Who's (still) afraid of Catherine Connolly?
By Diarmuid Flood
The below is the second of our articles looking at repeated attempts to smear presidential candidate Catherine Connolly. Our first article can be found here.
“You’re going to be shocked about this now… I would go bullheaded: ‘Do you want a provo in the park? Is she a Russian asset?’ I would smear the bejaysus out of her.” - Ivan Yates, 9th October
In one line, the Newstalk presenter and former FG Minister has given the game away. Fearing the victory of Catherine Connolly on a left platform, Ivan Yates has suggested that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and their friends in the media ‘smear the bejaysus’ out of Catherine Connolly.
While the shockjock radio host may have posed the strategy more openly than most, he's not alone. As we outlined in our previous article the political establishment and their co-thinkers in the media are working hard to keep Catherine out of the Áras and to return the presidency to a ‘safe pair of hands’. They fear the election of another president willing to speak out on militarisation, neutrality, Palestine, and the many failures of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Their fears have been intensified now that Catherine finds herself as the frontrunner in a straight fight with Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys.
We have seen this in action over the last couple of weeks. In late September, Catherine was asked if she agreed with Keir Starmer’s calls for regime change in Gaza to ‘oust Hamas’. Instead of joining ‘Sir Keir’ in backing what would be an imperialist intervention in Gaza, she correctly pointed out that the Palestinian people have a democratic right to determine their own future:
“I don’t think it’s up to Keir Starmer to make that statement…, I come from Ireland, [with] a history of colonisation, and I would be very wary of telling a sovereign people how to run their country. The Palestinians must decide in a democratic way who they want to lead their country.”
Despite attempts to scandalise the above comments, Catherine continued to rise in the polls and has established herself as the clear frontrunner. Far from recognising the popularity of these positions, the media continued to scramble for a scandal. Next dredging up a story about the hiring of an ex-Éirígí member who had previously served prison time for gun charges. On this Catherine was resolute: this person served their time and was highly qualified for the position.
But there is a more sinister element to this story. It has been suggested that it’s likely this information would have come from a top ranking official in the state itself. This is a clear example of state interference to undermine an insurgent left candidate in favour of the political establishment. Not to mention an attempt by the media and political establishment to smear and exclude the hired individual from society for historic republican activity despite working hard to become an expert in Irish Language policy.
The truth, revealed by these repeated attempts to smear, is there is a clear alliance lined up against Catherine and her campaign. The political establishment, the media, and elements of the state hold positions diametrically opposed to her core values. They want to block Catherine from winning or, at the very least, vilify her positions to the best of their ability.
The problem for them is that Catherine and the positions she advocates remain widely popular. While her character, ability to communicate, and her football skills, play a part in her appeal, we should be clear that the majority of the country agree with her when it comes to Irish neutrality, militarisation, Palestine, housing, and the type of Ireland she advocates for.
But the job is not done yet. We need to keep going. The campaign needs to continue mobilising people in communities across the country. Issues like neutrality, advocating meaningful action on Palestine, and opposition to the disastrous policies of FF/FG should continue to be emphasised. The campaign should not bow to this pressure and should instead continue to be clear on these issues.
As before, those opposing Catherine will not take this popularity as a reason to change their positions and drop their smear campaign. If anything, recent polling showing a gap between her and Humphreys will be taken as a klaxon call to intensify their campaign. We have to redouble our efforts in response. While it can sometimes feel like the political establishment and media hold all the cards, they can’t match us when it comes to mobilising people and connecting with the frustration felt around the country. Their smear campaigns have not worked to this point because of the power of the campaign’s ground game. We can’t rely on the media to do our job for us, but we can rely on thousands of activists across the country.
Crucially, if we succeed in electing Catherine president, and it seems increasingly likely, then we need to go further. We need to build towards a movement truly capable of fundamentally transforming society. Next steps could include a campaign to pressure the government to enact the Occupied Territories Bill, or to have all left parties commit to ruling out future coalition with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and to fight for a left government backed by mass movements of communities and working people.
We need to take the electric energy in this campaign forward into a movement that takes power out of the hands of the political establishment altogether.
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