Jared.
> wrote:
> **
> Not surprising, Dave, this is a Socialist Party newspaper. The CWI are
> very adamant that the ULA is "not a party yet" and the process shouldn't be
> rushed so they make a point of emphasising their independence.
> Most recent ULA news is this:
> http://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/united-left-alliance-to-h... Cedar Lounge Revolution blog is a good resource for up-to-the-minute
> debates on the Irish Left.
> daphne
> On 05/04/12 08:05, David Colyer wrote:
> It great to see mass protests against aspects of austerity and socialists
> playing a visible role, even if it's hard to say what claims by any party
> about the influence of their own activities.
> But whatever happened to the United Left Alliance? Joe Higgins and Clare
> Daly are simply described as "Socialist Party TDs". And there's no mention
> of any of the other socialist TDs.
> David
> On Wed, 2012-04-04 at 16:33 +0000, thespark-discuss...@googlegroups.comwrote:
> Today's Topic Summary
> Group: http://groups.google.com/group/thespark-discussion/topics
> - Ireland - Tens of thousands demonstrate and attend meetings against
> house hold tax <#1367f7b53053fb57_group_thread_0> [1 Update]
> Ireland - Tens of thousands demonstrate and attend meetings against
> house hold tax<http://groups.google.com/group/thespark-discussion/t/33d48435f5a074d1>
> Jared <thespark...@gmail.com> <thespark...@gmail.com> Apr 04 04:41AM
> -0700
> Ireland
> Tens of thousands demonstrate and attend meetings against house hold
> tax
> www.*socialistworld*.net, 04/04/2012
> website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI
> *Mass opposition to coalition government’s tax as registration
> deadline
> passes*
> *Cillian Gillespie and Matt Waine, Socialist Party (CWI Ireland)<
> http://www.socialistparty.net/>,
> Dublin*
> Saturday 31 March was the deadline set by the Irish government for
> 1.86
> million households in the south of Ireland to register for their new
> household tax. The €100 tax is an interim charge before the
> introduction of
> a new property and water taxes in 2013 and 2014. People were told that
> if
> they did not register and pay it by the time of the deadline they
> would
> face penalties and threat of court appearances and substantial fines
> of up
> to €2,500 and €100 for every day that this is not paid.
> On 31 March, as an estimated 14,000 people took to the streets of
> Dublin to
> protest at the main coalition government Fine Gael’s party’s Ard Fheis
> (national conference), over one million households (59%) had not
> registered. “Fine Gael you got it wrong, look around we are a million
> strong!” was the main chant heard during the protest, which was
> organised
> by the Campaign Against the Household and Water Taxes (CAHWT).
> The determined and defiant mood on this protest showed that working
> people
> had taken a new stand against the tax and the further threat to
> introduce
> new property and water taxes in 2013. The protest also reflected
> broader
> anger and disgust in society at the billions of euro in austerity
> cuts,
> implemented over the last four years in Ireland, while billions have
> been
> handed over to billionaire bondholders.
> Socialist Party members got an excellent response to our ideas during
> the
> protest. We sold just under 500 copies of the Socialist newspaper and
> we
> distributed thousands of leaflets. People expressed interest in
> joining the
> Socialist Party during the march.
> On the previous Saturday, over 3,000 activists and supporters of the
> CAHWT
> packed into the National Stadium, Dublin, for a national indoor
> protest
> rally and assembly. They travelled, from early morning in many cases,
> from
> every corner of the country.
> Coaches emblazoned with campaign flags
> They arrived on coaches emblazoned with campaign flags, banners and
> posters.
> Fifteen minutes before the event was due to start, the arena was
> packed.
> The careful plans of the campaign stewards - to keep the aisles free -
> were
> abandoned as people kept filing into the hall. Hundreds stood along
> the
> walls, in the aisles and even on the stage. Outside in the car park,
> several hundred more people crowded round the National Stadium doors
> listening to the PA system.
