|
from 19 may 2002 blue vol II, #34 |
|
|
by Eanna Dowling
However with young people awash with a choice of boom economy part time minimum wage jobs, easy access to drugs and a growing swagger of affluence, few have the time to consider politics or any activities beyond their immediate needs. Irish youth surf on ecstacy or drown themselves in the pool of corporate alcohol. Street violence at closing time is inevitable rather than occasional. Accident and Emergency units struggle to patch up the wounds of the disorientated victims and perpetrators. Fewer than 40% of under 25 year olds were expected to vote in the general election on Friday (see note below).
Nevertheless, organisers claim that a thousand people were on the streets of Dublin that day. Newspapers put the number at 400. Either way it was the biggest such gathering in central Dublin, (though not a patch on the recent Sinn Fein organised Hunger Strike commemoration when over 10,000 walked peacefully through the streets of Dublin in three columns interspersed with marching bands and relatives of the dead hunger strikers holding pictures of their loved ones).
The previous RTS in Dublin attempted to block traffic on the central O'Connell bridge. It succeeded briefly but the Gardai pushed and jostled until the small protest disbanded. More recently anti-capitalist activists, (some of whom also attended RTS events) attempted to storm a Dublin city centre hotel. In the aftermath of September 11, the Irish Government hosted an international conference on Public Private Partnership. Activists stormed the hotel but failed to get past the front door. Later there were scuffles with Gardai and many arrests were made.
As the parade made its way onto Dame Street, some activists moved an old car into the centre of the street. They lit smoke bombs inside and proceeded to smash it up. Later it was claimed that this was their own car. However most of the participants in RTS had not been briefed about this intended development and were not prepared for it.
At this point Gardai went into action. Various units of Gardai corralled the RTS people, blocking off exits from the central thoroughfare. Identifying numbers were removed and batons were drawn. The majority of RTS people were merry as the charge began. Gardai battered people indiscriminately on the head, over and over again. One group was pinned against a wall and subjected to a beating by ten or more Gardai. Video footage clearly showed viciousness and anger on the faces of the Gardai. Passers by were attacked. People queuing for taxis were assaulted. A photographer from a national newspaper had his camera taken from him. He was assaulted. The Gardai rioted in the capital city.
Many participants went to the local Garda station, Pearse Street, to complain. They were told they had to wait for the sergeant. Then they were told to fuck off. Later the Gardai claimed that no complaints were made on the day regarding police behaviour.
The national broadcaster RTE had sent a member of its on-line service to cover the event. She recorded the assaults and they were shown as the main item on the television news. Footage from www.Indymedia.ie was also shown to the nation. Reclaim the Streets entered the lexicon of the public house and the private nightmare. For days talk shows and news programmes were dominated by the violence. The Justice Minister John O Donohue, famous for not implementing his previous campaign slogan of Zero Tolerance, called the Gardai's actions unacceptable and claimed to be anxiously awaiting the official report.
Irish Gardai have their own troubles of course. Two officers recently died in a collision with a stolen vehicle. In Ireland the media still refer to this as "Joyriding". It is not clear if the collision came about as a result of the car thieves ramming the Gardai, or the Gardai causing an accident to stop the car thieves. In a later incident, Gardai crashed into a stolen car outside the midlands town of Kinnegad, causing injuries, claiming they did so to prevent the stolen car speeding through the built up area.
In addition, a High Court case is currently underway into allegations that Gardai framed a Donegal night club owner. Frank Short served a three year sentence for allowing drugs to be sold on his premises. His conviction was later quashed. He is seeking a High Court ruling that a miscarriage of justice occurred. The case has revealed allegations of Gardai planting drugs on people, of Gardai buying and importing explosives across the border, of offering young women money for sex and in engaging in a continuing campaign of harassment.
A recent report into the Omagh bombing revealed that the Gardai had received information relating to the bombing prior to the event and had not passed it on to the RUC, the Northern Ireland Police Service.
In the light of these developments it was not surprising that morale was described as being as an all time low at the recent Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference. At that conference, GRA PRO PJ Stone claimed that video footage would be released that showed that the Gardai who assaulted teenagers and people waiting for taxis on RTS day had acted responsibly. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties took exception to this line and asked why the CCTV footage, which would cover the city and could show the whole story, had not been released? This type of footage is readily available for the Gardai's own show Crimeline but so far CCTV coverage of the Mayday RTS has not been released.
