97 thoughts on “Meanwhile, On Dame Street”

  1. Most likely the people they want to “Make their statement” to are not working on weekends….

    I suppose days run into one another when one is a jobless hippy….

  2. where will all those crusties and hipsters go for dinner later now that the sheebeen is gone south…..?

  3. did anybody notice that the poster behind the girl in the first pic say’s here’s to the crazy ones etc – is from an Apple ad by Steve ….. bit of a contradiction there – protesting against capitalism are we …
    not to mind the last sign that made me sad

    • not to capitalism, to greed and to the injustice of the people who caused all the shit we’re in not being held to account and charged

      • Charged with what?

        Who, specifically, should we find to charge with crimes?

  4. Dave, that sign says more about why those people are protesting than any of the rest.

    Unlike the Wall St. protest, this is nothing to do with corporate greed or trying to change the way the world works. I’ve no doubt there are a few people there who honestly believe in that sort of thing, but for the most part this is just a bunch of dim-witted, smug arseholes with an inbuilt victim complex, trying to show off how “different” and “unique” they are.

    • Love reading their comments on the entreating rag thejournal.ie – really hilarious!

      They’re all for freedom and equality etc etc… But god help you if you don’t agree with them. They respect no one.

        • I’m totally intolerant of these reprobates, I make no secret of it.

          They’re the hypocrites. Not me.

          Thinking the represent everyone?

          THE NORMAL PEOPLE THEY “REPRESENT” ARE OUT THERE EARNING A LIVING AND THEIR TAXES ARE FUNDING THESE LAZY GOOD-FOR-NOTHINGS

  5. I stopped off there earlier. There were around 100 protestors. I’m browned off at the socialisation of banking debt. I vote, work and pay my taxes but I feel removed from any meaningful part in the decisions that are made on my behalf.
    However, when I go to things like this, I feel I can’t relate to the others that attend. I hate to sound like some sort of snooty reactionary nutter, but a lot of the people there don’t look like they’re particularly productive “workers”…students, crusties and professional left-wingers seemed to make up a fair portion of the group.
    I went to the larger Union organised protest last November, and again I felt on the outside, working as I do in a small, privately owned business.
    Maybe I’m just not cut out for this protesting lark…
    (yeah, yeah…cool story bro, etc…)

    • they need more people like you I think. I understand what you’re saying/feeling, perhaps more people will get involved, make it more diverse like has happened now in the US.

      • Yes, these movements require people from all walks of life. But forget how they look, and listen to what they have to say. A lot of these people you dismiss because of their piercings, dreadlocks, whatever, are clever, well read and, above all, committed.

        What some people tend to forget also, is that these people are not just protesting on their own behalf, they are protesting on behalf of the old, the poor, the evicted …

        (signed) a fairly respectable enough looking 50 yr old, previously apolitical, involved in the 15M movement in Spain.

        • Yeah but the problem is they offer no alternative solution to the problem. It’s nt enough to say “stop what you’re doing” – that will get us nowhere. “drive them out” “we want answers”. All well and good but ultimately won’t create jobs or stability.

          • Well, they are looking for a solution (I won’t say an “alternative solution”, because that would imply the government has a solution), pooling ideas, discussing possible ways of doing things. Some of them may be far-fetched, some may be impossible, some may be quite reasonable. I really would recommend going along, listening and, if you have any bright ideas yourself, chipping in too … it’s for everybody that is affected by the cutbacks and the crisis, i.e., everybody that isn’t a millionaire, which, and I may be going out on a limb here, I presume you are not.

          • Eh… Irlandsea???

            Aren’t the 9-5 types busy working to put food on their tables for their families and also to fund these lazy reprobates on Central Bank plaza.

            The protests in New York have regular people. These protests will go no further than the crusties.

        • You’re right of course irlandesa, about judging people at the protest by appearance. I was being a bit fatuous there. It’s just that there didn’t seem to be many relatively straightlaced 9-to-5 types like myself there. I know people who’ve participated in the Spanish protests (Madrid and Barcelona). I get the impression the average worker is more political than here (beyond their own immediate financial interests that is)…

          • then.. they need more average joe 9-5 types too. Think about it Jase, your input might be valuable.

            Not sure about workers being more political here, though, some are, but there are broad swathes of indifference, and of course those who ridicule the movement too.

