Politics

[hawkwing_lb]

"Hawkwing makes some interesting observations about writing, and shows a wholly atypical maturity and thoughtful outlook in her takeson politics -possibly a product of living in Ireland?"

davefreer says this about me over on his LJ. I wanted to reply, but I didn't feel it'd be too polite to take over his thread. :g: This, however, is my LJ, and I can say anything I want.

So. Nice compliment, Dave, but I think you impute to me more maturity and thoughtfulness than I possess.

I'm not thoughtful about politics. We hates them, precious, hates them. I don't watch the news. My information on current affairs comes from the Sunday Independent and LJ. I do my best not to think about politics, because it's a subject about which I became very cynical, very young. I was twelve, I think, at the time of the Good Friday Agreement - just old enough to begin to take an interest in the goings-on of the external world, and just about old enough to see that it was a significant step in ending the troubles that have wracked this grand wee country [insert sarcasm as appropriate] since time began, or thereabouts.

Newsflash, people: the GFA wasn't the breakthrough it was made out to be.

Sinn Féin, in its current incarnation (not to be confused with Griffith's 1905 or de Valera's 1917 Sinn Féin, ancestors of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil respectively) has been engaged in a campaign of deliberate obfustication of the truth since the Agreement's signatories put pen to paper. Now, the IRA has declared decommissioning, and had that accepted - to Paisley and the DUP's disapprobiation and disbelief, but that's a rant for another day.

Now, the thing is, the declaration of the end of the armed struggle doesn't mean the end of the power of SF/IRA. Or the end of criminal actions by what is, effectively, a private army.

They gave up their weapons, sure. I'll believe they gave up all of them when Gerry Adams and his motley crew stop their triple-talking and call on their supporters to fully co-operate in the bringing to justice - the justice of the legal system, and not the balaclava and the bullet in the night - of the murderers of Robert McCarthy and a man whose name I've sadly forgotten, but who was reputedly repeatedly threatened by family of an IRA-man before his death.

They haven't. They also refuse to condemn the Belfast bank robbery in as many words, and Adams and McGuiness deny having at any time being members of the IRA Army Council, despite evidence - including references to their IRA position in the IRA decommissioning statement - to the generally-accepted contrary.

There is a real chance that regardless of their history and their repeated contempt towards the law and the institutions of the Irish Republic, Sinn Féin could hold the balance of power in the next Dáil. If Fianna Fáil were to enter into coalition with SF (eminently possible, despite promises otherwise - FF's promises can be trusted about as far as you can throw 'em), this party, with its history of illegality, its current connections to what has become Ireland's mafia - the IRA or a section thereof is alleged to control a significant slice of Dublin's drugs trade and protection-racketeering - could be in the position of making the laws of a state whose legitimacy for seventy years and more they refused to recognise.

(They haven't, incidentally, yet said outright whether or not they do recognise a 26-county republic. But Sinn Féin's claims to inherit the legacy of the 1919 32-county revolutionary Dáil or otherwise are, as with the Rev Ian Paisley, confirmed Protestant bigot, a rant for another day.)

Adams and co, quite frankly, terrify me. Quite aside from their connection to an illegal army -

- there is only one, count'em one duly constituted and lawful army in this country, and that is our Defence Forces (http://www.military.ie), just as there is only one, count'em, ladies and gentlemen please, one duly constituted and lawful police force in the Irish Republic, and that is An Garda Siochána (lit., 'the guardians of the peace'), and yes I do feel strongly about that, thank you very much -

- have you seen what they think is a sane economic policy?

I'm not, actually, quite sure what SF's policies are, when they're not involved with the godawful fuckup that is Northern Ireland. (Powermongering, precious, we hates it) The impression I have is of some mad Marxist-National Socialist blend, in which they promise to spend lotslotslots on every social issue there is, improve 'community policing' (and we thinks we know what they mean by that, don't we precious, and we by-god don't with a capital D want to see IRA vigilantes take on an official role) and somehow manage to create Paradise On Earth without raising taxes. Except corporate taxes, but it's a fact almost universally acknowledged that Ireland's low rate of tax on big business is responsible for a great deal of our economic prosperity, and shit, people, big business creates jobs, and the paychecks of big business' employees are what keep small, local businesses trading.

