret police harassment. The BBC for example reported a large protest just before International women’s day 2007. Over 33 women were arrested near the parliament attempting to collect signatures towards a million demanding the repeal of Iranian religious laws that discriminate against women.

Interestingly one of the women reported that
“the interesting thing is the rich, westernised women are less supportive of the campaign to change discriminatory laws than the poor and more conservative women.”
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6426087.stm)
This year an attempt to gather in Teheran Park was once more attacked and brutally suppressed.
To sum up Iran is a country rich in tradition of class struggle, student’s struggles and women’s organizing (which goes right back to 1850.) There are many signs that these struggles are re-emerging. Unlike many countries in the Middle East there are real left forces to link up with though these seem scattered, not well coordinated for now, subject to harassment and facing a ruling class which has managed to keep its veneer of being anti-imperialist – while rushing to do the bidding of the world bank and IMF. Class struggle is also on the rise.
Clearly anarchists have a role in supporting these struggles!

US invasion likely?

a. The Israeli’s attacked Lebanon in July 2006 in an attempt to crush Hezbollah and weaken Iran’s regional influence. They failed on both counts with Hezbollah digging in winning a tactical victory and hugely increased support in the Lebanon and a massive increase in Iran’s influence in the country (to add to that in Iraq) Aufheben go so far as to describe it as “a humiliating defeat for Israel”

b. After initial hostility and attempts to install various hopeless puppets like Chalabi - the U.S. has reluctantly sided with the Shias in Iraq and even ex enemies like Al Sadr in Iraq. The present semi-puppet regime is mainly Shia in nature. The Shia militias are by far the biggest and best fighting groups in Iraq so an attack on Iran would impact massively on the US occupiers in Iraq. However it looks like things are stablising a small amount in this unfortunate country – certainly it no longer appears to be teetering on the brink of civil war so this may becoming less of a factor.

According to Yassamine Mather (www.irianian.com) “The US has invested heavily in the Iraqi sectarian groups and cannot afford a confrontation with them”

c. Militarily the job would be extremely difficult and a US attack would also unite almost all elements in this divided country including most ordinary Iranians.
Iran is a mountainous country and has a much bigger and better army then Iraq with an indigenous arms industry and a very sophisticated surface to air missile network.
It is also cultivating powerful allies including Russia with Vladimar Putin making the first visit of a Russian head of state in over 60 years – October 2007. Pakistan has close links and shares nuclear information. China has struck several oil deals over 2006-2007.

A strategic air strike hoping to take out all the hundreds of well buried uranium enriching centrifuges would be extremely difficult and involve a massive concentration of aircraft According to one retired general writing in a neo con journal:
(direct cut and paste)
A further massive complication is that Iran has a far better retaliatory capacity then Iraq with their Shabah missiles able to hit all the major oil producers in the Persian gulf and most of Asia. Although the Americans have about 6 weeks of a Strategic Oil Reserve – the consequences could be devastating and certainly would lead to massive oil price hikes in the short term.

All this mostly lifted from from the analysis of Aufheben Brighton Libertarian Marxists

http://libcom.org/library/aufheben/aufheben-15-2007

BUT circumstances can change and rapidly
IF Bush and co are mad and have the Hubris of an empire about to over reach…
If Mc Cain got in…

by Re: Tue Mar 25, 2008 17:49

Typical WSM indeed - another great event. Rock on !

by Alex Tue Mar 25, 2008 18:12

"has firmly established itself as the biggest and most exciting event on the political left in Ireland."

lost touch with reality abit there lads...I think yis need to get out of Dublin for awhile!

by is there Tue Mar 25, 2008 18:34

Actually thinking about this, and I understand some peoples claims of hyperbole, but is there a larger event on the political left in Ireland? Honestly can't think of one. Also, don't get this ego WSM thing, if anything they don't play themselves up enough and are far too self depricating.

by H Tue Mar 25, 2008 19:29

Text of another talk delivered at meeting on 'Making Cops Accountable - What communities can do to organise resistance!'