            Funnily enough, in the Politics Group I go to, we were only lamenting that we DIDN’T have any crusties/punks/hippies/younger people (I’m the baby, ha!), as the group are all a bit older and activists from back in the old Franco days, but they could do with another persective.

  6. I was interested in this until they tweeted:

    ” @OccupyDublin OccupyDameStreet

    We need 2 get everyone with grievances 2 get out on the streets together. Nurses,teachers,shell 2 sea, homeowners,everyone #occupydamestreet
    4 Oct”

    Sorry, but you’re singling out Shell To Sea? No thanks.

    • I suppose they’ll have to carry on without your invaluable input then.

      Here’s hoping that someone designs a protest to suit you personally soon.

      • Their protest does suit me, but I’m not going to give my voice to something only for it to be yet another Shell-to-Sea hijacked stunt.

        • I was there having a gander. No political groups had signs out. Frankly, most of the “just a bunch of cruisties” commentators can be equated to NIMBY folk. Over all a nice group of people were there with quite a mix. I enjoyed the harpist and violinist that came down to entertain those there, a nice happening. Not that you’d see that from your computer chair of self righteousness.

      • I thought the crusties welcomed everyone’s views?

        It’s not much of a debate/forum if everyone is wrong but you.

  7. They should be protesting outside the fraud squad offices.. Getting them to speed it up and lock up the pricks that caused this

  8. Reply to Paul -how do I know

    OK, I can only speak from my experience in the 15-M movement. But yeah, I do go along, to a weekly assembly and 1 or 2 weekly work groups. And there are plenty of ideas: stop privatising stuff, particularly stuff that works; tighten controls on tax fraud and evasion; tobin tax; crack down on political corruption, croneyism and jobs for the boys …. as well as marches, films, conferences, cookouts, all sort of stuff. The movement also collaborates with the anti-eviction platform, and have managed to stop quite a few evictions; with the anti-racism group, that tries to stop security guards in the metro hassling immigrants; goes along on marches organised by other groups (teachers, healthcare professionals, etc.) … something for everyone, as I say.

    • cool, sorry my tone was not to have a go at you if that’s how it came across. I think inclusion is vital for any real movement to build.

      • Don’t worry, no offence taken. From your previous comments I didn’t think you were the type to snipe from the sidelines.

  9. “unfuck the world”….these protesters have obviously thought long and hard about how to reslove the current economic downturn….

    • Gosh yeah, pity they didn’t come up with something more **meaningful** like “understands our past, believes in our future” or “pride at home, respect abroad” ….

      d’uh

  10. One of them has a poster refering Pink Floyd’s The Wall. It says ‘Just Another Brick In The Wall’.

    Pink Floyd’s Wall didn’t represent lifeless blocks of society, though, as everyone seems to think it did. (They had the Machine for that).

    Silly.

  11. No harm, but most of them look like hippies that should be squatting in a high end property on Leeson Street. Do they even work.

    This is a typical Irish problem though. The irish will bend over and take it up the arse from the government and banks and this is what is left to protest….

    • Thats cos the rest think that making wry, disparaging comments about anyone actually prepared to get off their arse and do something is enough or maybe whingeing to Joe Duffy . I went down to the protest yesterday and I will go back tonight, and yeah I’m on the dole cos I got laid off 6mths ago, and if I dont get any rent allowance soon I’ll have no roof over my head either. I paid my contributions and my taxes and I have a right to social welfare and I’m sick sore and tired of arseholes with smart mouths and ignorant prejudices spouting government lines on those of us who have been forced on to social welfare. I dont see many of those who ‘choose’ welfare as ‘a lifestyle’ at my dole office- I just see desperate. disillusioned people who are used to grafting for a living, completely bewildered by the postion they now find themselves in. So some at the protest have dreadlocks and you dont like it-tough shit- try spending your days trying to negotiate a welfare system that is becoming more and more punitive to people who have done nothing wrong. I’ll take my chances with the hippies and the students and the Shell to Sea protesters and the woman who came for the weekend while her husband minded the kids and the man who was made redundant, and the social care workers I met whose wage packets are shrinking while their hours and responsibilities increase and the women from the north inner city whose community schemes have been cut to ribbons. At least they got out of their armchairs and used their mouths for something other than throwing bigoted comments around.

      • Totally with you Marie.

