Come on comrades! Three important events clash in Dublin on 17th June.
Come on comrades!
Saturday 17th June 2017. Three important meetings/marches/rallies, on three currently crucial issues, housing, health and Repeal the 8th. In Dublin city centre, at the same or near the same time. All three are well organised, broad based, interesting events.
- 1pm, National Housing Demonstration (Inner City Helping Homeless), Custom House
- 2pm, Health Public Meeting (Still Waiting Health Campaign/People Before Profit), Wynn’s Hotel
- 3pm, Rally for Repeal (Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment), Central Bank.
The Rally for Repeal was changed from 2pm to 3pm to facilitate the housing march. Fair enough. Nevertheless there is a large proportion of people on or around the left, or just concerned about these issues, who would like to attend two or even all three of these events. OK they don’t start at exactly the same time but this is barely helpful. Few will leave one to go to the other and each will last more than an hour. Having more than one important event drawing from the same pool on the same afternoon will divert away from all events as most people have time and energy and attention for attending only one political event on a Saturday afternoon.
This is actually a matter of practical intersectionality as well as left unity and tactical competence.
Yes, co-operation on the left for campaigning issues has improved in recent years. Saturday 17th probably has less to do with rivalry than with benevolent but headlong hard work, introversion and organisational bubbles. Yet even with the informational clearing house of social media these clashes continue to happen. They are not good, for each and all events, or for the left in general.
Des Derwin
Tomás Ó Flatharta 
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