24 May 2001 Edition
Happy, happy, happy talk
BY MICHAEL PIERSE
Worried about the state of the health services? Apalled at educational inequality? Never mind, An Phoblacht can report this week that Ireland is ``Exhibit A'' when it comes to intertwining human progress with economic prosperity.
At least, that is, according to former US President Bill Clinton who, on a visit to Ireland this week, was unsparing in his praise of the emerald isle. ``It is obvious to anyone who has watched from the outside that progress and prosperity have been closely intertwined,'' he said.
One might think that his observations `from the outside' are innocent, but there is very little innocence in the world inhabited by Bill Clinton. The former president, delivering the annual Independent lecture in Trinity College Dublin, went on to hail US and European cooperation in the Balkans as an example of the growing awareness of `interdependency' throughout the world. In this he revealed, possibly, something more of his motive for lauding Irish progress.
To the relatives of Serbians who lost their lives during reckless NATO bombings, this awareness of `interdependency' between the US and Europe may have seemed more like a crude military axis, one in which the established military superpower of the USA and the embryonic military superpower of Europe aligned and rounded violently on the testing ground of Serbia.
`Exhibit A' will, on 7 June, be deciding on whether to take part in what Bill Clinton euphemistically calls interdependecy, and others who have bore the brunt of NATO and its European allies would call a military superpower. Ireland's progress and prosperity, and inane, evasive waffle on the virtues of the same will be used to convince people that they are now a prime candidate, `Exhibit A' even, to be included in one of the world's greatest imperialist forces. A new Europe - with power centralised under the major states - and a major European Army, will be akin to the old imperialist concept of a `commonwealth'. Voting `yes' for the Nice Treaty will mean trading economic cooperation for military sovereignty and sending young Irish men and women out to fight for causes that are almost as alien to themselves as they are to any concept of peace keeping.
The only peace keeping going on seems to be amongst the establishment parties in the 26 Counties, who are intent on showing a united front over Nice. The Labour Party's lacklustre launch of its Nice campaign conveys that Ruairí Quinn has well seen off his college nickname `Ho Chi' and has set off on a firm path down the same road as Britain's New Labour. Not only is the party campaigning for the Nice Treaty, Labour has also left any vestigial traces of left-wing, anti-establishment protest behind with their campaign slogan: `Good for them, Good for us'. Exactly what strain of Marxism, Trotskyism, Leninism, or maybe Shamism they got this from, I'm not quite sure.
Maybe the party's slide in the polls might give them some kind of incentive to change their tune. In this week's Irish Times' MRBI poll, the Labour Party took a downturn, throughout the 26 Counties, of two percentage points, while in Dublin they have been replaced as the third biggest party electorally by Sinn Féin. `Good enough for them, good for us', Sinn Féin activists might say.
While Sinn Féin has sustained its six per cent rating since the last poll in January and increased its share to nine per cent in Dublin, the consistent underestimation of Sinn Féin's support in such polls indicates that the party has good reason to look forward to an early election. Fine Gael, on the other hand, will be dreading the thought.
New leader Michael Noonan had forecast all sorts of resurgence and rebirths for the Gaelers in March, but it seems that the man has inspired little more than apathy. Statistics on his personal ratings show that there is near an equal number of punters satisfied with his performance, a dismal 37 per cent, as there is undecided, 35 per cent. The satisfaction rating is ironically exactly the same as that for former Fine Gael leader, John Bruton, whom Noonan had ousted early this year, apparently because he was inept when it came to canvassing public support. What's that saying about words coming back to haunt you?
The Fine Gaelers have also failed to make a dint in support for the 26-County Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat government, which still enjoys a high level of public approval, 46 per cent between them to be exact. While this may bode well for Nice Treaty supporters hoping to cultivate the `isn't the EU, the government and life itself wonderful' vote, there may be something of a shock on the cards.
The referendum will raise far more public debate, in the coming weeks, on the nature of the EU and the 26-County state's role in international affairs. It is this debate that the `Good for them, Good for us' sloganisers fear most.
