(en) Ireland Workers Solidarity Movement - The Anti-Water Charge protest

On Wednesday tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Dublin to protest against 
the government?s latest attempt to bleed the working class dry. The Anti-Water Charge 
protest effectively shut down the city as the capital came to a standstill.
A delegation from the Belfast branch of the Workers Solidarity Movement travelled to 
Dublin in a gesture of solidarity and protested in with our comrades in the south. The 
fight for working class liberation is not contained within these artificial, man-made 
borders; struggle and solidarity know no borders. We should fight injustice wherever it is 
present. ---- Just as in the six counties, people across the South already pay for their 
water despite the fact that in many areas it is undrinkable and that the infrastructure is 
in serious need of repair. Here we have been told by the establishment that water chargers 
have been deferred until 2016. Last October, DUP MLA, Trevor Clarke, stated that ?[Water 
charges] could end up back on the table for consideration much sooner.? This combined with 
reports of attempted water meter installations in areas of Belfast and in Derry should 
serve as a wake up call.

For anarchists we are clear as to where our allegiances lie and it's not with the 
politicians up in Stormont. The only difference between our ruling parties is the colour 
of their election posters. There is no difference in their pay slips, but there is between 
ours and theirs! One thing is for sure: what is in our best interest is not in theirs.

This is not just another tax and the issue is much bigger than water. Water is vital to 
our existence and while they have taxed us for everything else they are literally trying 
to make us pay for our fundamental human right to water; to existence.
The Earth and all its resources belong to all its inhabitants not just the tiny elite of 
the wealthy. It?s not good enough that people are dying on our streets; it?s not good 
enough that we have homeless people and peopleless homes from a situation that they created.

We are all entitled to safe, secure, suitable and comfortable housing ? your country of 
origin shouldn?t make a difference, people shouldn?t have to live in dire, hopeless 
situations in the Direct Provision centres because they don?t speak the same language or 
look the same as us. Likewise pregnant people shouldn?t have to be put into situations 
where they can?t even afford an abortion let alone a child.

The most vulnerable in our society, the working class, are under attack and we have to say 
loud and clear that enough is enough!