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éirígí Referendum Campaign Round-Up

04/06/12

Over the course of the last four weeks éirígí has been to the fore of the campaign for a No vote in the Austerity Treaty referendum in the Twenty-Six Counties. In counties Cork, Donegal, Kildare, Meath, Offaly, Sligo, Tipperary, Wexford, Waterford, Wicklow and elsewhere éirígí activists have worked tirelessly to counter the lies and scaremongering of the political establishment. In the capital, Ballyfermot, Chapelizod, Coolock, Darndale, Drimnagh, Tallaght and the Inner City were amongst the districts that éirígí activists were particularly active.

Tens of thousands of homes had campaign leaflets hand-delivered to their doors whilst thousands of stickers, posters and banners reinforced the call for a No vote. At stalls, tram stops, rail stations, workplaces and colleges activists engaged with thousands of people, explaining the true implications of a Yes vote and encouraging people to vote No. This real world activism was echoed in the virtual world where the socialist republican opposition to the Austerity Treaty was articulated on websites, blogs, social networks and forums.

Whilst it is impossible to accurately quantify the precise impact éirígí, or any other individual organisation, had on the final vote, it is certain that many thousands of people were engaged and positively influenced by éirígí’s campaign. What is clear, however, is that fact that many of the areas that éirígí concentrated its campaign into, recorded far higher No votes than surrounding areas, or the state-wide average.

Speaking in relation to the éirígí campaign for a No vote, Daithí Mac An Mháistir said, “On behalf of éirígí I want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the powerful work of the hundreds of éirígí members and supporters who played a role in the campaign over the last month. They have done themselves and the socialist republican struggle a great service. It has been particularly heartening to hear so many anecdotal stories of people being won over to voting No by the campaign that we have run.

“While the No side didn’t win the referendum, the result was far from a total disaster. Despite the claims of the government the Treaty did not receive the overwhelming support of the Irish people. For starters close to two million Irish people living in occupied Ireland didn’t even get to vote on it. And in this state a little over quarter of the electorate voted Yes. So in truth just over 950,000 people out of a population of 6,400,000 voted for the Austerity Treaty and we know that many of those did so because they saw it as the lesser of two evils.

“This referendum was just one battle in the war for Ireland’s future. As with any other political campaign it offered an opportunity for republicans to engage with people, to highlight the deep flaws of the status quo and to explain our alternative. We took this opportunity and as a result we won people over to the No side.

“The Austerity Treaty will not bring stability to Ireland or to Europe. In fact it will lead to a deeper recession and subsequent economic and social crisis. And as the crisis deepens more and more people are going to come to the realisation that the current system is fatally holed below the waterline. With this realisation will come the potential to build a new resistance movement in villages, towns and cities across the entire country. We in éirígí are asking people to join with us now and help build that resistance movement sooner rather than later.”

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