Paddy Mooneyis highly sceptical of the measures being used to tackle Covid-19.

 I've found a minority within a minority it seems in Ireland; many like minds on the topic but few who come from the same ideological viewpoint. 

To challenge my own position on Covid, the "Far right" and the Republican left approach I take three quotes from a left republican compass, James Connolly.

Don't be 'practical' in politics. To be practical in that sense means that you have schooled yourself to think along the lines, and in the grooves that those who rob you would desire you to think.

Applied to Ireland right now, it's clear that we are only thinking along establishment lines around Covid. Perspective and alternative views which exist in abundance both domestically and internationally are not circulated for our consumption, creating a taboo subject matter.

Under a socialist system every nation will be the supreme arbiter of its own destinies, national and international; will be forced into no alliance against its will, but will have its independence guaranteed and its freedom respected by the enlightened self-interest of the socialist democracy of the world.

It’s clear we do not arbitrate on our own affairs, that we are relegating our autonomy over the condition of our people to compromised entities like the WHO, the EU and Global corporations.

Ireland, as distinct from her people, is nothing to me; and the man who is bubbling over with love and enthusiasm for "Ireland," and can yet pass unmoved through our streets and witness all the wrong and the suffering, shame and degradation wrought upon the people of Ireland-yea, wrought by Irishmen upon Irish men and women, without burning to end it, is, in my opinion, a fraud and a liar in his heart, no matter how he loves that combination of chemical elements he is pleased to call Ireland.

It’s clear that we are not looking after the interests of our people. We have lazily left that to “experts” who remain largely unchallenged in the media who were undemocratically awarded power in our country, some with track records that any normal society would have brought to task. It seems we have learned nothing from Tuam, nothing from the cervical smear scandal, nothing from the Swine flu “Pandemic” and nothing from the many instances of bias journalism which perpetuates endemic corruption in Ireland.

Context must be observed in any unpacking of quotes. This is an imperative to respect the source. My understanding of Connolly is that he was a Socialist, a true Patriot (a word appallingly devalued by some) and a family man. To me a true example. This article does not predict what Connolly’s perspective on today would be but it asks to start a conversation on the full picture of Covid and its effects and cost on Society.

I once read a line which stated that Society without an opposition is a totalitarian nightmare. There is no opposition in Leinster House and none so far on the Republican left in any significant way on this seismically important topic. Clearly the assessment is none is required.

The Sinn Fein leader in the North is quoted as saying she would have “real” and “genuine” concerns from “a human rights perspective” around the implementation of Covid certs to access indoor hospitality or entertainment. Rightly so, given the North has only emerged from a two-tier society and short of its goal of full re-unification. Those with living experience of segregation and discrimination should be leaders in opposing it. After all, attaining civil rights and equality is likely the only trophy in the Sinn Fein cabinet thus far from the GFA.

Yet Sinn Fein in the South are showing no leadership on the same issue. If you contact them, they will respond and tell you they are opposed to unfair and discriminatory legislation, but the suspicion is that their solution will be equal access to such certs rather than the abolition of such certs, as is the stated next phase of the southern coalitions plan. I hope this suspicion is wrong. If its correct, then this doesn’t address the lack of protection for individual autonomy or privacy as they both require acceptance of Covid certs, a vehicle that can be the trojan horse to permanent individual authentication.

Our other representatives of the left in Leinster house between them pursue policies of harsher “Zero Covid” measures and fence sitting politicking. The imperfect 1937 Irish constitution would have prohibited these discriminatory pieces of legislation had it not been effectively suspended by emergency powers.

For 18 months nothing has dominated our lives like Covid so it must be analysed, but has it been analysed objectively by the Republican left? There are two things to assess with Covid, the disease and the effect of the measures to curb the disease. The cure should never be worse.

To measure the disease in Ireland, all-cause mortality is the only metric applicable if we want to quickly get to the root. In a "pandemic”, (remembering Ireland didn't input into that decree, that came from the WHO), you expect significant excess mortality. This is not displayed in CSO data. For 5 years the mortality rates are separated by hundreds, 2018 almost on a par with 2020. The main burden of suffering here was our elderly and the blame for that lies with government.

Covid, never warranted a shutdown of our country. The precedent of that shutdown was set by a regime which may claim to be Marxist but cannot claim to be democratic. Connolly was an internationalist but it’s hard to imagine he would be comfortable with the reach of powers like the WHO which has funding from corporatist entities, and with that, hidden influence on the direction taken toward pharmaceutical solutions based on profit rather than welfare of the working class. There are alternative pharmaceutical solutions with huge amounts of supporting data and real-world use which will not enrich global capitalists that nobody is allowed to speak of such as Ivermectin.

We based all our data off PCR tests run at levels acknowledged internationally by the WHO and the US chief medical advisor to be unreliable at high threshold cycles. In Ireland we use 45 cycles as confirmed under a FOI request by Michael McNamara TD.

Lockdown didn’t prevent significant excess death here; we only need to look at Sweden. A country that compares well with Ireland in terms of mortality, has returned to pre-Covid economic activity and has done so without lockdown and masks. To look at Sweden now, Sweden has had almost a month without Covid deaths and that’s without dividing their people and imposing curtailment of freedoms and civil liberties.

I believe that the Republican left has been blinded from objective assessment because they, rightly, assume no scientific or medical authority and because it’s been, to date, cast as a cult topic led by the bogeymen of "the far right". I am not trivialising the damage that can be done by far-right growth but it’s easy to dismiss the issues at hand by using labels which do not cover the substance of the real problem.

