A DUTY TO REBEL

In 1776 the Declaration of Independence of the US made clear that  'natural law teaches that the people are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and may alter or abolish a government that becomes destructive of those rights'.

Some years later the French Revolution institutionalised the ‘Right to Rebellion’ in its Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen. In the well-known article 35 the ruler is warned that 'When the government violates the rights of the people, insurrection is – for the people and for each portion of the people – the most sacred of rights and the most indispensable of duties'.

Today, sovereignty does not reside in parliament but in transnational entities that no-one elected through methods of liberal election. What is more, not only has no-one elected the IMF or the World Bank or a director of Citigroup, in addition – as if it could be no other way –  their conception of government is always that of a war footing. The market is loaded with belligerent energy and rhetoric; the firepower of Clausewitz (a Prussian soldier and German military theorist who stressed the psychological and political aspects of war) now resides on stock trading floors that take aim at people's lives.

Although the ritual and the forms are still established, the capacity for political decision is subordinate to the diktat, the ‘confidence’ of the markets and not to the sovereignty of the general interest. The cutbacks are ruthless, the plight of the people secondary; basic rights such as education, health, housing, mobility, a decent income are being trampled down so as to establish a regime of kleptocracy.

We appeal therefore to that natural law, that duty, which is no other than the right to rebellion, to civil disobedience.  Without disobedience there is no possibility of democratising a society. To oppose what is legitimate (able to be defended with logic or justification; valid – Oxford dictionary) to what is legal is the basis of every advance in the domain of rights, and of human progress; in this gap, history from below takes place.

Today we are still in yesterday, in the historic time that falls on us to live in. Yesterday, Saint Just declared that "there can be no freedom for the enemies of freedom". Today the squares shout: "if you do not let us dream, we shall not let you sleep".

Everything changes, the spirit remains.

Plagiarising again today – the above is picked from a translation from Spanish by Richard McAleavey of two articles, the first from an editorial in El País about the boycott of the household charge in Ireland, the second a piece about the right to rebellion.

Regards,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.

ICELAND – THE LAND THE WORLD FORGOT

Let’s talk about Iceland. We don’t hear about it very much in the news anymore, do we? For a while there their position paralleled ours; every time they were mentioned, we were mentioned – ‘what’s the difference between Iceland and Ireland’, went the joke, ‘one letter’ the reply. Well, the difference now is that they went down one route to solve their problems, we took another. So let’s look at what happened to Iceland, and how they’re now faring (Plagiarism on a large scale from Wikipedia by the way).

You can skip all the detail if you wish, go straight to the ‘Summary’ at the bottom.

TIMELINE:

Early 2008

Iceland's three main commercial banks collapse within the space of a week. One of those banks, Landsbanki, had taken retail deposits from more than 400,000 British and Dutch customers through its branches in London and Amsterdam through a product known as ‘Icesave’. The Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund (set up and operated under a specific Act of Parliament) had equity of only 10.8 billion krónur, about €68 million at the exchange rates of the time, far short of the £2.35 billion claims from the UK plus an additional €1.2 billion in the Netherlands.

Initially the Icelandic authorities disclaimed state responsibility for the shortfall in the insurance fund, pointing out that both the Guarantee Fund and Landsbanki were private corporations. This led to a diplomatic dispute and the unprecedented (and controversial) freezing of Landsbanki assets in the United Kingdom through the Landsbanki Freezing Order 2008.

Amidst the chaos and the panic the main bank of the country is nationalized, the krona (Iceland’s currency) drastically devalues, the stock market stops – the IMF are called in as the country falls into bankruptcy

16 November 2008

After mediation by France and the European Union an outline agreement is reached, Iceland agreeing to guarantee the liabilities of the Depositors' and Investors' Guarantee Fund to British and Dutch savers, while the UK and the Netherlands would effectively lend the Guarantee Fund the money necessary to pay the savers.

January 2009

Collapse of the government of Iceland.