Worried about the state of the health services? Apalled at educational inequality? Never mind, An Phoblacht can report this week that Ireland is ``Exhibit A'' when it comes to intertwining human progress with economic prosperity.
At least, that is, according to former US President Bill Clinton who, on a visit to Ireland this week, was unsparing in his praise of the emerald isle. ``It is obvious to anyone who has watched from the outside that progress and prosperity have been closely intertwined,'' he said.
One might think that his observations `from the outside' are innocent, but there is very little innocence in the world inhabited by Bill Clinton. The former president, delivering the annual Independent lecture in Trinity College Dublin, went on to hail US and European cooperation in the Balkans as an example of the growing awareness of `interdependency' throughout the world. In this he revealed, possibly, something more of his motive for lauding Irish progress.
To the relatives of Serbians who lost their lives during reckless NATO bombings, this awareness of `interdependency' between the US and Europe may have seemed more like a crude military axis, one in which the established military superpower of the USA and the embryonic military superpower of Europe aligned and rounded violently on the testing ground of Serbia.
`Exhibit A' will, on 7 June, be deciding on whether to take part in what Bill Clinton euphemistically calls interdependecy, and others who have bore the brunt of NATO and its European allies would call a military superpower. Ireland's progress and prosperity, and inane, evasive waffle on the virtues of the same will be used to convince people that they are now a prime candidate, `Exhibit A' even, to be included in one of the world's greatest imperialist forces. A new Europe - with power centralised under the major states - and a major European Army, will be akin to the old imperialist concept of a `commonwealth'. Voting `yes' for the Nice Treaty will mean trading economic cooperation for military sovereignty and sending young Irish men and women out to fight for causes that are almost as alien to themselves as they are to any concept of peace keeping.
The only peace keeping going on seems to be amongst the establishment parties in the 26 Counties, who are intent on showing a united front over Nice. The Labour Party's lacklustre launch of its Nice campaign conveys that Ruairí Quinn has well seen off his college nickname `Ho Chi' and has set off on a firm path down the same road as Britain's New Labour. Not only is the party campaigning for the Nice Treaty, Labour has also left any vestigial traces of left-wing, anti-establishment protest behind with their campaign slogan: `Good for them, Good for us'. Exactly what strain of Marxism, Trotskyism, Leninism, or maybe Shamism they got this from, I'm not quite sure.
Maybe the party's slide in the polls might give them some kind of incentive to change their tune. In this week's Irish Times' MRBI poll, the Labour Party took a downturn, throughout the 26 Counties, of two percentage points, while in Dublin they have been replaced as the third biggest party electorally by Sinn Féin. `Good enough for them, good for us', Sinn Féin activists might say.
While Sinn Féin has sustained its six per cent rating since the last poll in January and increased its share to nine per cent in Dublin, the consistent underestimation of Sinn Féin's support in such polls indicates that the party has good reason to look forward to an early election. Fine Gael, on the other hand, will be dreading the thought.
New leader Michael Noonan had forecast all sorts of resurgence and rebirths for the Gaelers in March, but it seems that the man has inspired little more than apathy. Statistics on his personal ratings show that there is near an equal number of punters satisfied with his performance, a dismal 37 per cent, as there is undecided, 35 per cent. The satisfaction rating is ironically exactly the same as that for former Fine Gael leader, John Bruton, whom Noonan had ousted early this year, apparently because he was inept when it came to canvassing public support. What's that saying about words coming back to haunt you?
The Fine Gaelers have also failed to make a dint in support for the 26-County Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrat government, which still enjoys a high level of public approval, 46 per cent between them to be exact. While this may bode well for Nice Treaty supporters hoping to cultivate the `isn't the EU, the government and life itself wonderful' vote, there may be something of a shock on the cards.
The referendum will raise far more public debate, in the coming weeks, on the nature of the EU and the 26-County state's role in international affairs. It is this debate that the `Good for them, Good for us' sloganisers fear most.