Waste
war!
The
buck stops here: Anti-bin tax protestors pictured
in Portmarnock recently.
Arrest
of anti-bin tax leaders causes a stink
The
arrest of Socialist Party members Clare Daly and Joe
Higgins has prompted a bitter response from groups on
both sides of Dublin’s bin tax debate.
First out of the traps were campaign supporters who
condemned the “outrageous decision” of the
High Court to jail the anti-bin tax leaders.
Campaign spokesperson Brid Smith said that jailing people
for non-violent and legitimate protest was a serious
attempt to intimidate the anti-bin tax campaign.
“This
represents an outrageous attack on civil liberties,”
stormed Ms Smith. “While the Ansbacher frauds are
treated with kid gloves, working class activists protesting
against double taxation are met with the full vigour
of the law.”
Ms Smith warned that the sentence would result in an
escalation of the campaign against the bin tax across
the city. The ranks of those who attended meetings and
protests in the first weeks of the campaign swelled
by hundreds more when rallies were staged outside Mountjoy
Jail where the jailed politicians are being held.
The Workers’ Party added their support to the jailed
politicians by stating that the arrests were an attack
on working class people and the Left in general.
Spokesperson Kevin Wingfield said: “We stand shoulder
to shoulder with these activists against this undemocratic
repression. We demand the immediate release of Higgins
and Daly and the lifting of these injunctions.
“The
protests against bin charges have been marked by their
peaceful nature and the involvement of large numbers
of local people in each area,” he added.
“We
call for a mass campaign of civil disobedience to defy
these repressive court orders.”
Members of The Workers' Party Trade Union called on
the Irish Congress of Trade Unions to give its support
to those communities fighting for the abolition of service
charges.
“In
light of the heavy handed tactics employed by Government
in dealing with communities opposed to bin taxes, we
now call on Congress to give leadership to the campaign
by using its influence to have Joe Higgins and Clare
Daly released immediately,” a statement from the
union reads.
The Workers' Party Trade Union Group subsequently staged
a protest outside Environment Minister Martin Cullen's
office.
However, support for the incarcerated Socialists was
not unanimous. Fianna Fail TD Jim Glennon called for
Higgins’s resignation from Dail Eireann.
“In
January 2001, Dáil Éireann passed a motion
calling on a named Deputy to fully meet the requirements
of the High Court and that his failure to do so would
confirm his membership of Dail Eireann to be untenable
and that he should voluntarily resign his membership,”
said Deputy Glennon.
“In
light of the decision of the High Court to jail Deputy
Higgins for his non-compliance with its order, I believe
the Deputy, in line with the precedent set, should reconsider
his position.”
Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney TD agreed, stating that
while Higgins’s jail term of one month was “regrettable”,
it was also an “inevitable conclusion to the demonstration
against bin charges in Fingal County”.
"While
it is regrettable that a member of the Oireachtas be
jailed for any matter, not least for defying a High
Court ruling, it was inevitable given the illegal manner
in which he and his supporters blocked the legitimate
imposition of a progressive waste charge in Fingal,”
said Deputy Coveney.
"What
this decision shows is that no individual is above the
law. Any person has the right to protest and campaign
on matters that interest them, but they have an absolute
responsibility to do so within the bounds of the law."
The
fight goes on: Cllr Clare Daly pictured at an anti-bin
tax protest in Santry before her arrest.
Political
“show trails” slammed
A court decision challenging the right of gardai to
arrest residents on the assumption that they are aware
of injunctions related to blockading bin lorries has
been welcomed by Working Class Action (WCA).
A spokesperson for the WCA, Cieran Perry, claimed the
outcome of the court case whereby nine protestors were
freed on Thursday represented “a setback to politicians
who believe it is acceptable to seize ordinary people
off their estates and imprison them for opposing undemocratic
and unjust laws”.
“However
it is a minor victory,” he added. “As in the
past the Government will merely change the law to suit
their own political interests."
The WCA slammed ongoing court cases against community
and political activists as "political show trials
staged to intimidate anyone who dares to oppose Government
diktats".
‘We
will defy court orders’ - campaigners
An interim injunction granted to Dublin City Council
restraining named individuals from interfering with
waste collection would be defied, angry anti-bin tax
campaigners declared this week.
The council had been granted a High Court Order to stop
defendants from preventing the collection of waste by
Dublin City Council and inhibiting the scheduled departure
and return of the council's refuse freighters to and
from its depots.
However, Brid Smith of the Dublin Campaign Against the
Bin Charges said they condemned “this intimidation”.
“As
far as we are concerned, the protests will continue
and we will defy these injunctions,” she said.
Labour
criticised for “hypocritical” stance
Labour
TD Tommy Broughan has come under fire following revelations
that he has not paid his bin tax charges.
Deputy Broughan was quoted in a daily newspaper last
week as saying he adopted the stance taken by the Socialist
Party,
Deputy Broughan’s comments were described as highlighting
the “hypocrisy and doublespeak” that the Labour
Party is engaging in, according to Dublin North TD Jim
Glennon (FF).
“In
a statement this week, the Leader of the Labour Party
(Pat Rabbitte) said that it was their policy to encourage
people to pay the bin charges,” said Deputy Glennon.
“Now a member of the Labour Party frontbench has
directly challenged Mr Rabbitte's stated policy.”
Deputy Glennon added: In the last week we have witnessed
the Leader of the Labour Party consistently refuse to
condemn Deputy Higgins for breaching a High Court order.
We have heard Deputy Gilmore ask the Government to interfere
with a court sentence so Joe Higgins can be released
from jail and watched in amazement as the Labour Party
Justice Spokesperson, Deputy Costello, ran to Mountjoy
to offer solace to Deputy Higgins. This appalling catalogue
has now been added to by Deputy Broughan challenging
Labour party policy in favour of the Higgins position."
Despite numerous attempts to secure comment from Deputy
Broughan, he failed to do so by time of going to press.
Workers
Party and trade unions go head to head
The
Workers’ Party has reacted angrily to comments
made by the Congress of Trade Unions General Secretary,
David Begg, in relation to the jailings of prominent
anti-bin tax protesters.
Mr Begg outlined the position of the ICTU as not supporting
the current anti-bin charges campaign.
“It
(the ICTU) strongly objects to union members who are
council employees being obstructed in the course of
their work and householders being inconvenienced and
exposed to health hazards as a result of uncollected
rubbish,” said Mr Begg. “It believes that
the campaign may ultimately lead to privatisation of
bin collections and a potential loss of jobs.”
Workers’ Party spokesman Shay Kelly said the comments
were extremely regrettable coming from such an influential
trade union leader.
Mr Kelly said that instead of attacking PAYE workers
who are fighting against a “grossly unjust”
form of double taxation, Mr Begg should be positioning
the trade union movement “four-square against both
bin charges and privatisation”.
“There
is good law and bad law and in this case we have bad
law which no worker or citizen can be expected to obey,”
said Mr Kelly. “Margaret Thatcher, with her Poll
Tax in Britain, found that workers united in solidarity
and by peaceful protest and non payment of unjust taxes
brought about change and forced Thatcher out of power”.
However, Mr Begg did call for a “sense of proportion”
in relation to the escalation of the dispute, stating
that imprisoning people was “a serious development”.
“These
people, wittingly or unwittingly, have been caught up
in a campaign clearly motivated for political ends,”
said Mr Begg. “When the State starts imprisoning
ordinary citizens for acts of civil disobedience, it
raises issues about the capacity of our society to tolerate
protest.”
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