        Last week I was down talking to a group of workers at a daycare centre. The centre is publicly owned, but privately run, the new paradigm that was supposed to bring a better more professional, more efficient service bla bla bla. Well the new private owners haven’t paid the 22 workers since JULY. They are struggling to pay their rent, their bills, their petrol or public transport; they are taking care of the old people at the centre, and they are not getting paid. The company, which runs 19 centres throughout Spain, has similar payment issues at all of them. This has been going on since about 2008, and they still keep winning the tenders to run more centres (they got the tender for the one in question in June this year). Start as you mean to go on.

        So yeah, this is what putting the head down and doing your work and paying your taxes gets you – shafted.

        And this is the sort of privatisation and corruption that people are protesting about. And then they get called hippies and crusties and trustafarians. Well so not be it.

    • Right. So what the feck does Ireland’s gas and oil rights have to do with your redundancy?

      I sympathise with the fact you lost your job. You must be under immense strain.

      Might I suggest you would be better served job hunting than hanging out on Dane Street?

      There may be very little out there job wise, but you’ve a better chance of getting job if you’re actually searching for one as opposed to banging on pots and pans outside central bank.

  12. Also saw this on the FT while I was reading the article about Ireland:

    “The easiest way to differentiate career rabble-rousers from a protest worthy of anyone’s attention is to ask someone in the mob a very simple question: “What specifically needs to change or be promised so that you would be content to go home right now?” For those on the streets of Egypt and Libya this year the answer was clear. Ditto during the global anti-Iraq war rallies in 2003.

    But the increasing numbers of demonstrators “occupying” Wall Street and elsewhere could not answer that question if they tried. Their important message is that “the 99 per cent will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 per cent”. Unfortunately, their problem is that the corollary of wonderfully catchy, catch-all slogans is that their ambiguity defies solutions. How should America “redefine how labour is valued”, exactly?

    Protesters are not alone in sticking to anodyne generalities in these tricky economic times. Policymakers are also keeping vague because some problems are so ugly that solutions are best left unsaid. What should be done, for example, to help the 11m US homeowners in negative equity and millions more who cannot refinance? Protesters shout that they want to “reclaim our mortgaged future”. Presumably they would support immediate loan modifications for the 99 per cent? But to be fair, no less silly ideas have come out of Washington.
    If those camped out in Zuccotti Park want to be taken seriously, however, they need to do two things. First, be more specific and pick battles that are genuinely worthy of debate – for example, demanding reforms to the US tax code. Second, the movement should acknowledge that blame must also be apportioned beyond Wall Street, including the 99 per cent who greedily over-extended themselves during the boom in a desperate attempt to join the 1 per cent.”

    Variation on the ‘we all partied’ line right there!

  13. Dont spare the gas I say, its clear from looking at them that none of them have ever tried to pay tax. They are the problem, they add to the deficit problems, and they will all be in getting the welfare next week. I hope 50 gardaí get overtime tonight to go in and drag them into vans.

  14. Shame about some of the comments here. I went and had a great time, and no crusty I. If you’re waiting for the perfect protest, you’ll be waiting a long time. Come on down and check it out!

  15. I wont protest, ill get on with it, ill keep working, and we will all get through this in the end.

    • I work hard, pay my taxes, and I’ve a great life as a result.

      The only problem is that my hard earned taxes are subsidising these lazy reprobates to lie around all day on college green.

      And if you disagree with them, all their notions of liberalism and equality go out the window.

  16. I’ve never drawn any kind of benefit from the state – I’ve always worked hard. I’m between jobs right now and living on my hard earned savings (I’m actually not entitled to any state benefits, as I’ve lived outside the EU for some time). I’ll be there on Monday. What would I like to see? An end to the nationalization of private debt, and an end to the privatization of our national assets. I also want to see some justice in this country for a change. I really can’t understand how so many Irish people are happy to stand by and watch as we’re sold down the river. What’s it going to take to get people’s attention? How much private debt has to be foisted onto the tax payer before people will demand some action? I’m also sick of Irish people complaining about other people expressing their views in public. We’ve become a cowed, spineless shower of fools.

      • Paul. Stop being a prick.

        The majority of people actually want to keep the heads down and keep working and doing the best for their families.

        • Good luck with that. The majority of people who work hard and yet somehow realise that they’re STILL broke know that they are expendable. Workers rights are being further eroded by the month. How many private sector workers do YOU know who have been in their job more than five years and are confident that they will still be there in another five years?

          • Even if I was unemployed – I would still think these crusties are a pack of wasters.

            The central bank like? If you want to protest at the Celtic tiger head down to the IFSC. Head to Anglo in Stephen’s green.

