éirígí Tir Chonaill

éirígí Call for Mass Street Protests to Secure Radical Change

29/11/2010

Micheál Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig, the Donegal spokesperson for the socialist republican party éirígí, has called for the people of Ireland to take to the streets in order to voice their anger at the politicians in Lenister House about the economic and political crisis the country is currently in. His call comes in the wake of recent developments which has resulted in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) coming to Dublin as the Fianna Fáil/Green Party government seek a financial aid package.

éirígí's anti- IMF/ECB banner erected in
Crolly, Co.Donegal

Calling for people to take action, the éirígí spokesperson said “The position the people of the Twenty-Six Counties now find themselves in is unprecedented. Silence or submission is not an option. Mass street protests are the only way to ensure our voices be heard and our message of disgust and cries for change reach the ears of the political elite in Leinster House who have brought the IMF and ECB to our shores. Just as the banner in the famous image of the Irish Citizens Army proclaimed 'We serve neither King nor Kaiser but Ireland', we the people must call out today that 'we serve neither the IMF or the ECB but Ireland'.”

Claiming that Brian Cowens decision to call a general election after the budget is adopted was meaningless, Mr Mac Giolla Easbuig said: “Changing parties, even now, means nothing. It will result in more of the same. All the parties in Leinster House who seek to be in government following an election offer no credible alternative to the current situation. Equally, local Donegal councillors, TDs, senators and MEP's of the mainstream parties, share the blame for the current predicament as they propped up the current system in Leinster house. The policies they offer are all virtually the same and will just lead us back to where we are today no matter which of them forms the next government.”

He added: “The so-called leadership of the Trade Union movement also need to take responsiblity for their role in this crisis. Their silence and kowtowing to the government has been shameful and they should have done more to protect the workers they represent.”

The ICA standing under the banner
"WE SERVE NEITHER KING NOR KAISER BUT IRELAND"

He also claimed that those who voted for what he described as “useless politicians” for little more than family history and personal favours must also be aware of their responsibility for today's calamity.

MacGiolla Easbuig concluded s James Connolly once said 'Governments in capitalist society are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the capitalist class'. So what we need now is not a general election but the smashing of that system which has failed dramatically. In its place we need to create a new socialist system which would protect workers and the most vulnerable in society and place the interests of the whole Island at its heart. The only way to achieve such a system is by people taking to the streets through mass protests and a nationwide general strike to resist the cutbacks and to unite in their demands for real change. Failure is not an option as failure will condemn our children and grand children to decades of unjust and unnecessary hardship and suffering.”

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