For those in strong Covid resilient employment like those employed by the State, those employed in big tech and big pharma, restrictions have been inconvenient and unpleasant but financially unconcerning. But for the rest it’s been a different story. Those who work in industries which have been affected like small businesses, construction, hospitality have been kept, just, by PUP supports which are not a gift and are open to assessment. Such supports are to be reduced and retired with guarantees of returning to their previous employment source. There are Garda checkpoints setup to catch people working on PUP payments sent by the committees of the rich. Who will it be that pays back the 50 billion borrowed to create the Covid industry and all the golden circles that hang off it if it isn’t the working class? Will it be austerity or a different financial model completely that addresses that debt?

The real health pandemic is yet to come, that of missed appointments for the full array of chronic conditions found in a population. Why did we not see a significant increase in our ICU capacity since March 2020. The youth who suffered through disrupted education and little to no social outlets including sports are now expected to conform to unnecessary risk in taking vaccines which are on emergency use authorisation with flippant regard to their informed consent, remembering this was to protect the elderly who have now all been offered a vaccine. It’s simply not good enough to not stand and oppose these injustices because of the bogeymen of the far right.

Far-right Influence

When the last big anti-establishment movement was active (Right to water campaign) there really was no far right. That tag had been applied to loyalists of the orange state or the 1930s Blueshirts but little in-between. On that occasion people were cast as Trotskyists and or thugs by the establishment as it sought to install its double taxation water meters. It was inaccurate then just as being cast as a fascist sympathiser or conspiracy theorist is now. Far left political organisations sought a support base in the water charges movement just as Far right organisations do the anti-lockdown movement but its not yet anywhere near as organised. In fact you can find many of the same ordinary people opposed to lockdowns as opposed water charges which helps to understand comments previously made by Leo Varadkar where he claimed he couldn’t tell the difference between the far left and far right.

The global nature of Covid has given oxygen to conspiracy theory and that has been a convenient distraction to assist in the passage of the shocking mistreatment of our people since March 2020. A smoke and mirrors game is played with the truth by the establishment through the media with misleading numbers inflicting a fear on the population. Misinformation exists on both sides without question.

The IFP are the most prominent group. They have attracted many contributions to their events from mainstream public life in the past like George Hook and former Irish diplomat Ray Bassett. They have lost the talents of Ben Scallan but acquired the membership of Doctor Pat Morrissey. They are certainly accused of being far-right, but they have not displayed such tendencies in relation to this topic. They are unlikely to shake the association with Farage and UKIP though.

There are, however, other basket cases out there who seek the same support base, the National Party, and the curious case of Siol na HÉireann. Both these entities look to me like deliberately inserted constructs of division. These are the mad hatters that we can call the far right. It's hard to know who pulls their strings but it's clear who benefits from their existence, the establishment.

I've seen little of their presence, and they appear roundly isolated among protestors. Few are interested in such divisive and uneducated rhetoric around immigration and the restoration of theocratic control. There does exist a toxic alt-right media which needs to be countered so I do not dismiss the presence of a far-right movement, but reality needs to be cast on its influence. I'd place support for such views in the hundreds, nationally, and certainly not anything like a majority of people who have become active in opposing lockdowns here.

The best way to combat this curious new element in Irish anti-establishment politics is to seize that space by distributing the left republican analysis of the effects of lockdown and new undemocratic social controls. The big mistake is to misrepresent the majority as far right or conspiracy theorists. They are in there, but they are the 5%. History in Ireland tells us that within that 5% there are always state players.

When 12,000 people marched through Dublin on the 24th of July, they didn't March for Yellow vests, or right-wing nationalism or UFOs. They marched because they feel threatened. For the first time the crowd was largely non-partisan and seeds of a popular protest seem to be growing. For the first time consideration in attending isn’t inconceivable. To date I have supported protests organised in Cork as the organisers there are coming from a left republican position though the crowds are not clearly ideological.

Protestors are active because they feel threatened: threatened by government lies, corruption, constitutional breaches and medical coercion which is now targeting under 18s who are statistically not at risk. Many feel society is veering away from democracy and the emergence of authoritarian rule. Like it or not, technology is being extended into your validation as a citizen via green passports and many see this as a departure from normal boundaries. There is a genuine fear that emergency laws brought in under Covid resemble enabling laws of 1930s Germany. Assurances for humanity born out after the Nuremberg trials are often cited.

My fear is that the void of left republican analysis gives a platform to these new right-wing groups for their “other” politics. The protest movement as it is, seeks broader direction. They have been failed by establishment politics but this time there is no opposition or voice save for a small few independents with integrity, the Tobins, and McNamaras of this world inside the chambers of democracy - and the leadership and activism of Diarmuid O Cadhla, a left Republican in Cork, outside of Leinster House.

If we apply socialist logic to this topic and do so in a purely public health way, I can see that the assessment has been that solidarity of the people is through adhering to public health advice and trusting science.

This is a gamble which I believe has neglected the overall condition of the broad body of people, the working class. The science that supports neoliberal government actions, global media reporting and Tech giants worrying hold over people is that which they have trusted.

It's long past time for the Republican left to awaken on this. Our people are being segregated; minorities created all on the words of the very entities left republicans have always opposed.

