A Sinn Féin government might have less difficulty than expected with its position on Israel and Palestine. As the past few days have shown, violence spirals so swiftly and horrifically that all of it can and must be condemned. Mary Lou McDonald’s call for a ceasefire, talks and international engagement is indistinguishable from that of the President, Michael D Higgins. “Both sides” condemnation enrages the partisan fringe, helping Sinn Féin win credit for moderating its stance, although it may have barely moved. This process can continue for years and eclipse parties of the centre, as republicans know from closer to home.
It is implausible there would ever be an openly pro-Hamas government in Dublin. Being pro-Palestinian is a distinction that can easily be drawn. The EU increasingly provides collective cover for foreign policy positions or dissent from them. Sinn Féin might be wary of alienating friends in America but its friends have forgiven it so far.
The trap awaiting the party lies with lesser international disputes – and it is setting the trap for itself.
Declan Kearney, Sinn Féin’s national chair, attended a conference in Barcelona last month for separatist movements from across the world. Delegates came from Catalonia, the Basque region, Scotland, Wales, Galicia, Corsica, Quebec and the Faroe Islands.
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Spain is in the midst of a crisis over bringing Catalan nationalists into coalition. Kearney waded straight into the controversy, telling the conference “the Catalan people are not Spanish – they are Catalans”.
This was also the headline on his article in An Phoblacht three weeks ago, when he called on the EU and the Council of Europe to “play a constructive role” in supporting Catalan and Basque independence.
“The denial of national democracy in Catalunya, alongside Ireland, Euskal Herria [the Basque region] and Scotland can no longer be ignored as a European issue,” he wrote.
The arrogance of correcting Catalan people on their identity is extraordinary. In opinion polls, two-thirds say they are Catalan and Spanish or only Spanish, but Sinn Féin apparently knows better. False consciousness theory is on tour.
Kearney is an influential strategist for his party and he appears to be steering it towards fraught international waters.
Seeking EU support for a united Ireland is a prominent Sinn Féin policy, cited by McDonald in election campaigns. Now it is being linked to independence causes elsewhere.
While Spain might feel particularly targeted, France is just as sensitive over Corsican nationalism. This month, President Emmanuel Macron broke what is considered a taboo by proposing limited autonomy for the island “to turn a page marked by sombre hours”.
If the ruling party of an EU member state advocated the break-up of other members it would certainly be a European issue, although not quite the one Sinn Féin imagines.
Demanding EU support for the break-up of Britain would also be problematic – a hostile posture towards a neighbour and ally. Kearney’s reference to “denial of national democracy” is provocative, legally groundless in every instance cited and especially dubious in the case of Ireland, as it casts doubt on the validity of the Belfast Agreement referendums.
Scottish and Catalan independence are utterly bourgeois causes, with no colonial context and backed by centre-right parties. They have more in common with right-wing regional movements in Italy
When the Catalan parliament unilaterally declared independence in 2017, Nato made no secret of its alarm. It will be even more concerned by the prospect of Spanish instability returning in today’s more dangerous world.
What principle is Sinn Féin trying to uphold by getting involved in such a motley collection of arguments? It sits with the left in the European Parliament and portrays its foreign sympathies as leftist, anti-colonial and even revolutionary, yet Scottish and Catalan independence are utterly bourgeois causes, with no colonial context and backed by centre-right parties. They have more in common with right-wing regional movements in Italy, which Sinn Féin deigns to acknowledge. This inconsistency has the appearance of an ethnic popularity contest.
Why stir the pot with Canada, where separatism is dead but not safely buried? This can only antagonise a country where the Irish republican cause might find meaningful support.
If Sinn Féin believes in full national self-determination for all peoples, does that apply to Taiwan, or the Caucasus, or the Kurds? How does that square with the constitutional ban on secession in most countries and the recognition of their territorial integrity under international law?
Many governments wrestle with these questions, of course, but find a consistent point in pragmatic self-interest. Backing separatist movements anywhere, let alone within neighbours and allies, is almost never wise.
It must be assumed a Sinn Féin-led government would come around to this realisation, but perhaps not as quickly and smoothly as others might hope. Mercifully, no dispute in Europe threatens the level of violence seen in Israel and Palestine. So Sinn Féin cannot “both sides” its way out of the arguments it has entered. It will have to wriggle out of them all by itself.