Ther ain’t no party like a Ché party, coz a Ché party don’t stop October 8, 2007
Posted by franklittle in Sinn Féin, Socialist Party, The Left.trackback
If the size, scope and attractiveness of the event being organised to commemorate the life of Ché Guevara in Dublin this week is the best indicator as to which of Ireland’s myriad of left-wing political formations can best claim his legacy, then it’s time Gerry Adams donned a beret and fatigues again as the Shinners are really pushing the boat out.
The Socialist Party, clearly not wanting to mess with a winning formula, have gone for a public meeting tomorrow night (The 40th anniversary of his death) in Wynns Hotel where a man called Tony Saunois will address the massed ranks of workers and peasants on Ché Guevara and the struggle against capitalism. Depending on which SP poster you see, Saunois is described either as a ‘Socialist and author of a book on Ché’ or ‘Latin American Organiser of the CWI’.
His book, Che Guevara: Symbol of Struggle is available on Amazon and, if you rush, you can be the first to review it. Normally, you couldn’t pay me enough to attend, but having had a heavy spending weekend, all offers will be considered.
The Shinners however have really gone all-out. Ché’s emissary in Ireland (Mary Lou McDonald) today made a presentation to the Cuban Ambassador in City Hall with representatives from SIPTU and the ATGWU, as well as Sinn Féin’s City Council Group and there is a vigil planned at the James Connolly statue outside Liberty Hall on Thursday evening.
But it is the party they’re throwing that night in the Floridta Cuban bar that excites me the most. Live Cuban music, classic cocktail bar, Latin American Cuisine and (My personal favourite) ‘Exclusive Cigars’. My, my, exclusive no less. And the Cuban Ambassador appears again. To be honest, it sounds pretty attractive. Rum, mojitos and cigars figure high on my personal list of things I strongly support.
Beats the Hell out of the Wolfe Tones I expect. To be honest, I never really got the whole Ché obsession in the broad left despite the fact that friends travelling in Latin America seem to automatically assume my dearest wish as a souvenir is another Ché shirt (Of which I have five) or poster (Two). It also strikes me as interesting, maybe even telling, that after an election campaign where Sinn Féin ran like terrified rabbits, with as much coherence, for the centreground, they’re embracing a man who was an unreconstructed militarist and revolutionary until the day he died.
Never mind the politics comrade. Sit back with a glass of rum and a cigar and admire the rhetoric. I might even turn up.
A northern speaker? Good to see the lessons of the election being learned. And when did this stop being organised by the youth section? And will they be bringing this up at the next fundraising dinner organised with the help of Peter King? And did Gerry talk about this when he showed Jesse Helms round west Belfast personally?
And how shameless can you be?
Yes, I saw the poster over the weekend outside the SF offices on Parnell Square. The “Exclusive Cigars” made ma laugh too. I don’t know, I always think there is something very fake about the Che thing. Not so much chi chi as che che. I’d have my criticisms of Fidel, hanging on to power too long being the primary one (I mean come on guys – a handover only last year…and to the barely younger brother) but still, he had his head screwed on on many issues and exporting Che was one of them. Still, interesting to consider how Che’s career would have developed had he survived… perhaps he would have mellowed.
Socialist Youth occasionally hold meetings about Che Guevara – his name can still draw a crowd. People who go to the meetings are often surprised to find that the main speaker is quite critical of Guevara, albeit in a generally positive framework.
[Gaaahh, I pressed send it before I'd finished]
Saunois’ publication on Guevara is pretty good, and again while broadly positive doesn’t hold back on criticism.
Have to say though, that whatever my criticisms (or obviously Mark Ps as well) of some lines Che took, the man was profoundly charismatic – there was a short clip of an interview with him on RTÉ News yesterday evening from a visit he made to Ireland and that was very evident.
“perhaps he would have mellowed”
Like you did?
There was I, thinking that the CLR people would show respect towards Che…
My education continues.
And will they be bringing this up at the next fundraising dinner organised with the help of Peter King? And did Gerry talk about this when he showed Jesse Helms round west Belfast personally?
Ideed. And will Marty McG be inviting his mate Henry Kissinger along?
http://1169andcounting.blogspot.com/2006_10_29_archive.html
And what about Gearóid O’Hara, former mayor of Derry, who declared as long ago as 1995 that “Sinn Fein .. have no problem with capitalism” (Irish Times10/5/95)
Or Catriona Ruane, friend Of Columbian bird-watchers but no friend of northern classroom assistants?
