Last week over ten thousand people marched in Navan to protest against the downgrading of the hospital. Then over 25,000 students marched against the threat to increase college fees. The myth that the Irish do not protest is being broken.
At the start of this crisis, Brian Lenihan boasted that if the French government were to take similar measures to what he was doing in Ireland, there would be ‘riots on the streets’.
He could only make that claim because he had an understanding with the trade union leaders that they would deflect and dampen down protests. And for a period that appeared to be successful.
But now pressure is building up and a new mood of anger is sweeping the country. Whenever there is a call from a large and representative organisation to get on the streets, it gets an overwhelming response. This shows that the Irish do not posses a special ‘fatalist’ gene and nor are we traumatised by any ‘post colonial syndrome’ that makes us blame ourselves.
The coming months will see an escalating wave of protests.
We are already aware of three
· On Saturday 13th November, the Right to Work Campaign will march through Greystones, the home town of Sean Fitzpatrick, to demand that his assets be taken to help fund the huge debt he created. Assembly point is 3pm Greystones DART station.
· On Saturday 27th of November, we believe that the ICTU will stage a pre-budget demonstration. The union leaders are extremely hesitant and have been debating calling a march for weeks - worried that if they do nothing they will be by-passed. Despite their hesitancy, we should turn this major event into a focal point of opposition to the government.
· On Tuesday 7th December, the Right to Work Campaign have organised a major demonstration on budget day. It assembles at 7pm in Parnell Square and will march on the Dail.
The state is also aware of this growing mood of protest and have also shifted their tactics. Before now they have tried to encourage passivity by spreading a message that ‘protest does not work’ and will ‘achieve nothing’.
Now, however, they are shifting to intimidation to try to frighten people.
This is the real meaning of the events that took place at the student march on Wednesday November 3rd.
A number of students staged an occupation in the lobby of the Department of Finance. This type of action is not entirely unusual in student protests and was a good deal less dramatic than tactics employed by the Irish Farmers Association when they both occupied the Department of Agriculture and drove their animals into the building.
Yet the response of the police to the student protest was extraordinary. They immediately brought out the riot police to baton young students; they set dogs on those who staged a sit in; they charged crowds with horses; they administered a savage beating to a number of protesters.
After this incredible violence, the police propaganda unit went into full swing with the usual references to ‘hijackings’ by militants. This standard tactic is an attempt to divide the movement between ‘militants’ and ‘moderates’.
The police attack on students was a deliberate, premeditated action designed to send out a message to the wider population – if you protest you will face batons, dogs and horses.
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This same tactic has been employed in Rossport over the last two years. It is now being extended across the country to try to intimidate people away from protests.
We should not allow ourselves to be intimidated by this change of tactics. The people of France have long learnt that when they come out in great numbers, link arms and act in a disciplined manner they can face down any police intimidation.
The government is about to embark on the most savage attacks on Irish society. We need to bring ever more people onto the streets and not be intimidated.
Our future as a society is at stake – we must not be cowed down by batons or the lies of the media.
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