Irish Nationalism is a Movement Going Places

Another monster rally was held last weekend, 22nd June, in Dublin, and constituted a clear step forward for the nationalist protest movement. The rally proceeded much like the last, beginning at the Garden of Remembrance and down O’Connell St where it ended around the corner at the Custom House. It was, like the previous rally, bedecked in Irish Tricolours and various other flags like the Irish Republic flag.

There were some complaints last time about the set-up for speeches at the Custom House, because the sound system was simply not sufficient to convey the speeches to the large crowd that had assembled, and it was quite impossible to hear even just a few rows back from the steps of the Custom House.

These concerns were addressed in full. It is always a good sign to see leadership in a movement be willing to acknowledge their failures and address them in the future. A fundraiser was set up to allow for the better set-up. Fundraising is still a problem in this movement, as when funds are raised rarely is the promise delivered upon, and people leave with a bad taste in their mouth. Thankfully this was not the case here, as the funds were clearly put to good use. A stage with a microphone and big sound system allowed for far better delivery of speeches, and a large screen helped the people further back in the crowd to see the stage. In all, it speaks to a serious level of professionalism emerging.

It was somewhat fitting that the protest moved off from Parnell Sq and passed the monument to the great leader. An inscription on the monument reads: ‘No man has a right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation. No man has a right to say to his country thus far shalt thou go and no further. We have never attempted to fix the ne plus ultra to the progress of Ireland’s nationhood and we never shall.’ There is a great discontent brewing in the country and it feels as though a Parnell-esque figure, one who can wed the constitutional and the extra-constitutional politic, is waiting to be found. Surely, one is needed.

A number of speakers had been drafted to speak on the various issues plaguing the country. Cllr. Patrick Quinlan, National Party, gave a somewhat grandiloquent and literary speech which drew on the prior struggles faced by the Irish nation and connected them to the crises of the current day. He spoke about the importance of Nationality and the Nation as a family writ large—drawing on Pearse—and on the unfortunate continuity between the Dáil and the British government’s attempts to stamp out the ideal: the sovereign Gaelic state.

The organiser of the rally, Cllr. Malachy Steenson, asked the question: where do we go from here? Nationalists ten years ago would have never conceived of having monster rallies in the Nation’s capital, but rallies are not sufficient alone to pluck out victory. He spoke about working with other like-minded groupings and trying to achieve unity within the space on the basis of what unites it—love of Ireland, love of our family, love of our children, love of our future. He ended by thanking citizen journalists for their tireless work.

Cllr. Gavin Pepper delivered a rabble-rousing speech on the bread and butter issues affecting the Irish people and rattled off a list of names of asylum slumlords who are profiting off the misery of the Irish Nation. Maggie Stapleton spoke about indigeneity and continuity in a Nation—harking back to the fight for freedom in 1916 on the same Dublin streets and the importance of the Catholic faith to the Irish people. Ciara Ní Mhainnín gave an energetic and uncompromising speech on a variety of issues and Cllr. Philip Sutcliffe spoke briefly on sticking together like a family on a National level—echoing Quinlan’s ‘Nation as an extended family’ remarks.

The rally organisers brought singers up to the stage. The protest movement has recently become a very musical affair. Sometimes music is able to say more than a speech could ever hope to. The rally had the ever-popular Grace, about the 1916 martyr Joseph Mary Plunkett and his marriage to Grace Gifford in the chapel of Kilmainham Gaol just hours before his execution.

A rousing Óró sé do Bheatha ’bhaile, by another of 1916’s martyrs Pádraig Pearse, had the whole crowd in high spirits. The song was sung by the counter-protesters at the previous rally, who were located at the GPO. It’s a matter of some irony that they would sing the song in that context, given that the song has lyrics such as:

‘Do dhúiche bhreá i seilbh méirleach, is tú díolta leis na Gallaibh.’

‘Gaeil iad féin is ní Gaill ná Spáinnigh, is cuirfidh siad ruaig ar Ghallaibh.’

‘Gráinne Mhaol agus míle gaiscíoch, ag fógairt fáin ar Ghallaibh.’

When translated these lyrics are:

‘Our fine land in the hands of thieves, and you sold to the foreigners.’

