This follows activity of a similar nature in Carlingford Co. Louth and attendance at East Wall demonstrations by party leaders recently.
For about the last six to seven years very minor growth occurred in the Extreme Right wing within Ireland's political shadows before a significant yet still minor upward growth in the last two. Distinction must be made between Social conservatives and the far right.
There had been no great interest in right wing nationalist views here as our diversity mostly consisted of white Protestants and white Catholics. The characteristics of a post colonial, largely pro-European population, with a generally more internationalist social outlook would understand little of narrow Nationalist politics though things have changed of late.
Ireland's Nationalism has always been about breaking away from oppression not imposing it. Irish Nationalism has been about full territorial self-determination both social and economic and asserting our unique cultural identity free from external interference while seeking to exist as an equal within an international community.
26 County Ireland, in its short and partial Independence has a rich tradition of International humanitarian aid and of welcoming refugees in recent decades. One of our proudly held positions has been our position on Neutrality where Ireland has sought to inflict no harm on other Nations, conferring an identity on us of high moral standing albeit this is now threatened.
Across the water Nationalism is inverted. It's where the source of much oppression on others has derived. Narrow Nationalism has always had a home, a base for division and hate, often on racial lines, as citizens from the Commonwealth and colonies emigrated to England at the displeasure of those who remained most vocal about the perceived greatness of their once empire.
Such an empire, which inflicted partition and actual plantation on both Ireland and Palestine, two settings for huge injustice in modern times post World War Two when the very real form of true Fascism was defeated.
This bigotry was infused with various elements including sectarianism, the soccer firm culture, racism, xenophobia, crime, neo Nazi white supremacy and an admiration of Militant Ulster loyalism which was also the biggest and most extreme version of the far right in Ireland for a century aside from Fine Gael Blueshirts in the 1930s.
While British far right Nationalism too was reduced and pushed back into the shadows it re-emerged in a more mainstream and much less extreme way with Brexit, much to the initial excitement of some Unionist groups in Ireland and much to their longer term detriment.
While Ireland has seeded sovereignty to the EU in a way not originally envisaged by the people here and often undemocratically, the fight to leave the EU by Britain may have been the point where the British version was imported to Ireland in meaningful terms to fuse with Socially Conservative politics discarded by the Irish Establishment.
The prominence of UKIP as the radical voice of the Leave Campaign in the European Parliament gave birth to a sister act in Ireland in the form of the IREXIT initiative which crystallized into the Irish Freedom Party with leading member Hermann Kelly a former secretary for Farage in UKIP. Indeed Farage endorsed the new creation by speaking and offering to assist their journey at one event.
Initially it appeared that Irexit or IFP was a single issue Eurosceptic group and contributions focused on the leave issue, campaigning about Ireland now being a net contributor to the EU and natural resources like our fisheries being plundered. These issues are absolutely fair game and are agreeable. Indeed the current construct of the EU does not sit well on many levels.
With the likes of Former Irish Diplomat Ray Bassett and celebrities from the cancelled world like George Hook and Kevin Myers speaking at events there was a degree of mainstream respectability to their image unlike the National Party who never tried to mask their politics: for them it was always primarily about Immigration.
Given Ireland for most of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century was a Christian Conservative State it would cause little concern for a party to emerge which would pick up a demographic being cast aside by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, particularly as they embraced more radical Liberal social policies. For a short time in the "South" Sinn Féin may have occupied this space certainly for a time prior to the Nice Treaty. This socially Conservative demographic has a right to its opinion and to be represented in a democracy. Perhaps most moderately it is represented today by Aontu, an economically left and moderately social Conservative, constitutional Republican party led by former Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tobin. Aontú offers a balanced outlet for this demographic in my view as do some of the rural Independents who do seem to represent their constituents.
Long running socially contentious issues like divorce, abortion and same sex marriage have seen constitutional change. This has brought about an internationally recognised modern Liberal Ireland free of a tight Church and State union. If the fight for liberating these issues was just, in a democracy, then the view of the Conservative traditionalists too is equally just in a democracy. But democracy must be respected by both: both should be able to campaign respectfully without being far anything.
