From: luca
Message:
Stuart Borthwick wrote:
> Firstly, I did state that I felt that a republic was an essential
> precondition for a democracy, rather than that republics are inherently democratic.
Indeed you did. A nice, but essential, distinction.
> Secondly, onto the specifics of the republic under which you live. The
> one founded in 1922 by the British. The one foisted on the Irish public
> by sleight of hand, and accepted only after a bloody War of Independence
> and consequent civil war. The one that institutionalised religious
> division. The one that led to the denial of basic human rights in the
> North, and a theocracy on /both/ sides of the border. As you state, it
> is dominated by crooked politicians and corporate power. /It/ /is/ a
> partitionist republic founded on inequality, a banana republic as you
> suggest. Whilst a republic is, in my view, an essential precondition of
> democracy, this is no democratic republic.
I agree with most of the above, but it does miss some of the nuances of
Saorstat Eireann (which is unsurprising in a response on a interweb
forum! I'm not taxing your response with the need for a watertight
explanation!). However, I do think the active role of the Irish
themselves (so to speak, TAL and all that...) in the establishment of
the Republic is missing from your account. And by this I don't mean to
refer to the rising or subsequent War of Independence, but rather the
clear intention of many (de Valera notably, obviously) to collude with
the form of state being suggested by the British government in order to
position themselves advantageously after independence was granted.
Of course, due to deV's largely self-imposed political exile through the
1920s, the full effects of this didn't really begin to manifest itself
until the 1930s when Fianna Fail first came to power. It was at this
point that the Republic in all its dour glory came to fruition, in the
sense that the populist politics of Fianna Fail (that met some of the
felt human needs of the working class) melded with the theocrats. People
often forget that 1922 constitution (that came on foot of the state
"foisted" upon the Irish) was non-denominational, and for its time,
relatively "liberal". It was the Irish /themselves/ who chose to
dismantle this and replace it with the theocratic, sexist, corporatist
1937 constitution - which whilst infused with populist republican
sentiment, was essentially meaningless in this regard, most obviously
seen in the execution of IRA activists all through the 1930s and into
the 1940s. Too much is blamed on the British for the post-colonial
decisions of the Irish.
As for being founded on inequality, well I think this is only a partial
truth too. In 1932, 48% of the Irish population were either small
landowners of small business owners, and whilst extremely poor, there
was a degree of egalitarian poverty, if such a thing can be said. Where
the truly disgraceful inequality that pervades Irish society comes from
now is from the manner of the distribution of land that was miraculously
reclaimed from Britian by de Valera. Most of the land was given to
existing large land owners. And to this day, it is the landless urban
and rural poor that remain rooted to the bottom of the social ladder
here. And whilst this is the end-game of colonialism, what again should
not be underestimated is the role that some of the Irish themselves
played in this. Of course, it was all done under the smokescreen of
"national community" which stressed success in national terms, and not
in individual or class ones. As long as "we" got the land back, what did
it really matter which good Irishmen were fortunate enough to do well
out of it? This still pervades today - look at the way gaelic games are
used to promote "we"; and also explains the lack of difference between
political parties. Except, of course:
> However, I think that there is a glimmer of hope for things on your side
> of the Irish sea. My English republicanism is influenced by Irish
> republicanism. I think that in the island of Ireland there is a
> successful radical and progressive political force in the form of Irish
> republicanism that is not mirrored over here.
And this is where we share common ground. It is very exciting, isn't it?
> your day will come.
Aye. It's in the post, so to speak.
=luca=
