2010

Hey all,
We just had a Rag Hang-out to discuss and plan for 2010! If there's any women or female identified folks out there interested in getting involved with RAG or finding out more about us we'll be having a meeting for just that purpose on the 22nd Feb at 7.30 in seomra spraoi, 10 belvedere court, just behind Mountjoy Square. So come on down! It'll be a film night with popcorn, snacks and a discussion after.
We also talked about Rag #5, we're putting our thinking wheels in motion and planning lots of discussions this year.
We are also planning a RAG podcast so keep your ears peeled for that in the next month or so.
Hope you'll all be seeing lots of RAG in 2010!

COME TO OUR LAUNCH

Our fourth issue has just come back form the printers!!!
We are very proud and excited about the new issue and we'd like you to
come along and celebrate with us.

The launch party will be this Saturday, November 14th, in Seomra Spraoi, 10
Belvidere court, just behind Mountjoy Square.

It will start at 6pm with tasty food, chilled out music, and is
child-friendly until 9.
At 9 we will have some live music starting, Djs and more. We'll be
partying away until 2am.
Entrance is €6 including food and a copy of the magazine!
BYOB

Hope to see all you good folks there

Lots of love
RAG

Film Screening Oct 17th - Abortion Democracy and The Coat Hanger Project

Rag are hosting a film screening and discussion in Seomra Spraoi on October 17th, at 8pm.

Two filmakers are on tour with films they have made on the subject of abortion. The first one is called The Coat Hanger Project http://www.thecoathangerproject.com/
and the second is Abortion Democracy: Poland/South Africa http://www.abortion-democracy.de/
The film makers will be there to talk about the films so there should be some great discussion afterwards.

London Anarchist Bookfair here we come!

Friday night, 7pm onwards in Housman's bookshop - a launch of The Rag no.4 in London. More details on the sites below.

All day Saturday RAG stall at the London Anarchist bookfair. Hope to see you over the weekend.

http://www.housmans.com/events.php
http://www.anarchistbookfair.org/

Social Solidarity Network - Sat 3rd October

Invitation to meeting Saturday 3rd Oct

Job losses, wage cuts, cuts in essential public services, pension levies..... Our living standards and our social services are under huge attack.



Mainstream media commentators and some politicians would have us believe that there is no alternative, that we have all been living beyond our means and that we have to tighten our belts in these recessionary times.

But we do not have to accept their reality. We do not have to accept that people on minimum wage, unwaged workers, those on social welfare, low-paid civil servants or working class people in general should be the ones who pay for the economic crisis. We do not have to accept that our health, education, infrastructure and social welfare services should be slashed in order to bail out the banks and the property developers.

Huge numbers of people recognise that we are being sold a lie. Huge numbers know that the attempts to create divisions between public and private sector workers and between different groups of ordinary people are an attempt to weaken us.

Communities all over the country have organised to resist hospital closures, cuts in hospital services, education cuts and other attacks on social services. Senior citizens fought valiantly, and ultimately victoriously, to retain the right to a medical card for over 70's.

Communities and workforces all over the country are organising resistance to threatened attacks and cutbacks. Groups such as Waterford Crystal workers, Visteon workers in Belfast, Thomas Cook workers, Custom House cleaners in Dublin, Marine Terminals Ltd. Workers (Dublin port) and Mr. Binman workers (Co. Tipperary) and many more have fought back against job losses and attacks on working conditions.

The Social Solidarity Network is coming together to provide a forum for workers and communities to unite to resist the attacks, and to build links across the many struggles which will break out over the coming months. On Saturday 3rd October we are holding a meeting which will provide a chance for people to come together and share their personal experiences, explore the economics of the crisis and plan ways in which we can build resistance.

We have identified 3 main areas for discussion – Workplace Resistance; Unemployed/Unwaged/Community Resistance; Education Cuts resistance. In each of these areas we want to explore how opposition to government cuts can be encouraged and co-ordinated. These are of course only our ideas and we are open to suggestions for alternative or additional workshops.

