Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Britain?s Descent Towards Civil War is No Accident Wed Sep 03, 2025 11:23 | Michael Rainsborough
Britain's descent towards civil war is no accident, says Professor Michael Rainsborough. Decades of 'divide and rule' policies from the radical Leftists who have colonised our institutions were revolutionary by intent.
The post Britain’s Descent Towards Civil War is No Accident appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Labour Government?s Popularity Crashes to New Record Low as Markets Ramp Up Borrowing Costs Wed Sep 03, 2025 09:00 | Will Jones
The Labour Government's popularity crashed to a new record low of minus-59 yesterday as markets ramped up borrowing costs following Starmer's side-lining of Reeves and drafting in of hard Left economic advisers.
The post Labour Government’s Popularity Crashes to New Record Low as Markets Ramp Up Borrowing Costs appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link The End of Europe?s Welfare State: Net Zero, Debt and Decline Wed Sep 03, 2025 07:00 | Tilak Doshi
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned that the welfare state is "no longer sustainable" while France and the UK teeter on the brink. Europe is doubling down on the economic suicide of Net Zero, says Dr Tilak Doshi.
The post The End of Europe’s Welfare State: Net Zero, Debt and Decline appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Sep 03, 2025 00:46 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Starmer Pushes Digital ID Cards for All After Macron Demands Action to Tackle Scourge of Illegal Wor... Tue Sep 02, 2025 19:00 | Will Jones
Keir Starmer is pushing for everyone in Britain to be forced to sign up for a digital ID card after?Emmanuel Macron?demanded action to tackle the scourge of illegal working in Britain.
The post Starmer Pushes Digital ID Cards for All After Macron Demands Action to Tackle Scourge of Illegal Working in Britain appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

The Irish water charges movement

category national | bin tax / household tax / water tax | opinion/analysis author Wednesday January 25, 2017 21:44author by Laurence Cox - MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism Report this post to the editors

Theorising "the social movement in general"

A working paper on the water charges movement now available online for comment and discussion.

This paper uses participant narratives and Marxist social movement theory to analyse resistance to water charges as the driving force of Irish anti-austerity struggles – or “the social movement in general”. It locates this movement within the history of working-class community-based self-organisation in Ireland. Contemporary resistance to metering and refusal to pay are not “spontaneous”, but articulate long-standing local rationalities.

The current situation has seen the crisis of other forms of working-class articulation: union dependence on a Labour Party which enthusiastically embraced austerity in government; the co-optation of community service provision within “social partnership”, under attack from the state since the mid-2000s; and the collapse of far left initiatives for shared parliamentary representation and resistance to household charges. New forms of popular agency are thus developing; community-based direct action has enabled a historic alliance between multiple forms of working-class voice and unleashed a vast process of popular mobilisation and self-education.

Finally, the paper relates the Irish movement to the wider loss of consent for austerity on the European periphery, and asks after the political prospects for effective alliances “within the belly of the beast”.

The paper can be viewed or downloaded at the link below. Activist and researcher comments welcome.

Related Link: https://www.academia.edu/31075937/The_Irish_water_charges_movement_theorising_the_social_movement_in_general
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy