When a few hundred thousand Greeks confronted the Persian world-system with a radical rejection of all it stood for, and refused to be absorbed, it seemed to all the Persians and to some intelligent Greeks mere pigheaded nationalism. But it turned out to be important not only for the Greeks, but for the all the world that came after them.”
Desmond Fennell
Ireland is a nation under cultural occupation, and the value system that expresses itself through Irish media organs are a mere expression of this occupation. With the tearing down of the social structures of the old Catholic state we find ourselves in the crosshairs of international liberalism and the designs it has on our country. Central to this is immigration, and as such it must also be central to the anti-globalist fight.
While polling shows a disquiet around immigration in the Irish body politic, so far any sort of overt anti-immigration sentiment has been absent from mainstream political representation. The following is an outline of the central arguments for, as well as strategies to pursue anti-immigration activism. It is a partial response to a rather perfunctory open borders article published for the college magazine Trinity News which outlines a furthering of mass immigration into Ireland.
The Philosophy of Irish Nativism
Contrary to the belief of Irish progressives, nativism is a lot more than bar stool grumbling. Far from being all about hating Johnny foreigner, the ability to demarcate one’s national turf and who inhabits it is fundamental to the life of any people.
When outlining the argument against mass immigration we must be clear why we do so. The existence of an Irish nation is sacrosanct, and it is on that existence which the economic, cultural, and political wellbeing of the Irish people depends. What our opponents offer instead of an ethnically defined organic society is a liberal technocracy, which cannot deal with the demographic changes it inflicts on itself.
The alternative to a nativist state is one inevitably dominated by big business and a burgeoning nanny state trying to police the demographic change it engineered. Ireland, just as the Japanese view Japan or as the Zionists view Israel, must become an island fortress from which our national welfare can be secured. This task we must set ourselves, just as our forefathers faced British domination.
The Manipulation of Irish History
“How can the Irish object to immigration when we migrated across the world”. So begins and ends the standard apologia for mass immigration into Ireland.
It is as shallow an argument as it is a manipulation of Irish history. There is no quid pro quo on modern immigration into Ireland and historical and contemporary emigration from Ireland.
Mass immigration is being used just as much as emigration is used, as a safety valve by the Irish elite to perpetuate an economic and social order against the welfare of the Irish people. The Irish, many first generation Famine survivors, were some of the most ardent nativist activists in America as the life of Denis Kearney testifies. If Famine survivors were hostile to immigration, then so too can be the modern Irish.
Mass immigration is a myopic policy legitimised through false platitudes. The actual history of immigration into Ireland, from Dermot MacMurrough to the sectarian conflict in our six counties, has been one of disaster. Just as English monarchs sought to bring Ireland to heel through the Plantations, so too does modern globalism seek Ireland to become a pacified satrap using population transfers as one of the tools.
Immigration as a Symptom of the Gombeen State
To be against mass immigration, one must also be against the causes of mass immigration. Immigration into Ireland is simple fodder for the island’s gombeen men and corporate outsiders to feed upon. These are the people that anti-immigration activists should save their opposition for, rather than immigrants themselves.
This was shown late last year during the acquiring of the sole hotel in Wicklow town for the purpose of housing Direct Provision residents. This was done without the consent and with minimal foreknowledge for townspeople, with considerable grants paid out by Department of Justice to the hotel owners.
Here more than anywhere else we can see how liberalism can act as mere ideological smokescreen for our gombeen class. Nationalism in Ireland has always been a corrective force against the gombeen men and so too must it be again.
The modern gombeen men of Ireland would happily turn all of Ireland into one Direct Provision centre, if it would turn them a profit, and would likely use anti-racist rhetoric to legitimise their actions. The anti-immigration cause is pointless unless it addresses the economic system that engenders migration. If our economy needs unsustainable mass immigration, then we simply need a better economy.
Revamping the Pro-Life Movement
Abortion is a legal reality in Ireland and will remain so for the foreseeable future. While the defence of the unborn is the noblest cause there is, strategically it must be understood that the issue is settled for a generation.
Already we can see a refocusing of minds, with pro-life voices like John Waters becoming more vocal in opposing mass immigration. While the remains of the pro-life movement have enough financial and activist capacity to sustain an anti-globalist movement many times over, problems abound.
Firstly, the Catholic nature of the movement complicates matters greatly. The simple fact is that the Catholic Church has an inbuilt interest in promoting mass immigration into Ireland, just as much so as any gombeen man. Similar to the Church of England, its numbers will only be sustained by the new migrant populations in an increasingly secular Ireland.
With Aontú we see the debate directed towards vague notions of sustainability, without challenging the logic and effects of immigration at its roots. The segway from pro-life politics to nativism must be natural, and should be one of the few positives arising from the heinous decision of removing the constitutional ban on abortion.
Creating Our Own Media Ecosystem
Liberals will try very hard not to repeat the mistakes of 2016. Narratives around ‘fake news’ are only to mask increasing worries that progressive forces cannot fully command the media narrative in the cyber age.
Securing access to social media platforms is the most important practical task facing us at the moment. Right wing ideas will triumph for the simple fact that the current progressive order is built upon lies and enforced self-deception. However do not be under the illusion that a ‘free marketplace of ideas’ really exists. Whoever dominates a national conversation is whoever has the largest platform. The exponential growth of figures such as Grand Torino points to manner in which non-liberal personalities can professionalise and take the debate to the public. The barriers to entry for creating media platforms is minimal and anyone reading has, in theory, the ability to start one.
From the constant pro-migration propaganda of The Irish Times to that of Joe.ie, liberals are shameless in promoting pro-immigration clickbait for their own ends. It is only fair that we respond in kind.
