Irish police dismantled the 'Occupy Dame Street' protest camp at the Central Bank HQ in Dublin in the early hours of Thursday morning and arrested or evicted all protesters.
It's such a nation today. Despite the lack of tents in Dame Street.
The move came after adverse media coverage of the refusal by protesters to remove the camp for the duration of the St. Patrick's festival - as requested by police a week earlier.
The true intent of the authorities will be revealed in whether the camp is allowed reestablish itself. But suspicion is high that the whole notion of the camp being an impediment to the upcoming festival was a pretext to remove it permanently. That's been the general policy of western governments captive of bankers.
Nevertheless, the outcome reflects poorly on the camp facilitators, who mishandled the PR side of presenting their case; were not vigorous in showing willingness to compromise; became disconnected from the broader Irish occupy support base, and failed to anticipate this well-signalled raid on the camp.
Whether all the above was mere disorganisation or sabotage, the end result is a big setback. Fortunately, you can't evict an idea. Occupy will have to learn and will continue.
The Occupy movement - and the issues we raise - will not, should not - be swept under the carpet to portray a fake "photo-op" version of Ireland to tourists or to the Irish public.
This is not "happy-clappy" Leprechaun-land. It's a nation under siege by bankers and stooges.
No comments:
Post a Comment