Echoes of an incomplete coup; the moral and political necessity for a second Irish republic

The “Big Bang “ theory, and the notion of the “primeval atom” as the singularity which started everything, were invented by Fr. George le Maitre. Only by good fortune did Penzias and Wilson find the cosmic microwave background (CMB) that allowed this theory to prevail over Hoyle's” “steady -state” model

We would require similar luck to find the CMB of Ireland's attempted coup 1997 to the present. Many of the permanent government, senior civil servants in backrooms, are still in office so the policies still obtain. Yet we will likely never find a memo that ordains dumbing down of the arts by closing academies and debauching the Abbey, Ireland's national theatre; we will never find a memo facilitating the transfer of all IP to Shay “Kim Dotcom” Hennessy, who as chair of IMRO destroyed the music biz with his cronies in FF;nor one that mandates that the transfer of all power in the universities to “chief officers”in the 1997 legislation should allow the CEO act outside the law.

We do know that the e-voting system being proposed was slipshod in the extreme, written by one individual who did not understand the PR system, and was scrapped only after a long and bloody battle. The bewildered old men who took office in 2011 have done what FG always did; find a globalizing force and use it on us. Once it was the Church; now it is Wall St.

For non-Irish readers, it is important to note that what facilitated this coup attempt was first of all a torrent of borrowed money. Secondly, there are no independent unions in Ireland; it is a corporatist system. Thirdly, there is no prosecution of white collar crimes; that has allowed law firms to metastasize as what should be criminal issues are pursued by individuals at great expense in civil court. Finally, the facts of Ireland's colonial history shrouded the state in mystique, particularly after we were told that the Brits had always been our friends.

The mechanisms used were, first of all, evisceration of civil society; for example IMRO sent thugs around to close down venues by upping rates and now many venues (a la the 18^th century) run samizdat unadvertised concerts so that IMRO will not charge them. Secondly, the national narrative was debauched. “Irishness”, once a valued birthright of many, was reduced to a franchise held by an extreme minority around Bertie Ahern. The flip side of this, of course, was massive immigration; and indeed massive emigration of the Irish, now replaced by foreigners at a rate unseen since Cromwell. Freedom of speech was destroyed through dozens of high-cost law suits against academics, suits in which the unions refused to participate though it was their duty to do so.

These cases were instructive; it was found in both the Cahill vs DCU and Fanning vs UCC cases that the state universities were acting ultra vires their powers; that is, they were trying out methods of control of citizens that were found to be illegal. None of the senior management or law firms involved was punished in any way; indeed, the law firms made a fortune from deliberately getting the law wrong. Law has lost its true role in the “free” state. We have no way of knowing even if the huge incursions by the state into civil society like NAMA and indeed abortion are constitutional, nor will we ever in the state as is. And that, my friends, is a paradigmatic example of why this version of the Irish state needs to be shut down and replaced.

Moreover, it is not unfair to describe what went on from the late 1990's as removing the effective people who set up many of the better processes and institutions in the state and civil society from access to any resources, and often (like this writer) from the country. In general, these processes and institutions had been set up on a volunteer basis out of love for the country and were replaced by something grotesque and vastly expensive. The classic example is the Irish tech industry, whose genesis was described in an acclaimed book by Sean O Riain as due to an informal, under the radar compact between entrepreneurs and public servants, It was replaced by the ghastly and failed SFI and Medialab

Perhaps our replacement by east Europeans can be explained as survival of the fittest; but if so, why were criminal means used to destroy us rather than have nature take its course?. Alternatively put, how long do the criminal retards who administer Ireland on behalf of Wall St think we will put up with them?

Let's look at a few solutions; they are also described in my two books on Ireland.

Eire nua principles

What is lacking more than anything in Ireland is a sense of national purpose, principles to give meaning to the struggles of people's existence. Even the endemic corruption is secondary to this; the results we have seen in suicide, alcoholism and emigration. Yet the visible failure of the current colonial state to provide any kind of decent life for its people is itself a massive opportunity. Here are some ideas;

1. The Irish state's primary purpose is that the Irish people as a whole should reach the same cultural and material level as their western European neighbours.