Or Adams, who declared during the Assembly that Prods in East belfast might be pleased “to accept jobs and the economic dividends that would come out of the Celtic Tiger if there is a 32 County Celtic Tiger” and who is working hard to make the North a low corporation tax, low wages, high inequality mirror of the South.
http://www.rte.ie/news/nielections2007/niquotes.html
Ogra $hinn £ein and lefties within $inn £ein (is it just poor wee Eoin O’Broin or are there more of them?) are either fools or they’re fooling themselves. And anyone who sees radical change coming from that Provisional Champagne is living in a dream.
Justin,
I remember Richard MacAuley being quoted saying exactly the same thing about capitalism in the Observer magazine around the same time.
I’ve heard Eoin O Broin talk. Very impressive. Then again, as he said himself, he was trained in this sort of stuff by the misnamed National Endowment for Democracy. That can stand as a judgment on his left credentials. Is his magazine still going or has it collapsed?
Soubresauts, it wasn’t meant to be disrespecting Ché. I actually meant it more as a fairly light-hearted look at people in Ireland competing for Ché’s legacy, and in particular for Sinn Féin trying to pose a little radical in the wake of a shift to the right.
Slightly disappointed to see this degenerate so quickly into an Indymediaesque Sinn Féin bash. To be honest, I’ve never been that bothered by Sinn Féin taking money from Americans. I have American relatives who’ve donated to them. If, as a result of this, Sinn Féin started backing American imperialism, I’d have a problem, but people like my relatives give the money because of the Peace Process and support for unity.
Also worth noting that when all the American politicians quoted above asked Adams not to go to Cuba, and threatened to withdraw support if he did, he went anyway.
I’m not here to defend Sinn Féin. I’ve criticised them often here. Ruane in particular is an absolute shambles for example. But in the absence of any Sinn Féin poster a bit of the other side needs to be presented.
Besides, they’re providing cheap rum.
Frank,
Kinda hard not to discuss PSF’s attitudes and the contradictions in it when the piece is largely about them. Can we say that PSF’s attitude to political questions is unaffected by its relationship with the US government and US fundraisers, as you suggest? I’ve been told by someone who works in the European Parliament that the only international question they vote on is the Basques, although I haven’t checked this for myself. If true, it would suggest that political decisions are being taken with the US in mind.
As for the Socialist Party, I thought Mark P answered in advance quite a few of the questions that anyone might ask, although he might have gone into more detail on the attitude of that organisation towards Cuba over the years.
Had the piece been why Che is still popular as an icon these days, or why does Cuba remain so popular when, say, Vietnam is much less chic, you would have got a different discussion, much broader ranging, and much less focused on PSF.
And they;ve been providing cheap drink and fags in the north at least for years. Although that was all supposed to have stopped now
I’m not being disrespectful to Che, but I think any reasonably balanced assessment of his life would lead to something less than a hagiography. I’m deeply deeply unconvinced by the iconic status he has assumed – which is something distinct from his life. It seems to me to be borne of distance, lack of knowledge about his life and times and a fetishisation of his good looks. Non of these is problematic in itself but as a serious component of building a contemporary left I really don’t see useful linkages. Oddly enough I think MarkPs point is close to my own, generally critical but in a positive framework.
As for the knocking of SF, doesn’t really move things on does it?
“I’ve been told by someone who works in the European Parliament that the only international question they vote on is the Basques”
Ehhh, whoever told you that was spinning one. I’m really interested in European issues and while McDonald hasn’t been a great MEP (Running for election in Dublin Central took up a bit of time I suppose), De Brún’s been pretty good on a lot of stuff, including international issues. She was an election observer in Palestine for example. Both have voted on numerous international issues. The Basques might be a priority for them
I’ve no problem with people attacking Sinn Féin, or the party’s many contradictions and u-turns. But I do feel that it gets out of hand way too quickly in a way attacks on other political formations do not. I know you didn’t use the terms but ‘Provisional Champagne’ and $inn Féin? Doesn’t add anything to the argument.
I’ve been told by someone who works in the European Parliament that the only international question they vote on is the Basques, although I haven’t checked this for myself. If true, it would suggest that political decisions are being taken with the US in mind.
I’m not sure exactly what you mean by “international questions”, but I’ll assume you’re talking about issues to do with relationships between countries or with border disputes and the like. SF MEPs are mandated to vote according to party policy and we don’t have policies on all these issues (nor do I think we should). Where we do have a position, and the Basque question is one that we obviously do have a position on, they can and do vote on these issues.
Even if your friend was correct, though, I can’t see how it would logically follow that it was out of a desire not to offend the US. That really seems to me to be reaching for an excuse.
Cheers for the info Frank and Wednesday. Duly noted. Cuba was I think mentioned in the discussion I had. That would certainly have been related to the US, which was why I said it.
