Sunday 17 April 2011

Renewing the Rising

BALLYHEA BONDHOLDER BAILOUT PROTEST
WEEK 8, EASTER SUNDAY MORNING, 10am – THE RISING RENEWED
Early on the morning of Easter Monday, April 24th 1916, in the cause of independence and in the face of what seemed insurmountable odds, a small group of men and women took their courage in their hands and challenged an old empire, the British Empire.
Early this Easter Sunday morning, April 24th, on the 95th anniversary of that auspicious day in Irish history, again in the cause of freedom and independence and again in the face of what seems insurmountable odds, a small group of men and women again take to the streets to challenge an empire, this time a new empire, the German/Franco Empire formerly known as the European Union.
In April 1916 and in the bloody years that followed, independence was won but it was hard won, many good lives lost before the old empire loosened its grip.
In November 2010 much of that freedom and independence was conceded, and softly conceded, an inept and feeble government bullied, browbeaten and blackmailed into accepting a deal which puts us firmly in the clutches of this new empire, and which could enslave this country for generations.
UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING, CLEARLY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY:
·     1) When the ECB came to Dublin last November they came with an agenda but it wasn’t to bail out Ireland – it was to bail out the German and French banks who are the holders of failed bonds not just in this country, but right across Europe.
2)·  2) When the ECB insisted that those bondholders would have to be paid in full they interfered in the natural order of the financial markets, they flew in the face of the most fundamental law of economics – bad investment means loss.
·     3) When the ECB went on to dictate to the then Irish government that this bondholder debt should be assumed – in full – by us, the Irish people, this wasn’t just an act of gross injustice, it was immoral, illegal, and unsustainable.
·         4) This additional yoke around our necks will break this country, and when that break comes (probably within three years), those bonds will all have been paid, that debt will be all our own, and we will be left with the worst possible scenario – sovereign default.
Our new masters came back to us last week, patted us on the heads for the fine job we’re doing in meeting their new guidelines.  They believe this is all over, headed back to Frankfurt content on a job well done.  In Ballyhea, we say no, we say never, and until such time as the message gets across, we will continue to say no, never.  This fight isn’t just ours, however, it’s yours, it’s everyone’s.  Take courage - join us, while there’s still time.