1. cot'd Up to 1998 it looked en route to do so; what happened after was the disempowerment of native people of ability, often through criminal means, for the benefit of globalized corporatism and local gangsters; the attempt to substitute for their ability with borrowed money; and finally, the recolonization of the country by international financiers with no light in sight.
2. All of this can be reversed and indeed the steps involved are less radical than the steps through which the coup was attempted In particular, removing the parasites, criminals and incompetents from the “public service” is very simple, involving as it does a quick survey of publicly available track records; finding out the able can be done by checking who was at the cutting-edge of the arts and technology in 1998 before the criminals took over; the resources of the republican narrative are available as we seek to distance ourselves from the disgusting structures of the state, the enormous mafia law firms, and the continued incursions of the state into an ancient and viable civil society and community structures
3. National aspirations should be encapsulated in a desired second republic with a redrawing of the border to reflect the island's permanent and overwhelming nationalist majority; a first article of a new constitution that forbids the state from taking life, or imposing debt on its citizens; a parallel local currency that allows returning Irish emigrants buy the many houses now held by the state through Nama; and, above all, a recognition that the state in its current form is mainly a mechanism for regulating access to resources that are free on the web, with all welfare and maintenance money being borrowed abroad.
4. Statutes of limitations should be abolished for crimes (and there are many such particularly since 1997) in which the investigations was thwarted by corruption in the civil service. Such treason by public servants should mean a life sentence a la Brazil
5. Neo-corporatism/”social partnership” should be ended by dint of allowing strikes for single dismissals, permitting people to join all unions or none in any job, and scrapping the medieval labour tribunals.
6. As things stand, military action against the Irish state, while treason in the 1937 constitution, seems politically justifiable on the grounds that the state is committing genocide (as defined as the extirpation of the Irish ethnicity). What prevents it morally is the extreme unlikelihood of success of an uprising – about the same chances as 1916
7. In the meantime, we must guard our essence in improvised community, if necessary emigrating and using foreign passports as our Irish ones are now unsafe due to gilmore's treason. Some readers will be aware that I have had some success in creating an alternative university of Ireland and research facilities using none but my own money. Likewise, many of us have left IMRO. Instead of the futile task of attacking the Irish state, we should seek to replace its structures as we wait to vote in a second republic a la 1937.

Seán Ó Nualláin 18 Feabhra 2014

27 u Feabhra; here is an excerpt from my "Ireland in crisis" book proposing amendments to the constitution;

 

"In short, we need a new republic and a new constitution, but not a new stipulation of how power is transferred.

Conversely, many of the amendments voted on since 1937 – in particular those related to topics like divorce, abortion, the Good Friday agreement, and the degree of EU membership that have been voted on twice – should be revisited and probably rescinded by fiat of the entry into power of the new constitution. The following changes are necessary;
1. Deletion of the theocratic prologue in favour of a secular statement like that with which the Indian constitution opens. Something along the following lines, which refers obliquely both to Buddhism and the American declaration, might be acceptable. If necessary, the existence of individual conscience as the moral unit of the state needs to be stated explicitly;

“Prologue; In the presence of the unbounded, the infinite, and the unoriginated, in which we move and have our being, the Irish nation acknowledges its role in the work of nature’s architect. It is asserted that through his rational being, man is impelled to ever greater autonomy and perfection of his powers; and to do this in joy in the context of a supportive community and state. For centuries, our country has been passed from one colonizer to another, often aided and abetted by native collaborators. We proclaim our autonomy and our wish to express ourselves fully both individually and as a nation fit to take it place in he community of those nations that exemplify humanity’s highest achievements. Thus, the state sees itself as having a central role in preserving the hierarchy of values in human relations, in accordance with best practice as attested by reason and scientific fact.

