By Finghín Kelly
The Socialist Party is supporting Catherine Connolly in the upcoming Presidential election. She is a left and progressive candidate whose election would be a boost and step forward for movements against war, oppression and injustice – most notably the Palestine solidarity movement.
The election is taking place at a time when working-class, young, and oppressed people are feeling the brunt of capitalist crises, and seeing the devastation the system is wreaking on a global scale – through runaway climate change, accelerating militarisation, genocide in Gaza, intensifying inequality and political polarisation.
With the capitalist market dictating housing policy, affordable housing is no more than a dream for a whole generation – pushing many to emigrate in search of a better life, while tens of thousands are homeless and many struggle to pay rent and make ends meet.
In the midst of all this chaos, the system needs to whip up division and foster backward ideas. Sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism and all shades of hate and bigotry are being pushed and promoted.
It’s likely that all of these issues will feature in the Presidential election, so what the candidates say and do on these issues matters. Catherine Connolly is a candidate who stands for progressive, left politics. She has used her position in the Dáil to advocate for those facing discrimination, oppression and injustice – notably for the survivors of mother and baby homes, and for demanding rights for disabled people.
A vital voice for Palestinian solidarity
The defining political issue in the world today is the genocide in Gaza. The Israeli State is stepping up its horrifying campaign of wanton murder. At the time of writing, the IDF is retaking Gaza City, pushing hundreds of thousands into yet more displacement. This is while the man-made famine is ravaging the population.
This genocide has been supported militarily, financially, and politically by the major imperialist powers. The EU and the Irish government are complicit in this. The Irish government at all times stalled and prevaricated, and still to this day allows Irish airspace to be used to transport arms for use in the genocide.
Catherine Connolly has spoken out against the genocide in Gaza from the beginning and has highlighted the complicity of the Irish government and the EU. She has also highlighted and opposed the increased military spending by the world’s imperialist powers and the militarisation of the EU and its integration into NATO structures. She opposed various EU treaties that have increased militarisation and embedded neo liberal policies in law.
Sitting President Michael D Higgins has spoken publicly about the genocide and the famine in Gaza. For these statements he has been subject to attack by the Irish political establishment, who talk of the need for the holder of the office to be ‘above politics’.
Establishment attacks
One of the main aims of the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil candidates, and the political establishment in general, is to have a President that does not any political statements about genocide, war, or injustice. This is being reflected in the barrage of attacks in the media from establishment figures against Catherine Connolly. These attacks are likely to intensify in the course of the campaign.
Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys is a close political ally of Simon Harris and only recently left Ministerial office. She played a central role in the key government policies, including the disastrous pro-market policies on housing, health, and a pro-imperialist foreign policy. She was the Minister who pushed the hated ‘Green Paper’ on disability payments, which would have seen British Tory-style attacks on disabled people, forcing many into unsuitable work.
Fianna Fáil’s presumptive candidate, Jim Gavin, a former Gaelic football manager who has no record in politics is probably the most explicit manifestation of the establishment seeking a President who will not speak out on political issues whatsoever. He has no record in speaking out on injustice, inequality, and has stayed completely silent on the Gaza genocide.
Use the election to send a message
The presidency is a position that has little power under the constitution. It is a position that essentially replaced the governor general, who was the British crown’s representative under the old Free State constitution. It has undemocratic barriers to nomination, which show how the drafters of the constitution always intended it to be a position that would be the preserve of the political establishment. In the tradition of the British monarchy, it was to be a role that would largely stay out of day-to-day politics, but that could be called upon to act as a constitutional break or a ‘check’ on potentially radical governments.
Despite its conservative historic role, this does not mean that the election should not be contested, or that it’s an election that can not be used as a certain platform for left and progressive ideas. This election campaign gives an opportunity to send a strong message.
The Socialist Party hopes that the campaign for Catherine Connolly’s election can become a grassroots campaign from below, with the active involvement of working-class and young people who are seeking a progressive and left alternative to the injustice and horrors of capitalism.
Electing Catherine Connolly as President on 24 October would be a tangible boost to the Palestine solidarity movement, and would be a blow to the far right. It would put further pressure on the Irish government, and would send a strong signal of solidarity internationally. It could be a fillip to building a new organisation for working-class people that opposes the rule of this system.
Vote Catherine Connolly No 1, and get active in a struggle for a socialist alternative.
