The worst illiterate is the political illiterate, he doesn’t hear, doesn’t speak, nor participates in the political events. He doesn’t know the cost of life, the price of the bean, of the fish, of the flour, of the rent, of the shoes and of the medicine, all depends on political decisions. The political illiterate is so stupid that he is proud and swells his chest saying that he hates politics. The imbecile doesn’t know that, from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned child, and the worst thieves of all, the bad politician, corrupted and flunky of the national and multinational companies.
Bertolt Brecht
AH, Baile Átha Cliath.
Recently, a large Yellow Vest protest took to the streets in Dublin. It was focused on getting rid of masks and other protective precautions in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The person carrying the flag at the helm of it is a well known white supremacist, Niall McConnell, whose group talks about immigrants, sharia law and other bogus nonsense they’ve imported from their American and British friends.
Lots of us don’t trust the government or like it, but we do trust doctors and nurses who are asking us to help make their job easier by wearing a mask and being a bit more careful about our hygiene. In response, the far right lunatics have drummed as much fear as possible, some even comparing the lockdown to Nazi Germany. Now of course to a normal person having to wear a mask on public transport or in a shop is not comparable to the systemic mass execution of Jewish, Roma, Disabled, Gay and Slavic people, but for others, this dramatic comparison seems to resonate.
The people who come out to protest for the most part are as skeptical of what the government says as any of us. Let’s face it, the state does not look after our interests in Ireland, and it can’t be trusted. James Connolly said that “governments in capitalist societies are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the rich”. That is precisely what they’re doing here in Ireland, even during this terrible crisis.
Using the anger we all feel, the National Party, the Irish Freedom Party are attempting to build platforms for themselves using the imagery of the Yellow Vests protests that originated in French protests. Their platforms all vary, but they tap into conspiracy theories peddled by misery merchants on the internet and then fuse them with whatever their own agenda is. In reality, only one of them offers an alternative vision, and that’s the National Party. Their vision is about setting up a Catholic theocratic dictatorship, deporting/restricting immigration, abolishing same sex marriage and a litany of other ideas straight from 1935.
The far-right in Ireland is taking pains to rebrand itself as more respectable and normal and is trying to pay lip service to some social issues to effect that. Here Justin Barrett, with links to Neo-Nazi organisations throughout Europe, uses child protection as cover for a far-right rally, ignoring the fact that in his written works he has explicitly defended abuse of children by the Catholic Church.
The Yellow Vests on the other hand are just a general body formed from anti-government sentiment with no coherent explanation as to how they will change things. Many of them repeat conspiracy theories as well (content about COVID, antifa, masks making people sick, Bill gates vaccinations etc). But what coherent route to political power are they presenting? None. What could have been a people’s movement has been poisoned by the political falsifications emanating from America, where conspiracy theories have been weaponised to distract people from their daily robbery by big business and the governments it is in cahoots with.
Socialism is the alternative. It is about putting the economy under democratic management. It is about rebuilding communities and maintaining the wealth the workers create. It is about providing housing for all of the people. It is about healthcare being a right, not a service to die for. Socialism is about the people being placed at the center and socialism, is what James Connolly died for and the Connolly Youth struggle for. These people don’t understand socialism, they don’t care about the struggles of working class people – they just want to take the anger at the government and direct it at vulnerable members of the working class – migrants, people who are LGBTQ+. They know people are in a situation without a lot of control, and want to persuade people that they can retake control by oppressing others. The only people we all need to unite against are the capitalist class, and we need to correctly identify those who would seek to divide us and waste our energy for what they are – morally bankrupt scam artists out to con people into acting against their own interests.
I extend the invitation to anybody with questions about Socialism, Communism and Capitalism to reach out and ask them.
Our door is open and we have a coherent explanation of how we imagine a post-capitalist society.
