Two years of the Irish Left hiding behind NPHET’s skirt came to an end this weekend as Dublin saw mass mobilisation for a march against the Cost of Living Crisis.
Headlined by Taoiseach in waiting Mary Lou MacDonald and the expected chancers on the Marxian left, the march easily totaled north of 10,000 in a considerable non-sectarian show of force by the general left.
Consisting of a variety of interest groups from rural populists, farmers, trade unions and every groupsicle under the sun, the march can be seen as the final victory lap on the way to the Republic’s Syriza moment when a jaded Merrion Street hands the keys over to left populists.
Beginning 2.30pm Parnell Square before making its way towards the Dáil and with the platform shared between competing factions, I was keen to gain a register on the current standing of a left on the cusp of power.
First to bat was Gary Ganon who serenaded the crowd with warning that the powers that be will attempt to obfuscate blame on asylum seekers rather than their own actions, ignoring the reality our government has the embrace of mass migration as a central economic and moral tenet.
A good case for Donegal secessionism was made by a Mica redress speaker, with a standard spiel on the plight of Irish farmers given followed by a Spanish Extinction Rebellion speaker advocating further dissolution of the nation’s energy infrastructure as a means to help the poor.
On full display, the neanderthals at the IRSP crawled out from under their rock parading alongside what appeared to be a black bloc consisting entirely of American accented trannies. Even the ideologically muddled Anti-Imperialist Ireland looked positively cheerful under the September sun outside Doyles, trying to posit Maoism as the solution to an Irish energy crisis in 2022.
A four person Aontú contingent sheepishly walked alongside groups that would happily have them banned or worse, while a tartish looking but otherwise quite sweet PBP activist tried to flirt her way into getting me to join the Communist revolution through the invite for drinks back at Foley’s. Appreciated but declined.
The tankies that time forgot appeared in the form of the CPI, as well as the stickies further back,all having the appearance of being unable to Gulag themselves out of the O’Connell Street queue to Penny’s by their current meek standing.
Of all parties the most normal looking came in the form of the sizeable Sinn Féin contingent with their SIPTU rank and file and party faithful out in full gusto.
Bar the permanent odour of weed and blaring of Blindboy tracks there were no public order incidents though a brave member of what appeared to be a rural contingent brandished a sign calling for migration control.
The Irish branch of British trotskyism in the form of People Before Profit were arguably the second largest faction on show, though may have spread their forces with their much criticised tactic of passing out signs to non-members.
As formidable as the numbers were, one does feel that the left is living off electoral reserves from the post-Crash period. The notion of a challenge from the right is slightly less laughable than it was even 3 years ago as tectonics in Europe prompt nationalists to power and economic woes set in.
Regardless, as is almost a cliché among the dissident right in Ireland, Sinn Féin must and will shoot their bolt in government before the green shoots we see now manifest themselves in tangible political and social successes.
While the march did feature something of a counter-protest by anti-vax groups around the Garden of Remembrance, no mention was made of covid, green policies fueling the crisis or even the current war with Russia especially as the Shinners surreptitiously bury any notion of genuine Irish neutrality.
A year ago most of the left factions of the march were still in favour of keeping the population under Pfizer’s lock and key with covidmania, ignoring the wider economic and social ramifications. On Saturday they rememerged to lament the sudden precipice we find ourselves in.
Clear profiteering aside by energy companies, the world is not any greedier than it was 12 months ago with the behemoth of covid, green policies left entirely unaddressed by the political leaders of last Saturday’s march.
The demographics of the crowd is also worth noting. Parnell Square is minority Irish at the best of times as is that patch of the North inner city more generally, however one would be hard to ignore the near homogeneity of the crowd-bar the odd European or British leftist out for the day.
Try as they might there is no cross-ethnic solidarity coming from the hodgepodge of groups that make up the New Irish, drawn from a variety of social and political backgrounds largely detached form Irish politics due to their transience or unless their identity group is mobilised.
The backbone of these marches since the time of the Water Protests has been the urban working class and rural populists electorally coaxed by Sinn Féin and the Left. It is this demographic profile the left wages its war hardest against in all aspects of its programmes.
The juxtaposition of the interest groups made me contemplate how cynical the populist game is for Sinn Féin,riding the tiger on a socio-economic coalition it knows it cannot entirely placate and will shatter come a harsh Winter in government.
There is no end to the Cost of Living Crisis short of breaking free from the appendages of the green agenda, mass migration, NATO militarism and Brussels-all issues the left roadblocks in its worldview and feted praxis.
Credit where its due, the march had more youthfulness than pro-life gatherings or coherency than what was seen with anti-lockdown demos. Through these demonstrations the left has been able to break out of its ideological core into a wider electoral thrust.
A populist government of the left has my full blessing if only to move on from the 6 years of zombie FG-FF swan song coalitions we’ve stumbled through as the world moved on.Mary Lou could have saved herself and ourselves a lot of time and marched the crowd into Government Buildings last Saturday, and for all our sakes may she do so shortly.