April 2009

Elections held.

5 June 2009

A final bilateral agreement is reached between Iceland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, £2.35bn (UK)  and €1.2bn (Netherlands) to be paid between 2017 and 2023 at an interest rate of 5.5%.

28 August 2009

The Althing (Iceland's parliament) votes 34–15 (with 14 abstentions) to approve an amended bill (commonly referred to as the Icesave bill) to regulate the repayments. It set a ceiling on the repayment based on the country's gross domestic product (GDP) - under the measure up to 4% of Iceland's GDP growth would be paid to Britain from 2017–2023, while the Netherlands would receive up to 2% of Iceland's GDP growth for the same period. Opponents of the bill argued that Icelanders – already reeling from the crisis – should not have to pay for mistakes made by private banks under the watch of foreign governments. However, the government argued that if the bill failed to pass the UK and the Netherlands might retaliate by blocking disbursements from the IMF.

19 October 2009

The British and Dutch governments did not accept the amendments to the deal and so continued their opposition to payment of the second tranche of the IMF loans. Back they went to the negotiating table and on the above date a revised agreement was concluded, including the cap on repayments.

30 December 2009

The new ‘deal’ went back to the Althing and a second Icesave bill was passed, 33–30 (no abstentions).

31 December 2009

The bill is presented to President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson at a routine meeting of the government the next morning. Grímsson refused to sign the bill immediately, pointing out that it was less than 24 hours since it had been passed by the Althing, and asked for more time to consider it. Article 26 of the Icelandic Constitution states that bills passed by the Althing must be counter-signed by the President within fourteen days or face a national referendum.

2 January 2010

Thousands having taken to the streets in protest, President Grímsson holds a previously scheduled meeting with ‘Indefence’, the people’s movement which opposes the bill,. At the meeting Indefence presented a petition bearing 56,089 signatures (nearly 25% of the Icelandic electorate) urging Grímsson not to sign the bill.

4 January 2010

The number of signatories on the petition has risen to 62,000. However, the leaders of the Confederation of Labour (ASÍ), the Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB), the Confederation of Employers (SA) and the Federation of Icelandic Industries (SI) all urged the President to pass the legislation.

5 January 2010

At a press conference in his official residence (Bessastaðir), President Grímsson announces his decision not to sign the bill, precipitating a referendum.

The Icelandic government, led by Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, immediately expresses its ‘disappointment’ with the President's decision and stresses that ‘the government of Iceland remains fully committed to implementing the bilateral loan agreements and thus the state guarantee provided for by the law.’

The UK Financial Services Secretary, Lord Myners, responds by saying that ‘The Icelandic people, if they took that decision [not to accept the bill], would effectively be saying that Iceland doesn't want to be part of the international financial system,’ while Dutch Minister of Finance Wouter Bos called such a decision ‘unacceptable’, saying that, whatever the outcome of the referendum, Iceland would still be ‘compelled to pay back the money’. A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown reacted in similar terms: ‘The Government expects the loan to be repaid. We are obviously very disappointed by the decision by the Icelandic President, but we do expect Iceland to live up to its legal obligations and repay the money.’

8 January 2010

The Althing approves a motion which calls for the referendum to be held by 6 March at the latest. The motion passes 49–0 with 14 abstentions. The referendum was the first to be held in Iceland since 1944 and required special legislation.

6 March 2011.

The referendum is held, the people speak – on a voter turnout of 63%, 93% vote against the loan guarantee scheme, 5% of votes are invalid, a mere 2% vote ‘yes’.

Meanwhile the government has initiated an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for the crisis and many high level executives and bankers are arrested.

In this crisis an assembly is elected to rewrite a new Constitution which can include the lessons learned from this and which will replace the current Constitution (a copy of the Danish Constitution).

