totally, truly one of the great myths that upholds liberalism and ultimately fascism.

Without communists they’d have no one to compete against for working class liberatory rhetoric which would probably be better for them, though the generation of fascist/neolib anticommunism probably helps too

These complete goobers are probably using it for visual symmetry with swastikas, but the symbol itself is a shield knot, which is like, a super common and basic knot that’s been around for ages. It’s a ward knot, and was often used to decorate, you guessed it, shields.

Unfortunately (and this is true outside of Ireland as well), a lot of fascists love Celtic knotwork (almost as much as they love Norse motifs).

for sure lol, that’s relatively new from what i know. they definitely weren’t using it two or three years ago. they’ve never been “mask on” if you’re remotely politically literate but Barrett’s trajectory the last few years is just something else.

JQ…is that a fucking “Jewish Question” abbreviation…

That mask is in the trash huh? For those wondering the JQ is “the Jewish question”

lol yeah that doesn’t surprise me, they’re really not sending their best here. he is very much still a fringe figure who doesn’t command much respect aside from a small dedicated band of other pathetic fascists. and hopefully the pivot to mask off will shake out to be a politically bad decision, not that we’re immune or anything but the Irish masses aren’t exactly chomping at the bit for national socialism.

most people are liberals (of course) who don’t necessarily, or consciously, uphold free speech as part of their ideology but suffer from severe political apathy. because things have been so bad here for so long due to speedrun neoliberalism, most people (predominantly homeowners, so it’s quite a generational thing here. young people are much more likely to believe in the possibility of change) are totally jaded about the state of things, corruption etc. as well as having been raised on a neo-catholic individualist mindset. in terms of the liberal ruling class, they have had a “head in the sand” approach towards these growing fascist movements for years, refusing to suppress or even acknowledge them, so you see how it starts to get out of hand. it’s basically what you said in that case. the good news is these are still relatively fringe movements which i would say don’t yet out-compete the left in terms of mass support or organisation, only in terms of willingness to do violence and tacit support by the govt. which is bad, but i have faith that as they grow in prominence we do have a growing militant left ready to rise to the task of violently opposing them (already happening to some extent).

not very popular thankfully. i would say in terms of mass support they are still relatively fringe, but have had a scary gain in support/prominence over the last decade where before they were practically invisible. hardly anybody is voting for them. but if you read about the Dublin riot in 2023, that was a mass fascist riot in reaction to someone who happened to be an immigrant committing an (admittedly horrific) violent crime in the city. hundreds of fascists roamed free around the city centre wrecking shit and assaulting brown people and the govt/cops were completely unprepared to do anything about it. so it’s still a fringe movement, but white supremacy is absolutely on the rise here the last 10 years and i wouldn’t be surprised if they try for a march on Rome moment before too long. they are a small group but well organised and committed, and crucially they go largely unsuppressed by the liberal state.