          • Anglo on Stephens Green – that’s now ESB on Stephen’s Green – I know this cos I went there last week, during my lunch hour from work, to protest in solidarity with Teresa Treacy. Finger on the pulse hey! :)

  18. That FT article is full of shite. It doesn’t really matter if the protesters don’t have a solution lined up. We still got f**ked by the banks, and it’s 100% justified to be angry about that IMO.

    • So if someone’s opinion doesn’t reflect your myopic worldview you just disregard it entirely?

      Enlightened.

  20. Look at this video – the lady is a friend of mine and is clearly neither a hippy nor a student. Don’t listen to those spreading disinformation. This is about ordinary people – and they represent EVERYONE who is a part of the 99% of the world who is not the global elite. We’re ALL being screwed up here – we ALL need to stand together. Show some support – it’s needed and it’s vital.

  23. Genuine question here – if as has been suggested, most of those people at the Central Bank are unemployed and always have been, how has the country screwed them over? Their tax money is not paying off our debts is it?

    • That’s such an excellent point, because our scientific survey based on the random impressions of a bunch of people posting comments on Broadsheet indicates that they are, in fact scruffy jobless welfare fraudster trust-fund anti-corporate Macdonald’s frequenting hipsters who have the utter temerity to suggest the country is screwed and that the fault lies with the people in power. Who the hell can get behind something like that? If they’re not working eighteen hours a day seven days a week to pay off a 100% mortgage then they clearly don’t know what pain is! Release the hounds, Smithers!

      • As I said…”IF as suggested…” Nice one Nige…tad bit of an overreaction there!!!

        • Fair enough, Fairchild. I was, perhaps, kicking a bit against the reactionary consensus that it’s Be Cruel To Crusties Week round here. Sorry.

    • They’re not. That’s the answer. They are young and old – students, parents, working, unemployed, OAPs. In short, they are the same as you and I – forget the ‘crusties’ label – the people at central bank are the same as the people not there – we are all the 99%. So if you have integrity and balls and are awake to the corruption in this country – go sit with them. If you have kids and you worry for their future – support the Occupy protest. If, however, you are not awake – no bother – we will fight for you until you wake up and join us.

      • Parents?

        Who’s minding the kids?!

        You’ll fight for us?!

        You’re sitting in a few tents bangin’ on pots and pans?

        Fight?!

        Will you get real like?!

  24. The reason I dont go to protests is because of trust funded little pricks like these they make me sick
    They are the Labour TDs of tomorrow.
    Typical middle class “lifestyle anarchists ” , always willing to speak for the man on the street , but never actually living in that same street

  25. The rich will always betray the poor and this will never be more clear when these crustie trustafarians and trots go back to their comfy middle class lives after playing the radical in their 20/30′s.
    Occupy Dame street? Occupy the Treasury building or the HSE HQ and actually force change that people in need will help, not mimic a hipster protest in New York.

  26. These posts always bring out a legion Fine Gael/IBEC/ISME intern types who are poised at their laptops, ready to attack any form of protest against unfair economic and social policies, branding people hippies who aren’t hippies, dole spongers who aren’t dole spongers, wasters who aren’t wasters.

    They are afraid of the cosy establishment set up being taken apart and their grip on the centre of power being opened up to all people and not just insider families and cabals.

    Turn Ireland inside out.

  27. i think you’re giving a lot of credit to these intern ‘types’ (By types do you mean A, B and C? and is it contageous?)

    I think it would be a dream to be hired from jobplank and paid 50quid to troll forums for anti establishment commentary.

    you may find that its a lot of people hungover from gorging on the last months sporting frenzy and now with nothing to keep us in a nice warm bubble, attention gets turned to whatever soft target is lying around. cant get an easier target than krustie the klown in a bigtop outside the banksters HQ. where’s batman when you need him?

  29. Actually weather they know it or not these protestors are at the right place to demonstrate, in the states thay are at wall street but its the address of the federal reserve is where they should be. Central banking globally is the root of all this chaos and i bet that most people on here dont even know what central banks do. Well they “fix” the price of money by manipulating interest rates and printing new money out of thin air, the middle classes of the world are being wiped out and there is a bigger storm coming than we have seen in the last three years. central banking needs to be taken down , so much government involvement in every aspect of our lives needs to be addressed, we need a free market where economics is simply about supply and demand , where price is king. Krusties or not, it is very significant that they are at the central bank.