Organising a demo in Dublin?

[lithium]

How many people here are from Ireland? And how many are involved in left-wing groups in Ireland?

I'm wondering if we could get a load of groups together and organise a march and demonstration against the incompetence of the Irish government, and against capitalism and stuff in Ireland in general. If it was well advertised and organised we could get lots of people onto the streets!

Irish people seem to very apathetic for some reason (I can't speak for other countries). Everyone has a complaint about stuff in the country but nobody really wants to get up and do something about it. I think a massive, non-violent demonstration would get people to open their eyes to the alternative and maybe even get this government (and the next) to get off their lazy arses and say "shit hey, maybe we should actually do the jobs we're being told to do..." Give them a little bit of a fright, ya know :D

Lemme know what ye think. I can imagine thousands of people marching down O'Connell Street waving red flags, red stars, hammer and sickles, banners from lots of different organisations and groups, all behind a "UNITED REVOLUTIONARY LEFT" banner. *drool* :P

[BOZG]

It's a lot harder to organise a demonstration than just sticking up some posters and getting the left out with their banners. Unfortunately there really isn't a mood to actually do something about the Government's imcompetence other than people *****ing about them. The last election results are a testament to that. People are really only at the level of "protest voting", voting for the opposition parties not out of support for them but to punish the FF/PD coalition. It's more important at this point to get involved in different groups, campaigns and unions and try to raise socialist ideas and consciousness about issues. Working class people tend to follow the path of least resistance for a period until something significant drastically changes prevailing attitudes. We cannot merely raise the call and necessarily expect them to follow.

[lithium]

Bah!

Just around about now seems like a good time to kick up a fuss before the elections... A massive action like this would not only give people in the area info, but it would not be ignored by the media, therefore giving even more people some info on what's going on. If it did take place, it would give people a chance to make their voice heard, and also make them realise that we don't have to stand for this shite any longer.

I hate this opposition voting thing. I understand that many people vote as it's a thing that Irish rebels in the 20s (and many of our ancestors) fought for, and they have a sense of duty to vote. I respect this, and I always vote out of the same respect (my great grandfather and granduncle were gun-runners in 1916 and soldiers in the Republican Army during the War). However, people seem to think that when you vote you have to vote for someone. Many people don't realise that a spoiled vote is still a vote. In the next election I intend to bring in a red marker and draw a big H&S on the ballot!

[hazer87]

This pretty much has nothing to do with the subject, but, I would like to know how hard it would be for an american with Irish and Scottish heritage to go back to the mother land with little to no money. It's always been a dream of mine to go there, but now moving there seems like a better option, the belly of the beast doesn't seem to be making no progress of upsetting it'self if you know what I mean. At least in Ireland I can be part of a movement or something, and the country is not as big and spread out so I wont have go hundreds of miles out of the way to get somewhere. Do you thinks it's do-able to come over with no money and eventually get my citizenship and make a living either in a city or the country side of Cork, Cork is where my ancestors came from in the mid 1600's, so that where I eventually want to live, but a city maybe even Dublin would be just fine, as long as I can make a living, even eventually start a family. Also because of my marijuana smoking habbit, I have to ask if it's easy to get over there, whether or not it's really that big of a deal with the authority figures and if there is a good job that won't drug test me. It's not essential, I mean I can easily quite and take up drinking more often then I do, but it's def a plus. I just need somewhere to start fresh, and Ireland is my number one choice.

[BOZG]

I don't think you'd have any problem apply for residency here but I think you'll probably need to find a job in advance and apply for a work permit unfortunately, especially if you're travelling with no money. Have you any specific skills/qualifications that would enable you to get a job easier?

