On Saturday the socialist-leaning group-blog The Cedar Lounge Revolution published a post criticising the latest anti-lockdown rally organised in Dublin through the agency of a small but vociferous number of social media accounts that have managed to attract the attention of a tiny minority of conspiratorial opinion in the country, aided and abetted by some exploitative agitators from the fringe far-right.
On Saturday the libertarian-leaning group-blog Broadsheet published a post platforming the latest anti-lockdown rally organised in Dublin through the agency of a small but vociferous number of social media accounts that have managed to attract the attention of a tiny minority of conspiratorial opinion in the country, aided and abetted by some exploitative agitators from the fringe far-right.
In one word, in one presentation of events, is a world of difference.
Update below!
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
Back in the 1600’s they would have been busy looking for witches to burn guess that science is the new witchcraft for these deluded fools
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The lunatic fringe have been enabled first by fellow lunatics Trump and now Johnston – these lunatics have gained power just at the time we can least afford to indulge their fascist antics. Pandemic, habitat erosion, multiple species extinction, global warming, a minority of multi billionaires and huge numbers poverty stricken. Makes you wonder if the human race deserves to survive.
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If you take Antifa and BLM they are much more violent than these far right idiots. I think they all should be considered illegal organisations. Although in the US in particular about 85% of the violence is coming from the far left supported by so called democratic politicians and mainstream media who are in reality if being truthful the far left posing as politicians and journalists . I am a Northern Irish Catholic but not political as the whole damned thing makes me sick . But take Sinn Fein for example they are not really a Republican party any longer ( not in N.I. at least they’re not ), they are an extreme left abortion supporting feminist white male hating groups posing as Irish Republicans as it yields them more power and more influence . But there are also some unionist parties while maybe not outright supporting abortion to any level they leave it to the particular politician in their parties and voter to decide .
The DUP are still unfortunately one of the most sectarian parties in the Unionist community but are the only ones who oppose abortion across the board except for when the life of the mother is in peril and of course in instances like rape and incest . I don’t like the DUP owing to their still having some members of their party who are anti-Irish and anti-Catholic bigots . I know some of the members in the DUP hate Catholics and anything Irish and they always have though they would probably deny that however , have voted for them in the past based on their stance on abortion . As for Sinn Fein they are a lost cause and i have never voted for them nor would i . The SDLP are too weak to vote for and that is a shame .
The two most extreme parties on both sides in Northern Ireland have ruled supreme for a long time now because that is how the majority on both sides want it and it is just as simple as that. It is as much a reflection on the people of Northern Ireland as it is on the parties themselves as we keep voting them in. I mean both the DUP and Sinn Fein took it upon themselves without first asking the people of Northern Ireland how they felt about it and the both put Stormont on ice for 3 years plus and they only returned to Stormont when both of them started to lose votes and seats in their communities . I think they both would still be out if that had not taken place to be honest . One would have thought and have hoped that we the voters of / in Northern Ireland would have not have taken three plus years to figure out who the DUP and Sinn Fein are really looking out for and it is not us the voters or for the people of Northern Ireland in general .
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As one who has attended a number of counter-protests and was fighting back with others against that preplanned armed fascist attack shown in your photo, I can say that the majority of the Left and of the Republican movement is allowing the fascist to grow under the shelter of the Far-Right and negationists. The leaders of Irish Yelow Vests, Irish Freedom Party, National Party, Síol na hÉireann, Anti=Corruption ireland and QAnon are all fascists and racists and Catholic sectarians but with tiny following, hide within the larger negationist and conspiracy-ridden mass. The National Party boasted of recruiting the “security” forces that attacked the unarmed counter-protest on Custom House Quay on 22nd August (that of the photo) and it seems that those who attacked a tiny counter-protest outside Leinster House on Saturday and struck a woman on the head with a club are from the same stable.
The Gardaí ar blatantly colluding with them too but ultimately I see it as the responsibility of the popular forces to put an end to the fascist threat — time the organisations stepped up to the mark.
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Agreed, it needs larger organisations to step up.
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The polarized debate around such measures is a problem in many/most countries.
The large majority of people anywhere are neither the sort of right wing extremist that has been widely portrayed as “typical” of lockdown skeptics nor the sort of people who are delighted to embrace long term intermittent lockdown and heavily controlled social distancing as a permanent “new normal”.
My sense is that most folks are various combinations of afraid of this virus but also deeply unhappy with being forced to live such an insanely restricted existence with according to some no light at the end of the tunnel.
The longest the lockdowns lasted during the pandemic of 1918-1919 in most places across The Americas and Europe was about six weeks. Sure unemployment/jobseekers insurance or benefits, and the internet can to some degree fill the gap, but I suspect for only so long.