If you want to find fascists look no further than NPHET and the Irish government who are restricting freedoms and dividing people.

History is always being written and this chapter is not yet complete but as of yet the only record of the Republican left here is its lack of leadership and its trust in power.

 
Supporting documentation:


Paddy Mooney is an Independent
Socialist Republican Activist.

Left Lockdown Sceptic In Ireland

Paddy Mooneyis highly sceptical of the measures being used to tackle Covid-19.

 I've found a minority within a minority it seems in Ireland; many like minds on the topic but few who come from the same ideological viewpoint. 

To challenge my own position on Covid, the "Far right" and the Republican left approach I take three quotes from a left republican compass, James Connolly.

Don't be 'practical' in politics. To be practical in that sense means that you have schooled yourself to think along the lines, and in the grooves that those who rob you would desire you to think.

Applied to Ireland right now, it's clear that we are only thinking along establishment lines around Covid. Perspective and alternative views which exist in abundance both domestically and internationally are not circulated for our consumption, creating a taboo subject matter.

Under a socialist system every nation will be the supreme arbiter of its own destinies, national and international; will be forced into no alliance against its will, but will have its independence guaranteed and its freedom respected by the enlightened self-interest of the socialist democracy of the world.

It’s clear we do not arbitrate on our own affairs, that we are relegating our autonomy over the condition of our people to compromised entities like the WHO, the EU and Global corporations.

Ireland, as distinct from her people, is nothing to me; and the man who is bubbling over with love and enthusiasm for "Ireland," and can yet pass unmoved through our streets and witness all the wrong and the suffering, shame and degradation wrought upon the people of Ireland-yea, wrought by Irishmen upon Irish men and women, without burning to end it, is, in my opinion, a fraud and a liar in his heart, no matter how he loves that combination of chemical elements he is pleased to call Ireland.

It’s clear that we are not looking after the interests of our people. We have lazily left that to “experts” who remain largely unchallenged in the media who were undemocratically awarded power in our country, some with track records that any normal society would have brought to task. It seems we have learned nothing from Tuam, nothing from the cervical smear scandal, nothing from the Swine flu “Pandemic” and nothing from the many instances of bias journalism which perpetuates endemic corruption in Ireland.

Context must be observed in any unpacking of quotes. This is an imperative to respect the source. My understanding of Connolly is that he was a Socialist, a true Patriot (a word appallingly devalued by some) and a family man. To me a true example. This article does not predict what Connolly’s perspective on today would be but it asks to start a conversation on the full picture of Covid and its effects and cost on Society.

I once read a line which stated that Society without an opposition is a totalitarian nightmare. There is no opposition in Leinster House and none so far on the Republican left in any significant way on this seismically important topic. Clearly the assessment is none is required.

The Sinn Fein leader in the North is quoted as saying she would have “real” and “genuine” concerns from “a human rights perspective” around the implementation of Covid certs to access indoor hospitality or entertainment. Rightly so, given the North has only emerged from a two-tier society and short of its goal of full re-unification. Those with living experience of segregation and discrimination should be leaders in opposing it. After all, attaining civil rights and equality is likely the only trophy in the Sinn Fein cabinet thus far from the GFA.

Yet Sinn Fein in the South are showing no leadership on the same issue. If you contact them, they will respond and tell you they are opposed to unfair and discriminatory legislation, but the suspicion is that their solution will be equal access to such certs rather than the abolition of such certs, as is the stated next phase of the southern coalitions plan. I hope this suspicion is wrong. If its correct, then this doesn’t address the lack of protection for individual autonomy or privacy as they both require acceptance of Covid certs, a vehicle that can be the trojan horse to permanent individual authentication.

Our other representatives of the left in Leinster house between them pursue policies of harsher “Zero Covid” measures and fence sitting politicking. The imperfect 1937 Irish constitution would have prohibited these discriminatory pieces of legislation had it not been effectively suspended by emergency powers.

For 18 months nothing has dominated our lives like Covid so it must be analysed, but has it been analysed objectively by the Republican left? There are two things to assess with Covid, the disease and the effect of the measures to curb the disease. The cure should never be worse.

To measure the disease in Ireland, all-cause mortality is the only metric applicable if we want to quickly get to the root. In a "pandemic”, (remembering Ireland didn't input into that decree, that came from the WHO), you expect significant excess mortality. This is not displayed in CSO data. For 5 years the mortality rates are separated by hundreds, 2018 almost on a par with 2020. The main burden of suffering here was our elderly and the blame for that lies with government.

Covid, never warranted a shutdown of our country. The precedent of that shutdown was set by a regime which may claim to be Marxist but cannot claim to be democratic. Connolly was an internationalist but it’s hard to imagine he would be comfortable with the reach of powers like the WHO which has funding from corporatist entities, and with that, hidden influence on the direction taken toward pharmaceutical solutions based on profit rather than welfare of the working class. There are alternative pharmaceutical solutions with huge amounts of supporting data and real-world use which will not enrich global capitalists that nobody is allowed to speak of such as Ivermectin.

We based all our data off PCR tests run at levels acknowledged internationally by the WHO and the US chief medical advisor to be unreliable at high threshold cycles. In Ireland we use 45 cycles as confirmed under a FOI request by Michael McNamara TD.