1 thought on “The Yellow Vests are Selling Out to the Far Right”
Evan Hutchinson
I am not educated on how exactly the country is being run, but I know it is not right, il give you an example, I was on holidays talking to a 56 year old Scott’s man, telling me how in Belgium the price of petrol and diesel went up by €2, so everyone stopped the cars wherever they were immediately, closed the doors and locked their vehicle , causing mass disruption to transport lorrys and other transport vehicles, within 2 hours the government pulled back their price raise, and the people won, I think that is brilliant and not talked about enough. Why is it irish people can come together for masks and black lives (which I completely agree on I am in no way racist) but we have our own problems to look after, we should not be looking after the so called rich by paying our unnecessary taxes, what will it take to start a revolution? If we stood against a foreign allegiance like britan why can we not stand up against our own who is taking advantage of the working class, taking advantage of our own people, and leaving them in the dark space of quietness which they cannot stand up strong and scream for what is right ?? I think our own government have turned against us, I know it, but the people of ireland are either too systematic to stand up , they dont want to be seen as people who cannot afford the taxes, when really they are completely brainwashed into thinking that we are safe by abiding by our government , I have always believed Ireland needs a man like putin, granted he may seem like an arrogant and dirty character, but he does what’s best for his country, he doesnt let any super power throw its ignorance over the power of his thrust, he has no problem in becoming the “bad guy” to the public eye, once he is doing what he believes Is right for his country.
We need 1 person to become the deciding factor of every route this country takes, we need to educate the old schooled , put complete confidence in the people, not by making silly promises, but by making this country a country for the people instead of for the politicians, since berty ahern, we have lost our way, not putting blame on to anyone, as the government has created a mass panic , we have been sold like cattle, and treated like dogs, used to benefit the higher class, sitting on their high chairs, taking advantage of the working class people. Pulling strings like a puppet master, why can we not revolutionize our system? Why can we not stand up against what is right ? Have we become so technically lazy that all we can do is “tweet” about our Hope’s? We are a so called fighting race of people, fighting for other causes but our own, I am delighted to see so much outstanding citizens stand for black lives matter , but do irish (anyone living in Ireland black, white, brown yellow, etc) lives not matter ? We have suffered so much over the years we have fought for what is right, can we not fight for what is right now and overthrow the government, make ireland a country of freedom and independence to the working class, we need to be heard, we need to change this system.
I am not educated on how exactly the country is being run, but I know it is not right, il give you an example, I was on holidays talking to a 56 year old Scott’s man, telling me how in Belgium the price of petrol and diesel went up by €2, so everyone stopped the cars wherever they were immediately, closed the doors and locked their vehicle , causing mass disruption to transport lorrys and other transport vehicles, within 2 hours the government pulled back their price raise, and the people won, I think that is brilliant and not talked about enough. Why is it irish people can come together for masks and black lives (which I completely agree on I am in no way racist) but we have our own problems to look after, we should not be looking after the so called rich by paying our unnecessary taxes, what will it take to start a revolution? If we stood against a foreign allegiance like britan why can we not stand up against our own who is taking advantage of the working class, taking advantage of our own people, and leaving them in the dark space of quietness which they cannot stand up strong and scream for what is right ?? I think our own government have turned against us, I know it, but the people of ireland are either too systematic to stand up , they dont want to be seen as people who cannot afford the taxes, when really they are completely brainwashed into thinking that we are safe by abiding by our government , I have always believed Ireland needs a man like putin, granted he may seem like an arrogant and dirty character, but he does what’s best for his country, he doesnt let any super power throw its ignorance over the power of his thrust, he has no problem in becoming the “bad guy” to the public eye, once he is doing what he believes Is right for his country.
We need 1 person to become the deciding factor of every route this country takes, we need to educate the old schooled , put complete confidence in the people, not by making silly promises, but by making this country a country for the people instead of for the politicians, since berty ahern, we have lost our way, not putting blame on to anyone, as the government has created a mass panic , we have been sold like cattle, and treated like dogs, used to benefit the higher class, sitting on their high chairs, taking advantage of the working class people. Pulling strings like a puppet master, why can we not revolutionize our system? Why can we not stand up against what is right ? Have we become so technically lazy that all we can do is “tweet” about our Hope’s? We are a so called fighting race of people, fighting for other causes but our own, I am delighted to see so much outstanding citizens stand for black lives matter , but do irish (anyone living in Ireland black, white, brown yellow, etc) lives not matter ? We have suffered so much over the years we have fought for what is right, can we not fight for what is right now and overthrow the government, make ireland a country of freedom and independence to the working class, we need to be heard, we need to change this system.