Yesterday, myself and my regular companion at Drogs games, and boozing buddy, Paddy, made the short journey by car into the Droichead Arts Centre in downtown Drogheda to attend an event promoting the presidential bid by Catherine Connolly.
Staged in the theatre, it was well attended although not to maximum capacity as some empty seats demonstrated. Connolly's interlocuter on the day was Vincent Browne, a journalist and broadcaster of vast experience and not an interviewer known for suffering fools gladly.
I went to listen rather than be persuaded. My mind was already made up. While not totally on board with some of the stances the presidential hopeful has assumed in the past she has said enough, and more loudly, about the elephant in the room - which many in the Western media have difficulty seeing despite its enormous size - Gaza, to leave me certain she will have my vote come decision day.
I made one short contribution in reference to a question from Vincent Browne inviting Catherine Connolly to explain what her comment speaking truth to power actually meant. I observed that the most truthful word in today’s political lexicon that anyone could speak to power was genocide. And she had uttered it more frequently than any of the potential rival contenders for the Aras.
The discussion was useful in that it allowed Catherine Connolly to set out her stall to those who were on her side to begin with. Briefing points sort of. As Mick Clifford reported:
Browne honed his line of questioning to one essential point: Connolly would be more effective in the Dail where decisions can be made rather than in the Aras where it is all pomp and no power. Connolly responded with the ethical power line of reasoning whereas I felt she may have been on less unsteady political terra firma by citing something more graspable like cultural power. The current incumbent Michael D Higgins has demonstrated cultural power and has often been criticised by conservatives and neoliberals for doing so. A change in Zeitgeist is hard to imagine without a preceding and corresponding shift in the plates of cultural power within a society. This was something definitely not lost on the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci who devoted a lifetime of political-strategic thinking towards inculcating his dual war of position/cultural hegemony concept in the societal mind.
However, as yesterday was more of a rallying the troops exercise the real test will come when the rubber hits the road in the weeks approaching the big day and the candidates need to make their way into the bear pit of live television debates. How Connolly fares when under fire from determined, even vitriolic, opposition remains to be seen. There will be no easy ride like yesterday. That is not a criticism of how Vincent Browne conducted himself. The setting was never set up as adversarial, being more examination than cross-examination.
I went to listen rather than be persuaded. My mind was already made up. While not totally on board with some of the stances the presidential hopeful has assumed in the past she has said enough, and more loudly, about the elephant in the room - which many in the Western media have difficulty seeing despite its enormous size - Gaza, to leave me certain she will have my vote come decision day.
I made one short contribution in reference to a question from Vincent Browne inviting Catherine Connolly to explain what her comment speaking truth to power actually meant. I observed that the most truthful word in today’s political lexicon that anyone could speak to power was genocide. And she had uttered it more frequently than any of the potential rival contenders for the Aras.
The discussion was useful in that it allowed Catherine Connolly to set out her stall to those who were on her side to begin with. Briefing points sort of. As Mick Clifford reported:
If the people in the Arts Centre were anything to go by, she would be home and hosed. It’s difficult to envisage any of them voting for anybody else. But then, these kind of gatherings are as much about attracting followers to the standard, getting them to go out and spread the word.
Browne honed his line of questioning to one essential point: Connolly would be more effective in the Dail where decisions can be made rather than in the Aras where it is all pomp and no power. Connolly responded with the ethical power line of reasoning whereas I felt she may have been on less unsteady political terra firma by citing something more graspable like cultural power. The current incumbent Michael D Higgins has demonstrated cultural power and has often been criticised by conservatives and neoliberals for doing so. A change in Zeitgeist is hard to imagine without a preceding and corresponding shift in the plates of cultural power within a society. This was something definitely not lost on the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci who devoted a lifetime of political-strategic thinking towards inculcating his dual war of position/cultural hegemony concept in the societal mind.