Lockdown didn’t prevent significant excess death here; we only need to look at Sweden. A country that compares well with Ireland in terms of mortality, has returned to pre-Covid economic activity and has done so without lockdown and masks. To look at Sweden now, Sweden has had almost a month without Covid deaths and that’s without dividing their people and imposing curtailment of freedoms and civil liberties.

I believe that the Republican left has been blinded from objective assessment because they, rightly, assume no scientific or medical authority and because it’s been, to date, cast as a cult topic led by the bogeymen of "the far right". I am not trivialising the damage that can be done by far-right growth but it’s easy to dismiss the issues at hand by using labels which do not cover the substance of the real problem.

For those in strong Covid resilient employment like those employed by the State, those employed in big tech and big pharma, restrictions have been inconvenient and unpleasant but financially unconcerning. But for the rest it’s been a different story. Those who work in industries which have been affected like small businesses, construction, hospitality have been kept, just, by PUP supports which are not a gift and are open to assessment. Such supports are to be reduced and retired with guarantees of returning to their previous employment source. There are Garda checkpoints setup to catch people working on PUP payments sent by the committees of the rich. Who will it be that pays back the 50 billion borrowed to create the Covid industry and all the golden circles that hang off it if it isn’t the working class? Will it be austerity or a different financial model completely that addresses that debt?

The real health pandemic is yet to come, that of missed appointments for the full array of chronic conditions found in a population. Why did we not see a significant increase in our ICU capacity since March 2020. The youth who suffered through disrupted education and little to no social outlets including sports are now expected to conform to unnecessary risk in taking vaccines which are on emergency use authorisation with flippant regard to their informed consent, remembering this was to protect the elderly who have now all been offered a vaccine. It’s simply not good enough to not stand and oppose these injustices because of the bogeymen of the far right.

Far-right Influence

When the last big anti-establishment movement was active (Right to water campaign) there really was no far right. That tag had been applied to loyalists of the orange state or the 1930s Blueshirts but little in-between. On that occasion people were cast as Trotskyists and or thugs by the establishment as it sought to install its double taxation water meters. It was inaccurate then just as being cast as a fascist sympathiser or conspiracy theorist is now. Far left political organisations sought a support base in the water charges movement just as Far right organisations do the anti-lockdown movement but its not yet anywhere near as organised. In fact you can find many of the same ordinary people opposed to lockdowns as opposed water charges which helps to understand comments previously made by Leo Varadkar where he claimed he couldn’t tell the difference between the far left and far right.

The global nature of Covid has given oxygen to conspiracy theory and that has been a convenient distraction to assist in the passage of the shocking mistreatment of our people since March 2020. A smoke and mirrors game is played with the truth by the establishment through the media with misleading numbers inflicting a fear on the population. Misinformation exists on both sides without question.

The IFP are the most prominent group. They have attracted many contributions to their events from mainstream public life in the past like George Hook and former Irish diplomat Ray Bassett. They have lost the talents of Ben Scallan but acquired the membership of Doctor Pat Morrissey. They are certainly accused of being far-right, but they have not displayed such tendencies in relation to this topic. They are unlikely to shake the association with Farage and UKIP though.

There are, however, other basket cases out there who seek the same support base, the National Party, and the curious case of Siol na HÉireann. Both these entities look to me like deliberately inserted constructs of division. These are the mad hatters that we can call the far right. It's hard to know who pulls their strings but it's clear who benefits from their existence, the establishment.

I've seen little of their presence, and they appear roundly isolated among protestors. Few are interested in such divisive and uneducated rhetoric around immigration and the restoration of theocratic control. There does exist a toxic alt-right media which needs to be countered so I do not dismiss the presence of a far-right movement, but reality needs to be cast on its influence. I'd place support for such views in the hundreds, nationally, and certainly not anything like a majority of people who have become active in opposing lockdowns here.

The best way to combat this curious new element in Irish anti-establishment politics is to seize that space by distributing the left republican analysis of the effects of lockdown and new undemocratic social controls. The big mistake is to misrepresent the majority as far right or conspiracy theorists. They are in there, but they are the 5%. History in Ireland tells us that within that 5% there are always state players.

When 12,000 people marched through Dublin on the 24th of July, they didn't March for Yellow vests, or right-wing nationalism or UFOs. They marched because they feel threatened. For the first time the crowd was largely non-partisan and seeds of a popular protest seem to be growing. For the first time consideration in attending isn’t inconceivable. To date I have supported protests organised in Cork as the organisers there are coming from a left republican position though the crowds are not clearly ideological.

Protestors are active because they feel threatened: threatened by government lies, corruption, constitutional breaches and medical coercion which is now targeting under 18s who are statistically not at risk. Many feel society is veering away from democracy and the emergence of authoritarian rule. Like it or not, technology is being extended into your validation as a citizen via green passports and many see this as a departure from normal boundaries. There is a genuine fear that emergency laws brought in under Covid resemble enabling laws of 1930s Germany. Assurances for humanity born out after the Nuremberg trials are often cited.

My fear is that the void of left republican analysis gives a platform to these new right-wing groups for their “other” politics. The protest movement as it is, seeks broader direction. They have been failed by establishment politics but this time there is no opposition or voice save for a small few independents with integrity, the Tobins, and McNamaras of this world inside the chambers of democracy - and the leadership and activism of Diarmuid O Cadhla, a left Republican in Cork, outside of Leinster House.

If we apply socialist logic to this topic and do so in a purely public health way, I can see that the assessment has been that solidarity of the people is through adhering to public health advice and trusting science.