The legitimacy of the police in the republic of Ireland feeds off the myth that without the thin blue line society would descend into chaos – this myth can be broken into three major illusions. The first illusion is that crime can be combated by a professional body of experts. The second illusion is the state should take charge of this task by administering the necessary finances. Part of this illusion is that state officials should perform this role as they are better placed to be held accountable for these powers. Both of these arguments were developed by the Fielding brothers in London in the mid 18th century transforming the ‘bow street runners’ into the first professional police force. The last illusion dates back to the emergence of the Gardai Siochana in 1925 and is rooted in the ideological basis of the police to “succeed not by force of arms or numbers but on their moral authority as servants of the people”. A little investigation into the reality of these claims shatters the myth upon which the legitimacy of the police is built.

The claim that crime can be combated by a professional body of experts is increasingly being called into question as studies, both at home and abroad, show that policing has minimal impact on crime levels. Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s communities across Dublin called for police attention to be diverted from illegal street traders to the open heroin dealing taking place day and night - leading independent TD Tony Gregory to conclude that the Gardai would rather chase women with bananas than heroin dealers. Suspicions that members of the gardai were very close to major drug dealers is strengthened by revelations that Garda commissioner Pat Byrne had purchased his house from a substantial figure in the Dublin criminal underworld – Christy bud Dwyer - while less than two months before the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996 a special branch detective had been entertained by John Gilligan at his five million pound equestrian centre. Following the shooting of Veronica Guerin, a sea-change took place in the appearance of the government response to drugs – draconian legislation was introduced in the form of the 1996 criminal justice trafficking act – enabling the gardai to detain a person for up to 7 days for questioning. This legislation along with other extraordinary legal measures originally enacted in response to the crises in northern Ireland such as juryless courts would be used - not to deal with drug dealers however – but as a measure to deal with anti drugs activists - while at the same time the Taoiseach would refer to drug dealing as “a form of modern day terrorism ”. This appearance of urgency in dealing with the drug problem has since died down and functions primarily in a public relations capacity such as in community policing forums – an initiative designed to enable the state to negotiate its way back into areas where self policing had replaced the role of the state. In a criticism of the resources received to run this initiative, one anti drugs community activist revealed they were only receiving funding for tea and biscuits.
The lack of ability or indeed interest in combating drug related crime in working class areas of Dublin raises serious questions as to the function served by the gardai in contemporary Irish society.
Police accountability is not just about holding members of the force responsible for abuse of power but is also about ensuring that the policing process is subject to direction and occurs in the interests of the public as a whole and not specific classes. The disproportionate response of the state to the anti drugs movements, harassment of activists and use of extraordinary legal measures reveals that the gardai do not attach any importance to protecting the denizens of marginalized communities – that they in fact serve to protect society from the inhabitants of these places.

It takes little effort to deconstruct the second illusion that state officials should perform the policing role as they are better placed to be held accountable for these powers. A quick overview - of the major controversies that have arisen over the abuse of power by the police and have called attention to the inadequacy of accountability structures within the republic - will serve this purpose.
Investigations into reports of abuse and torture at the hands of the ‘heavy gang’ by the O Briain commission in 1978 resulted in a stream of recommendations for massive changes within the force.
The heavy gang was an informal grouping that developed from the special branch and murder squad as a means to filter out and eliminate activity considered subversive to the state and extract confessions through any means necessary – usually mental and physical abuse. By 1984 none of the recommendations of the o briain commission had been implemented – in fact in that year a new criminal justice bill was implemented limiting the rights of suspects to remain quiet in custody. The special branch had become a law onto themselves. This was the same year that the Kerry Babies Tribunal revealed that a confession was extracted by the murder squad from the Hayes family for a murder that they didn’t commit. The Ferns report revealed that complaints of sexual abuse at the hands of the clergy made to the gardai in 1988 did not appear to have been recorded in any garda file and were not investigated in an appropriate manner. A 1995 report by the international committee for the prevention of torture slammed the objectivity of the recently established Garda complaints board – which in that same year 154 complaints lead to only one prosecution. The garda corruption tribunal or morris tribunal as its better known has yet to publish its final report but it is expected to result in major reform measures needed to address the lack of accountability within the force. Part of these reform measures include discussions of the accountability potential of a possible ’whistle blowers charter’ encouraging members of the force to pass information of corruption on to the press. There has been no discussion however of removing legislation in place which states that any guard who passes information on to the press not sanctioned by the garda press office is liable to serve 7 years in prison or be faced with a 75, 000 euro fine. The reality of inadequate accountability structures is disguised by the illusion of reform and this is perfectly summed by John Egan of the Garda representative association in his recent claim on primetime that “This Whistle blowers charter completes the circle started with the garda ombudsman. He continued stating that “Morris called attention to the need for radical reform measures within the force and they’ve been taken.”

