Below the surface of the Irish political establishment is a deep-seated anti-imperialism that is best represented at cultural events like Electric Picnic. The ruling class are terrified of it.
If Electric Picnic is a barometer of the culture of Irish society, then the political establishment are in trouble.
This year’s festival was overwhelmingly young. Even though ticket prices have soared to €300 (and that is before you throw in money for food transport, drink and other costs) the audience was predominantly under thirty. For some, it was the line-up that made it unmissable, even at that price. For others, there is more disposable cash because you are stuck living at home and music is your life.
The biggest feature of Electric Picnic was the new sense of Irishness.
Performances by Jazzy, Amble or CMAT drew huge crowds and reflect a different image of Ireland.
Then there is a return to the older traditions of both folk and ballads. The singer John Spillane, for example, launched into ‘the songs with all learnt at school’ including An Poc ar Buile or Peigín Leitir Móir. The Mary Wallopers take this to a whole new level by changing the arrangements and giving them a thumbing modern beat.
Of course, there is an element of nostalgia in all this, best evident in the return of the Saw Doctors whose songs evoke an image of Christian Brothers, Clare Island and the local Tuam DJ. But there is also an undercurrent of rebellion best exemplified by the lead singer of the Mary Wallopers who joked that ‘I came off my private plane to see you all go wild’.
But there is something deeper going on.
The biggest turnout at the weekend was for the Wolfe Tones, a band that was often marginalized by the main stream media, both because of their traditional Irish ballad style and more significantly their outspoken republicanism. This year an estimated 55,000 people turned up to hear them.
When you first go to the Wolfe Tones, you really wonder about their nationalistic ‘you will never beat the Irish’. But you listen more carefully and what comes across is a deeper anti-imperialist legacy. How else can you describe their song about the H Block hunger striker, Joe McDonnell, with the words,
And you dared to call me a terrorist while you looked down your gun
When I think of all the deeds that you had done
You had plundered many nations, divided many lands
You had terrorised their peoples, you ruled with an iron hand
And you brought this reign of terror to my land
The crowd again broke into joyous chanting of ‘Come out you Black and Tans ‘ and Oo, Ah Up the Ra. Politicians like the DUP hate this stuff denouncing it as a ‘hate fest’ but the Irish political establishment are distinctly worried. In the past they banned songs from RTE. Their lackeys in the mainstream media attacked the women’s soccer team for chanting Oo, Ah, Up the Ra.
They can live with ‘When Irish eyes are smiling’ but they fear the blatant anti-imperialism. They see themselves as ’mature’, ‘cosmopolitans’ who are now fully signed up members of the Western imperialist alliance. They are able to laugh at a few rebel songs or sing drunken songs at rugby matches.
‘But whatever you do, don’t take this stuff seriously.’
Brian Warfield gave vent to a global anti-imperialism when he denounced the murder of Palestinian children and talked about a world free, peaceful and just. He asked everyone to raise hand for Palestine – and you could not see anyone who did not.
The theme of Palestine ran through many of the Irish musicians, from John Spillane who wrote a new ‘Songbird of Palestine’ to CMAT who departed the stage running with the Palestinian Flag. You only have to look at video of the Kneecap performance to see how the ‘Brits Out’ theme was linked to support for the Palestine and a denunciation in of the Irish government’s complicity in Shannon.
The smartest ideologue of the political establishment, was Leo Varadkar who had a ‘relaxed’ view of these songs. “Don’t go ape shit” was his message to his colleagues- it will pass over after the festival.
But the sheer scale of support for Palestine and its links to a recovered anti-colonial past should trouble a ruling class who become ever more blatant in their support for Western imperialism.
They are riding high at the moment due to clever PR packaging around Harris, but as one commentator put it, ‘When the gun is fired for a general election, I predict they will drop ten points’.
It is all to play for because you cannot support Palestine, celebrate Ireland’s anti-colonial past and still vote for a shoneen government that has created a massive housing crisis.
