Globalise Resistance bulletin

Tuesday July 09, 2002 15:46

by Nora Geraghty and Joe Carolan - Globalise Resistance

The weekly GR bulletin, with a range of events and reports.

1. Meeting, Tuesday 9th July
2. Burlington court cases
3. Fundraiser, Temple Bar Music Centre, 17th July
4. Jail the Ansbacher gang
5. Report on the European Social Forum meeting
6. Bogus website
7. Save the Dun Laoghaire and Blackrock baths

1. Meeting, Tuesday 9th July.

Professor Arturo Escobar of the Dept of Anthropology, University of North
Carolina, USA, is in Dublin for the next few days. He will be speaking on the issues of GLOBALISATION, DEVELOPMENT and the INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS on these processes, particularly as they affect Latin America. He will be speaking at Wynn's Hotel, Middle Abbey St on Tues 9th July at 7pm. All welcome.

2. Burlington court cases.

Wednesday 10th July, 10am, Old Richmond Courthouse, Nth. Brunswick st.

Last October 14 people were arrested under the Public Order Act while taking part in a peaceful protest. This was in clear violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the relevant parts of which are set out below. This Wednesday 10th July, 10 of them must face charges in court. We ask anyone who has the time to come and support them by holding a vigil outside the court and letting the police know that we find this unacceptable, and that we call for the Public Order Act to be scrapped.

Excerpts from an eyewitness report:

The protest was called by GR against the 2nd Global Summit on Public Private Partnerships (PPP), where international corporate delegates banqueted with ministers of finance from countries leading the way in neo-liberal privatisation of public services. The banquet was held in the exclusive Southside Burlington Hotel. The conference was endorsed by the Irish minister for Finance, Charlie Mc Creevy, in a move which many Irish activists interpreted as a statement of intent that the control was preparing for a huge new wave of privatisations in the airports, buses, rail, health and education.

Many groups were at the protest- the Dublin Anti-Bin charges campaign, opposing double taxation and privatisation of refuse services; the Bus workers Action Group, a rank and file trade union network that has led strikes on the capital's buses for proper funding of public transport, water service workers from Ballymun (with placards parodying the old Irish rebel song: Not even our rivers run free), Globalise Resistance, the Green Party, the Socialist Workers Party, the anarchist Workers Solidarity Movement and Joe Higgin's Socialist Party.

After 20 minutes of a sit down protest, the Superintendent instructed those sitting down, that unless they moved within one minute, they would be forcibly removed. Within 30 seconds, a group of six Gardai, with numbers removed, jumped forward and began beating protestors on the head with hard, wooden batons. A senior cop was shouting "Into them hard", the baton charge was designed to terrify and punish.

As the protestors regrouped, reinforcements in paddy wagons arrived. The Dublin police helicopter was brought in overhead, and members of the Special Branch (the Irish political police) arrived in plainclothes and unmarked cars. Now strengthened, they launched a second baton attack, this time beating demonstrators out onto the busy main road and making 9 forcible arrests. Dublin was now witnessing a full-blown police riot.

As we began moving away, I witnessed one of the most horrific police actions I have personally seen, even compared to Genoa and Melbourne. A snatch squad of about ten luminous jacketed cops ran, charging at the march from behind, with the wooden batons over their heads. People were lashed into indiscriminately.

They were acting in a very organised, political and violent way. They arrested key organisers, an Indymedia video camera activist, and my friend Rory Hearne, past President of Trinity College Dublin. Rory was arrested by about four huge cops who were beating him all over his body. One cop was choking him from behind with his baton. Blood was pumping out of his head. His friends, who were holding him and asking why he was being arrested, were also batoned, punched and told to "fuck away off!" I turned and saw the SWP's Richard Boyd Barrett being punched and kicked by two cops. An Austrian socialist, Thomas, had his head split open and was covered in blood. He would later be hospitalised, after being arrested, for over an hour and a half.

The use of this snatch squad was highly political, it was aimed at organisers of both the SWP and GR. The 16 prisoners have now been given bail at £150 each.

