The Irish Election / Olltoghchán na hÉireann 2011

While this is not Middle Eastern news, it is still an international election taking place this week…

Visit rte.ie/news/election2011/ for more news and polling information about the Irish Dáil (Irish Parliament) election Friday, 25 February.

Originally, the election was scheduled for 11 March. However, the Irish Green Party pulled out of the coalition government with Fianna Fáil in January, resulting in a Snap Election. The former coalition had a 2 seat majority in the Dáil, which by any standards is not much, and with the amount of animosity toward the government and the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), the Greens tried to save face and distance themselves from Taoiseach Brian Cowen. Mr Cowen has resigned as leader of Fianna Fáil, which means that after the election on Friday, Mr Cowen will no longer be an Taoiseach, even if Fianna Fáil (by an act of God), wins the election and if he is re-elected to his position as a TD (MP). All the animosity comes from the economic crisis and the EU/IMF bailout and the austerity measures that have come with it, such as cutting pay and pensions by ten per cent, including those already receiving a pension, cutting minimum wage by  €1, making redundancies across state services including education, health care, transportation, post, police, etc.

Current Poll Results:

 

1. Fine Gael :  36.1% 70 seats
2. Labour/ Lucht Oibre: 19.4% 36 seats
3. Fianna Fáil : 17.4% 18 seats
4. Sinn Féin : 9.9% 13 seats
5. Greens / Glas : 1.8% 0 seats
6. Independents: 12.6% 13 seats
7. Other / Eile: 2.6% 4 seats

Language Politics

While in the United States, language politics usually refers to whether to make English (or American, depending on who you talk to) the official language of the nation, in Ireland, language politics refers to the status and use of the Irish Language (Gaeilge) by the State, Schools, and Media. Of all the major parties, Fine Gael’s language policies seem to be least favourable to the Irish language, with a main feature being to terminate compulsory Irish in Secondary Education and Leaving Cert Exams (Leaving Cert is similar to AP exams but has the impact of the ACT/SAT in terms of applying to university). In Ireland, the constitution states that Irish is the First Official Language and English is the other. Labour Policies are more favourable to the language, so most Irish-Language supporters will vote for Labour or Sinn Féin. For more Irish-Language News, visit Nuacht 24 or TG4.

On the plus side though, TG4, the country’s only Irish-Language television station, hosted the first general election debate in Irish since the founding of the free state. The link to the debate is here:http://www.rte.ie/news/election2011/tg4_leaders_debate_embed_player.html. Don’t worry, it is subtitled in English.

Comparing the Manifestos

RTÉ put together a great chart of where the five major parties stand on the ten most important issues facing and concerning most of the public. It goes in order of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin, and the Green Party.

To clarify some thing for those unfamiliar with Ireland’s current political culture, Some of the acronyms used in here mean:

• HSE – Health Service Executive. Similar to the NHS in England, this is a government-run service that runs the hospitals and acts as the state insurance provider (which is very basic). While Finn Gael wants to abolish the Health Service Executive, it does not want to fully privatize the health services in Ireland, but rather restructure the services and break up the HSE.
• ESF stands for the European Social Fund, which is like an intra-EU Red Cross
• Third-level fees are university tuition rates, per year. There are two rates for a undergradute programme: A National/EU rate and International Non-EU rate, the latter being more expensive.
• Seanad is just Irish for Senate. It’s powers are similar to the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, except they have no judicial power. They are elected officials.

Full Manifestos

For full party manifestos, visit:

• Sinn Féin Manifesto
• Fine Gael Manifesto
• Labour / Lucht Oibre Manifesto
• Fianna Fáil Manifesto
• Green / Glas Manifesto

Election Results

Counting is almost done, with votes still being counted in Galway East and Wicklow. Sinn Féin saw more gains than they expected, now with 13 seats in the Dáil instead of the 5 that were elected in 2007. Also independents and other parties, especially far-left parties saw big gains, such as the Socialist Party. The Green Party has been completely wiped out of the Dáil, and while Dublin used to be a Fianna Fáil strong hold, now only has one Fianna Fáil TD, former Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan.

Authoritarianism at its best

The conflict in the Middle East makes everyone nervous. The United States has failed to take a distinctive stance on what’s going on while other nations don’t seem to want to support either side. But one nation has gone further than others. In a recent report by the Washington Post, it is reveled that China, in an attempt to control its population and ensure that similar unrest doesn’t explode on its territory, has extended government control of the media. Fearful of its authority, the Chinese government has ensured that certain terms and ideas cannot be searched for on the internet. The Chinese government has taken several steps to ensure that websites that might, in some way, be inflammatory or incite rebellion have now been blocked.

Unfortunately for China, this is how all the rebellions in the Middle East began – with the banning of social media and internet communications. Only time will tell if the rebellion will spread to China and how the Chinese government will use this, whether as defense of its autocratic ways or to make China more open to outside influences.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022502151.html

Historic Month for Freedom

February of 2011 truly has been a historic month for freedom. From the revolution that removed a dictator from power in Egypt to the riots that swept the Middle East and Northern Africa, across the globe, the youth are rising to fight for peace, democracy, and equal justice under law. And the United States is no different.

Equal justice under law. It’s an interesting idea. It is the phrase that adorns the Supreme Court Building in Washington D.C. and is one which most regard as the standard for judging rule of law in any nation. Today, in the United States, rule of law – especially in the idea of equal justice for all and more importantly, the separation of Church and State – has been upheld.