We hope that you will come along on the day, share your views and help to build a network which can share skills, knowledge and experience and which can help to bring reality to the old maxim that ‘Unity is Strength’.

Social Solidarity Network
Building a Network of Resistance
Saturday 3rd October 2009
Seomra Spraoi, 10 Belvidere Court, Dublin 1 (off Gardiner Street - see http://www.seomraspraoi.org:8080/Plone/ ... contact-us for map)

RAG Summer Party BBQ

RAG Veggie BBQ and Kareoke Night
Support your local ragsters and stuff your face

BBQ Fundraiser for RAG and Seomra Spraoi

Veggie and Vegan Food Burgers, Salads, Skewers and yummy bits

Top it all off with Party Tunes followed by Kareoke fun

Host:
RAG Dublin
4 July 2009
7 pm
5 / 8 euros

At: Seomra Spraoi
10 Belevedere Court, Off Gardiner St, Dublin 1

Updates!

Well it's that time of year again - where we have to concentrate on trying to get our articles written and edited and magazine together in time for the autumn! So we are suspending our monthly open meetings for the next few months. However, if you live in Dublin and want to get involved with RAG, just drop us an email at the address above. Also - there's a bit going on so here's some updates:

Queer Politics: Mainstream or Revolutionary?
Queer Spraoi/RAG/Seomra Spraoi Open Workshop
Wednesday 10th June 6pm sharp, Seomra Spraoi (map)

The contemporary Euro-American LGBT movement emerged out of the gay and lesbian liberation struggles associated with the radical politics of the 1960s, which in turn were inspired by mass revolutionary movements prominent at the turn of the twentieth century. Yet today the majority of men and women active in LGBT politics seek not revolutionary social change but inclusion within the boundaries of mainstream liberal culture. They tend to organise as a single-issue interest group seeking legislative reforms (for example, amendments to marriage laws), and unlike their forebears pose no radical challenges to either capitalism or the state.
In this workshop, sponsored jointly by Queer Spraoi, RAG, and Seomra Spraoi, we will explore the controversial question of whether contemporary queer politics can and ought to pursue a more ambitious political agenda. If so, what form might such a politics take, and how would it relate to its more conservative cousin?

This is a public and free event, and everyone is welcome! The workshop will be followed by a queer café and social night.

DCTV
Congrats to RAG member Eve, who has been busy producing documentaries for local station Dublin Community Television (DCTV). Here is a link to the programme she produced on Seomra Spraoi, Dublin's social centre. 3 more to come!

Lash Back
Congrats also to our fellow Dublin femos Lash Back. We had the pleasure to attend their magazine launch last week. It was a classy affair with wine, cheese and grapes, super cool posters with feminist quotes and even a chill-out room with a bed and a safer spaces policy! The magazine will be available in Tower Records soon - and in the RAG distro (on its rare outings - next one will be at the Queer Politics meeting 10th June) Big respect to the Lash Back women and look forward to working with you again in the future.

Shell To Sea
Resistance has stepped up in Mayo, where Shell continue with their plans for an onshore gas refinery in Rossport/Glengad. A local man, Willie Corduff, was badly beaten by shell security staff last month and many protestors have been arrested and prosecuted. Shell are planning for the return of the pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, next month, and the Irish government are sending in navy ships to help them. Retired schoolteacher, Maura Harrington, who last year went on hunger strike when the Solitaire entered Irish waters was yesterday jailed again for non-payment of fines. Now is a good time to consider visiting the solidarity camp in Mayo, organising solidarity protests where you live or getting involved in those in Dublin. See you there. Links: Shell to Sea, Mayo gas info

Network to Fight Cuts
In the coming months RAG will be working with the long established Irish anarchist organisation the WSM to help form a network to organise around the issue of the recession and the cutbacks that are currently affecting us all. More details to follow.