The republic we never had: Exploring the ideals of Ireland's unfinished revolution.
There was no rebellion, there was no failure to pay like in Greece, so they ended up being the poster child - sort of like 'This is what happens when you're a good little country and do what your leaders tell you to do.' What happened is massive child poverty and massive emigration, which is a sore spot for Ireland because of a history of waves of emigration whenever there's a crisis externally imposed by another economic power.
Writer Sarah Jaffe marks the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising with a trip to Ireland, finds the ideas and ideals of the failed revolution still powerful, and still under attack by external forces - this time EU-imposed austerity policies and elite-driven privatization, and sees hopeful signs of an Irish left building a movement based on solidarity and self-determination.
Sarah wrote the recent articles Getting Your Irish Up and Unexecuted Ideas of an Irish Republic and Irish Exceptionalism: The Nationalist Left for The Baffler.
Guest
Sarah Jaffe
Sarah Jaffe is a reporting fellow at the Nation Institute and the co-host of Dissent magazine's Belabored podcast. Her first book, Necessary Trouble: Americans in Revolt is available now from Nation Books.
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