Ganley's racist and neo Nazi pals examined by Irish historian

This excellent article is by Dave Uwakwe a post-graduate researcher at University College Dublin and is from the University Observer. Uwake examines the contradictions between Declan Ganley and his Libertas in rhetoric and in reality. He notes that wheras the Libertas manifesto seems to support human diversity, Ganley has made alliances with neo nazis and racists in order to push his agenda forward.

Libertas’s illiberal friends

Submitted by David Uwakwe on Monday, 2 March 2009One Comment

Does Libertas really believe what its new right wing friends believe, asks Dave Uwakwe, or is it just desperate for allies?

The recent controversy surrounding Libertas’s efforts to register itself as a European political party in time for the upcoming European elections has brought confusion and clarity in equal measure to our understanding of the organisation as a political entity.

The confusion has resulted from the denial of two of the supposed signatories to their application for EU funds to help finance their campaign. First, Igor Grazin, an Estonian MP denied that he had ever given his signature to any such application shortly followed by Bulgarian MP Mincho Kuminev who also strenuously denies ever signing any documents in relation to Libertas.

Libertas fired back claiming that those individuals were intimidated into rescinding their support by the European Commission. On their website they have posted photo evidence of the signatures in question on the pertinent documents.

The rules concerning the establishment of pan-European political parties stipulate that at least seven signatures from national or European politicians must be obtained in order to access campaign funds. Consequently the €200,000 granted to Libertas will not actually be made available to them until a full investigation has been carried out.

The Libertas chairman Declan Ganley has lashed out at Brussels, accusing the commission and parliament of orchestrating a dirty tricks campaign, indicative of the un-democratic practises that he and his party want to rid Europe of.

Out of this suspicion and uncertainty however some clarity is beginning to emerge as to exactly what kind of values Libertas espouse, apart from their monolithic opposition to the Lisbon Treaty. By looking at the ideologies subscribed to by those who whose signatures remain on the ill-fated application documents we can surmise Libertas’s own ideological outlook.

“A very clear picture is emerging, and one that begs us to look twice at the stated objectives of the Libertas manifesto”

A very clear picture is emerging, and one that begs us to look twice at the stated objectives of the Libertas manifesto, one of which reads; “For Europe to build a true and successful Union, that Union must include and involve you. The conditions must be subject to you. They must respect your identity and culture.”

One of the signatories of the Libertas application is Cyprian Gutowski, regional assembly member for the All-Polish Youth party. Was it respectful of the identity and culture of all Europeans when members of that party were filmed at in the company of neo-Nazi skin heads, listening to Nazi songs and saluting the swastika?

How indeed does Chairman Ganley propose to harmonise the opposition of the All-Polish Youth party to liberalism, tolerance and relativism, as stated in their founding manifesto, with Libertas’ own profession to “stand for tolerance and for the belief that every citizen has rights and limitless potential.”

How does their stated respect for an individual’s rights of culture and identity chime with the values held by the True Finns party, with whom Libertas are in talks about forming a parliamentary alliance? The Finnish State prosecutor is considering whether to press hate crimes charges against one of that party’s councillors, resulting from his daily anti-immigration blog.

Another supporter is Georgios Georgiou, a member of a Greek nationalist party called Laikos Orthodoxos Synagermos which released a statement when the mayor of the island of Tilos presided over a homosexual civil marriage deploring “the cruel reality that we are living in the society of faggots.”

But we need not look as far as Libertas’s colourful friends overseas to uncover apparent double standards between what the party says and what the party does. Libertas consistently calls for “a new, democratic, accountable and open European Union” whilst failing to account for its own sources of funding and finance to the satisfaction of the Oireachtas or the European Commission, a full eight months after the Lisbon referendum was held.

Until all of this is resolved, and Libertas reveal their actual candidates and policies the information that can be gleaned from the murky waters surrounding the organisation point to a series of contradictions; a purportedly centrist party that gladly enlists the support of anti-semites and homophobes, a supposedly Europhile party that has scoured the halls of Brussels for every Eurosceptic and secessionist to fill its ranks with and finally a party calls for accountability from others whilst refusing to disclose its own sources of funding.

This might all be put down to teething troubles or political naivety. Whatever it is, Ganley and co have a little over four months to prove they are not the far right Eurosceptics that they increasingly appear to be

No Free Lunch:Ganley's Irish Independent hack Bruce Arnold attempts to divert from Libertas' disarray with accusations of smears.

Libertas Lackey Bruce Arnold has claimed that there is a smear campaign against Declan Ganley which seems to involve everyone who has ever spoken out against him or Libertas. Arnold was a guest at the Ganley organised dinner in honour of Czech Eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus. (Full guest list at bottom of post). This dinner was Ganley's attempt to show himself as a regal and real player and was a deliberate attempt by him in collaboration with a state visitor who came at Irish taxpayers expense to embarrass the Irish government . Ganley stage managed the event to turn the Lisbon No vote into his own personal mandate. However the dinner was seen as a deliberate insult to the Irish people as Klaus was their guest.

