Protests not water under the bridge for Fine Gael
REMEMBER the water charge protests and how they started with a few so-called radicals denounced as criminals? Who would have believed they would almost lead to the collapse of the then Government and as good as consign the Labour Party to political oblivion?
As the establishment lines up to condemn and vilify the Take Back The Streets movement, this just might be a case of history repeating itself.
As Fine Gael gets set to head into its eighth year in office, the demonstrations and the response to them shows the huge disconnect between the Government and ordinary people.
While the Taoiseach might claim protests “aren’t going to build any houses” they just might lead to politicians actually doing something about the appalling homelessness and housing crisis.
And when Fine Gael ministers are ideologically opposed to building Nicolas Maduro and Salt Bae affordable homes, and almost suffer a stroke at the very mention of social housing, protests might just be the measure to change their free market minds.
For while they have been happy enough to watch the crisis grow and the misery suffered by homeless families increase they could soon be building social housing, not to save the children, but to save their own political arses.
The recent angry scenes when activists were evicted from a vacant house on Dublin’s North Frederick Street could be a foretaste of what is to come.
This involved a group of sinister looking men in balaclavas accompanied by even more sinister looking cops who appeared to think Halloween came a few weeks early, so went out wearing
IS there anything worse than a capitalist fat cat leader living it large while his people starve?
Yeah, a socialist stuffing his face as his fellow citizens scavenge for food.
While hungry hordes head out of bankrupt Venezuela its president Nicolas Maduro was filmed eating a steak lunch with celebrity chef Salt Bae in Istanbul.
In a now-deleted Instagram video supposedly socialist Maduro tells fellow masks. While Fine Gael might not admit it, the protests have caused them deep alarm to the point where there is now a campaign of vilification against those involved or even associated with the movement.
The similarities to the beginning of the water charge protests are striking and don’t be surprised if there is a special Garda unit set up to monitor these subversives who think everyone should have a right to a roof over their head. How dare they?
It sounds proposterous now but that’s exactly what happened in the early stages of the water demonstrations when a crack undercover Garda unit was assigned to monitor the ringleaders while ignoring the Kinahan cartel which was flooding Dublin with drugs. Of course there were no ringleaders, it was just a mass of people who were so fed up with being shit upon by their Government they took to the streets.
Even threats of having their water cut off “to a trickle” and Alan Kelly’s plans to allow Irish Water to take money from citizens’ bank accounts couldn’t stop them.
Then there was the claim by Fine Gael TD Noel Coonan who claimed the State faced a “potential ISIS situation” over Mr Murphy diners, “This is a once in a lifetime moment”, as back home in Caracas children rummage for food in bins after decades of misrule and corruption.
In another clip, Maduro smokes a cigar from a box with his name engraved on it.
As economist John Kenneth Galbraith once remarked, “Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism [and this kind of socialism], it’s just the opposite.” water protests. Imagine comparing people who refused to pay an unfair tax to an Islamic terror group?
It just shows you how strong the “make the public pay for everything while let the corporates away scot free” ideology is within Fine Gael.
They have loaded the system in favour of the rich and privileged and instead of helping families to stay in their homes have added to the crisis by inviting in vulture funds and allowing State-owned banks sell loans to them.
Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has a tendency to put on outfits to give the impression he’s actually doing something.
He slipped into a hi-vis jacket and hard hat to join ESB workers as they struggled to restore power to thousands of homes. He was photographed in similar gear to let us know what was involved in the winter storms clean-up.
Why not don the balaclavas used by the hired thugs sent to evict people from their homes on the orders of the vulture funds?
You know he should for without Fine Gael and Labour, Ireland would never have the unique opportunity to marvel at these scavengers from close range.
So come on minister, don’t be shy, put on your balaclava and get out there tonight of all nights, it being Oiche Chultuir (Culture Night).
Labour will forever be associated with water charges, but Fine Gael is the party that gave Ireland its vulture culture.
Fine Gael is the party that gave Ireland vulture culture