This is a gamble which I believe has neglected the overall condition of the broad body of people, the working class. The science that supports neoliberal government actions, global media reporting and Tech giants worrying hold over people is that which they have trusted.

It's long past time for the Republican left to awaken on this. Our people are being segregated; minorities created all on the words of the very entities left republicans have always opposed.

If you want to find fascists look no further than NPHET and the Irish government who are restricting freedoms and dividing people.

History is always being written and this chapter is not yet complete but as of yet the only record of the Republican left here is its lack of leadership and its trust in power.

 
Supporting documentation:


Paddy Mooney is an Independent
Socialist Republican Activist.

22 comments:

  1. Thanks for carrying this piece Anthony. This discussion is vital in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. you are welcome Paddy. TPQ is a free inquiry blog and all manner of ideas are welcome. Thanks for putting it our way.

      Delete
  2. If only the virus gave a shit about politics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. the virus does not give a toss about politics. But the article does raise some matters that the author thinks have been marginalised. Nor is he some Dolores Cahill type who was basically told by her own party leader to stop spoofing.
      We will never have the full information or be able to absorb the information we do have because there is so much of it. And it is worthwhile having a sceptical mind.
      I take the view that when the health care workers are appealing for people to comply with the guidance, then it is worthwhile doing so simply to give them a break. Vaccinations have always been opposed - saw Trump at it a few years back. Yet they have proven more positive than harmful.
      I think the way society in general is heading - we are hmoving towards a dictatorship of the woketariat in intellectual and cultural life. That creates a pool in which political authoritarianism can swim. Cancel culture, censorship, new hate speech laws, no-platforming - all of this is leading to a society that is not intellectually porous. I feel what Paddy touches on with the virus is a suspicion that the intersection between it and the separate but complementary trend of stifling discussion is leading to a situation that is ominous.
      Where the article falls down a hole of its own making is the claim that the Irish government and NPHET are fascists. That is where is moves too close to what the conspiracy theorists are saying. Which is a pity because Paddy does not believe the earth is flat or young.
      I had a guy ring me up recently and asked would I be interested in campaigning against the vaccinations. He believed the earth was 6000 years old, yet here he was saying RTE are making it all up.
      No points for guessing my response.

      Delete
    2. Opinion should never get a say in science and one thing this pandemic has shown me is that, alarmingly, the ability of Government to disseminate critical Health information to the population is laughably bad all over the globe. Another problem is silly bastards believing slick but stupid videos on YouTube or Facebook, then getting on the same social media to pontificate to the rest of us how we are all sheep for believing the government and it’s all part of a “plandemic” . Although these are easily dismissed as their conspiracy theory is as coherent as a 4th year medical student at 4am on a Sunday morning.
      Trump, Biden, Boris and all the other fuckwits were the first to roll up their sleeves when the vaccine became available well before the rest of us chumps got a look in. This fact creates cognitive dissonance in the anti-vax fuckwits and you can see the little gerbils in their heads fecking GALLOPING on the wheel trying to process this fact!

      Delete
  3. Good comments Anthony, balanced and worth reflecting on too, the comparison of NPHET and the Dublin government with Fascism is only in the context of the search that's ongoing for fascists by the left where if anti establishment right wingers are fair game then in my opinion questions need to be answered by those wielding control over us in some of the most undemocratic ways.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paddy - I feel that fascist has been employed so liberally that is is - as Brendan O'Neill points out - just another way of calling someone a bastard.

      Delete
  4. Steve R didn't engage in any of the subject matter around the effects of lockdown on rights and if indeed the cure is worse than the problem all things considered. He's concentrating on vaccines, I'm not so interested in that debate or arguing strongly in fields most of us are not qualified however we are all fully qualified citizens and civil rights infringements and discrimination are now law? Steve promotes science over opinion I couldn't agree more. Why is it that this particular virus destroys the right to bodily autonomy and the right to decide on your own health. Why are there consequences for those who make an informed choice not to take a treatment regardless of its efficacy or safety if everyone else has access to such treatments as they wish, does this not confer ample protection to the population? Why are children now a cohort under pressure to take a treatment that the scientific data shows to be a magnified level of risk versus the virus. All I see here Steve is opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patrick,

      "Steve R didn't engage in any of the subject matter around the effects of lockdown on rights and if indeed the cure is worse than the problem all things considered."

      This is hand waving. The reason we have lockdowns is that they are the only way we currently have to stop community transition among the largely unvaccinated population. Don’t believe me, look at the Spanish Flu outbreak to see what happens with SARS virus left to run amok because the understanding of pathogens and viral spread was not understood. COVID-19 has a far higher kill rate than flu currently too. But the Spanish flu didn’t go away-it just became the seasonal flu we inoculate every year against.

      "He's concentrating on vaccines, I'm not so interested in that debate or arguing strongly in fields most of us are not qualified however we are all fully qualified citizens and civil rights infringements and discrimination are now law?"

      Yeah OK, but you do realize this is a pandemic that has killed millions of people worldwide in less than 2 years, right?

      "Steve promotes science over opinion I couldn't agree more. Why is it that this particular virus destroys the right to bodily autonomy and the right to decide on your own health."

      Because your own health in a community is the weak link for any vaccination program. If you make a conscience decision to abstain rather than a medical one then you are choosing to aid the community transition. You might be a healthy male who only gets a sniffle with it but you can spread it to others who will die from it. But it still comes down to surge capacity of nationwide healthcare systems. I’m not in favour of mandating but don’t think your notions of civil liberties trumps others right to life.