Arnold asks questions in his piece about Ganley's eastern activities. He does not answer them. When he next dines with Mr. Ganley could he please find out the truth behind Ganley's Anglo Adriatic Investment Company and publish that? If Declan Ganley answered questions more forthrightly, then the confusion about his past and his current program would be resolved for once and for all. Arnold does not refer to the personal vendetta that Ganley and Libertas are waging against Minister for European Affairs Dick Roche. Their website host two recent attacks on him from Ganley while Arnold's article is yet another attempt at the same. Ganley is still smarting from being caught out over his claim his nationality was listed as British on his company returns due to a mistake "box filling". Roche pointed out on live radio that they were handwritten.



While Arnold presents Ganley as a victim anyone who watched the Primetime show on Ganley may take a different view. Arnold cannot ignore the contradictions between Ganley's statements and those of other people featured. Especially moving was the old pensioner who had lost his savings in Ganley International's Anglo Adriatic Investment Fund.

Read Arnold's defence of his ally below

Declan Ganley is the victim of a shameful smear campaign

Saturday February 14 2009

'Dick Roche is still looking. He has found nothing'

Declan Ganley was the most successful Irish politician of 2008. He won the Lisbon Treaty referendum, throwing the Government and opposition into chaotic confusion. He did this democratically. This irritated the losers, particularly Dick Roche. As Minister for Europe, Roche was significantly at fault for the defeat. He was well-versed in EU Lisbon Treaty intricacies, so this was inexcusable.

The campaign points made by Ganley throughout 2008 have been consistently ignored; instead, personal attacks have been launched. Among actions taken was an unbalanced, ill-researched and, in my view, malicious 'Prime Time' programme. The 'Irish Times' has published exclusively negative stories. There have been 'Village' magazine attacks, the latest of these provoking legal action by Ganley, now partly resolved.

Dick Roche was a significant contributor in 'Village' magazine, quoted as saying: "Declan Ganley is a liar, a self-employed mythologiser, a snake oil salesman".

Two smears have been applied, the first the US Funding Smear, the second an Irish Funding Smear. These have been conflated by the European Parliament's smear, where MEPs have used flimsy allegations and employed dubious procedures. Evidence in favour of Ganley has been ignored, as have his fundamental rights.

Democracy is undermined when public institutions are used in the ways adopted by Irish ministers and European parliamentarians.

RTE's 'Prime Time' programme, on November 27, 2008, was supposedly a profile of Ganley. The Sunday Independent said the programme was "an artful hatchet job, a televised internet conspiracy theory that hoovered up a fair chunk of the licence fee. RTE set out to throw mud, not to shed light, an approach that is the antithesis of public service broadcasting".

This was evident when Miriam O'Callaghan described Ganley as an enigma, asking whether his "incredible life story actually stacked up". She said there were more questions than answers, then delivered further questions,and answered none of them -- 'If [Libertas] isn't a front for spooks, is it a tool for the neo-cons?'; 'Was Ganley linked to Russian organised criminals in his early business dealings?' No answers came.

'Was public money used for this mud-slinging against Mr. Ganley?'; 'Who was behind this?'; 'What are the implications for the future?'

Lucinda Creighton alleged that Ulick McEvaddy and Ganley, whom McEvaddy supports, sought to derail political union in the EU out of self-interest connected with business dealings and their US paymasters, supposedly opposed to EU integration. No evidence has come out supporting this.

Lucinda Creighton criticised McEvaddy's description of the Lisbon Treaty as "unintelligible drivel".

She said: "There is no way this Libertas money is coming from donations." Further smears came from Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell. He asked rhetorically: "Are they getting it from the CIA, the UK Independence Party or their friends in the US military?" He offered no evidence. Stories on Libertas's compliance with electoral laws ran in Irish newspapers last September. Ganley replied on RTE radio that he had made a loan of €200,000 to Libertas. He stated that the money had not come from US government sources.

Environment Minister JohnGormley made a statement that Libertas acted lawfully under funding rules. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny called for changes in electoral law. The papers reported the content of Mr Ganley's radio interview the day before. There were further questions about Libertas funding legality.

Smearing shifted to the European Parliament, where Daniel Cohn-Bendit revealed " ... a link between those who funded the 'No' campaign in Ireland and the Washington Pentagon and the CIA". He took this from Irish newspapers.

Cohn-Bendit claimed Ganley had concluded military procurement contracts with the Pentagon worth about $200m.

He said: "We must continue to keep close tabs on these things, and the facts must be put on the table. We cannot allow Europe to be damaged by people who demand transparency but are not prepared to play by the same rules themselves." This was greeted with applause.

Cohn-Bendit said Dick Roche had "made it his personal responsibility to investigate these matters. I warmly encourage his systematic pursuit of the truth". Dick Roche is still looking. He has found nothing.

