A right to protest

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Tuesday April 04, 2006 05:42

by Seán Ryan

What does the Constitution have to say about our right to protest?

What are our duties?

Our right to protest is derrived from Article 40.6. We have freedom of expression (with one or two limits), the right to peaceful assembly and the right to form associations.

An activist should be familiar with these rights. They are printed in full below.

Shannon Warport for example is a public place. Being a public place, the public have a right to assemble there and practice their rights. There is no legal argument in existence that contradicts this, excepting when the State announces a state of emergency, eg. Civil war.

Rights are one thing, duty is quite another. Let’s talk about duty.

Article 9.2: Fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State are fundamental political duties of all citizens.

An old Oxford dictionary that I use deines ‘fidelity’ as being: 1 faithfulness, loyalty. 2 accuracy, truthfulness. 3 the quality or precision of the reproduction of sound.

It defines ‘loyal’ as being: True or faithful in one’s commitment to one’s friends, beliefs, etc. ‘Loyal’ is an adjective and ‘loyalty’ is a noun.

As a citizen of this country not only do I have the right to protest our colaboration in genocide, the plundering of our countryside by foreign and domestic parasites and the enslavement of my fellow citizens by the same aforementioned parasites, it is my solemn Constitutional duty to do so.

I may add that article 9.2 also applies to the justice system and the government and other ‘representatives.’

ARTICLE 40.6
i. The right of the citizens to express freely their
convictions and opinions.
The education of public opinion being,
however, a matter of such grave import to
the common good, the State shall
endeavour to ensure that organs of public
opinion, such as the radio, the press, the
cinema, while preserving their rightful
liberty of expression, including criticism of
Government policy, shall not be used to
undermine public order or morality or the
authority of the State.
The publication or utterance of
blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter
is an offence which shall be punishable in
accordance with law.
ii. The right of the citizens to assemble peaceably
and without arms.
Provision may be made by law to prevent or
control meetings which are determined in
accordance with law to be calculated to
cause a breach of the peace or to be a
danger or nuisance to the general public and
to prevent or control meetings in the vicinity
of either House of the Oireachtas.
iii. The right of the citizens to form associations and
unions.
Laws, however, may be enacted for the
regulation and control in the public interest
of the exercise of the foregoing right.
2° Laws regulating the manner in which the right of
forming associations and unions and the right of free
assembly may be exercised shall contain no political,
religious or class discrimination.

ARTICLE 9.2
Fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State are fundamental
political duties of all citizens.

save preference

Comments (8 of 8)

The Constitution is a rag

by socialist

Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:02

We should be preparing for the revolution of the proletariat who will seize the means of production from the beorgeoise class and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat - the interim between capitalist society and the establishment of pure communism.
The consitution is bourgeoise document - a rag.

We shouldn't be protesting.

We should be fighting.

Iraq and Ireland are both countries occupied by a foreign power.
Both have their natural resources stolen - Shell steal the gas from Rossport while Haliburton steal the oil from Iraq.
We both have insurgent groups fighting the foreign invader.
We both have rigged elections and puppet governments established by the foreign power.
We both have collaboraters working for the enemy - the Gardai and PSNI and Dail Eirinn and Stormant while in Iraq it is their assembly and their security forces.
Shannon is used by American troops and Baghdad International Airport is used by American troops.
For centuries our people were victims of imperialist genocide and now Iraqis are the victims of imperialist genocide.

If Iraqs can fight back then Irish people can do it too.

We should unite with our Arab brothers in the stuggle against the profit system.

socialist

by George Orwell

Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:05

You cannot be for real. You always write in slogans and seem to be incapable of applying a transitional approach. No way are you a member of the SP or any type of Leninist. Are you a Situationist?

Socialist is a troll

by Anthony

Tue Apr 04, 2006 14:51

There's no evidence that he / she is a situationist but there's plenty of evidence that he / she is a troll. Witness his most recent article at http://www.indymedia.ie/article/75188

FFS

Wed Apr 05, 2006 01:49

Well Socialist I see your point, but your hardwiring seems to be somewhat short circuited.

You realise that our participation in war as being bad; so you wan't to start another one to fix it.

What you call for goes well beyond what freedom the Constitution affords you, and the Constitution is the law until the people of Ireland say otherwise. It is what you've had to say on the matter that should be relegated to the status of a rag. And some joke you are.

I sincerely wish you hadn't used my piece to spew your stupidity.

ohhh dail eireann

by spellcheck

Wed Apr 05, 2006 14:11

ahhh dail eireann and stormont. make sure you spell them properly or the boys might storm the wrong buildings

Rights and the Constitution

by john kelly - none

Wed Apr 05, 2006 16:49

johnkellytwo at hotmail dot com

Well done Sean. This is where it is at. Why is the Constitution used as weapon by the establishment when it confers certain "FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS" to all citizens, yet the left etc do not use it as a weapon. As Mick O'Reilly ATGWU put it "Why do the right get to play all the best tunes..." and I would add we are stuck in 2006, with an illegal ban on notices of public meetings or assemblys in our capital city. And the "LEFT" are silent again.
It says something about the "LEFT" if they cannot regain a core base line human right guaranteed by the Constitution. Its there for the taking but it is not it seems on their radar, nor on the radar of most media who do get excercised about Freedom of Expression, but not here at home !!

Not fully quoted, a biased oppion of rights to protest

by John - My oppinion as a citezen

Tue Nov 11, 2014 01:43

Although I am not an expert in this area, I don't see this clearly showing the rights to a protest in the way our constitution was designed. It seems very one sided and not showing the the real protection of our constitution. I feel the information is handpicked and biased.

I wish to return somebody's Protest Prop .

by Kenhalnon@gmail.com - Non

Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:41

Hi my name is ken Halnon and I wish to return a Protest coffin Prop .
I helped carry it on last Saturdays March but when everybody left after the march I was left holding it .
I couldn't just leave it their outside Mount-Joy to the elements so I brought it home with me .
Somebody spent time and money on making it and had made such a wonderful effort of creativity .
So Please contact me kenhalnon@gmail.com for its next outing at Protest .

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A right to protest

Comments (8 of 8)