Nothing is more proletariat than a bunch of farmers, bus drivers and truckers organizing a blockade. Sure, farmers are capitalists, and owner-operator truckers are capitalists – but the road blockades in Ireland are working class protests. Academicians need not apply – though the photo does show one guy on a bicycle going through.
Having a nodding acquaintance with Irish history is beneficial – a country that has no standing army, but can always find a provisional army. Or two provisional armies. This time we’re seeing Irish democracy in action. They’re short of gas – petrol they call it – and tired of getting more immigration.
In France, they’re short of gasoline too – and the country has been volatile with it’s large Algerian population since the fifties.
The next picture is from 2024 – the more recent ones are in videos, and don’t match my ability to extract.
Suffice to say, neither Ireland nor France has Republicans and Democrats. Like us, though, they do have governments and citizenry. In England, I watch Amelia grow in popularity:
I have a feeling that, in general, governments aren’t popular anywhere in the world, and that more people are understanding the power of Irish democracy – James Scott kind of wrote the definition: “One need not have an actual conspiracy to achieve the practical effects of a conspiracy. More regimes have been brought, piecemeal, to their knees by what was once called ‘Irish Democracy,’ the silent, dogged resistance, withdrawal and truculence of millions of ordinary people, than by revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs.”
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