Sinn Féin Should Lead the Radical Left

Sinn Féin should take a close look at the Meath East by-election. It was normal bland government stuff—the kind of thing the party hacks do in their sleep. It is a marvelous system where it is entirely possible they might get a Monkey elected, as long as it wore the old FG rosette. Those earnest radicals in SF should learn from the masters of spin and organisation. You see where the likes of FG and FF have the edge—is in their complete lack of respect for the electorate. These seasoned cynics know for a fact the electorate are politically inept—bland, and in many cases really scared. They know because they run the systems that educate the voters—many are the products of both religious and secular propaganda.

So when FG put forward the daughter of the tragic Shane Mc Entee—they knew it was a sure thing. The girl has no political pedigree; she is not radical even in the right of centre model. In real terms she is a number and she will adorn the back benches voting for or against any legislation as instructed. The old FG hacks will spout every so often as to how informed our electorate are—but I am afraid this is just spin so as to make really dumb people come across as intelligent.

Of course not all people who voted for the FG token candidate are dumb—many of the party faithful know about the numbers game, and they also know how to control society and protect the elite. But to succeed they need the blind assistance of the dumb electorate and they certainly got that.

Now where does Sinn Féin come in to all of this? Well rough figures suggest the poll was just 30% of the electorate which if correct tells us that 70% of those eligible to vote didn’t! Now as the boring political pundits remind us by-elections have a tradition of low turn outs. The question I am asking is why 70% of the electorate didn’t vote. Obviously some people were indisposed others may have been worried by the weather conditions and so on. Many people are apathetic to politics and the world around them save for what they can consume, others genuinely feel that the alternatives offered by the opposition parties are not credible.

Sinn Féin came third in the poll but if they had managed to steal some of the dissident vote they may have taken the seat. Now I say that with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek as I am no believer in our democratic system because basically it isn’t democratic, also if Sinn Féin add a number to the back benches it is just a pointless as FG.
However the main point that I make is an ideological one, yes that word again for those who love blandism they hate to hear it. With the centre right Labour party in disarray it is surely time for Sinn Féin to give the Irish people a real choice.

Do the Irish people need another left of centre party fighting for it citizens in the Dáil—or is it time for some leftist radicalism based on the rights and needs of the citizen. Yes they will run the risk of alienating some of their floating support but in my estimation they will gather huge chunks of the disenfranchised vote that is desperately seeking representation.

A radical Sinn Féin could restore democracy to the citizen and return the stolen natural resources to their rightful owners. With state intervention there would be massive job creation and improved economic growth—with all citizens paying a just amount of income tax. Sinn Féin could ensure that our Corporation Tax [lowest in EU] at 12.5% is actually paid to our citizens.
You see folks I deal in idealism and ideology—the right wing parties refer to this as 'Cloud Cuckoo land'—have a good look at the land they have created. Come on Sinn Féin do the right thing.

Scars of Ideology

There are times when one feels a deep sense of despair—and perhaps it is the movement from rural to urban that awakens it within me. You see in the little place where I live the clocks stopped years ago in many ways. It stopped in people’s view of society and of themselves—these people hold conservative values and change of any sort makes them uncomfortable. From the outside it appears idyllic. When I moved to Courtmacsherry in 2006 I was knocked out by the physical beauty—and the mild mannered no hurry and sure how bad attitude of the locals.

Seven years later everything looks the same but when one scratches the surface one finds that the skin is raw underneath. Yes unlike on my last visit to Dublin people are not rushing around aimlessly to fast food joints. There are no loud beeping of horns and banging fists on car bonnets. We have no neoliberal altars such as occupy the once beautiful Carrickmines valley.

Yet we do have our sores. In 2006 these houses sprung up in a field beside the estate where I rented a cottage. I had come to Courtmacsherry to write my first novel Viareggio. You could say these houses were thrown up—I passed by each day on my walk and what was an empty field soon filled with ordinary houses selling at exorbitant prices.

The houses were of course snapped up. Young upwardly mobile couples—and single people investing bought them up at rapid rate. Of course today all of these houses save for a few that were designated for social housing are in negative equity. Talking to local business people they lament the whole sad process.

This was once a thriving little resort—trains full of day trippers came from Cork city every summer Sunday in the fifties. People have holiday homes and caravans here—children have fond memories of golden summers spent by the sea. Mothers would arrive with their kids whilst husbands worked and drove down for weekends.

The West Cork railway was shut down in 1961---afterwards the ships that used unload coal and cement stopped sailing up the estuary. The current winter population of Courtmacsherry is just over 200. The local business people had placed their hopes on the success of the aforementioned estate. With many of the residents unable to pay mortgages and with many out of work, there is no money left to be spent down the main street. One owner confided in me that local politicians said at the time the building of these houses would resurrect commerce in the village.

It is a sad sight indeed to walk into your local friendly bar for a quiet pint and chat—only to find that there is just the proprietor and oneself.
So the small village of Courtmacsherry is hurting too. Many will look at the property bubble and the greed values imposed by vested interests as the reason for the downturn. Yes it is true many people borrowed money that in hindsight they could never afford to repay. Others are victims of redundancy from failed businesses. Many are self employed trades’ people who no longer have a market as money drains from the system.

Recently whilst walking by our small harbour I noticed a couple of fishing boats alongside—one was in good repair but I would be fearful of going to sea in the other one. It struck me the madness that has gripped our society. This is the natural industry for a small seaside village—with access to the Atlantic Ocean. Yet we as a citizenry have not instructed our representatives to create a proper indigenous fishing industry. Just think of the amount of jobs proper investment would create—jobs created by the state for the good of its citizens. The spin offs into food processing, and marketing would provide more jobs. Money would come back into the economy and the local businesses would thrive on the backs of secure employment.

Let us remember our government only create the conditions to enable job creation—they don’t actually create jobs. Why is this? Don’t they want to create Irish industry for our citizens or is that too socialist or leftist for them? They prefer the over reliance on American multinationals who come and go on a whim –and have no intrinsic loyalty to the state. They don’t even pay the correct low rate of corporation tax—bullies as they might leave [fright.]
I would like to dedicate this piece to all of those who swallowed the neoliberal line back in 2006, about property and using houses as investments—and I plead with them to examine this ideology that has doomed them and this nation.