The allegation that Libertas accepted CIA funding is a criminal allegation and the parliament's use of press reports for a criminal allegation is disproportionate. Mr Ganley's rights have vanished.

The truth is, Ganley won. The others lost. The Government made a mess of the campaign.

While Cowen and Roche fumbled their way towards defeat, Ganley focused on what was wrong with the European Union. He mounted an unwavering campaign. He led the 'No' vote groups in a detached way, making no alliances, dismissing ideas that were central to other 'No' voters.

The Cowen-led government then made an extraordinary mistake, indicating they would seek to reverse the decision. Brian Cowen advised Gordon Brown to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. This approach, relayed to Europe, was supported by Martin.

'No' vote activity might have declined, with the Government achieving their objectives in a subtle way. Instead we had angry confrontation. Motivation for trying again should have come from Europe, with a reluctant Dublin Government sticking with the democratic choice. Hearts and minds would have changed. Instead, the Dublin Government led the charge, insulting 'No' voters, siding with defeated.

This astonished Europe. The French presidency responded warmly, Nicolas Sarkozy visiting Dublin to seek the second referendum. This move had further negative effects. Sarkozy's new form of EU democracy was what Declan Ganley's Libertas opposed.

There was a campaign against Ganley's political credibility. The allegations to destroy him have not been established. From the start they served a political purpose, to divert responsibility for the Irish 'No' vote into stories about political funding.

What Ganley has said on Europe's democracy is never reported. The December Summit dealt with peripheral matters, ignoring his criticisms. This lack of fairness and balance is reprehensible. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

LEADING OPPONENTS of EU integration, anti-abortion campaigners and prominent figures in the Irish news media featured on the guest list for Tuesday 11 November 2008 dinner in honour of Czech president Vaclav Klaus, hosted by Declan Ganley of Libertas.
The list of those who accepted an invitation to attend was as follows: Mr Declan Ganley; Mr Jens-Peter Bonde; Ms Jens-Peter Bonde Dr Hans-Peter Martin; Ms Caroline Simons; ambassador Tomas Kafka; First Lady Livia Klausova; guest of honour, Czech president Vaclav Klaus; Mr Gary Hunter; Mr Pat Flynn; Mr Robin Matthews; Mrs Frances Matthews; Mr David (Harry) Hewitt; Mrs Frances Hewitt; Mr Kevin O'Connell; Mrs Kevin O'Connell; Mr Philip Lee; Mr Denis Bergin; Mr John Hughes; Mrs Helen Hughes; Mr Darius Sobkow; Mr Christophe Beaudouin; Mr Philippe de Villiers; Mr Mike Feerick; Mr Jiri Weigl; Mr Jiri Brodsky; Ms Margaret Costigan; Mr Bruce Arnold; Mrs Mavis Arnold; Mr Anthony Coughlan; Mrs Muriel Coughlan; Mr Patrick Louis; Mr Constantin Gurdgiev; Ms Jennifer Hord; Mr Frank Fitzgibbon; Mrs Frank Fitzgibbon; Mr Tomas Pojar, Czech deputy minister for foreign affairs; Mr Ladislav Mravec; Mr John Reid; Fr Michael Ross; Mrs Anita Kelly; Mr Gerard Lawless; Mrs Catherine Reid; Mr Chris Coughlan; Mr Colum Coughlan; Mr Michael Ganley; Mrs Bernadette Ganley; Mrs Margaret Roarty; Mr Eamon Dunphy; Ms Jane Goggin; Mr Paul MacDonnell; Ms Catherine McCartney; Mr Damien Fallon; Mrs Fiona Fallon; Mr Alan Kennedy; Ms Marta Myskova (photographer); Mrs Libuse Schmidova; Mr David Cochrane; Mrs Norrie Keane; Mr John Smith; Ms Mary Durkin; Mr Martin Mulroy; Mrs Eilis Mulroy; Ms Claire O'Donoghue; Ms Evonne Corcoran; Mr Francis O'Flaherty; Mr Sean Ascough; Mr Tom Ascough; Mrs Jackie Ascough; Mr Martin Daly; Mrs Barbara Daly; Cllr Martin Ward; Mrs Martin Ward; Mr Sean Ganley; Mr Tommy Keane; Mrs Claire Keane; Mr John McGuirk; Mr Richard Waghorne; Mr Jason O'Toole; Mrs Agnieszka O'Toole; Mr Martin Alioth; Mrs Mary Finnegan; Mr John Lee; Mr Keith O'Grady; Mrs Zuzana Rìcov; Mr Jindrich Foreigt; Mr Radim Ochvat; Ms Kathy Sinnott; Mr David Fieldsend; Mr Jesper Katz; Mr Alan Campbell; Mr James Prior; Mr David Gray; Mr Keith Birch; and Mr Walter Patterson.