|
|
|
|
“What
do you want from me? They drove a big dump truck
full of money up to my house. I’m not made
of stone.” -
Krusty the Clown
|
|
Eoghan O’Suilleabhain • 18 September 2004
|
It
takes all kinds. But pragmatism, to borrow a euphemism,
always pulls away at principle. And pragmatism mixed
with the usual dash of opportunism is the recipe
every where for rationalizing previous political
goals lost or tossed.
So
called practical politicians are legion for they
are many. Former FDR New Deal Democrat Ronald Reagan
was so vain and vacuous that he would have been
a communist if communism were in vogue. As it happened,
he got an unemployment cure from right-wing capitalist
General Electric and like Krusty the Clown…he
wasn’t made of stone either. Besides, his feet
hurt dancing for dollars in Vegas. So in the spirit
of an earlier George W., old Ronnie “…just
seen (his) opportunities and took ‘em.”
1
When
New York State Senator George W. Plunkett died in
1924 he was eulogized this way:
He
understood that in politics honesty doesn't matter,
efficiency doesn't matter, progressive vision doesn't
matter. What does matter is the chance for a better
job, a better price of wheat, better business conditions.
Plunkett's legacy is to that practicality. 2
Truth
be told, this is the dominant political ideology
every where (if you can even call it an ideology).
And if you don’t think so then what does a
blank cheque-writing politician like Bertie Ahern
stand for exactly? Like Garrett the Deefer’s
Fine Dee before it, Fianna Dum has formally shed
the Republican banner. No Mutha’s money (or
nipple milk) to be gotten from that flag and besides
it just unnecessarily excites a lot of people.
Moreover,
Irish Republicanism will get in the way of ROI joining
up with the British Commonwealth. After all, you
can’t really be an Irish Republican on a bent
knee to the British Queen. And think of all the
jobs and honest graft opportunities there’ll
be once ROI is in NATO!
Although
ROI is not a member of NATO yet, it is squarely
within the British and American sphere of influence.
And so like a piece in their geopolitical puzzle
it’s been subject to a vast array of manipulations
by the Greater Powers in its internal affairs ranging
from conquest to co-option. 3
Consider
for instance that in 1986, Gerry Adams, a signatory
of the 1998 Belfast Agreement (a.k.a. The GFA),
wrote the following critique of SDLP support for
the Anglo-Irish Agreements of 1974 and 1985 at Sunningdale
and at Hillsborough:
No
Irish Nationalist could support any treaty which
institutionalizes British government claims to any
part of Irish national territory. Indeed the term
– “constitutional nationalism” –
used by Mr. (Seamus) Mallon and his collegues (the
SDLP) to describe their political philosophy is
a contradiction in terms. The only constitutional
nationalist in Ireland today is Sean McBride. He
puts his nationalism within a framework of Irish
constitutionality. Mr. Mallon, however, puts his
within the framework of British constitutionality.
Irish nationalism within British constitutionality
is a contradiction in terms. 4
And
speaking of contradictions, this passage is curiously
missing from the 1995 edition of his same book.
5
So
why the about face? Could it be that Big Gerry was
taken in like so many other former Irish Nationalists?
Is the Provo legacy like the F&F’ers “…to
that practicality”? Was Brendan Behan right?
Are we nothing but a nation of cute whores? If so,
then who can blame Gerry Adams and company for selling
out and doing their colonial Master’s bidding
by calling it a day a little bit everyday?
Expecting
small country nationalists like Adams to continue
fighting the good fight against evil imperialist
politics and all that it entails is like expecting
slow swimming toads to have their way in a big snake
lake where only the svelte survive.
Moreover,
many Irish political and business leaders –
given their junior memberships and associations
in various elite American and British academic and
policy making organizations – presumably share
the same world view for the maintenance and protection
of a stable Western European free trade market.
No
organized conspiracy is even needed for this political
economic photosynthesis to occur. A coincidence
of dominant interests anywhere is generally all
that is required for mass media reflection, academia’s
genuflection and a small country nationalist liberation
leader’s co-optation.
So
what do you want from Sir Gerry and the boys?
They
ain’t made of stone either.
END
NOTES:
2
Wiles, David, Boss Tweed and the Tammany Hall
Machine
Eaps 760 at www.albany.edu/~dkw42/tweed.html
3
Ryan, Mark, War & Peace in Ireland,
(Pluto Press, Boulder,
Colorado 1994), pages 20-25.
4
Adams, Gerry, The Politics of Irish Freedom,
(Brandon Book
Publishers, Dingle, Co. Kerry, Ireland 1986),
page 112.
5
Adams, Gerry, Id., 1995.
Index: Current Articles + Latest News and Views + Book Reviews +
Letters + Archives
|
|
|
|
 |
All
censorships exist to prevent any one from challenging
current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress
is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and
executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently
the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships.
- George Bernard Shaw
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Index:
Current Articles
|
|
