There is massive opposition across the country to the government?s attempt to impose water
charges on us. Not least because we already pay for water through our taxes. This is
simply yet another austerity tax. We have put up with years of austerity, cutbacks and
extra taxes ? all imposed on us to pay off the gambling debts of bankers and financial
speculators. Hundreds of thousands of people are now saying ?No More!?.
People also realise that this is an attempt to prepare our water service for
privatisation, which will ultimately end in multinational companies owning it, charging us
exorbitant prices and making super profits.
But we don?t have to accept this new charge. We CAN defeat it. To achieve that, there are
a few things which we will all have to do:
Refuse to Pay
Hundreds of thousands of households have refused to register with Irish Water. Whether you
have chosen to return the form unopened, ignore it, tear it up or even if you have filled
it in and returned it, when the bill arrives in January, do not pay. If enough of us
refuse to pay, the government will have no alternative but to scrap their plans.
Remember:
-They cannot disconnect your water. They are threatening that they will reduce the flow to
a trickle, but to do this they have to fit a device to your stopcock. It is very easy to
either prevent them from doing this or to remove the device. An organised campaign can
make it impossible for them to carry out this threat.
-They cannot deduct the charge from your social welfare or from your wages as they did
with the property tax. Because the primary reason for imposing the water charge is to
privatise the service, they are very unlikely to change the law to allow Revenue to deduct
this charge. That would make it impossible for them to sell the service.
-They may take non-payers to court to try to get a judgement for payment. But they cannot
take hundreds of thousands of people to court, especially due to the fact that the Irish
court system is overloaded and has difficulty, even now, handling civil cases. And if they
do take anyone to court, we must all be ready to protest in our thousands outside any
court hearings.
-There is no point in waiting until after the next election in the hope that whatever
government is elected will abolish the charge. If we pay now, the charge will be
established by the time of the next election. Before the last election, both Fine Gael and
Labour said they were opposed to the introduction of both the property tax and the water
charge. We all know what happened when they got elected. If enough of us refuse to pay,
whatever party or parties are in government will have no option but to abolish the charge.
Protest
The key to defeating the government is non-payment. To give everyone the confidence to
join in the refusal to pay, and to let the government know that we are serious and
determined, large public protests are very important. There are several campaign groups
protesting against the charge. Take part in national and local protests called against the
charge. Use those protests to make contact with other people opposing the charge in your
area. Talk to people and try to convince them that refusal to pay the charge is the way to
win.
Organise
The water charge will not be defeated by political parties or organisations, by trade
unions or by community groups - although all have important parts to play - it will be
defeated by ordinary people, people just like you. And every single individual has a part
to play. We did not manage to defeat the property tax because not enough of us stuck with
non-payment, and not enough of us got out and protested so the government was able to
change the law to give Revenue the power to deduct it from our incomes.
Let?s not let that happen again. We should each consider ourselves an ?organiser? of the
fight against this charge. If we are refusing to pay, it is in our interest to convince
our neighbours, workmates and family members that they too should refuse to pay. It is
also in our interest to convince others to join the protests against the charge.
In many communities, people have organised against and resisted the installation of water
meters. If they haven?t been installed in your area yet, this may be something you and
your neighbours could do. Find out what campaign groups are organised in your area. If
there isn?t one, maybe you and your neighbours could call a meeting and set one up.
If we don?t oppose it, we can?t defeat it
There are, of course, no guarantees. Of course, the possibility exists that the government
will attempt to take people to court over non-payment. Of course, the possibility exists
that water pressure will be reduced and that the law could be changed to allow water
cutoffs. Of course, the possibility exists that we could lose and ultimately end up having
to pay the bills anyway.
But all those ?possibilities? presume that we lose, that we fail to get enough people
together to effectively resist these charges. Each of us now has a choice - do nothing and
the charge is introduced and the water system is eventually privatised OR refuse to pay
and join your neighbours in building a campaign of opposition capable of defeating the
charge and dealing a blow to the government.
You can access a simple black & white PDF of the leaflet if you want to print off some for
additional local distribution where you are at
http://www.wsm.ie/wsm-water-charges-leaflet-2014
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» (en) Ireland, WSM: "Don't Pay - Protes"t - Organise We are distributing 10, 000 copies of a 3 Ways to Win leaflet at tomorrow's protests against the Water Charge