American civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson has warned Irish people they lose the right to criticise if they don't vote in the general election, but he also said people should not depend too much on politicians to create a more equal society.
Change often came from outside the political system, he said, citing the actions of non-elected people such as Rosa Parks and Dr Martin Luther King.
Rev Jackson was speaking in Dublin at the unveiling of an equality and human rights plan, drawn up by the Equality and Rights Alliance, a coalition of more than 160 organisations and activists that is opposing cuts to the human rights and equality budget.
He said equality must be a centrepiece of the current election debate and he congratulated the alliance for coming together to fight cutbacks.
Rev Jackson said now was the time for change. This was the time to pass a "Robin Hood" tax on financial speculation. "Now is our chance to globalise human rights and workers rights, protect women and children, save the global environment."
He encouraged Irish people to dream beyond their circumstances. "You may not be responsible for being down but you must be responsible for getting up. Sometimes fate gives us a cruel hand but faith is stronger than fate. . . . Don't let anything break your spirit. Forward ever, backward never."
He said he last visited Ireland last in 2004 when the Celtic Tiger was roaring. "But the Celtic Tiger has lost its teeth - its economic manufacturing clawing power - in part driven by too much bank concentration without regulation and oversight."
Rev Jackson spoke about the "virtual collapse" of Ireland's economy and said the global financial crisis was rooted in an unprecedented era of unchecked, modern day finance capitalism.
"Globalised banking and technology were not coupled with integrity and honest values," he said. "Our systems are so intertwined that whether we are in Ireland or the US, the same systems of top-down exploitation required the same massive bailouts."
Rev Jackson called for a restructuring of the banking system. "Instead of concentrating more and more power into fewer and fewer banks, they should be broken up in smaller, community-based banks focused on lending to small businesses, homeowners and communities."
He drew links between the Irish and African American struggles for equality and freedom from oppression. "While we are continents apart and divided by oceans, we are bound together - linked by the similarities between our common struggles against oppression . . . even genealogy and family lines."
Rev Jackson said many African Americans had roots in Ireland and his own great grandfather was an Irish plantation owner who was sheriff of Greenville County before the Civil War. He said Ireland could exert much positive influence on the freedom struggle. "You can turn your historical pain into immense power. You can use your scars to illuminate the way in other places in the world searching for light."
