Bad Faith in No.10.

It feels to me rather as it did to W.H.Auden in 1939*, when he found himself ‘Uncertain and afraid/As the clever hopes expire/Of a low dishonest decade.’  It becomes clearer by the day that P.M.Johnson negotiated his Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, and in particular its Irish Protocol, in bad faith. He made clear his cavalier disregard for its provisions promptly enough, saying at the outset - ‘“There’s no question of there being checks on goods going NI/GB or GB/NI”. On his visit to Northern Ireland in November last year, he promised business leaders there would be “No forms, no checks, no barriers of any kind” attached to trade across the Irish Sea under the new regime. Numerous statements from the EU side, and not a few from the British, have made it clear that this is false.

     Normal accountability has been shut down, by the simple expedient of not allowing ministers to face hard questions; those radio and television programs on which such questions are generally asked have been boycotted. Access to briefings for troublesome political correspondents is denied. Indeed Mr Johnson was also supposed to have purged troublesome Tories from party and government, but has already fired or lost three key ministers - Northern Ireland Secretary, Attorney General and Chancellor of the Exchequer - who were evidently insufficiently compliant.

     Meanwhile Mr Johnson’s new chief negotiator, Mr David Frost, was supposed to put some kind of respectable intellectual case for all this, at his recent speech to the Université Libre de Bruxelles. According to The Spectator’s print-out, he kicked off with this:- ‘So in 1790 Edmund Burke, one of my country’s great political philosophers, wrote a pamphlet that is justly famous, in the UK, in any case, called ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’. And my title echoes that tonight. It is not just history, that work is highly relevant today and indeed lots of modern British conservative politicians who would consider themselves to be intellectual heirs of Burke.’

     Pity his English is so bad for an intellectual heir of Burke’s, who could indeed write good English; then of course he was not English, but an Anglo-Irishman born in Dublin, to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother (like myself, I may add, though I travelled in the opposite direction, from England to Ireland). The references to him come thick and fast:-

‘The state, to Burke, was more of an organic creation, entwined with custom, of tradition and spirit.

‘I think in Britain the EU’s institutions, to be honest, never felt like that. They were more abstract, they were more technocratic, they were more disconnected from or indeed actively hostile to national feeling. So in a country like Britain where institutions just evolved and where governance is pretty deep-rooted in historical precedent, it was always going to feel a bit unnatural to a lot of people to be governed by an organisation whose institutions seemed created by design not than by evolution, and which vested authority outside the country elsewhere.’

     Where does one begin? Auden again:- ‘All I have is a voice/To undo the folded lie’. For a start, the notion that the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland in the 18th century were ‘an organic creation, entwined with custom, of tradition and spirit’ is of course absurd. No wonder Burke bailed out of Ireland, to live in the affluent metropolitan bubble of London. Anyway, if he were honest, he would have to go back before the Reformation to find an England that was indeed anything like ‘an organic creation of tradition and spirit’. Auden again:-  ‘Accurate scholarship can/Unearth the whole offence/ From Luther until now/ That has driven a culture mad’.

     In fact England was spiritually part of Europe since long before nation states were even thought of, but in the Ireland of Burke’s day, the Catholics were a dispossessed people, who were not even permitted an education. Meanwhile, in both Britain and Ireland, the bulk of the people were beginning a long slide into destitution and squalor, even while the few were reaping massive profits from slavery and exploitation.

     So ‘institutions just evolved’ in Britain, did they? Tell that to the slaves transported from Africa to toil in the colonial plantations, or to the Irish and the Scots, or to King Charles I, or the representatives of the old Church who were hanged, drawn and quartered, or even the heirs of the kind of 18th century idyll envisioned by our friend Mr Frost, whose world was brutally shattered by the wars of the 20th century. How does the man think he can get away with such tripe? Anyway, can he really expect us to take his boss seriously as an old-world conservative?

     Yet there are a few lessons that he might have learnt from Burke, such as that ‘Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.’  In truth it is the European Union that has been doing the evolving for the last 50 years, and it remains an ongoing project. It should be unnecessary to repeat, with the Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight, that we face huge threats; another saying of Burke’s is relevant:- ‘When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.’  We should also bear in mind that ‘Liberty must be limited in order to be possessed.’

