Some thoughts on the building a Global Justice Movement in Ireland

With the occasion of the launching of the Bloom Alliance through a conference with national and international activists on the issue of how to build a Global Justice movement in Ireland (November 7th & 8th, http://www.indymedia.ie/article/89493 ) we want to share some thoughts on the intention behind the conference and the gap we are intending to fill with it.

For some decades, Global Justice has been an issue for Irish activists who have actively supported numerous struggles for social justice in different parts of the world, from Central America to Palestine, or who have actively opposed the impositions of the global elite in the form of external debt or economic conditionalities from International Financial Institutions such as the IMF or the World Bank. A landmark in this growing sense of solidarity was the inspiring Dunnes Stores strike against the Apartheid regime in South Africa (1984-1987) which not only mobilised many in support of the brave South Africans who stood up for their rights and increased the awareness on this issue among the wider public, but it also was very successful in achieving a shift in Irish policy to add further pressure on this racist regime to be wiped off the face of Earth.

Numerous single issues or single country Global Justice campaigns and movements have been formed since, providing an inspiring pool of activists who have taken global issues home, and have understood that solidarity starts by change in your own country. As Subcomandante Marcos from Chiapas had put it in relation to the Zapatista Movement, the best way to show solidarity with their movement is to struggle for change at home. At the end of the day, in the global world we live in, it is clear that we all have responsibility and that a shift to neoconservative politics in one country may lead to disastrous effects to so many others (who, by the way, never had the chance to give their own voice)…

However, it remains as a feature of the loose Global Justice movement, which by its very own nature has many angles and areas of activism (anti-war, anti-occupation, fair trade, single-country solidarity, etc.), that many activist communities do exist in parallel and often with not much interaction between them, even if at times there are many reasons for them to cooperate for a common goal.

Taking into account this history of Irish Global Solidarity, is that the Latin American Solidarity Centre, Comhlámh, the Debt and Development Coalition (Ireland) and the Africa Centre have decided to give a step forward and merge forces into an alliance of membership-based NGOs called “Bloom Alliance”. This with an eye to increasing the visibility of Global Justice issues which are common to our work, look for strength in unity, but also, as a way to provide our members and supporters a space for interacting with other activists and share views and experiences.

Our broader aim is to help create A movement for Global Justice; yet, we don’t believe this will solely result in THE Global Justice movement in Ireland. We assume the construction of such a movement to be an ongoing process, where many different hands will have to come together and which will have to take into account previous initiatives and experiences. However we understand that Bloom Alliance has a specific role to play on this process, we understand as well that others who don’t belong to the type of organisations we are intending to organise under this particular banner (others such as bigger NGOs, activist networks, campaign groups, etc.) have an equally valid role to play too. We do not believe in a hegemony approach to this task, but we believe it should be a process based around solidarity values, where diversity is accepted and respected, where it means strength by complementing one another’s efforts, for it is necessary if such a project is really to be able to play a role in creating a better society.

We understand Bloom to be just one actor of a broader movement which is beyond our organisations (or any specific organisation for that matter). It is a collective process based on diversity, solidarity and joint action whenever there’s no strong argument against it. Such a Global Justice movement as we foresee and to which we want to give our most humble contribution, needs to get a life of its own.

It is with all this in mind that we are calling for the Bloom Alliance conference on the 7th and 8th of November to discuss how to help create this global movement with inspiring international activists, such as Oscar Olivera from the Bolivia water wars, Eyad Burnat from the struggle against the apartheid wall in Palestine, Njoki Njehu, a Kenyan activist on the debt issue, as well as a pannel of Irish activists, including some of the Dunnes Stores strikers. Our main aim with this event is to be able to bridge the gaps between the different activist communities. We invite all sorts of activists, from any campaign, network or movement to take part of it, and to take ownership of the conference –being our intention to help build a movement with everyone, our aim cannot be artificially divided from that of everyone present and committed to the construction of it.

The global crisis and its impact over the average folk, the people, the workers, the peasants, the minorities, both East and West, North and South alike, demand a mature approach and a sense of urgency of this task at the same time. The times are not for looking for hegemony through exclusive brands and logos, but to create a living movement out of solidarity and beyond excessive partisan zeal. The invitation therefore is for everyone to share experiences, skills, ideas, hands and dreams.

José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
Latin American Solidarity Centre