Alexandra Day assesses last Saturday’s anti-immigrant march and the counter-protest in Dublin, arguing for a class-based politics that takes on both the Government and the far right.
It is deeply disheartening to witness around five thousand people marching through Dublin under the banner ‘Ireland for the Irish’. The rally was vaguely titled as an ‘Easter Rising commemoration’ by its organisers, though it quickly became obvious this was not the case. This demonstration is a damning reflection of the harsh realities wrought by neoliberal politics, which have left so many in our society behind. But the organisers of that rally, people like Malachy Steenson, the Hitler-supporting fascist, Justin Barrett, and even Conor McGregor, are not interested in addressing these injustices. Instead, they are weaponising the anger of the public against the most vulnerable members of our society, while letting the real culprits off the hook. This is precisely why United Against Racism organised the vibrant and hopeful counter-demonstration last weekend. While our response was strong, and indeed marked a significant leap in terms of the numbers out countering from which we should take real confidence, it is clear that we must consider the underlying factors that have led to this situation and how we can reach out to those who have fallen under the corrosive influence of the far right.
The Irish working class is diverse
Two points of discussion following the rally was the claim that the anti-immigration march represented the ‘true’ feelings of Ireland’s working class today and that the counter did not adequately include the working class. This simply isn’t the case. Class is not determined by appearance. It’s not about how you dress, where you live, or even your accent. At its core, class is about your relationship to the means of production. Working-class people are those who must sell their labour in order to survive – that is what defines them.
What this argument was likely trying to highlight was not so much a question of class, but rather the fact that the anti-immigration rally was attended by predominantly white Irish men drawn from a more despairing, demoralised section of the working class. It’s absolutely essential that we engage with these individuals, and I’ll address this in a moment, but conflating their identity with class is, at best, a misunderstanding and, at worst, dangerously reactionary. It perpetuates an outdated and harmful stereotype of the ‘white working man’ – a narrative I thought we had long left behind.
The key point I want to emphasise here is that being working class is not determined by identity alone. You can be trans and working class. You can be brown-skinned and working class. You can speak differently, dress differently, and still be working class. Identity is important, but we must not lose sight of the fact that class is defined by material conditions. Crucially, this means that the majority of people in the world today are working class. We are the majority, and we hold immense power when we recognise this. It only benefits the 1% at the top to divide us based on identity.
The working class in Ireland, and globally, is diverse. It is queer, it is brown, it includes migrants. The narrow focus in some places on the ‘correct’ identity often reflects more about their own biases than the true dynamics of class in modern Ireland. When we confront the rise of the far right, we cannot afford to throw the most marginalised members of our society under the bus just to placate those whom the far-right claim are important.
An ‘anti-government’ rally? Absolutely not!
Another argument made after the weekend’s rally was that countering the anti-immigration march would only push misguided people further into the arms of the far right. While it’s true that many attendees were motivated by frustration with a system that has failed them on housing, healthcare, education, and their right to a secure, comfortable life, it is vital that we do not confuse this with endorsing the racist agenda of the rally’s organisers.
The anti-immigration rally was marked by Nazi salutes, speeches from National Party figures, harassment of people of colour and chants of ‘Get them out’. Green ‘Make Ireland Great Again’ hats and placards showing Conor McGregor, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump together were imports from the far right in America. This was not an ‘anti-government’ rally. Fascist ideas thrive by appealing to people’s frustrations and misdirecting this anger into the racist displays we saw at the weekend. Alongside deliberately racist chants and salutes at the Custom House, figures like Gavin Pepper (a landlord and opponent of a United Ireland) gave speeches highlighting the failures of the government and claiming they would fight for working-class people. They deliberately bring together racist ideas with references to ‘fighting back’ that are intended to further drive people down a path of despair. When fascists were able to march unopposed during lockdowns under the guise of being “anti-lockdown”, they were able to expose new layers of people to racist propaganda without opposition. This is why these types of street mobilisations must not be allowed to go unchallenged. Countering allows us to drive a wedge between hardened racists and the people who may have been drawn into attending their rally. The real issues facing Ireland today are not caused by migrants, asylum seekers, or queer people. They stem from a system created by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, who perpetuate inequality because it serves their interests. Racists like Pepper and Steenson may posture, but they will never challenge the system that causes such misery in people’s lives.
We cannot defeat the far right by simply mimicking its divisive rhetoric or resorting to ‘macho’ posturing. We will win people over by showing up, by building grassroots movements within our communities, and by addressing the real causes of the crises we face. These movements must be inclusive of all working-class people in Ireland, not just those deemed ‘authentically’ working class. I see this commitment in the ongoing campaigns for better education, against dereliction, in efforts to protect the Sperrins, and in the fight for youth services. Across our island, diverse campaigns are uniting people in the struggle for a better world. From my own experiences in campaigns in Finglas and Ballymun, I know this is the most effective way to build trust with those the far right seeks to sway. When we unite entire communities over issues that might seem small, such as rotting door frames or school places, we foster a genuine sense of empowerment in working-class communities. All the while, we keep our progressive politics to the fore. This is how we win people away from the politics of hatred, not by yielding to them.
We only want the Earth
The counter-demonstration, though smaller in number, was the largest we’ve seen on Dublin’s streets since 2016. This signals that people are once again recognising the importance of opposing the far right in public spaces. In 2018, when United Against Racism first opposed a ‘Free Tommy Robinson’ rally in Belfast, we were outnumbered. By the second rally, we were not. By the third, there was no rally at all for the former English Defence League leader, Stephen Yaxley Lennon. Standing up to the far right isn’t new to Ireland; it’s part of a long-standing tradition of left-wing, progressive politics, a tradition that we continue to uphold. It is summed up by revolutionary socialist, James Connolly’s words:
“Let no Irishman throw a stone at the foreigner; he may hit his own clansman. Let no foreigner revile the Irish; he may be vilifying his own stock.”
However, the Irish revolutionary tradition should not be treated as a relic to be preserved in a museum, nor should it be about attempting to recreate the past. It must remain a living, evolving movement that responds to the realities of our world today. We won’t change things by surrendering ground to the far right and throwing the most marginalised under the bus. The socialist left must stand in solidarity with those most alienated by the system, without compromising on our anti-racist politics, which only serve to divide us. As James Connolly wrote in 1897:
The Irish Republic must be made a word to conjure with – a rallying point for the disaffected, a haven for the oppressed, a point of departure for the socialist, enthusiastic in the cause of human freedom.
Let’s honour that legacy by working together for a better future for all.
