I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited over fifty countries and to have seen a variety
of different cultures first-hand. From the consumeristic USA to the communist
countries of Cuba and Vietnam. Or from the Islamic societies of Jordan, Morocco and
Egypt to the Buddhist Thailand. In Palestine, I was unfortunate in seeing IDF aggression
exercised against inhabitants of the West Bank – which cemented my sympathies
towards the Palestinian people.
In Bosnia, I learned about a sectarian consociational arrangement where the the three
Presidents must equally represent the dominant sects i.e. one Serb, one Croat and one
Bosniak. This draws an obvious parallel with the Northern six counties which has a
somewhat similar Governmental structure i.e. Unionist and Nationalist power-sharing.
Travelling allows one to appreciate certain things like our material wealth relative to
much poorer countries. It can also serve to remind us of how abnormal politics is in the
North of Ireland. Our sectarian divide is a bit of an outlier – alongside countries such as
Cyprus – in Europe. How much more desirable would it be to have a left-right political
divide over levels of taxation. Travelling or reading good books allows one to think about
our particular problems within a broader context.
Despite my range of experiences, one precise lesson remains with me from over a
decade ago. Others may have learned the same lesson from history class, books or
living through certain political regimes. The lesson is simple and it’s about the dangers
of groupthink. I had a vague and incomplete understanding of dystopian societies
which had fallen prey to regressive ideologies.
I read, ‘1984’ as a young teenager but it simply felt like an abstract work of science-
fiction. In history, I learned about Nazi Germany and the evils of that ideology. I think it’s
safe to say most students leave school with at least a rudimentary sense of Nazism
being bad. Yet, the Nazi’s didn’t have a monopoly on evil. Also, if any of us were alive
during that period and time, it’s statistically very unlikely we would’ve resisted such a
destructive force. The Oskar Schindler types were unfortunately a minority.
In Cambodia, I volunteered with survivors of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. The
director, Sedtha Long, of the Build Your future Today Centre, Siem Reap saved multiple
children during the fall of the genocidal regime. I had the privilege of working with such
people in a country where illiteracy meant being unable to read about warnings of
unexploded landmines.
What struck me most about Cambodia was the contrast between the people I met with
a history where approximately one-quarter perished in the mid-to-late 1970’s. One
would be struck by the hospitable and gentle nature of Cambodians, despite many
living in terrible poverty. Some Buddhist Monks there are so devoted towards preserving
life that they’ll walk about with a dust and pan to avoid stepping on any insects. Yet,
despite the kindness and extreme levels of pacifism I witnessed, this was a country
where they inflicted terrible cruelty and suffering onto one another within living
memory.
The history of Cambodia seemed incongruent with the people I met. The book, ‘Survival
in the Killing Fields’ by Haing S. Ngor provided many answers about this disconnect. His
view was that a totalitarian ideology and the accompanying herd mentality arrested
their critical-thinking skills and normalised committing acts of unspeakable evil.
Ideology trumped everything else and created a dystopian hell.
The Khmer Rouge used the ideas of leftist intellectuals such as Karl Marx and took it to
the extreme. Religion was abandoned, money was burnt, medical science ignored and
the nuclear family destroyed. Realising the dystopian hell they created in pursuit of a
progressive Utopia shattered my worldview. My politics would’ve generally been
considered leftist as an anti-imperialist Irish Republican and son of a Trade Unionist.
Yet, one could not ignore the evils committed by the extreme left. Why was this lesson
not taught adequately in my history class? Subsequently, I re-read Orwell’s, ‘1984’ and
‘Animal Farm’ which no longer felt like works of fiction. Perhaps others can learn these
lessons without travelling thousands of miles, yet if we look at our current political
discourse there’s a lot more concern about the ‘far-right’ than the extreme left.
I don’t believe many who espouse extreme ideas on the left take much time to self-
reflect or even accept they could possibly be on the wrong side of history. The genuinely
far-right does exist in Ireland and we have politicians such as Justin Barrett openly
praising Hitler. Yet, in electoral terms such figures are nowhere near getting a seat,
never mind forming a Government.
Instead, what we have are terms like, ‘fascist’ being bandied around for too liberally
towards those with socially conservative attitudes and having reasonable concerns
around the scale of mass immigration. The ideas of the extreme left however are
commonplace. The focus is still about redressing imbalances, yet unlike the
communists who ostensibly supported equal distribution of money, the modern left
focuses more on racial equity, feminism and trans rights. They will also use
authoritarian means to achieve these aims.
Like Communism, these ideas sound noble and appealing in theory but if one looks at
the outcomes they tell a different story. Racial equity has led to quotas in some
American Universities where blacks are sometimes favoured over Asians who have
performed better. In other words, race is made more significant whilst the ideas of
merit and colour-blindness take a backseat.
Likewise, feminism sounded reasonable when it delivered the right to vote for women,
but this has now morphed into the mass killing of the unborn under the guise of,
‘reproductive healthcare.’ Trans rights sound like an admirable aim for helping an
‘oppressed’ minority. Yet, in practice it has meant confusing vulnerable children with
ideological waffle, promulgated barbaric medical practices and endangered women.
Similar to the Khmer Rouge, significant elements of the modern left attacks the nuclear
family, elevates pseudoscience above actual science, ignores the Hippocratic oath,
cares little about the sanctity of human life and is completely intolerant of any dissent.
Anyway, I wouldn’t be optimistic people’s minds can be changed on these issues. In
fact, I believe tribalism and tendency towards groupthink are innate.
Yuval Noah Harari explains in his book, ‘Sapiens’ that such tendencies may have an
evolutionary advantage. For example, Neanderthals were a far superior physical
specimen than humans, but our ability to form large groups around a shared set of
ideas gave us an advantage.
Nonetheless, although we have learned a valuable lesson from history where ideas
often associated with the right can go too far, I think the left needs to erect similar
ideological guardrails against extremism. I believe the left and right have valid political
divisions – which are preferable to the politics of sectarianism. My concern is more so
about insufficient attention being paid towards extremism.
In Ireland, I worry we aren’t sufficiently concerned about sliding into dystopia. Irish unity
feels closer than it has ever been yet Irish Freedom feels more distant. An appreciation
of the rarity of democracy – only 22 of our current democracies are older than half a
century – with a muscular assertion of the right to free speech can help deliver the
desirable goal of Irish freedom.
Yet, when politicians such as Helen McEntee introduced the Hate Speech Bill, we
subsequently reward them with over two-thousand additional first-preference votes.
This doesn’t fill me with confidence that enough people in Ireland recognise the severity
of these attacks on our civil liberties.
I share my story to hopefully inspire others to work towards the goal of Irish Freedom,
and to also recognise that unity alone will not suffice. We are on the verge of achieving
something truly special and together we can build an Ireland that’s both United and
free. An awareness that no political ideology has a monopoly on extremism and that we
must always resist state overreach is essential in fulfilling this goal.
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