The election at the end of November will be an important indication of where our people are at and in particular, where the working class is. The political pundits and major news outlets are predicting a return of both Fianna Fáil (FF) and Fine Gael (FG) to government, with the two parties attempting to turn the election into a beauty contest with a sidebar show to see who comes out on top.
In the last number of years, some on the left have argued that the Irish people want a radical change of direction in governmental economic and social policy and that that this current government was the main obstacle to bringing about that change.
Certainly, within working class communities there is anger at the failure of the government to solve the housing crisis as well as the deepening crisis in the health service. But among the middle and professional classes there is clearly great economic and social stability. In the main, they are happy that their asset (their home) continues to rise in value and interest rates have somewhat stabilised. They have a stake in the current system and in ensuring the re-election of the two dominant parties.
The parliamentary left has been floundering around trying to land punches on the government around housing and health but with little success. The wheels came off Sinn Féin’s rise in the polls six months ago or more. The coalition government and the establishment mass media successfully boxed Sinn Féin into a number of corners regarding immigration, housing, and internal party politics.
Like the debacle leading up to local elections where the government successfully appeared to make Sinn Féin the scapegoat for the government’s own immigration policy; equally they appear to have neutralised Sinn Féin regarding the government’s housing strategy. At times Sinn Féin spokespeople appeared not to even know what their policy was when speaking in the Dáil. Most recently they were badly mauled because of internal disciplinary problems. They appear to many outside the party to be rudderless and without clear direction or strategy.
At this early stage it would appear the government will have a clear run into the elections with most of the opposition on the backfoot. How the working class respond to this is critical. Most may well feel that it will be a waste of time voting and just stay at home. Equally the government and the state continue to use racism as a political weapon and to benefit from this racist, divide-and-rule strategy.
For real change to be brought about, for hope and a clear sense of direction, there needs to be sustained political campaigning and mobilisation within working class communities. The elections will tell us where the class is and its level of political class consciousness: how it understands the resolution to the many problems facing working people in Ireland today.
Clearly, the mass mobilisation in solidarity with the Palestinian people is a harbinger of potential forces that can be developed and be the basis for a much more radical advance. The government continues to try and subvert the demands of the people – at a minimum the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill – and continues to pretend it’s doing something regarding the genocide unfolding in Palestine. It is unwilling to challenge the EU or the US and step outside of the agreed strategy of western imperial powers, in other words to back the Zionist state at all costs.
We can only welcome the announcement of Clare Daly’s standing in Dublin Central, one of the few principled peace and anti-war candidates. We would also encourage support for similar anti-imperialist candidates to lay the foundations for building unity and present a clearer strategy to working people beyond this election cycle.
There is a clear need to use the period of the elections to raise key political questions and raise people’s understanding of how we solve the many critical issues that working people face. We need to challenge all parties and individuals who present themselves for election, where they stand and what they will do on key, critical issues.
Housing
- The taking into public ownership of all Vulture Fund-owned housing stock
- That rent controls be imposed across the country
- A moratorium on the building of hotels and student accommodation, and the prioritisation of the building of public housing
- That AirBnB be restricted to the letting of rooms in family homes only
- Enshrining the right to public housing in the Constitution
Health
- The establishment of an all-Ireland universal public health service
- Restrictions of private medicine
Neutrality
- Enshrining neutrality in the Constitution
- Defending and strengthening of the Triple Lock
- The implementation of the Occupied Territories Bill
- The closing of Shannon Airport to the US/NATO war machine
- Breaking away from EU battle groups
- End cooperation with PESCO
- That Irish airspace and territorial waters be declared zones of peace and free of all military manoeuvres or the transport of weapons of foreign powers
Radical change will be brought about by working people when they have a clear understanding of solutions to the many problems that they face, a strategy that inspires confidence that change is necessary and possible. We call for an all-Ireland strategy to end imperialist interference in the affairs of the people of Ireland, from Derry to Kerry.
We recommend no votes for any of the current government parties nor parties who previously propped up either of the main government parties in coalition.
Reject racism and division peddled by the establishment parties and racist right parties.
We would encourage working people to vote for those parties of the left and left independents who support the above demands.
