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Declan Ganley and the Prague Spring
September 23, 2008
Remember Declan Ganley? He’s the British-born businessman who played a big part in Ireland’s rejection in a referendum last June of the European Union’s Lisbon treaty. Ganley often seemed a strange ally for the Irish nationalists, conservative Catholics and leftists who made up the No camp. But I saw him in action in Dublin and there’s no doubt in my mind that he was a formidable campaigner, fatally underestimated by the Irish political establishment.
Thanks to some good reporting by the Irish Times and the Czech newspaper Lidové Noviny, we now know a little more about Ganley. The Czech paper discovered that Ganley had paid a visit to Prague in late July and met President Václav Klaus, the Czech head of state. Klaus is a notorious eurosceptic who, immediately after the Irish vote, declared the Lisbon treaty dead - something not even President Lech Kaczynski of Poland or Gordon Brown, the UK premier, dared do.
As you’d expect, Klaus and Ganley got on like a house on fire. But when the Irish Times asked Ganley for his impressions of Klaus, this was his reply: “He has an amazing background of standing up to the Soviets and is a national hero in the Czech Republic.”
Ah-hem, not quite, Declan. Klaus was a young economist during the Prague Spring, which was crushed by Soviet tanks in August 1968. He worked at the Czechoslovak State Bank from 1971 to 1986, during the long dreary years of repression under Gustáv Husák, the Communist party leader installed after the Soviet-led invasion.
Klaus was certainly no party hack, but to talk of his “amazing” resistance to the Soviet Union is farcical, as any Czech will tell you. As for his being a “national hero” - dozens of Czechs are drowning in laughter in their beer as I write.
All of which goes to show that running an effective political campaign is not the same as knowing your history.
Unfortunately everyone has to work, and to sneer at Klaus for working in a bank during the era of communist control is like accusing Tony Blair of working in Parliament while Mrs Thatcher was PM. It may be that people on the FT don’t actually have to earn a living but those of us who do know that you can fight for what you believe as well as actually surviving. And Klaus is a hero in the Czech Republic for many reasons!
Posted by: Damian Hockney | September 23rd, 2008 at 11:41 am | Report this commentWhy am I reminded of Pravda when I read the Europe section of the FT?
Posted by: Freeborn John | September 23rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm | Report this commentMy view is that this is additional evidence that Mr. Ganley could benefit from some more basic education. Before considering a career in politics, and potentially representing the Irish people in the European Parliament, I wonder if Mr. Ganley has considered that his secondary school eduction is not enough and that a university degree, perhaps in political science, history or law, could be worth doing? Otherwise he might want to stick to what he knows before he embarrasses himself anymore with these gaffes. In time, he might realise that it is not enough to be a confident, even passionate speaker with good connections and money in the bank, and that he should add more academic and factual depth to what he is saying. At 40, he still has plenty of time to get the mix right.
Posted by: Don | September 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am | Report this commentDon has it all wrong in my humble opinion. What potential politicians should do first of all is to get a proper job and understand how we ‘ordinary’ people have to live. Most politicians nowadays come straight from university. What we need are people who have had to work for their living, instead of coming straight from school.
Posted by: Ray, Coventry | September 25th, 2008 at 8:52 pm | Report this commentAlso, I suppose that if Mr Ganley had been on the yes side none of these comments would have appeared.
God bless the Irish and more strength to them. I only wish all European governments would give their people the same privilege but then that wouldn’t do would it. They know very well where the Lisbon Treaty would go if they did.
Klaus did very well under the Husak regime, was not a party member, but did work as an apologist for the regime. I have seen a clip from Austrian TV from the 1980’s, when the Comecon economies were creaking towards collapse. Klaus, in fluent German, tells Austrian TV that yes, there are some minor problems, but the reform process is dealing with them, and tomorrow looks rosy. In 1989, when the dissidents negotiated their transition to power with the communists, Klaus appeared out of nowhere. There’s a funny episode in the transcript of the first negotiation, where Vaclav Havel gets his name wrong, and calls him “Wolf” (Klaus immediately corrects him).
Posted by: Pytlozvejk | October 2nd, 2008 at 1:51 am | Report this comment[…] under Gust
Posted by: Czechs will not ratify Lisbon prior to any 2nd Irish vote: Sunday Times - Page 2 - Politics.ie | November 16th, 2008 at 2:30 am | Report this comment[…] under Gust
Posted by: Czechs will not ratify Lisbon prior to any 2nd Irish vote: Sunday Times - Page 2 - Politics.ie | November 16th, 2008 at 2:35 am | Report this commentThis is very disappointing to me, something as serious as the Lisbon treaty being reduced to a side show by most reporters. Fact, Ganley is a very honest man who along with a majority off citizens deeply distrusts the Lisbon treaty in its all, as a result despite repeated slanders comments leveled at him by all off Ireland’s Politicians he went ahead and ran a honest campain against the treaty when not a single Goverment minister here in Ireland dared say anything against it [hints off Zimbabwe]. Now after the big NO we are being ridiculed by most for having no choice but to rerun it [like the last treaty off Nice] and not only is it greatly offencive to most off Ireland citizens but we have to put up with the fact we have no choice but to say yes. Perhaps some one needs to address why so many ridicule any one who questions the elite in Europe as we have!!!
Posted by: Adrian | November 21st, 2008 at 12:50 am | Report this commentTo add to the above… perhaps now most people well know why we tend to have a dim view off Brussels over such matters,
Posted by: Adrian | November 21st, 2008 at 12:53 am | Report this commentPS To be respected, one must earn respect.