For the first time in nearly a century, Sinn Fein is winning big in elections throughout Ireland. Perhaps because, unlike the other political parties in Ireland, Sinn Fein represents the soul of the Irish people. After all, its roots are in the war of independence, which was the culmination of 700 years of resistance by the tribal Gaelic nations against British colonialism.
It isn’t just in Ireland, though, that a rebalancing of power between nations and states is taking place. The European Parliament elections are seeing a surge of stateless nations gaining political influence. Plaid Cymru in Wales, Scottish National, Catalonia, Galicia and Basque Country as well.
The other parties in Ireland represent social classes and philosophies that accommodated to varying degrees the capitulation to capitalism and colonialism, that still divides the country geographically and socially. Irish reunification and social security are the two principles on which only Sinn Fein remains steadfast.
When the British no longer rule in Northern Ireland, and when capitalist austerity programs are abolished as the crimes against humanity they are, then the Sinn Fein agenda will have won. The Irish people are, like North American first nations, still kinship oriented, and likewise committed to a socialist agenda supporting universal health, education and welfare.
While we lack the kinship motive in the US, socialism nevertheless got us Social Security and Medicare, welfare, workplace safety and environmental protection. Now we just need to defeat the thieving parties that supported austerity.