By the passage of this constitution, the 1937 constitution and its amendments are annulled; likewise for any laws arising form colonial domination Laws emerging from this constitution cannot be rescinded by threats of violence to others or oneself. “
2 Addition of an article like the first amendment in the US which, by protecting religions from the state, has also protected the state from religion. In fact, given that, as exemplified by incidents described in the tenure and music chapters in this book, the law in Ireland has been used with the express purpose of destroying the higher reaches of the Irish psyche, it is necessary to constrain the state in relation to civil society, and the use of the law, even further;

“ Article 1;The state shall not interfere with working positive manifestations of civil society and community, be those often ancient manifestations of the Irish genius manifest in sports, the arts, religion or some other form of culture. Nor will it allow any such interference by any corporate entity.

The state acknowledges these developmental stages in the person; beginnings of life, physical growth and maturation, incorporation into the society as a moral agent, psychosexual development, education from infancy to the highest levels of human culture, union in marriage between man and woman, some score years in the front line of the responsibilities of adulthood, reflective retirement and natural death. It acknowledges that community and civil society structures have been in place since time immemorial to cater not just for these aspects of humanity, but for activities like welfare and transport .It guarantees that the institutions in which it participates to these ends shall serve to ennoble and edify the individual and society and the most severe criminal penalties will be afflicted on is employees who violate this trust.

It guarantees the right to work in that its role as a preserver of the hierarchy of value will lead it to endorse creative activity, be that related to money-making or not. It guarantees minimum standards of housing and food to every citizen, while ensuring that the nation does not become one involving a permanent class of dependents.

In this same vein, the state will not interfere with the rational operations of markets in areas not explicitly the state’s domain, except insofar as it insists on its role as provider of free and accurate information. In this vein, it is accepted that private property has long ago been established as part of civil society, and that humans by their rational being have a right to the quiet enjoyment of their possessions.

The state shall make no law imposing debt incurred by one person on the nation as a whole. Laws cannot allow any citizen summary control of the livelihood, physical person or property of anyone on the national territory. In the event of any dispute in civil law in which the state enters against an individual, pains shall be taken to ensure that the citizen has adequate representation, if necessary funded by the public purse”

So the attack on tenure described elsewhere in this book could have been averted by a dismissal procedure that keeps the employee on the payroll until a rights commissioner decides whether there was a breach or procedures. In the event that there is in the RC;’s opinion, the case goes to the circuit court with the state funding the employee, who remains on the payroll. Otherwise, (s)he must pay for the case.

3 Deletion of all other sectarian and sexist implications of the 1937 constitution

4. A redefinition of criminal law to include economic activities that sabotage our independence, and indeed pro-active hiring of foreigners over Irish nationals in the public sector.

“Article 2; The civil service shall have a median salary the same as that of the industrial wage, and no civil servant shall earn over double the median industrial wage. Acts by civil servants that threaten the autonomy and well-being of our country shall be considered to have a gravity similar to manslaughter or child abuse”

5. It is fair to say that the early 21^st century has witnessed deep confusion about what money is. The following articles attempt to remove Ireland from the financialization of the economy,

“Article 3; i The wealth of the state is to be calculated from a realistic appraisal of natural and technological resources, to be updated each year. If it is necessary to engage in exchange rate calculations, best mathematical practice will be used to maximize the state’s productivity from the exchange while maintaining the people’s role as the guardians of value

ii With respect to monetary and fiscal policy, the state shall maintain control over its interest rates, taxation, and budgets.

iii Financial bonds will be issued by the state only with specific projects in mind that, in keeping with the state’s role in the preservation of a hierarchy of value, add to the environmental, social and cultural welfare of the country. “

6. The success of any country in the 21^st century hinges on astute use of communications media. In particular, there needs to be a well-defined distinction between carrier and content;

“Article 4; The state shall provide a world-class communications network by application of a licence fee on media devices. It reserves the right to commandeer this is true case of national emergency and for such items as budget broadcasts. It will run Gaelic language and classical culture programs, with artists paid from the public purse, over the auditory and visual media that obtain at any time. It will not compete in the sphere of popular culture, but will ensure that licenses to do so are assigned fairly”

7. One of the great recent scams has been privatization of state resources- o r “briberization” as Greg Palast memorably described it. A dreadful result in Ireland was the backward broadband infrastructure alluded to in the last article. Yet, at times, disruptive technologies indeed enter and make state enterprises redundant, as MOOCs may be said to be doing to state universities.