Certainly it is no Jasmine Revolution. The Justice Department’s declaration that it will not defend bans of same-sex marriage in federal courts does not mark the fall of a dictator or the rise of students against an autocratic regime. Most likely, in nations other than the United States, it’ll be lost amidst the chaos that has swept Libya and Bahrain in recent days. Most likely, not much will change.

But this decision is symbolic for equal rights across the country. In a nation where gay marriage has long been one of the most contested issues in a political forum, one so polarized that it has almost become taboo, the Obama Administration has taken a bold step forward in the right direction towards upholding the immortal words above the Supreme Court Building. The Obama administration and the Justice Department have reversed the tradition of marriage allowed by the state to solely be a union between a man and a woman, understanding the importance of upholding an individual’s right to marry and live a life he or she sees fit. After all, love is love and it is the duty of the United States government to protect the rights of the individual. It is the duty of the United States government to live up to its standard not only of equal rights for everyone but for true equal justice under law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/23/AR2011022303428.html?hpid=topnews

Libya Rises

What started in Egypt has spread once again, this time to its neighbor to the west, Libya. Long ruled by the oppressive regime under Moammar Gaddafi, Libyan protesters have taken to the streets. But, as the Washington Post reports, not only have these peaceful protests turned into full out riots, Gaddafi has ordered the Libyan army to fire on its own people. While several officials, including two officers in the Air Force have refused to fire on their own people and fled the country seeking asylum in neighboring states, the situation remains dire.

Gaddafi’s government has long been condemned for its human rights violations and has been in power since a coup d’etat launched against King Idris in 1969. Since then, Gaddafi has faced criticism for his harsh and oppressive rule. Indeed, under Gaddafi, Libya became a haven for terrorists and extremists, all of whom found it easy to procure the weapons and support they needed. Today, protesters, inspired by the events in Egypt, hope to launch a similar popular uprising in Libya against the government to build the foundation of a truly democratic system. However, unlike Egypt, the Libyan government maintains firm control over its people.

And yet we as a nation seem to be doing little to stop the autocracies taking place. The United States has yet to make any motion either in support of or condemning Gaddafi’s refusal to step down and the situation in the nation continues to get worse. Already, violence in Libya has reached a new high and has become the norm rather than the exception, something that failed to happen in both Egypt and Tunisia. Yet the international community still has done nothing. The United States has refused to follow through on one of its fundamental goals in international politics – promoting democracy. Instead, we have evacuated our embassy staff but done nothing to protect the people of Libya, begging the question – what is the point of being the world’s sole superpower if we allow innocent people to be killed on a daily basis while doing nothing?

Up in Flames – Protests in the Middle East

from al-Jazeera

2011 has been the year of revolution. It started in Tunisia in the middle of January, spread to Egypt and then across the Middle East. Last week, Algeria in Northern Africa was up in arms against an oppressive regime and now, it’s the nations in the Middle East that the United States has long relied on for oil and support. Today, it’s Bahrain, long been hailed as one of the more open and certainly more stable of the Arab states. In the past few days, Bahrain has been up in arms, reflecting the tensions in the region. The capital is under military lockdown. In nearby Yemen, violence has broken out between protestors and the government. In Iran, protests have led to the assembly calling for the death of all opposition leaders, a sure path to despotism.

So….what can the U.S. do? Certainly this drastic decline in stability is going to affect us. With the Suez Canal closed and the Middle East up in arms, the United States finds itself in a precarious position. We have long supported autocratic regimes which bring stability, even if they don’t promote true democracy. And we have long ensured that our interests are best served in the region, even at the expense of the freedoms of others. From our support of the Shah of Iran to our promotion of extremism in Afghanistan if only to combat the Soviets, the United States has a long history of supporting oppressive governments to ensure that our own economic stability.

In the Middle East, what’s happening is a popular uprising. It is a movement of the people to overthrow a government that no longer holds their allegiance and to establish a truly democratic system, not unlike what Marx predicted would happen with the communist revolt in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, what the United States is most wary of is this revolution itself. We fear the rise of dictatorships that are equally autocratic but that support the organizations that have moved against us. In Lebanon, we fear that the rise of Hezbollah will threaten our allies. In Egypt, we fear the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, which we widely regard as an extremist group.

So what can we do? If we are to uphold the ideals on which this country was founded, we would support the popular uprisings as the people of the world worked towards a better future. If we uphold our economic interests, we would support stability and a government willing to engage in trade to get us access to the resources we so desperately desire.

For now, the United States can only wait and watch. For now, all we can do is urge governments to meet the demands of their citizens, become more liberal and ensure that democracy can truly take root in the Middle East.

On a related note, an interesting commentary by Al Jazeera on the problem in Bahrain.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/20112184122210251.html#

Calls for Death to Opposition in Iran

Since Hosni Mubarak resigned from the Egyptian presidency on Friday, protests have erupted in Algeria, Yemen, Jordan, and Iran. In Tehran, thousands of supporters of the opposition went to the streets Monday to show solidarity with the revolutionaries. Within hours, police shot tear gas and two people were killed. Conservative MP’s later on Tuesday went on demanding the trial and execution of the opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousair and Mehdi Karroubi for the charges of “Corrupt on Earth,” which is similar to a charge of treason, but carries the death penalty.

From the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came out and declared American support for the protestors, saying they deserve “the same rights that they saw being played out in Egypt.” The US has not bad diplomatic ties with Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.