I suspect the tenor of the debate is due to a combination of disbelief and outrage, though obviously things should be kept as far as possible on an analytical level. I’d still be interested to hear Wednesday’s thoughts on whether he thinks having a northern speaker at prominent events like these is sensible. It seems to me that is the really important aspect of this question for the future of PSF in the south.
Cuba was I think mentioned in the discussion I had. That would certainly have been related to the US, which was why I said it.
I would be very surprised indeed if our MEPs didn’t vote on a Cuba-related motion, given that we have very clear positions on Cuba (which are passed just about every year at the Ard Fheis and definitely do not toe the US line). You might ask your friend for specific details.
And no, I wouldn’t have a northern speaker at this event and particularly not Gerry Kelly.
PS. “he”?
Words from the man himself –
“The true revolutionary is always a communist.”
http://www.communistpartyofireland.ie/unity/90tamara.html
Belfast – Béal Feirste
Thursday 25 October, 7 p.m.
Celebrating the Russian Revolution
Public meeting
Guest speaker: Prof. Hans Heinz Holz (German communist philosopher, author of The Defeat and Future of Socialism and Communists Today)
▶CPI premises (8–10 Exchange Place, off Donegall Street)
Dublin-Baile Átha Cliath
Friday 26 October, 7:30 p.m.
Celebrating the Russian Revolution
Celebration event
Guest speakers: Noel Carrillo Alfonso (Cuban ambassador to Ireland); Prof. Hans Heinz Holz (German communist philosopher, author of The Defeat and Future of Socialism and Communists Today)
▶Liberty Hall (Beresford Place): Connolly Room (1st floor)
Wednesday,
Perhaps I have gender misaligned you. If so, I do apologise. Thanks for the response. I suspect the leadership of your party is going to have to learn to trust people on the ground more, and listen to them more, if more headway is to be made in the south.
“I’ve heard Eoin O Broin talk. Very impressive. Then again, as he said himself, he was trained in this sort of stuff by the misnamed National Endowment for Democracy. That can stand as a judgment on his left credentials. Is his magazine still going or has it collapsed?”
Garibaldy,
If you go the left Republican Review website website (
http://www.leftrepublican.com/) you find two words -Hello World- as though Eoin is hanging in by his wee fingertips. “Goodbye world” might be a better epithet. Although O’Broin is given space in An Phoblacht, “left republicanism” inside the $hinners, which was already clearly compromised by thirty years of sectarian killing – is clearly a busted flush as the leadership steers the flock -sorry I meant to say ” grassroots” – ever rightwards.
Justin
“Slightly disappointed to see this degenerate so quickly into an Indymediaesque Sinn Féin bash.”
Frank
Sorry to disappoint.Not a Provo bash just for the sake of it. The provos are talking left and acting right. The hypocrisy ought to be talked about.
Cheers Justin for the info on O Broin’s magazine.
The inabilty of PSF and its supporters to sustain a left magazine is not a new one. About 10 years ago, there was an attempt to get one going in Belfast based at QUB, but it was distributed almost secretly, and the people involved subsequently opposed the GFA, although have mostly returned to the fold. I think the Provos produced a magazine in the past. Perhaps the absence of one now is a reflection of a decline in interest in ideological issues even among the politically-engaged.
The absence of a serious left magazine is an issue I think for the whole left in Ireland. I know the SP produces one, as do the SWP, but I get the feeling that the readership is confined essentially to within their memberships. As are those who are writing the articles. I don’t know if this was the case with Workers’ Life, others here should be better able to say. It seems to me this is an issue about how the left is communicating with the broader public.
The Shinners are publishing a magazine entitled Left Republican Review at the moment. When it appeared in the past it was a ’serious left’ magazine. So far the two editions I’ve seen have been dominated by the hunger strikes in the first one and the most recent reprinted the IRA pamphlet from the 1950s, Resistance, about the Border Campaign. Interesting reading (Was banned at the time and never published since), but serious political discussion it was not.
Justin, attack the hypocritical and contradictory positions of Sinn Féin all you want. We’re here for all sorts of critical left commentary and you’ve made a number of really good points, especially the point on Ó Hara, which I hadn’t heard before. But we don’t want to turn into Indymedia where threads degenerates into namecalling and petty sectarianism.
As the old movie quote has it, “Standards old chap. We must have standards.”
Frank,
Is the fact that a magazine that is aiming to be a serious left publication starts by going on about the hunger strikes and then the border campaign not an indication that it is not doing what it should? I never saw the magazine at the time, but did look at the website, which is now a shadow of itself. Down for relaunch, or down permanently we shall see.