> What was billed as an important gathering of activists, one week
> before the
> government deadline for registration for their hated household tax,
> had a
> celebratory mood. Pipers and drummers led processions of campaigners
> who
> marched from nearby neighbourhoods into the National Stadium arena.
> The rally coincided with the release of the Mahon Tribunal report,
> which
> was established in 1997 to investigate corruption into planning
> development. Its findings clearly exposed the rotten and corrupt
> relationship between Ireland’s main pro-big business political parties
> and
> super-rich property developers. This undoubtedly added to mood of
> anger
> amongst working class people. The rotten relationship between
> politicians
> and big business was a key factor in the crashing of the Irish economy
> and
> the massive and deeply unpopular austerity cuts that followed.
> The most significant aspect of the report was the fact Bertie Ahern -
> a
> former Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) and leader of Fianna Fail
> (traditionally one of Ireland’s biggest pro-capitalist parties) - lied
> about his personal finances. Ahern failed to provide any credible
> explanation as to where he received over €200,000 from between 1993
> and
> 1995. The day after the rally, Ahern was forced to resign from Fianna
> Fail,
> before his imminent expulsion from the party he lead for 14 years.
> The success of both the National Stadium rally and the Saturday 31
> March
> street protest and, more importantly, the stand taken by over 1
> million
> working people in opposition to the household tax, was, in large part,
> due
> to 12 weeks of intensive campaigning work by hundreds and thousands of
> CAHWT activists, which included many members of the Socialist Party.
> Over
> 25,000 attended campaign meetings since the beginning of January,
> which
> took place in every county in the State. Many of these meetings were
> addressed by Joe Higgins <http://www.joehiggins.eu/> and Clare Daly<
> http://www.claredaly.ie/>,
> Socialist Party TDs [members of the Irish Parliament].
> Ironically, it was a government Minister, Fergus O’Dowd, who
> inadvertently
> paid tribute to the role played by the campaign. When challenged on a
> radio
> programme that the government had not given enough information about
> the
> new tax, O’Dowd rejected the idea that people did not know about the
> tax
> and backed up his argument by stating: “There’s a national campaign
> against
> the charge. There are posters up in very town. I see them everywhere I
> go.
> There are public meetings being held.”
> Strategy against new tax
> At national meetings of CAHWT, in early January, Socialist Party
> members
> were instrumental in outlining the strategy against the government’s
> new
> tax during the run-up to the 31 March registration deadline. This
> included
> making sure the campaign was organised in every part of the country,
> through the organisation of county-wide meetings.
> Socialist Party members played a key role in the ‘outreach committee’
> of
> the campaign. This assisted organising very successful meetings from
> which
> many people volunteered to become organisers of the campaign in their
> counties. The slogans that Socialist Party members advocated for the
> campaign were also unanimously accepted. The slogan - “Don’t register!
> Don’t Pay! Build mass non-registration by St.Patrick’s Day!” -
> appeared on
> thousands of posters and Minister Fergus O’Dowd referred to it in his
> radio
> interview.
> The Socialist Party members advocated this slogan in recognition that
> many
> working class people would be nervous and fearful of the consequences
> of
> refusing to pay the household tax. Our message to them was that they
> should
> hold firm until 17 March. By that stage, we believed that we could
> establish a mood and momentum for mass non-registration and on that
> basis
> the campaign could give people the confidence to defy the 31 March
> deadline.
> By 17 March, 85% of the liable population had not registered for the
> charge. This indicated a mood of opposition to the tax and support for
> the
> idea of mass non-registration. However, given the fear of many people
> concerning threats of fines and court appearances, it was always
> inevitable
> that the numbers of those registering would rise steadily in the final
> days
> before the deadline. But this does not indicate support for the tax.
> Over
> the next months, it is important that the campaign has a dialogue with
> those house holders that have registered and tries to win them to
> campaign
> for mass non-payment of the new property and water tax, to be
> introduced
> 2013.
...