Ireland's US Embassy's Guide To Living & Working In Ireland (http://www.irelandemb.org/living.html)

[PRC-UTE]

Originally posted by [email protected] 05, 2007 01:12 am
This pretty much has nothing to do with the subject, but, I would like to know how hard it would be for an american with Irish and Scottish heritage to go back to the mother land with little to no money. It's always been a dream of mine to go there, but now moving there seems like a better option, the belly of the beast doesn't seem to be making no progress of upsetting it'self if you know what I mean. At least in Ireland I can be part of a movement or something, and the country is not as big and spread out so I wont have go hundreds of miles out of the way to get somewhere. Do you thinks it's do-able to come over with no money and eventually get my citizenship and make a living either in a city or the country side of Cork, Cork is where my ancestors came from in the mid 1600's, so that where I eventually want to live, but a city maybe even Dublin would be just fine, as long as I can make a living, even eventually start a family. Also because of my marijuana smoking habbit, I have to ask if it's easy to get over there, whether or not it's really that big of a deal with the authority figures and if there is a good job that won't drug test me. It's not essential, I mean I can easily quite and take up drinking more often then I do, but it's def a plus. I just need somewhere to start fresh, and Ireland is my number one choice.
Cork City has one of the more diverse economies, good for job seekers.

You'd better save some money, it's a lot more expensive than north america.

[Forward Union]

Originally posted by [email protected] 23, 2007 10:41 pm
It's a lot harder to organise a demonstration than just sticking up some posters and getting the left out with their banners.
No, you might even have to post the call out on a few lists :lol:

Make a poster/Leaflet with a time+date or whatever, distribute it. Post the call out on Indymedia, Libcom and anarkismo.net and directly contact all the active left wing groups around. Im guessing that'd be the socialist party, Anarchist Federation etc. (full list in the political contacts thread)

If you want I will also post the call out on all the lists im on, many have activists in dublin.

As BOZG said, it might not be huge but it is bloody easy to get something like this done. I produced 10 posters and made a call out 2 days before an event and got nearly 40 people there!

Good luck, and as always, let us know if there's anything I can do to help.

:star:

[Coggeh]

Ya sounds good comrade , if you give me organising dates and as such ill try and organinse some comrades from cork in the SP to go up and help out

[hazer87]

Well I don't have any specific skills, I have a New York state high school diploma. I'm strong, athletic, an easy learner, not afraid to get my hands dirty. I don't know if that will get me anywhere, do you know of any jobs looking to hire and train or something. When I said starting new, I definelty ment it, lol.

[BOZG]

Originally posted by Love Underground+March 05, 2007 10:45 am--> (Love Underground @ March 05, 2007 10:45 am)
[email protected] 23, 2007 10:41 pm
It's a lot harder to organise a demonstration than just sticking up some posters and getting the left out with their banners.
No, you might even have to post the call out on a few lists :lol:

Make a poster/Leaflet with a time+date or whatever, distribute it. Post the call out on Indymedia, Libcom and anarkismo.net and directly contact all the active left wing groups around. Im guessing that'd be the socialist party, Anarchist Federation etc. (full list in the political contacts thread)

If you want I will also post the call out on all the lists im on, many have activists in dublin.

As BOZG said, it might not be huge but it is bloody easy to get something like this done. I produced 10 posters and made a call out 2 days before an event and got nearly 40 people there!

Good luck, and as always, let us know if there's anything I can do to help.

:star: [/b]
Of course, it can be done but lithium was looking for lots of people to come out which is not that simple. He even bolded the lots. :) I've been involved in demonstrations against the war and other various things which got a fair amount of advertisement which still only turned out 40/50 people. A recent one against Shell got about 15 people there.

There's no problem in organising such demos even when they're small but you need to recognise that they are going to be small. Putting a huge amount of effort into organising demonstrations, expecting thousands to arrive will only end up with you feeling very tired and very disheartened. You can organise demonstrations on anything and get people along but you can't organise mass demonstrations unless there's a certain mood on the issue. People are the whinging, protest voting stage in Ireland, not the mass demonstrations stage. There's anger there but it's still only simmering.

[BOZG]

Im guessing that'd be the socialist party, Anarchist Federation etc. (full list in the political contacts thread)

The AF are virtually non-existent here. Long live the WSM!