25 citizens are chosen for this Constitutional Assembly from the 522 candidates. There is no political affiliation, all that was needed was to be an adult and to have the support of 30 people. The Assembly began its work in February of 2011, will produce the Icelandic ‘Magna Carta’ from the recommendations of the different assemblies happening throughout the country. It will be approved by the current Parliament and/or by the one constituted through the next legislative elections.

THE CONSEQUENCES 
Iceland has obviously fallen off a cliff, disappeared from the planet, barely a word in the last year from our media. The Armageddon that’s constantly being threatened on us should we decide to do something along the lines of what the people of Iceland did, must have befallen them. Less than a tenth the population of Ireland (320,000 souls), likewise less than a tenth of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), their economy has to be in bits, their currency destroyed, unemployment rife, rampant inflation, widespread poverty.

So let’s pull back the veil a little and have a peep (courtesy of tradingeconomics.com). Well, the Inflation rate is 6.4% - high, but then you read that the average from 1989-2010 was 5.88%, so nothing they’re not used to. GDB has expanded 2.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011 over the same quarter in 2010 – good news there then. It’s the same in the employment figures, unemployment at 7.3% in February of 2012 from a historical high of 9.3% in February 2010. Government debt? That’s at 87.8% of GDP. In the past few weeks they’ve also had their credit rating improved and they are repaying the IMF loan and a loan they got from Norway before the due date.

Armageddon? I don’t think so – inflation apart these are figures we can now only dream of.

SUMMARY

Iceland endured a horrific bank crash which brought down its economy. Its private banks had run up debt of around €4bn in Britain and Holland, debt which the government – under threat from the far bigger political entities of the UK (especially) and The Netherlands – agreed to pay with loans granted by the UK and The Netherlands, those loans postponed for a few years for the next generation of Icelandic taxpayers to enjoy.

The people revolted, took to the streets in mass protest; the President refused to sign the legislation, forcing a referendum. Defying all the pressure and threats from home (the unions were on board with the government) and abroad, the people took their courage in their hands, refused to be frightened, voted against the bank guarantee.

Two years later Iceland is on the road to recovery. GDP is growing, unemployment is falling, they are repaying their IMF and international loans early, their credit rating is rising.

THE DIFFERENCE

On a proportional level our bank debt burden is greater than Iceland’s. Theirs was around 40% of GDP, ours will work out at over 50% (maybe a lot more). Like Iceland our government was threatened by larger political powers (Germany and France); like Iceland we were blackmailed into converting private bank debt to sovereign debt (the ECB doing the strong-arming in our case); like Iceland we were offered loans by the interested parties to cover the cost of paying those debts; like Iceland our elected government succumbed to the bullying and the blackmail, agreed to a deal. Unlike Iceland, however, our President never gave us the opportunity of having our own referendum; we – the people who were going to be burdened with this massive new debt – were never given a choice as to whether we wanted to pay these debts or take our chances on our own. Today, we are where we are, they are where they are. 

None of this is to say I’d like to move to Iceland. Nothing at all against them and I'm sure they believe they’re living in their own slice of heaven up there in the ice and cold, but I’ll take what we have here any day.

However, I would like to see us follow their example of peaceful mass protest, I would love to see us achieve what they’ve achieved. They’ve shown, conclusively, that there IS another way, they’ve shown that even in a situation where a government has already caved in to the demands of the banks, to the threats of bigger political powers, the people can still take control, and prosper. They have shown us the true power and the true worth of democracy.

Regards, Diarmuid O'Flynn.

HOW TO BOIL A LIVE FROG

How do you boil a live frog (had you a cruel enough mind to do so, of course!)? You put it in cold water under a low flame, and with the temperature rising only very gradually the frog will sit happily in the pot until – well, until ‘hopping it’ is no longer an option.

In the matter of the bank bondholder bailout we’re the live frog. We were placed in the pot in September 2008 when we were told that the blanket bank guarantee was going to cost us ‘only’ €5bn – this was all it was going to cost us to ‘save’ the Irish banking system.

