3000 march to Mountjoy Prison in solidarity with the 12 people jailed over Bin Tax protests
dublin |
bin tax / household tax / water tax |
news report 
Saturday October 11, 2003 16:13
by Indymedia Kevin - IMC Éire
Report & Photos.
Approximately 3000 anti bin tax activists showed up for a demonstration today from the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square to Mountjoy Prison on the North Circular Road.
The march was called as a show of solidarity for the 12 people who have been jailed for refusing to comply with court orders stopping them from interfering with the collection of refuse in their areas. The latest ten to be jailed were local activists in the Finglas area, five men and five women. All five of the women have children, including two with grandchildren.
There were a wide variety of political groups and unions on the march, and organisations from outside Dublin had come along to show solidarity, including people from Waterford, Cork, Drogheda, Limerick, and Galway.
The crowd was addressed by several speakers, including Mick O'Reilly of the ATGWU and Ruth Coppinger, a Socialist Party Councillor for the Mulhuddart ward in Fingal. While the speeches were in progress, a march of approximately 120 people from the Cabra and Stoneybatter Campaign Against the Bin Tax arrived down from the direction of St Peter's Church, and were greeted with cheers and applause.
During his speech, the general secretary of SIPTU (cant recall his name) was heckled and jeered by some people within the crowd. They demanded that his union do more instead of sitting on the fence, and there were repeated calls from a large section of the crowd for SIPTU (and the ICTU) to call a general strike immediately.
Members of the TEEU and the DCTU also spoke - and during their speeches similar calls were made for a general strike. The mood of the crowd seemed quite angry at times with the union leadership.
After five or six speeches the crowd dispersed. The SWP members demanded that one of their members Brid Rodgers (I think) be allowed address the crowd, and were incensed when the organisers dismantled the equipment, calling the march and platform a disgrace and a sham.
A large contingent of the people marched up the Cabra Road back towards home around Cabra West/Dunard, showing just how strong the campaign is in local inner city areas as well as the suburbs.
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I saw the incident at the end with the SWP. One guy with short red hair and a megaphone was working himself into a lather - his spit was soaking his attempt at a goatee and wrecking his pile of unsold newspapers under his arm. Even the SWP photographer (the short woman with the leather jacket and the glasses who is ALWAYS rude to people DEMANDING they get out of her way so she can get a photo) was up on the stage trying to get the union lads to let Brid Rogers speak.
The usual charges of being sectarian aside, why should the SWP have a voice on the platform? They dont have any elected reps (despite always going for elections), and in this campaign they have done FUCK ALL. They dont support the blockades, and they are not interested in organising with other groups. All they have done is show up with their paper and placards at marches like this but not bothered to take the fight at the local level.
I dont agree with the politics of some of the smaller groups involved with the anti bin tax campaign but at least they are getting active on the ground.
Is this one swp action/intrusion to much for everyone?
i hope they get wider circulation.
Ket's be honest, the SWP were slow to react on this one. They really dont deserve time on the platform, no members of theirs are in jail, they have no elected members and unlikely will for a long time, they werent at the blockades and yes how come they have so many papers that nobody seems to buy. I disagree with socialism as such in many ways but at least SP and the other groups work with working class people which is the point, no?
SWP are coming out of this one with their true colours showing.
When you're making comments make sure that you get the name of the person correct, in this it's Brid Smith NOT Brid Rodgers (Or Rogers) from the working class heartland of Ballyfermot, and she is facing the prospect of jail this coming Tuesday, also she is Chairperson or Secretary (Not sure which) of the Dublin City Campaign Against the bin tax so she probably felt that she should have been allowed to speak even if only briefly. Unfortunately I didn't see this 'incident' so I can't comment any further.
It was a Trade Union march. The only reason for any member of a political party to be on the platform was if that individual was a representative of a Trade Union, or held a position in the campaign, or possibly was a relation of one of the jailed protesters.
There were several TDs there, they did not kick up a fuss demanding to be allowed speak. There were also other parties whose members were very active in their own areas, these did not demand a place on the platform. Also the anarchist groups who have played a very active part in this campaign were prepared to stand back and allow the Trade Union officials to do their own thing. So what is so special about the swp that they can throw a tantrum unless they get prominence over everyone else?
