The main issue in the election campaign was not sectarian mistrust, but the introduction of water charges - These are not the words of The Socialist but of Secretary of State Peter Hain. This incredible admission is yet another acknowledge-ment of the deep and widespread opposition to water charges and privatisation.
This massive opposition has brought it home to the government and to the local politicians that the charges, as they stand, are unimplementable. During the election, they were all forced to change their position, making up a policy as they went along.
The DUP started out calling for meters and for a cap on the charge. By the end of the election, they were forced to say the charges where a "deal breaker".
Why have they all shifted ground? For one simple reason – the strength of the non-payment campaign has left them with no choice.
The lesson is clear – non-payment is winning. Non-payment has forced the politicians to try to come up with some alternative way of introducing these charges. As we go to press, it is not clear whether this will be over a longer period or in a different form.
They are retreating and we need to respond by stepping up the pressure, not by lowering our guard. We need to build the We Won’t Pay Campaign in every community so that we force the complete abolition of the charges.
What is now happening confirms the stand that the Socialist Party, together with other trade union and community activists, took several years ago in launching the We Won’t Pay Campaign. The Campaign has succeeded in getting almost 100,000 people to sign the non-payment pledge and has built local groups across Northern Ireland.
It was We Won’t Pay Campaign and Socialist Party members in the trade unions who raised motions calling on the unions to support non-payment. Even though the leadership of NIPSA and NIC-ICTU opposed non-payment, the floors of the conferences voted overwhelmingly in favour of our motions. The We Won’t Pay Campaign has been the only consistent campaign in the communities, which in turn has resulted in building mass support for non-payment.
This has been done in spite of the conscious opposition of the major political parties who have done their best to confuse people into paying water charges. Some have attempted to use the experience of the Rents and Rates strike in the early 70s as a way of cutting across support for non-payment.
But they do not explain the huge differences between the two campaigns. They are fundamentally different types of campaigns in a number of ways. Unlike the Rent and Rates strike, support for mass non-payment of water charges exists across the sectarian divide. And as importantly, the We Won’t Pay Campaign is an organised campaign controlled and democratically run by its members. This type of democratic structure was a missing ingredient in the Rent and Rates strike which allowed politicians and others to abandon people with debts which would take years to pay off.
The We Won’t Pay Campaign has already built local groups and mass support in many parts of the North, but this needs to be built on and spread across the country to resist the charges when and in whatever form they come in.
They can't beat us through the courts
One of the lies which politicians and others have been spreading is that people’s benefits will be deducted if they don’t pay. But nothing can happen to people who don’t pay water charges if they are not called to Court and even then, it is not guaranteed that people’s benefits will be cut.
Northern Ireland Water Ltd., the new water company, cannot cut off your water if you don’t pay the charges. It is illegal for anyone to cut off your water. Like any other utility company, there are strict procedures the company must follow before people can be called to Court. They must give everybody at least 28 days before a reminder letter is sent out looking for payment. It is likely that many of these letters will be sent using threatening language to try and scare people into paying. There is no reason for people to feel scared, non-payment of water charges is not a criminal act.
Because of this, the company can only attempt to bring people to the Small Claims’ Court, not the Magistrates’ Court. Only criminal cases can be heard by the Magistrates’ Court.
However, the Small Claims’ Court is currently buried with cases and is incapable of dealing with a surge of non-payment of water charges cases. Because of this, the government has decided that the Magistrates’ Court will be allowed to facilitate cases of the Small Claims’ Court to try and deal with the avalanche of non-payment of water charges cases.
The very fact that the government have done this is a grudging recognition of that there will be mass non-payment. But even the Magistrates’ Court will not be able to deal with non-payment. There are not enough Court staff or Courts to deal with tens of thousands of cases. The whole legal system will face gridlock as non-payment will clog up the courts.
But in order to give people confidence and build the necessary solidarity for non-payment to sustain and spread, it is necessary to build a mass membership of the We Won’t Pay Campaign in all areas. The Campaign is in the process of organising many meetings in areas such as Ballymena, Larne, Enniskillen, Beechmount, Poleglass, Shankill Road, Lagmore, Bawnmore, Rathcoole, Bloomfield and many others.
Successful conference a major boost to Campaign
More than 140 activists attended the first conference of the We Won’t Pay Campaign at Transport House, Belfast on 10 March.
This excellent attendance was an inspiration to everybody and was further proof that the We Won’t Pay Campaign has succeeded in building an active membership-based Campaign even before water charges are introduced.
The morning session concentrated on how mass non-payment campaigns can succeed. Dublin Socialist Party councillor Clare Daly, who was the North Dublin organiser of the Dublin Anti-Water Charges Federation, explained how mass non-payment defeated water charges in the South during the 90s.
Steve Score, ex-Secretary of the Leicestershire Anti-Poll Tax Federation, gave details of how the anti-poll tax struggle defeated Margaret Thatcher managed to organise 18 million people to refuse to pay.
We Won’t Pay Campaign secretary, Gary Mulcahy, stressed that the courts were incapable of dealing with mass non-payment. Even though the Magistrates’ Court will be used to facilitate cases of the Small Claims’ Court, this would still not be enough to deal with tens of thousands of non-payers.
The Magistrates’ Court and Small Claims’ Court are both under pressure dealing with cases as it is. The overwhelming majority of people who refuse to pay will never see the inside of a court.
The second half of the conference discussed how the Campaign organises itself and is structured. An expanded Officers’ Committee was elected and it was also agreed to set up fundraising and legal working groups. Motions on 31 March demonstration in Belfast and on the need for a single united membership based, mass non-payment Campaign organised in the communities were passed unanimously.
It was also agreed that each group call local meetings to elect delegates to the Delegates’ Committee and also to discuss building for the 31 March demonstration.
Build one united democratic campaign
The We Won’t Pay Campaign has grown to become the established non-payment Campaign in most areas. The slogan “We Won’t Pay” is now the popular slogan of the anti-water charges movement.
This has been down to the consistent Trojan work of activists of the Campaign in their local communities over years. To organise non-payment, it is essential that a campaign is built across Northern Ireland which structures itself on a geographic basis, on a paid-up membership and is democratically organised in the local communities. This is how the We Won’t Pay Campaign is structured.
Democratic control and accountability is essential to build non-payment. That is why a campaign which structures itself on existing structures such as trade unions or community and voluntary groups is not sufficient. There is no way for householders to democratically participate and if necessary, change the leadership or tactics of such a campaign.
The We Won’t Pay Campaign believes there should be one united mass non-payment campaign along the lines described above. The Campaign has already made formal approaches to Communities Against the Water Tax with proposals to build a united campaign, but has yet to receive any reply.
We will continue to build support for our proposals and would appeal to everyone to unite to build a single mass non-payment campaign.
£500,000 spent on government water lies
The We Won’t Pay Campaign held a picket outside the Department of Regional Development in February demanding to know how much taxpayers’ money has been wasted on the multi-media water charges propaganda campaign.
A letter was handed to a Department representative to be delivered to David Cairns, Minster for water charges. Here is some of the text of the letter: "It is our understanding that the government has wasted over half a million pounds of taxpayers’ money on paying for TV, radio and newspaper adverts, billboards and sending out so-called information packs and action packs to every home.
"This money is supposed to be invested into public services such as our neglected water and sewerage systems, not to spread lies about water charges…. The Department should release the total amount spent immediately."
