SMALL PRINT:WITH QUINN insurance in Fermanagh the latest to fall victim to a truck protest, it appears that driving trucks into things is the new tying oneself to railings. Joe McNamara kickstarted the trend in Galway, abandoning a truck outside Anglo Irish Bank, and again last September at the gates of Leinster House. With commentators and the public alike lamenting the Irish population's lack of ability to organise on the streets, perhaps it's time to focus on more inventive ways of direct action, aside from truck protesting.
DRESSING AS A SUPERHERO AND CLIMBING TALL BUILDINGS
The trademark form of protest for New Fathers 4 Justice in the UK, this involves, well, dressing as a superhero, climbing a tall structure and unfurling a banner.
Irish variations:Robin (Robbin'?) shimmying up the Spire; Robin Hood throwing loot from the roof of Brown Thomas.
DISRUPTING MAJOR PUBLIC EVENTS
Suffragette Emily Davison died in 1913 when she stepped in front of the king’s horse at the Epsom Derby and, more recently, Irish priest Neil Horan disrupted the 2004 Olympic marathon and the 2003 British Grand Prix.
Irish variations: streaking across the stage of the All Ireland Talent Show; attempting a tackle on Brian O'Driscoll at the Aviva.
SQUATTING
A group of young Libyan exiles recently took up residence in Saif Gadaffi’s London mansion, taking advantage of the dictator’s son’s fine china and flatscreen televisions.
Irish variations: turning the skeleton of the unfinished Anglo Irish Bank building into a rave venue.
STATEMENT BOATING
Greenpeace are experts at disrupting whalers and seal hunters using their fleet of adapted ships.
Irish variations:pirating the Jeanie Johnston; staging a mutiny on the HSS . . . maybe not.
