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New Irish Nationalism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Here's a mock-up of what an anti-fratricidal Irish Nationalism would look like, based on an old BNP Manifesto
Every important political movement is perceived to have originated in a central and all-pervasive idea. This is certainly true of the parties that dominate the Irish mainstream. With the degeneration of politics, these founding ideas recede to the point at which they become mere words - as everything is sacrificed to the demands of expediency in the party war. All that then matters is the race for votes and the spoils of office.
Ideological distinctions between the parties become blurred, are thought of with very little seriousness and are only invoked in rhetoric in order to score points off opponents. But there is another reason why the ideas fade. They owe their impact to their relevance to the times in which they are born, and this impact lasts for as long as this relevance is maintained.
The time has come for the emergence of a fresh idea: New Irish Nationalism.
While the Irish Nation is vibrant and wonderful, true Irish Nationalism has been obscured by sectarian squabbles. New Irish Nationalism, like its political predecessors in this country, is a response to the conditions and needs of its time. It emerged in earlier times because the nation itself was insecure in its freedom and questioned as an object of people's loyalty. In the years following World War II, there arose a new, possibly unexpected, threat to Irish Nationhood. The threat was twofold:-
On the one hand, it consisted of the emergence of supra-national institutions, enforced by internationalist ideology, which captured the allegiance, one by one, of the major political parties. First, there was the United Nations, under whose auspices a whole myriad of internationalist bodies sprung up, each with the ambition of contributing in its own way to the establishment of a 'world authority' to which national policy and national interests would be subordinated. Then there was the European Common Market, which subtly was renamed the 'European Community' and later the 'European Union' - each change symbolising a milestone in integration which resulted in further Irish freedom being sacrificed.
On the other hand, the racial homogeneity and character of the Irish population became threatened fundamentally by the arrival of immigrants from Pakistan, Nigeria, Romania and elsewhere, the rapid growth of the communities of these immigrants through further immigration and natural increase, and the policy of enforced multi-racialism, which became an article of faith with all the major political parties.
Ireland first
Besides those already mentioned, there are other issues in national affairs which call for policies of national self-interest and self-help rather than those based on a woolly cosmopolitanism.
On the cultural front, the need for a new movement of nationalism has long been evident. For over half a century, Ireland has been swamped by a deluge of trashy popular entertainment, mainly from over the Atlantic, under which our own theatre, arts and national musical heritage have been largely submerged and in some places virtually destroyed. Government support is clearly needed for the preservation and revitalisation of the traditional folk cultures of the Irish people, where arguably the damage has been most severe.
Cultural matters are closely interlinked with the mass media, which largely determine popular cultural tastes. Almost without the nation noticing it, very substantial parts of these mass media have come under the ownership and control of people of non-Irish origin or without ties of loyalty to Ireland. It is time to take steps to remedy this dangerous tendency.
Cornerstones of the New Irish Nationalism
(1) POLITICAL SOVEREIGNTY: All matters of Irish policy and law-making must be restored to Irish Government and the Oireachtas. We should repudiate any and all international organisations which reduce or threaten to reduce Irish control of Irish affairs. Accordingly, we stand for Irish withdrawal from the European Union. In place of the EU, we intend to aim towards greater national self-sufficiency, and to trade with the rest of the world as it suits us.
(2) ETHNIC IDENTITY: Our nationalism is ethnic as well as political - in fact it is ethnic before being political. We reject multiracialism, which envisages the distruction of the Irish and all European peoples. Ireland's ethnic identity must be preserved. People of other European strains can be absorbed into our population in limited numbers. Those of non-European origin cannot. It is important to emphasise that this ethnic nationalism is a positive one of devotion to our own race, not a negative of hatred of other races. Every different race has the right of self-preservation, including all the non-white races, and we respect those non-whites who wish to preserve their ethnic identities as we do ours. Consequently, we should halt all non-white immigration into Ireland and introduce a policy of phased, humane repatriation of all coloured immigrants and their descendants to their ancestral homelands.
(3) ECONOMIC NATIONALISM: The traditional industries of Ireland must be protected and where necessary restored. We believe, additionally, that they should be predominantly if not wholly Irish-owned. This calls for firm controls of imports, as well as regulation of the movement of capital in and out of Ireland.
(4) THE WIDER IRISH FAMILY: We recognise the ethnic kinship which exists between the indigenous peoples of Ireland and communities of Irish origin overseas created by migrations of Irish people across the oceans. We believe it is important to preserve this kinship and, where possible, strengthen it.
(5) IRELAND'S CULTURE: Government should take on the obligation to preserve the native culture of the Irish people and guard it against incompatible foreign influences.
(6) OUR DUTY TO OURSELVES: New Irish Nationalism repudiates the idea that Ireland has any international obligations which transcend its obligations to its own people. Treaties, alliances, trading arrangements and aid programmes should be based on this rule. We strongly believe in the old adage: 'Charity begins at home'.
(7) AN END TO SECTARIANISM: The Irish people have agonised too long as terrorists have killed hundreds of our kind, while being rewarded with a share of political power. New Irish Nationalism realises we have suffered enough and demands that terrorism - from whatever side – be dealt with once and for all. No one with links to a terrorist organisation that refuses to lay down its arms should be allowed to enter government. We would abolish state-supported segregation in education. In the long run, we wish to end the conflict in Ireland by entering Eire, as well as Ulster, as equal partners in a federation of the nations of the British Isles.
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Originally Posted by Monty
England
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