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Sam Boal

Opinion Far-right politics on the rise so we need to stop silencing working class voices on the left

Ordinary working-class people are being silenced by left-wing commentators, because of their lack of regard for modern liberal terminology, writes Conor Kenny.

AS WE LEAVE behind 2018, a year in which Jordan Peterson sold out the Olympia Theatre, Nigel Farage was warmly received at the RDS Irexit conference, and Peter Casey polled second in the Irish Presidential election, it is clear to see that far-right political ideals are on the rise in Ireland.

Meanwhile, working-class voices on the left are being stifled within their own movement. For those paying attention, it is difficult to claim that the two matters are unrelated.

Anyone who has spent time on social media this year will have noticed that a sizeable proportion of Ireland’s young workers are becoming attracted to the reactionary stylings of right-wing populists from abroad.

Granted, Ireland does not have this problem on the scale of other countries, but the onset of the social media age has inevitably resulted in the importation of certain American terms and ideas.

At the same time, many people look across the Irish Sea and sympathise with the plight of Tommy Robinson’s recent court case. In a way, who can blame them? Demagogues like Robinson have often found success among the working class in Britain by presenting themselves as regular people.

The late Bob Crow, the charismatic leader of the RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers), acted as a bulwark against this kind of populist. Crow was the first socialist who was able to persuasively explain left-wing concepts to people like the current Senior Assistant General Secretary of his old union, Irishman Steve Hedley. Many others were no doubt similarly affected by his eloquence.

Part of his appeal, Hedley has told me, came from the fact that the Londoner was visibly working class and proud of it. Ireland could use a Bob Crow at the moment, but they would be unlikely to get very far.

The current trend of ostracising people for having used politically incorrect language, or having expressed ‘problematic’ viewpoints, is alienating future leaders who are needed to fill a political void in Ireland.

The logical consequence of this behaviour is that someone will soon be successful in rallying together enough impressionable voters to form an electable far-right party. Only visible representatives from the working class stand any chance of halting this trend.
 
Ireland does not need to look far to find individuals like this, but many commentators in the left-wing establishment seem determined to freeze them out of the movement entirely when they emerge. 

That isn’t to say that there aren’t any prominent working-class figures on the left in Irish politics. Sinn Féin and People Before Profit, in particular, have done a good job of promoting a significant number of local representatives in and around Dublin in recent years.

But the “left” is more than the political party machines and the trade unions – it is comprised of journalists, pundits, university professors and even, although they are nowhere near as important as they think, the Irish “Twitterati”.

The treatment of author, Frankie Gaffney, is a case in point. Gaffney is working-class Dublin personified. And is the kind of person that the left in Ireland should want at the apex of their movement. An eloquent debater who doesn’t tone down his thick northside accent. Nor is he apologetic about his old-fashioned socialism.

Back in 2017, a large cohort on the left found a piece he wrote in the Irish Times objectionable. Gaffney was heavily criticised on social media for having the temerity to question the effectiveness of ‘identity politics’ in Ireland, in an article that, in hindsight, seems fairly understated.

Central to his piece was the argument that the increasing usage of American political terms like ‘white privilege’ was only tenuously applicable to Ireland, and that they, in turn, alienated the country’s own working class – a group of people who feel about as far from privileged as possible in the current economic climate.

Gaffney’s piece was provocative, and its purpose was to ignite debate, it is fine to disagree with him but the pushback he faced after the article was published was excessive.

The sheer nastiness he had to endure online, mostly from people on his own side, was simply uncalled for. Those who attacked him did so with such vitriol that they proved his point for him.

He faced threats of violence, and his appearance was mocked, with many reacting to his piece deciding to play the (working class) man before the ball.

The similar ad-hominem criticism that Luke Flanagan has to endure from fellow left-wing politicians and journalists whenever he breaches protocol is evidence that even being an elected representative offers no protection from this onslaught.

Irish author, Angela Nagle, recently explained to me her view that one of the reasons why ordinary working people are being silenced by many on the left is their relative lack of regard for modern liberal terminology.

The inclusion of working class voices on the left presents many middle-class liberals with the very real problem of having to accept that most people do not conform to the same norms of political correctness that they do.

Gaffney’s treatment, Nagle claims, is the consequence of a system of etiquette that the liberal establishment strictly adheres to, but that most other people in this country do not.

This is a cultural question of the way a significant proportion of the Irish middle class left treat working class people on their own side.

The most concerning implication of this theory is that working class people in Ireland are being sidelined from a political movement that was originally created for their benefit, on the basis of minor contraventions of ever-changing protocols.

If workers are made to feel unwelcome on the left, it should be no surprise to anyone when they consider looking elsewhere. This treatment of working-class socialists in Ireland is a long-standing issue.

