What’s On This Week | 5-11 July

A black and white photo of Clara Zetkin in the left foreground looking over a crowd

And we’re back for another week of events.

Starting off the week we have a No to JobBridge 2.0 protest. The JobBridge scheme saw thousands of workers massively exploited, forced to work for €1.25 an hour or risk having their social welfare cut off. Now, the Minister for Social Protection has announced plans for a JobBridge 2.0 scheme. So Paul Murphy has resurrected the ScamBridge campaign. They’ll be protesting outside the Department of Social Protection today at 12:30 to let the Minister know we won’t accept a JobBridge 2.0 and that instead of exploitation we need investement in decent, green jobs and properly paid apprenticeships.

On Tuesday, the Good Information Project from TheJournal.ie is hosting Politicians discuss solutions to the housing crisis. They’ve invited representatives from “all the major parties to join us to discuss solutions, find out what can be implemented and see what can be done to end the housing crisis.”(Hint: the answer is public housing).

Then on Wednesday at 1pm there are two separate protests taking place outside the Dáil. Silwan is an area in Israeli-occupied and illegally annexed East Jerusalem that, like Sheikh Jarrah, is facing ongoing and imminent threats of ethnic cleansing. 1,500 Palestinians are under threat of having their homes demolished as Israel attempts to expel them and replace them with illegal Israeli settlers. Israel has already begun a series of illegal demolitions in the area. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Trinity BDS Campaign have organised a “masked, socially distanced and pandemic-safe vigil” outside the Dáil to call on the Government to speak out and take concrete meaningful action. The IPSC also has a related online action.

Also at 1pm, Extinction Rebellion Ireland will be displaying their handcrafted sea creatures on fishing nets outside the Dáil to show the Government what the country risks losing to history if they don’t act now to protect our seas and end practices like bottom trawling.