However, as yesterday was more of a rallying the troops exercise the real test will come when the rubber hits the road in the weeks approaching the big day and the candidates need to make their way into the bear pit of live television debates. How Connolly fares when under fire from determined, even vitriolic, opposition remains to be seen. There will be no easy ride like yesterday. That is not a criticism of how Vincent Browne conducted himself. The setting was never set up as adversarial, being more examination than cross-examination.
That said, her folksy demeanour masks a certain steel which has made her such a thorn in the establishment side. Because Browne laid no tripwires for her, she had no need to call on her array of nimble skills to enable her to leap over them.
Can she win? A big ask. Alan Kelly of Labour seems to be doing his best to ensure she never darkens the Aras door. With reports coming out of Belfast that Sinn Fein is prompting Mary Lou McDonald to run, if that came to fruition it would most likely leave the Connolly bid dead in the water. McDonald conceivably could have won had she been out of the traps first. The most the Sinn Fein leader is likely to achieve at this stage is a dispersal of the votes across her and Connolly, allowing the two government parties - galvanised into a unity of purpose to stop McDonald - to come through the middle. How that might work for the starving besieged and bombed of Gaza is yet to be explained.
Compèred adroitly by Bobby McCormack, a driving force behind the ongoing Gaza solidarity work in the town, there was a cultural element to proceedings - a poetry recital to kick it off and and some music to conclude with, before the candidate headed up the road to Dundalk where Gaza too taxes the minds of those repelled by the genocide and appalled by what the current President has labelled the EU lethargy towards it, not to mention the woeful Western media which is still nauseatingly parroting the line that Israel has the right to defend itself. As Gary Lineker pointed out: 'Yes, Israelis have a right to defend themselves. But it appears Palestinians don't.'
Catherine Connolly will need to go at this all guns blazing, and merits the vote of those who believe she is the strongest political, ethical and cultural voice demanding cease fire to the blazing guns of genocide in Gaza.
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I first came across Ms Connolly at a Palestinian Support rally in Galway several years ago, before her entry to Leinster House.
ReplyDeleteAs she addressed the crowd on the banks of the Corrib she greatly impressed, pasionately delivering her unscripted address whilst nimbly moving between Irish and English.
SF are making a mistake if they choose to oppose. Any possibility of a change of government come the next general election recedes if they field a candidate.
That is an interesting point about the next general election. Hadn't thought of it that way until you raised it.
ReplyDeleteHasn't Catherine Connolly questions to answer about her visit to Syria along with Assad apologists Daly and Wallace? Was she not escorted around Aleppo by it's pro-Assad Chair of Commerce who called a seven year old girl who tweeted about the killing of her friends by Assad's forces a witch who will start WW3 with her allies? Did she not endorse Gemma Doherty for President in 2018?
ReplyDeleteShe is answering the questions, stating that she met no one from the Syrian government nor uttered one word of support for Assad. She came back saying she opposed sanctions. Maureen O'Sullivan was also on the trip but seems not to get mentioned by most who comment on it.
DeleteI wonder if Micheal Martin runs for the presidency will he be reminded of his visit to Israel after it had started implementing its policy of genocide.
Gemma O'Doherty was once a capable journalist, challenging and exposing the murky matters around the murder of Mary Boyle. She did a lot of good work. Since then she has gone down the rabid hole as well as the rabbit one. Connolly says she stands over her decision to endorse her because of the fine investigative journalism she had done. I remember being at an event in Dublin with other NUJ members (Lynn Boylan was also there) where O'Doherty spoke. Can't remember what it was about. She was not into all her nonsense at that point.
I am going to vote Connolly on a single issue matter - where she stands on the single most important ethical issue of our time - genocide.
You beat me too it AM on the convenient exclusion of Maureen O'Sulivan from the visit to Syria that critics make.
DeleteI agree that Ms Connoly is a good candidate. I remember too Michael D was criticised for some of his positions on Latin America.