     It is very difficult to unite good men, even if any such are to be found! In truth, if the European project is to have any future, it will have to be more mindful of its roots and real friends; one might look up the Catholic social doctrine of subsidiarity for a start. We will also have to learn again how our sins may be forgiven. Nonetheless, to quote Auden’s poem for the last time, ‘We must love one another or die!’

Burke thought that with the French Revolution ‘the glory of Europe was extinguished forever.’  Little did he know how much worse things could get! Nowadays a generation has grown up for whom the World Wars, the Holocaust, and the whole disaster which generated the modern European movement, are ancient history. They often appear to think that the peace and prosperity which they have enjoyed for the last half century in Europe can be taken for granted. They are wrong. We can only hope that they will not have to find this out in an even harder way than their forebears!

*'September 1, 1939'

The People Voted For Change

'The People voted for change' is being repeated ad nauseam here in Ireland, especially by Sinn Fein supporters. One is tempted to reply, 'have they not noticed that change happens all the time, and increasingly in spades?' Much of it is thoroughly undesirable from my point of view, such as the introduction of abortion and homosexual 'marriage'. More generally, all sorts of people are complaining of all sorts of other things, most genuinely the shortage and cost of housing; but this is a direct result of the banks' failure, and didn't we all complain when they were bailed out?

      Vacuous slogans are unfortunately the stuff of politics, and as the world has become more complex and inter-dependent, it becomes correspondingly more difficult to engage with all its complexities. It is a great deal easier to opt for whatever populist short-cuts are on offer; this is why parliamentary democracy is a good idea. One elects whichever politician comes nearest to gaining one's confidence, to do the business of politics on one's behalf, leaving one free to get on with the actual business of living!

     However, the actual business of politics in any kind of real democracy cannot be merely a matter of the survival of the fittest, barging on and getting their way regardless of other people and their rights, in the manner of a fascist dictator, anymore than any society worthy of the name can accept it as a pattern for the actual business of living. Real democratic politics are a matter of making the effort to listen to and engage with people on all sides, of genuinely seeking truth and justice for all. The 'on all sides' bit is crucial - not just 'on our side'. Such is the essence of catholicism, as opposed to sectarianism.

     It's not at all easy, and of course 'Catholics' can fail and lapse into sectarianism themselves. Many of us do not even know the meaning of the word 'catholic'. Many of us do vaguely know, but still fail to live it out, which is worse. Nonetheless, a radical kind of openness and kindness is noticeable in cultures fortunate enough to have been shaped by it; indeed the whole European project is so shaped, based upon Catholic social doctrine, set up by a group largely of Catholics and with the crown of Mary, twelve stars, as its emblem. If you don't believe me, ask Mr Farrage. 

      Now regardless of that, by all accounts this Julian Smith, who has just been fired as Secretary for Northern Ireland, is someone who tries to apply such principles, and has thereby earned widespread respect there. Firing him is an extremely bad and ominous signal, as we seem to be getting into the endgame with regard to Brexit. 

     I hope it is not just that he was born in Scotland, but he seems to lack the narrow and arrogant nationalism that is apparently a prerequisite for being a member of Mr Johnson's Government, which seems to be setting on a course of confrontation with Europe over Ireland. It will challenge us very deeply to define more clearly what the EU means to us and how we understand Ireland's relationship with it. As such a challenge, it is to be welcomed, but it won't be easy.

     We have to avoid fighting fire with fire. This is why the prospect of a potentially populist and nationalistic party in Government in Ireland is not appetising. What else is on offer, other than everlasting talk and prevarication? It was partly because I could not answer questions of such a nature, and to immerse myself in the practical dilemmas that were even then beginning to define our times, that I settled to earn my living as a fisherman back in 1970s. The conditions of that game are of themselves therapeutic in this sense; either you catch fish or you don't, and no amount of codswallop will make any difference there. At least I have a pretty good grasp of the realities of fishing as a result, and it does indeed exemplify many of the dilemmas we are facing. 

