In October 2011, Occupy camps were established in Ireland resulting from the economic crisis and its social impact on many people. The camps were spin-offs of the many union-organized, anti-austerity protests that had arisen since 2008. The campaigns were successful in generating some displays of public solidarity, but they remained essentially local protest events and had a very limited impact on national policy.
This paper argues, however, that despite these drawbacks, the campaigns had key positive effects: the gathering of resource-poor people to protest against the austerity measures taken by Irish public authorities; a political training ground for many people who had never before engaged in political activities; the self-perception and public depictions of the occupiers themselves.
I discuss Occupy’s emergence; review the make-up of the occupiers and their relationships with allies; and assess the implications of the campaigns for the mobilization of resource-poor people in times of economic hardship.