      "Why are there consequences for those who make an informed choice not to take a treatment regardless of its efficacy or safety if everyone else has access to such treatments as they wish, does this not confer ample protection to the population?"

      Because the majority of the population are morons who believe slick YouTube video made by fuckwit anti-vaxxers. Herd immunity only works to protect the weak who can’t get the vax if the vast majority are vaxxed against it. If more morons refuse the shot because they believe in a ridiculous conspiracy then by default the whole chance at herd immunity is gone.

      "Why are children now a cohort under pressure to take a treatment that the scientific data shows to be a magnified level of risk versus the virus. "

      Because, like all viruses, the SARS COVID-19 has mutated to evade our immune system countermeasures by becoming more transmissible especially among the young whereas previous strains didn’t affect them as a cohort. This is horrible. Kids are dying. Would you really want to be responsible for spreading this bastard of a virus?

      Delete
  5. I agree with the author of this piece.
    We just have to follow the money to see what is happening. We have seen the greatest transfer of wealth from the working class to the upper class, in our history, over the last 18 months.
    The ramifications of this will only become apparent in years to come.
    We have had the freedoms that our ancestors fought and died for taken from under our noses and we don’t even realise it yet. We have had the wool pulled over our eyes by the elite.
    This is a war, but not a war with bombs and bullets but a psychological war. Propaganda and brainwashing is being used like we have never seen it used before and the vast majority of the people in our country are falling for it. It is time to take the wool off our eyes and start to take back the what is the working mans before it is too late.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The freedom to live is the greatest freedom of all and it is endangered by Covidiots.

      Delete
  6. One of the most important points in this discussion is hierarchy of victim. You cannot place one over another. An elderly man living alone isolated living in fear who dies of loneliness and missed diagnosis is no less a loss than a covid-19 victim. Both are to be mourned. Virtuosity seems to be linked too closely to blind adherence to new science and terms like Covidiot show that objective debate is not happening because such flippancy is devoid of empathy. Lockdowns have a cost in lives too?

    ReplyDelete
  7. This article raises many important questions.

    It does so in the context of a worldwide roll back in Human Rights, provisions of the Universal Declaration, the Nuremberg Code and the south’s Bunreacht as set aside.

    This is the dominant political issue of the day.
    We are in a pandemic, which, as pointed out, is killing no one (relatively). We do not have any significant number of excess deaths – but we have many premature and unnecessary deaths due to neglect.

    The ‘Covid’ agenda is driven on by giant corporates and the very same financial monopolies that previously financed Hitler’s Germany.

    The southern state has borrowed over €40 billion to fight Covid. Who has received benefit of this money? Who is going to repay it, and now? The Banking monopolists are very happy with this, and Big Pharma have trillions in additional profits – these are material truths.

    It is also true that small domestic business has been hammered, whereas foreign corporations and large domestic businesses have continued almost unaffected and even made profits from the hand-outs of public money received.

    Surely a socialist analysis can see that class struggle is at the heart of this?

    The world money supply continues to be added to via Quantitate Easing, but it is not leading to economic growth – the system of capitalism and monopoly finance is in crisis.

    Perhaps the ‘plandemic’ is part-attempt at re-dividing markets, re-vitalising flagging finances held by the elite – by passing more debt onto the backs of working people, by asset and market seizure, by commodity invention from nothing etc.

    So, where is the ‘left’?

    Where are the ‘republicans’?

    Most of those who carry these labels are on the side of the rich!

    On this most critical issue in our society people with republican ideals should be in the front ranks of change and revolution – so should those who aspire to socialism – didn’t Connolly show us that in Ireland these concepts were inseparable? “The cause of Labour is the cause of Ireland …”

    The ‘right-wing’ that are suppose to be leading the anti-lockdown protests are an irrelevant force, they are nothing, but they appear as something because the so-called ‘left’ and so-called ‘republicans’ have deserted the field.

    What is the ‘left’ waiting for? Do they want all opposing ideas removed before they enter the debate? Are ‘republicans’ waiting for an all-republican movement before they enter the fray?

    If anything the article is too soft on this question – we either stand up for Civil and Human Rights or we do not. If we equivocate and remain silent, or more importantly if we remain inactive, then we are on the side of globalism – aka imperialism, and monopoly finance capital.

    The situation is shameful, the supposed revolutionaries ar selling out the Irish people and the working class.

    Too many are hiding behind labels and huffing and puffing about the ‘right-wing’, and in the meantime crisis deepens.

    Very good article, let the debate open up and to hell with the sacred cows!

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    Replies
    1. We are in a pandemic, which, as pointed out, is killing no one (relatively) BS.

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    2. that is one of the weaker points of the article. What it seeks to convey appears so different from what it says. The author is asking given our death rate if it merited what he thinks is an OTT response and which might itself have caused many deaths that have not been recorded as being the result of anti-Covid measures.

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  8. This topic is of the most serious nature there is. It is effecting change previously unimagined to how we live, to our privacy and personal freedoms and all indications are that there's no going back so actual data must be considered and CSO data doesn't lie.