The last illusion upon which the legitimacy of the Gardai is based dates back to the emergence of the Gardai Siochana in 1925 and is rooted in the ideological basis of the police to “succeed not by force of arms or numbers but on their moral authority as servants of the people”. This illusion that our state police force operates with public consent functions through the mobilisation of cultural nationalism. The Royal Irish constabulary – the police force which fought for the British in the anglo irish war – was reinvented through a strategic emphasis on cultural symbolism in an attempt to construct an image of the police force as Irish in thought and action. Changes to the force were made in reality only on a symbolic level; adopting an Irish name, promoting the Irish language and maintaining deep affiliations with Gaelic sport, the Catholic Church and community life. Very little changes were made to the highly centralised & colonial organisational model inherited from the RIC and the Dublin metropolitan police – who in the 1913 lockout attacked workers in an attempt to smash their attempts to unionise. The Gardai emerged without any formal process of external democratic accountability - a process by free state authorities and subsequent leaders to concentrate and retain political power amongst themselves ensured a total absence of local control over policing. Consent from the public rests on ensuring an ideological basis of support generated through the mobilisation of cultural nationalism. Those who actively opposed the manner in which the new state was forming were faced with ‘the broy harriers’, an auxiliary force of ex-IRA men who eliminated subversives under DeValera who were eventually subsumed into what became known as the Garda Special branch. The colonial legacy of the Gardai served to create a great top heavy over centralised bureaucracy. And the Northern conflict has facilitated a culture of non-accountability within the force as a means of deflecting criticism. A former minister for justice famously claimed “there is nothing between us and the dark night of terrorism but that force”. Arguably, however – one of the most serious controversies emanating from the north is the cover up by senior garda officers and the RUC of allegations of collusion between the British secret service and loyalist paramilitaries in the Dublin-monaghan car bombings of 1974. The ideological basis of police legitimacy is founded on a thin veil of cultural nationalism that when lifted reveals an anachronistic and outdated policing model.

The myth that the sovereign state is capable of providing security, law, order and crime control within its territorial boundaries is easily deconstructed. Frank McBrearty Jnr recently stated that he believes the Gardai to be the most powerful people in Irish society. This isn’t too difficult to believe when we consider the pretty remarkable achievement of the gardai to construct and maintain an image of public consent consistently enabling them to overcome periods of legitimacy crises while at the same time further enhancing their powers.

by Alan MacSimoin - WSM Tue Mar 25, 2008 23:39

Some of the stops on the walking tour and a few notes about them

MOORE LANE - 1916

Four IWW members were among the 70 or so rebel dead of the 1916 Dublin rising and its aftermath. Of the four the best known is James Connolly - one of the main organisers of the rising. He had been an IWW organiser in New York. Obviously his IWW connection is pretty well known on the far left.

Donal Nevin, in his book James Connolly 'A Full life', refers to "a British conscientious objector (possibly called Allen) who wore the button of the revolutionary syndicalist union, the Industrial Workers of the World. He was wounded during the evacuation of the GPO and died on Saturday"

The second may be a Londoner named Neale, who was shot and died later in Easter Week, and the third was a Greek sailor who apparently jumped ship in Liverpool to join the rebellion and was killed in the final charge on Moore Street.