Full eyewitness reports at:

http://www.geocities.com/finghin2000/syucd/news/accounts.html

Following are some excerpts from the Universal Declaration of human rights adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948. The entire declaration is too long to reproduce here, so only the parts relevant to this case are quoted. However we recommend that anyone who has an interest in civil rights should read the entire document at the link given below.

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous
acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world
in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom
from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common
people,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex,
language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin,

Article 7.
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to
equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any
discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to
such discrimination.

Article 9.
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 19.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.

Article 20.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Article 21.
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,
directly or through freely chosen representatives.

Full declaration at:

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

3. Fundraiser, Temple Bar Music Centre, 17th July

Globalise Resistance will be holding a fundraiser to help with the fines which may be faced by those who were arrested at the Burlington under the Public Order Act. The final line-up will be confirmed in next week’s bulletin, but so far we have confirmed the following acts:

King Sativa.
The Happy City Samba School.
DJ Paddy Dempsey, (Mono, Eyewobble).

It should be a good night, hope to see you all there.

4. Jail the Ansbacher gang.

There is to be a special sitting of the Dail on Thursday, 11th July, to discuss the Ansbacher affair. There is to be a protest at the gates at 5pm. The protest has been called by the SWP but all groups and individuals are welcome to participate and bring banners and placards. GR support this protest fully. We know that hundreds of business people have been evading tax, but the Government is already saying that it will be too difficult to prosecute them, clearly indicating that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor.

What’s robbing a bank compared to owning one?

5. Report on last weeks ESF meeting, 2nd July 2002.

The European Social Forum runs from the 7th-10th November 2002, in Florence, Italy, with a demonstration in support of immigrants organised for the 6th, the day before the Forum begins. On Tuesday 2nd July the first meeting to mobilise an Irish contingent for this event was held in the Teachers Club.

A broad group of people came together on Tuesday last to discuss mobilising for the European Social Forum. At a glance around the room the variety was encouraging. Apart from Globalise Resistance (who organised the meeting) the attendance included members of the Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Labour Party, Green Party, SIPTU, the NUJ, the Irish Anti-War Movement and the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Group. What was even more encouraging was that as the meeting went on it became apparent that we were in agreement with each other for the most part, and that those points on which there was some dissension were not going to get in the way of our common enthusiasm for the European Social Forum and all it represents to us.
The meeting kicked off at around 7.45pm with Joe Carolan speaking of the need to bring together the different strands of the global movement in the spirit of the World Social Forum, which took place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February. 60,000 people came together at Porto Alegre to discuss how best to organise against the corporations that are wrecking our public services and our planet, how to tackle the third world debt and how to combat the desperate inequality that is being created by neo-liberal economic policies around the world.
In the aftermath of this meeting it was decided that, as many Europeans could not afford to go to Brazil, a European version should be held in Florence, Italy, where the Anti-Capitalist Movement is very strong. In preparation for this event two huge halls have been booked, each with a capacity to hold 9000 people, and 24 smaller rooms each with a capacity for 2-3000.
In the mornings there will be huge conferences focusing on issues such as fascism and the rise of the right-wing throughout Europe; war and the struggle for peace; refugees and human rights abuses, and environmental issues. In the late afternoons there will be public demonstrations on a range of issues and in the evenings there will be cultural events, world music and showing of films. The European Social Forum will run from the 7th to the 10th of November 2002.
The discussion was slow to begin, but when it did it was lively and interesting with many people speaking eloquently about their ideas and concerns. All seemed to agree that the time has come for us to unite under the banner of a broad movement and fight against the forces that are wrecking our world, and that in order to do that it will be necessary for us to put aside minor differences and open up a dialogue between left-wing groups, environmentalists, trade unions, peace activists and concerned individuals.
The only real point of dissension was the Nice Treaty, as many people take very different standpoints on this for their own reasons. However, it was agreed that whatever your opinion on the treaty, the issues involved will soon become live issues in Ireland as the second referendum is scheduled for the autumn.

