Update: Invasion Of The Wheelie Bin Snatchers

One of the most significant struggles to affect working class people in Ireland in recent years took place in the autumn of 2003. This battle was between the anti-bin tax campaigns and the combined power of the four councils covering the whole of Dublin, the Fianna Fail/PD coalition government and the Irish state. The battle against the bin tax exploded in September 2003 and was a dominant national issue for the rest of the year.

This peak of the ongoing campaign against the bin tax saw households across Dublin refusing to pay the charges, thousands of people taking to the streets, dozens of blockades of bin trucks and 22 people imprisoned. It also saw considerable disagreements emerge amongst different elements within the campaigns. The most visible of these disagreements was over the issue of blockading bin trucks in other areas of Dublin when the struggle in Fingal was underway. The Fingal Campaign and many activists in the rest of Dublin believed that it was necessary to escalate direct action across the entire city. Some others, particularly some forces within the City Council campaign, felt that doing so would be rash.

The Socialist Party, which has played a very prominent role in the anti-bin tax campaigns, has produced a lengthy document outlining what it sees as the key elements of these disagreements. This is not a straightforward historical account of the struggle. It attempts to record the main developments in the battle against the bin tax, deal with the role of socialists in the campaign and to draw lessons for future campaigns.

“The differences of approach that emerged relate directly to what is the best way to build campaigns and conduct struggles. They also relate to the role that socialists should play in the rebuilding of the working class movement, which everybody agrees will be a vital issue in the years ahead. The issues re-surfaced again in the build up to the local elections in June 2004 and have continued on the bin tax and around the debates on how and when to establish a new left party for working class people. The differences are current and very relevant and undoubtedly will come up again and therefore need to be clarified.”

RELATED LINKS
30,000 Word Socialist Party Document
Dermot Connolly On These Issues
Irish Socialist Network On The Campaign
Socialist Party Anti-Bin Tax Archive
Workers Solidarity Movement Anti-Bin Tax Articles
SWP Bin Tax Archive
Indymedia Ireland Bin Tax Campaigns Archive

Is é Seosamh O’Ceallaigh acadúil, údar, staraí áitiúl is cainteoir dúchasach as Fhál Carrach i gContae Dún na nGall. Bhí mé ar chúrsa Gaeilge i Gort an Choirce ar feadh seachtain i Mí Meitheamh. Bhí Seomsamh ag múinteoireacht ar an gcúrsa, agus bhí seans agam caint leis faoi oidhreacht Éireannach agus an teanga Gaeilge.

Sliocht gearr ón agallamh:

Bhí meas i gcónaí ar an Gaeilge againn. Tá suim iontach agam sa teanga sa cultúr fosta, agus ansin bhí deis agam staidéar a dhéanamh air. Ansin fhuair mé PHD - rinne mé é ar stair áitiúl.

Tá níos mó i gceist ná stair áitiúl ach amháin just stair agus pointí agus dátaí. Bhí na daoine beo agus do múnlaigh an timpealleacht iad…do múnlaigh na sagairtí iad…do múnlaigh na tiarnaí talamh iad. Bhí sé sin iontach suimiúl - how they were shaped - múnlaigh - how they were moulded by the landlords and the people and the priests - tá sé iontach suimiúl agus na effects a bhí orthu.

Donegal_lakes_as_seen_from_Mount_Errigal 0.03 Mb Mount Errigal 0.03 Mb View from Errigal 0.02 Mb

There is nothing like a knock on the head to wake you up and make you reevaluate the things around you. Sitting here with a bump on my left temple that is as stubborn as ever and refuses to go away . I can only sit back and think about the severity of the health care system here in Ireland. I must admit I'm coming from a completely biased perspective, someone who grew up with a public health care system, but here it is anyways.

At least one person has been reported killed during the stamping out of the 'CzechTech' party. In video footage the police can be seen arresting party goers and brandishing a gun while attempting to prevent these arrests being filmed - on land that was legally rented by the party organisers. There are reports of heavy use of CS Gas and photographs of watercanon and large numbers of riot police being deployed. It is reported that the person who died at the music festival which has been running for twelve years had been blinded by CS gas and fell in front of a riot van.

The Czech Prime minister has reacted strongly stating that " These are no dancing children. .......... This core is build from people with dangerous anarchist's thrives and they are internationally connected.......... and hour after hour thousands come and the police forces cannot stop them."

The Intenational Indymedia Network has reported that a number of demonstrations in Prague against the police action have taken place - with 5,000 people attending last Saturday, 31st and calling for the resignation of the Czech Minister for Justice, Frantisek Bublan - a call supported by the Czech league for Human Rights. A demonstration is to take place in Dublin at 5.30pm on Wednesday 3rd August while the Czech Prime minister has decided to change the law so that "this will not happen again" - the law of assembly that is.

UPDATE:WSM report of demonstration at Czech Embassy

Further Info: Here and 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

Indymedia.ie tops 120,000 visitors in July

July was another record breaking month for Indymedia Ireland. On Tuesday July 26th, we surpassed the 3 million hits mark for site traffic in a month for the first time ever. Over the month we averaged 115,000 hits a day - an increase of a whopping 30,000 a day on our previous all time record which was last month (June 2005). Web traffic normally drops off substantially over the Summer, so this performance is a testament to the increasing quality of contributions to the newswire and our making inroads into broader audiences.

Although we don't normally retain IP addresses (to help enhance user privacy) statistical analysis of the samples that were retained in the past show that we will have received over 120,000 different readers in July alone (measured by unique IP addresses) . 1.1 million pages on the site and 3.55 million files were downloaded. In less technical terms, we are doing very, very well indeed. In more paranoid terms, we are transitioning from being a mosquito to being a serious pest in the house of Herr McDowell and chairman Bertie. Not bad for a bunch of volunteers organised as a collective with a budget that might as well not exist.

So, what does all this mean then? If you publish a story on the Indymedia Ireland newswire, it will be seen by many more people than you probably imagine. We must admit we are pleased with these readership figures, but we are constantly looking for ways to improve the site, and expand into other media beyond the internet. We always need more people to get involved in operating the Indymedia Ireland machine.