Taking it to City Hall {Bin Tax}

by Janus Tue Oct 07, 2003 15:04

I was at it and for what it's worth it was a good enough demo but it was only really about the size you'd normally get when the demos outside City Hall were a regular first Monday in each month thing. Maybe a bit bigger.

It concerns me that since the massive, 3,500 strong march thru the city following Joe's arrest the numbers turning out on marches have been steadily dropping. And don't think the media hasn't been using this against us.

Protests and marches for the sake of it or to 'keep momentum' will only see people being fatigued earlier.

Maybe we need to build to a big show of strength demo and I'd suggest we do one for the release of Joe and Clare. Lets face it, they're going to do their full whack. But they also have celebrity and massive name recognition now.

A welcome out demo for the two of them, well advertised in advance, could be a significant show of strength for the campaign, one that frankly, it badly needs.

by Chekov Tue Oct 07, 2003 15:07

The Dublin Trades Council have called for a demo on saturday at 12 noon, going to Mountjoy. I don't know where it starts from though (anybody?). This will be a good opportunity to put pressure on the union leaders to put their money where their mouth is. Begg may even have the cheek to speak.

by blocker Tue Oct 07, 2003 17:02

From the photos it looks like another hijack from SF.

by Janus Tue Oct 07, 2003 18:46

I noticed them too. Every time a photographer moved they'd move in order to get their pictures taken.

Or, more realistically, they were there, as they have been at every protest outside City Hall and the vast majority of them elsewhere with placards like many, many, many other people and parties.

Just because the photographer shoed a picture of them doesn't say they hijacked anything. For all we know, thousands of people were on the left hand side and the photographer didn't include them.

by pat c Tue Oct 07, 2003 19:32

i saw shinners paying sp & swp members to carry sf placards!!!!!

they also bribed the photographer.

by redjade Tue Oct 07, 2003 19:37

'I noticed them too. Every time a photographer moved they'd move in order to get their pictures taken.'

hardly. it was a crowded situation with little room to move on the sidewalk in front of City Hall. With the police barricades up and the car traffic heavy at that time of day it was impossible to get a medium distance shot.

No one got in my way on purpose - Sinner or SP or whoever. So, I went across the street to get some wide shots.

As for: 'For all we know, thousands of people were on the left hand side and the photographer didn't include them.'

the photos show the numbers visually, i think - 100+ or so?

As for 'Hijacking'.... i find this comment amusing. I'm not one to defend Sinn Fein (pro or anti, that is) but it seems to be the Dublin 'tradition' of certain groups (SWP, SP or SF) to give out massive amounts of placards on a given theme that happens to include their trademarks.

Nothing new about that.

I dont know if this particular demo was anymore of a SF event than other events have been SWP or SP etc.... its just the economics of which group had money to spend on placards and the organisation to distribute them to people who want a placard at the start of the demo.

by redjade Tue Oct 07, 2003 19:47

No I was not bribed.

Although I don't mind being paid to take photos :-)

in pints, preferably.

by pat c Tue Oct 07, 2003 20:01

judging from the fact that you complained on the editorial list about my comment above, i presume you took it seriously.

it was satire, i doubt if even a moron in a hurry would believe that you had been bribed or that spers were paid to carry sf placards.

(and people say that i dont have a sense of humour...)

by Janus Tue Oct 07, 2003 20:46

My suggestion that the Shinners were moving about was ironic. Sometimes a photo gets taken and it seems to give one group or another prominence. Doesn't make for bias on the half of the photographer or suggest hijacking.

by real time Wed Oct 08, 2003 00:54

October 11th at 3 p.m. from Parnell Square to Mountjoy Prison
(NOT 12 noon as suggested earlier by Chekov)
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=61521

by Paul Wed Oct 08, 2003 10:07

October 11th at 12 from Parnell Square to Mountjoy Prison
(NOT 3pm as suggested earlier by Real Time (sic))
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2003/1007/breaking73.htm

by ipsiphi (being silly) Wed Oct 08, 2003 13:31

Well the first attempt to hijack City Hall occured at Easter 1916 when proto-Joe Higgins the famous "red" Mr. James Connolly went down Dame Street with a load of bolsheviks intent on occupying Dublin Castle, which rather thoughtfully had been left with only a handful of soldiers guarding it that weekend.
Unfortuanately though brave, the bolsheviks of Dublin in 1916 lacked military genius as much they lacked luck, and they failed to occupy Dublin Castle and stayed lurking in City Hall instead. This was a _grave_ tactical error, whilst their comrades up on Stephen's Green dug trenches and fed the ducks, (another _grave_ tactical error).

The second attenpt to hijack City Hall occured last year when the ipsiphi psychically influenced the aldermen and councilors to come to a 23 for 23 against stand-off.
This was a most important tactical step on the way to your future collective liberation for which you shall of course reward me richly.

by Mags Mon Oct 13, 2003 19:27

It was Sean Connolly (no relation) who led the ICA to Dublin Castle in 1916. The Seamus lad was up in the GPO.

by trust you lassie Mon Oct 13, 2003 22:56

and I didn't correct myself coz i wasn't sure if the brother was in the GPO or the Union.
-did the little brother get executed as well?