Video of Sinn Féin Ard Fheis on motions that would prevent Sinn Féin from going into coalition with FF or FG

Eoin O Broin's article - a viewpoint from Galway East

This is a piece from Joe Des of Galway East Sinn Féin in response to the two articles I have posted concerning Eoin Ó Broin and in particular the article written by Eoin in the Irish News.

A seperate point Joe made in his e-mail was what he saw as the relatively poor use Sinn Féin activists are making of the internet. He made the point that he was disheartened that comrades seem to be using the internet for trivial matters rather than posting their thoughts or aspirations of Sinn Fein, the Republican Movement or the project at hand. I must say I agree with you Des.

Anyway, back to the article. Des' response to Eoin ÓBroin article

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I was looking forward to someone getting these debates running so fair play to Eoin for grabbing the nettle. I’ve had a good read of the above http://sinnfeinkeepleft.blogspot.com/2009/07/sinn-fein-needs-to-make-its-republican.html , but the post just doesn’t do it for me. I suppose as a conversation starter it is good, but the debate will have to be much more challenging than this. The content is spot on, but it is bland, academic and unimaginative.

There are too many items that we’ve heard before. “We are in a period of transition and have yet to find our feet”. I’m really sick of hearing that one. It’s sometimes said “we’re on a learning curve”. If it is taking this long it is more of a roundabout than a curve!

We have been at this for some time and the Republican movement is full of intelligent and articulate people. It should not be taking this long to get the right people into the right places and working as unified movement. I think much of the talk of alliances’ and coalition strategies have distracted us and undermined our confidence in the ability of our local activists. It may have contributed in the publics’ perception that Sinn Fein is now “just the same as the rest of them”.

The fact that most of our Councilors (a majority of them in their first term) retained their seats in the last election shows that we are producing competent and capable public reps. That is encouraging. Cllr. Teresa Ferris points out that “we need to build the party around our community based councillors”. That makes sense and is practical. And in fairness this is very much in line with your analysis that “The key to our success is what we do locally – being embedded in our communities and empowering local people to take control over the decisions that affect their daily lives.”

But there are failings in the way we operate. This needs to be accepted and addressed.

When you say “We need to build alliances for change…” I don’t think that goes far enough. We need to 'up the ante' in the broader political arena. We need to be confident and display enough conviction to actually set our own agenda rather than mould ourselves to be more palatable to any existing or potential political alignments.

Again, referring to T. Ferris letter “Let’s get clear on who our potential supporters are and give them meaningful reasons to vote Sinn Fein” is a very clear and direct way to begin discussing the party’s position from a ‘solutions based’ approach. It should be employed by all activists and supporters as the starting point for future discussion.

As Republicans are we content with being ‘potentially influential’ in government policy decisions and administration? There may be merit in that. We have gained ground and perhaps should hold it until such a time that public opinion gives us the opportunity to express that influence to a greater degree.

Or do we need to look at our roots as a Revolutionary party, ally ourselves and engage on a deeper level with the social and economic influences that are forcing change within Ireland. I believe that the challenge for the Republican Movement is not to clarify our message, but to clarify our actions. Are we at the core or even openly engaging today’s popularist movements that might bring about dramatic change like education and students movements, employment, agriculture and the fishing industry? And more importantly, if we are, is that involvement serving that particular movement or is it serving Sinn Fein? Are we capable of setting up a de facto government on a 32 counties basis? Even if it means one council at a time. You mention the “progressive coalitions” that would be required to implement real alternatives. Are we courting them or should they be courting us?

Should we be thinking that way? The main government parties have all stated clearly that they do not want us in government. Perhaps we should make it clear that we do not want to be in their type of government. These are the questions of a Revolutionary Party.

Do actions speak louder than words? Selling northern coalition ploicies to left wing voters.

Following the election I have not posted anything because I wished to let the dust settle and recharge my batteries.

Below are two articles I received concerning Sinn Fein’s role in the Northern Government. The first article is from a Sinn Féin member in the South who was/is struggling to justify to others, and himself, the parties differing attitude to Public Finance Initiatives in the north and in the South.

This to me is very valid viewpoint. When Sinn Féin supporters in the South go around promoting our left wing policies it is hard to respond to left wing criticism of certain actions taken by our ministers in the North. In the case of the first article it is Public Private Financing of projects.

The second article asks what can be done about this contradiction and proposes how we can possibly move forward.


Policy must apply on an all-Ireland basis by Slán Abhaile

Over the past number of months I have noticed some inconsistencies in the way in which the party is applying policy North and South of the border.One recent instance of this is the signing of a contract, oversaw by Education Minister Catriona Ruane, for the construction of four schools in the Co. Down area. The contract for £4.45million is to be completed by Public Private Partnership (PPP), yet Sinn Féin policy is explicit in its opposition to Public Private Partnerships and it features prominently in our Local Government Election Manifesto 2009.

