All is Motion

Tag: Colonialism

  • The Mind and the Colonial Death Star

    Author – Bernard Sweeney 2021

    Wouldn’t it be enlightening to know the unknown, to know something you always had known deep down, and something that makes more sense once known. For example, say if someone said that the Settled Irish who believe themselves to be “the default Irish” are in fact a sub-culture of English culture. Or that the English people who believe themselves to be the British people are culture made of many different cultures.

    Take the term “Settled Irish”, its a colonial term that was created by English Prime Minister Lloyd George, and borrowed from the Elizabethen Conquest. Lloyd George, his personal, political creation of a fixed Settlement of Irish people under English Imperialism “The Irish Settlement”. A settlement that left Dublin effectively under English control, but Dublin had always been separated from the rest of the country.

    Within the city, that those once proud Anglo-Saxons that had often looked down on the Irish people as wild, living with the wolves and were the “others” outside the Pale. Ireland would become the empire within an empire, as those of non Irish backgrounds were to be deemed themselves to be the default Irish people, The Settled Irish. The English of course who once deemed themselves as British after colonising Britain and after destroying its indigenous culture. So the English who had colonised Britain created England, invaded Ireland, had colonised Ireland for centuries and then politically created the Settled Irish. How did that happen?

    Both Settled Irish & English people are historically associated, political connected and even ruling class family relations. Then there are Irish Travellers and many communities outside of this particular way of thinking. To understand mentality we can look at language,

    To hear it said that the English language isn’t like any other human language, you shouldn’t feel alarmed, surprised, after all its only a language. Of course its a human language, but its just not like any other human languages in its origins or roots in natural environment. Its not because English language is different language from other languages as most languages would have differences, or they wouldn’t be different. Maybe it’s the case that all languages have one origin, one beginning, are not all humans on earth & those even up on the space station, are we not all descendants of one historical mother?.

    The English language is different because it’s made up mostly from other languages, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, etc its first words were quite violent,  imagine you teach a child a new language or these are its first words. Word like: “Take” knife, sleep, kill, work, eat, sleep. imagine that, food for thought in child rearing in the early stages of mentality development. Its kinda like some kind of linguistic monster with its borrowed words, adapting new words while destroying other organic languages in its processes. From its early origins when not saying rule words, its was time too put words into knowledge and it was about eating people, it was about a werewolf, half man and half wolf. Not surprising given its early school days of vocal learning’s. From its pre-school  vocational training into the fine arts of literature. Too make its own mark on the global stage of fine literature by producing its first book. A werewolf eating people, its own creation of the human imagination, the great mind of their times, well it was its first book.

    Eventually as thoughts became less horrifying and its language of thinking, existence, purposes, it became more apparent how systematic this mentality was becoming. Who dare says such things? These are idiotic outrageous statements! But hold on, I am far from done! It’s to be expected for some people to react in different ways, depending on your mentality. Maybe some out of some unknown fear like instinct and I imagine many will feel it as form of enlightenment.

    Because when one’s identity is brought into dispute, taken, destroyed, defined or denial. It can be difficult on the neurological transmitters reacting too something contradicting everything they might have believed. In different kind of reality based on different kinds of mentality. But language from trade, business, systems it looks like its institutions that decides what or why you are to be.

    Inequalities are systematic by virtue of the mentality behind them, its a design based machine, from its creators beliefs of supremacy, lack of humanities and its origins, life is systems, with no one really at the controls. Synergy is word that means; intelligence, behind all human systems is intelligence, its where two or more people creates system for all, families, communities, societies and colonialism are all system based communities, all communities are. Its the Ideas and the concepts of having systems too do what humans require from it. Systems must have purpose, must hsve particular outcomes based on its design. Is education systematic, institutions, is our mentality based on our education and what if it went unchanged in the mind of its agents centuries later.

    Systems with Ideas built into its core. Systems of religious influences, political systems of superiority that its ok too kill in God’s name under its design of colonialism of lands and people’s. There are positives to the English language, its widespread, its advanced in technology, in science, runs economy’s, banks, Governments. Its nothing against English or Settled Irish or linguistics as this is the view of it from a different mentality. The White Europeans had caused more havoc to the Planet than anyone else. Its the home of raging wars, caused two world wars, many civil wars, home of writing up racism, political fascism and governmental genocides. Beliefs of egotistical drive & an outlook driven by greed.

    Its easy too see this as true and not that its incorrect but its missing something. For centuries community’s that didn’t die or killed were forced into becoming systematically programmed people. Systems in class mode created certain classes or categories of people too keep the systems in power. The ideas behind these systems wasn’t too create fine upstanding individuals, not for all people at least.

