The second Grassroots Gathering was held over the Easter weekend in Cork. Some seventy people from all over Ireland took part. Areas represented included Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Belfast as well as a scattering of other counties including Kildare, Kerry, Clare and Sligo.
In June 2002 I travelled with a group of Irish anarchists to the protests against the EU summit in Seville. This article reports on the protests and end with a look at the post-Genoa summit protest and a look forward to the Mayday 2004 Summit protest that was to happen in Dublin.
The WEF is not democratic in any sense, being composed of representatives from selected corporations who pay 30,000 plus a year for the privilege. Yet it is one of the key bodies which decide how life will be for the 6 billion of us who inhabit the globe.
George Bush may have declared major combat operations over in Iraq on May 1st but resistance to the US occupation forces goes on. The killing today of one more US soldier at a petrol station in Baghdad means 42 have been killed in combat since that date, almost one per day. And every week US soldiers coming to and from Iraq continue to fly through Shannon airport.
Report on the 12 April 2003 Shannon demonstration which was only attended by about 470 people, many of these being from the political parties that make up the IAWM. The movement that could mobilise 100,000 ends up leading 467 into a protest pen at Shannon as in the background military flights taxi for take off.
Report written in the aftermath of the attempted March 1st 2003 Direct Action at Shannon airport which looks at what happened and what it means for the anti-war movement.
Article written in the aftermath of the massive February 15th 2003 anti-war demonstrations arguing that now (before the wart started) was the time to be organising mass direct actions and arguing for the one planned for March 1st 2003 at Shannon airport.
Report on the October 2002 anti-war demonstration at Shannon airport when part of the perimeter fence was torn down and up to 150 people entered the airfield.
These are some of the thoughts that have been mulling around in my mind since the Bradford conference. I am very aware that it is so much easier to criticise than to offer solutions, so bearing this in mind I would like to throw out five things
Over the Mayday weekend of 1998 around 250 anarchists travelled to the small town of Bradford in England for a weekend of activity which included a conference. As I understand it the planning for what was to become the J18 Day of Action against the city of London started at Bradford but in any case the spirit was certainly that of the anti-capitalist movement that was to emerge the following year. These are two reports I wrote at the time and the original conference program.