Protest March 27/11/2010

ThisRegard

The unions are on cloud cuckoo land calling for a general strike.

The problem with marching under the guise of not being supportive of the unions but against the state is that the unions will claim you as supporting them and their ridiculous policies.

Davyjose, no probs. This is a very emotive ssue on all sides made more so by the state of the nation, which is something we all agree on.

OctavarIan

They're playing The Script, a sure-fire way to get a crowd to disperse quickly.

CiaranC

anti ICTU union leaders protest starting now on oconnell st

shame on all of you who are not here

Wibbs

MonkeyTennis wrote: »

in work today. Im surprised at some peoples attitude towards the unions.

Read up on some of the leaders of those unions. read up about their "unusual" affiliations. Read up on their wages(and no sign of taking cuts in them either). Read up on what they're asking for and what they were asking for before. Read up on how they were among the factors that have brought us to today.

At least it looks like it went off peacefully and that's a good thing.

partyatmygaff

CiaranC wrote: »

shame on all of you who are not here

I was "there" per se. Didn't hang around. If people want to waste their time protesting against budget cuts in sub zero temperatures they can feel free to do so.

MagicMarker

CiaranC wrote: »

shame on all of you who are not here

blah blah blah

sonic85

protesting at this stage is not gonna change a thing - might make people feel a bit better but thats about it. were screwed - protesting wont change that. the government are a shower of b*stards and id give them and the banks 60% of the blame for the mess were in. fact is though 40% of the blame lies squarely at the feet of normal people who lived way beyond their means, spent money like there was no tomorrow and thought the good times would keep on rolling. the chickens have come home to roost now though

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

CiaranC wrote: »

anti ICTU union leaders protest starting now on oconnell st

shame on all of you who are not here

Lawl...

MagicSean

Just out of bed. Has the revolution begun yet?

steddyeddy

I was at it it was fairly peaceful from what I saw but what did surprise me is how victimised the union leaders feel themselves to be, when one union boss evoked the memory of larkin I nearly laughed.

gonedrinking

sonic85 wrote: »

protesting at this stage is not gonna change a thing - might make people feel a bit better but thats about it. were screwed - protesting wont change that

Absolute rubbish, the government haven't signed us up for slavery yet, so there's always the chance to change things before they sign the deal.

colly10

ThisRegard wrote: »

The unions are on cloud cuckoo land calling for a general strike.

The problem with marching under the guise of not being supportive of the unions but against the state is that the unions will claim you as supporting them and their ridiculous policies.

Davyjose, no probs. This is a very emotive ssue on all sides made more so by the state of the nation, which is something we all agree on.

Ye,this is one thing I just don't get. If I was marching i'd be there for massive cuts in public sector wages and pensions and getting rid of any staff that arn't really needed, all while telling the unions to feck off.
I wouldn't exactly be getting that point across if I was at a union march where union members speak to the people, claim the people and will no doubt be shown on RTE news tonight talking about the people being in support of their cause.

They sicken me way more than the government does, their only there to stand in the way of anything the government does for the sake of the country that conflicts with themselves or their members

DCUlad

Yeh so was there no trouble whatsoever then?

That looks bad on the people who turned up. They could have at least threw a few eggs/stones etc.

We need to tare down government buildings !
If this were in France or some a them spots there would be civil war.

latenia

I walked past on my way to work to hear a speaker coming out with the usual undergraduate Marxism-lite crossed with Pearsean republican cant. I could see the distaste in the faces of the many people who wouldn't normally attend this kind of thing.

MagicSean

Gardaí put the crowd at 50,000. Unions put the crowd at up to 150,000. Can we not come up with some agreed system to measure crowds? I'm sure every paper and news broadcast will have different figures.

sonic85

gonedrinking wrote: »

Absolute rubbish, the government haven't signed us up for slavery yet, so there's always the chance to change things before they sign the deal.

you keep telling yourself that - wont make it come true though.

IvyTheTerrible

DCUlad wrote: »

Yeh so was there no trouble whatsoever then?