‘They are Gaels, not foreigners nor Spaniards, and they will rout the foreigners.’

‘Gráinne Mhaol and a thousand warriors, dispersing the foreigners.’

The lyrics might seem to be slightly at odds with the counterprotestors’ ‘Ireland for all’ agenda. Naturally the song is much better suited for the Nationalist movement and it is a good thing to see it adopted. If you do not know the lyrics, they are easy to learn, it’s a common Irish tune, and the song of an Irish rebel. Go learn them.

Finally the rally concluded with a rendition of Amhrán na bhFiann.

The day passed peacefully beside a rather small and disappointing counter-protest that was separated from the rally by a Garda cordon. The Burkean has previously reported on the difficulties that the left face when organising counter-protests, but some people have noticed a trend that the left are now engaging in in order to try to mobilise more people for their counter-protests. They are trying to wed pro-Palestine protests and anti-immigration counter-protests in order to increase their numbers.

This is a shameful and disgraceful tactic that only serves to denigrate the nobility of Irish support for another oppressed historic nation and the left should stop with this behaviour at once if they have any decency.

Prior to the rally on the 7th June in Cork, Cllr. Brian McCarthy said: ‘The far right are going to try and disrupt the Palestine march in Cork on the 7th of June. Our response is an all-Munster rally so we’re calling on socialists, anti-fascists, trade unionists and Palestine supporters to come to Cork on the 7th to stand with us in solidarity.’

While Cork has had a series of pro-Palestine protests, the anti-immigration rally had been planned long in advance and there does not appear to have been any organised pro-Palestine rally on that date to disrupt. Cllr. McCarthy may have been mistaken in his statement as this was in reality just the trial run to mobilise bigger numbers against the movement. However, the trend cannot be denied as Paul Murphy TD shared posters that had been made for the counter-protest in Dublin and it is proof positive of the agenda. Intermixed with typical ‘anti-fascist’ literature is a call to support Palestine. It is shameless.

According to polling around eighty percent of Irish people support Palestine, some of the highest shows of support in the world. Similar polling indicates that around seventy percent of Irish people believe Ireland has taken too many refugees. There is a significant overlap between the people who support Palestine and people who oppose Ireland’s current immigration and asylum system.

The agenda is also a trap. Many people do not engage critically with politics, and instead react emotionally. When they see that Palestinian flags are being waved against them, it is natural that some might come to support the opposing side: Israel. This would be a serious mistake to make, and one that must be carefully navigated and avoided.

The protest movement has been attacked relentlessly about mostly spurious associations with Ulster Loyalism. In the North Loyalists by-and-large support Israel, while Nationalists support Palestine. It is a proxy conflict which buries the real conflict between Nationalism and Loyalism in a substrate.

The movement cannot afford any sort of association with Loyalism, and by proxy, Israel. Israel is one of the most vociferously anti-Irish countries on earth. Israel demands Ireland facilitate their ethnic cleansing in Gaza by taking in refugees. Israel and the United States have wreaked havoc in the middle east and caused untold millions of refugees to leave for Europe. The pair have just been attacking Iran, a country that has long supported the Irish people and their struggle for freedom. There is a street in Tehran named after Bobby Sands, and the Iranian government sent an official delegation to the martyr’s funeral. Ayatollah Khamenei has made many public statements about Bobby Sands, such as: ‘Bobby Sands, a young Irish freedom fighter, resisted in a way that caught the world’s attention and exposed the British monarchy.’ On 8 May 1981 Khamenei led a prayer on the subject of Sands’ resolve and death. This country was just being bombed at the behest of Israel.

In contrast to Israel who demands that Ireland be flooded with the refugees that Israel itself creates, the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland said that Israel must respect that ‘Ireland is for Irish people and Palestine is for Palestinians’.

Mobilising anti-immigration protests on the basis of their being pro-Palestine is exploiting the good will of Irish people. It is leading people astray. Let it not be forgotten that Jewish immigrants to Palestine formed the state that is now starving Palestinians to death in Gaza.

James Fintan Lalor, an Irish rebel and patriot, believed that Ireland could be in the van of nations, leading the whole world on the land question. Ireland has long failed to live up to this standard, but for her support for Palestine. On this question Ireland has genuinely led the world. Can we lead the world in stopping mass migration?