Several loose ends remain. Organisers of RTS in Dublin and other Irish cities have to find a way to stage their events and make their points without exposing participants to the risk of violence. Cross party consensus exists on the need for an independent police inspectorate though it remains to be seen how this will work out in practice in the next parliament, given that Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne has consistently refused to attend meetings with the Department of Justice to discuss the matter. CCTV evidence of the day itself has not yet been released. Victims of police assaults are preparing civil suits for compensation for damages. Many complaints have been lodged which will have to be investigated by Gardai. In addition, serious questions about the professionalism, competence and quality of the police force have to be addressed especially as electioneering politicians in both of the major neoliberal parties promise to increase the size of the police force by nearly 20% over the next few years.
Mayday 2002, and the capital city of the fastest growing economy in the EU stages a riot during a general election campaign. A police riot. Televised.
top
How will it cope with the fall out from the economic meltdown?
by Eanna Dowling
FF had been tipped for an overall majority and hit over 50% in some national opinion polls. They came in at 41.3%, their third worst historical showing. The PDs launched a "Single party government? No thanks!" campaign and a "Coalitions Work!" slogan. They ended up doubling their representation from 4 to 8 seats. All the gains were made from the opposition FG party.
The issue of Globalisation made little impact during the campaign. Only the Labour leader Ruairi Quinn (former marijuana smoking sixties student leader) mentioned it and he didn't seem to have a policy to address it. After the Gardai beat Reclaim the Streets activists in Dublin, media analysis focused on policing rather than the policy and principle concerns of the activists.
Nevertheless Ireland remains the most globalized country in the developed world, according to the OECD. The brittle economy depends on foreign direct investment. Minor fluctuations in the global economy could have huge impacts in the Irish republic. Commentators agree that the boom is over as many high tech multinationals shed jobs or relocate. [On May 20 Ericsson announced the imminent loss of 1,000 jobs at its two Irish plants.] Irish workers have bought into the cult of consumer spending - personal debt levels are the highest in Europe as large new cars perch on the sidewalks outside cluttered mod-con homes.
The challenge for the incoming Government will be to redress the deficit in the public finances while developing a strategy to consolidate the inflated standards of living of the newly affluent Irish. They will have to do so without the cushion of the EU structural funds which will run out in 2006. They will have to address the decline of rural Ireland as small farmers sign on the dole and their children flee to the professions in the cities. In addition Irish society becomes more multi-ethnic creating new social and political challenges.
A striking image from the campaign was that of Ahern running through a crowded street to embrace two old women out doing their shopping. He presented himself as energetic and determined. Ireland's economic boom created a feel good factor in the country. Ahern, whose daughter dates a Westlife star and who once appeared as a pundit on a football show, cleverly associated himself with success. He presented his party and Government as responsible for the economic boom, the Northern Ireland peace process and the continuation of the good times. Even when his election cavalcade was clocked at 95 mph in a 60mph zone, he was able to laugh it off as an example of his determination. The main opposition parties had no response, and they suffered.
The real drama of the results comes from the disastrous showing of the main opposition party Fine Gael. They returned only 31 TDs, down from 55, their lowest showing since the forties. Most of their front bench lost their seats and party leader Michael Noonan resigned at dusk on the day of the count. The disastrous result came only fifteen months after Noonan and Jim Mitchell successfully ousted former Taoiseach John Bruton from the party leadership due to his poor performances in opinion polls. In an ironic twist, Mitchell lost his seat in Ahern's constituency. Mitchell had broken his leg and hobbled on crutches while Ahern whizzed around the country like a man on a mission. Fine Gael spokespeople are in a flap, trying to identify themselves as either Christian Democrats or Social Democrats, wondering where their next leader is coming from and agonising over the failure of their manifesto. Notable losers included deputy leader Nora Owen and former leader and Finance Minister Alan Dukes.
