“I hate little wars,” said Wellington. So do we; and we hate still more a petty mob meeting without purpose, and dispersing without success. Perfect order, silence, obedience, alacrity, and courage make an assemblage formidable and respectable.”
Thomas Davis: “Scolding Mobs”
With the dust quickly settling on a rowdy Wednesday of protests on Kildare Street, plenty of bickering and debate has followed on social media. Here are some loose reflections on the affair.
The Good
- Despite the press claiming for months that the anti-government protests are dwindling, yesterday proved that is nonsense. Between anti-groomer rallies, the persistent protests outside Direct Plantation centres, and yesterday’s well-attended Dáil protest, this discontent is not dissipating. That, in itself, is a good thing.
- As usual, protestors brought a palpably angry energy to proceedings and largely were not distracted by asinine conspiracy theories that detract away from the migration and asylum issues. (For the most part).
- Getting in a slimy TD’s face with suited-up Gardaí bearing down on you takes some degree of balls. So does even standing outside the Dáil while antifa journos try to snap you to ruin your life. Courage is valuable; we will need it in the coming years.
- The Left ceding the traditional protest space for the return of the Oireachtas (a date they chose to protest vocally in the past) and emergence of a genuine threat to the system.
- As Jobstown or the rise of Sinn Féin has shown, the lads getting slapped around by the Public Order Unit today can often be the political opposition of tomorrow. If they play their cards right.
- There will always be something to be said for scaring the wits out of the garrison class in Leinster House.
The Bad
- Looking mental to the average citizen. We are in a position of ascendant popularity, where more and more working and middle class people are starting to identify with us. Both groups (especially the middle class, who we need if we are to win) are disgusted by unhinged schizos and crusties milling around Kildare Street. And there was a lot of that yesterday. The optics lesson has still not been learned by many in our loose movement. Many of the people, including many ringleaders, still don’t realise that without support we are nothing – and the populace will not support thugs and cranks. Stop talking about violent reprisals against politicians. Stop acting like you’re an Afghan warlord who cares not for public opinion. Stop ranting about fringe issues that (while valid) just confuse the conversation (i.e. vaccines). And, for the love of God, abandon the sovereign citizen rubbish that has zero legal credibility nor sympathy from the public.
- Getting arrested or risking a riot (without a plan) is recklessly negligent. More importantly, the State-Media Regime is obviously looking for a January 6th / Jo Cox moment here. Whether real or staged, an incident chosen to elicit fear and disgust in the Irish people, and an excuse to censor and arrest us, will come. It makes it a lot easier for the regime to find this incident when hectic mobs gather outside Leinster House preceded by weeks of fed-talk online.
- The protest movement continues to largely lack any idea of how politics really works or a willingness to learn nevermind (inevitably) being weighed down by semi-violent cranks.
The Cringey
- Talking a big game online about killing or arresting politicians is embarrassing. These are bad ideas, and lying about doing them is nearly as bad. Especially citizen’s arrests, which will land you (not the politician) in jail or worse.
- The people yesterday were not a disciplined cadre of activists the likes of which the republican movement could muster in years gone by but a loose constellation of concerned citizens and social media personalities with little idea how the state can and will play dirty in the courts and on the streets.
- The Irish public are not impressed by noose dioramas and other LARP nonsense and lunatics shouting about freemasonry. Also, learn to dress yourselves. Healy-Rae was the sharpest looking person in the fracas yesterday and that is saying an awful lot.
- Broadcasting your violent fantasies on Telegram is ridiculous and in a state with a competent intelligence apparatus would have merited arrest and imprisonment long ago.
- Gobshites recording themselves while they get into argy-bargy with culchies in the Public Order Unit.
- Lashing out at friendly politicians and mainstream commentators online because they registered their disapproval of the protest is very toxic. Whether you like it or not, established political figures turning from friend to enemy is a massive step back for our movement. We should be trying to court these people, not doubly alienating them.