Gradually the temperature was raised, the true cost emerging a few billion at a time. We began to get a bit antsy in the pot, talk of letting one or two ‘zombie’ banks go to the wall. In November 2010 the IMF came to town to ‘rescue’ us, and the IMF planned to do what it always did in such cases – force a write-down of debt through burden-sharing with the creditors to enable us to get comfortable again.

Riding shotgun with the IMF on this occasion however was the ECB, together with the EU, and they had a different agenda entirely. Nominally they were here for our benefit; the truth is they had one thing and one thing only on their joint mind – to protect their own banks in Europe. The Irish? They had to settle us in the pot again and so all those billions were put out there, ours to borrow from as we needed over the next few years.

A bailout it was called, a bailout for Ireland, and everyone settled back. Did anyone notice the temperature still rising? Did anyone notice that in stark contrast to the normal IMF modus operandi in every bailout there ever was before November 2010, not alone did we not get a cent of a debt write-down, we emerged from that ‘bailout’ with additional locked-in debt, private bank debt being made sovereign? Bailout? Oh there was a bailout alright – we bailed out the banks.

We continue to do so. On Wednesday this week AIB pays out a senior unsecured bond of €1.5bn; it marks the end of an eventful six weeks for a bank we own 99.8%, and to which we have already contributed €20.7bn from our Pension Reserve Fund; ‘recapitalising’ is what it’s called, robbery is what it should be called. On February 20^th AIB also paid a bond of £750,000,000; on March 2^nd, a bond of $250,000,000, on March 19^th a bond of €1,000,000,000; added to the €1.5bn on Wednesday that’s over €3.5bn in the last six weeks, €3.5bn of our money, and not a whisper of protest from any of our national media.

Yes, we’ve ‘saved’ our banks, five of them with their doors still open, but for what? To service Irish industry, to finance small and medium enterprise, to facilitate those who would like to take out a mortgage? Or to service the billions in bond debts still remaining in those five banks, an average of €14bn/year for 2012/13/14/15?

We can continue to sit complacently in that pot, and in time the ECB will enjoy some sumptuous frog’s legs. Or we can jump, because there IS still time.

Even as the Promissory Notes argument is sidelined for the moment (and tell me – how many of ye would settle a debt you were disputing with your bank by taking out a loan with a different bank for your children to pay? Because that is exactly what Michael Noonan did at the end of last month, a government bond of €3.06bn that will ‘mature’ in 2025 – he claims that as a victory?), let no-one tell you that the bank bonds are a dead issue, unless of course you consider the silent and uncontested payment of €1,500,000,000 this week to be of no importance to us.

While the closure of A&E wards around the country, the cuts in education, the inequitable Household Charge, etc. etc. are all worthy causes, all roads lead back to the bank bailout and the unbearable burden that was thus placed on our shoulders.

59 weeks now we’ve been protesting this in Ballyhea and Charleville; tomorrow in Charleville we are holding a special march to mark our anger at the payment of that €1.5bn bond, meeting at the Library plaza at 5.15pm (appropriately, opposite the AIB bank); on Sunday next we march in Ballyhea, meeting at 11.30pm outside the church. Take that leap, join us before it’s all too late.

Yours sincerely,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.

MICHAEL NOONAN’S VICTORY BOND

 

If you were in dispute with your bank over a large sum of money, with considerable merit to your arguments for having that debt greatly reduced or even written off completely, would you go away and borrow from another source - at interest rates even higher than your bank was going to charge - the entire amount to make the first massive instalment payment? Worse, would you then set the terms of the new locked-in loan so that it’s not you but your children who will actually pay off that loan? And plan on doing something similar with the rest of the disputed debt?

