Thank you to for inviting the IWW to speak at their radical alternative to the mainstream pride march last Saturday 24/6. The IWW could not in good conscience march alongside the Gardaí, government parties, or the corporations that oppress the working class daily.
Below is the text of the speech read by one of our members:
We are standing with you today at this Pride event because it is right to stand with others when they are being victimised, maligned, lied about, and used for political ends. It's right to stand against systems that oppress and abuse.
There is a long proud history of solidarity between the queer communities and workers' unions. We support one another, not just where we are queer and you are workers, but because we believe in the power of solidarity. Of unity. That an injury to one is an injury to all. We believe that we struggle against the same foe, and so there are no workers' rights without queer rights, without sex worker rights, without migrant rights, without women's rights.
The only hope of the controlling class is to destroy our unity. They are always in search of scapegoats to create disharmony in our communities. They will tell us lies about one group or another, lie that our neighbours are dangerous, are out to get us, are conspiring against us, when they are migrants, or people of colour, or queer, or trans.
Anything to sow distrust and divide us, to keep people from coming together in a struggle against them. Because they know that together we will win!
To quote James Connolly himself:
"We of the socialist working class realise that as we suffer together, we must work together that we may enjoy together. We reject the firebrand of capitalist warfare and offer you the olive leaf of brotherhood and justice to and for all."
So when the anti-trans activists come out with their hate, funded by dollars and pounds, and they make their noise, and try to disrupt our unity, we will not splinter, we will not fracture.
We stand together against those who use nonsense culture wars to turn us against each other. We stand together. We struggle together. We will win together.
Trans liberation now!
Solidarity forever!
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