One of the three was thought to be Jewish and so was not buried in Glasnevin but in a Jewish cemetery. There is a story of a family who opening their family plot in the 1930's only to discover a body wearing a Citizen Army belt and an IWW button already in the grave.

HENRY STREET - DUNNES STORES

In July 1984, eleven young workers at Dunnes Stores on Henry Street went on strike following the suspension of a 21-year-old cashier, Mary Manning. At their union’s conference a motion calling for a boycott of South African goods had been passed. These workers took their trade unionism seriously; Mary was suspended when she politely refused to handle a South African grapefruit at her checkout. Selflessly, these workers remained on strike for two years and nine months.

Their contribution to the fight against Apartheid is internationally recognised and remembered in the Ewan MacColl song, “Ten young women and one young man”.

Finally, the government was pushed to resolve the strike by banning imports of SA fruit & veg.

O’CONNELL STREET – LARKIN'S STATUE

At the time of the 1913 lockout, Cleary’s department store was the Imperial Hotel. A rally in support of the unions had been banned, but large numbers gathered anyway. An elderly clergyman appeared at his hotel window overlooking the crowd. Off came his hat, off came a false beard, it as Jim Larkin.

The police attacked, causing the deaths of two workers. Hundreds more were injured. It is still known in the Irish Labour movement as "Bloody Sunday". James Nolan, a young union member, was beaten so badly that his skull was smashed in. John Byrne also lost his life that day.

A young striker Alice Brady was marking her way home with her food parcel from the union office when an armed scab shot her dead,

Michael Byrne, secretary of the ITGWU in Dun Laoghaire was tortured in a police cell and died shortly after release. In response, Larkin, Connolly and an ex-British Army Captain called Jack White formed a uniformed worker's militia - the Irish Citizen Army - to protect workers' demonstrations.

Leaving for the USA in 1914 to raise funds for the union, Larkin became involved in the activities of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In November 1915 he was one of the chosen speakers at the funeral of IWW organizer and songwriter Joe Hill.

On the other side of the world, in Australia, the IWW were prominent opponents of World War 1. The Sydney Twelve were members arrested in September 1916, and charged with treason under an archaic law known as the Treason Felony Act (1848), arson, sedition and forgery. One of them was Big Jim’s own brother, Peter, who was finally released four years later by the newly elected Labour government

THE GATE THEATRE

Back in the early 1900s this was the Rotunda Concert Hall and Pillar Room.

On Wednesday January 18, 1922, two hundred radicals seized the building, hoisted a red flag and declared a ‘soviet’.

The ‘soviet’, which lasted only three days, ended when the IRA were used to clear the building and make it safe for its private owners

While many of us will have read Liam O’Flaherty’s ‘The Informer’ when at school, few will have been told that he was the leader of this affair.

Sean McAteer, a docker and member of the Irish Citizen Army was another leading figure. He later emigrated to America and became an activist with the IWW.

This might seem a bit comic opera but we need to remember that it coincided with the many factory occupations in the period immediately after Irish independence. These generally started as strikes but quickly moved to occupations and the resumption of production under workers’ control. Inspired by news the Russian Revolution, they flew the red flag.

Self-declared 'Soviet' occupations occurred at Cork Harbour, North Cork railways, the quarry and the fishing fleet at Castleconnell, the gasworks and a coachbuilders in Tipperary, a clothing factory in Dublin's York Street, sawmills in Ballinacourty and Killarney, the Drogheda Iron foundry, Waterford Gas, mines at Arigna and Ballinderry, two flour mills in Cork, Sir John Kean's farm in Cappoquin, the Monaghan asylum. Undoubtedly there were others.

CORNER OF O’CONNELL STREET & PARNELL STREET

It was here that Tom Clarke, one of the seven signatories of the 1916 proclamation, had his tobacconist’s shop. Clarke is seen as the link between the old Fenians and the new nationalists around Pearse.

It is usually thought that the socialism in Ireland can be dated from Connolly’s time. In fact our history goes back a little further.

