The people against the politicians
All over Europe, people have been demonstrating outside Irish embassies in support of “No” campaigners in the Republic. I blogged a couple of days ago about the decorous pro-*test*-('") that I happened across in Madrid, in which a group of young people were politely asking the Irish to cast proxy “No” for them. “Vote for the people, not the elites!” said their banners. “On 12 June we are all Irish!” It turns out that the same thing has been happening all over the Continent. At the weekend, there were demonstrations outside 40 Irish legation buildings around Europe. Crowds gathered in, among other places, Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Sofia and Vienna, proclaiming “On 12 June we are all Irish”, and emphasising that Ireland is voting for 500 million unconsulted Europeans. The pro-*test*-('")s have been co-ordinated through the European Referendum Campaign. As far as I can tell, they are a genuinely popular and spontaneous phenomenon: no political parties are involved. Once again, we see that, across Europe, the argument is not between Left and Right, but between politicians and people. The European question pits what the French call the pays légal (politicians, diplomats, civil servants, editors and multi-national companies) against the pays réel (everyone else). In Ireland, the Pro-Treaty Forces seem to depend overwhelmingly on committed party activists; but it would, I suspect, be the same anywhere. I have blogged before about the EU’s “hideous strength”: its extraordinary ability to subvert politicians, almost regardless of what they promised before they took office. Not once in the history of the EU has a party been Euro-sceptic while in office. The Irish Greens are just the la-*test*-('") example. I still can’t adequately explain the phenomenon. Can anyone? The comment thread is yours. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/danielhannan/june2008/irelandeu.htm
All over Europe, people have been demonstrating outside Irish embassies in support of “No” campaigners in the Republic. I blogged a couple of days ago about the decorous pro-*test*-('") that I happened across in Madrid, in which a group of young people were politely asking the Irish to cast proxy “No” for them. “Vote for the people, not the elites!” said their banners. “On 12 June we are all Irish!” It turns out that the same thing has been happening all over the Continent. At the weekend, there were demonstrations outside 40 Irish legation buildings around Europe. Crowds gathered in, among other places, Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Sofia and Vienna, proclaiming “On 12 June we are all Irish”, and emphasising that Ireland is voting for 500 million unconsulted Europeans. The pro-*test*-('")s have been co-ordinated through the European Referendum Campaign. As far as I can tell, they are a genuinely popular and spontaneous phenomenon: no political parties are involved. Once again, we see that, across Europe, the argument is not between Left and Right, but between politicians and people. The European question pits what the French call the pays légal (politicians, diplomats, civil servants, editors and multi-national companies) against the pays réel (everyone else). In Ireland, the Pro-Treaty Forces seem to depend overwhelmingly on committed party activists; but it would, I suspect, be the same anywhere. I have blogged before about the EU’s “hideous strength”: its extraordinary ability to subvert politicians, almost regardless of what they promised before they took office. Not once in the history of the EU has a party been Euro-sceptic while in office. The Irish Greens are just the la-*test*-('") example. I still can’t adequately explain the phenomenon. Can anyone? The comment thread is yours. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/danielhannan/june2008/irelandeu.htm