In the past these Public Private Partnerships have been bad value for taxpayer’s money and several examples litter the island such as the farce that is the toll bridge on Dublin’s M50 motorway. Ms. Ruane must be questioned regarding her support for a Public Private Partnership and the actual cost of this Partnership must be made public, as has been demanded by Sinn Féin of similar Fianna Fail-backed PPPs in the 26 Counties.


Second Article　
　
WHATS COMING DOWN THE TRACKS

The UUP have entered into an alliance with the English conservative party. The English Conservative Party looks set to win the next election on the island of Britain. The Conservative Party NI spokesperson has echoed UUP sentiment that they view the involuntary nature of coalition in the six counties as a temporary arrangement and that they view majority rule as the favourable solution. After years of work there are major problems in this for SF but for the sake of argument and the sake of this blog looking at things in a left perspective hypothetically could there be a positive?

If after a fight/negotiations etc there were guaranteed legal rights for the minority in the northern statelet, a greater role for the south to secure them, an Irish language act, finance raising powers, transfer of police and justice powers etc. What if in such circumstances SF did take up a position of the largest opposition party, would it be all bad?

At the moment one of the negatives of our involvement in the executive is having to implement economics that we feel uncomfortable with. Water charges, teacher assistants cuts, public private partnerships etc. this is inconsistent with our position in the south and has opened us up for criticism on such issues. After an election where we were the only left wing party not to benefit from a swing do such weaknesses matter? I think they might. Some people think we’re right wing others left. It’s a major problem that there’s a doubt.

If we were in a role of opposition in the six counties we would have a consistent message across Ireland. The issues are the same, government cuts, privatisation, marginalisation etc the boarder doesn’t distinguish. As Seamus Costello said, "I believe in guerrilla tactics inside and outside of parliaments."

What if we changed tactic in the north? Obviously there are losses but we have proved able to turn weakness into strength before. Hypothetically is there a case for it here?
　

WHY SINN FÉIN OR ANY IRISH LEFT WING PARTY SHOULD SAY NO TO COALITION WITH FIANNA FÁIL OR FINE GAEL.

I received this article as a comment, to a previous article, on going into coalition with Fine Gael. However, I felt it was good enough to post as a separate piece. I must confess that the view put forward here is certainly one I would support. Please note that I have edited the article slightly, so if the original poster wishes to make changes then please let me know.

WHY SINN FÉIN OR ANY IRISH LEFT WING PARTY SHOULD SAY NO TO COALITION WITH FIANNA FÁIL OR FINE GAEL.



How should I respond to the previous post on this site - Fine Gael Sinn Fein Coalition Options? That article put forward the case for Sinn Féin and Fine Gael to consider the benefits of going into coalition. Well, I feel the arguments against such a move have already been made when members of the Labour Party argued against election pacts, and such like, with Fine Gael. One of the main thinkers in opposing such a link up was Mick O’Reilly. I personally would say that Mick O’Reilly put together an argument, which I think, should be the basis of any left wing party’s attitude to coalition with Fine Gael. Mick is a trade union official with UNITE and a member of the labour party. He articulates the politics of the 26 county state best in his summary of the history of the Irish state as being a “one policy state” as opposed to a “one party state”.

He points out that since 1932 every government has been FF for 2 or 3 terms followed by FG lab followed by FF getting back in for 2 3 terms etc etc etc.


In looking at the make up of these two types of government he points out they are basically the same. He argues Fianna Fáil is historically a party made up of a coalition of a number of different socio-economic groups, labourers, trades men, farmers, solicitors etc

The internal coalition within Fianna Fail is matched by the Fine Gael/ labour coalition. Namely the middle upper class nature of Fine Gael and the working class/middle class nature of labour.

This is not an exact match but roughly speaking that would be how the support base of the 3 main parties breaks down. The consequence is that the two power blocks draw support from a wide cross section of society and in trying to satisfy the broad coalitions they represent, they only ever adopt centrist policies. The dominance of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in these two power blocks means that Irish politics has therefore never been able to escape the civil war divide. These factors have therefore combined and prevented a left right split from forming in the politics of the 26 counties.

Mick O’Reilly argued that the way to break this one policy cycle is for the labour party to simply say no and refuse point blank to go in to government with FG. The idea is that FG will always need labour to get in to government. Therefore if labour say no to FG, then they will eventually stop being viewed as a potential party of government.