    Generations of people’s of various different backgrounds blinded by educational systems promising on one level and never revealing its default design or purpose. Years of Institutionalised disciplines and preparing the human mentality for the world ahead. The real world inside a system of thoughts. The ideas, design and mentality behind the education systems were thermals from education into industrialisation way of thinking. It was to be a ladder up regardless if you fall as you are paying for the ladder. The gateway, the garden path of life, that would really depend on who owns the educational systems. 

    We are not separated from historical pasts, its times or places, and no more than we can live in the future, we cannot live in the past. As long as history is seen or viewed as dark chapters, conflicts, trauma, old wounds, we will blind ourselves in the future because that is not how history should be. As long as Irish history is seen though the lens only one way, for example, the English way, history will keep you living in fear. Instead as some do, is too see history as one continuing event and part of living history as a whole. Not in parts or its many ambiguous variables of opinions on one historical thing or another. One event and all that’s between it. One language, that over the centuries had imposed itself over the vast majority of the world. From invasions to education, systems fully functioning beyond capacity or understanding and its origins from people who couldn’t know they had made themselves a systematic Death Star.

  • Rural Ireland is Rich, not Poor: The Exploitation of Ireland by its Own System

    Despite success in raising living standards in Ireland since independence, and especially since joining the EU in the early seventies, Irish governments have failed to prevent the imbalance of development in Dublin at the expense of almost every region in the country. Emigration has remained a preferred solution to economic downturns, with the forcing of young people abroad by the cutting of social welfare payments for the under 24s. One in five Irish people now live abroad, the highest percentage in any OECD country, (there are 34 of them) Poverty and decline across what is termed “rural Ireland” remains endemic. Over large parts of the country, infrastructure continues to be less than it was in the 19th century under the British Empire. In the 1990s the train to Sligo was slower than it had been in the 1890s.

    All cities draw migrants from their hinterlands, but when that becomes the only choice in an entire country then there is a problem. drawing the people to Dublin is then a form of exploitation, and does not in fact do Dublin any favours either as one third of the national population now resides in the environs of the capital., putting its infrastructure, resources and quality and standards of living under severe pressure. the current housing crisis is a good example of this extreme imbalance.

    History of Over Centralisation

    The colonial history of Ireland has left indelible marks on the country that we are still struggling to deal with. Ireland is perhaps the most centralised state in Western Europe. Few countries have weaker regional representation, power and government, nor are any, quite as democratically insignificant as in the Irish case.

    The first point to make is that Dublin has only been the independent capital of Ireland for just over 90 years since 1922. Before that it acted as the centre of power for the British administration, effectively under the supervision of Westminster and the Crown. Prior to that, it was an outpost within the Pale of English culture, a foothold that had survived since the Norman invasion of 1169. Before that again it was of course a Viking trading centre and slave market tolerated by the Irish kings as long as it paid its dues. 

    For most of these centuries, the lands beyond the Pale fence were regarded as hostile and barbarous. Often a tax was paid, known as the Black Rent, to Irish chieftains in exchange for peace. For a thousand years, Dublin was an outpost in a foreign land. The psychology of this long history of division is evident to this day in the divide between the “city” and “rural Ireland”. Rural Ireland is the modern euphemism for the wild lands beyond the Pale, except now it is less a geographical reality, but a psychological one, existing in the minds of Irish people. It is little wonder Dublin has little tradition of acting in this role with full confidence of how to do it effectively, evenly and with benefit to the whole country. 

    But the colonial mindset did not go away. No reform happened after the Free State was established. In fact, the tendency towards centralised control established under Imperial conditions was exacerbated with the weakening of even the British created local democracy after the civil war because it was feared by the insecure Free State that anti-treaty councils would be uncontrollable, therefore the centrally appointed executives (county managers) were made more powerful than the elected council. A situation that continues to this day. 

    On the other side, the alienation of Irelands regions stems from the same history. Disconnection from what was, after all, an alien system imposed by the British through Dublin was the norm from the late 16th century onward. This means there is little sense of ownership and rights to self determination at a regional level. Instead, people are elected in the hope that when they go to Dublin they may wrest favours from the system. This has kept clientelism alive and well, with dynasties inheriting the role of spokesman for the areas by default.

    Even after engagement with the EU, which requires strong regional structures to create balanced development, Ireland has continued to resist the devolution of meaningful power to the regions. Preferring to set up unelected quangos and boards that are centrally appointed. There are no directly elected provincial or regional authorities between central government and the local authorities in Ireland. The eight regional assemblies that do exist are so weak and uninfluential that most people have never heard of them. The maze of entities and overlapping bodies means no-one has a clear idea of how anything works, or how to get anything done. 

