Ireland, anarchist Paper Workers Solidarity #129 April/May 2013

In this issue ---- Thinking about Anarchism - CAHWT ? inspiring people to demand 
participatory democracy http://www.wsm.ie/c/cahwt-demand-participatory-democracy ---- At a 
public meeting of the Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes (CAHWT) in Kildare last month, 
a query was raised from a woman anxious about the upcoming local elections. She explained 
her complete frustration with the austerity policies of the Fine Gael-Labour Government, 
and described her despair at not having the power to challenge policies that were ravaging 
her community, stating there ?really is no one legitimate left to vote for.? ---- Why 
Fracking of the Loch Allen Basin is being opposedhttp://www.wsm.ie/c/fracking-loch-allen 
---- One of the final acts of the last Fianna Fail government was to award licences to a 
number of companies to explore for commercial gas in the Northwest Carboniferous Basin 
(more commonly known as the Lough Allen basin).

The Lough Allen Basin is a huge area that covers parts of counties Cavan, Donegal, 
Fermanagh, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo and Tyrone. It is an area of 8000 
square kilometres in total.

Fighting for abortion rights in Northern Ireland 
http://www.wsm.ie/c/abortion-rights-northern-ireland-apr2013

In the North of Ireland, abortion is prohibited under the Offences Against the Persons Act 
(1861) - with some common law exceptions. If continuation of the pregnancy threatens the 
life of the woman, or would adversely affect her mental and physical health where the 
effects are ?real and serious? or ?long term?, are two such examples.

The Human Cost of Cuts to Public Services - Thoughts of a Public Sector Worker 
http://www.wsm.ie/c/human-cost-cuts-public-services-worker

The following text was sent to us by a reader who works in a social welfare office. Life 
in a social welfare office can be heartbreaking sometimes. Sitting there, behind the 
glass, you have a very limited range of available responses available to a broad expanse 
of problems. As the crisis deepens, people?s problems become more serious and varied and 
our responses and the time available to respond narrow.

An Irish emigrant in Sydney - life, work & radical politics 
http://www.wsm.ie/c/irish-emigrant-sydney-life-work-radical-politics

In Sydney's Sun Herald there's a graph of unemployment in Europe with the title "Painful 
Recovery" it has percentages from Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and the overall EU.It 
says "Monthly unemployment. Ireland's unemployment is no longer surging but that is 
largely because 1600 people emigrate every week to find work". So apparently all that guff 
about how generous social welfare is in Ireland is a lie, as thousands seek work elsewhere 
and quite a few in Australia.

West Belfast - 2nd highest levels of child poverty in the UK 
http://www.wsm.ie/c/west-belfast-child-poverty-flags

The recent report commissioned by the ?End Child Poverty? campaign has found that out of 
650 parliamentary constituencies, West Belfast has the second highest levels of child 
poverty in the UK. Manchester Central being the only constituency to record higher levels 
of child poverty and deprivation. 43% of children within the West Belfast constituency 
grow up in poverty. And while this is a reduction on the previous year from 46%, other 
areas saw a greater percentage drop in poverty levels over that year.

Review of Paul Mason, 2013, Why It?s STILL Kicking Off Everywhere 
http://www.wsm.ie/c/review-paul-mason-still-kicking-everywhere

A question. If depression is the inability to construct a future, does depression not 
appear very like the world?s prevailing mood or zeitgeist right now? As I write, the 
immense working majority faces into continued hierarchy, exploitation and polarisation, 
characterised by, among other things, ecological catastrophe, austerity without end, 
technocratic governance, nuclear annihilation, escalation of war... Compounding these 
dilemmas is our collective inability, real or illusory (I am not sure which), to construct 
an alternative future.

More articles from this issue coming!