Joe Duffy Highlights Makeup at Protest

by old codger - pensioner Sun May 23, 2010 12:03

Well done and you can be proud of yourselves along with your fellow protesters, It is people like you that can rehabilitate our country.
Joe Duffy and fellow stooges keep using the misleading mantra ( WHY DON'T YOU INFORM THE GARDA OMBUDSMAN?)
SHell to Sea protesters were told by the ombudsdman's representative that the ombudsman's findings are subject to approval by the MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND THE DPP. So if your complaint does not fit the Fianna Fail agenda it will be a futile exercise.
You can see the results to all the police brutality on the Shell to Sea website . www.corribsos.com.
All activists and protesters should seek every opportunity to show RTE's Fianna Fail goons to be the liars they are.

by seedot Sun May 23, 2010 01:49

Leah, respect and solidarity on both your action and standing up to joe and the whine line. Courage and imagination is always a powerful combination.

Anybody up for a zombie bloc next tuesday and really break out the make up?

by baz Sat May 22, 2010 21:23

Personal think it was an effective form of protest. Creative innovative street theater like your action allowed “some debate” in the mainstream media . Ultimately it was attacked by “ The Herald” which proves the point it was an effective protest. I woun't even believe date in the herald.

In short you should not be ashamed for the action you both took to highlight violent tactics against peaceful protesters.

Ignore the gutter press and their keyboard warriors.

Your protest will inspire other people to express their dissatisfaction against the current rotten state of affairs. Be it face painting, puppets, performance… … You have both shown how effective it is.

by Stew Sat May 22, 2010 21:06

Leah, thanks for the post. I don't think you need to apologise at all. I think both yourself and Holly equipped yourselves very well to what was a very hostile approach from Joe Duffy. The individual who rang in to complain about the make-up should wise up as his actions simply served to play into Duffy's agenda, which on the one hand was to trivialise a serious issue and secondly to discourage people from coming out on to the streets to protest against the government propping up the banks while simultaneously slashing public services. Both of you should be commended for highlighting the issue and having the courage to go on live and challenge Duffy's assertions. Look forward to seeing you both next Tuesday. Keep her lit!

by leah Sat May 22, 2010 20:31

Clearly our actions at last tuesdays protest has ruffled some feathers.

As regards to Joe Duffy claiming that he had checked with the Ombudsman about any ‘grievances’ and had not found any reported, it seemed to suggest that in fact no one was injured at all, or at least not enough to make a complaint. Personally, I think this was done to second guess the motives behind myself and Holly’s actions. It is a ridiculous way to imply this aswell, considering there is video footage available to anyone who wants to look at it, on youtube.

The actions the Guards took to suppress the protesters was far beyond what was needed, regardless of what had provoked the restraint. The Guards are trained for situations like these, I see no reason for kneeling on someone’s neck, especially when the protester was not even moving and could not even speak to defend himself.

What disturbed me further was that this particular Guard said to his fellow comrade as they walked away ‘That was a bit of laugh’. I’m sure there will be queries as to if this actually happened. It did and I was not the only one to hear it. It distresses me that any one can enjoy inflicting such pain on someone, worse still that the person was a Guard and holds a position of authority.

I find it ridiculous that it has been coined our ‘own mini protest’ when in fact what we were explicitly saying was that we were no longer going to accept when we do go to exercise our democratic right to protest we are, not always but not uncommonly, subject to abuse by the guards. For example when the bloc departed from Stephen’s Green the Guards attempted to force us back, even though it is our right to protest and there was no reason to try to stop the procession. One of our signs said “Our taxes, our say, stop defending the greedy rich’. I’ll break it down further, so there is no confusion. I am aware that the Guards are ‘keepers of the peace’, yet what was witnessed on Saturday, with the Guards crushing people with their bodies, with one woman who seemed almost to be suffocated, and again on Tuesday with the Guards attempting to stop the march to Molesworth Street, that it gives a very blatant view of the position the Guards have taken, maybe not as individuals but at least as a force.

Also had the media decided not to make a spectacle out of us there would be no issue at all. We were part of the 1,000 that had taken to the streets in solidarity, not for our own ‘own mini protest’. Picking at different parts or angles of the protest is only serving to divide the people. It would be incredibly narrow minded not to note the connection of cuts to jobs and services and the violent nature that the Guards have employed to suppress the protests/protesters.

It is true that people call in with their own opinions to Joe Duffy. However what you failed to realise is that the show decides who gets on and who does not.

The comment about us coming across as melodramatic teenagers really holds not relevance. I will be the first one to admit that it is not a comfortable situation when you are on a radio show with some 30,000 listening, especially when you are defending yourself against everyone else on the show. I apologise if I wasn’t able to articulate myself to a certain standard, having had no previous media experience.

by richard whelan - none Sat May 22, 2010 12:56

If you want to see more images of the makeup and protest on Tuesday go to the following links.

http://www.demotix.com/news/334338/right-work-campaign-...ublin

www.dublindocumentary.com

all images copyright on above sites

by oOjimOo Fri May 21, 2010 19:00

Perhaps, after this show, everyone should be invited to attend this coming weeks protest with their faces made-up to show that they have been battered by this brutal government'!

by Schrodinger Fri May 21, 2010 14:53

Firstly I am not affiliated with any political group, Liveline or any other nonsense that someone may concoct. I write this of my own opinion and will.

I do not agree with some of Gavin's article and his comparison between what Fintin Hennessey said on Liveline on 20th May 2010:

"and I want to bring this down to a local level. Of if somebody was trying
to break into your house and the police were there. Do you think the
police would let them by to get into you?"

and what Gavin Gleeson said in his article:

"At some point Fintan made an analogy between the Gardaí defense of the
Dáil, and of how we would resist people tresspassing into our own
houses. Well, the politicians have already done this. They've gone into
our homes and stole our paychecks. We've been robbed to prop up bankers
and theives."

