Letters to the Editor: Revival of totalitarianism is perpetrated by Putin’s big lies
American historian Timothy Snyder describes Putin’s “de-Nazification” pretext for invading Ukraine as “a deliberate perversion”.
In the preface to the first edition of her book, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), Hannah Arendt wrote:
“We can no longer afford to take that which was good in the past and simply call it our heritage, to discard the bad and simply think of it as a dead load which by itself time will bury in oblivion.
"The subterranean stream of Western history has come to the surface and usurped the dignity of our tradition.
"This is the reality in which we live. And this is why all efforts to escape from the grimness of the present into nostalgia for a still intact past or into the anticipated oblivion of a better future, are vain.”
Arendt (1906-1975), herself a refugee who had to flee Nazi Germany, wrote about forms of government classified as early as Plato and the ancient Greeks.
Tyranny, one of them, was manifest in the 1930s as totalitarianism but in the 21st century this form of government is often described as authoritarianism.
“This is a lawless government where power is wielded by one man. Arbitrary power unrestricted by law, wielded in the interest of the ruler and hostile to the interests of the governed ... fear [is] the principle of action ... these are the hallmarks of tyranny ... " ( , 1951, Penguin Classics 2017 edition page 605).
In an address titled ‘The Relevance of Hannah Arendt’ to The Institute for Critical Inquiry at The New School for Social Research in New York in January 2018, American philosopher Richard J Bernstein said the “spectre” of authoritarian government “still haunts us”, now four years on that spectre currently haunts Ukraine. Bernstein’s 2018 book of 120 pages is entitled Why read Hannah Arendt Now?.
As recently as March 9 renowned American historian Timothy Snyder in his article, Ukraine Is Europe’s Chance for Renewal, in 'Foreign Policy' magazine refers to Arendt’s 'Origins of Totalitarianism'.
Snyder defers to Arendt’s characterisation of tyranny as descriptive of Vladimir Putin’s current authoritarian control in Russia.
He describes Putin’s “de-Nazification” pretext for invading Ukraine as “a deliberate perversion”.
“As Hannah Arendt pointed out in her book, , a big lie is a kind of challenge to reality, which is to be bent by violence ... the moral language of World War II is being claimed for a revival of totalitarianism.”
A blurb from on the back cover of the 2017 Penguin edition of Arendt’s book states:
“How could such a book speak so powerfully to our present moment? The short answer is that we too live in dark times.”
The answer to that question this time around must sadly refer to 2022.
I feel like I’m gonna hurl.
I just read that Canning Hurleys are closing operations due to a condition called die back that threatens to kill off 90% of Irish ash trees.
No other wood is really suitable for making hurleys. Ash wood has a great bend that protects the clash of the ash.
At the risk of sounding like a giant tree hugger, this news has hit me in a more profound way than I thought it should.
When I was a very young kid, in our suburban Cork estate, not 7km from Patrick Street, there was a farm over our back wall.
The wall was about 8ft high and there was a huge ash tree on the farm side, with some of its branches hanging over into our garden.
Like any other primate, I managed to climb the wall and jump onto the branches, where I could see a whole new world of fields on the other side.
I couldn’t climb down the tree as there was a huge drop on the other side and not enough branches to climb to the ground, so I’d stay on my top branch like an orangutan, until I was called for my dinner.
I’d wonder how the cows automatically regrouped in the field for milking time. I’d watch them head off on the path underneath me, listening to their hooves squelching in the mud.
On the rare occasion that the farmer would be with them, I’d delight in the fact that I was mere inches over his head but the tree protected me from ever being seen. (Apparently, he had killed more than 10 kids with his shotgun.)
I’d imagine all sorts of things up there. Was there a Tara Brooch underneath me? Anything buried by the tree? Skeletons of kings in the shrubs?
Everything I was learning in school was being processed on the ash’s branches. I even figured out it’s age and that it kept me alive with oxygen.
I can still feel the sticky buds before spring, the shape and veins of the leaves afterwards, the bend on the twigs, and the fresh smell of the bark after I carved out my name with my first Swiss Army knife.
And if I wasn’t up the tree watching cows and philosophising, I was hitting a tennis ball with my hurley under it’s canopy.
When I moved to an all rugby school in Dublin, I held onto my ash hurley like it was a lock of hair from Samson and used walk around Blackrock village with it. Not very cool apparently.
My ash hurley also once saved me from a group of skangers in Dunlaoghaire.
Once, not too long ago, I brought a group of Italians to Inis Mor and got 30 ash hurleys. One each, for all of them to have a go at pucking over the bar, followed by a game that nearly resulted in all out carnage. But that’s another story.
Even now, if I’m bringing the dog for a walk, I’d grab a hurley and ball to play with him.
Bamboo is being suggested as an alternative in the manufacture of hurleys.
I’m imagining Mícheál Ó’Muirtheartaigh screaming: ‘And there’s Jimmy Barry Murphy now .. he gets it ... and he bambooooos it over the baaaarrrrrr....’
I feel like I’m gonna hurl.
I am sure I am not alone in wondering why Foreign Affairs MinisterSimon Coveney is making such a huge and unnecessary fuss about the introduction of certain formalities for non-Irish persons who plan to cross the border into Northern Ireland.
According to his department’s website: “Under the Common Travel Area (CTA), Irish and British citizens move freely and reside in either jurisdiction and enjoy associated rights and entitlements including access to employment, healthcare, education, social benefits, and the right to vote in certain elections.”
So clearly there can be other arrangements for persons who are not Irish or British citizens without that infringing either the letter or the spirit of the agreement.
Rather than voicing ill-founded objections to the principle Mr Coveney would do better to calmly suggest ways in which the system can be made to work as smoothly as possible.
It has already been said that the UK authorities will not be carrying out any routine checks at the actual border, and so nobody will be stopped and asked to produce papers; but there are reasonable questions about the ease of obtaining a waiver, and the period for which it will be valid.
I read the article by security correspondent, Cormac O’Keeffe — Russian war highlights need to boost Defence Forces' spend, says Coveney (Irish Examiner, March 24) — quoting from a statement by Defence Minister Simon Coveney where he stated, inter alia, “that the Russian Invasion showed him the need to boost Defence Forces spend”. God help us all.
I am still in a state of shock to read such pronouncements by Mr Coveney, a man who has been directly involved in the affairs of the Irish Defence Forces for almost 12 years, sitting around the Cabinet table for 90% of that period; and within that timeframe savagely cut the strength of the Defence Forces by a third — without any military discussions or agreement.
Ask the 500 families who lost their breadwinners from Collins Barracks Cork; and another 500 from Custume Barracks Athlone, and another 500 in Dublin City — and he has the audacity to go public with such an insulting pitch to the Irish public, having ignored Defence Forces submissions and recommendations for 12 years.
The Irish Defence Forces Family deserves better.
In view of our policy of neutrality, should we not be more even-handed in our attitude to the great powers? Since we are fuelling up America’s war planes at Shannon, should we not also fuel up Comrade Putin’s war planes?
Such money could be used to increase the length of the runway.
At present, that runway amounts to 10,400ft — barely adequate if a pilot needs to abort a take-off. If we were to add another 1,000m, Shannon would be one of the best airports in the world.
Looking at Putin on the telly recently, I noticed that his suit sleeves were too long. Not long enough methinks, to prevent him placing his finger on that dreaded button
