I’m sure it’s no surprise to hear that, as a matter of principle, I absolutely think there is a time and a place for civil disobedience. I’m all for protest. Although my own march-through-the-streets-while-shouting moments have been far fewer since the time a couple of years ago when, as the police descended, I figured I had to put practicality above politics. Himself was out of town. If I got myself arrested, there would have been a bit of a kerfuffle around collecting my small child from preschool. I casually sauntered away from my fellow protesters. And tried not to feel like a total loser.
Anyway.
I can’t say I ever would have been inclined to join in the protest that has just concluded under the window, but Himself and I watched it for a bit.
Ireland is on the verge of instituting a range of new taxes, including property and water. It’s kinda sensible. It’s also kinda mandated by the solvent European countries, primarily Germany, who want their bailout money back.
On the flip side, no one likes a new tax. And people here already pay a level of income tax that would have most Americans staging a civil war. No one here complains about that, understanding that their (very good) schools, roads, healthcare depend on tax revenue. But new austerity measures are changing the status quo.
So the crowd under my window was shouting (over and over, and then over again) with gusto: “The water tax is a double tax! Water tax is no way! Time to make the bankers pay! Whose water? Our water!”
Oscar Wilde they were not, but they had excellent cadence and very good diction. And the whole thing was over in half an hour.
And there’s my Irish political update for the week. What follows is the funny stuff that goes with the Irish political moment.
Here are some of the the protesters. They are being herded and posed by the news photographer. It’s a tidy, photogenic town. We have tidy, photogenic protests.
Here’s the gardai (pronounced, for anyone who’s interested, gar-DEE). All two of them, and I’m sure there was only a second to keep the first one company. They’re just making sure everything stays tidy.
Himself looked at one and said, “Wait. He’s got a gun in his belt!”
Irish street police don’t carry guns. To see a gun would be a very serious, very sad thing.
Himself, with a relieved sigh, a moment later, “Ah, no. It’s a notebook holder.”