Over 30 years of anarchist writing from Ireland listed under hundreds of topics
Labour Pinkwashing is Cynical Seat-Saving Measure
Date: Wed, 2015-02-25 14:00
In a desperate attempt to save a few liberal seats the Labour Party have been engaged in trying to suggest the water charge movement is some sort of homophobic mob. It's an argument based o
n the worst Dublin 4 prejudice and snobbery. Joan started the slander after Jobstown, Aodhan continued it in the Irish Times in a piece whose only outcome if believed would be to win election votes at the cost of equality votes.
n the worst Dublin 4 prejudice and snobbery. Joan started the slander after Jobstown, Aodhan continued it in the Irish Times in a piece whose only outcome if believed would be to win election votes at the cost of equality votes.
Aidan writes "As a queer and a participant in the anti-water charges movement, I regard Aodhán Ó Ríordáin's comments as a rather cynical and desperate attempt to paint one of the most promising movements for progress in this state as somehow regressive, and to staple together some progressive credentials for himself by co-opting LGBT demands and organising.
It's based in a contempt for the people and our capacity to self-organise and act deliberately in our own interests: he can only understand the resistance to the water charges as a mindless lashing out against the government, like a child throwing a tantrum.
We know better. We know that mass non-payment and community level resistance are the way to beat the water charges and to begin a pushback against austerity.
We know that "giving the government a kick up the arse" at the expense of a marginalised group in society is a stupid and worthless gesture."
Co-opting LGBT demands as a stick to hit social movements with is an anti-LGBT act. It works to create an apparent opposition between 'the People' as represented by the Water Charges movement and LGBT people who the likes of Ó Ríordáin are desperately trying to position themselves as representing, where no such opposition exists.
The truth is that we've been working together from the beginning on the basis of a common opposition to the austerity regime and a shared desire for a better future. We won't allow the likes of Ó'Ríordáin to speak for us in order to turn us against one-another."