Socialist Party under attack from billionaire media and capitalist establishment in Ireland
A mass revolt against water charges, an austerity tax, is taking place in Ireland. Hundreds of thousands of working class people have been taking part in mass protests demanding the scrapping of the charges.
Government ministers are being chased out of any working class area that they attempt to visit. Support for mass non-payment of the tax, due to begin in January, is being led by the Socialist Party Ireland (our sister party) and the Anti Austerity Alliance. The Labour deputy prime minister, Joan Burton, was subject to a hundreds strong protest in Dublin at the weekend.
Since then the Socialist Party has been vilified by the billionaire owned media and our elected TDs (MPs) have been particularly targeted by capitalist politicians facing retreat and hopefully outright defeat over the water charges.
One of the leaders of the water charges campaign, Paul Murphy TD, will be speaking in Glasgow on Monday 24th November at 7.30 pm, Jurys Inn Hotel, Jamaica Street.
Below we have produced two new articles from Socialist Party Ireland responding to the attacks on us and dealing with a strategy to defeat the water charges in Ireland.
Water Charges protest in Jobstown: Our answer to Leo Varadkar
Ruth Coppinger TD said: “Minister Varadkar has asked us to state where we stand on the anti water charges protest by Tallaght residents yesterday on the occasion of Tanaiste Joan Burton’s visit to Jobstown.
“We stand unambiguously on the side of the people of Tallaght who quite rightly turned out to protest on the occasion of a visit by the Deputy Prime Minister of a government attempting to implement yet another austerity tax. After 6 years of savage austerity and bullying by this and the previous governments to bail out the elites of the financial markets, ordinary people are fighting back and Leo Varadkar, Joan Burton et al better listen.
“In his usual over the top style Varadkar speaks of ‘intimidation and violence’. Joan Burton is attempted to be cast as victim. His charges are misplaced. The real victims are those who have borne the brunt of Varadkar’s and Burton’s continuation of Fianna Fáil / Green bailout and austerity. Working class communities have suffered grievously from the violence of austerity which has laid waste to jobs, forced a generation of youth out of their home country and imposed savage cuts to living standards and services.
More especially there is the violence and intimidation felt now weekly by families thrown out of their homes by scandalously escalating rents and the utter failure of Varadkar, Burton et al to build social and affordable homes to meet the glaring need of the victims of the bankers’, bond holders’ and developers’ property bubble and crash.”
Joe Higgins TD said: “Those responsible for all this expect, apparently, to be welcomed into the working class communities they have so grievously betrayed especially in the case of the Labour Party. No more. People are now intent on calling them to account for their lies in the 2011 General Election campaign when Labour promised to protect people from fine Gael’s water charges and promptly stabbed them in the back by implementing same.
“Varadkar says that the Jobstown protest was ‘organised and orchestrated by Paul MurphyTD of the AAA’. It was in fact organised by residents in the local area and Paul Murphy absolutely rightly attended in full support of the people who elected him to fight on their behalf. It is another demonstration of ordinary people finding their voices and declaring they will take no more of this government’s bullying.
Joan Burton and Leo Varadkar better start listening and begin by abolishing the water charges which will simply not be accepted despite their last ditch, panic measures to try and halt the protest movement with some temporary concessions – in reality another lie to try and get them past the looming General Election.”
What next for the battle against water charges?
By Cllr Mick BarryThe Government are under heavy pressure from the revolt against water charges.
Strong blows have been struck against the charge by the 100,000 strong 11 October protest, the over 150,000 strong state-wide protests on 1 November and the militant meter protests in local communities.
It’s not just the size of the protests – it’s also their militant grassroots character and their contrast with the usual “safe channel” trade union marches.
Concessions show pressure on government
Next week the Government are expected to bring forward their revised water charges package.
They are expected to introduce a two-tier system with a maximum charge of €310 approx for a multi-person household and €180 approx for a single-person household. The Government will “offer” a €100 water-support payment alongside this. They are also expected to freeze the payments for three or four years.
They are expected to confirm that the threat of reducing water flow to non-paying households is being taken off the table.
A slowdown in the rollout of metering may also be proposed with metering to be completed by the end of 2018 rather than the end of 2016.
Some “sticks” are likely to be introduced alongside the “carrots”: a significantly higher charge for households that refuse to register and a possible involvement of Revenue in collecting from nonpayers.
The concessions are a sign of the pressure of the Government is under but they still represent a pig in a poke for ordinary householders. Everybody knows that once the “freeze” is over that the price of water will increase and quite possibly all the more sharply to make up for the lost revenue caused by the concessions.
But no means no, and the Government’s attempt to rebrand the water charge will serve to confirm that they haven’t listened to the wishes of the people.
It is vital that the anti-water charges movement hits back after the Government announcement with strong protests between here and the end of the year including the Dec 10 protest at the Dail. But the decision of the Government to modify the charge rather than abolish it poses issues for the protest movement too.
Building non-payment campaign now a key task
In particular, the sending of bills in the New Year (expected to start 26 January) poses the question sharply: does the movement call on people to refuse to pay? A united call for mass non-payment, organising the militant minority to win the arguments in the workplaces, communities and door-to-door could have a powerful response and effect.
Unfortunately, important components of the Right2Water coalition leadership have turned their back on the idea of mass non-payment. This certainly includes the union leaders and Sinn Fein.
While the People Before Profit Alliance (PBPA) nominally support the concept of non-payment of the water charge, PBPA representatives have by and large refused to call for non-payment when they have spoken at public meetings and protests of Right2water.
In reality they are opposed to the concept of the building of a non-payment campaign, falsely counter-posing this with the need for “unity” and the building of a “broad” campaign which does not adopt position on whether or not working class people should pay the charge in January. They justify this approach because of the need to keep Sinn Fein and the union leaders on board in the Right2Water campaign.
However, it completely overstates the role that these forces have and can play in building a movement to defeat water charges, especially since they refuse outright to support a boycott on the charge. It also understates how the grassroots movement that has developed from below can develop into a powerful movement can that build mass non-payment in the coming months.
The support for the boycott of registration and non-payment is generally supported by the Says No groups. If all of these groups supplement their regular protests with organising of non-payment through intensive regular face to face activities (door to door knocking and street stalls) so that we engage with sections of our communities who are still unsure about whether or not to boycott, we will be in a very strong position.
That is why it is vital that those within the movement who stand for organised mass non-payment raise their voices now and organise to win support for this idea.
The We Won’t Pay campaign initiated by the Anti-Austerity Alliance is playing vital role in this regard. The 29 November mass street meetings / protests are a first step to ensuring that strong forces for mass non-payment emerge from this, the most important protest movement of the Irish working class in decades.
Press coverage
http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/10345580/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/15/irish-deputy-pm-trapped-car-water-charge-protesters