     The first lesson I learnt, beyond doubt and which I have referred to repeatedly in this blog, is that modern technology and unbridled capitalism are a lethal combination that is destroying our society and our planet. To find another way is indeed imperative, and in this sense I can sympathise with 'the people voting for change'. Probably not that many had this kind of change in mind, but at least the result of our recent election is quite promising in the respect that there is no 'winner'. Dialogue and sharing power is the only way ahead, and admittedly if the Shinners can do it in the North, why shouldn't they do it in the Republic?

     But what other 'steers' are there to be taken aboard from fishing? There are those who seem to think that if we can only get rid of the 'foreign' boats, à la Brexit, our problems will be solved. Of course, they will not. It is after all the 'Continental Shelf' we are talking about, continental fishermen have been working it for hundreds of years, we all depend on the continental market, and the fish themselves do not recognise frontiers. In fact the industry doesn't either, most of the big trawlers being owned by multi-national companies. On the other hand, it is true that these big trawlers have no long-term commitment; when they have one area fished out, they just look around for somewhere else.

The principle of subsidiarity needs to be respected; bigger boats should not be fishing where smaller ones can. Also the 'command and control' approach embodied in the Common Fisheries Policy is not working and never will work effectively in its present form; no matter how much fancy technology is thrown at it. The fact is that fishermen, if they are to survive, will find a way round it if they have to, especially the biggest and most destructive of them. The alternative is to find a way to enable them to 'own' it; it is best when the fishermen themselves own the boats, and learn to husband the resource for the longer term and to own the policy of conservation, which is then in their own interest.

The whole array of the problems of technology and of our economic set-up lies behind the politics of it, and there is no solution to anything that does not involve facing up to them; yet one can make a start in tackling immediate abuses. We have a situation in County Cork where our prime fishing port, Castletownbere, is being overwhelmed with big foreign trawlers, whose gear and supplies come from abroad in the lorries that take the fish way, doing no good to the local economy whatever. They make it difficult for the local boats to operate, and moreover we have a situation in which these can be prevented from fishing by the implementation of quotas, while few such restrictions are apparently imposed on the Spanish ships. These just land into the back of lorries with few checks. This has been going on for years. When Simon Coveney's father, as Minister for Fisheries, tried to do something about it, he was shafted.

The quota system itself is a bad joke. Everyone knows that if it was strictly enforced, the industry would mostly go broke. Box counts may be applied, but ineffectively with regard to what is in the boxes. The big trawlers are likely, for instance, to book monkfish as white pollack; then smaller boats fishing pollack have to book white pollack as black (saithe). Meanwhile Irish boats frequently have to dump species for which they have no quota and cannot get to market, such as dogfish or bluefin tuna.

One knows how the fishermen in France or Spain would react (and indeed have done) on the receiving end of such treatment. Ireland and Europe can and must be bigger. This case of Uefa and Manchester City shows the way to go; as someone said, football needs rules off the pitch as well as on it. City's response of 'scorn, outrage, denial' is classic these days, strongly calling to mind The Ducky and Mr Johnson, and the way we are now seeing his Government react to other European efforts to enforce the rules of law and genuine good management.

Another simple little move in the direction of sanity is the exclusion of boats over 18m from inside the six mile limit which is coming into effect this year. I would like to see it extended to fifty miles for vessels over 20m, while the 6 or 12 mile limit would be for boats under 15m. But the ultimate solution will not merely a matter of such restrictions, but also in the development of fishing methods that do not involve the use of large quatities of oil and the destructive effects of such fishing both on the sea-bed and fish stocks. I still dream of building a modern fishing boat that will fish mainly by jigging or droving, say for mackerel, pollack or tuna, using sails and hydrogen to get around and generate electricity.

Genuine engagement with others, at the same time taking aboard inconvenient truths, respect for nature and for justice; refusing to shut ourselves in silos; these are the kind of thing that will enable a new kind of politics and of living, and wouldn't one think that most people would agree if they had half a chance?

Cow Strand today.