Can you remember if there were articles on say social partnership, or the cost of housing, or corporation tax or whatever? It seems to me that these are the types of things that a serious left magazine should address primarily. Ironically, if it is concentrating on the history of past struggles instead, it may well be failing to learn the lessons people drew from the failure of the Border Campaign about becoming relevant.
“I think the Provos produced a magazine in the past.”
In fact, the Provos appear to have reactivated IRIS and, aside from an interview with Mc Guinness, it’s firmly lodged in the past from the flight of the Earls to a three-decade-old account of the Border Campaign.
http://www.sinnfeinbookshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=540&osCsid=853c466ef9798c9a92152463cbefef8f
McGuinness aside, it sounds like the stuff that “Independent Republican”, Gerry McGeough, is publishing in The [so funny it's sad] Hibernian. For example here’s a bit from a recdent article in The Hibernian on the Flight Of The Earls:
“This year marks the 400th anniversary of the so-called “Flight of the Earls”, an event that marked the end of Gaelic rule in Ireland and heralded the beginning of a long decline in the fortunes of our Irish language, literature and culture as well as the oppression of our Catholic Faith and the theft of our land by hordes of foreign heretics.
This dark period in our history was preceded by a savagery against the native Irish Catholic population by English crown forces which was so brutal that it sickened even English army officers, large numbers of whom resigned rather than continue with what had in effect become an ethnic cleansing slaughter.
“http://www.hibernianmedia.com/
I wonder if the IRIS stuff will be of similar pedigree. But I won’t be laying out £5 to find out.
IRIS Summer 2007 7.00EUR
RESISTANCE
THE STORY OF THE STRUGGLE IN BRITISH OCCUPIED IRELAND
EXCLUSIVE – REPRINTED FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1957. THE BOOK THEY TRIED TO BAN.
INCLUDING AN INTERVIEW WITH SINN FÉIN CHIEF NEGOTIATOR AND THE SIX COUNTY DEPUTY FIRST MINISTER MARTIN McGUINNESS.
72 PAGES FULL COLOUR
In this the latest edition of Iris, there is an exclusive feature marking the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the IRA Border Campaign in 1957, Iris reprints for the first time in 50 years the book that the authorities North and South tried to suppress – Resistance, the Story of the Struggle in British Occupied Ireland.
This is the IRA’s own account of the campaign in 1956-’57.
Also featured is an in-depth and wide-ranging interview with Six County Deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness. One of the leading Irish republican for over three decades, McGuinness spells out republican strategy in 2007.
Also included are features in Irish and English marking the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls – a huge event in Irish history marking a further advance in the English colonial conquest of Ireland and the defeat of the old Gaelic order.
This product was added to our catalog on Friday 10 August, 2007.
This can be a bit like shooting fish in a barrel and as Wednesday says SF have taken positions at variance with the likes of Peter King on many issues in the past. Guess what: he knows that they support Cuba and he doesn’t care. King in the 1980s openly said he supported the Provos campaign when President Reagan was jailing and extraditing IRA men. King was secretary of Long Island (American!) Republicans for Reagan while also protesting at members of the US government meeting the Queen (of England, as the Yanks call her). But you can also ask why Tom Hayden and any number of 1960s US New Left types also support Sinn Fein. In the 1980s I would have believed the fairly universal Irish left wing mantra that the Provos pretend to be socialists here and Catholic conservatives in America, but having met and worked with NORAID members in New York I was surprised to find that some of them were into all the lefty stuff, Cuba and all. Peter King certainly isn’t but David Dinkins used to come to NORAID dinners and in Neew York terms he was left wing.
On Che, the Michael Collins of the left, no doubt. Look at the line up commemorating him. In the 1960s of course both Che and Fidel fell out with the USSR, flirted with China, got called Trots by the KGB and then in Fidel’s case went back to the Soviets again. Mind you Castro had judged the Russians to be too soft because they weren’t prepared to launch a nuclear strike on the US in 1962, so Nikita probably called that one right!
On the subject of revolutionaries who were assasinated and not in anyway trying to score cheap points but it was 30 years on October 5th just gone that Seamus Costello was shot dead. Again, I am not comparing him to Che, (though Costello was responsible for a lot fewer dead) but there was something in that 1960s mileau of guerillia chic, left rhetoric and armed struggle in the early IRSP. Costello was no doubt deeply flawed, but hey so was Che. I presume the IRPs held something in Bray for this at the weekend.
They certainly had something in Belfast. And Costello was shot on the anniverstary of the Derry civil rights march that was baton charged to boot.