Former Trotskyist Paddy Smith, now a deputy editor with the Irish Times, professed puzzlement in his Saturday column on 15 October at why the growing OCCUPY TOGETHER movement won't articulate specific demands. 'Joe' set him straight in a comment worth repeating here. Good one, Joe!
I'll explain the puzzle to ya. If a movement has a centre, all you
need to do, to neutralise the entire movement, is compromise or destroy
that centre. It's the Achilles heel. Round up the ring leaders and
you're sorted - or negotiate, and then do the switcharoo. With no
centre, there's nothing for the power to reach in and crush. The
powerful use a similar technique. In Ireland is nearly impossible to pin
anything on one small group or person. The Irish 1% exercise their
power through an "invisible hand". They control the media - they can
say black is white, day is night, a Fianna Fail candidate is
Independent, and most people believe them. A central organisation, with a
programme of demands would see them unleashing their dogs.
The "recovery" is being run for the benefit of the 1%. NAMA developers are having their debts paid by the 99%, and they'll be handed back their assets at enough of a discount to make them rich again. Meanwhile, the 99% are struggling and genuinely suffering. Can the 99% really afford these "wealth creators" - were we given a choice.
To explain the passivity of the Irish people. It's something called learned helplessness. If you put a dog in a cage, and administer random electric shocks, the dog will become depressed and passive. Eventually it will believe there is nothing that can be done to stop the shocks, So, when you open the cage door, the dog will not even try to escape. And that's the situation the crushed people of Ireland are in. They've been beaten. They know if they vote in an election, they'll get the same, There Is No Alternative totalitarianism. The TINA that serves the interests of the 1%. They believe there is nothing they can do. And their best bet is just to serve the people who beat them, and hope for a few scraps from the table. Even help out with some of the beating for the masters.
The way out of learned helplessness, is learned optimism. Not the "fake it, till you make it", bogus "enthusiasm" and "positivity" the charlatans push. But to take a realistic view, that things can be changed. It's time to be realistic, and demand what the 1% tell us is impossible. Maybe that it is time for a version of democracy, and even capitalism, that isn't centred around their interests.
Critics and commentators have been puzzled by the movement’s wilful determination so far not to articulate a programme of demands.
The "recovery" is being run for the benefit of the 1%. NAMA developers are having their debts paid by the 99%, and they'll be handed back their assets at enough of a discount to make them rich again. Meanwhile, the 99% are struggling and genuinely suffering. Can the 99% really afford these "wealth creators" - were we given a choice.
To explain the passivity of the Irish people. It's something called learned helplessness. If you put a dog in a cage, and administer random electric shocks, the dog will become depressed and passive. Eventually it will believe there is nothing that can be done to stop the shocks, So, when you open the cage door, the dog will not even try to escape. And that's the situation the crushed people of Ireland are in. They've been beaten. They know if they vote in an election, they'll get the same, There Is No Alternative totalitarianism. The TINA that serves the interests of the 1%. They believe there is nothing they can do. And their best bet is just to serve the people who beat them, and hope for a few scraps from the table. Even help out with some of the beating for the masters.
The way out of learned helplessness, is learned optimism. Not the "fake it, till you make it", bogus "enthusiasm" and "positivity" the charlatans push. But to take a realistic view, that things can be changed. It's time to be realistic, and demand what the 1% tell us is impossible. Maybe that it is time for a version of democracy, and even capitalism, that isn't centred around their interests.
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