Flying columns and Battalion’s… February 14, 2019
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.trackback
“Simon Harris and the rest of the Free State Administration are waging a class war against the Irish people and are facilitating the attacks on working-class families and our homes by Imperialist Vultures.
“For too long the Free State has been allowed to get away with such actions unchallenged, but no more.
“Today was the start of a campaign to bring it to the doors of all those waging a war against the Irish working-class – Free State Politicians, Landlords, Bankers, Sherrifs, and anyone else who lines up against our class.
“So long as you come to our doors- we can come to yours.
“The working class is getting organised – the people are ready to fight back. The Free State’s days are numbered.”
The issue of effectiveness looms large here. Whether it is a good look to protest outside the house when his partner and three week old baby are inside and that this protest generates condemnation from nurses unions etc is open to question. I’d have thought the last thing that was needed was something that might – however slightly – increase sympathy for the beleaguered Minister.
Yesterday’s protest was strongly condemned by politicians and campaign groups, with Fine Gael TDs’ concern mirrored across the political divide.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said what happened “is completely and utterly unacceptable” as “everyone is entitled to peace and security with their family in their own home”, Sinn Féin health spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly said “family is off limits”, while Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said targeting someone’s home is unjustified and undermines legitimate protests.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
“Free State Administration… Free State Politicians, Landlords, Bankers, Sheriffs… The Free State’s days are numbered.”
Ok, so right-wingers using old school republican language or leftists using old school republican language?
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That is a great question – do you know the provenance of any of these groups
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Self-styled leftists using old school republican language, most likely I suppose because they come from dissident republican ranks.
I would never argue for protests outside homes for obvious reasons. The media will be all over activists like a rash and the police will target them for so-called breach of public order, even though the protesters conducted themselves in a gentle way.
Still, we must surely defend the right to protest, whether we like the location or not, whilst seeking to convince them that such tactics can backfire.
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“In the hysterical reaction of the last few days by what is often termed “Middle Ireland”, as well as by those purporting to be on the left, to a protest held outside the home of Simon Harris, Minister for Health, it is clear that “radical Ireland is dead and gone”. Indeed, we might ponder whether it ever existed….”
https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/02/14/radical-irelands-dead-and-gone-the-protest-outside-simon-harris-home/
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Ah, yes.
‘If Harris is willing to adopt the brass-necked position of obfuscating and refusing to be held accountable, then it is to be expected that some will try to call him to task in ways which do not conform to the “respectable” notions of political activity held by politicians and their cronies among the corporate media. …
Figures of the Trotskyist left have also condemned the protest outside Harris’s home, but on the grounds that it was strategically ill-thought out and has played into the minister’s hands by allowing the media to play the sympathy card for him. There may be an element of truth in this, and the nurses’ union, the INMO, have condemned the protest in the strongest terms. Yet, since the weekend, the same union’s leadership has also postponed the nurses’ strike by awaiting Labour Court rulings – a tactic long used by government to quell street mobilizations.’
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They are a mixture of republicans, anti-water meter protesters and a few Says No heads. Well intentioned and leftist but in my opinion, the protest at Harris home was counterproductive.
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Yeah I’ve no principled objection – times it could work times it might not but the baby angle was a no brainer 4 fg and the media to lock onto
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I have no idea. I know that there are a couple of “anti-imperial” left-republican groups that have risen to prominence in recent months, though not particularly linked to any specific “dissident republican” organisation. They are quite active in the housing issue and other matters.
However there are also right-populist groups using much of the same language.
I’ll have to look into it what group was behind the protest.
I’d have no problem with people protesting at constituency offices or meetings or whatever. Quite the contrary. We need more of it. Private homes, families, etc? Strictly off limits. Very bad optics and very poor judgement on behalf of the individuals involved.
As for the rhetoric. Oy vey!
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Maybe they drew inspiration from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rees-mogg-nanny-puts-flea-in-ear-of-class-warrior-ian-bone-9twd0nnfh This managed the feat of creating sympathy for toff Rees-Mogg.
Back in the day, an organisation I was in had the idea of picketting teh homes of government ministers. The majority of the membership ended up in the Bridewell, facing charges of “Besetting”. Oh my cumann had the brilliant idea of delivering a letter.
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Clever of your cumann.
I like Ian Bone but I thought that was while entertaining probably a misapplication of this energy! 🙂
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A comrade of mine was given a dressing down by Rees Mogg while dressed as a chicken.
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Poor ministers who, after evicting families making them live homeless in the street, have to see how someone protests peacefully in front of their homes … they are really helpless victims of totalitarism, for sure
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Yeah, their cries do ring a bit hollow, that said as I think I said upthread, to me I’ve no strict principle one way or another, sometimes such protests are useful, sometimes not, it’s about effectiveness more widely. I’ve a lot of respect for those who protest and I know it was entirely sincere. But… it played badly in the media so what the net effect was perhaps more negative than positive. But imagine larger nationwide protests with the govt ignoring them, then I think protests like the above would be well worth thinking about.
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