The party leaders’ decision to visit the White House has provoked intense criticism in a country where support for the Palestinian cause remains the strongest in Europe.
The ideas that "charity begins at home" and "we have to put our own struggle first" have some merit, until in the first case you have all the necessities of life, and in the second case you have won back your national sovereignty. Then they just start to look like a justification for selfishness.
The arguments for kowtowing to the US are also hypocritical. The United States is not going to deliver a united Ireland, regardless of whether Sinn Fein bows and scrapes to President Biden. The US profited handsomely from Irish independence, quickly replacing Britain as the major source of investment capital and gathering up a big chunk of Irish trade. Pan-Irish sentiment is all very well, but it is capital in large chunks which determines the relationship between the US and Ireland, a fact which Sinn Fein no doubt understands very well. With both Britain and Ireland firmly in its sphere of influence, the US will not be pushing for a change to the status quo in Northern Ireland, and it will concentrate its efforts on demanding that both nations fully accede to its geopolitical project in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world.
So here we have the curious fact that a generation of Irish republican politicians are quite happy to doff the hat to President Biden, even if it leaves many of their compatriots appalled.
There is another lesson here, which is that the politicians who inherit a new order can be of a very different ilk to those who brought it into being. The United States has had a coloured President, vice-President, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State who could have been as white as the driven snow for all the difference it made to US policy. New Zealand has had female Prime Ministers, Governors General and Finance Ministers. It has had a swag of gay Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament, and none of it has led to a more equal, caring, nurturing society. It has had a Prime Minister who was raised in a state house, graduated to a palatial residence, and seemingly gave little thought to those who now wait forever for a state house, or any kind of house. Those who have benefited from a more open inclusive society will not necessarily follow through by seeking the same opportunities for others.
The various liberation movements of the twentieth century were right about one thing. At the end of the day it is not one's ethnicity, gender, or political affiliation that matters. It is basic moral character. And while we may see that strong moral character in those who truly were in the thick of "the struggle" it is not necessarily present in those who come after to gather up the fruit, those for whom "the struggle" is just a phrase that trips lightly off the tongue.
The ideas that "charity begins at home" and "we have to put our own struggle first" have some merit, until in the first case you have all the necessities of life, and in the second case you have won back your national sovereignty. Then they just start to look like a justification for selfishness.
The arguments for kowtowing to the US are also hypocritical. The United States is not going to deliver a united Ireland, regardless of whether Sinn Fein bows and scrapes to President Biden. The US profited handsomely from Irish independence, quickly replacing Britain as the major source of investment capital and gathering up a big chunk of Irish trade. Pan-Irish sentiment is all very well, but it is capital in large chunks which determines the relationship between the US and Ireland, a fact which Sinn Fein no doubt understands very well. With both Britain and Ireland firmly in its sphere of influence, the US will not be pushing for a change to the status quo in Northern Ireland, and it will concentrate its efforts on demanding that both nations fully accede to its geopolitical project in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world.
So here we have the curious fact that a generation of Irish republican politicians are quite happy to doff the hat to President Biden, even if it leaves many of their compatriots appalled.
There is another lesson here, which is that the politicians who inherit a new order can be of a very different ilk to those who brought it into being. The United States has had a coloured President, vice-President, Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State who could have been as white as the driven snow for all the difference it made to US policy. New Zealand has had female Prime Ministers, Governors General and Finance Ministers. It has had a swag of gay Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament, and none of it has led to a more equal, caring, nurturing society. It has had a Prime Minister who was raised in a state house, graduated to a palatial residence, and seemingly gave little thought to those who now wait forever for a state house, or any kind of house. Those who have benefited from a more open inclusive society will not necessarily follow through by seeking the same opportunities for others.
The various liberation movements of the twentieth century were right about one thing. At the end of the day it is not one's ethnicity, gender, or political affiliation that matters. It is basic moral character. And while we may see that strong moral character in those who truly were in the thick of "the struggle" it is not necessarily present in those who come after to gather up the fruit, those for whom "the struggle" is just a phrase that trips lightly off the tongue.