A .PDF copy of this A4 flyer, released for the January 31st Boycott Irish Water protests in Cork is available for download here.
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It is as if we have no rights in deciding the policy of our own state… must we accept dictate?
Are we being represented by those whose duty it is to do so? Why are we back marching… demanding that our own Government listen?
There are many questions… high amongst them is what our protest is going achieve? Where is our campaign or protest going?
According to our Constitution it is the right of citizens to determine the policy of our state, yet policy is imposed on us. We have a duty to protest when an injustice faces us – we must not go silently by! The future of our children and grand-children is at stake.
But, what are our expectations? Will we persuade the Government or banking monopolies that they should ‘do right’ by the people?
Will we embarrass some TD or threaten ‘their’ seat and therefore get them to reverse policy?
Are we happy to apply pressure in order to deflect the worse impositions that might come in the next budget – to lessen the potential hardship?
Do we think we will expose a weak link in the ‘powers-that-be’ and out-maneuver them?
Why must we protest at all? What of our democratic rights? What is the next campaign to be? and the next one after that? If we reverse one cut who will be hit instead?
Why are all the Political Parties saying THEY have the best policies? They all want to be in power, if only we’d vote for them … they’d fix it for us!
What about the Trade Unions, will they lead us to resolve the issues?
In recent months the Unions brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets to protest against Irish Water, but they did nothing to promote the January 31st events.
If the Unions represented their members interests they would have the power to change everything, but they won’t.
The role of the Unions has been to prevent a real movement emerging from amongst the people, we expect they will return soon when they see that we are marching without them – for ourselves. This is exactly what the Union leaders have done for decades, they huff and puff, proclaim defiance, and then sneak off quietly betraying the people.
We have had these debates, protests, promises, lies and policy impositions, we have the austerity budgets to match!
We have had Party after Party proclaiming that THEY will solve everything for us, but in reality each is a greater or lesser group of vested interests themselves. The Political Parties are nothing more than Private Member Clubs – promoting their own narrow policy agenda (or some ‘ism’) that is not reflective of the whole people.
We must protest when we see a wrong imposed on anyone, but we need to go beyond mere protest, beyond merely telling the ‘powers-that-be’ that we do not agree. We must deal with the underlying problem, the thing which allows all the wrongs to be imposed on us, and against which we have protested, as a people, for centuries.
If we do not go beyond mere protest we are utterly wasting our time, and worse, we become part of the problem diverting the people from their true interests! We MUST address the cause of the problems, not just the symptoms.
The Problem is… we are a people who are ruled OVER rather than ruling ourselves – we must change that.
As a people we are divided in the classic way, setting us against ourselves, while vested interests continue to act without question or challenge.
We are divided by social class, by public/private sector, by Political Party allegiance, by ideology or ‘ism’, by ‘left’ or ‘right’, by ‘orange’ or ‘green’, by ‘race’ or ‘gender’.
We are also divided by those who proclaim “no politics!” in our movement – attempting to prevent the very thing that people need in order to defeat the Political Parties – we need “people’s politics”, not the politics of vested interests.
Divided, we are treated as separate constituencies, with specific and opposing interests, and usually put in contention to compete for limited resource.
In reality, the resources of our country are plenty … but our wealth is stolen in the service of mainly foreign bankers and other vested interests who dictate to us.
Before Christmas, as the Water Tax law was passed and as hospital waiting lists extended, our Central Bank destroyed €500 million as demanded by the ECB – our ‘partners’.
Our Government has committed to taking a further €28 billion out of circulation (effectively shredded) over the coming years. This is the wealth of the people, the debts involved were never ours but we are forced to pay and take the consequences for generations to come.
Over 500,000 young people have been forced into emigration since the onset of this latest crisis. Our senior citizens live in fear, and uncertainty exists for everyone.
Why?
Irish people are crying out for change! But, because of divisions imposed, because of continued betrayal by those who rule, whether conscious or not, the people do not hear their interests and most basic demand stated, that demand being for our own empowerment – we must have the say!
This is the demand that has underlined the century’s long struggle of Irish people and this is the outstanding unresolved issue of our history which refuses to go away, it MUST be resolved, we must take responsibility for it.
The empowerment of the people MUST become the subject of our ‘protest’ movement – if it is to have any meaning.
The Political Parties, big or small, are no more than Private Member Clubs of vested interests, they have hijacked our democracy and subverted our Constitution.
We must tackle this root problem
We must STOP handing our mandate over to Parties or vested interests of any kind. We must build a movement of citizens in each Constituency and Local Electoral Area through which we can empower ourselves.
We must build a movement that will defend the rights of the people, regardless of policy preferences, social class or any other differences.
We must assert what is ours, it is our country and it is our right to decide the policy of our own state, let’s organise!
Water Conservation Grant ???
Don’t be fooled by the prospect of a €100 payment from Irish Water… this is a tactic designed to drag families into the net, to get it you:
- Must apply to Irish Water, you must Register.
- You have to have paid at least two bills in full.
- The first payments won’t happen until September, billing for water starts from January 1st.
- It is intended that you must show that you are conserving water to qualify for the payment – possibly even provide receipts showing you have spent money already – so it will probably cost more!
Very few, if anyone at all, will ever see the €100. Now media speculation is that Government can’t afford to pay. There is also the possibility that the EU will disallow it.
Our Constitutional Entitlement:
Everything we need is already in our Constitution, if we implement it, it will result in the change we all look for:
- Article 5 “Ireland is a sovereign, independent, democratic state.”
- Article 6.1 It is the right of the people “to decide all questions of national policy”
- Article 16.2.1 “Dáil Éireann shall be composed of members who represent constituencies”
There is no provision made in our Constitution for the representation of either Political Parties or of any individuals conscience – the people are supposed to be represented – that means we must be consulted!
We have not been consulted on Irish Water or on any other matter of consequence. When we did have referendums on both the NICE and LISBON Treaties we were brought back to vote a second time – because
we got it wrong – we forgot the “jobs and investments”!
Our democratic rights are disregarded, but we must not accept that, we must organise ourselves without their Party clubs or any vested interest – for our own empowerment – that is what we are doing.
