Re-imagine the Rising. Irish Independent 25/3/2016

Reimagining the 1916 Rising

"What's in the pot?" says the brother skipping in from the field with a bee in his bonnet. "Salad for the stools," says I, "and a bit of bacon and cabbage for the day that's in it."

"By Jaysus, we're gonna be in the silk," he says, rubbing his paws together like a March hare. "And how's that?" says I, cutting the heel off the loaf.

Well, declare to God, he upends the place and fires a tomato and a handful of boiled cabbage at the kitchen wall with a bang and a wallop that sends the auld dog across the lino with a yelp.

"Get me the camera from the top of the wardrobe," he roars. "Be God I will," says I, thinking to meself I'd make the call on the way and get the man seen too once and for all.

So in the hall I pick up the phone but had to put it down again on account of him roaring from the kitchen about hypocrisy, revolution and the history of auld Ireland.

"Have you lost your bearings man?" says I. There he was scratching his chin and contemplating the spattered tomato and broken cabbage dripping down the stone, as if he was looking at high art up in the big smoke. "Whisht," says he, taking the camera, "you know nothing of history! Put your paw on the wall there by the tomato for a bit of scale." Says he, "I'm going to sell this picture to the post office for a 1916 commemoration stamp." "Ah," says I to meself, "the poor craytur is gone."

"This little piece of ballistics," says he pointing the crooked finger to a vein of cabbage on the wall, "this here, me boyo, is a piece of our history that has been conveniently forgotten! Washed and hosed clean from the record like dung from the floor of the milking shed," says he.

"How do ya mean?" says I, with one eye for the telephone.

"Well," says he, "when the founding fathers of auld Ireland were hauled from the GPO, 'twas the tomatoes, the cabbages, and the consumptive spits fired at them by the good people of Dublin that encouraged the Brits to give the lead penny to each and all of them. 'Twasn't Britannia's Huns and her long-range guns that put an end to the Rising and sent the leaders to the firing squad, 'twas the tomatoes and the cabbage.

"If it wasn't for the first and more important firing squad of spits and rotten fruit, sure enough Ireland wouldn't be as free and as happy as she is today. Make no mistake, 'tis the tomato and the cabbage that are the heroes of the story.

"With all the shiny uniforms, the marches, the parades and the 1916 speeches, there should be a statue of a cabbage put outside the GPO and a stamp with a tomato on the front of it.

"That would remind us all that in Ireland a sure sign of a good idea is that the whole country will be against it from the start, and a sure sign that someone is telling the truth is the length of the queue that is lining up to give the craytur a hammering!"

Dr Marcus de Brun

Rush, Co Dublin

How the Left was Lost.

Not since the leaders of the 1916 rebellion were pelted with rotten fruit  by the good citizens of Dublin,  has there been a better indictment of the intellectual character  of the masses than the 'Right 2 Water' campaign.

This ostensibly grass roots movement, might be readily dismissed, were it not for the numbers have been taken in by what might be described as an elaborate front for Anarchy Ireland.  

This is not the type of Anarchy that Wilde might have described in his essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism, rather it is the type of anarchy that is defined by violence, by shouting insults at politicians, surrounding their cars at political venues, by threat and intimidation. This type of violence is for its own sake, for the sake of anger and the destruction and vandalism of private and public property.  |It is the same anger that is directed at social housing by many of the inhabitants of social housing, it is an anger at 'the other' the imagined cause of inequality and perceived inferiority. This is the face of Anarchy Ireland. Beneath its banner we find other groupings such as the Anti Austerity Alliance, People Before Profit and others who claim to be representative of the 'left' in Irish politics.

It is the presence of this angry mob, sitting alongside the political wing of the IRA and between them the political face of a corruption  and nepotism that caused our recent economic  collapse that is the current schizophrenic face of contemporary Irish politics. 

In reality when one considers individuals like Jeremey Corbin in the UK or the Gurus of contemporary European Leftist ideology such as Zizek, Chomsky, Renata Salecl and so on, one can quickly realise that there is no Left in Irish politics.  It is this absence of a left that is the cause of our current instability. That is not to say that an entirely Left politics is what is needed, the conflict between left and Right is the fundamental political discourse and it represents the entirely essential thought process that that politics must engage with in order to fairly and intelligently address social, economic, ecological and even humanitarian problems.

If we are to  achieve political stability we have no choice but to live in the old house until the new is built , until we can evolve the mature and viable left alternative that is necessitated by our present economic state and our position within the European Union.  This process may have begun with the trashing that labour has taken in the recent election and a new more left labour is indeed an inevitability.  However, in the interim a dangerous insatiability in Irish politics arises from the fact that the 'right' is not balanced by a left but rather by Anarchy Ireland, Fianna Fail and the political wing of the IRA.



Don't act. Think!

The Fall of Labour

The current lack of 'living leftist ideology' (of the Corbin type) within the Irish labour party resulted in its becoming indistinguishable from, and compliant with  its partner in Government. For this reason it has been dismissed as a Leftist alternative  to the right into which it had morphed.

