Red Joes' Third Go

By Eoghan Dockrell

Joe Higgins, leader of the socialist party and former TD has thrown his hat into the ring for a third consecutive time to contest the European Elections in the Dublin Constituency. Since his first run in 1999, the perennial candidate has consistently increased his share of the vote, earning 23,200 first preferences in 2004. This time around he has a crucial additional advantage: the collapse of what he calls ‘crony capitalism’. Joe is rallying the ever-expanding working class, and enticing a once mocking middle-class, to join in his mini-socialist revolution. It’s difficult to dispute that Joe offers a real alternative to the soft-right Fine Fáil/Gael twins, who after being separated at birth have, to a great extent, been interchangeable in terms of policy proposals. Nevertheless, even if Joe can rise above this sibling rivalry, he still has a mountain to climb.

The reduction from four seats to three in Dublin means at least one incumbent is getting the boot and odds are it may either be Mary Lou or Mr Ryan. However, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to see both these candidates job hunting come June 6th. Mary Lou is being heavily criticised for her poor attendance record (the only Irish MEP below the European average). Mr Ryan on the other hand is a member of the party ‘who shall not be named’ and that tag is enough to kill any political career. Both have a fight on their hands to retain their respective seats. Of all the non-incumbents, the Green De Burca is favourite to nab a seat, but Green support has been waning with their tainted association to Fianna Fáil. Furthermore, De Burca’s persistent mud-slinging with her political nemesis Mary Lou comes across as petty and desperate. Neither look set to gain from the verbal attacks and they should not -under any circumstances- entertain fantasies of a Doyle-McGuinness style dynamic occurring with both scrapping their way to Strasburg.

Joe is a self-professed fighter with a set of economic principles that might finally be in vogue. If he is to have a realistic chance of success he must harness this anti-capitalism sentiment and turn it into votes at the polling station. Over the past decade we have become entrenched in a totally free-market economic system and it’s fair to say we Irish align ourselves closer to Adam Smith than Karl Marx. Additionally, in terms of social policy, we can relate more to our conservative American cousins than our friends on the continent. Their on-off love affair with socialism never sat well with members of the Irish establishment. But times have changed and it would be foolish to rule-out Joe. After all, the Party of European Socialists is a major player on the European stage with 214 MEPs.

Joe warned of this culture of greed and his unwavering belief in socialist ideals is admirable given the amount of shameless flip-flopping in Irish politics today. But his outspokenness and rigidity could potentially damage his aspirations of representing Dubliners in Europe. In 2003 he was jailed for one month for his protests regarding the Anti-Bin Tax. On its face, this reaction seems disproportionate. In a 24 hour news cycle, where every word uttered by a candidate is scrutinized, one gaffe could be fatal. Joes been around the block a few times and he understands how to handle the media machine.

Every candidate needs to get his name out into the public domain and Joe is no exception. With two key by-elections taking place in Dublin, the MEPs will have to fight considerably harder for the public’s attention. European candidates must hope that people like George Lee do not take too big a piece of the publicity pie. After all, we should not forget, Joe Higgins has been sounding the end of capitalism for a hell of lot longer than the prophet of doom!