The Direct Provision Canard
Crocodile tears are central to the arsenal of any open borders activist. The dysfunctional Direct Provision system for dealing with asylum applications is the wedge by which open borders activists seek to open Ireland up to more immigration. Direct Provision is a system clearly not fit for purpose, a fact that should be agreed by all.
In its place however we must propose a streamlined system, in which failed asylum applicants are swiftly deported. Many anti-Direct Provision activists mask their intent through concern for trapped asylum seekers, with their true goal being a borderless Ireland.
The next target when Direct Provision is abolished will be Ireland’s 27th amendment and any other restrictions on birthright citizenship. This amendment is, to a large extent, ignored. However, should liberals be bold enough to force a referendum on the matter, it may air grievances on immigration that otherwise would have remained hidden.
The Pros and Cons of Right Wing Activism
Street activism and direct action is built into the very DNA of left wing politics in a way the right will never fully capture. Left wing activism is bankrolled directly or indirectly by the state, NGOs and academia, a privilege that we will never enjoy on the right. Despite this, recent attempts to foist Direct Provision centres onto towns like Rooskey and Wicklow have resulted in significant local backlash unlike anything that we’ve seen before. December of last year marked what had to be the first formal protest against mass immigration in Ireland, with 150 assembling to protest Ireland’s signing of the UN migration pact.
While sometimes aimless, the cultivation of some sort of right wing activist culture if done properly should be welcomed. As shown in 2014/5 with the water charges protests, what begins as disquiet over a minor issue can bleed into a national movement. Considering the injustice done to parishes where Direct Provision centres are inflicted,locals are within their rights to lobby and mobilise against it.
Robbing the Left’s clothes
By accepting mass immigration rather than forwarding justified critiques, the Left has forfeited any claim to be against the neoliberalism it outwardly despises. As the Left recedes into fratricidal identity politics, the chance arises to cherry-pick issues that have formerly belonged to them for our own purposes. Issues around environmentalism, housing and workers’ rights are primed for the anti-immigration cause.
Above all else, the nativist cause must not tie itself down to a narrow set of free market doctrines, and should have zero qualms stealing the good ideas the left has long since forgotten about amid the circus of identity politics.
Manipulating the Political Centre
The amorality of the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael binary that has dominated the state has been, ironically, the greatest gift imaginable to the Left. With economics settled on pimping Ireland out to FDI, the Left was essentially given free range to dictate social policy.
If a nativist government is impossible then the current FF/FG government must be so fearful of one arising that they alter their policies. We see this effect in how UKIP was able to bring the UK’s governing Tory Party rightward on matters of immigration and the EU. The hard Left has the ear of centrist policy makers with their control of the soft power mechanisms. The goal must be to freeze them out of power by capturing the ear of the middle ground.
Anti-immigration ideas will triumph when they are normalised and the Left apprehends this. Our policy should tend towards normalisation of our ideas rather than simple ghettoisation. In particular the aim should be to drag elements of the current FF/FG to the Right as much as possible.
Calling out the NGO Class
A key functional component to Irish liberalism is the operation of the pro-migration NGO sector. Funded normally by the state directly or foreign billionaires (Feeney, Soros), they coordinate daily with policy makers and the media to massage the narrative on migration into Ireland. These organizations are filled to the brim with members of the far left, all of whom happily forgo their own principles by working for organisations funded by the billionaires they claim to want to overthrow.
They are the class that best embodies the power structure that sustains mass immigration into Ireland. By challenging their funding and calling out the barefaced hypocrisy we can go a long way to nullifying their influence on this island.
As we can see from Hungary, even an elected government can find it hard to curtail the power of subversive NGOs. Perhaps we should instead take a leaf out of our opponent’s books and begin to cultivate our own parallel NGOs to begin to lobby the state and media class. The entry costs to such a venture should be minimal should willing participants be found, and would be an ironic example of left wing tactics being flipped on its head to help the nativist cause. Even without formal structures the act of coordinated lobbying by concerned citizens of TDs is something that must be accelerated.
Conclusion
In the years coming we will eventually see concerns over immigration reach the public forum. Put simply liberals cannot hide the changes occuring in Irish society. What is essential is that those on the Right get our house in order now, or we will not be able to navigate this debate in the future.In particular by cultivating the lexicon and techniques to enable the discussion be had in a favourable manner.
The issue of immigration is perhaps the gravest one facing us at present, but it is also one that should be dealt with maturely and with the interests of Ireland at heart.
That was interesting – but was Denis Kearney a famine survivor? He was born in 1847, and so he lived as a tiny baby at the time of the famine, with the worst year being 1847 and th e peak deaths in 1847 and 1848,. So between birth and the age of one, it is possible his family were starving – but unlikely he himself would have survived if that were the case as those aged 0-4 were the most likely to die during the famine. The impact varied from area to area, but what evidence is there that Oakmount, Co. Cork (Kearney’s birthplace, which I believe is near Castletownbere), was severely affected by the famine. Irish people are constantly weaving themselves myths.
Excellent article thank you.
People who arrive without Id cannot be deported. The 2004 citizenship referendum was pointless,ninety five per cent of asylum seekers are not deported because we don’t know who they are and where they come from.Newspapers rely on property porn for profit, hence the shameless pro immigration nonsense from Irish Times scribblers based on the gold Coast between Killiney and Lansdowne who aren’t negatively impacted by the most expensive housing in Europe .Why are Irish prisons one-third full of foreigners who are never asked to leave the country on completion of sentence?
“Just as English monarchs sought to bring Ireland to heel through the Plantations”
Scottish, you mean.