Irish Politics Thread

China interfering in its own affairs is mad stuff alright  

It doesn't matter who the leader is. They'll always be regarded as a Dublin only party.

I noticed that yesterday, high profile member Saoirse McHugh, left the party, mentioning the formation of an eco-socialist party. To do so would be to reinvent the wheel. This wouldn't even be the first time in the past decade that a Green faction left to do its own thing, Fis Nua was still a thing 18 months ago. While also RISE  got there first, and exist with Paul Murphy at the helm. Sure, they are just another evolution of the identity of the Socialists/AAA/Solidarity, but that's their goal.

Mary Robinson's book on Climate Justice is a fantastic read, but a common trend in the case studies she writes about is that the people impacted most by climate change, have a longstanding history of voting against their own interests, by voting for the likes of the Republican Party (Alaska and Mississippi both feature), who have a entire wing who oppose climate science and repudiate the overwhelming scientific consensus. Electoral politics is hugely important, and the last decade has certainly confused activists that it is not as important as it was once seen to be. Issues like Repeal, Marriage Equality, and Water Charges were ripe for direct action, protests, and campaigning. But those are just some of the issues that come before Government, and if you start trying to employ the same tactics when dealing with more esoteric issues like taxation etc, the protests will be much smaller, and interestingly, they will be party led, and they will definitely fall on deaf ears. The power of protest is huge, and massively influential, but try holding a rally about increasing personal taxation, and see how far that goes. Those are issues that you need legislative power to determine, and when you have the electoral mandate, you have the keys to the city.