Breaking the chains

February 17th 2012

IRELAND ENSLAVED

                We are an enslaved people, our function to provide funds for the major European and world financial institutions. As slaves, and in common with the people of Greece, another enslaved nation, we have no rights, we have only uses. People wonder why it is that greater production is expected from us than from Greece; it’s because at the moment we are stronger than Greece, at the moment we are healthier. We will be fed just enough to keep us strong enough to keep producing enough; when we’re no longer able to produce enough, we’ll be discarded.

OUR MASTERS

                Our masters are the ECB and the EU, the IMF as lesser partners. Their major interests are their banks, vast edifices which because of their own poor decisions were threatened with collapse. We are being used to provide the funding to try to prevent this from happening.

OUR OVERSEERS

                Our overseers come from among us – Kenny, Gilmore, Noonan, Rabbitte, Varadkar, Sherlock, all the others, they are the ones cracking the whips, they are the ones who will ensure that every last ounce of effort is squeezed from us, and they will draw blood from the recalcitants. Their own motivations vary - fear, cowardice, greed, ignorance, but no matter. They have their orders, they have their whips, and feeling secure in their own elite little group, they flog us and will keep flogging us, getting fatter and fatter themselves in the process.

HOW WE WERE CAPTURED

                The crash of the Irish economy a few years ago left us very suddenly with a huge budget deficit, an annually increasing national sovereign debt. In the years since then, we – the people of Ireland – have been saddled with an additional massive burden, the failed private bank debt. We were never consulted, we weren’t asked; our overseers were weak, badly informed, poorly equipped, succumbed to the threats of our powerful new masters, and gradually, inexorably, that additional burden is being wrapped around our own burden, til eventually the two will become one. When that happens, we are crushed.

HOW WE ARE KEPT COWED

                Threats, lies, misinformation and disinformation, all the classical weapons when you want to subjugate. There is the straight threat from the ECB, the financial bomb going off in Dublin spoken of by Overseer Varadkar – pay up or else; there is the apocalyptic picture painted by the media minions of what will happen if we don’t pay; there is the blatant ignoring of any discussion on the fundamental issue – what right has the ECB to use its financial muscle, what right has the EU powerful pairing of Germany and France to use its political muscle, to force a small and weakened member state to accept a debt that is not its own?

THE PROSPECTS

                The prospects are not good – how do we know? Because we’ve been here before. People aren’t dying in their millions but in so many other respect this is the 1840s all over again. People are going hungry, people are leaving in their hundreds of thousands; just as the food-relief ships coming into Irish harbours then met fully-laden food ships leaving for our then-masters in Britain, so it is that any inward investment is met by billions of euro leaving the Irish economy to feed the institutions in Germany and France, in other such institutions world-wide. €1.25bn paid on January 25^th in one failed bank bond; over €1bn in two failed bank bonds this week; €19bn in failed bank bonds this year; €55bn in failed bank bonds over the coming four years, all bled from the people. One major difference with the 1840s, however; bad as the British government was in its overseeing of the genocide they didn’t actually destroy vast quantities of food – on March 31^st last year, on March 31^st this year, and on March 31^st every year for a decade and more to come, following the instructions of the ECB our own Central Bank will oversee the destruction of 3.1bn of Irish money, real Irish money, the Anglo Promissory Notes.

WHAT WE CAN DO

                We can resist, we can fight, we can overthrow these new masters and their homegrown overseers; that too we know we can do, that too is in our history. Understand this; the €3.8bn austerity Budget 2012 isn’t the end of it, nor will be the €3.5bn austerity Budget mandated for 2013, nor the €3.1bn austerity budget for 2014, the €2bn in 2015. Put those together and the cumulative effect is a total of €12.4bn (3.8 + 3.5 + 3.1 +2) in cuts and taxes in the budget of 2015. Austerity? We ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. And for what? Throw their lies back in their faces; with the billions being paid in those failed private bank bonds, with the destruction of the €3.1bn on one day alone next month, it’s crystal clear that this enforced austerity isn’t to assist us out of the hole we’re in, it’s to enable the payment of those bonds, even if in the process the hole we’re in gets deeper and deeper. 

