On Men and their Tractors
In a recent post, Suryapratim Roy discusses the Irish fuel price blockades that took place in April 2026. Most of its leaders identified as farmers, but the protests also had a far-right element. Roy identifies the protestors as a “fossil elite” of wealthy farmers seeking to preserve their own economic interest and characterises the protests as “a marriage of fossil capital and racial capital”. I reflect and respond to a part of Roy’s argument. The answer, I believe, lies in the appropriation by the far-right of a hitherto innocuous indigenous Irish archetype: the Men with Tractors.
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Rejecting Lip Service or Validating 1930s Family Values?
On 8th March 2024, the Irish people rejected two separate constitutional referendums on family and care in an overwhelming no vote. These amendments aimed to update a conservative and gendered ideal of family found in Article 41. The family and care referendums involved more abstract statements of directive constitutional values. The result of the referendums is a win for voter confusion, anger towards the government and the NoNo campaign. It is also a loss for political constitutionalism.
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