When this incident happened the president of the DCTU was trying to read out several notices of further planned protests. These included a protest outside Mary Harney's office organised for 1.30pm on Tuesday 14th against the attempt to throw Job Initiative workers back onto the dole. Due to these interruptions he was unable to continue and then abruptly ended the meeting. So the actions of a few swp primadonnas were detrimental to the interests of working people whose jobs are under threat.
Just to set the record straight:
The SWP did NOT demand a speaker on behalf of the party.
Brid Smith, PRO of the Dublin Campaign and prominent in the Ballyfermot campaign asked to speak as an individual facing jail. She comes up in the High Court on Monday and will almost certainly be jailed following her refusal to apologise to the court. She asked to speak as an activist facing imprisonment. She was refused on the grounds that she was not a “scheduled speaker”. But at the previous protest another “unscheduled speaker” was allowed address the demonstrators because he too was facing jailing.
Out of common decency and solidarity it would not be unreasonable for such a request to be granted.
So the sour comments directed at the SWP are a bit out of place.
If anyone is interested in showing their support when Brid comes up in court protest outside the Four Courts at 10.30 Monday.
If she is jailed there will be a protest outside Mountjoy at 7.00pm Monday.
On Tuesday Ballyfermot campaign is organising a demonstration to Clover Hill where Dermot Connolly, chair of the Dublin Campaign, and Colm Breathnach are imprisoned leaving the civic centre Ballyfermot at 6.00pm.
Tom Ryan the President of the Dublin Council of trade Unions did in fact read out a statement about the "protest outside Mary Harney's office organised for 1.30pm on Tuesday 14th against the attempt to throw Job Initiative workers back onto the dole." I definitely heard him say that loud and clear. So that statement is untrue and therefore in branch of Indymedia's editorial guidelines. Also Brid Smith is an activist within the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union, and she does have a position within her Branch Committee (Not sure which branch).
He may have read that out earlier along with references to the other proposed protests, but the point is that he was about to read all of these notices again at the end of the meeting to remind people, and he WAS prevented from doing so then. It is certainly not in breach of the indymedia guidelines.
It seems to me that it was a strange decision not to allow someone who is about to be jailed to speak. The reason I was told was "the football".
That aside.
The demo today was a good first step but a major push must be made in the unions to deliver strike action.
Brid Smith wanted to speak as an activist facing jail? Me arse! She wanted to speak to give the SWP presence. Oh look we having somebody going to jail too (maybe)! They weren't so fucking eager to go to jail for the anti-war movement. Interesting sea-change that.
'Also Brid Smith is an activist within the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union, and she does have a position within her Branch Committee '
The ATGWU already had a speaker on the platform, in the person of Mick O'Reilly. He seems perfectly adequate to put the AT's position. I'm quite sure that if Brid does go to prison, Mick will make his voice heard.
Brid Smith is officially PRO of the city bin tax campaign. However, she had no mandate to speak on behalf of the campaign. On previous occasions when there have been demonstrations, the steering committee has delegated spokespeople and this has often been hotly contested. For example, Brid Smith won the vote over Joe Mooney by one vote to speak for the campaign at the Dail protest last Tuesday.
On this occasion, the city campaign was not asked to provide a speaker and did not delegate the task to anyone. Therefore, Brid Smith was acting on her own responsibility when demanding to speak.
It is also the case that the SWP do not feel bound by the wishes of the majority in this campaign. Although most of the local campaigns have gone for blockades, in areas where the SWP have some influence, they have argued against blockades even when acting in the capacity of campaign organisers. It is clear that SWP members act under party authority when representing the campaign. Therefore, allowing Brid Smith to speak would effectively have meant giving the SWP a place on the platform.
It is also the case that Brid Smith has not been preforming her job as PRO of the campaign. At the same time as supposedly being the PR officer she is also an SWP full timer and election candidate and is probably chair of the local IAWM, ANL, GR and whatever other fronts the SWP operates in Ballyfermot. How many city campaign press releases have we seen on indymedia? The answer is none; either because they have not been produced or because of the SWP's disdain for indymedia, despite the fact that indymedia has shone during the bin tax campaign and is the only media source which has provided diverse coverage of the battle and given a voice to activists.