OUR OWN REFERENDUM

                In Iceland their own overseer government was going to  do exactly as ours has done but their President did what ours didn’t, refused to sign the bill. The people got a referendum, they rejected the lies, threats and misinformation, they voted against their own government, and now, just a couple of years later, Iceland is on the road to recovery. We are on the road to ruin, but we can turn. One of the money-making methods the ECB/EU/IMF have demanded that our overseers implement is a Household Charge. To enable this we are ordered to register by March 31^st; don’t do it. Let this be our referendum, let this be your opportunity to stand and fight – DON’T REGISTER, DON’T PAY. March 31^st is also the date the Promissory Note €3.1bn is due to be destroyed – demand now that this should not happen, march with us in Ballyhea on our weekly Bondholder Bailout Protest on Sunday, March 4^th at 11.30am, the first anniversary of our first protest march. It’s time to break the chains.

Regards

Diarmuid O’Flynn

Ireland united

BALLYHEA MARCH 4^th 2012 – UNITE IN COMMON CAUSE

                On Sunday March 4th we will be having our 52nd weekly march in Ballyhea in protest against the on-going extortion of tens of billions of euro from us, the people of Ireland, by the ECB. To mark the occasion we're inviting anyone and everyone to make your way to Ballyhea on that date and for half an hour, from 11.30am til noon, park whatever differences we may all have and march together.

                We have a single cause - end the bank bondholder bailout. No playing around with the terms - this load is crushing us, remove it. Its imposition was wrong, unjust; it's not just a gross abuse of power by the ECB and the EU, it is a cynical, deliberate and calculated attack on our independence, on our sovereignty.

                It's being done for what, because the ECB's pet financial institutions are too big to fail? Are we, the people of Ireland, not too big to fail? Does the EU not have any responsibility to its people? And where does it all end? Once this bank debt has been fully 'socialised' and we are forced into inevitable sovereign default – well, Greece this week, Ireland next.

                The fallout from the imposition of this bank debt burden affects us all; we should all resist. I wish I had the eloquence to properly articulate just how a critical a period this is in Irish history, but I don’t. All I can do is ask that in the face of this common threat, right left and centre we should unite, all political creeds and none, native and settler - that is our only hope. Join us, Sunday March 4^th at 11.30am, Ballyhea.

Regards

Diarmuid O’Flynn

MARCH 4th - AN OPEN INVITATION

MARCH 4^th 2012 - AN OPEN INVITATION

                When we started marching on the first Sunday in March 2011, it was never our intention that Ballyhea would become the focal point for protest against the bank bondholder bailout – contagion was our big ambition, spread the protest from parish to parish til the whole country was marching.

                Didn’t happen, so now a smaller ambition; Sunday March 4^th is the first anniversary of our first march, and now we DO want to make Ballyhea a focal point for this protest. This is an open invitation to all of you in the media who feel we’re being wronged, to all of you in the arts, to all of you in the world of academia, to all of you amateur and professional in the world of sport (with so many young people leaving, what sporting organisation hasn’t been adversely affected by this?), to all of you in the world of politics, to anyone and to everyone, to join us in Ballyhea on that one day and make this a protest march to remember.

                 With our own Central Bank set to destroy €3.1bn of our money on March 31^st we are reaching a crisis point, a pivotal moment in Irish history. On that one day join us, please, and share this invitation with anyone you think would like to do likewise.

Regards

Diarmuid O’Flynn

Problem solving

PROBLEM SOLVING

                That we have a major problem in the Irish economy at the moment is beyond question. How to solve it? The same way you solve any other problem, using the same basic principles – you go back to the source, then take whatever steps are necessary.

                Leave aside the sloppy introduction of the euro, the easy money that then became available to Irish banks, the lack of oversight here and in Europe on the reckless inter-bank lending; the source of the current Irish problem is the blanket guarantee given to the Irish banks by then Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan. When the mist cleared and the money markets saw the emerging mountain of bank debt that Ireland taken on, on top of its own growing sovereign debt caused by the budget deficit, they did the simple arithmetic and came up with the simple conclusion – couldn't be done. Consequent to that conclusion they raised the rates on Irish government borrowing, eventually forcing us out of the market and into the embrace of the troika. In that embrace we remain.