What isn’t as well known is the connection between sections of the Fenians and the international socialist movement. Joseph McDonnell, an ex-Fenian represented Ireland on the General Council of the International Working Men’s Association in London.

In 1872, branches of the International were established in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Cootehill, Co Cavan.

Immense opposition came from the Catholic Church and the newspapers, there was a propaganda offensive that claimed socialists would murder priests and suppress religion.

Meetings were broken up by mobs organised by the Catholic Men’s Sodalities. Sackings and difficulties in hiring venues forced the closure of these early socialist bodies. Welcoming their, Canon Maguire, a Cork cleric, noted with satisfaction that: “those wretched people had been expelled from Belfast”.

The socialist movement remained on the periphery of Irish politics until 1885. In this year, the Dublin Democratic Association came into existence. This organisation was essentially an offshoot of the much larger British group known as the Democratic Federation.

In some cases hundreds attended its Saturday meetings at the Rotunda (today it is the Gate Theater) in Dublin.

The Socialist League followed quickly on the heels of the Dublin Democratic Association. Once again, the Dublin branch arose out of a larger network established in Britain in December 1884, whose members included William Morris.

Indeed, it was with the arrival of an English anarchist, Michael Gabriel who lived in North Strand, that the Dublin Socialist League began to make ground. It differed from previous Irish socialist organs in its radicalism. The defence and promotion of workers’ rights and issues took precedence above everything else.

They contended that Home Rule would entail: “the rule of the farmer, the publican, the clergymen and the politicians.” Can’t argue with that!

by Anon Wed Mar 26, 2008 01:58

http://www.eirigi.org/latest/latest160308.html

by Gregor Wed Mar 26, 2008 09:27

Of course the description of the Bookfair as "the biggest and most exciting event on the political left in Ireland" is subjective. We would say that wouldn't we!
But here's a challenge for 'AH', 'jaysus', 'not surprised' and anyone else who cares to join in - What's your nomination for the title?
And I promise I won't let 'WSM's ego problem' get in the way of what could be a fun competition.

by jaysus Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:50

The problem is when you decide to speak for 'the political left in Ireland'. The bookfair may well have been the most exciting event for WSM members in Dublin, but for the political left???

I'm not a fan of Labour, but I'm sure for them the connolly conference was big and exciting.

The feminist walking tour had 150-200 people attending, which is pretty big. I attended both the fair and the FWT, and I found the FWT to be much more exciting.

The bookfair was fun, and I'm glad the WSM had a good time, but the organisation has a well-deserved reputation of sounding cocky. To claim that it was the biggest and most exciting event for the political left in Ireland is an extremely cocky statement. It gets up people's noses when the WSM presumes to speak for the political left.

Indeed, the WSM is getting likened more and more to the SWPers, with its claims of being 'instumental' in setting up several organisations (such as Choice Ireland). (No it wasn't by the way- when Choice Irealand was formed, there was only one member of the WSM involved, and we weren't aware that he was there as a representative of the WSM, we thought he was there as a pro-choice activist).

Again, I'm really glad you had so much fun at the bookfair, and it WAS fun, it was great. It's a pity that this argument has even tainted it. Maybe take a tiny bit of advice (?) and try phrasing things in a way that's a little less egotistical and presumptuous.

The rest of us don't like when you try to speak for us.

Thanks

by Andrew Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:33

So your not contesting 'biggest' just 'most exciting'. Fair enough, thats a subjective call after all but by that same measure the author is also more than entitled to make that call. Or are you suggesting the need to hold a Leftvision most exciting event of 2008 tele poll first? Perhaps Pat Kenny would host?

But seriously don't let me get in the way of an essential (and traditional) bit of anonymous begrudgery! Where would we be without it.

by Chekov Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:36

Nobody is presuming to speak for anybody. In general, when I say "x is the best thing in ireland", nobody thinks that I am presuming to speak for the whole population. It's obviously, blatantly, completely transparently an expression of the author's opinion. You may disagree with the opinion and you may even have a compelling disagreement, but the claim that the WSM is presuming to speak on behalf of the entire political left is completely ridiculous and requires one to ignore the normal semantics of the language.

by TMcG Wed Mar 26, 2008 13:21

I would take "biggest" to mean the largest amount of people attended.

