The 1% Network – Make the Rich Pay!

Savage Cutbacks
The Dublin government has used its last three budgets to introduce a wide-range of savage cutbacks. Healthcare, education and housing budgets have been slashed. Social welfare payments have been cut. The old, the young, the sick, communities, the unemployed and the low paid have all been targeted by a government and a political system desperate to protect the status quo and revive their failing capitalist economy.

As the depth of the economic and social problems facing the Twenty-Six Counties becomes ever more apparent the first signs of a popular fight back are emerging all across the state. In May 2010 a series of protests outside of Anglo Irish Bank and Leinster House presented a glimpse of the types of public protest that will be required to stop the government’s cutback agenda in its tracks. Click here for more on these protests.

Countdown to Budget 2011
As the countdown to the next budget on December 7th continues éirígí and a number of other socialist organisations have launched a new initiative to highlight the fact that the super-rich are escaping virtually unscathed from the current economic crisis. Other organisations within the 1% Network include the Workers Solidarity Movement, Irish Socialist Network and Seomra Spraoi.

The ‘1%’ in the name of the network refers to the fact that just 1% of the population are estimated to own in excess of 34% of the wealth of the state, a fact which is rarely, if ever, highlighted in mainstream political debate or the corporate media. Property developers, landlords, bankers, barristers, media tycoons, and politicians are amongst this 1% that own so much, but contribute so little.

As ordinary workers and communities are forced to endure untold hardships to protect the private banking sector the wealthy elite of the Twenty-Six Counties remain largely untouched. éirígí understands that an equal and stable society cannot be based on the foundations of such fundamental economic inequality.

A Political Walking Tour – A Demand for Justice
Like nowhere else in Ireland the districts of Dublin 2 and Dublin 4 are littered with the landmarks of the power and wealth of the 1%. Banks, private mansions and corporate headquarters all sit side by side in the heartland of the golden circle.

On Saturday, October 9th, the 1% Network is organising a ‘political walking tour’ through Dublin 1 and Dublin 2 to highlight the gross inequality that lies at the heart of Irish society and to demand that the 1% pay their fair share.

Stops along the tour will include the residences of billionaire tax dodgers, the headquarters of failed banks and the offices of the lobby groups that protect the interest of the 1%. The tour will assemble at the Wolfe Tone monument at the Merrion Row corner of Stephens Green at 1pm on October 9th. The route of the tour is about 3km long and should last about two hours. All are welcome.

1% Network Website