As time has gone on it is now apparent that the Nationalism imported by the Freedom Party is further right than just Christian Conservative and immigration is at the top of its priorities as well as sowing division with the more Liberal generation coming through. Extremism is categorized so because it's seen as going too far. And while we can quickly find the extreme right abhorrent, extreme liberalism has a similar effect as in the furore around the ideas of Peter Tatchell hosted here at Pride events in the company of the Minister for Children in an era of changes in the school social education curriculum in favour of more Liberal themes. This can appeal to the unknown Conservative in many parents.
Extreme liberalism too, has the effect of increasing the appeal of the extreme right who often take the clothes of bemused moderates.
The slow growth of the right came partially in alternative media where an unopposed narrative could be created. Alternative media is often the only outlet for free political dissent right or left as the corporate media is well renowned for its bias in favour of its funders. Unopposed narratives are dangerous. This too can be said within mainstream media. Modern media formats like websites, blogs, social media and video uploading sites offer both risks and benefits but genuine discourse is fundamental to the integrity of any media and a welcome right of reply is essential for balance.
The onset of Covid-19 created a rapid stimulus for the right. Some of the alternative right wing content creators had already been pursuing a range of divisive theories which dovetailed seamlessly into the Covid-19 realm like replacement theories for example. The facts on covid policies stand independently accessible without right wing commentary.
When analyzed in objective proportion, huge damage was done to institutional trust to a section of society of many thousands, stoked by a heavily funded media, resulting in many previously unthinkable rights issues.
However, maybe one of the worst effects wasn't that it created a conspiracy theory culture which it did stimulate, but that it created a disaffected demographic which found answers from extreme right wing actors in significant numbers. The size of this disaffected demographic is still relatively small judging by turn outs at various rallies that are shown online but they were ready to go and mobilized when the issue turned to the arrival of immigrants. This is exactly where the extreme right wing groups sought them to be.
The role of the Irish political establishment in all of this is huge. Generations have been raised with the same societal inequalities remaining and its quite clear as to why and it plays right back into the hands of the extreme right.
The Neoliberal economic and political agenda of the US and the EU has swapped much state Sovereignty for foreign direct investment and the digital and pharma economies. Ireland has been most servile to the European project in accepting the criminal losses of the European banking sector, inflicting austerity and refusing to provide the social systems which would diffuse the growing social turbulence which immigrants are coming into because in the current system implemented by either Fianna Fáil Labour or Fine Gael all state funds must ultimately flow to private hands. This is most apparent in housing and health. Sinn Féin resolve for real change will soon be tested and they are likely to fall at the first hurdle by entering coalition with one of the Civil war parties, most likely Fianna Fáil.
The scene presently remains set up perfectly for outrage when people awaiting social housing are told, (by the mainstream news media by the way), that immigrants are arriving at ports and destroying documentation before customs, that many immigrants arriving are from non conflict zones amidst the arrival of war refugees from Ukraine. It's also a fact that no local consultation occurs and that the urgency with which shelter is converted is contrasted starkly to the urgency of those sleeping rough and dying on Ireland's streets.
In reply to the clear advantage being taken by the extreme right, the left here often responds by attacking the right wing opportunists who remember have many solid points in their locker, further disaffecting those ordinary people being radicalized by them. Surely a better approach would be to take the issue to the heart of government. Surely a radical action inside the Oireachtas followed by a media campaign showing the opposing forces pulling the people in different directions and where the responsibility lies would be the correct way.
If the best we can come up with is a counter protest then we have truly run out of ideas. The Irish Freedom Party clearly see an opening and they are not the only group doing so right now. Such fertile ground for working class division will be exploited and ultimately the establishment and the extremes will gain while everyone else will lose.
For about the last six to seven years very minor growth occurred in the Extreme Right wing within Ireland's political shadows before a significant yet still minor upward growth in the last two. Distinction must be made between Social conservatives and the far right.
There had been no great interest in right wing nationalist views here as our diversity mostly consisted of white Protestants and white Catholics. The characteristics of a post colonial, largely pro-European population, with a generally more internationalist social outlook would understand little of narrow Nationalist politics though things have changed of late.