     

Secret Sardinia

It’s good to have a store of sunny memories on an evening like this in Sherkin, as I sit with a whiskey by the stove and a south-westerly gale with rain lashes our island home. Secret Sardinia … My mind goes back to the few happy days that Fiona and I spent in the Anna M around the north of Sardinia and Maddalena Island six years ago, on our way to Rome. But what kind of images does this title of a short film on aljazeera.com conjure up for you? Sparkling emerald blue water, hidden bays, beautiful hills roamed by flocks of sheep and goats and old-world villages?  

     All the more shocking to discover what the film was in fact about, namely the NATO exercise areas in Sardinia and their horrific effects on the local people and animals, with many cancer deaths, deformed babies, lambs and kids, and about the usual official efforts to cover it all up. It is all an horrendous desecration of a most beautiful place, of a piece with so many factors that would make it hard for me to take the kind of innocent pleasure that I used to in cruising.

     Unfortunately it is among many other such desecrations, which if at all possible are kept away from offending the sensibilities of us affluent consumers, who should not be allowed to consider too deeply the costs of our life-style and the gross imbalances it involves, awareness of which might not alone spoil our fun but also be bad for business! At least we Sherkin islanders are far from the small class whose main business in life is to keep the goodies flowing in vast quantities. Unfortunately this seems to somehow involve the supply of those trillions of dollars worth of oil and arms, and to Hell with the consequences. They certainly struck gold with the Ducky, him of the Golden Gates!

     So ‘the economy is doing well’, everyone can afford to fill their fuel tanks and the Ducky is likely to be re-elected. He is so lucky with the tar sands and fracking, which mean America is self-sufficient again in oil and exporting it to Europe. A glance at AIS shows a steady stream of tankers heading in our direction, and I am told that most of the oil in Whitegate (our refinery in Cork) and Millford Haven in Wales now comes from America. Why wouldn’t ‘the economy be doing well’? 

     The ‘War on Terror’ has of course been another bonanza for the arms industry, while failing spectacularly in its alleged purpose. What better way to breed terrorists than to bully, bomb and impoverish whole populations? It is interesting to recall that the standoff with Iran dates back to at least 1953, when Great Britain and the US orchestrated the overthrow of a democratically elected Prime Minister who had the temerity to require the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company to open its books to his Government. One thing the many trillions of dollars spent on ‘defence’ since have notably failed to deliver is a safer and more secure world.

     The Ducky came to power promising to bring home the troops and spend money on infrastructure at home. It does not seem to have happened. Spending more money on the health or social welfare of his citizens was of course always too much to ask. In the event he has only provided the icing on the cake for the rich, while in the last four decades, according to Robert Reich, a former American Secretary for Labour,  ‘the median wage has barely budged. But the incomes of the richest 0.1% have soared by more than 300% and the incomes of the top 0.001% (the 2,300 richest Americans), by more than 600%. The net worth of the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans almost equals that of the bottom 90% combined.’ President Trump’s ‘tax cuts, his evisceration of labor laws, his filling his cabinet and sub-cabinet with corporate shills, his rollbacks of health, safety, environmental and financial regulations: all have made the super-rich far richer, at the expense of average Americans.’

     One has to admire the sleight of hand, also exercised in a slightly different way by Prime Minister Johnson and his cronies in Britain. Let us hope that the politicians elected today in Ireland are a little better at delivering their promises, but of course we are feeling the same pressures here; and whats more, we are in danger of finding ourselves in the front line between two opposed camps. The question is, can Europe really offer an alternative? How can all the talk about a ‘Green New Deal’ be made to stand up? For it is by no means clear that our ruling politicians are really that much different to the Tory and Republican ones.

     In Ireland at least the system is not subject to the same tidal waves of money. What’s more it looks as if the establishment parties are going to take a beating. But whatever the good intentions around, the Green New Deal will not happen unless it is taken up not alone at the 'top end' of politics, but also pushed at a grass-roots level as widely as possible, and indeed people are willing to make sacrifices in order to do so. I wonder how that might happen! I'm looking forward to see how the new Government here turns out, though my hopes are far from sky-high. At least, thank God, there are no NATO exercise areas around here, and lets keep it that way!

On the Sherkin ferry.