In a nutshell that’s what Michael Noonan did last week. He took a debt that was negotiable, arguable – the Promissory Notes – and converted it into a non-negotiable inarguable government bond, a bond that will be paid on 2025. By then Michael, along with Enda Kenny and the rest of this lamentable Cabinet, will be long gone from office, out grazing in lush pastures, enjoying their fat pensions even as the next generation is left to deal with this legacy. The increased cost of that new debt for this year alone is estimated at €90m – well, all those of you who have paid your household charge, you know now where that money is gone (and then some, as they haven’t collected even close to €90m), with just one stroke of the bould Michael’s pen. And it’s presented to us as a ‘victory’.

On thorny issue after thorny issue, when it comes to tackling the big boys this government – as with the last – has displayed a marked lack of courage. The problems we have now are problems created by us, this generation. We must end this vacillating, we must stop running scared; we should face up to these problems now and we should tackle them now. The first order of business MUST be to tell the ECB – no more Promissory Notes. It was to cover their banks that this money was printed in the first place; we’re taking no more responsibility for that debt, is what we should tell the ECB – it’s yours, all yours. Consequences? Do your worst but this is our fight – we’re not running anymore, this is where we take our stand.

Regards,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.

Twitter @ballyhea14; http:/bondwatchireland.blogspot.com

THE BIG MATCH

MATCH REPORT ECB V IRELAND, DUBLIN, IRELAND, MARCH 30th 2012 - by Diarmuid O'Flynn.

European Bank Bondholder Bailout League, penultimate round, Frankfurt.

ECB 19-39 Ireland 0-1

There were extraordinary scenes at the end of this penultimate round of the European Bank Bondholder Bailout League in Dublin yesterday. Losing heavily, totally outplayed and outmuscled, the Irish team briefly left the stadium to play a game among themselves on an adjoining field and in the safety of that environment scored a few uncontested points. They then returned to the main playing area and before a bemused audience and despite the final scoreline, the captain of the Irish team, Michael Noonan, flanked by player/manager Enda Kenny, claimed victory for his side.

Right from the throw-in the ECB were in control of this game. Ireland's cause certainly wasn't helped by the fact that in a warm-up game at home against their own bankers Ireland had already suffered grievous losses and thus were already badly bruised when they first lined out against the ECB. It didn’t help Ireland’s cause either that their starting line-up featured a number of players in pivotal positions who had no previous experience of playing at this level – Brian Cowan and Brian Lenihan, for example, centre-back and centre-forward respectively, were just getting to know the basic skills and rules of the game and of their positions.

Helped by what could be termed an own-goal by Irishman Patrick Honahan (he's a member of the ECB panel but also claims loyalty to Ireland) the ECB took a commanding early lead and at the end of the first quarter had already streaked ahead, no threat whatever from a very feeble Irish attack which simply didn't seem to know how to use its early good possession.

Sad to report too, there was also much foul play from the ECB. It wasn’t enough that they had far more skill than the novice Irish, they also used their considerable muscle to intimidate and bully their weaker opponents. The Irish appealed to the officials for fair play but received short shrift – in fact far from adopting an objective and neutral stance, referee Merkel and her assistant Sarkozy constantly berated the Irish players, accused them of feigning injury and deliberately slowing up the game.

At half-time Ireland was in real trouble, but – as at the full-time whistle – we were now to witness an extraordinary scene.

Among the Irish supporters in the stands and even in the Irish dug-out itself, right through the first half there had been growing exasperation at the inept display by those on the pitch. Most vocal of all were the aforementioned Enda Kenny, the longest-serving member of the Irish panel, and Eamon Gilmore, himself a former starter. “Ye’re a disgrace to Ireland,” shouted Enda; “Ye’re betraying the jersey!” chorused Eamon; “Jaysus lads, let me at ‘em,” pleaded one of the young guns, Leo ‘The Lion’ Varadkar, “I’ll show ‘em – not another inch would they get from me!”

Then it happpened – with the approval of the ECB and in an unprecedented move, the whole of the Irish team was substituted and an entirely new side, led by Enda Kenny, took to the field. Even before he took up his new position however the signs for the Irish were bad as Enda was heard to mutter – “Christ Eamon, would you look at the size of these fellas! They’re a lot bigger in here than they looked from the sidelines – I think we’re in trouble!”

