Why Did the Entire World Lose Its Nerve? Mon Jan 25, 2021 19:53 | Hector Drummond
Gates Foundation Is Also Destroying Afri... Mon Jan 25, 2021 19:18 | F. William Engdahl
Great Britain Invites 5.4 Million Hong K... Mon Jan 25, 2021 15:29 | BBC
Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Veg... Mon Jan 25, 2021 14:44 | Erica L. Green
The US-Europe ‘Front’ Against China ... Mon Jan 25, 2021 13:27 | Ted Galen Carpenter Anti-Empire >>
A bird's eye view of the vineyard
Nasrallah: ?It was Iran?s Soleimani who convinced Putin to enter Syria war? Mon Jan 25, 2021 08:22 | amarynth Original link: http://middleeastobse... Video link: https://www.youtube.c... Description: Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah recounts how assassinated Iranian General Qassim Soleimani held a two-hour long meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and convinced
American Dystopia ? The Propaganda Mask and the Utopia Syndrome Sun Jan 24, 2021 22:40 | amarynth By Larry Romanoff for the Saker Blog In an article in the NYT on America’s “Racial Democracy” (or racist democracy), (1) Jason Stanley and Vesla Weaver noted “The philosopher Elizabeth
AMERICA 2021 (Paul Joseph Watson) Sun Jan 24, 2021 21:46 | The Saker
Deir Ezzor is a Sign of Things to Come Sat Jan 23, 2021 23:07 | amarynth by The Ister for The Saker Blog The billowing wheat fields of Syria once were a staple that kept the people sated through times of struggle. Until the beginning of
Moveable Feast Cafe 2021/01/23 ? Open Thread Sat Jan 23, 2021 09:00 | Herb Swanson 2021/01/23 09:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of The Saker >>
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Mainstream media: Failing to speak truth to power
David Quinn’s selective tolerance Anthony
A Woulfe in judges clothing Anthony
Sarah McInerney and political impartiality Anthony
Did RTE journalists collude against Sinn Fein? Anthony Public Inquiry >>
A Blog About Human Rights
Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights
Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights
Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights
Turkish President Calls On Greece To Comply With Human Rights on Syrian Refugee Issues Wed Mar 04, 2020 17:58 | Human Rights
US Holds China To Account For Human Rights Violations Sun Oct 13, 2019 19:12 | Human Rights Human Rights in Ireland >>
|
Kenny and Gilmore merely Puppets On A String
national |
anti-capitalism |
news report
Friday March 11, 2011 15:27 by 1% Network - 1percentnetwork

Despite appalling weather conditions, members of the 1% Network gathered outside the Central Bank in Dublin’s Dame Street on Thursday evening (10th March) to highlight the fact that, despite the change in government the wealthy 1% still “pull the strings”. Kenny and Gilmore merely Puppets On A String
Despite appalling weather conditions, members of the 1% Network gathered outside the Central Bank in Dublin’s Dame Street on Thursday evening (10th March) to highlight the fact that, despite the change in government the wealthy 1% still “pull the strings”.
The evening’s events began with a symbolic sealing off of the Central Bank with crime scene tape. This was done to highlight the fact that it is “a symbol of no-regulation capitalism and unbridled greed,” said Brian Leeson, 1% Network spokesperson.
“The victims of the financial crimes committed here are the almost half a million unemployed, the thousand people a week forced to emigrate, the social welfare recipients whose payments have been cut, the workers whose wages have been slashed. These crimes have been committed in order to protect the wealth divide that exists in Irish society,” Mr. Leeson continued.
Puppets
Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore made an appearance at the event – in the form of puppets on strings being pulled by what were clearly members of the 1%. These wealthy individuals carried speech bubbles which declared “I don’t need to stand in elections. I still have the power” and “No matter who’s in government I pull the strings”. This highlighted the fact that – despite the recession the 1% of the population that owned 34% of the wealth in 2007 retain most of their wealth today.
“That wealth gives these people access to political power. They don’t care whether it’s Fianna Fáil & The Greens or Fine Gael & Labour that are nominally in charge because they know that the real political power lies in their hands. The politicians’ hands are tied and they are mere puppets on the strings of the super-wealthy,” said Mr. Leeson.
Rich List
Ironically this event was held on the same day as the latest Forbes Rich List had been published. This had reported that last year the number of billionaires in the world actually increased by 214 to a record 1,210, each of whom had an average net worth of $3.7 billion, a fact which was highlighted by Gregor Kerr 1% Network spokesperson. “It’s clear that the worldwide recession has hurt some more than others,” he said. “While this tiny number of individuals suck more and more wealth into their greedy paws, half the world’s population – over three billion people – are forced to live on less than $3 a day.”
The 1% Network has pledged to continue to campaign to highlight the huge wealth divide that exists in Ireland and throughout the world, and has said that it will work to “encourage and support people in their communities and in their workplaces to resist the government policies that underpin this wealth divide.”
Political Power
“There’s something that most of us don’t realise,” said Mr. Kerr. “Political power is retained in the hands of the super-wealthy only because we allow it to be. They are few and we are many. And if we want to ensure that real fundamental change takes place in Irish society, if we want to bring about a real democratic revolution and if we want to build a new society that will be run in the interest of ordinary people instead of in the interest of the super wealthy – To borrow a phrase from a politician I’ve never quoted before YES WE CAN.
Our strength is our common bond, our solidarity. In the short term that solidarity needs to be built to resist the ongoing attacks on our living standards. Every cut that this new government attempts to impose must be resisted. Every new tax must be opposed. Every cut in social welfare, every cut in wages. We need to organise in our communities and in our workplaces and build a resistance that will say we are no longer willing to tolerate a society that outs the interests of a greedy few before the interests of the majority.
Building such campaigns will not be easy, we – the workers’ movement generally – are starting from a very low point. But the one thing that is clear is that we cannot rely on trade union leaders or politicians – no matter how well-intentioned – to do it for us. We have to do it for ourselves. And that means each one of us has to be willing to become a ‘leader’, an advocate for change and a focus of debate and discussion aimed at bringing about that change.
Let’s organise the resistance and let’s begin to dream the dream of a new society based on equality and justice,” he concluded.
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (6 of 6)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6the in coming cabinet of the coalition government is scary, Mc Dowell in the law library must be smiling the return of the pds emerging into FG, is another scary nightmare on Kildare street. with Vradkar and Creighton appointments
check out website. www.notodebit.ie
Any photos ? I coudn,t make it in due to a sick child , but will be at the next one . Seen the piece in the Irish examiner .
Well done folks.
How about the triple A rating for dropping the Justice, Defence, and Equality portfolio into the bog of Alan?
The possibilities are hardly cheering. O'Duffy must be rubbing his hands in glee central.
I would not disagree with the content of the article, but the depressing reality is that the majority of people who voted have placed these people in power
You'll find some photos here
http://www.wsm.ie/c/kenny-gilmore-puppets-string-wealthy
..sharing the pain means they deliver and administer it, and we bail them out, into the comfort they have salivated for since they last held the reins.