Amen. A SF government is a necessary evil. An uncomfortable phase the nation needs to go through, hopefully as quickly as possible.
Thank you Ciaran for the article.
…and the sun will rise again in the morning,if not the next,or next day but rise it will,eventually.Its the waiting that gets everybody,we always seem to be in a perpetual state of waiting in politics. Sometimes it’s better
to seize the moment as the Author referred to, a similar opportunity was
missed at a previous large march, Mary Lou leading but froze solid.
I’m not saying I endorse SF, as Conor says ” a necessary evil ” but get it over quickly because too much time is wasted and far too much damage
will be done by the scum in power, a future get out jail card for SF.
A True Leader would have marched any crowd into government buildings a long time ago, because you’ve got to believe in the product
that your selling before you sell it to the people, and therin lies the problems that I can clearly see with Sin Fein and Leaderships.
SF is no friend to the Irish people. They will be no differnet that the malevolent Regime that at present represses the freedoms of the Irish Nation and embarrasses us by supporting a Nazi Regime in Ukraine.
The recent performances by Coveney and Martin at the UN, shows a level of ignorance of geopoliticss and a subservience to their Masters in Washington
SF exposed themselves during the Covis farrago, insisting on more repressive policies and lockdowns than the incumbents.
SF are cheerleaders for the Cultural Marxist policies that are destroying the Nation, LGBT ,transgender,Gay marriage,abortion mass migration
All policies leading to a decline in birthrate.
SF are fake Nationalists. A Nationalist does not advocate the murder of the lifeblood of its future generations in the womb, or promote the invasion and displacement of its People by Mass Migration.These are International Marxist policies
A democracy requires an intelligent and informed electorate.
Ireland has neither, with a controlled Media spewing endlesss lies and proaganda to stupefy the people.
The coming winter with cold arses and hungry bellies may jolt the docile and gullible out of their comfort zones and the inevitable hyper-inflation and high interest rates will evict many out of their homes with unpayable mortgages.
Drastic medicine indeed,but necessary for a forlorn , psychologically sick Nation to recover its mojo and intestinal fortitude.
Very good take on who was in the demo last Saturday.
You take the position a lot of people on the right are taking – that we need SF to be in power so that their ‘internal contradictions’ and policy failures are exposed.
I think that defeatist approach is radically, fundamentally, mistaken.
Two years to the next election is a long time.
Between now and then we have something powerful and uncontrolled loose in Irish politics.
Immigration.
There is huge, even majority, opposition to immigration. There is fear and worry about it. There is a feeling the government and those in authority have lost control. The public see how immigration connects with housing even if those with a voice refuse to.
And all that triumphant left that you saw on Saturday, waiting to take power, are cornered on this. They can’t change their message to suit the public mood. They are all in on open borders no matter the political damage.
Their triumph is not inevitable. It’s ridiculous for us to stand back and wait.
PS Our counterprotest had nothing to do with “anti vaxx”. We did a great job of getting in everyone’s way. And we even got ourselves attacked by the INLA/IRSP. And got to sing to them “I wish I was back home in Derry”
A great day was had by all.
Bells of Shandon,Jo Blog…we’re all in the same boat and thank you.
Explain to me,because this would be my priority, I know that I’ve repeated myself many times,and yourselves also,but how do you get through to the woke masses…by concentrating on ourselves maybe.
I keep harping on about pooling resources for ONE ULTIMATE GOAL,
and I cannot fathom,despite all the so called Nationalist Fervor shared,
why it’s never happened.
I would play them at their own game,for the time being,I would have a
platform,a United Assult on Social Media,a printed publication which
Gemma O Doherty has initiated and visualized because digital media will collapse by the enemy’s hand…and I would be funded by Patriots,Locals,
and use of the NGO IRISH TAXPAYERS…think outside of the square.
Time for talk or action,but nothing’s achieved as your enemies of the state have played their game on you/us since the Irish Civil War, awake
Get your arse into gear Ireland,from a 2week lockdown to flatten a bogus
curve, we’re 2 n 1/2 yrs. later into Globalist,Communists,Fascist hole.
You will never beat,for now,the Globalist One World Order,it’s been set up since the creation of League Of Nations / UN,WHO,WEF,EU,COP26.
Ireland despite it’s drawbacks should be a global power for humanity
Ivaus@thetricolour You’re absolutely right to define success as reaching the woke middle ground.
Rather than dream of creating media platforms of our own or electing candidates from right wing ‘political parties’ I think it would be far better to focus on the wins we already have and try to capitalise and improve on them.
Our ideas on immigration have managed to reach the mainstream. Is that because the ideas are so obviously right or because we have done good work in getting them across.
Does it matter? We press on.
The fight is being won whenever any of us get past the gatekeepers on social media and make ourselves heard.
Whenever a rural councillor echoes one of our points we are winning here and now.
Whenever some immigrant/Trans/green agenda NGO gets ratioed on Twitter we are winning.
