Jobstown Not Guilty: defend the right to protest

Protest outside Irish embassy, London, 23.3.17, photo Sarah Wrack (Click to enlarge)

An international day of solidarity with the 'Jobstown Not Guilty' campaign took place on 23 March with protests organised by the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) in dozens of cities around the world. This included a noisy protest outside the Irish embassy in London where protesters handed in hundreds of letters in support of Jobstown defendants.

The Irish state plans to try 18 peaceful protesters for 'false imprisonment' of Labour former deputy premier Joan Burton. They were part of a sit-down protest and slow march around Burton's car during the successful campaign against water charges in Ireland.

Establishment

The establishment wants to criminalise protest and take vengeance against the movement's leadership, especially Socialist Party Ireland. Paul Murphy, a member of Ireland's parliament and the Socialist Party, could lose office if convicted.

Many trade union branches around the UK support the Jobstown campaign. The latest addition is Unite Community in Newcastle after Socialist Party member John Hoare moved a motion.

Join the list of supporters! Email your name, address and postcode, plus any workers' movement position, to: [email protected]

Supporters include:

Noam Chomsky, academic and activist; Jean-Luc Mélenchon, French presidential candidate of the left; Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister; Angela Davis, US civil rights campaigner; Jason Manford, comedian; Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite the Union; Sean Hoyle, president of transport union RMT; Ian Hodson, president of food workers' union BFAWU; Janice Godrich, president of the civil servants' union PCS; Chris Baugh, assistant general secretary of civil servants' union PCS; John McInally, vice-president of civil servants' union PCS; Luis Mesina, general secretary of the Chilean bank workers' trade union confederation; Tassia Christodoulopoulou, Syriza MP and vice-chair of the Greek parliament; Catarina Martins, parliamentary leader of the Left Bloc, Portugal; National executive committee of Die Linke, German left party; Executive committee of the Party of the European Left; Ertugrul Kürkçü, People's Democratic Party MP, Turkey; "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, member of the Hong Kong legislative council; Ged Grebby, chief executive of Show Racism the Red Card; Meena Kandasamy, novelist and poet; MPs and MEPs from Belgium, Cyprus, France, Ireland, Greece, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Brazil, Turkey, Israel, Romania, Hong Kong and more; Trade unionists from across Ireland, Britain and elsewhere...

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