How to Storm Leinster House (Properly)
A lot of very old muscle memory is about to be reactivated in the state apparatus this morning after yesterday’s high jinks as TDs and their teams returned from the summer break to a baying rabble of right-wing protestors gunning for them outside.
It is not the point of this article to err either way on the morality of yesterday’s proceedings but merely to opine that any continued street activity by the right should be regulated lest it descend into criminal farce for the Six One news to broadcast to a shocked John and Mary Public.
The protest movement kickstarted by East Wall last November is not going away and these types of altercations will be a regular as the muscle returns to Irish politics for the first time since Sinn Féin scaled back their direct action against the Free State in late 00s.
While the Gardaí are undergoing institutional collapse the state can still sting when it has to with the confused mob outside Leinster House however feisty still nowhere near being a political threat to the garrison class inside.
Giving a TD a few slaps may be personally satisfying but nowhere near what is actually required to challenge the status quo and those operating on the other side of the gates of Leinster House.
A bottom-of-the-barrel, easily-provoked EDL style protest culture is what our elite secretly long for, next only to the emergence of a zero optics Neo-Nazi pseudo-threat they can use to discredit opposition and bang up dissidents at politically convenient times.
Mobs by themselves don’t instil more than fleeting terror into politicians without being linked up to wider political change and sense of praxis. While it boasts republican lineage, the “Irish Right” is a confused animal halfway between U.S. style conspiracism, the old religious elements and now rapidly tapping into the communitarian energy that has marked street activism against the state for decades through the republican movement. This uncertain heritage has contributed to a near total absence of a managerial class that can shepherd protests like Wednesday.
Sinn Féin until recently maximised the returns off their street muscle by symbiotically combining it with their emergent political machine and using their institutional hold over the unions and local government to build the force that they are today.
Nothing even approaching that exists on the fringe Right or even with the thought process to begin that institutional odyssey with the conspiracy prone malcontents who hang around right-wing protest circles hampering any attempt at clear thinking political projects.
Many of the well intentioned hotheads active Wednesday have no idea the world of pain they would have been in for had a TD or equivalent been slashed or worse during scuffles as shown by their naive willingness to record every face of the crowd and play footsie with violent threats against state representatives at the seat of power.
Violence against the state is one thing, fecklessly engaging in said violence without any modicum of understanding about costs and benefits is another.
Protests ought to be held with few exceptions after working hours to minimise lumpenprole elements there.
You may not recognise the state for esoteric reasons, as some of those arrested Wednesday do, but it won’t stop some gombeen judge slapping you down with 5-10 or a trip to the Special Criminal Court.
Like Aesop’s “Trumpeter Taken Captive” it is also totally disingenuous for certain Conservative pundits to disavow yesterday’s violence after months of feeding off the energy that precipitated Wednesday’s events. You may want plausible deniability, but we are heading for serious turmoil
In so far as its possible a stewarding system and coordination between protest leaders and other stakeholders for future events will have to be established or grow organically to stave off future hairy situations and risk of easily avoidable own goals.
Certain mavericks and other morons will ultimately refuse to take orders and will find a cell in Portlaoise waiting for their troubles but by and large the majority of crowds will respond well to order and discipline.
A mob is not an alternative to political and societal change but is a sign of palpable rage out there for anything bearing the semblance of a viable right-wing alternative.
Now is when we should be wising up. The powers-that-be saw yesterday as a direct threat on the ship of state, and it’s time for us to start acting like one.
Excellent analysis. The Irish right needs to become more unified, and organised like the AFD in Germany, or the National Rally/ National Front in France. Both are likely to gain power in the next two to three years.
Listening to RTE today I heard, that the protestors had “no motive, nothing about immigration”. Obvious Russian style propaganda…… The country has had enough of
OPEN BORDERS
LMAO
Have you walked the streets of Hamburg and Frankfurt?
Germany is finished, their women are being murdered, abused, harassed and raped everyday. The media does not even report all the attacks, you have to dig up the news that is not being reported.
AFD are completely powerless.