Ruari Quinn led his Labour Party to 21 seats - the same as before - with a reduced share of the vote. He may try to position himself as de facto leader of the opposition due to the disarray in the Fine Gael party. However Labour activists will be disappointed at the parties inability to make gains, especially as the party grew significantly in 1999 due to a merger with the more left wing Democratic Left. Dick Spring, former leader of the Labour Party and former Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) lost the seat his family held since 1933.
Spring's seat was taken by Sinn Fein's Martin Ferris. Ferris attracted international media attention as his strong local organisation brought out the vote despite a controversial campaign. Ferris was convicted of importing arms for the IRA in 1984. During the campaign he was arrested following allegations of vigilante activity. No charges were brought against him.
Sinn Fein exceeded their publicly quoted expectations by returning five candidates to Dail Eireann. They picked up two seats in working class Dublin, plus Ferris in Kerry (south west) and Morgan in Louth (north east, border county). Their only TD in the outgoing Dail, Caoimhin O Caolain, topped the poll as he had done in 1997. The success of the party was read by many as an endorsement of the peace process and a positive development that is likely to contribute to a continuation of the IRA ceasefire and the full implementation of the Good Friday agreement. In addition, Sinn Fein's community activism in working class areas was seen to have brought many traditional non voters into the polling booths for the first time. They now represent 9 of the 60 constituencies on the island of Ireland (they have 4 UK MPs in Northern Ireland) and are keen to position themselves as the only All Ireland party.
Another small party pleased with itself was the Green Party. They increased their representation from 2 to 6 seats. Both sitting TDs increased their vote as leader Trevor Sargent topped the poll. They returned five seats in middle class Dublin and one in Cork city. However their aspirations to participate in Government effectively disappeared in the light of the success of Ahern's Fianna Fail. The Greens benefited from the demise of Fine Gael and did not appear to impact on the ruling coalition.
The Socialist Party returned their only TD when Joe Higgins retained his seat and [nearly] added another in Claire Daly. Higgins campaigned vigorously on local service charge issues, especially the "bin tax".
Many independent candidates were returned, causing surprises all over the country. Some of their successes can be explained by perceptions of the successes of the outgoing Independent TDs who seemed to win influence due to the Government's dependence on them. A number of the [14] independents elected are former Fianna Fail members who ran as Independents
after failing to secure party backing for their ambitions. However, several were elected on health specific tickets. The state of the republic's health service was one of the major issues of the campaign. Independents successfully waged campaigns based on the local health service in Wexford, Monaghan, Clare and Sligo.
Bertie Ahern has succeeded in returning to power, the first Irish leader to do so since the sixties. He has led the country through the peak of the boom, it remains to be seen how he will cope with the fall-out.
|
||||
It began as a bank holiday street demonstration under the "Reclaim the Streets" name. Such demonstrations have evolved in Dublin along similar lines to other European cities. A fledgling "Reclaim the Earth" parade on Mayday 1998 evolved into busloads of Irish activists flying to Prague and Genoa. Bloodied activists talk up the need for conflict, their anger fostered by the confrontational politics of disenchanted salaried socialists.
Bank Holiday Mayday RTS started peacefully enough with a carnival atmosphere in the afternoon near a central Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) light rail station. Samba bands played, old friends hugged each other, a few political placards looked odd in the sea of happiness. Gardai observed proceedings from a distance. Later the group danced and swayed down the quays and towards the Temple Bar area. On O'Connell bridge, Gardai assumed riot control positions as they assembled on motorbikes and in vans and cars. A helicopter monitored movements from the air. As Dublin city centre is covered in Close Circuit TV (CCTV), intelligence was available to the Gardai to make an accurate assessment of the risks.
A press conference was called by Globalise Resistance who had not organised RTS but who had attended it with banners and attitude. Their leaders had been arrested after the Public Private Partnership charge folly. Spokesperson Joe Carolan forcibly made the point that the only violence on the streets of Dublin was caused by the Gardai. No Gardai were injured. Several of the RTS people required hospital treatment.
A march was called for the following Thursday, May 9. This time newspapers reported that 2,500 people took to the streets. The peaceful march passed through the areas where the rioting had taken place but there were no incidents. Some marchers dressed up a la Garda, in navy slacks, blue shirts and red noses. They waved floppy truncheons and asked people for their numbers. Speakers called the march a "victory of sorts" and media interest evaporated in the haze of the election.