It was of course premature capitulation, an ongoing problem with this Irish team, their courage drained before a ball was struck. Thus it was that the second half brought no relief for the ranks of Irish supporters, now suffering silently on the banks. There was an occasional defiant shout – ‘Up Ballyhea!’ was heard from one small corner – but that was it. The ECB piled on the pressure, the scores mounted. Ireland did manage to sneak a point (Michael Noonan claiming the credit) when a streaker – said later to be Greek – distracted the ECB side momentarily, but soon it was back to business as usual, the Irish crushed under the ECB onslaught.

Then came those final minutes and that bit of light relief for those who had been observing the spectacle, Kenny and his team claiming victory from the carnage. The medical staff have put it down to concussion from all the heavy blows suffered during the game.

Scorers for ECB: So many scores and scorers it was impossible to keep track, but Jean Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi both figured prominently among the scorers, as did Hermann Van Rompuy, on loan from the EU.

Scorers for Ireland: M Noonan 0-1.

ECB: Currently captained by Draghi but prefer to remain anonymous.

Ireland: B Cowan, M Coughlan, B Lenihan, M Harney, D Ahern, N Dempsey, M Martin, E O Cuiv, M Hanafin, J Gormley, E Ryan, B Smith, B O'Keeffe.
Subs (all at half-time): E Kenny, E Gilmore, M Noonan, R Quinn, B Howlin, R Bruton, J Burton, J Deenihan, P Rabbitte, P Hogan, A Shatter, S Coveney, F Fitzgerald, J Reilly, L Varadkar.

Referee: A Merkel
Assistant Referee: N Sarkozy.

THE PENALTY

                  We are bombarded with warnings that if the Household Charge of €100 isn’t paid by March 31^st the penalties will kick in – but what are the penalties? Delay until June 30^th and it’s 10%, that’s €10; delay until December 31^st and it’s 20%, that’s €20; delay beyond that and it’s 30% and 1% per month. So, I ask, what’s the panic? If you pay now your money is gone; if you don’t want to pay and you aren’t yet certain about making a stand, why not hold off for a few months? Yes, you're risking €10 – it might turn out to be the best tenner you (n)ever spent.

                  Don’t be intimidated, don’t be strong-armed. Since humankind frist began to legislate it’s been making good law and bad; good people have always resisted those bad laws, thus was slavery challenged and ended, likewise the Penal Laws here, the Tithe Laws, the religious discrimination, the voting restrictions, etc. etc. 

                  We got no say in whether or not we should pay the failed bonds of our failed banks, successive governments caving in to the threats of the ECB-dominated troika; we DO have a say in this. Our government tells us that this is mandated by the ECB/troika; let’s send the troika a message, let this March 31^st deadline be our referendum on their demands and their deadlines – DO NOT REGISTER, DO NOT PAY. 

                  This is bad law, being imposed for bad reasons; good people have a duty to resist it. Take a stand - you are not alone.

Regards, Diarmuid O’Flynn

ALL THE LIES THAT YOU TOLD ME

“If you tell a lie big enough and repeat it often enough, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can deceive the people about the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie and thus by extension the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” That was Joseph Goebbels, the man who perfected the dark art of propaganda during the darker days of the Third Reich. Joseph has a lot of very worthy successors in Frankfurt today but I’m taking a leaf – of sorts – from his book, repeating over and over this quote above, refuting over and over the lies, repeating over and over the truth. 

FIVE BIG LIES WE’RE BEING TOLD

1. 1) In November 2010 Ireland was bailed out by the troika. Wrong. When the ECB came to town in November 2010 it was with a singular aim – protect its own, ensure the bonds that were owed by the Irish banks to its banks were paid in full, the tab to be picked up by the people. We bailed out the ECB, not the other way around, and it’s costing us tens of billions.

