Ian O'Doherty: The Occupy crowd is destroying the little guy, not helping him
What do we want? Um, an end to nasty capitalism and, y'know, an end to the cuts and stuff.
When do we want it?
Well, as soon as possible, please.
And how are we going to achieve our goals?
We're going to set up a tent city outside the Central Bank and then we're going to, like, just sit there and stuff and ruin the passing trade for local businesses. We might even sing a few Chumbawamba and Billy Bragg songs. And Christy Moore will pop in from time to time.
That'll really show The Man. Power to the people! Yay for me!
That seems to be the level of political sophistication coming from the assorted Lefties, Crusties, Hippies and anti-Capitalism campaigners who have gathered on Dame Street and who have managed to make a real nuisance of themselves.
In fact, the only consolation is that there are comparatively so few of them.
But there are still enough to be a pain in the arse for anyone walking down that side of the street, although that minor inconvenience is as nought when compared to the suffering of the local shop owners.
One of them, Frank McQuade, has become something of a spokesman for local businesses and he says that the Occupy movement is: "Killing us. What worries me is that we'd normally make a lot of our money from October to December. This is leaving us without money to buy new stock."
Now, you might think that in these times, it's the small businesses of this country that are going to play a vital role in getting us back on our feet.
After all, when it comes to the bigger, corporate and financial challenges there's not a lot we can do because they are so vast and astronomical. We have as much practical influence over them as goat herders in the valleys had on the Gods of Olympus above them.
But we can take control of the everyday stuff and that is why the average small operation is so crucial.
And you would think that would be screamingly obvious to everyone.
But you would be wrong.
In fact, the attitude of many of the protesters seems to be that McQuade is part of the problem, not part of the solution.
According to one keyboard kommando: "The bourgeois class in Ireland is what is holding us back from revolution and real change. Long live the Occupy movement!"
As nonsensical, economically illiterate rubbish goes, that really is up there with the best of them and seems to reflect the underlying attitude and smug piety of many of the protesters.
That smug piety was played out perfectly on the radio the other day when one of the Occupy movement offered to donate a piece of art to McQuade to compensate for any loss of business.
Because, as we all know, when it comes to paying bills, no currency is more welcome than some piece of tat constructed by some scruffy hippy.
This showed the utter disconnect between these people and the rest of us working stiffs who are too busy trying to keep a roof above our heads to spend all our time sitting on our arses outside the bank while congratulating ourselves on being so bloody great.
But the thing is, you see, while the demonstrators may spout rubbish about sticking up for the little guy, they actually can't stand the little guy, as was evinced by claims that some of the Occupy people had been pressurising small business owners in the area to remove posters asking them to leave.
How is that sticking up for the little guy?
In fact, if anything, you'd be excused for thinking that they would quite happily see these premises, owned by the 'bourgeois class', close down and place more people on the dole.
I remember being constantly irritated by the so called 'anti-war' movement in the run up to the Iraq war but at the very least they had a specific goal -- don't invade that country.
There were arguments to be made on both sides, some cogent, some not so much, but people knew what they wanted.
What do the Occupy people actually want, other than showing passers-by that they're pissed off? And also, let's not forget, showing people that they have enough money to spend all day on a sit-in.
Where do they get the money from? Mummy and Daddy? The dole? In which case should they not be asking people like McQuade for a job rather than virtually shutting him down?
Well, it would seem that that some of them are proud of not knowing what they want, if this guy, quoted on Boards.ie, is anything to go by: "Since when do protesters have to come up with alternative solutions?
"Were Vietnam protesters asked to come up with a plan to end the "red menace". Were anti-Iraq war protesters asked to come up with a plan to stop terrorism worldwide, anti-apartheid etc etc...
"A solution is evading even the most powerful people in the world at the moment so expecting normal citizens to come up with one is pure fantasy and something they have specifically stated they are not going to do even if it was possible ...
"What protests do is highlight a large, broad issue."
Well, thanks a bunch guys. Because you know what? I had no idea that we were screwed until I saw a bunch of you outside the bank.
But as usual I have the solution to the problem.
Give them 24 hours' notice to evacuate and then send the riot squad in with power hoses to run them out of the place.
Because if this country is to ever get back on its feet we need more people like McQuade and fewer like the Occupy Dame Street mob.
Irish Independent