                Under extreme duress and with seriously deficient information, the government legislated for that guarantee; the situation is now even more serious, we know the full extent of the problem – if we’re to get back into the money markets any time soon the government must now introduce new legislation to right the wrong that was done back then.

                The situation is stark; that bank debt piled on top of our sovereign debt puts us in an unsustainable position, MUST be removed. It is not our debt, was never our debt, will never rightfully be our debt, but is being forced on us by the ECB. If we don’t pay even the unguaranteed bank bonds in the zombie banks, ‘a bomb will go off in Dublin,’ said Minister Leo Varadker. He was speaking metaphorically of course but the threat, also alluded to by many government spokespersons over the last couple of shameful years, is real. That is extortion, ‘the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threat’, the Oxford English dictionary definition.

                When real bombs were going off in Dublin, Belfast and London the discussion didn’t centre around having no choice but to accede to the demands of those who were doing the bombing, it centred around resistance at all costs; within the Irish media, however, what we hear more than anything else is ‘Ah but, what happens if we don’t pay!’

                There should be NO debate, none; in using its financial muscle to extort under threat tens of billions from the Irish exchequer, what the ECB is doing – with the EU and Irish government complicit - is wrong. If there is to be any debate it should be around that fact. We are being forced to pay not just the losses on failed for-profit private inter-bank deals, we are being forced also to pay the profits (the coupons) those bonds would have made, and because we don’t have the money now to pay those bonds, we are being forced into a situation where we have to borrow, assume new loans, on which we have to pay interest.

                This is a crime. It’s happening in full view of the world. The fact that it’s an official major organisation – the ECB – doing this extorting doesn’t make it any less of a crime.

                We should refuse, immediately, to pay a further cent in bank bonds. We should refuse, immediately, to pay a cent on the Promissory Notes. We should introduce and implement, immediately, legislation to undo all the damage that’s been done to our economy. Enough of this false debate; we must start to stand up for ourselves, we must fight back.

Regards

Diarmuid O`Flynn

ECB/Anglo - The Unbearable Burden

                 A few weeks ago I was listening – as I often do – to the Vincent Browne show on TV3. Vincent is the one national broadcaster above all others who understands the fundamentals of what’s being done to Ireland by our so-called partners in the EU/ECB conglomerate. That night, as yet another government minister was parroting out the lines he had been given by the Dept. of Finance about how this government had secured a reduction in the interest rates being charged by the ECB (they hadn’t, this had come merely as a by-product of the Greek bailout), how they were working hard to secure ‘improvements’ in the terms of the payment of the Anglo Promissory Notes, Vincent damn near exploded in exasperation, and cited a cartoon of the fat man riding on the thin man’s back.

                Turns out it wasn't a cartoon at all but a sculpture by Jens Galschiøt titled 'The survival of the fattest' and here it is, with thanks to Marie Moran of UCD.

I’m sitting on the back of a man

He is sinking under the burden

I would do anything to help him

Except stepping down from his back

(Inscription on the staff of Justicia, Western Goddess of Justice, represented in the sculpture Survival of the Fattest by Jens Galschiø)

Let Leo and Sean and all the other government sheeple bleat all they like about reductions and extensions, they are merely following their shepherd's directions; not until the bank debt is removed from our shoulders will we be able to finally progress from the mire. Our government has already buckled under the pressure, we are left to stand for ourselves. We've done this before, thrown off a burdensome yoke, we can do it again.

Regards

Diarmuid O`Flynn

Our Enda - team captain or windbag supporter?

During the pathetic attempt at a heave against him as leader of Fine Gael a couple of years ago and to deflect criticism that he lacked charisma, Enda Kenny trotted out again and again the team captain analogy, how he was building a good team of which he was just the captain and thus didn't need to be the star.

Staying with the sporting theme, I now offer a different analogy.