    Instead of services being delivered by local councils, a multitude of executive agencies has been created, like Irish water and Transport Infrastructure Ireland, which consist of unelected professionals only and are therefore out of localised regional control. Even cases of supposed “decentralisation”, where government departments have been moved to regional centres is not true decentralisation. For that to be the case, power would have to delegated to these centres as well, but that is not the case. It remains firmly entrenched in Dublin.

    So, almost all regional activities of the state are organised centrally and delivered in a “top down” model imposed on communities across the country. Direct applications for project funding to Europe from Irelands regions are not allowed, instead, they are routed through Dublin first for approval or alteration. This is not the norm across Europe, and neither has it been successful. For example, in the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) region funds earmarked were under-spent by  59 per cent and under 20 per cent in some seven measures (just 4.6 per cent of spending forecast for regional innovation and 1.2 per cent for waste management had been spent up until 2002. Vast sums of EU money has had to be sent back as projects could not be found for it. An astonishing fact considering how underdeveloped much of Ireland still is.

    Furthermore, plans are changed on an ad hoc basis depending on which government gets into power, the centralised decision making leaving regions interests vulnerable to sacrifice depending on the political climate.

    Underlying this is an inherited cultural belief that regional Ireland is fundamentally economically unviable, and therefore dependent on handouts from central government. It is regarded as a waste of resources to invest in regional areas infrastructure as national concerns are prioritised over regional ones. The colonial system was an efficient machine designed to efficiently remove resources to centres of British power and exert a centralised control from a base  convenient to Britain, and the Irish state has not only continued that setup, it has made it worse. 

     This belief in the poor status of much of regional Ireland is again an inherited belief to do with the history outlined above. But is it really the case that Ireland is poor by default? Or is it merely our inherited beliefs and their consequences that make it so?

    The Solution is Simple: Quid pro quo (Something for Something)

    The ironic thing is that Ireland was once one of the most decentralised countries in Europe. Traditionally, local autonomy was extremely strong, and this was the norm for thousands of years, until the 17th century. Hence, traditions of local governance lie just below the surface in the Irish psyche. This is the reason for Irelands dispersed settlement pattern and adherence to place amongst its population. The destruction of this system has never been addressed. 

    Now, and increasingly in the future, Irelands regions will be looked to to provide resources for the east, both of this country and further afield in Europe. 

    The second irony of all this is that Irelands regions have of course got vast natural and cultural resources whether it be water, clean energy and forests, whether as carbon sinks or for timber. In terms of energy based on waves and wind, the west has an enormous untapped potential in non polluting energy production. The sea area off the west coast is five times the size of the entire island. Air quality and water quality is better, something increasingly valuable in todays world, with water expected to surpass the value of oil in the not too distant future. Not to mention gas and oil reserves off the coast that are increasingly being found. Archeological and cultural tourism are increasingly popular in the regions, and these have a rich heritage in these areas. However the current lack of regional autonomy means this wealth will either be taken without benefitting the regions from which it is sourced, or wealth generated in the regions are sent to Dublin to be spent on the priorities of central government only.

    In order to create a fairer situation, the solution must be to create the missing tier of regional government between local councils and central government. This must be directly elected so that the concerns of those regions are implemented by these authorities as priorities. A democratic structure with real local power has the ability to receive direct taxation from activities in its area, and this means it can effectively redress the balance that has been lost over the past four centuries.

    As an example, Dublin wishes to tap the Shannon to ensure its water supply into the future. Currently that will be of no benefit to the regions along the river whatsoever. However, a democratic regional authority can be paid a percentage of the price of the water in taxation, effectively allowing the transfer of money from the wealthier centres of population to those areas that provide the resources, but are underdeveloped. 

    The same authority can then spend the money on regional projects considered important by the prople in those areas. For example, extending the Corrib gas pipeline to the northwest, or building the western rail corridor, both projects considered “unviable” by central government at the present time. If America had thought the same way in the 19th century, nothing would have been built beyond New York. Note the railway came first, then the development. The same model of transfer of wealth in both directions applies to all resource extraction activities, and to a percentage of tax gathered in those regions that can go directly to their respective regional authorities. Hence, only the real devolution of power to Irelands regions can bring balanced development, anything else is a sham to give the impression of caring for the regions, while retaining a grip on centralised power at any cost.

    The east has the people and the money, the regions have the resources, let us trade indeed, but let us demand fair trade, as it is in the interests, not only of Irelands regions, but also the increasingly overcrowded east that a model for balanced development that actually works is adopted, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

    1 million still live in poverty

    References

    Hayward,  Katy  A marriage of convenience: the EU and regionalisation in Ireland

    Kearns Gerry, Historical Geographies of Ireland: Colonial Contexts and Postcolonial Legacies

    Mac Siomoin, Tomas, The Broken Harp

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