A Great Day

dublin | summit mobilisations | opinion/analysis Sunday May 02, 2004 04:30 by Sean Casaidhe seaneen at esatclear dot ie

Irish succeed in enjoying May Day celebrations

Learning from prior experience in both Dublin and abroad, the Irish manage to pull off a successful EU summit, hold a street party, have a protest, with no serious injuries, damage, or rain. Quite dissapointing really, and a little disturbing!

Well who would have thought it? The police force showing restraint, the protesters protesting peacefully (by and large), and it DIDN'T rain!

Honestly, not one drop of rain all day. I think I've got sun burn, my fair Irish complexion is not used to attending a parade with no rain. Thankfully the Gardai thoughtfully provided some welcome relief by hosing the crowd down with the water-cannon borrowed from their Northern cousins. Ah the fruits of cross-border co-operation - Big Ian may be foaming at the mouth as we speak! "It is not the job of the Ulshter police force to provide refreshing rain for Papist protesters in the Free State! Ulshter says no! Unless they are loyal brethern protesting about the Papist state. In which case, Ulsters says... positive things" ('Cos we all know Big Ian can't say "yes" to anything).

Unfortunately it wasn't all sunny today. Not everyone seemed to enjoy the free food (the little pastries from the Denmark stand were fantastic), the free booze (quite nice wine from Portugal), the free sweets (Chupa Chupa from, where else, but the Spanish stand), and the free music. Ahh the music! The wee Slovene girl with the heartbreakingly clear voice did not stay on for long enough, but the Estonian lads in the front row managed to elicit an encore from the dancing troop shortly after. The twirling petticoats were going down a treat in that quarter! And can someone please explain what all that thigh-slapping was all about? The Slovenes were doing it, the Tyrolenians were doing it - is this some sort of European tradition that we Paddies are unaware of?? Enlighten us!

But back to my point, here and there, usually dressed in bedraggled gothic-looking clothing, small clumps of studenty-type people spoke darkly about, I assume, the police state that is actively conspiring against them (which is funny, because most of the police state I saw were dying of the heat in their bright-yellow PVC jackets, and probably weren't up to much more than conspiring knock off for 5 minutes to get a drink, a quick puff, and to remind themselves of how much overtime they were going to get).

I'm sure that if they stopped muttering darkly for a moment, some people would have appreciated the music and dancing, the quartet from Lithuania, the mandolin/guitar combo from Malta, the Poles and the Slovenes. But alas, the lad in the McKenzie pullover with the anarchist mumbo-jumbo on his back didn't stop talking long enough to listen. He was more interested in spouting forth some rubbish about recording the police brutality. I can only assume that he was planning to visit Russia or France or somewhere, as the Gardai seemed to be on chill-out pills today.

(BTW, does anyone know where McKenzie pullovers are made? Not in Indonesia I hope. But still, having anarchist slogans on the back will make up for that. A pity about the Nike trainers though - either he was actually a nearly-very good undercover copper, or a very bad anti-globalist!)

Excessively chilled out in fact. Seeing masked people walking the streets of Dublin in the bright sunshine sent a shiver down my spine. My family are from the North, and in my soul I equate masks with violence. Masked men, in the bloody history of this small isle, generally carry assault rifles or bombs, and generally either want to kill me, or want to kill someone else in my name, and for that I abhor them, just as I abhor all people who feel that wearing a mask gives them immunity from civilised behaviour. Those so called "protesters" were not interested in protesting peacefully, because once you don a mask, once you decide that you are not willing to stand up for your actions and pay any price that must be paid, then you show that you are not truly interested in change, you are only interested in the trouble you can cause, the violence you can inflict. True protesters make their point and accept the costs, like Gandhi, Malcom X, Dr. King, or even the Shannon 3. Only cowards hide behind masks. And only cowards gang up on a reporter, female or otherwise. Only cowards are afraid of the truth, or of the lies, that papers may print. The righteous man does not fear the truth, and he does not fear lies. The truth will set you free, as they say, and lies will wrap themselves around the throat of their authors until they hang them.

Actually, truth be told (ha ha, geddit?) I was a little disappointed today. I didn't get hit once, either by a Garda, or even by a carelessly thrown missile. Come on guys, what's the story? I could really do with some compo cash here! Not that I'm suggesting for a moment that the May Day of 2 years ago was anything but an Garda Siochiona going seriously out-of-control, as I was there to witness it first hand, and it really, really, wasn't funny. It is just a pity that the Gardai have learned so quickly from their mistakes - who would have thought it? Every Garda out today had his or her number on their shoulders, every Garda acted with restraint and professionally. I mean, come ON!! This is the Gardai for pity’s sake, if you can't rely on a Garda to whack you one with a baton, who can you rely on?!? I think they must have been sent on sensitivity training - I mean, talk about ruining 3 years in Templemore teaching them to be complete bastards, no sooner does the average culchie Garda come out ready to take on any number of anarchists with trusty baton #1, than the bloody authorities sends him or her off to sensitivity training courtesy of Joe Taxpayer, so they can be nice and restrained, and respect peoples' right to protest!! They'll start being polite next, and I don't think I could stand that, so I'd have to emigrate somewhere where the police are nasty and brutish, like Zimbabwe, or China, or Cheshire. Never mind, once all these European dignitaries have left, I'm sure the Guards will revert to normal.

They only turned the water cannon to about 20% as well - less of a water-cannon than a water-pistol, actually. They didn't even aim it at anyone in particular, which is unjust, 'cos if you're going to come all the way from London for a protest, the local coppers could at least knock you off your feet with the watercannon so you can have a nice picture to show your SO back home. Instead, the Guards just generally sprayed the area in the knowledge that being wet & cold, with squelchy Doc Martens, makes even the most hardened protester think longingly of home, a nice warm cuppa, and a change of socks.

All in all, it was more than enough to discourage this disheartened would-be anarchist into the Tide for a well-earned drink or two, then on the Dart home. I don't know what this country is coming to - a well-organised signing ceremony, a half-decent street party, a largely non-violent protest (two of them, actually!), no rain, and no smoking in pubs - it's just not what I expected of my native land, and frankly, I'm a bit scared.

slainte all, good night from Dublin, peace be with you
sean.