2.  2) The austerity programme is to get us back to the financial market – another lie. It was the bank debt burden, when piled on top of our own sovereign debt burden, that squeezed us from the markets in the first place; it’s the bank debt burden that is keeping us from the markets – without it we would already be on the road to recovery. The austerity programme? The austerity budgets over the next four years (3.8 + 3.5 + 3.1 + 2) = €12.4bn, exactly the same amount as the Promissory Notes for the same four-year period (3.1 x 4), which begs the question – our austerity, for whose benefit? All that sacrifice and suffering for just four instalments of the 21 due to the year 2031, for just two of our zombie banks, Anglo and Irish Nationwide. Now we're hearing talk of 'restructuring'; that's the ECB simply restating its position - 'I'll do everything I can to lighten your load but I'm not getting off your back'.

3.  3) The Irish banks were saved for the good of our economy – this is a juicy one. The Irish banks – all six of them – were saved so they could continue to pay bonds to the international financial institutions who loaned them the money that fuelled the fires that then engulfed our economy. Five of those banks – AIB, Anglo (I refuse to call it by any other name), Bank of Ireland, EBS and Irish Life & Permanent – are still paying out bonds on a weekly basis; €19bn in 2012, €17bn in 2013, €55bn in the four years 2012-2015 (incl). From where comes that money? Directly (recapitalisation) or indirectly (fees, mortgage interest etc.), it comes from us.

4.  4) We had no choice, we HAD to pay the bank bonds or a) we’d never be allowed back in the markets and b) the ECB would pull the plug on us – nonsense, both claims. Iceland got a choice; their President ensured they got a referendum after their politicians had bought the same line from the banks as did ours, and had already agreed to sell out their country to the bankers as did ours. However, in the face of all the same Armageddon threats we still hear here on a daily basis, the people of Iceland voted against the deal; they burned their bondholders, allowed their banks to fail, and started over. Now, less than three years on, they are in growth, unemployment falling, credit-rating rising, paying back their debts early. Then you look at Greece; met none of its targets yet the ECB did everything in its power to ensure that Greece stayed within the euro – why? So the Greek people could continue to pay the banks of France and Germany, even at a reduced rate. Does anyone really believe anymore the ECB would have thrown us to the wolves if we had refused to pay a debt that wasn’t ours?

5.  5) We all partied – even Enda sings that tune. No, we didn’t all party. There was a feelgood factor for a few years in the early Noughties as Ireland began to pick itself up, a smile on people’s faces in what was initially a genuine expansion. Then the wideboy bankers took over, Delboy dealers who found themselves with access to all sorts of cheap billions from Europe’s bigger banks and scattered it about like snuff at a wake. Ordinary punters who went for mortgages of €200k came out with €300k, no fuss no scrutiny; big developers were given millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, to engage in bidding wars against each other for real estate that was rapidly heading off the scale. Yes, there were those in their thousands and tens of thousands who partied, puked and pissed their way through the boom, but there were also those many more of us who did not. Trace everything back, the buck for all this mess stopped with those big financial institutions who so recklessly lent those tens of billions into the Irish economy; those were private deals between consenting adults whose duty it was to be as aware of the risks as of the rewards. If there WAS a mass party those major financial institutions were the hosts, they were the ones who supplied all the drugs and alcohol. It was their billions, their greed-induced blindness to what was happening – where was THEIR due diligence? Their investments failed, this is their loss; they should be made to pay – we don’t want to risk ‘moral hazard’, now do we?

Know the truth. Don’t be fooled by the propaganda, don’t be intimidated by the lies. What’s happening to Ireland is extortion, the ECB forcing us to pay a debt that isn’t ours, that will never rightfully be ours. In Ballyhea and Charleville we proclaim that simple truth again and again, we protest that gross injustice. Right WILL prevail. This Sunday again, in Charleville, 11.30am, we march.

Regards, Diarmuid O’Flynn