Ideals rarely seem so fragile as when they are taken by those who would undo them. As an Irish Republican, it’s hard to watch these groups or individuals wrap themselves in our history while pushing openly xenophobic and racist politics. These people use the Republican mantle, but what they promote runs completely against the ideals our movement was built on. They’re certainly not Republican projects. They’re circuses formed by opportunists trying to carve out a base by stirring up fear around refugees and migrant workers.
Let’s be clear about what Republicanism actually is. Our politics come from the anti-imperialist ideals of the United Irishmen, from Connolly and Ryan’s international socialism, and from the many struggles against structural inequality in Irish History. Republicanism is civic, egalitarian and anti-sectarian at its core. It doesn’t recognise ethnic privilege, and it doesn’t blame the powerless for problems created by capitalism, imperialism or the institutions that defend them.
Those now using Republicanism as a flag of convenience to attack migrants aren’t continuing any Irish struggle. They’re simply of the same current as the hate filled mobs gaining ground up and down the country. Their whole tactic is to turn working-class frustration away from the landlords, profiteers, developers, bosses and the result of neo-colonial underdevelopment; and turn it downward instead, towards people who hold no power or influence. It’s the oldest divide-and-conquer trick in the book. It weakens the proletariat, strengthens reaction, and hands victory to the same systems Republicanism has always been opposed to.
That’s why Republicans have a responsibility to call this charade out. We can’t allow grifters and opportunists to twist our politics for their own gain, or in other cases, for self-preservation. We need to be firm that those pushing racist fear under a Republican mantle have no claim on the legacy or the future of our struggle. They don’t stand with Tone or Russell, they don’t stand with Connolly or Mellows, and they certainly don’t stand with any vision of a Socialist Republic.
If we don’t defend the principles of our own tradition, others will rewrite them beyond recognition. Now is the time to draw the line. Republicanism belongs to those committed to national sovereignty, equality, democracy, international solidarity and the dismantling of oppressive systems everywhere; not to those who target the vulnerable to cover up their own political emptiness and ignorance.
⏩Gérard Malachy is a County Down-based Socialist Republican and grassroots activist involved in Dundalk Communities United, the Community Action Tenants Union, and BDS Newry.
Did Connolly envision an Irish Republic that would take on half a million immigrants in 3 years from places as diverse as Nigeria, Algeria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Botswana, India and across South America? Who's cultural and religious sensitivities have in large part no interest in integration as evidenced elsewhere? And an Irish nation that to voice concern at this is to have discourse immediately shutdown with the redundant moniker of 'racism'?
ReplyDelete“The barbarians never take a city until someone holds the gates open to them. And it's your own multicultural authorities who will do it for you”
-Hitchens.
Apt.