Democracy Manifest
Ireland's Resounding Victory Over the The Principality of Kingstown
I have attempted many times in the last few hours to put into words the emotions that have run through me in relation to this dual referendum. Two days ago on polling day I went around the corner with my partner and our daughter to the polling station and cast my vote. I proceeded to smoke like a train for the day as I kept in contact with my various social groups. I had no way of gauging the swing of the vote other than the rampant No/No posts on Twitter and the occasional comment or question from a non political friend asking advice. As the day went on however I started to feel at ease, progressing towards optimism and eventual excitement. You could literally feel the air changing throughout the day. I wasn’t the only one that felt it either as other friends from all walks of life passed comment on the atmosphere that was down upon us. When my partner and our daughter came back from a jaunt down the town I couldn’t help but watch my little one tip away at her drawing and reading on the floor in the sitting room while my mind paced on the topic of the family unit. I had an immense sense of pride as I watched her knowing that I, in some small part, shielded her from this madness. Knowing the lies and the censorship that were involved in the run up to this vote, I admit that I was afraid of that slim chance that people would fall for this. Needless to say, today, I am one happy man.
In my post referendum discussions with other activists and campaigners, what I have noticed is a deep sense of Euphoria. There is a calmness now that wasn’t there before. A lot of us have been aware for a number of years of the coming attack on the family and have seen the mission creep of the LGBTQ movement pushing perverse ideas around family, sex and children. We knew that there was going to be a referendum to compliment it and we were ready. Thanks to overlap with other campaigns that we are all supportive of, such as the resistance to queer theory in schools, we have already alerted the populace to the designs these people have for our little country. Thanks to the immensely successful anti-immigration protests we have shone a light onto the entire pallet of the establishment parties. The general public was already primed to go against their respective parties on this issue and many other issues and with the data now available to us, we can see clearly that we have severed the top of these parties away from their voter bases. The groundwork that was laid over the last four years has paid off. This referendum success was not the result of a reactionary campaign against it, but rather a combination of that and everything we have done before. We are effecting real change.
I have covered the reasons I voted no in a previous article, and also the events of the day before polling day involving The Ditch in another article that I posted to this Substack. I want to now give credit to a few other heads, people I know personally, who executed a mass campaign with little to no funds that covered the entire country. The Irish People, a party set up by AJ Cahill and David O’Reilly, coordinated with well known Activists Andy Heasman, Ross Lahive and co, carrying out one of the most impressive campaigns Ireland has seen to date. Covering over 100 towns, the Sovereign Voyagers finished up the roadshow, distributing 25,000 leaflets along the way, at the GPO at 2pm on March 7th, the day before the Vote.
“We have completed our national NO 2 BOTH campaign, visiting 100 towns and covering every county Ireland handing out 25.000 leaflets with banner drops and lots of direct action in between. We have generated conversations nationwide. A big thank you to everyone involved from the crew to those who helped behind the scenes with prayers and donations keeping us on the road. We have given this 120% to protect Mothers and Families and all we can do now is get out and vote NO 2 BOTH tomorrow. I'd also like to thank the Irish people party for its amazing partnership in this campaign and have shown real dedication in taking the necessary action Ireland needs in this crisis throughout our land.
Erin go bragh 🇮🇪💚” - Andy Heasman
Without the tireless campaigning of Andy and Ross’s team, including the two Sovereign Voyages, library campaigns and all of the other activism that they do, this campaign may not have found purchase with the public. Because of their infamy in the media and the fact that this campaign was ran on an objectively good principle, to save the Family Unit and Womanhood, this campaign caught the eyes of thousands. 100 towns in Ireland saw these guys passionately defending our way of life completely unanswered by the opposing side. FFG, SF and the dangleberry parties completely relied on turkey teeth smiles and flowery language about inclusivity and sexism and hoped that the ignorance of a usually sleepy public would be to their saving grace. With some 67.69 per cent of voters casting No ballots in the family referendum, and 73.93 per cent voted No on the care amendment, the lads can easily claim to have influenced 5-10% of this total as their own achievement. I believe that this campaign influenced one key aspect of the vote; Turnout. The awareness that there was a referendum on and what that referendum was about at a local, rural level, was down to the boys.