There is nothing strange in this chameleon like behaviour of Labour.  The cycle of swinging from Right to Left and back again is a necessary oscillation that keeps Labour  in near perfect synchronicity with the political imperatives of the boom bust cycle of modern capitalism. When the economy is booming Labour should be more Right and when it is not booming Labour should be more Left, nothing strange in that. 
 
Unfortunately for Ireland the last election elected labour politicians who were themselves the right wing relics of the boom years, and hence their failure to deliver or champion an alternative to the same old same old. The economic collapse happened too quickly for Labour to morph into is more left wing costume.  Labour was caught with its trousers down and was wearing the wrong underpants.  It is now paying the price and will be shopping for a new costume to wear to the wake of the next government.

Presently the absence of a Left in Ireland is most evident  in our dysfunctional social systems where we encounter the bizarre marriage of extreme capitalism and extreme socialism. A recent European Commission report on the Irish health system points to the fact that second only to Denmark we have the most expensive health system in Europe and yet we are ranked third from the bottom by the OECD. With the longest A/E waiting times in the whole of Europe.

One interesting fact highlighted by the Commission is the fact that the drugs budget in Ireland represents one of our biggest expenses with 80% of our drug spend going to "one supplier". The situation in Ireland is rendered even more ridiculous when one considers that despite the fact that most of our taxes are spent on a public health system, we must pay for that system again at almost every interface. Also the fact that 40% of the population have so little faith in the dysfunctional nature of our public system that they pay for private health insurance ON TOP of their tax spend. is an ongoing indictement of the political establishment.  A major failing here is the influence of the private interests upon the public system, the power of drug companies to prevent the imposition of a state formulary rather than the present situation where 80% of medicines have a single and very politically influential supplier

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/state-criticised-over-healthcare-costs-in-eu-report-1.2560847

One might argue that in Ireland we have never really had a true left, that the state has never truly had the courage to question itself to the extent that a real and visible leftist political ideology might evolve, beyond an imitation of the British Labour movement.  Ireland has never really had a Left because Ireland has not until recently had the economic wealth that ,might allow us to afford ourselves a the  criticism of  capitalism that the left insists upon.
 The tragedy is not  that Labour has been exposed as being as right wing as that which it was supposed to be challenging, but rather in what now remains in opposition to the same old same old. This is Anarchy Ireland, the rise of the political wing of the IRA, thuggery for the sake of thuggery, and the increasingly 'fresh' view which asserts that Fianna Fail were 'not so bad' and whenever they are in power at least 'they do something for the people' like bus passes and more in the pension. 

From this perspective although Left in my own political thinking I feel entirely compelled to leave things in the hands of the Right, of established politics of the same old same old, at least until our new house has been built, or at least until the plans are drawn and we have sourced a builder.

Thus we are presented with a most unstable political system in a time of great international instability and unfolding ecological and humanitarian disasters. Despite a long proud cultural and intellectual heritage, we in Ireland can contribute nothing to the Humanitarian crisis that is sweeping across Europe, we can contribute nothing to the debate on Global ecology despite our being in ownership of almost one quarter of the European Union's oceans.  We can contribute nothing to the global debate on food production despite the fact that agriculture is one of our areas of consummate expertise. We can contribute nothing to the resolution of international wars and conflicts despite the fact that a strong central government with the support of the Irish people could easily and diplomatically  end the refuelling of American War planes in Shannon and send a clear message of peace and neutrality towards the wars and conflicts in the Middle East and beyond.  In short we can contribute nothing to the ills of humanity until we can get our own house in order. Until we can have a balanced political regime with an agreed set of national and international objectives. For this we need constitutional and political reform and for this we need leadership and direction.  Be it left or right, presently we have neither, only an insecurity and political uncertainty that is being capitalised upon by the fringe, by the dark and truly embarrassing elements of the Irish political spectrum.

The regrettable morphing of Labour into the ideology of Fianna Gael, and  the sheer lack of conflict during that coalition of supposed opposites, bears testimony to the reality that the ideological space (as opposed to the fiscal space) is the real commodity that is lacking within Irish politics.  Ultimately what is being exposed is not the lack or the compromise of Labour's left ideals but rather the absence of  intelligent and focused left ideals in the personage of labour politicians. Whilst Anarchy Ireland and Sin Fein can easily mirror back to the electorate an attractive anger and frustration with the same old same old; the formal Left, the Labour party proper has failed to harness that anger to fuel Leftist ideology because it has lost touch with that ideology, and this disjunction between the formal left and the ideology of the Left (as manifest in Europe and elsewhere) has left a vacuum that can now be filled by anger  alone.




As one of our finest and most often over looked social theorist Desmond Fennel often writes, the absentee in Irish society(and political society is no different) is thought or ideology.


