Minister Costello opens 4th Annual Global Solidarity Summer School
Issued on September 05, 2012 at 02:49 PM
The 4th Annual Global Solidarity Summer School took place in Wexford from Friday 24th August to Saturday 25th August. We welcomed close to 90 participants to the Summer School which included delegates, guests and speakers who would take part in a very packed programme.
We were delighted that Minister Joe Costello could open the Summer School for us this year and look forward to hearing more detail on Irish Aid's plans to hold their own Summer School next year. A full copy of his speech is available here.
ICTU President, Mr. Eugene McGlone, then spoke about the trade union movement's committment to solidarity through generations and that whilst acting in solidarity with our colleagues is nothing new, he welcomed the current response from Irish Trade unions where international solidarity has gained higher priority. He commented on the range of international concerns that would be discussed over the weekend and stated that "if globalisation has done one thing positive, it has been to awaken in us the need to connect with the struggles of workers throughout the world and to be prepared to respond quickly. Not in a rash knee jerk reactive way but in a conscious determination to understand and be of practical assistance". He finished his speech with a rousing call to delegates "...knowledge it is said is power. This school is awash with knowledge, let it empower us to great efforts".
The theme of this year's Summer School was Internationalism, Globalisation and Trade Unions and the keynote address was made by Prof. Ronaldo Munck from DCU who asked delegates to think about "What Global Solidarity is?" and asked are we doing enough? He also stressed that Globalisation is not just about the spread of capitalism but it should also be about organised labour internationally. He posed many more questions for delegates to think about during his session which hopefully will stimulate discussion and debate within affiliates' own Global Solidarity networks.
This was then followed by a panel discussion on The International Development Agenda and Labour chaired by Michelle Stainstreet, the General Secretary of the NUJ, which stimulated some debate amongst delegates who were concerned with a range of issues such as not relying on aid to define what we do, trade unions to ensure the development agenda gets priority on their agenda and making global soldiarity mainstream.
The Summer School was brought to a close for the first day, however, activities were far from over. At 7pm delegates gathered to watch a re-enactment of some of the great speeches from the 1911 Wexford Lock-out which were truly inspiring. Dinner was scheduled to be served from 8pm but not before delegates were relieved of some of their cash to contribute to the Clean Clothes Campaign Ireland, who were fund-raising for new campaigns to be launched in mid-September.
We would most sincerely like to thank delegates for their generosity on the night as over €900 was collected for this worthwhile cause which highlights injustices, exploitation and abuses occurring in the global garment sector.
The following morning the Summer School resumed and it was an eye-opening and heart-breaking presentation about the stark realities of the current situation in Bahrain. Tara O'Grady from B.R.A.V.O. [Bahrain Rehabilitation & Anti-Violence Organisation] spoke passionately about the oppression of the Bahrani people and urged trade unions to take action and ensure that their story gets world-wide attention and awareness is raised about their plight. We will be adding a section on this campaign to our website shortly and will keep you updated on what support the trade union movement can give to it, so keep an eye out for it.
The rest of Saturday morning was then taken over by a number workshops which delegates had registered for prior to the Summer School. There were 4 workshops which included:
- Supporting the fight for Justice for Colombia - see here for a report back
- Building Trade Union capacity in Burma
- Flowers and fashion: The truth behind our consumer choices - see here for a presentation on the Flower Industry in Ethiopia
- What next for Trade Union solidarity with Palestine?
We would most sincerely like to thank all our facilitators for these workshops who made the sessions very informative, participative and immensely enjoyable.
The final session of the Summer School was about building solidarity across the Trade Union movement, examining what is being done by affiliates and identifying what can be done into the future. A variety of very interesting presentations were made by delegates from PSEU, UNISON, IMPACT, NIPSA, SIPTU and INTO about the work they are currently doing and what they hope to engage in for the future. This was hugely informative, not only because we rarely speak about our successes but provides information to other affiliates who are looking at ways to establish their own networks or committees.
Some of the presentations currently available include that made by Siobhan Curran, IMPACT.