I also want to give special mention to Andy again, Dee Wall, Gavin Pepper and Valerie Murphy who absolutely destroyed Mary Lou with real journalistic questioning in Dublin Castle. This video needs to be seen and absorbed. It will go down in history as one of the greatest falls from grace on camera from an opposition leader. You can view the video here: Go to Video
One of the other unsung hero’s of this referendum is the creator of this image. I have no idea who made it but I can tell you that this image was found in normie, unpolitical circles and I was sent this by at least 40-50 civilians in the lead up to the referendum. Images like this one are powerful tools indeed. This image struck a chord with the feminine spirit of Eire and caused a real effect on the participation in this process. Many of the women I seen sharing this were broken women, single mothers who had every reason to lash out at society with a yes vote but chose instead the path of reason.
The landscape
This referendum is the largest defeat by any government in the republic on a given issue. There were many forces involved in its success ranging from conservative to liberal. The true gravity of it’s success is laid bare in this infographic on the right below, showing that only The Principality of Kingtown (Dún Laoghaire) voted in favour of Yes.
The image on the left above, highlights a vote held in 1910 that shows the existence of a Unionist voting block in the exact constituency that voted against the Irish Family unit. West Brit is a title given to people who support the British position in Ireland and I cant help but arrive at the conclusion that this infographic demonstrates a severe hatred of Irish Society has been inherited by the folks living there generation after generation. If “The Brits Never Left!” was an image, this is it.
There is also a surreal video that has emerged from 1993 where Michael McDowell debated Desmond Fennell on a talk show about the very issue described above. Fennell nails the people of Dún Laoghaire and their attitudes to the cross and McDowell denies the existence of the South Dublin undesirables. John waters gets a mention in this clip too which only adds to his status as Irelands chief political commentator. See the video below:
This leads me to draw two conclusion on McDowell that run contrary to one another. McDowell and his team, Lawyers For No, appear to be this conservative powerhouse that has emerged from thin air but the reality is McDowell is not a conservative. McDowell is very much so a Liberal man and has been on the other side of many of the policies that we are fighting against for years. Maria Steen seems to be the real deal from a Catholic, conservative perspective which makes this tag team an unusual one indeed. The first conclusion I have is that McDowell has become gradually more conservative over time and is now openly up in arms against the the South Dublin elites, and the second is McDowell was sent in to manage the controlled demolition of what appears to be an establishment out of its depth. The reason I entertain doubts about McDowell’s motives, reinforced by the video above, is his distain for the release of the AG’s letter. McDowell gave a completely bullshit reason to doubt the motives of The Ditch which hasn’t been challenged enough. McDowell and other satellites to him such as Michael McNamara stated that the letter was released to bolster the Yes vote which is completely in contradiction with the stated reason for the release. It is also in contradiction to the effect it had on the public due to its obviously controversial content.For instance, the letter confirmed immigration would be affected. This doesn’t make any sense to me and I will reserve total admiration but for now, McDowell, Steen and co are the Hero’s of the moment.
Good article Stephen, certainly a great day for the republic. I'd argue that the Ditch are not exactly on our team so it is strange that they released it just before the referendum. I wonder was it to attack o Gorman if it all went tits over ass, which it did
As a resident of the said principality in the east I was intrigued by the 1910 map showing its 'uniqueness' even then. John Waters lives down the road so maybe we are alone (in our neck of the woods anyway) in our antipathy to what they are trying to do to our country.
On a lighter note though I do occasionally miss aspects of the madness around here. There was nothing more exhilarating than going barefaced into a south dublin shop and watching the yummy mummies glare at you from behind their masks. Happy days!