When the Finglas activists were jailed last week, Brid was phoned by Newstalk for the campaign reaction. Bizzarely she declared that she had just heard the news from Newstalk. Surely the campaign PRO should be busy contacting the media and putting out press releases rather than waiting to be informed of events by radio stations? Activists in Finglas were reportedly angry that, despite a raft of press releases from the Fingal campaign and various political groups, there was no evidence of a response from the city campaign to the jailing of 10 of its members.
It is also the case that, aside from having no time to do the job properly, Brid is totally unsuited to the job. When, at an all-city activist meeting last week, an activist pointed out that Brid couldn't possibly have enough time to do the job in the current crisis and that we needed somebody to do it full-time, Brid had a hissy fit. She also apparently boycotted a campaign meeting after the march on Saturday in a huff because she hadn't been allowed to speak. Imprisonment is probably the only thing that will save her from impeachment.
Most of the SWP are kids with no brains and no sense. They are lecherous and absorbant. Absorbant of anything remotely related to what they regard as their ideals. Thay are not so much a joke as a pain in the ass. They absorb other peoples agendas and actions until it looks like an SWP circus.
Most heard quote at protests/marches this year : 'Oh no, not the bloody SWP'
"Imprisonment is probably the only thing that will save her from impeachment"
- that's really putting it up to the SWP.
Seems the only honourable thing left for her to do, or do they understand honour in the SWP?
My my my, you sectarians have yourselves in knots with your flames.
I am not a SWPer although I know a few (as well as SP, WSM, etc, etc) and I see no reason for this poisonous nonsense.
Brid Smith is supposed to be rubbish because she's in the terrible SWP, who are supposed to oppose blockades - according to you.
But isn't she facing jail for - wait for it - participating in a blockade. So much for your jibes and slanders. I've stood shoulder to shoulder with SWPers on blockades so I know your talk is lies.
Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but is not Ballyfermot - where Brid is a key member of the campaign - one of the best city areas for big meetings, protests, etc?
Maybe you think the world begins and ends with Indymedia but I for one have seen her press releases reported in the mainstream press - which after all is what most people read.
When some deranged person makes a post virtually applauding the threat of jailing I begin to wonder which side you think you're on.
Perhaps you prefer Jack O Connor's contribution to the fight. Or Sam Nolan's vacuous incantation of Strumpet City in an otherwise meaningless and over long speech.
Let these good-for-nothings spout away until we all die of boredom but heaven forbid a member of the nasty SWP gets let near a microphone.
Poeple like you make me sick at heart.
In the current edition of the socialist worker the SWP are saying that blockades in areas in which collections are happening are wrong and counter-productive. They also call upon Sinn Féin and Labour to get active in the campaing in order to defeat it. SF and Labour are at the end of the day pro capitalist parties, they have no real interest in defeating the bin tax they are simply attempting to use the issue to garner a few votes next June. They will not get active in any real way as it would harm their support amongst their rich capitalist backers. For a so called 'socialist workers' party to sow illusions in SF and Labour is an absolute disgrace. These parties support partnership and oppose industrial action.
Another thing. Last week the SWP were arguing against blockades, as is seen in their latest paper. Now they are calling for an unlimited general strike! How can they justify their sudden U-turn? I would ask any genuine members of the SWP to ask serious questions about the leadership about this. Their principle objection to blockades was that the mood was not there among working class people. Now they seem to be claiming the mood is their to call for an unlimited general strike! This is crazy stuff. What we should be calling for in city wide industrial action, the mood is there for that.
Yet another thing that I have noticed about the SWP recently is their desire to con people into thinking that they are the Socialist Party and that Joe Higgins and Clare Daly are members of the SWP. On a leaflet I recieved on one of the demos the headline read 'FREE THE SOCIALISTS' then on the end of the leaflet it contained a box stating 'JOIN THE SOCIALISTS'. Again I would ask any new members of the SWP to ask their leadership about this. If they think the SP are so great why do they not all dissolve the SWP and join the SP?
"Another Bin Activist" you seem to think that the SWP do support blockades. They do not support blockades (well at least not last week). Have a read of the centrepage article on the bin tax in the latest edition of the Socialist Worker. It clearly states that they believe solidarity blockades in areas such as Dun Laoghaire, South Dublin and parts of the city are wrong. At a public meeting that I attended they were they only people in the room to vote against blockades. This is fact.