That is a very solid article. I would add
1. Going into UCC and taking off the working class Cork accent of the civilian guards there is beyond stupid.
2. Ganging up on a Cork Sinn Fein TD at Cork railway station who said he had a medical condition borders on criminally stupid and the TD would have been well within his rights to press criminal charges.
3. All new movements attract the charlatans and the opportunists as well as the nutters. What about that guy in Donegal appealing for US $, whilst wearing a bainin, a caipin, a sheepdog on his lap and pictures of the Virgin Mary and JHK behind him. Had he been serious, he would have networked through Donegal GAA players and would not have helped a Loyalist collect names and addresses under the “Fighting Covid” banner.
4. There are many loose groups there, all of whom tolerate each other but scare away everyone else. There is, as you point out, no structure and nor, given their current set up, can there be.
5. Healy Rae was mentioned. have they done a SWOT analysis of that circus with him and, per reports, nicking the phone of an American (!!!!_) interning with him.
6. Healy Rae might well like the shekels but, as the song goes he is “not the only one”.
7. There was also the “funny” incident of ganging up on TG4’s Kevin Magee without a word of Irish between them and then assailing him outside the GPO over a conviction some nutters got attacking him in Belfast. Magee had a good laugh there and the TG4 cameraman got great footage. An own goal they call it in soccer. Barracking mainstream journalists wins no brownie points and shows the only tactic is take off the jackets and scrap.
6. Sports reporters weighed in on the green track suit one of the protesters was wearing.
7. Though the writer of this article is no more napoleon than I am, you’d have to be blind, dump and deaf to think any progress was made by any of this.
8. I don’t think people who take off working class Cork accents in Cork are the way forward.
9. These are the same people who attacked Paul Murphy PBP this time last year and got him to hide in Buswell’s. They looked like rabid dogs and Murphy must have been delighted at the chance of playing the martyr.
10. There are ways fowards. Mountjoy, for example, now houses Bridget Scanlon (TUSLA0, the Strokestown heroes of yesteryear, Enoch Burke (biys are girls) and some violent dude who thinks he is a woman. A platform could be built there but not with nutters who travel to Cork to mock working class Cork people.
Hope this assists and allows you to correct the many issues in your article
Acting as one!!!! You are suggesting to herd people who are unhappy with the state (the servant of the nation) into one group and thereby you suggest to move the unhappiness into the united group!!!… Ill think you will find that has never worked nor works… So am surprised you suggested – maybe you are showing your own colours!!!!
What does work however, is when people stand in their national capacities and challenge their servants i.e. the State (article 4-9) …. The first 3 articles of the 1937 constitution outline this sovereign national capacity and what nationals can do if the state (the nations servant) does not comply, with the best sovereign interests of those it serves i.e. the nation and its nationals …
Action is necessary when national issues fall on the deaf ears of state – so there is not much else to talk about, when the state (the nations servant) has obviously gone rogue… and doesnt uphold the principals of irish law and statute, as enshrined within the four walls of the nations constitution…
I suggest you try to understand the basics of the nation, its sovereign people, vs the state and their compliant tax paying slaves…. maybe then you will have the capacity to appreciate both sides point of views, and then give a better summary of the real TRUTH, in that the state as servant MUST obey and comply with the will of the people…. not the other way around;
Hope this assists and helps you burkean on your journey of truth …
You state that action is needed factored around the 1937 Constitution, go about about “the principals (sic) of Irish law…within the four walls of the nations (sic) constitution” and you finish with the Americanism that “the state as servant MUST obey and comply with the will of the people”.
Though I assume you are a Constitutional barrister, from where I sit few give a damn about the 1937 Constitution, which is being amended almost every time our rulers get a chance to amend it. Most laws are now passed by the European Union and basic concepts of motherhood and neutrality are being flushed down the toilet.
Neither the Irish State nor the greater EU mega state give a toss about the Irish Constitution so I wonder why you think you and your sartorially challenged friends can make a difference by rallying around it. Even Sinn Fein, which long pretended to oppose it (and the EU and the Special Criminal Court) have now, as it were, seen the light and the green of their masters’ money.