In the shot term this may mean a jump in support for FF, but in the long-term we can try to create a post centre right v centre right election choice for the electorate by ruling out FG. Sooner or later FF as always will eventually loose an election. This would give Fine Gael its first opportunity to be a party of government with FF and thus hopefully finally killing of civil war politics and creating the first left right divide in Irish politics. Admittedly the Labour Party will be a opposition party in the Dáil, but finally there will be a clear cut left right choice for the electorate. This situation does not automatically mean labour will gain but such a new scenario has the potential for great change.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO SINN FÉIN?

In post credit crunch Ireland the roles of FF and FG could be reversed. Though FFs base is mixed, and as a result over the long term more robust and less vulnerable, but the theory’s a good one. It’s as relevant to SINN FÉIN as it is/was to labour. Mick’s theory does not appear to have been adhered to in labour, regretfully due to the short term practicalities of electoral politics I presume.

But if people are genuine about creating an alternative then they have to think long term. For SF there’s a hard question in it. The strategy to be in power both sides of the boarder does certainly create a greater opportunity to implement the all Ireland agenda. But as a small left wing party in a FF or FG led government, would we really get the chance? Or would we be squeezed out like other smaller parties before us.

I joined SF with a Brits out mentality but got educated in wider politics, people campaigns and reading classes etc.

For me the very notion of going into government with Fine Gael is wrong. However, this is not because of my gut feeling, but rather I believe that we can make longer-term gains by not doing so. See for me the question is short term gains or long term gains. I’d say hold out but it's easy to say that when it’s not an option this minute. (addition from original author)However, if the party got a chance to imlement the all ireland agrenda, speed up dismantleing the boarder it would be a very tempting option for me. Just like for greens the possibility of implementing a green agenda was extreamly tempting for them. as small parties we will never do it on our own so we need a coalition. We have an ideal coalition in our head but time is passing and what should we do if we only have one offer. Do people marry foor love or for security? We know what they should do but what do they do, though choice.


I hope the leadership is aiming at long term gains and that they will see the merits of the case put forward by Mick O’Reilly. Or is the notion of gaining any form of political power just too attractive for some to resist?

Fine gael coalition options. Why labour might best be avoided in favour of Sinn Féin

An article submitted by a SF member supporting coalition with Fine Gael. This is a view I fundamentally disagree with, but it is exactly the kind of open debate that
www. sinnfeinkeepleft.blogspot.com was set up to encourage. Please leave your comments below.

Fine Gael coalition options. Why Labour might be best avoided in favour of Sinn Fein.

Just for idle amusement I though I'd imagine what Enda might be thinking if he had two coalition options necessary to get the majority.

One was labour wins 30 seats and the other was an 11 seat SF and one or two independents.

Assume FG had a stormer for arguments sake.

Enda will be mindful that 30 odd Labour TDs will require a lot of cabinet posts. While a coalition with SF might not be his favourite he will know two things - that SF can and already do work in Govt., and that 10 odd SF TDs will require less cabinet posts than Labour.

But maybe he worries that Labour need to be in so as to avoid FG carrying all the blame for hard choices.

The advantage of having labour on the outside though would be that it would prevent FF from being the main opposition. If FF get 40 odd and Labour have 30 odd then FF can’t really be billed as the opposition. It would do more damage to FF to have Labour outside the govt.

So while FG may not be happiest with the prospects of a SF coalition it would allow them more cabinet seats, it would allow them the prospect of more rewards from any future recovery and most important it would allow them to watch FF wither even further on the opposition benches as Labour became the main opposition. Labour is as serious a threat to FG now as FF and there is no point in boosting Labour further if they want to be the big dog.

For SF it allows them to prove to the southern Irish electorate that they can govern, it ends the transfer repellence issue (although that’s probably gone) and they can prove that they are able to moderate some of FG's more libertarian tendencies. They will also profit from FF being only half the opposition. The risk is Labour solidifies its support but that seems to be happening anyhow. The reward is that SF is in Govt. on the upturn and is seen as standing up for the Irish working class while helping build the economy back up.

Finally as regards negotiations - it ain’t going to be easy for FG with either party so that’s a neutral factor.

For both parties big rewards it seems. And while FG might not be our cup of tea I have to ask are the DUP our cup of tea. FG might be the opposite of what we want. Well you know so are the DUP.

Only be engaging with them can we neutralise and then persuade them. DUP and FG

I TELL YA, SINN FÉIN IS NOT YOUR ONLY CHOICE

OK folks what have you been doing with your weekends this year? Well, if you're like me you've been out every one since January delivering leaflets, knocking on doors and going to fundraisers. OK not every weekend, but it feels that way.

However, now we're told is the time to really get out to work and not just be doing it at weekends, but 7 days a week. Just dropping leaflets is no longer enough and this needs to be replaced by actually knocking on people's doors every single night. We need to disturb people in their homes, who mostly don't want to be disturbed. We have to smile at some people who can be pretty obnoxious. We have to attempt to get our message over again and again and again and again. We have to convince the people to vote Sinn Féin, or do we?

