Lúnasa '94 Lúnasa '94Fianna Fáil has the right idea. Don't bother yourself worrying about the party's relationship to this or that social movement, ethnic group or class - simply declare the whole party a movement.
From de Valera onwards, Fianna Fáil leaders have spoken of their "great national movement". Greens, on the other hand, have agonised over "social bases", "new social movements" and "grass-roots activism". Why can't the Green Party be more like the other political parties and get on with the job of practical politics? One delegate at a particular Green Party Council meeting even demanded a commitment to less thought and more action.
If one believes that a green government will simply be able to legislate an eco-friendly society into existence then discussion of the green movement seems irrelevant. Such a viewpoint would probably also hold that merely through a Dáil presence, through greater lobbying of the authorities by pressure groups and through greater personal change by green consumerism the planet can be saved. Unfortunately the reality is very different. As Derek Wall put it in his excellent book Getting there: steps to a green society, "for every whale saved, there are a hundred other species under threat.... The seals saved from clubbing in the seventies are now dying from a virus, possibly linked to the dumping of PCBs. Superficial reform is hard won and counter-productive. Minor change takes the heat out of protest, while the forces of destruction grind on more quietly but no less dangerously."
Real change can only come about when a sufficient mass of people have been won over to the green project and have enough power to fundamentally change our social, economic and political structures and systems. All of that, however, can only be achieved by knowing who in society is most likely to gain by and therefore support the green programme.
It would be foolish to imagine that saving the Earth will be supported by everyone. There are those who are doing quite well out of the present system and who will use whatever means are necessary to maintain it. Appeals to them on behalf of their grandchildren will make no impression. Equally, Greens must decide what type of sustainable society they wish to create. A society which discriminates agains the disabled, for example, could also be environmentally sound. Simply supporting those who oppose the destruction of nature, without any consideration of whether they are sexist or racist, is both short-sighted and wrong.
Consideration of the green movement and the Green Party's relationship with that movement is both vital and necessary. The articles in this feature go some way to addressing the issue amd raise important questions for the long-term development of the party. In the short term it should be remembered that the rapid growth of Fianna Fáil after its formation in 1926 was made possible because it was built on the existing foundation of the Independence and anti-Treaty movement. It was this solid base which enabled Fianna Fáil to grow and become the most successful political party, not only in this state, but in all of Western Europe.
Finian McCluskey completed his MA politics thesis on the organisation of the Green Party / An Comhaontas Glas.
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An Caorthann (The Rowan Tree) Irish green-alternative magazine Editor: Laurence Cox Web weaver: Anna Mazzoldi |