Last weekend I returned to Ireland for a brief visit to see family and friends. I hadn't been back to the Island since I left in September. I felt a sense of excitement as I landed in Dublin airport, the same as I get every time, a sense of familiarity; one might say in my transitory world, a sense of home.
Apart from Sudan I have spent the majority of my life in Ireland, including the end of my secondary education, my undergraduate and my MPhil. Why, I have even chosen Ireland for my PhD research although I am undertaking this just across the water. What is it that keeps drawing me back and why does the country have such a hold on me? I am after all its 'biggest cynic'. I question, I criticise, I infuriate. But then Oscar Wilde did say that, "Skepticism is the beginning of Faith".
Ireland has seen changes in the last 15 years which countries before have taken three times the time to cover. It's economy has expanded at an incredible rate, cultural diversity has occurred over night and the standard of living for many has improved ten fold. But I believe that we are paying a high price. We are looking too far to the West; we may be European, but our economic gaze is being drawn by the great big consumer, the USA. My grandfather would turn in his grave if he was alive today to hear the speak of the young, or the public debates which occur. What public debates I hear you say? We have become a nation which has stopped questioning our politicians. We are caught up in the luxury of our lives, and I feel that it has blinded so many of the people of the country to what they really stand for. "Wealth often takes away chances from men as well as poverty. There is none to tell the rich to go on striving, for a rich man makes the law that hallows and hollows his own life." Sean O'Casey
But I am not all negative, I promise. I critise because I care, I critise because I fear that we will lose our soul to the Western machine, I critise because I love. We have so much talent, so much drive, so much endurance; why should it all go to running the multinationals of the US. One day they will pack up and go when they have bled the young dry, and then where will we turn?
I fight for the EU, although it may be bureaucratic, it may seem far away, it may seem like it wishes it control, but I see it as Ireland's chance to free itself from the tentacles of American consumer politics.
Let's bring back the power of the trade unions, the Jim Larkins and James Connollys of days gone by. Let Ryanair become a cooperation run by people who cannot speak English, but then let it not call itself Irish, because that is not what Ireland stands for. Let Michael Collins not have "signed my death warrant" for nothing. He signed for freedom not only from the British Isles, but from any coloniser what ever size or form they came in.
I criticise because I am afraid that if I don't my emerald heart will break.
This blog entry is dedicated to two very special people, who know who they are.
