Comments on RTS

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday September 27, 2002 13:16 by Think tank

The RTS is discussed on this web site as a sucess. But there are some points that need to be criticised!

Just a few comments on last weekend’s RTS:

With regard to turnout as well as media coverage it can be called a success. However, in comparison with the Mayday RTS I was kind of disappointed, for the following reasons:

- The Sound System was too loud and therefore turned the RTS into a Street Rave, which
a) More or less prevented other (self-made) music to be played and so annoyed those who can’t stand rave music (like myself)
b) Made it impossible to understand the street theatre properly
c) Hardly transports any political message
- The concept to split the demo into two factions obviously didn’t work. A bit more explanations might have been helpful.
- The location appeared to me a bit claustrophobic. Furthermore the street was not really busy or crucial for smoothly running traffic in Dublin. Thus a chance to confront the major target – cars – has been missed. The supporters of the football final were more successful, although they didn’t intend it.
- Garda violence was no issue on banners. Consequently the whole topic of ‘public order’, police-enforced ‘clean cities’ etc. was not very well covered.
- I missed a spirit of spontaneity that for example might have led to a spontaneous relocation of the party to another street or inside the Stephens Green Shopping Mall or so…
- The power-generator of the sound system stank, just like cars do! This was very unfortunate and contradicting. Maybe next time a cleaner alternative can be found.

Many criticisms – please don’t take it as an “I know everything better” – remark. But do think about it in case you plan your own RTS/the next RTS in Dublin. Cheers, and fuck the system!