That looks bad on the people who turned up. They could have at least threw a few eggs/stones etc.

We need to tare down government buildings !
If this were in France or some a them spots there would be civil war.

What a load of rubbish.

In France, when people go out to protest, there is very little violence, because that diminishes the point the protesters are trying to make.

If people had been throwing stones or eggs, noone one would take their point seriously and just say "oh they were just out to cause trouble". It would serve no purpose at all.

dyl10

**** the unions and **** the government

Sharkey 10

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

I'm guessing a crowd of militant socialists no less. SWP, Éirigí ... etc.

Do you really think there are 50,000 militant socailists in Ireland?

dasdog

The background protest or rather lack of confidence is the capital flight from the insolvent banks that is taking place not last centuries way of displaying fear and anger. If it was concerted and coupled with withholding tax/mortgage payments now that would be an effective demonstration.

MagicMarker

I don't really see what a group of people walking down a street on a snowy Saturday afternoon will achieve.

Why not aim for national strikes, both in the public and private sector?

Sharkey 10

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

What a load of rubbish.

In France, when people go out to protest, there is very little violence, because that diminishes the point the protesters are trying to make.

If people had been throwing stones or eggs, noone one would take their point seriously and just say "oh they were just out to cause trouble". It would serve no purpose at all.

As far as i remember there was plenty of violence over raising the retirement age . Its actually quite the opposite throughout french history

IvyTheTerrible

Sharkey 10 wrote: »

As far as i remember there was plenty of violence over raising the retirement age . Its quite the opposite throughout french history

There wasn't plenty of violence. There were certain incidents (remember that there were 2 millon people out protesting on each day of protest), which were magnified by the media (cos showing cars burning is more interesting than than showing people marching peacefully). In most places, protesting was peaceful and trouble free.

dr.bollocko

Friendly reminder that advocating of violence is not tolerated here at all in any form. Infractions / bans will follow.

Sharkey 10

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

There wasn't plenty of violence. There were certain incidents (remember that there were 2 millon people out protesting on each day of protest), which were magnified by the media (cos showing cars burning is more interesting than than showing people marching peacefully). In most places, protesting was peaceful and trouble free.

Ok so say today if a group of twenty people start smashing windows on o connell st would that be a violent protest?
Im almost sure that it would be labeled one by parts of the media and joe ears would be ringing on monday. I think by Irish standards that would be a violent protest .
You also say that violence wont achieve any thing . What about the poll tax riots?

Edit i dont agree fully with violence fully but understand if its used properly is an important method of protest.

steddyeddy

People who didnt march today say they hate the unions, when people turn up protesting the unions their militants. Jesus whats next your not marching because some foriegn people turn up?

mikemac

k_mac wrote: »

Gardaí put the crowd at 50,000. Unions put the crowd at up to 150,000.

Gardai confirmed 50,000 and this was announced. Sky news had it

Then right at the end David Begg said 100,000 on new garda revised figures.

It's possible both were correct, one at the end and one a few hours earlier

sonic85

MagicMarker wrote: »

I don't really see what a group of people walking down a street on a snowy Saturday afternoon will achieve.

Why not aim for national strikes, both in the public and private sector?

id agree with this. to get the government to sit up and take notice about 500,000 people would want to swarm into dublin and close the city down completely. the march today was pointless - there would be more people wandering around on a match day in croke park.

flash1080

steddyeddy wrote: »

People who didnt march today say they hate the unions, when people turn up protesting the unions their militants. Jesus whats next your not marching because some foriegn people turn up?

Those people like to hurl from the ditch. That's why nobody listens to them. They're the people who complain that nobody is doing anything, and when somebody does do something those people complain about that too.

steddyeddy

feelingstressed wrote: »

Gardai confirmed 50,000 and this was announced. Sky news had it

Then right at the end David Begg said 100,000 on new garda revised figures.

It's possible both were correct, one at the end and one a few hours earlier

In this case I would trust the gardai figurse more havings said that there seemed to be over 50,000 people there