    It comes down to the belief that lockdowns prevented a spiral of death in Ireland. Where's the evidence? The vast majority of those who died were in 3 cohorts elderly, immune compromised and obese. I believe in protecting those three cohorts not excluding vaccines, it must be a risk assessed decision. But at least one risk group was not protected. An independent public enquiry is required into the elderly in care homes. Today we have a phenomenon unfolding where the lowest risk group, the young, are being asked to magnify their risk in taking one of the vaccines. Why? We better explore all these questions and not just write them off as BS without proper debate and objective scrutiny. There are significant numbers of highly accredited professional asking the questions I am. Without question we must defeat the unsubstantiated opinion across the spectrum on this issue. The afformentioned Dolores is equally abhorrent to me with her obvious vanity and outlandish claims. We were all united in the beginning of covid but now quite divided. My outlook is to ask questions as I'm totally unconvinced by the prevailing narrative however difficult that is for people to understand, the article asks to remove two biasis and seeks proper assessment from the Republican left, the traditional anti establishment movement in Ireland.

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  9. Patrick,

    "It comes down to the belief that lockdowns prevented a spiral of death in Ireland. Where's the evidence? The vast majority of those who died were in 3 cohorts elderly, immune compromised and obese."

    Can you please tell me the number of ICU beds in Ireland? And bog standard Hospital beds?

    Can you please tell me the number of COVID-19 afflicted patients requiring hospitalisation?

    And of these how many require intubation?

    And what what happens to these numbers if society opens up and lets it rip?

    In the normal course of Life there are car accidents, childhood mishaps and a plethora of other maladies requiring hospitalization, what are your thoughts on what would happen to the numbers I've asked you for above?

    And when you've researched that, can you please tell me who you'd prioritize in the ICU?

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  10. I think that main thrust of the article is that Irish socialist republicans need to do more to engage with those who are distrustful of the agendas that are being served by the governmental response to covid. I have seen in recent months more beginning to do this in a constructive way, but it does seem to be a recent deliberate development. I've noticed the increase in constructive engagement from those in Trotskyist circles also.

    People have legitimate reasons to be distrustful and concerned about whose agendas are being served, who is trying to utilise the outbreak of covid for their own benefit. It's also legitimate to be concerned about the sheep-mentality that develops amongst so much of our population once certain influential people put an argument or proposal out there. Experts are susceptible to this too and so it is healthy for people to maintain a habit of questioning and comparing opposing arguments. Too often this doesn't happen.

    There are many fantastic people who are part of the 'anti-vax' movement, and although there are 'undesirable' people in that camp too, we do harm to the irish socialist republican cause by the sweeping dismissal of all people who may find the 'undesirables' message informative and appealing.

    The world is very nuanced. The separation of anti-vaxxers and pro-vaxxers into the camps of good guys and bad guys is an over-simplification that contributes to the binary mindsets that so many people in society have when looking at the world. I'm not saying that anyone in these comments has done that here but it is something that has been permeating through society and through socialism and republicanism in general. I just think that to keep progressing the struggle we need to get beyond that. There needs to be a greater emphasis on a socialistic critique of how the COVID has been utilised by the elite capitalists to benefit their own agendas of increased accumulation of wealth and control of the populations of the world in order to maintain the status quo...

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  11. Steve R,

    I think this debate is healthy and im happy you went into detail on some of the points. It's a layman's discussion in medical and scientific terms, the fact that it's affected us all so much is why we need to have confidence we are dealing with it correctly, the fact that it keeps being rubbished as a conspiracy theory or right wing power grab inspired the need to get a conversation going because I'm neither, nor are anybody I know personally.

    To address your points.

    To address the lockdown conversation there are 47 papers listed below which challenge the efficacy of lockdown.

    1.STANFORD – Effects of NPI on Covid-19 – A Tale of Three Models
    2.Stay-at-home policy is a case of exception fallacy – an internet-based ecological study
    3. LANCET NO EFFECT ON MORTALITY Paper
    4.Was Lockdown in Germany Necessary? – Homburg
    5.KOCH Institute Germany Analysis
    6.BRISTOL UNIVERSITY Paper
    7.NATURE Submission Flaxman et al Response
    8.PROFESSOR BEN ISRAEL ANALYSIS
    9.NIH Paper
    10.WOODS HOLE INSTITUTE Paper
    11.EDINBURGH STRATCLYDE UNIVERSITY Paper
    12.BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL BMJ Paper
    13.ISRAEL MASSIVE COST OF LOCKDOWN Paper
    14.EPIDEMIOLOGY Too Little of a Good Thing Paper
    15.Smart thinking: lockdown and Covid-19 Implications-for-Public-Policy
    16.SCOTLAND Life Expectancy Paper
    17.LOCKDOWN COSTS MORE LIVES Paper Federico
    18.DID LOCKDOWN WORK? Paper
    19.FOUR STYLIZED FACTS ABOUT COVID-19
    20.HOW DOES BELARUS…
    21.LIVING WITH CHILDREN IN UK
    22.PANDATA COUNTRY ANALYSIS
    23.NEJM MARINE STUDY QUARANTINE
    24.A MATTER OF VULNERABILITY STUDY
    25.Government Mandated Lockdowns do NOT Reduce Mortality – New Zealand Wrong
    26.Dec 30th Longitudinal variability in mortality predicts Covid-19 deaths
    27.Lockdown Effects on Sars-CoV-2 Transmission – The evidence from Northern Jutland
    28.Assessing Mandatory Stay‐at‐Home and Business Closure Effects on the Spread of COVID‐19
    29.COVID-19 Rethinking the Lockdown Groupthink
    30.STANFORD Effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions on COVID-19 – A Tale of Three Models
    31.Flaxman Rebuttal – The effect of interventions on COVID-19
    32.COVID-19 Lockdown Policies – An Interdisciplinary Review
    33.Do Lockdowns Make a Difference in a Pandemic?
    34.Delaying the first lockdown may have inadvertently saved more lives than it cost
    35.LANCET Immune evasion means we need a new COVID-19 social contract
    36.PNAS Evaluating the effects of shelter-in-place policies during the COVID-19 pandemic
    37.Lockdown Effect – Professor Simon Wood – University of Edinburgh
    38.A Year Later – Were-Lockdowns-Necessary?
    39.Covid Lockdown Cost_Benefits – A Critical Assessment of the Literature
    40.Why is there no correlation between masks/lockdowns and covid suppression
    41.pandata.org: a critical analysis of the covid response/
    42.Professor Explains Flaw in Many Models Used for COVID-19 Lockdown Policies HIS PAPER: Covid Lockdown Cost-Benefits – A Critical Assessment of the Literature
    43.Whether County Lockdown Could Deter the Contagion of COVID-19 in the USA
    44.A Cost–Benefit Analysis of the Ireland Lockdown
    45.Irish Paper: A Tale of two Scientific Paradigms – Conflicting Scientific Opinions
    46.Cambridge, MA: THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND POLICY RESPONSES ON EXCESS MORTALITY
    47.COVID-19 and the Political Economy of Mass Hysteria