Then again, I can't fault Sinn Féin for not having coherent policies. No Irish political party has ever had what I'd consider a sensible approach to the running of the country, with the possible (historical) exceptions of William T Cosgrave's Cumann na nGaedheal (1922-1932) which had the problems of setting up a functional state (and did pretty well), Sean Lemass' Fianna Fáil government in the nineteen-sixties, and Garret Fitzgerald's short-lived Fine Gael dominated-coalition in the eighties.

Irish politics is dominated by local interests, scandals, and the back-hander in the brown-paper bag. Our current government, despite massive mishandling of the exchequer - they squandered the biggest budgetary surplus this country's ever seen or ever likely to see again, and we still don't have a decent hospital system - succeeded in achieving re-election, having systematically mis-represented the true state of affairs - ie, they lied.

'Course, they still systematically mis-represent the true state of affairs. Bertie Ahern, may his reign as Taoiseach end at the next general election, is a master of waffle and obfustication and taking an hour to say nothing at all. Though, mind you, he's not quite the bare-faced liar Gerry Adams - or most SFers - is.

I live in a town where the sentiment is overwhelmingly SF and socialist in flavour. Socialism's a good thing, when it can see the macro as well as the micro (doesn't occur nearly often enough). But Sinn Féin and the 'RA-men... The possibilities inherent therein frighten me.

Vigilanteism is an unhealthy thing for any society, community - and dare I say it, nation - to indulge in, or give tacit approval to. The law is a flawed tool, sure, but due process is the slender thread that separates order from anarchy.

And I really don't want to live in a society where the only rules are the ones you make for yourself.

And I've gone on, and on, and on. Sigh. Politics depresses me. I guess I'm a pessimist by nature. And a cynic.

I'm resolutely ignoring the small corner of my brain that whispers, realist. Really I am.

Comments

[otakuloki.livejournal.com]

Yanno, for someone who's said she doesn't pay too much attention to politics...

That's an awfully astute political summary. It's limited by your interests and beliefs, of course - but your understanding of the key point of civilization is certainly above most of my fellow Yanks, I think.

Vigilanteism is never a good thing. It may rarely be the lesser evil. But it is never good.

And I'm ashamed of how the US, and especially the Boston Irish, view the IRA. One of the many things that I hold against the former administration here (And my crack-smoking junior Senator) was when they welcomed Gerry Adams with open arms. Either he's a political leader associated with a terrorist organization, and of some import because of that, or he's not. He cannot play it both ways on the international stage. I grew up within 40 miles of Boston, I heard all sorts of hate from people who'd never been to the "Auld Sod" about how the English were ruining Ireland.

In the 1980's.

I knew people who sent money to the IRA. I knew people who'd lost friends in the UK, too. It makes an impression.

You're not doing a very good job of showing your lack of thoughtfulness and maturity. 8-P

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

I do try not to think about politics, because that's what follows. Sigh. Wind me up and watch me rant. Tho' I'd never be able to go on at such length at home, because a good few people seem to think the IRA was justified in what they've done.

I don't.

But then, Irish history is frequently bloody, sordid and recriminatory, and sometimes all three at once.

[otakuloki.livejournal.com]

It's not just Irish history. That's a fair description of human history. I grant you that Irish history seems to be a bit more flamboyant than some. Not all others (Balkans, anyone?) but some.

As a Yank, I'm not exactly well-versed on Irish politics, or history. Part of it is, growing up where I did, there was a lot of reverence for things percieved to be Irish. And being the contrary critter I am. I deliberately ignored it all.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Flamboyant, yeah. Also we get better press than the Balkans, for some reason. Probably because, y'know, we (and I'm using a we that doesn't include me, personally) only want the Unionists to go away and stop cluttering up our Romantic (in the Keatsian sense) dream of a pure, strong, vibrant Éire.

Eamón de Valera's vision of Ireland was 'Catholic, rural and Gaelic'. He was a very intelligent, strong-willed man, but impossibly narrow-minded and stubborn. That is, of course, my reading of the history. I'm a Michael Collins apologist, but then, he died during our brief, nasty, stupid civil war.