“Article 5 ; It is acknowledged that disruptive technologies can cause massive changes to practises. In this case, the state will not offer any barriers to self-financed competitors from the private sector. It will if necessary introduce redundancies among its own employees, while attempting to retrain them, but will not privatize its services, instead, it will continue to provide a perhaps attenuated and refined service”


The People and their Territory

It is a historical fact that a terrorist campaign in the name of a united Ireland paradoxically led to the Irish state's dropping its claim on the north-eastern part of the island, and indeed the claim of the nation on any territory at all. The history of British colonisation and genocide in Ireland, and the inspiration Ireland's revolts gave to other colonies, are similarly historical facts. While a united Ireland should remain an aspiration, an altogether more interesting project is possible. One of our Nobel laureates, John Hume, suggested that the 100 million or so people worldwide of Irish ancestry should be offered nationality, if not citizenship; this so far has been acted upon only in a feeble fashion

It is unacceptable not to have a national territory. It is also unacceptable that many people who are culturally Irish have not been admitted as citizens, and cannot travel on our invaluable passports. The ultimate solution to the problematic North-Eastern corner of our island Ireland may ultimately lie in close ties with an independent Scotland; it makes sense to introduce an article like the following;

“Article 6 ; The Irish people, the survivors of centuries of genocide and exile in whom the power of the state is vested, and who have electoral suffrage, are on the one hand those who can show a genetic link with the country with a test funded at their own expense and in the context of best practice in science at the time. With respect place of to birth, it is those conforming to the result of the 2004 referendum on this issue. On the other hand, for those not born there, a cultural affinity can allow entry to citizenship”

“Article 7; The national territory, from this moment the land and practice specified by Articles 2 and 3 of the 1937 constitution, will be finalized in the referendum to be held as stipulated in the 1998 “good Friday” agreement. Counties may whish to vote themselves out of our state, in which case they will lose their right to our passports. In this context, we declare the right of the Scottish people, our cousins, to achieve independence through democratic means”

Finally, it is necessary to stipulate that corporations are not people;

“Article 8; Corporate status, with its protections, is to be granted by the state only with assurances that the corporations are behaving ethically. In particular, while they are allowed to hold property through their officers, corporations are not people and any attempt to insist that they are will be met with revocation of corporation status by the state”

State and civil society continued

The incursions by the state into civil society culminated in deepening of employer/union “partnerships” which resulted in a de facto loss of the right to withhold labour, to get reinstated once fired, and indeed to form trade unions in the public service (since the state insisted that you join one of its choice as a condition of employment). Simultaneously, membership of unions in the private sector is vanishing. This is one area that the state should withdraw from.

The experience of Ireland as an independent state indicates that the state can run a rudimentary health service, schools up to but not including third level (where its institutions need private competition), an airline, and a telecommunications network, inter alia. Its incursions into the music business and indeed the arts in general, software and most of science, and much else have had the sole effect of providing subsidised competition for altogether more talented individuals. All this needs to be rectified.


The economy

Ireland must be prepared to regain control of its destiny, even if this means renegotiating the terms of its membership in the EU, WTO, and so on. For example, an average house should cost at most double one's income, and the mortgage should last at most 20 years.

A full-scale nationalisation of the banks has happened, and must be adjusted in favour of the people and against the incompetent and immoral bank management. Many of the “jobs’ in the civil service can be done away with, and it is a relatively trivial matter to balance the budget as soon as it is clear that we are not paying back debts that we never accrued, and that we take care only of our own citizens, while abiding by international refugee agreements.

Environmental costs must be factored into every activity monitored by the state. Corporate enforcement must rise to the level of the US; this in itself will release massive energy from individual entrepreneurs who have been struggling under the crony capitalism that weighed on recent Irish public life, and destroyed countless businesses

Finally, it is taken as self-evident that the state should aspire to social justice, indeed equality of opportunity, for all its citizens."