Food for Thought We need immediate focus. The upcoming campaign of civil disobedience revolving around the non-payment of bills issued by Irish Water will defeat the attempted introduction of a secondary water charge, and with concerted effort, hopefully cause the disestablishment of Irish Water at a cost of great embarrassment to the government. Irish Water, and all it implies, is being dealt with admirably. As a protester, that alone should both strengthen your resolve for the year ahead and swell you with pride. The government, if we win this battle, will recoup the loss of projected income at the next election. Think now. We need to hammer home to the unfortunately uninterested majority that Irish Water and the Water Charge are merely instruments of austerity. We need to constantly remind all around us of the cause and effects of the bank bailout, the existing and ongoing consequences of the programme of austerity and the long-term consequences of the promissory notes. We need to prioritise making a target of the Irish banking system. The banks are breeding homelessness and suicide. We could as a movement at least 100,000 protesters strong consider a form of disinvestment. If 100,000 protesters go to the bother of, where possible, removing their money from their chosen bank and putting it into the credit unions, it will be noticed. It will only matter that the banks know (or think) that they may potentially lose 100,000 customers. You could just email your bank manager telling him you’re thinking about closing your account because of his or her involvement by association with evictions and repossessions. That too will be noticed. It’s a simple start. We need to make a target of Denis O’ Brien as an example. He is one of Irish politics biggest cronies, and he is blatant. Again, start simple. The implication or threat of a boycott can be as effective as the action itself. If 100,000 protesters send emails to Topaz, Esso and Independent News and Media signifying the engagement of a boycott it will be noticed. We need to make a target of RTE, in all its guises, as the main source of misinformation and misrepresentation. Send an email to RTE, asking for confirmation of receipt, telling them you will not watch or listen to any of its output. Then start emailing every advertiser you notice on RTE’s channels and stations with a copy of RTE’s confirmation of your boycott, and the suggestion that the advertisers product may also suffer a boycott. It’s very simple, but it will get notice if all 100,000 of us do it. We need to agree on the badges and symbols we use as a community of protesters engaging a boycott. One logo displayed for a boycott of the banks will breed camaraderie. One logo displayed for a boycott of Denis O’ Brien’s businesses will breed camaraderie. One logo displayed for a boycott of RTE will breed camaraderie. These symbols will identify us as a community of protesters. Use whatever simple start you like, but start now. Use your simple start as a platform to engage your friends and neighbours. Encourage their participation. If all it involves is sending a few emails, you’ll find family and friends to join in, even if it is, initially, only for the craic. As communities, start targeting individual politicians. As your elected representatives they have a duty to engage the business of state on your behalf. Start asking them, and insisting, that on your behalf they disrupt the business of this government. Your representatives exist in and are bound to a system of governance that allows us little or no effective representation. They have all been elected and paid to do little more than talk. Do something about that. Your government is not listening to you. Make your politicians make more noise. We should use TTIP. It is a beautiful example of both the lack of transparency within government and the threat to our economy posed by external greed. We must highlight, at the very least, the danger implicit in TTIP to our health service, to our agricultural export business and to both our terms and level of employment. As for the EU, we should concentrate on one simple fact – right now, the EU needs Ireland more than Ireland needs the EU – it’s given us roads and restrictions but we’ve given back so much more. The EU is bleeding Ireland dry. For the sake of our social, economic and political welfare, Ireland must leave a concept that we have never, historically, culturally or geographically been a part of. This might all seem like nonsense to most of you. We must start somewhere, and we must start now. We have given birth to a culture of protest out of sheer necessity. We have a responsibility as protesters to maintain the focus and drive of this movement for change; to educate and inform those still sitting on the fence; to organise and engage intelligently, but above all, we have a responsibility as protesters to act. Start simple – join the protests.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 20:31:13 +0000
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