You might say that this so called 'in fighting' makes you sick. I reject the idea that critisism of the SWP is 'sectarianism'. We in the campaign need to discuss the different tactics in an open and frank manner. If you or I believe that the tactics being put forward by any particular group is wrong it is our duty to say so. The use of incorrect tactics in this campaign could see its defeat.
Mrs McMahon & the others jailed, are an example to us all, of brave ordinary people who are willing to stand up to the might of the state and its forces.
Ordinary working class people who are willing to suffer jail for their political principles. The people united will never be defeated. Up the bin tax rebels.
See if we can whip up and mobilise the anti water charge protests in the north.
Full and open debate must take place in the anti bin tax movement but there must be full support given to every one of the prisoners no matter what the differences in tactics.
The SWP is in favour of blockades in areas where non-collection has been introduced. That support has been verbal rather than physical as the SWP isn't organised in Fingal and so hasn't done anything on the ground.
They are against solidarity blockades in areas where all bins are being collected. They argue that we shouldn't "disrupt the service".
This is not a hard and fast rule. A couple of SWP members have been involved in a couple of solidarity blockades but by and large they have argued against the tactic, both in print and in public meetings.
Anyone who has been at campaign meetings in the City or in Dun Laoghaire / Rathdown will have heard SWP members argue against blockades. They haven't done so in South Dublin, but like Fingal they have barely anyone on the ground in the first place.
Anyone who doubts this should have a look at "Socialist Worker" or take it up with the SWP. This isn't some big revelation.
Brid Smith was very unlucky to end up in front of the courts. There is an element of randomness to it. Some people have been on a huge number of blockades and never get done. Others go on a single one and end up in front of the High Court. Everyone brought up in front of the Court deserves our solidarity.
Over the last day or two, with the jailing of 10 last week and the possible jailing of 3 more tomorrow, it appears that the SWP's conservative approach is crumbling. It will be interesting to see what they are calling for by the end of the week.
None of this is "sectarian", none of it is pointless bitching. It is all very well to say "stop criticising each other" but as one of the posters above says, without free and open discussion we have no way of sorting the good approaches, tactics and ideas from the bad ones.
This is like a Monty Python sketch. Instead of working together against a common foe, the socialists are yet again tearing each other apart.
If people can't get on at this level, what hope is there?
Sorry to end your delusion but the SWP aren't really part of this movement so arguing against them is not sewing division.
Putting the record straight by Kevin Wingfield - SWP, Ballymun Anti Bin Tax
She was refused on the grounds that she was not a “scheduled speaker”.
Wow, isn't this the kind of excuse the SWP/IAWM regularily come up with to justify the exclusion of the Catholic Workers / Direct Action types from platforms?
12 people sit in jail - A huge march of 3,000 people gathered on Saturday - Is this all we can talk about!? Focus on the issue at hand here. How are we going to stop the bin tax and make the time that the 12 (and probably much more to follow) have spent in prison worthwhile.
Brid Smith and two other women have just been jailed for their part in blockading bin trucks. Which I guess 'proves' that at least one member of the SWP has taken part in blockades :-) (Actually I know at least 4 others have as well as they have been on blockades that I have been on).
How long did they get?
Yes, according to some reports the swp were against blockades, which is a difference in tactics.
And yes I can remeber two occasions where they wouldn't let Joe Higgins on the platform.
(an anl march and another anti racist one, incidently on the second RBB bemoaned the fact their was no anti rascists in the dail)
But to not let them have a speaker is wrong, I know it was up to the trade unions but BS is an activist involved in the campaign and even if there is disagreements all must be allowed to speak.
Protest at Mountjoy at 7pm (I think - could somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.
As I said, Andrew it hasn't been a hard and fast rule. A few SWP members have been on a few blockades.
There have been a huge number of blockades though and the SWP have been present on only a handful.
In Fingal that's understandable. They just don't exist in the area. The same goes for South Dublin.
It's different in the City and Dun Laoghaire\Rathdown though. There they generally argue that we shouldn't "disrupt the service" by mounting solidarity blockades. It's in print in Socialist Worker and you could hardly have missed them arguing their line at campaign meetings.
Good Luck to all the people at all depots this morning.
Ciaran
I just got a red sticker on my bin. It was a great show of solidarity to see all the houses in Firhouse with red bin stickers (The council certainly didn't think that one through!) It was almost a shame to peal it off.
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