As of now she has my vote and will get a donation to her crowd funding campaign also. As Che Guevara said "Words that are not matched by deeds, are not important".
Same here HJ about donation - and I intend to sign up for her campaign team as well.
ReplyDeleteI'll campaign too if the Shinners are strategic enough to hold their fire. If they stick their oar in she's a beaten docket unfortunately.
DeleteI'll still campaign - just to get her message across.
DeleteShe has been accused of being a shill for Putin and his war in Ukraine. True or not?
ReplyDeleteAn accusation is just that. She was very critical of Russia's invasion at the event.
DeleteI think she does what too many of our political class don't want done - she does not accept blindly the Western narrative on its wars. I think she goes on fact finding missions, not shill missions. If the Western narrative was not challenged (and you have come to challenge it quite a bit yourself) we would be left thinking there was no genocide in Gaza and that malnutrition was a sign of health in infants. There are no perfect prime ministers or leaders. You have long defended Keir Starmer yet he openly supported war crimes in Gaza. I think her voice as president would be more in chime with your current thinking than Starmer's would be.
For me it is a single issue - I am going to vote for the candidate who will speak out most against genocide. That does not mean issuing a blank cheque. I can think of no other candidate who will challenge to the extent she will.
It's not so much her own views and record as a TD as Daly's and Wallace's involvement in her campaign that is problematic. Btw, I do not give Keir Starmer or any Labour PM or leader a blank cheque either.
ReplyDeleteAnd there I was thinking that you were a champion of diversity, Barry.
DeleteOh, silly me!
But neither Daly or Wallace were advocates of war. Their stance on the Russian war on Ukraine while they were MEPs was very different from the one I took.
DeleteConnolly will of course face questions about their involvement in her campaign, some driven by accountability, others driven by hostility. Yet both are solid on the issue of Israeli genocide.
I know you don't give any Labour leader a blank cheque but the transgressions of this particular Labour leader dwarf anything laid at the door of Daly or Wallace. This guy openly encouraged the withdrawal of water and electricity from a civilian population and has done very little since other than lie about it, to halt an intensification of the same.
I suppose in the end we all have our biases. Still, useful that we can talk them through, and have them laid bare by our opponents who are always much more effective when they critique rather than scream.
Henry Joy, what do you mean by that comment?
ReplyDeleteBarry they're each independent politicans who went on a fact finding mission together to Syria. They're diverse in their individuality. They diverge from the mainstream of in terms of both thought and behaviour. Your comments and those of many commentators seek to taint Catherine for her association with Claire Daly & Mick Walllace. To my mind it's misdirection and avoidance. Connolly, Wallace, O'Sullivavan and Daly were elected at the time of the Syrian visit and have been consistent in their support of justice for Palestine.
ReplyDeleteThey came back advocating for the lifting of sanctions on and establishment of links to the Assad regime which on top of its use of sarin gas on Gouta, murder of up to 150,000 prisoners massacred thousands of Palestinians in Yarmouk refugee camp.
ReplyDeleteThe 26 county electorate will decide whether they want Connolly, Humphries, or Gavin. No doubt these historical missteps will come up again and again during the campaign. I can't be sure what impact her association with Daly and Wallace will have on the result but my sense is that it won't be a deciding issue for many. My hunch is this campaign will be fought and won on the candidate's positioning around justice for Gaza. Viewed through that prism Claire and Mick's support may not be the liability that the right of centre candidates and their supporters hope for.
DeleteThe deciding factor will be whether or not SF enters the race. If they make that blunder it just more of the tweedledee/tweedledum existing pattern, and with SF resigning themselves to opposition come the next general election.
I think it is important to acknowledge the missteps but like yourself am not convinced they will amount to much in the context of a genocide. The biggest threat to her will be, as you identify, SF contesting also. Hopefully it will do the right thing rather than the opportunist thing but given the rush to Genocide Joe's junket, that might prove a frustrated hope
Delete