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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 Fiona O'sullivan
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    Jul 19th 2016, 12:39 PM

    Sympathy to the poor woman, but serious sympathy to the poor truck driver, this is becoming all to frequent in this country, he was only doing his days work, minding his own business.

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    Mute Adrian O'Donnell
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    Jul 19th 2016, 12:00 PM

    That poor woman. Her whole life turned upside down on a morning where we all should be just enjoying the sunshine and then this happens. Devastated for her.

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    Mute Deirdre Mac Mahon
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    Jul 19th 2016, 2:19 PM

    This is utterly horrible. Poor young mum. Poor wee kid. Words fail me

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    Mute Fiona Larkin Ryan
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    Jul 19th 2016, 1:54 PM

    So tragic. How is that mother ever going to get over this. Rip little man. Watch over your mam.

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    Mute Mary Walshe
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    Jul 19th 2016, 3:04 PM

    Looks like it was deliberate. I could be wrong but it looks like attempted murder of the woman and murder/ suicide of the child and man. I know that road well and if he was from Lattin he would know it well too and would know not to overtake. Rip to both and my utmost sympathy to the mother of the little boy.

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    Mute Pat Walsh
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    Jul 19th 2016, 1:20 PM

    He’s not eastern European, his parents are Italian, but he was born and raised here,

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    Mute Steve McMahon
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    Jul 19th 2016, 1:49 PM

    Don’t like the look where this story is going

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    Mute Ricky Grimes
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    Jul 19th 2016, 3:28 PM

    It’s easy to condemn but the poor man must have been in a very distressed state of mind to do something like that.
    RIP.

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    Mute Sinead Hanley
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    Jul 19th 2016, 9:38 PM

    Fcuk him. He just destroyed a mothers life and murdered her son. If he lives we would all be saying he should be locked up. But now that he died we feel sorry for him. And don’t get me started on the funeral service for this fella where the priests says “it’s a dark day”.. This man just murdered his son and attempted to murder his partner. S(umbag

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    Mute Sinead Hanley
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    Jul 19th 2016, 9:39 PM

    Ricky.. Most murdering b@stards are in a distressed state of mind

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    Mute Ricky Grimes
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    Jul 19th 2016, 11:19 PM

    When a mother murders her children society reaches out the hand of compassion and understanding.
    Why is it not the same for fathers?

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    Mute Sinead Hanley
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    Jul 19th 2016, 11:44 PM

    Ricky. Murdering mothers are worse than mothering dads

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    Mute Ricky Grimes
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    Jul 20th 2016, 12:15 AM

    Just think about what happened here for a moment………and reflect on how this situation spiralled out of control to this point. The human tragedy involved.
    Can we truly say we understand it and as such are in a position to make a judgement call one way or the other?

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    Mute Gwen Denny
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    Jul 20th 2016, 10:10 AM

    Sinead I hope you are never in a situation where your mind is so badly messed up by depression that you are not thinking rationally. Obviously this man was out of his mind doing this and it breaks my heart that a little boy has died and his mother had to go through such an assault, but nobody knows his circumstances and shouldn’t be quick to judge that he was ” evil” . I’m not saying I agree with what he did because I don’t , but with serious mental health problems a while back myself I know that your mind does not think normally . I certainly hope this is the case with him because I’d hate to think this WAS an act of pure evil

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    Mute Jumperoo
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    Jul 19th 2016, 4:49 PM

    Oh no. That poor little boy. Whether the crash was an accident or deliberate, no child deserves that.

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    Mute tonymcc
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    Jul 19th 2016, 5:12 PM

    So sad, too much detail re the crash. Horrible set of circumstances

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    Mute Rusty3578
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    Jul 19th 2016, 6:40 PM

    It’s just so sad to be hearing about theses suicides , people should always realised that life is 2 step backwards and 1 step forward , this carry on could be avoided… RIP to the little lad … So sad !

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