It’s unsurprising that the two biggest icons in left-wing Irish history, Jim Larkin and James Connolly, were born and raised in Liverpool and Edinburgh respectively, and cut their political teeth abroad.

Many people on the left in Ireland have long failed to treat our working class with the respect it deserves.

If this doesn’t change soon, the angry young workers of Ireland currently being seduced by the Robinsons and Caseys of the world have every chance of becoming an organised political force.

And that should be a frightening thought for the left to consider.

Conor Kenny is a political aide and former trade union employee currently based in Massachusetts.

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    Mute David cotter
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:01 PM

    Bernie…Bernie come back ..we’re sorry don’t leave us with this muppit….

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    Mute SFAnkleTapper
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:10 PM

    @David cotter: if it was Bernie v Trump…then Trump would definitely win…. he’ll probably win anyway but Bernie would make it a certainty.

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    Mute Corporate capitalism is killing us
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:17 PM

    @SFAnkleTapper: Trump would disagree with you. He’s on tape as saying Sanders would have beat him in 2016 and a lot of Trump voters would have voted for Sanders also.

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    Mute Benedict XVI
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:23 PM

    @SFAnkleTapper: What on earth are you talking about? Every single recent poll has Bernie Sanders and Biden both beating Trump in a general election. Not even Fox News has Trump winning.

    https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/

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    Mute SFAnkleTapper
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:52 PM

    @Benedict XVI: would they be the same polls that had Hillary as a shoe in? Btw I’m no Trump supporter.

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    Mute SFAnkleTapper
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:54 PM

    @Corporate capitalism is killing us: your actually using Trump as a basis for a credible story….

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    Mute Macus Mc Mahon
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    Apr 12th 2020, 3:00 PM

    @SFAnkleTapper: Biden is a bumbling clown who needs to retire, check his gaffes on YouTube. Bernie would be far stronger them sleepy Joe.

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    Mute David A. Murray
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    Apr 12th 2020, 3:01 PM

    @SFAnkleTapper: Biden’s greatest strength is that it is Trump he is going to be running against. Trump makes Biden’s weaknesses less blatant and Biden is a clear contrast to the type of president Trump is. If it was Biden competing against any other candidate, then I wouldn’t bet on Biden. But with Trump anything is possible (both for Trump and against Trump).

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    Mute Morning Gus
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    Apr 12th 2020, 4:14 PM

    @Benedict XVI: Don’t believe those polls and don’t be taking it too serious. You are most likely going to be disappointed when the results come in.

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    Mute Tom Doyle
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    Apr 12th 2020, 5:00 PM

    @SFAnkleTapper: Even though it hurts me to say this,i agree with you in saying that Biden has a much better chance than Bernie.Where I won’t agree with you is dissing the polls that Benedict put up,Trump is not up against Hillary this time.Also,he’ll struggle in the Rust Belt..

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    Mute Dave O'Keeffe
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    Apr 12th 2020, 6:47 PM

    @Corporate capitalism is killing us: brilliant, Trump saying that was to try to further divide a very fractured democrat party not an actual acknowledgement that he could have lost.

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    Mute david lydon
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    Apr 13th 2020, 7:09 AM

    @David cotter: Bernie is from Ireland? Or do you watch the West wing too much

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    Mute Patrick Paul
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    Apr 12th 2020, 3:15 PM

    I thought Democrats where bad when they selected Hillary Clinton as there presidential candidate 4 years but they’ve really outdone themselves this time round

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    Mute David Shiels
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:05 PM

    America always gets the politicians it deserves.

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    Mute Kevin O' Brien
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:17 PM

    @David Shiels: This is a recurring theme for you, am I right? For the record, I like Joe Biden. I would have preferred Bernie.

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    Mute Ale Ceaser
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    Apr 12th 2020, 2:17 PM

    @David Shiels: Like us? Haughy, Cowan, Ahern, Adams etc.

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    Mute Macus Mc Mahon
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    Apr 12th 2020, 3:06 PM

    @Kevin O’ Brienhttps://youtu.be/-rUvUxynOgk

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    Mute Kevin O' Brien
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    Apr 12th 2020, 5:46 PM

    @Macus Mc Mahon: ok

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    Apr 12th 2020, 3:09 PM
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    Mute Kath Noonan
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    Apr 12th 2020, 6:06 PM

    Sanders making a habit of giving up. His voters must be p*ssed off at this.

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    Mute Gerald OBrien
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    Apr 12th 2020, 11:14 PM

    The only way Biden will win is if he has a decent vice president nomination or if the trump brigade give up on their chosen one. Biden has completely lost the left and continues to put his foot in it further.

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    Mute Mark Reid
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    Apr 13th 2020, 1:22 AM

    @Gerald OBrien the left have lost themselves

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