    The article specifically relates to Ireland and draws on Irish central statistic office data for mortality in 2020. There's no dispute that covid has killed people in large numbers in the vulnerable risk groups.

    2016 @ 31,353
    2017 @ 31,117
    2018 @ 31,704
    2019 @ 31,134
    2020 @ 31,756

    Above is CSO mortality figures for 5 years. What it suggests to me is 2018 had a bad flu season but no lockdown?

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    Replies
    1. that's more papers than the Young Earth Creationists have published.!!

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  12. Steve R,

    My notion of civil liberty asks simply for equality based on science and that right to life as phrased is paramount, my fear is that treatments didn't play the role they should have but that remains to be accepted by those in power as big pharma opted for expensive experiments.

    I'd like to see more scrutiny on the efficacy of clearly safe and established repurposed treatments but on vaccines:

    Here is a link to 15 studies that show natural immunity is more robust than vaccine immunity.

    https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/horowitz-15-studies-that-indicate-natural-immunity-from-prior-infection-is-more-robust-than-the-covid-vaccines#toggle-gdpr

    Here is one of a vast amount of reports coming out at the moment which contradicts the claim that vaccines are stopping transmission as previously claimed.

    https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/science-and-technology/2021/08/evidence-mounts-that-people-with-breakthrough-infections-can-spread-delta-easily/amp

    Herd immunity isn't universally seen as attainable which you alluded to yourself in the" Spanish flu" reference and if it is, the Swedish example may support it.
    https://sebastianrushworth.com/2021/01/25/heres-a-graph-they-dont-want-you-to-see/
    https://m.independent.ie/opinion/comment/with-herd-immunity-now-questionable-we-have-tolearn-to-live-with-covid-40752188.html

    The argument which doubles back on antivax and morons etc I will not respond to?

    Kids are dying of covid? Isolated immune compromised cases, yes. But they should be protected, nothing is more important than protecting life. My question is, are lockdowns a catalyst for raised mortality? What evidence supports the assertion that children are a risk group from covid?

    https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/education/back-to-school/reassuring-school-data-shows-that-virus-spread-is-low-risk-40777348.html

    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/children-with-covid-19-typically-recover-within-a-week-1.4638171?mode=amp

    https://mobile.twitter.com/mihaivioreanu/status/1405946237367500809?s=21

    Trusting the science is fine once the science is sound, confidence is long gone in the structure of government around covid:

    https://twitter.com/laoneill111/status/1362490286904082436?s=20

    https://mobile.twitter.com/olivercallan/status/1252659651621109761?s=21

    https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/protection-from-covid-19-vaccines-against-delta-weakens-within-three-months-new-study-40767202.html

    https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40366649.html%3ftype=amp


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  13. Steve R,

    The Irish health service needed investment decades ago but a policy of privatisation was followed. In short we have thereabouts the same infrastructure as we did in 2018. The question I ask is why was that not increased if we are in a pandemic. You should too.

    Do you know the WHO does not recommend lockdowns as a primary control, only if a health service is almost overrun?
    https://www.clareecho.ie/govt-throwing-money-around-like-confetti-but-only-9-new-icu-beds-this-year-mcnamara/

    https://www.inmo.ie/Trolley_Ward_Watch

    https://www.thejournal.ie/coronavirus-new-cases-confirmed-2-5534252-Aug2021/

    What happens if you let it rip? Your a bit late with that question seeing as we have locked down and vaccinated almost 90% of the population. We are now seeing covid in the Vaccinated in hospitals as well as adverse reactions? Sweden let rip didn't they? Not looking so bad to be fair.

    What we need to do is acknowledge all perspective. It's my firm belief that the working class will feel the brunt of the social and economic effects of lockdown here for a long time almost 1/4 of a trillion is debt, but will mistake it for the effects of covid. You may disagree but do not rubbish the appraisal as motivated by anything other than objective analysis.

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