I would like you to ask yourself why you will be out on the doorsteps doing all this work? Why are you giving up time with your family and friends? Why are you doing stuff that most people would never do in a million years? And once you've done that then decide what you will be saying to the people at their doors.

The two main reasons I will be out each night over the next five weeks are:

1) I believe in the value of Irish reunification and the creation of a 32 county republic and I support the only major 32 county political party that is trying to achieve that.

2) I'm not prepared to sit back and wait for the 32 county republic before tackling what is wrong in this country. The working class of the 26 counties are being crucified by Fianna Fáil and people should be able to vote for a party that will fight for the rights of working people now. These rights include the right to a job, the right to decent welfare benefits, the right to a decent health care and education and the right to a decent pension.

For me, at this time, the most important of these reasons is the second. Unemployment in the South has reached 380,000 and increased by over 180,000 in the past year alone. This figure is expected to pass half a million within the next twelve months. The government response is not to try and prevent this catastrophe by fighting to save jobs. No, they choose to attack working people. They failed to protect jobs at SR Techics, Waterford Crystal and Dublin Bus. They fail to have any meaningful policies to help struggling companies get over the crisis without making any of their workers redundant. They cut welfare benefits at Christmas. They tax the workers, whilst allowing the rich to avoid tax. I could go on, but the list is too long. They simply have no real job creation policies! No real job protection policies! No real retraining policies!

So, given the above what am I going to do? Well, I'll do what I think is right. I'll do what I have been doing since Christmas. I will ask people to vote Sinn Féin, but also Labour and Socialist and I'll tell any party official that tries to get me to stop to fxck off!

I will put forward our policies (which are good ones), I'll talk about the qualities of our local candidate and our European one (both really good too) and I'll ask them to vote Sinn Féin. What I will add is that they should also vote for any party that will attempt to tackle the crisis in a positive manner. I will ask them to vote for any party that puts the interests of working people first.

Yes, I know labour and the socialists etc are not perfect, but hey nor are we. However, we are all a lot better that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. This is for me the bottom line. The people of this country cannot afford to be governed by the right wing ideas of the big two parties. The left need to win the argument. we need to convince people there is a way out of the mess created by a free market, deregulated, greed is good economy.

Most of what I hear form Joan Burton I agree with. Most of what I hear from Joe Higgins I agree with. So what if at the moment they don't want anything to do with us. To me the overriding factor must be the interests of the Irish working class.  Therefore, when your speaking with local people consider asking them not just to vote Sinn Féin, but ask them to vote in the interests of all working people.

Ask them to VOTE LEFT whoever that may be.

An Alliance for change - What's that?

Eoin ó Broin, somebody I have a lot of time for, wrote the following piece in An Phoblacht recently.

It is time for a politics of hope and purpose. It is time for a politics of change.

For today people need concrete proposals for economic and social recovery; for tomorrow, they need a vision for political and economic transformation.

In his Ard Fheis speech, Gerry Adams set out Sinn Féin's stall. He said, "Our society needs core values based on social justice, fairness, equality and decency." He said, "There can be an egalitarian alternative to the politics of greed, inefficiency, waste and corruption.

"Crucially, he said, "I believe the time is right for a new alliance of all people and parties that want real and fundamental change.

"In the South, this new alliance should involve Sinn Féin, Labour, the Greens, progressive independents, the trade union movement, the community and voluntary sector and all those individuals and organisations who believe that a better Ireland is possible.

However, such an alliance will not happen unless people take the decision to make it happen and invest the resources to match. Political will and effort - from Sinn Féin and others - will determine whether Gerry's Ard Fheis words are to become reality.
The Ard Fheis speech - Alternative politics in Ireland


All very hopeful words from Gerry and from Eoin about how we can build our influence in the South, but to me the meat lies in the final paragraph, " such an alliance will not happen unless people take the decision to make it happen .

"The question we must ask ourselves is do we really wish to make it happen? Are we prepared to go out and work with others? Are we ready to move away from election politics and towards working on a daily basis for real social change?

Since the Ard Fheis I have not seen any major evidence of SF working with other groups on major issues. So, why are we not holding meetings throughout the country and inviting others to join with us in creating an alliance for change.

Is it because we don't want to give me our splendid isolation? Is it because we fear nobody else will turn up? Is it because we don't know how to do it? Is it because the leadership has not shown us how?

I believe all the above answers are correct, but fxck it let's give it a go. In our local cumman we should go out and try and build something in the local area. Invite Labour, the greens, community groups, independents and most radically of all LOCAL PEOPLE. Have the meeting around jobs, local cuts, anything. Go out with the intention of forming some form of alliance for change and let's see where it takes us.

Let's not be afraid to fail, but let's dare to succeed