The article made very good points, which those who want to change the current status quo should reflect and act on.
Not a barrister or sol TBTG!!!!!! All just common sense being honest … Whether you understand it or not – please try to take this on board – the irish constitution of 1937 is quite unique (indias and catalans of spain is also similar) – in that it involves the primary rules detailing out not just the sovereign nation (as master), but also details out the servant state (as servant of the nation)… have a look at the headings of the superior document and how it is broken out https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html … nation first, state second, etc .. What is also unusual, is that a standardized bill of rights (and more) is incorporated in the 1937 constitution … whereas the norm for countries is to have a bill of rights enacted in the state only (which excludes all your national rights)… EG The 1922 constitution was ONLY for the saorstat state – as it (saorstat) formed part of the british nation back then.. Most constitutions cater for either nation or state – but very few incorporate both…. plus include national bill of rights…. so it was way way ahead of its time..
Most are not aware that there exists national courts (art 34-37), and statutory courts (1961 courts acts).. and a national can sue in his national capacity, the state, in such a national court for actions of the state and state actors, that are repugnant to the 1937 constitution inc various acts , whereas statutory courts are for state/statutory persons, companies etc where they can sue each other under statute… Thus is you, as an irish national (birth right or by blood right), who has a beef with the state, you can sue the state eire, under any article of the constitution, within that competent national court, provided you invoke your national capacity…
In europe the same is also paralleled – where the European national courts (eg ECHR/strasbourg courts) deal with nationals who are suing their state for breaches of local national policy and law, and in fact eire/state has pledged to uphold ECHR national rulings in the irish ECHR Act 2003 etc … For EU (super) state statutory issues – you go the ECJ brussels …
Most are not aware of the irish superior NATIONAL remedies available when a state goes rogue… as has been happening locally atm…
The issues the state has caused in the recent past – warrant national actions – however the national judiciary flip such actions into statutory actions, by changing the jurisdiction, by simple tricks like asking are you a registered journalist and do you hold an equity card .. answering in the affirmative, rather than confirming your national capacity, flips such an action into a statutory action that you will not win, as they carve the state up before you into sub statutory bodies …
As people awaken in ireland they will become aware of ways forward – in the meantime – good ould freedom of speech and publicly voicing your opinion is a protected NATIONAL right in ireland and NO statute can subvert those national rights, as it would be repugnant to the overarching national principles within BnH1937 – whether people like it or not!!!!!!!
Hope some of this info makes sense …
In any event thanks for your reply..
Organisation is key. Staying on message is key.
The point made in the article about after working hours is also something worth thinking about.
Screaming at he cops does nothing. Coherence, unity, avoiding terrible optics and perseverance are how we win.
Despite the press claiming for months that the anti-government protests are dwindling?
Protests and peasant revolts never come to anything, there will never be a cultural shift in Ireland where real change can happen. The damage is done, the third world have made ireland their domain. Fat irish women live in the indian/pakistani takeaways. Irish women share towns and cities with the third world. Ireland and south africa, there is no difference now, you are the silent white minority, ethnically on course to be replaced.
I hope south africa destroys ireland in the rugby so the college brats can have one less piss up.
Twitter protesting has come to nothing, you have no power and ireland are the best serfs in class for the establishment, college brats fresh out the colleges waiting to to fulfull their destiny, serfs for money. The college brainwashed political class running the show.
I agree totally with the above analysis of the fracas outside of the Dail yesterday. As one who led many protests during the “troubles “years as chief spokes person for the Anti- extradition campaign, and for release of the Birmingham six,Guildford four and many other campaigns against the EU, violent or undisciplined partakers were either mentally unbalanced or were there to undermine and damage the cause we were gathered to protest against.
I like what you’re saying, but don’t agree that protests should be held after hours. If we want to protest against those who govern, then surely the right place to be is at government offices?