Photo: Aileen O'Toole of The Ideas Campaign

Save Capitalism - and Win a Prize

By Mark Walshe

The recipe for economic recovery in Ireland, peddled by politicians and bosses’ organisations, has three main ingredients: beef
up the banks to get credit flowing again; cut state spending to the bone
to stabilise the public finances; and cut workers’ wages and conditions
to regain competitiveness.

This, they assure us, will put the country
in a position to take advantage of the upturn in the global economy,
whenever that materialises.

In the meantime, as we await the elusive recovery,
and to keep our minds from rebellious thoughts as they dip deeper into our
pockets, the elite have devised a number of elaborate campaigns to encourage us
to devise our own solutions to capitalism’s problems. They’re even offering
prizes!

Last year, the Ideas Campaign was launched
in a blaze of publicity by business journalist and corporate consultant Aileen
O’Toole. It invited the public to suggest ways of boosting economic growth, and
got almost 5,300 replies. An action plan with 44 proposals was produced, and
the government agreed to implement 17 of them.  

Many of the ideas were old-hat, and their economic
impact has been zero. But the real aim was psychological: forget the bad
news and focus on the positive. As O’Toole said at the time, “We need to
have different conversations about the Irish economy - about looking forward,
about recognising positive developments … and about capitalising on our
qualities.”

It would certainly take the heat off the
Irish elite if we’d forget about the policies and the people who brought the
economy down. They’d love us to ‘think positively’ instead of asking why we
have to bail out the banks while accepting cutbacks, evictions, mass
unemployment and the return of emigration.

Now, in the wake of the banal Ideas Campaign,
we have Your Country, Your Call, launched on 17 February by President
Mary McAleese with a central aim of “lifting the mood of the nation.”

Again, the supposed objective is economic growth,
but where Ms O’Toole produced 44 ideas, Mary McAleese wants just two, but they
have to be “truly transformational proposals so big that, when implemented,
could secure prosperity and jobs for Ireland.” Wow!

The lucky winners stand to pocket €100,000
each, a lot of money for ordinary folk, but just the small change from a
banker’s bonus. And true to form, the campaign will also help generate “hope,
confidence, and positive thinking.”

The competition website comes complete with
dreadful propaganda videos by Irish celebrities and McAleese herself, promoting
the same old nonsense about ‘pulling together’ in a time of crisis.

The ideological idiocy of the campaign is
borne out by its name.

The notion that it is ‘our country’ and ‘our
call’ suggests that we live in a democracy where what we want is taken
seriously. Never has this been further from the truth.

Just as McAlees’s campaign was launched, the
European Commission (how many members can you name?) approved the NAMA bank
bailout scheme, which will shift €54bn of public money into the bankers’
coffers, while Brian Lenihan reminded us that at least another €2bn of cutbacks
are on the way this coming December, all to appease the big international money
lenders.

Have we ever consented to any of this? If
given a choice wouldn’t we say a resounding NO to this daylight robbery?

Of course all the main parties are wedded
to the bank bailout and cutback consensus. And that’s why the only way we can
achieve an alternative solution to the economic crisis is through mass
rank-and-file trade union action and people power on the streets to force this government
out of office. Our fellow Greek workers are giving a lead and we should follow
their example.

In the meantime, here’s an idea for Mary
McAleese: Stop NAMA now, let bank investors suffer their losses, and channel
public money into job creation instead.

And Mary, please send the €100,000 prize to
the Socialist Worker fighting fund.