In the absence of a legitimate, ideological and educated left,  we remain socially and politically paralysed. Politics must now contend with the rise of an elaborate front for Anarchy Ireland an unproductive mirror image of our own anger and frustration at our national paralysis. That which Joyce referred to as our GPI (General paralysis of the insane).


New so-called  'Lefties' with little to offer other than the time honoured mantra of the confiscation of wealth from the wealthy and its distribution to the less wealthy (an ostensibly attractive ideal stretching back to the stone age) serves now to paralyse the right, which would at least afford us the leadership needed to navigate the ecological, humanitarian and economic crises that are unfolding around us.

 

Press release. Irish Independent 19/2/2016

Did you ever tell a little white lie? .....And then have to tell a whole heap of lies in order to substantiate the first lie? 

Well that's what Party Politics is: the first little white lie.  When a person joins a Party they agree to vote, speak and do as they are told, and in return the Party will look after them in various ways. This is the first little lie and little compromise that undermines our Democracy.  Our problem is that we are concerned with the lies and broken promises that come later.  Rarely if ever do we concern ourselves with the little lie upon which the political system has been constructed.  If we wish to cure the disease we must fix the cause, and that is the first little lie.


Dr Marcus de Brun
Independent Dublin Fingal

Press release Fingal Independent 18/02/2016

Hi John

In respect of a Press release.

The people of Ireland have been conned long enough by both Central and Local Government. The time for change is now. No more clichés and empty promises.  We must recognise that our politics is fundamentally corrupt. Party politicians work for the party, they belong to. The parties pay their election expenses, dish out appointments and Ministerial posts. The parties appoint the board of RTE and that is why independents such as myself have little or no voice in Irish media. Party Politicians are loyal to their party, they do as they are told, they speak and vote as they are told. This is the first and most fundamental corruption within our politics. Politicians are beholden to their Parties and to those who hold influence over the parties.  After the election they may as well stay at home.  All of the parties are correct in that none of them should be in government.  All of them have been in government and ALL of them have failed us.

The first step towards REAL change requires us as a people to recognise that our Democracy does not work in its present form, that it is corrupted. I believe that Ireland should be the most socially, environmentally and technologically  progressive nation in Europe. We own almost a quarter of the EU's oceans. We have a beautiful country and a proud intellectual and cultural heritage. We are a nation of wasted opportunity. We hand over our wealth and our independence to Party Politics, and they sell it, and divide it amongst their friends and sponsors. As a nation we are deprived of our dignity and our independence, we crawl behind the nations of Europe, and yet it is the Irish who have arguably made the greatest contribution to the intellect and literature of western civilisation.

We need to stand on our feet and be proud of who we are. We need to end the refuelling of war planes in Shannon and reclaim our dignity as a nation that stands for something;  for peace, for the environment and an end to war.  We need to take ownership of our identity. We must stand up for ourselves, we need to take the opportunity that our heritage, our wealth and our ingenuity affords us, and apply a vision that will create the finest education system, agriculture, justice and health service within Europe.

We cannot do this as long as we remain corrupted by party politics.  As long as politicians vote for their parties and not for the people whom they supposedly  represent.  We have no democracy, only a sham. A sham democracy and a sham nation.

Let us begin to stand up and take ownership of our independence, to do so we must elect independents. This is the first step towards real change.

Dr Marcus De Brun: Independent Candidate Dublin Fingal

Dear Voter

Little has changed in Irish Politics for many decades. Until recently politics belonged to the ‘old reliables.' Today: ‘The Times they are a changing!’ Ireland may yet reclaim her Independence from party politics and business as usual.

We live in a society where we must still go with ‘cap in hand’ to the ‘Big House’ of Local and Central Government, and appeal to be treated as Citizens. In other European Countries one does not struggle to find; footpaths, street-crossings, clean beaches, smaller classrooms, good planning and a decent health service. These should not have to be begged for, as though they were acts of charity.

Twenty years ago Local Government was responsible for; Waste, Water, and Roads. In recent years each of these have been privatised, and yet the tax take of local government has grown to include the LPT. Local government does less and costs more. Not only should the water tax be questioned, but the TV licence fee, the LPT and more. What do we the public get in return for these taxes?

Something great is happening in Ireland. Independent Politicians who can vote independent of the Party and on behalf of their constituents, are being elected in numbers that will ultimately change the way Politics works in Ireland.

The solutions to most if not all of our problems are alive and are working. They only need to be brought to the table and put into practice. For this to happen we must re-claim our independence. What is the point in voting for a party politician who can hardly think, speak or vote independently? After the Election he or she might as well stay at home.

I will demand policy and politics that makes sense, and is not beholden to party or those who lobby the Parties.


-Accountability and fiscal review of Local Government
-Deliver what we already pay far too much for!
-Community Health
-Community Education
-Social Services that promote Dignity rather than Dependence
-A Justice system that is not simply a revolving door

Party Politicians think and work for the Party.
An Independent Politician works for YOU.
Reclaim our political independence vote DE BRUN