Ireland's Nationalism has always been about breaking away from oppression not imposing it. Irish Nationalism has been about full territorial self-determination both social and economic and asserting our unique cultural identity free from external interference while seeking to exist as an equal within an international community.
26 County Ireland, in its short and partial Independence has a rich tradition of International humanitarian aid and of welcoming refugees in recent decades. One of our proudly held positions has been our position on Neutrality where Ireland has sought to inflict no harm on other Nations, conferring an identity on us of high moral standing albeit this is now threatened.
Across the water Nationalism is inverted. It's where the source of much oppression on others has derived. Narrow Nationalism has always had a home, a base for division and hate, often on racial lines, as citizens from the Commonwealth and colonies emigrated to England at the displeasure of those who remained most vocal about the perceived greatness of their once empire.
Such an empire, which inflicted partition and actual plantation on both Ireland and Palestine, two settings for huge injustice in modern times post World War Two when the very real form of true Fascism was defeated.
This bigotry was infused with various elements including sectarianism, the soccer firm culture, racism, xenophobia, crime, neo Nazi white supremacy and an admiration of Militant Ulster loyalism which was also the biggest and most extreme version of the far right in Ireland for a century aside from Fine Gael Blueshirts in the 1930s.
While British far right Nationalism too was reduced and pushed back into the shadows it re-emerged in a more mainstream and much less extreme way with Brexit, much to the initial excitement of some Unionist groups in Ireland and much to their longer term detriment.
While Ireland has seeded sovereignty to the EU in a way not originally envisaged by the people here and often undemocratically, the fight to leave the EU by Britain may have been the point where the British version was imported to Ireland in meaningful terms to fuse with Socially Conservative politics discarded by the Irish Establishment.
The prominence of UKIP as the radical voice of the Leave Campaign in the European Parliament gave birth to a sister act in Ireland in the form of the IREXIT initiative which crystallized into the Irish Freedom Party with leading member Hermann Kelly a former secretary for Farage in UKIP. Indeed Farage endorsed the new creation by speaking and offering to assist their journey at one event.
Initially it appeared that Irexit or IFP was a single issue Eurosceptic group and contributions focused on the leave issue, campaigning about Ireland now being a net contributor to the EU and natural resources like our fisheries being plundered. These issues are absolutely fair game and are agreeable. Indeed the current construct of the EU does not sit well on many levels.
With the likes of Former Irish Diplomat Ray Bassett and celebrities from the cancelled world like George Hook and Kevin Myers speaking at events there was a degree of mainstream respectability to their image unlike the National Party who never tried to mask their politics: for them it was always primarily about Immigration.
Given Ireland for most of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century was a Christian Conservative State it would cause little concern for a party to emerge which would pick up a demographic being cast aside by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, particularly as they embraced more radical Liberal social policies. For a short time in the "South" Sinn Féin may have occupied this space certainly for a time prior to the Nice Treaty. This socially Conservative demographic has a right to its opinion and to be represented in a democracy. Perhaps most moderately it is represented today by Aontu, an economically left and moderately social Conservative, constitutional Republican party led by former Sinn Féin TD Peadar Tobin. Aontú offers a balanced outlet for this demographic in my view as do some of the rural Independents who do seem to represent their constituents.
Long running socially contentious issues like divorce, abortion and same sex marriage have seen constitutional change. This has brought about an internationally recognised modern Liberal Ireland free of a tight Church and State union. If the fight for liberating these issues was just, in a democracy, then the view of the Conservative traditionalists too is equally just in a democracy. But democracy must be respected by both: both should be able to campaign respectfully without being far anything.
As time has gone on it is now apparent that the Nationalism imported by the Freedom Party is further right than just Christian Conservative and immigration is at the top of its priorities as well as sowing division with the more Liberal generation coming through. Extremism is categorized so because it's seen as going too far. And while we can quickly find the extreme right abhorrent, extreme liberalism has a similar effect as in the furore around the ideas of Peter Tatchell hosted here at Pride events in the company of the Minister for Children in an era of changes in the school social education curriculum in favour of more Liberal themes. This can appeal to the unknown Conservative in many parents.
Extreme liberalism too, has the effect of increasing the appeal of the extreme right who often take the clothes of bemused moderates.