It’s not about the well known names on our side getting recognition. It’s about the mainstream starting to sound more and more like us. When they start saying these things for themselves we’ve won.
Cheers Jo Blog,I appreciate and acknowledge your response.
The power of ONE should never be undervalued and just like the integral effort of Enoc Burke,we all have a capability in our everyday lives to make significant change…and he just said no,I do not comply.
There were 10k demonstrators at the recent ‘Cost of living’ parade.
I doubt if few can understand or join the dots for the reasons for the price increases, as basic economics is beyond the grasp of the plain man and way beyond our incompetent and ignorant Regime charlatans.
The 2 year Covid lockdowns resulted in the Regime issuing PUP payments to the thousands of workers made idle by the lockdowns.
Money issued in this manner,without connection to labour or productivity ,inevitably leads to inflation.
The large increases in energy costs is a result of the EU sanctions on its main oil/gas/coal/ fertiliser/ uranium/ wheat and rare metals supplier, that is Russia.
Energy is the basis of modern Industrial society. High energy costs filter into every aspect of production, and leads to high costs in goods and services.
The fraudalent Climate change policy has emasculated the energy security of Europe and Ireland.
This is a case of Economic suicide by the EU and Ireland to comply with Washington Foreign policy.
The real target of the Ukraine war is Europe, to maintain it in its vassal position to the US, and prevent it seeking its natural path to connect with the Belt & Road initiative of trade across the World Island from the Baltic to the Pacific.
This opinion has been recently re-inforced by the events on Monday near Bornold Island ,Sweden.
The NS1 and NS2 undersea gas pipelines supplying Russian gas to Germany were sabotaged and Germany is now without that supply.
The culprits can be easily ascertained by the Cui Bono , who benefits. question.
Germany is now destroyed as an Industrial power and its Manufactirers will be forced to transfer thier plants to a source of reliable energy suppliers.. The US being the obvious destination.
Having looted the world ,the USA Empire has like a tapeworm , begun to loot its allies.
‘To be an ally of the USA is dangerous, but to be a friend is deadly’ (Henry Kissinger)
https://www.unz.com/mhudson/americas-real-adversaries-are-its-european-and-other-allies/
If europe is screwed , where will the Yanks export their goods & services to ?
The capture of Europe is complete, and we are witnessing a reprise of the events after WW2.
Europe was then on the bones of its arse,with much of its Industrial infrastructure destroyed.
The US was untouched and the only remaining great Industrial power.
It needed customers for its products ,so the Marshall Plan of Development loans was introduced, under the guise of helping to rebuild Europe and provide a bulwark against any encroachment by the Soviet Union.
The Soviets were themselves destroyed and were rebuilding themselves.
Marshall Plan finance was a poisoned chalice and sealed Europes faith as vassals of the Washington consensus.
Today we have debt Finance to keep Nations in Line ,as Ireland has learned to its cost with the EU.
The US never went home after WW2
Every defeated European Nation is still occupied to this day by US Military Bases.
Germany ,Italy, and in Asia, Japan, South Korea, plus an estimated 800 worldwide
The EU is a Washington construction, to herd all the chickens together for easier control and attachment to US Policy.
France under de Gaulle was one of the few to have an independent policy.
The EU largely follows US policy and supports Military interventions in their many wars since WW2, Korea ,Iraq,Syria ,Libya ,Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and today Ukraine.
History may not repeat ,but it certainly rhymns.
So yes, join all the dots, and when you join them all,if you ever achieve
a level of knowledge or understanding, it is not enough to sit and play at
the Oligarchs/Capilists/Uni/Bi/multi polarity Chess Game that is the ever evolving UN, since it’s inception…equal recognition of member states my
arse. Founded by Rothschild and dominated today by Powerbrokers,
unelected individuals ,the likes of Bill Gates.
You will never be able to keep the average within the masses up to date,
even if you devoted your entire life and energy. What can you or I do ?
By membership of such organizations, like UNSC, which the Traitors
fell over themselves to join, automatic compulsory use of Armed Forces
is the criteria…nobody’s told and very few know, Sovereignty abolished.
Protect your HOME, protect your COMMUNITY, protect your VILLAGE, TOWN, COUNTY AND COUNTRY…that is all one can do
because this is much bigger than anyone can comprehend, You or I.
There are three blocs in the Dail: one is Fine Gael, some of Fianna Fail, Greens, Sinn Fein, Labour, and Social Democrats. These are socially permissive, pro State funding left-wing NGOs, pro-mass immigration, pro- multi-national, pro-lockdown, pro-EU, anti-family, and anti-small and medium commerce. This bloc entails approximately 73% of the Dail.
The second bloc is some of Fianna Fail, Aontu, and about seventeen independents. This bloc entails circa 24% of the Dail. These are anti-lockdown, pro-family, pro-small business, eurosceptic, and anti-mass immigration.
The third bloc is Solidarity/People before Profit. These have 3% of TDs. These are are much like the first mentioned bloc except distinctly more so.