Fintan was speaking about how the Gardai would resist allowing someone to enter your home unlawfully. Not "we" the people. And using what he said to justify your own opinion of how the government has behaved is somewhat out of line. Also, and don't get me wrong as I'm no lover of the current government and was at the protest myself, but isn't stating that we have been "robbed to prop up bankers and theives" a bit unsupported. Theft is a crime and proof of that should be properly dealt with. I know I am taking your words very literally but in this day and age I would expect people, especially a group such as yourselves to be cautious about the use of words.

"What would have happened if the Gardaí had not attacked the protesters?"

Did an attack take place? As stated by Joe Duffy, the Ombudsman has not yet received any grievances over the Tuesday's (18th May 2010) protest. Again unsupported allegations until proof has been reviewed by the proper entities. Perhaps something will surface by the end of this week......

Regardless of all this the main problem with what Leah and Holly choose to do was that they attended a protest with their own mini protest over what happened at a previous protest..... and they themselves stated that they did not see everything that occurred prior to Gardai becoming physical with certain protesters. They turned up at a protest about work/jobs,etc... to protest about what they believe was incorrect action taken by the Gardai against peaceful protesters. Why couldn't they protest/bring along signs to join in with the rest of the people? Weren't there speakers on the day (18th May 2010) talking about banding people together under the same banner - the right to work?

Also I believe that, Gavin, you should be more clearer when using the names of individuals. You speak of a "Fintan" who was on Liveline and then Fintan O'Toole. The two are different individuals.

Also Gavin I wish to thank you very much for what you said:

"Holly and Leah, clearly knew something about the media that many of us haven't copped onto yet. The media are not after a meaningful discussion, [....] They're looking for a circus."

*ahem*

Moving swiftly along.

"They didn't invite anyone on the show to discuss the absurdity of Gardaí defending their own paycuts."

I may be wrong but isn't part of Liveline to allow people to discuss what they call/email in with? ..... I'm sure the people at Liveline can't come up with ALL the topics themselves. Some of the comments about how the media choose to ignore the issue of violence against peaceful protesters isn't relevant as the topic of the Liveline show was to discuss what Leah and Holly did to get their point across and how they turned up to a right to work protest to protest violence at protests. Why don't you call in to discuss this topic? I'm sure Liveline will let you, after all the media can't beat a good circus.

by Araby Fri May 21, 2010 12:00

There were three women on the show and all did very well

The woman at the end did a particularly good job !

Well done to all concerned!

by skeptomaniac Fri May 21, 2010 11:49

Dont pay your tv license.
They use our licence money to lie to you. Joe, pat, ryan, finnucane, the lot of them are over paid propagandists for a corrupt elitist government.
Duffy is worst of all, ke bought some biddy a kettle in ballyer once and hasnt stopped shiting on about how hes the voice of joe blog. Like when Gerry Ryan died...youd swear he was a fucking saint by the time they buried him. Just another sham of a man spouting from his mouth like he gives a fuck.

by aunty Goebbels Fri May 21, 2010 11:08

rte is more than the state broadcaster it is a vicious propaganda machine. It has been manipulating the management of news for a long time now. just because the propaganda is clumsy doesn't mean that it does not work. rte sets out to be an opinion former uin this country and has done huge damage to anything that does not fit in with the orthodox Irish or EU establishment policies. it hates any form of counter culture and will viciously seek to destroy any such movementsor even the ideas that give rise to them in the first place.

by dunk Fri May 21, 2010 09:48

As we are now seeing weekly anti capitalist blocs marching to the Dail, perhaps it would be opportune time to organize some NVDA (non violent direct action) trainings to prepare people for possible situations with the cops, like last Tuesdays horses provocation, as well as general media workshops...

Perhaps the seomra spraoi might be an ideal space to do such workshops

Great to see things growing as they are..

solidarity to those seeking change from Barcelona

dunk

by leah Thu May 20, 2010 23:04

Thanks for all the feed back about today's radio show, it was incredibly difficult especially as neither of us were prepared to speak or have done any media work before. I hope that our points were clear to those who listened as I wasn't sure how I felt about it after I listened to it off air.
p.s any one know of any media workshops coming up?!

by Fred Johnston Thu May 20, 2010 22:41

Holly and Leah were terrific and I posted notice of what they said on FaceBook. Naturally every effort was made to ridicule them. But how many times does one have to repeat that RTE is the STATE broadcaster?

by ecoeye Thu May 20, 2010 22:39

Fair play to the two girls for taking on Joe Duffy and the other two idiots. They came across very well and got their view point across with ease.

Who was this Linda woman? Is she for real? Don't use the word police because these has a different connotation? Is this the best Joe Duffy can get?

by eco joe Thu May 20, 2010 22:30

Good example of activists out-smarting sensationalist storytelling. Meaning story telling as opposed to any meaningful rational debate on an current affairs issues . Joe (who according to the great man’s own words has "NO AGENDA") tried to play the game of provoking (probably not his loyal listeners) his interviewees into losing their cool, and getting into a petty argument.

Joe was outwitted at one stage by the interviewee repeatable explaining their motivation behind the “street theater” (Highlight an issue ignored by the mainstream medias forum of debate - violence against peaceful protesting). An important lesson to any activists engaging with the media is to stay CALM!!!, don’t engage in “distractional arguments” about “what type of person the interviewer perceives you to be”. Calmly stating your message and motivation (repeating again and again if necessary) means me that you are using the media to communicate your message rather than being used to drive a piece of entertainment for a populist show.

by Gavin Gleeson Thu May 20, 2010 21:16

Here is the audio of the show: http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2010/pc/pod-v-20051026m23sli...t.mp3