Within the last couple of weeks there has
been yet another outbreak of youth protest internationally with the huge
movement in Spain which encompasses some 80 cities and now a new
movement in Greece has erupted. Meanwhile in North Africa and the Middle
East new waves of struggle are being prepared. However, if the Irish
press are to believed the waves of struggle that are affecting
everywhere else will barely cause a ripple in good ould Ireland. After
all, with the royal and presidential distractions of the last few weeks,
the only revolting youth to get any coverage in Ireland were Jedward.
Within the last couple of weeks there has
been yet another outbreak of youth protest internationally with the huge
movement in Spain which encompasses some 80 cities and now a new
movement in Greece has erupted. Meanwhile in North Africa and the Middle
East new waves of struggle are being prepared. However, if the Irish
press are to believed the waves of struggle that are affecting
everywhere else will barely cause a ripple in good ould Ireland. After
all, with the royal and presidential distractions of the last few weeks,
the only revolting youth to get any coverage in Ireland were Jedward.
One commentator in the Irish Times, Laura Slattery, even drew up an article with a list of reasons as to why Irish Youth were different to the “Indignados”
of Puerta del Sol in Madrid. Laura is better known as a business
journalist which perhaps explains why she might have posed the question “Why
are the Irish not more like Spain’s Indignados?”. Indeed given the
instability in the eurozone and the scale of the problems in the Irish
economy it’s a fair question to ask.
But for Laura there’s a more important consideration:
And yet despite the parallels in the economic
plights of both countries (overheated property market,
youth-concentrated unemployment), sustained and co-ordinated protests,
youth-led or otherwise, have yet to take place on the same kind of scale
in Ireland. This is much to the dismay of Irish activists, who wish
their compatriots were more visibly angry about the extent to which
external, unelected bodies have assumed the power to dictate social and
economic policy here (via the usual method of debt enslavement).
The problem for Laura however and for the
government and the Irish bosses, is that it’s a very short sighted view
to mistake the mood of a few activists for the deeper currents in
society. This has been demonstrated time and time again over the last
few months, especially in Tunisia. Even the Economist – which we suspect
Laura reads from time to time confidently stated on January 6th
in relation to Ben Ali: "Tunisia’s troubles are unlikely to unseat the
74-year-old president or even to jolt his model of autocracy". Likewise
the movement against the Pension Levy and the government’s austerity
here during 2009 in particular seemed to come from nowhere. It’s not
that long ago in fact that the Gardai were after balloting for
industrial action.
The problem is that once the Pandora’s box was
opened to bail out the world banking system in the aftermath of the
economic crisis all of the old certainties were torn to shreds. The
result here was utter chaos presided over by a Fianna Fáil
coalition which mustered all of the forces of Irish capitalism to make
sure we footed the bill. The extent to which they were unable to lead
the country out of the crisis was demonstrated at the general election
where they were utterly slaughtered. But the FF led coalition didn’t
implode immediately, it took a while before the full extent of the
crisis became clear and the tide of opposition developed on the
political front. The signing of the Croke Park Deal was
followed by a certain period of lull in the public sector, but that just
meant that the focus moved to the political front.
Leon Trotsky writing in 1930 explained:
The activity of the masses,
properly understood, expresses itself in different ways, depending upon
different conditions. The masses may, at certain periods, be completely
absorbed in economic struggles and show very little interest in
political questions. Or, suffering a series of defeats in economic
struggles, the masses may abruptly turn their attention to politics.
Then – depending upon the concrete circumstances and the past experience
of the masses – their political activity may go in the direction of
either purely parliamentary or extra-parliamentary struggle.
Leon Trotsky: The Rhythm of the Struggle (From the 3rd period of the Comintern’s errors) 1930
Laura’s article is written in a light hearted way,
aiming to poke fun at the left and against the Irish youth in
particular. But unfortunately for her the stereotypical view that Irish
youth are lazy drunks content to put the world to rights in a bar in
Sydney rather than demonstrate in the cold doesn’t stack up.
Life for many unemployed youth is a cycle of
poverty and marginalisation, despair and heartache. How many of those
young workers who have emigrated from Ireland can be described as lazy?
Ireland’s youth are more than capable of putting the world to rights, as
can be seen from the numbers of young people who have been involved in
demonstrations and campaigns over the last couple of years. There are
many young people coming into activity in the trade unions also. They
are replacing the older layer of activists, who may have less
inclination to fight.
Laura makes great play on the fact that the
unemployment rate in Spain is higher than that in Ireland, arguing that
there may be some "tipping point" at which the unemployment rate becomes
an explosive factor. We would argue that the instability in society is
the key factor, unemployment eventually saps people’s morale. Until they
have no alternative but to fight.
The demonstrations in Spain and Greece and the
Middle Eastern revolutions didn’t happen by accident or as a result of
single events. In fact quite the opposite, they represent a
manifestation of a deep impasse in society. The problems and
contradictions in society have accumulated over a long time. In Spain
young workers have suffered for decades from short term contracts and
mass unemployment. If the situation in Ireland was moving decisively in
the other direction, towards some sort of Neo Celtic Tiger with high
levels of employment, economic growth and social harmony then it might
be possible to believe that we would be immune from the sort of scenes
broadcast from the Puerta del Sol or Tahrir Square.
But unfortunately for Laura and the Irish
bourgeoisie, the crisis in the state means that the stream is flowing in
the same direction as Greece and Spain. It might meander a bit, but
then again there are no such things as straight lines in politics or
economics, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many journalists
commenting on such matters in the Irish Times, the Sunday Business
Post, the Economist or the Independent. So if like Laura you are looking
for the Irish Indignados just look around you, we’re already here.