The slow growth of the right came partially in alternative media where an unopposed narrative could be created. Alternative media is often the only outlet for free political dissent right or left as the corporate media is well renowned for its bias in favour of its funders. Unopposed narratives are dangerous. This too can be said within mainstream media. Modern media formats like websites, blogs, social media and video uploading sites offer both risks and benefits but genuine discourse is fundamental to the integrity of any media and a welcome right of reply is essential for balance.
The onset of Covid-19 created a rapid stimulus for the right. Some of the alternative right wing content creators had already been pursuing a range of divisive theories which dovetailed seamlessly into the Covid-19 realm like replacement theories for example. The facts on covid policies stand independently accessible without right wing commentary.
When analyzed in objective proportion, huge damage was done to institutional trust to a section of society of many thousands, stoked by a heavily funded media, resulting in many previously unthinkable rights issues.
However, maybe one of the worst effects wasn't that it created a conspiracy theory culture which it did stimulate, but that it created a disaffected demographic which found answers from extreme right wing actors in significant numbers. The size of this disaffected demographic is still relatively small judging by turn outs at various rallies that are shown online but they were ready to go and mobilized when the issue turned to the arrival of immigrants. This is exactly where the extreme right wing groups sought them to be.
The role of the Irish political establishment in all of this is huge. Generations have been raised with the same societal inequalities remaining and its quite clear as to why and it plays right back into the hands of the extreme right.
The Neoliberal economic and political agenda of the US and the EU has swapped much state Sovereignty for foreign direct investment and the digital and pharma economies. Ireland has been most servile to the European project in accepting the criminal losses of the European banking sector, inflicting austerity and refusing to provide the social systems which would diffuse the growing social turbulence which immigrants are coming into because in the current system implemented by either Fianna Fáil Labour or Fine Gael all state funds must ultimately flow to private hands. This is most apparent in housing and health. Sinn Féin resolve for real change will soon be tested and they are likely to fall at the first hurdle by entering coalition with one of the Civil war parties, most likely Fianna Fáil.
The scene presently remains set up perfectly for outrage when people awaiting social housing are told, (by the mainstream news media by the way), that immigrants are arriving at ports and destroying documentation before customs, that many immigrants arriving are from non conflict zones amidst the arrival of war refugees from Ukraine. It's also a fact that no local consultation occurs and that the urgency with which shelter is converted is contrasted starkly to the urgency of those sleeping rough and dying on Ireland's streets.
In reply to the clear advantage being taken by the extreme right, the left here often responds by attacking the right wing opportunists who remember have many solid points in their locker, further disaffecting those ordinary people being radicalized by them. Surely a better approach would be to take the issue to the heart of government. Surely a radical action inside the Oireachtas followed by a media campaign showing the opposing forces pulling the people in different directions and where the responsibility lies would be the correct way.
If the best we can come up with is a counter protest then we have truly run out of ideas. The Irish Freedom Party clearly see an opening and they are not the only group doing so right now. Such fertile ground for working class division will be exploited and ultimately the establishment and the extremes will gain while everyone else will lose.
⏯Pádraig O Maonaigh is a social justice activist.
From what I gather, the fascists and their allies were drowned out in Drogheda on Saturday. Seemingly, the town no more wants them than it does the feuding gangs.
ReplyDeleteFascism is always a threat to the societal good - there is nowhere in the world where it has proven beneficial other than to the rich and the racists. But the author of this piece has a point when he says if the best that can be done is a counter rally the opposition has ran out of ideas. That is not to blame those who protested against the fascists and their allies as they felt they were doing what they could. But it is no good to label as fascist and racist those who have worries which are not prompted by fascist or racist sentiment.
I imagine was this society not struggling to cope with its abundance of shortage when there is an abundance of wealth, there would be no abundance of opportunity for the far right to exploit.
An afterthought - where was SF on Saturday? Where were they in Ballymun? My wife makes the point that SF and the far right are mutually reinforcing in that each is seeking to ignite the populism that both can benefit from.
How come there are no accommodation centres in - Ballsbridge , Killiney , Malahide etc ? Based on past legal challenges , govt know they wouldn't be allowed #Nutley Lane #Josepha Madigan Travellers ETC ETC
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