The whole problem of the North stems from the fact that during 1919-1921 (war of independence, or in Irish the self-righteous cogadh na saoirse [freedom war]) no one in the rebels' leadership paid any attention to the fact that there was a large segment of the population that was perfectly happy being British. This is particularly notable during the Treaty Debates in the first Dáil. Pages and pages of the records are devoted to the question of swearing an oath of allegiance to the British crown and accepting becoming a free state under the Commonwealth. Six (if I recollect correctly) pages concern the issue of Partition.

Everyone thought the problem would just go away, if they wished hard enough. For intelligent men and women, they were pretty goddamn blind.
/rant

And I hope you'll excuse me. The stupidity inherent in ignoring the unionist point of view is one of the (many) subjects in Irish history that really gets my back up, and -

-ah, I should just give up, shouldn't I? It's history, after all, and hopefully we can finally close the book on that particular oversight.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

And I'm probably not making too much sense in the above, for which apologies. Especially the Keatsian thing. I mean to say (stupid comments should have an edit function) that the idea of Ireland held by, let's say Fenians, since that's a good catch-all term, as opposed to the reality, holds/held more relation to literature and poetry and imagination than it does/did to the state of affairs they had to deal with.

And I'm still not making much sense, am I?

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

And I mixed up the fadas on Éamon. :(.

[davefreer.livejournal.com]

A new meaning on trinty

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Trinity? Nah, the holy trinity of Irish controversies is sex, politics and religion :-). Everybody's got an opinion.

Nobody agrees with anybody else.

:-)

Wow..

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

I came over to see what Dave was nattering on about, and I must say, I've never had the chance to really dig into Irish politics. From the little I do read in US newspapers, my vague perception was that the North is messed up and ruled by shadowy criminal types. What you've said is scary. What hope does the north -- or Ireland -- have, then? Any glimmers of reason? I'd hate to think of my relatives making a better go of it only to lose it to IRA remnants that have taken over...and I certainly didn't see any signs of this when I visited. Ireland looked better last year than it did 25 years ago, when it was repressed, church-ridden, and groaning under high taxation rates.

Mind if I friend you?

Ginger

Re: Wow..

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Ireland, economically, is way the hell and gone better than it was twenty or even ten years ago. Which has happened, I think, more despite anything the politicians have done than because of it.

But then, I'm a cynic :-)

The odds of a Sinn Féin... coup, for lack of a better word, are very small. The problem is that they currently have six TDs in the Dáil, and are likely to increase their representation at the next general election (putting them ahead of the Greens, the Socialists, and probably the Progressive Democrats, if still well behind Labour, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil). I see that as a problem, because while I distrust all politicians, I distrust Sinn Féin politicians a great deal more than your ordinary kitchen or garden liar, cheat or well-meaning eejit who makes it in politics, because of their history of contempt for the institutions of the republic. And they could be the junior partner in the next coalition government, which is why I'm praying for a Fine Gael/Labour majority.

I'm a card-carrying pessimist, you see. Because what good are laws if there's a small but powerful group who've discovered they can break them with near-impunity?

Decommissioning was hopeful. But Sinn Féin and the IRA have been the glove and the fist, the carrot and the stick, of the peace process for so long that I automatically view anything they say with an excess of suspicion. Why now, after so long? Have they finally got what they wanted? And what do they want, because I don't see a 32-county republic hapening in my lifetime?

See. Cynic. Warned you.

And go ahead and friend me, tho' I'm rarely this erudite :-). I probably won't friend back, though: the Internet's a major timesink for me as it is, and I really don't dare let it become a bigger one :-)

Re: Wow..

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

I use friending so I don't have to go wandering through the internet. As you've noticed, it's so seductive.

And pessimists have the advantage of only being pleasantly surprised. ;-)

Now then, anyone for a cuppa? Only I'm out of Barry's and you'll have to make do with the local grocery brand.

Re: Wow..

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Make yourself at home :-). Tho' I'm an untraditional Irish, and don't drink tea in any shape or form :-)

No tea?

[(Anonymous)]

:: gasp :: Why, that's..that's..Well. More for me!

[vorpalkeith.livejournal.com]

To be fair, Dave considers ME to be mature. . . so it's not so much of a stretch to think you are.