Hi Joe, appreciate your posts – always good to see people getting active.

Whilst Ireland has it’s own flavour of things, I think the problem of democratic deficit isn’t so different anywhere. Politics has become a career game for insiders with it’s primary role to distract the populace from seeing the real issues. And appeals to tabloid nationalism is all part of it. Divide & rule – oldest game in the book. The second oldest is to pick off sections of society one by one. You know, first they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so did nothing…. Modern version…they came for the Greeks, but I was not Greek….or closer to home…they denied medical treatment to those in need….but I wasn’t in need, so did nothing.

You would think it obvious (I think MCwWlliams has written about this too) that the members of the Euro periphery would cop on & seek to fight together. But of course, as the mainstream politicians (no difference between them) only represent themselves as part of a narrow group, no interest there.

We need something like a general strike & a clear goal. I’ve posted this up before, but it is the best approach I can think of – a citizen led process of fundamental change:

http://www.2nd-republic.ie/site/

Their document detailing the process for change has recently been launched & sent to TDs. If you want to help, speak to your TD about it – both parties had some sort of statement on reform in their manifestos.

As regards economics, imo, there is an entirely viable & well understood alternative in MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) with ‘functional finance’. Essentially it uses the ability of any (fiat, free floating) currency issuing authority to provide debt-free public financing as & when required, The primary goal becomes the maintenance of (near) full employment. The Eurozone could adopt such a stategy immediately & solve the public debt, unemployment & economic contraction downward death spiral at a stroke. Our own Richard Douthwaite of feasta.org has also proposed this. Of course, it removes the nice little earner for the banksters & rich – the bond market – & likely gives labour greater power in restoring their share of prosperity. So you can see why the captured mainstream prefers to ignore it (not even daring to engage in debate, as they know the system works & would fully expose their own hubris). You can read commentary from this MMT perspective here:

http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/

http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/

http://smarttaxes.org/

Thats a long one Roger! It is interesting to me that you can sense and voice the i njustices this some 7 or 8 centuries later and that you see some parallels in the events of this moment. Exploitation is exploitation, whenever it occurs.

There is a 98 year old peom by W.B. Yeats on the theme of Irish meekness from just before WW1. All Irish teenagers learn this following verse from it by heart in 2nd level, let me quote it;

September 1913 ( by William Butler Yeats, 1st verse )

WHAT need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone;
For men were born to pray and save:
Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone,
It’s with O’Leary in the grave.

I have no firm answer for you on why the Irish have been so meek. Theres 500,000 unemployed there now many with no prospects of decent employement and with burgeoning debts.

I think post-colonial theorists have substantial material for many, many books and completely new areas of thought in post-colonial theory solely on the topic of Irelands dramatic rise and fall of the last 15-20 years. ( I’m on not here to encourage academics though).

Within the Ireland nationalistic anti-English sentiment clearly lies deeply embedded in the foundation of the state. The Irish national anthem, for example, is about fighting the Brits ( more specifically the English ) and we are particularly happy roar it out at sporting events against England ( they are not mentioned specifically but we know who is being spoken about ). Thats just the tip of the anti-english (and pro old-IRA ) iceberg. I had thought this active nationalistic brainwashing of the irish people since the very foundation of the state would result in a natural backlash within the population against tyranny of any kind or at least a sense of common cause and nationhood in coming together against a percieved threat ( misplaced or otherwise ) in times of crises. It has not. We were ot brainwashed well I would conclude.

If I have to guess – I think the answers lie in the outsider/insider dynamic of Irish society which has resulted in the outsiders ( and usually more radically minded ) emigrating throughout the last 150 years. I think too the fact that Irelands problems are largely self made with so many Irish in on it not many people there have wanted to do anything that would really rock the boat up to now.

I think national insecurity, particularly intellectual insecurity has played a part in getting Ireland to where it is too.If you are interested in this David McWilliams has written quite a bit about insiders/outsiders and national insecurity and pretence – he talks about it in terms of ‘a good room complex’. I think Golem has links to his site hereabouts.

http://www.vanityfair.com/business/features/2011/03/michael-lewis-ireland-201103?currentPage=all

Well there is #occupy Dame street, & one man who hit back, fair play Gary Keogh.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0615/boi-business.html

I can’t understand why the Irish people seem to have been so Meek?
I wrote this poem back in april inspired by the Poem The welsh Baards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNjeBOgGus4&feature=related

This death of democracy with in the EU is not a new phenomenon. Its been grinding along sine the Euro started but it really took off after the EU constitutional referendum rejections by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Politicians in Ireland talked out of both sides out of their mouths during the aftermath the no vote to the Lisbon treaty in 2009 – a treaty which had all the same parts but with a different as the rejected and dead constitutional. Ireland was the only place to have a referendum ( I think ).

Wikileaks exposed Eamonn Gilmore, current Taniste ( deputy prime minister ) and originally a hard left leaning politcian and current leader of the Labour Party in the following manner as saying one thing in public, that the result would be respected, while telling the US EMBASSY in private AT THE EXACT SAME TIME that he expcted a re-run and a win for the EU/irish official political parties & government yes campaign.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/wikileaks/gilmore-took-opposing-views-in-public-and-in-private-2662663.html

The man is nothing short of a latter day Quisling. I know what I think should happen to Quislings.

However he is now deputy prime minister and he is still leader of the party that represents the unions and union power in Ireland.

What does this say about Ireland and its electorate?

It would be amusing to see the result of any new EU treaty referendum in Ireland. There might be some as aresult of all of this. Ireland has constitutional obligations to hold referendums.

If anybody is further interested in this topic heres a second article from about the same time when after the ‘no’ result the nouveau Bonaparte of Europe little Nicko Sarkozy flew into Dublin to attempt to batter down the upstart motley crew of minor politicans of all hues who had opposed the Lisbon treaty in a ‘discussion’ in the French ambassadors residence ( please note all then major parties supported the treaty with the exception of Sinn Fein – yes that Sinn Fein. ).

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0721/eulisbon.html

What isn’t mentioned in the print media but which was reported by Richard Boyd Barrett of PBP and Patricia MacKenna, independent ( on radio ) who both attended the meeting that Sarkozy was very clear that he did not wish for Europe’s people to be left to decide on something such as a European Treaty. He did not have ‘discussions’ as reported he shouted the various political activists there down. He was openly comtemptful of them and the democratic vote that was taken and when it was put to him specifically that the French people should have had a vote he made it clear that they would not be given the right as he knew that they could well reject such treaties, as they already in the recent past. They weren’t to be given a voice. They were to be bypassed. That was the price for saying non! in 2005.

So too was the democratic wish of the pesky little state he was visiting. And it duly was.

.

Hopefully, there’s also a good chance there won’t be an EU for him to crat in as well.

When I see Clegg sitting next to Cameron in the House of Commons listening to him speak, he always seems to have his face screwed up as though he’s about to cry (as well he might).

Clegg will lose his seat at the next election and get a job as a Eurocrat. He will go down in history as the man who sold the soul of the LibDems for a brief share of power, condemning it to be overtaken by UKIP as the third largest party in the process and setting back the cause of electoral reform for a decade and more.

Anyway all is well. We can stop worrying (again) as Italy has done as she’s told and voted in more austerity. This will end the crisis. Despite the fact that even arch neo-lib Lagarde recognises that austerity is damaging economies and they need ‘pro growth policies’.

I feel like Europe’s leaders have gone clinically insane.

Here Here!