The main focus of this meeting, of course, was to organise a planning strategy for bringing together groups and individuals, getting the word out there, organising sponsorship, transport and accommodation. Volunteers were soon found to do the various jobs which need to be done, and it was agreed that another meeting should be held in about a months time to see how far we’ve come.
We fervently hope that the next meeting will attract a much bigger crowd, and that we can go to the European Social forum in November as a large Irish contingent. It has to be said that Ireland is lagging far behind some of its European neighbours when it comes to mobilising large numbers of people against the wrongs being inflicted on them and their brothers and sisters in other countries. Perhaps the European Social Forum can provide a focus which we in Ireland can use to work together and to learn to tolerate our traditional differences with a view to presenting real opposition to our common enemies.
Related link: www.worldsocialforum.org

6. Bogus website.

The website www.globaliseresistance.com was advertised at the Glastonbury Festival. This site has nothing to do with our organisation. The site opposes abortion rights and includes many offensive pictures, supposedly of aborted
foetuses. It is maintained by the UK Life League, an organisation with links to loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland and to violent anti-abortion groups in the US.

We believe that opposing capitalism and neo-liberalism must mean fighting for women's liberation, including a woman's right to control her own fertility. Most people support abortion rights - 77% agree with the need for legal abortion, and every attack on the 1967 Abortion Act has failed.

Because anti-abortionists have so little public support, they can only gain publicity by devious and shocking tactics like this. We ask people not to go to the site to check it out. You will only add to their Internet traffic, give them the impression they have an audience and encourage this devious behaviour yet further.

Our members put enormous effort into taking forward the rights of ordinary people. We find it deeply offensive that our name is being misused to promote revolting material in this dishonest way.

We are consulting solicitors to investigate ways of closing down this site, and preventing the continued misuse of our name.

7. Save the Dun Laoghaire and Blackrock baths.
DAY OF ACTION TO SAVE DUN LAOGHAIRE & BLACKROCK BATHS.
NO PRIVATISATION OF PUBLIC AMENITIES
Sunday August 11th. Assemble Front Gates of the Peoples Park at 2pm.

Like so many public sites, amenities and services the Dun Laoghaire and Blackrock public sea baths are a target for privatisation by developers. The council closed the baths a number of years ago and have let them fall into a state of disrepair because they want to sell them off to their friends in business. In particular there was a widespread fear that more luxury apartments would be built on the sites as has happened on much of the seafront in recent years.

However, there has been a fantastic campaign of resistance to this. Last year a local campaign group the Dun Laoghaire Heritage and Renewal Campaign in conjunction with GR organised a march and carnival that saw over 600 people take to the streets calling for the baths to be re-opened as a public amenity. (This is probably one of the biggest marches ever to take place in Dun Laoghaire!)

As a result of this action and thousands of signatures that were collected and handed into the council, the council have recently agreed that apartments should not be built on the site of Dun Laoghaire Baths and that some sort of amenity should be maintained there. This is an important victory for people power. However, the council are still talking about developing the site under a so-called Public Private Partnership. As we know this is another word for privatisation and will mean the baths will be developed as an exclusive amenity available only to those who can pay hefty admission costs or annual membership fees. The baths are loved by local people precisely because they were public and open to all. There is huge support for the baths to be kept fully public.

To secure the future of these public amenities from the hands of greedy developers another day of action is being organised on Sunday August 11th at 2pm starting from the Peoples Park in Dun Laoghaire. Last years event was brilliant with a huge march, music, face painting, street theatre, food etc. And it had an effect. If we can do as well and better this year , this is a fight we can win. The council is under pressure and there is massive opposition to any privatisation.

This is a fight against GATS and the Neo-liberal agenda at a local level and connects the global movement to a real issue that effects ordinary people. We appeal to all those who want to join the protest or help/contribute in anyway to the day to come along on August 11th. We are also looking for music, face-painters and street theatre performance art to make it a good day out. Anyone interested in helping contact Heather at 087-2859141 or come to the planning meeting on Thursday July 25th at 8pm in Smyths Pub, Georges St, Dun Laoghaire. Please come along.

The bulletin committee,
Nora G. + Joe C.