I don't know for sure how big the "Marxism" and "Resistance" events are, but I think they would be the equal of the bookfair in terms of attendance.

I would think the Anti-War march held before Saint Patrick's day every year, small though it is, has more people attending. Most Sinn Fein fundraisers would have much greater attendance. The Sinn Fein Ard Fheis (pictured) is of course much bigger than any of the above, and the foyer area in the RDS is full of stalls for various causes and campaigns, magazines, etc. You can even buy works of art there, so I think it's fair to compare it to the bookfair.

The West Belfast Feile community festival usually attracts many many thousands of visitors over a week of events ranging from talks to music to theatre to walking tours, and even has its own radio station.

Of course, none of these annual events might be left-wing enough, or left-wing in the correct way, but nevertheless, a few hundred people attending a book fair, when you consider the above, is a strange thing to announce as the biggest and most exciting annual event.

My examples are mostly Dublin based as well, and just off the top of my head, I'm sure that other contributors could think of many more.

It may be true in some way, but it comes across as Pravda style (the newspaper, not the pub) self-congratulatory hyperbole. It's distracting from the purpose of the article and irritates the reader who knows better.

by Andrew Wed Mar 26, 2008 14:03

I'm pretty sure neither Marxism or Resistance claim to have over 400 people attending them and one of them in recent year has declined to a lot less (however as you pay into these it could be argued that 400 counts for more).

Whether you count SF events obviously depends on whether you think SF as a whole has much of a meaningful claim to be left wing rather than populist. They've been in government for a time up north so I guess people will be forming their own conclusions on this. The other two events you listed (anti-war march and Feile) don't choose to align themselves politically but even so its worth pointing out that the Michael Y was only claiming 500 for the march so that would in any case be smaller.

I find the idea that the problem with Pravda was that it used the phrase 'most exciting' in a way that could be argued was inappropiate to be rather revealing in itself. But I guess hyperbole may be infectious?

To me it seems obvious that excitement exists in the eye of the beholder, one womens excitement being another's unbearable tedium. I've no doubt that when the author described the bookfair as the 'most exciting' event on the left he or she meant it. But I'm also fairly sure that someone involved in the organisation of Marxism might say the same of that, and likewise genuinely mean it. The only seriously interesting thing about the discussion is that it appears someone seemed so desperate to have a go that they posted multiple comments on the topic - and even that has a silver lining as it keeps bumping the thread to the top of latest comments.

by moderate Wed Mar 26, 2008 16:17

One could also argue that the amount of money taken from book sales has some bearing on the issue. It was pointed out on another thread that thousands of pounds were taken from booksales at the fair and that the sales figure was up despite attendance being slightly down on the 2006 gig. It was a bookfair after all , not a rugby match where attendance would be the central factor !

by thomas Paine Wed Mar 26, 2008 19:10

Is it that big when ya subtract all the touts and informers. i'd say the top table would be fairly bare then.

by ronan - wsm Wed Mar 26, 2008 21:55

recording of Sara Burke's contribution on mp3.

sarah.mp3 6.99 Mb

by ronan Wed Mar 26, 2008 22:05

partial recording of Dr Ciara McMeel's contribution. unfortunately the battery of my dictaphone died during the speech so i missed alan morkan's speech and the contributions from the floor.

ciara.mp3 4.11 Mb

by Conor Kostick - SWP Thu Apr 10, 2008 17:09

I was looking forward to the bookfair having offered to read from 'Saga', which is an anarchist inspired sci-fi book. The organisers kindly agreed to host the reading, but unfortunately I was double booked that weekend and had to travel to the UK. I appreciate the non-sectarian attitude shown in inviting me along and if there's still an interest in Saga next year, will make sure to come along. I'm glad it went well.

Conor

by Davy Carlin Thu Apr 10, 2008 17:22

Good to see such a fraternal comment Connor