There's a guy who stands on the terraces, a harmless enough kind of a fella really but because he seems to have been around forever he has sort of fallen into the leadership role of his own little gang - let's call him Enda. Down on the pitch his team are in the biggest game of their lives but they're being pulverised by a bigger, stronger and far more powerful opposition. Safe in his position outside the wire, our hero is shouting abuse at the opposing players, but that abuse pales in comparison to the vitriol he is hurling at his own team. "Cowards!" he roars, "A disgrace to the parish!"

Around him, his own coterie of fellow supporters take up the cry. "Traitors!" they scream, "Ye've betrayed the jersey (green, of course), ye've betrayed the club and the people it represents, ye should all hang yere heads in shame!" In loud and very certain terms they continue to harangue and to criticise, telling those on the pitch in no uncertain terms what they should be doing and how they should be doing it.

Half-time comes and lo, the home team supporters decide they've seen enough, storm the dressing-room en masse, order the team to tog off and feck off, and ask our man from the terraces and his buddies if THEY will throw on the jerseys (still green) and take the field for the second half. Which they do.

Oh, it's a very different scenario now, isn't it? Where previously they were free to shout and abuse from the safety of the terraces, now they're shoulder to shoulder with the opposition. Enda hasn't even taken up his position before his courage leaves him. All around him the same thing is happening; none of them had realised how big these guys were, how intimidating, and soon, very soon, they all start making little whimpering sounds, conciliatory sounds, their bravura gone, their voices silenced.

The team was losing when they came on but now Enda and his boys are afraid to even compete for the ball, and it becomes a rout. "They've whispered to us that they'll REALLY hurt us if we stand up to them!" cries Inda to the baffled and disgusted supporters, ignoring their protests as goal after goal is conceded.

Soon, however, he and his new team are getting little pats on the head, little words of encouragement, but it's from the opposition. "Good lads," they say, "Well done; just do as we say, and keep doing it!"

So - strong captain of a shrewdly assembled powerhouse team, or loud gutless windbag from the terraces? Would Munster be where they are if Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara and THEIR team gave in to intimidation? Would Leinster if Brian O'Driscoll caved in to blackmail? Would his native Connacht have beaten Harlequins a couple of weeks ago if Enda Kenny, and not Johnny Muldoon, had been captain?

You make up your mind, but I've made up mine. That's why we're marching in Ballyhea and Charleville, that's why we've now got to reclaim those jerseys again and take the field ourselves. Not another cent to the bank bondholders, not another cent in Promissory Notes, not another cent paid by us in any new kind of levy or charge; not another inch conceded, and the ECB forced back.

Regards
Diarmuid O`Flynn

Heroes

How often in our humdrum lives do we get an opportunity to become heroes? To throw ourselves in front of the bullet meant for someone else, to dive in front of the oncoming bus and fling a child to safety, or even just to make the long walk to kick the winning point from distance to win an All-Ireland title for your team, or to take the winning pressure-kick in another Heineken Cup game?

The past 15 months have seen many such moments presented to our TDs, those who supposedly represent in Dáil Eireann our best interests.

The vote in December 2010 on accepting the terms of the troika 'bailout' was a pivotal moment in Irish history. If a couple of Fianna Fáil TDs or a couple of Green Party TDs had crossed the line that motion would have been defeated, the bank bondholders would have had to pay the cost of their own mistakes. The government would have fallen, yes, but instead of sinking us all ever deeper in the mire – as they have been doing - the EU and the ECB would have been forced to face the reality of a rapidly deteriorating situation. 

Not a one of those Fianna Fáil/Green TDs had the kind of selflessness needed to take that step, however, not a single one would challenge the whip.

Over a year on and we have a new government, but the same old situation exists. Last year we paid out over €7bn in what are failed private bank bonds; this month we're set to pay a further €3bn, next month in excess of another €1bn, €19bn in total this year, €55bn over the next four years. In March, and for the next 15 years and more, we'll be taking €3.1bn from the Irish Exchequer, turning it over to our own Central Bank, who will then destroy it - the infamous 'promissory notes'.

It is crushing us, this additional burden, killing us. Is there a single government TD who will stand up now and say - 'No! Enough!'? In this time of massive national crisis, a time when heroes are needed, do we have anyone on those government benches, front or back, with the courage to sacrifice themselves for their people? Anyone?

Regards,

Diarmuid O'Flynn.