On top of the more concrete consequences of lockdown, which are often devastating, I’m worried about the polarized debate over lockdowns what they say about the modern world, and how that all may intersect with the psychological effects of lockdown. The framing of “open the economy” versus “lives over profits” is absolutely ridiculous. The former seem the to think the world is like “Camazotz” in “A Wrinkle in Time”. The latter sometime speak of a more “just economy”. What’s not clear is how in fact any kind of better economy or better society can be more compatible with demands like lockdown and social distancing. In some ways a more egalitarian world might run into more difficulties in making such demands on the population-beyond a very short time period.
That said it’s just a matter of before the world sees both a way out but likely a worse polarization. One or more vaccines will be approved in most of the world, and most countries will have to contend with those who refuse to take it. 30 or 40 years ago nobody except very fringe groups would have questioned vaccines as they do today. Almost nobody in any Democratic country would have argued against the idea that things like freedom of movement or freedom of worship outweighs any right of somebody to refuse a vaccine.
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I dont really get whats going on here..! Was it that you were following broadsheet ( which I am guessing is a leftish blog ?) and you got barred ? I am thinking or guessing that your claim is that by protesting the yellow vests you are enabling the far right.. There is and has been a problem with the Yellow vests since their inception in Ireland and that is they have not been transparent about their objectives.. They have only one objective from what I can see and that is to be able to make changes the constitution easier (just the basic gist of it) .. Unfortunately they are appealling to the emotional sides of people like the patriotic side and liberty side etc .. It also looks like it is in the process of being hijacked by conspiritualists, the NP , Siol na heireann , gemma , grand torino , the freedom party (siol na heireann and the NP are definitively fascist) . Here lies our problem most of the people marching have either no interest or no knowledge of what siol na heireann or th NP represent.. So by turning up and calling all these people fascist when as far as they are concerned they are there for an anti lockdown protest are we enabling the far right.. If I am correct this is where you are coming from with this article..
The problem with the yellow vests from what I can see is that they from the beginning were more anti immigration , and anti left and quite pro far right nationalist.. I asked at the comment sections on youtube of the change/ anti lockdown videos what they were about and was replied with ” Wake up” , “Ireland is for the Irish”, ” You are either with us or aginst us” and then after engaging with them it turned out quite a few of them were National socialists , white supremacists or had no objection to protesting with white supremacists and empathized with them..
The far right or fascism will come with a smile on its face offering jobs and helping people and they are definitely capitalising on this pandemic.. I do think it is counterproductive organising anti protests when it is not totally clear the yellow vests are all in fact fascists…could be bit like the boy cried wolf but they are definitely gaining momentum and are deliberately stirring people up and muddying the waters ..
A good new doc on netflix called the social dilemna very interesting about ai, algorithms, and the fast growth and rise of conspiracy theorists and their relationship with the far right..
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sorry i initially didnt get it.. i m only human.. One blog enabling the far right and one blog stopping the far right! ?
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In the case of Broadsheet, I don’t think I’ve ever interacted with them on Twitter, so it was a preemptive ban. Presumably following my criticism of their occasional dalliances with the wannabe Irish alt-right. Which got them in trouble before, put temporary manners on them, and now they’re back to their old trick of platforming far-right views under the guise of reporting on far-right views. And actions and activities.
It’s the dissembling that I dislike. At least be honest about what you’re up to.
The CLR comments on the far-right and anti-lockdown crowd but not in some faux neutral way. A way that actually gives credence to opinions that hold no credibility.
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Could there not be a real danger generated by the pandemic and lockdown in and of themselves? There could be real danger in the the degree to which liberals and left folks have become a little bit over-partisan on the issue of lockdown (and more disturbingly vaccines) in most free countries. To hear all-too-many of on the left tell it, the only people who are complaining about the lockdown are hard core right-wingers, greedy corporations who only care about their profit margins, and a pack of selfish whiners who are simply making noise because this is the first time in their lives they’ve experience the slightest hint of inconvenience.
In reality? While this virus is a scary one (partly because so much remains unknown), there are sackloads of legitimate worries and grievances about the lockdown. I’ve enumerated some of them on this blog before and so have some other people: many of which go far beyond right-wing ideologies, greed or “whining and fussing over inconvenience”.
My fear is that if the Left refuses to be honest about the serious downsides and consequences of the lockdown, that some people will turn to these right-wingers because they feel their legitimate problems are being dismissed and ignored. An honest citizen rarely goes to those extremes,
but if recent history tells us anything, it’s that there are ALWAYS a certain number of people on the margins. People who wouldn’t turn to extremism under normal situations, but just might if pushed hard enough.
Ireland might also face some hard choices when it comes to the vaccine. I know a little bit about Irish Constitutional Law, but don’t fully understand most of its nuance. I’ve seen more than one opinion over whether a vaccine mandate, may or may not be Constitutional in The Irish Republic. Do you see that as a problem? Is it possible that The ROI might try a Constitutional Amendment in either direction (either saying the state can or can’t make citizens get a vaccine) with of course a popular vote on the matter?
Of course, it’s possible mandates might be the only way to assure herd immunity in most countries.
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