On the pig’s back: Subaltern Imperialism, Anti-colonialism and the Irish rise to Globalism

This essay aims to explain how, in spite of a terrible history, Ireland and more particularly the Irish have managed to succeed in the modern world. In overcoming the vicissitudes of war, famine and exile, the Irish gained thereby a spirit of resistance, a social conscience and an international outlook. Since the colonization Ireland sustained was an anglicising one and a prelude to Britain and America’s imperial projects, it also modified the Irish sufficiently to enable them as individuals and families to take full and knowing advantage of this incipient globalization. It was not a question of being the ‘most oppressed people ever’ but rather of being the most resistant, most resilient and often the most ruthless. The Irish were not passive victims; as either survivors or the offspring and descendants of survivors, they had opportunities to adapt or fight back and sometimes both. Far from dwelling on victimhood for its own sake, they made victimhood an important part of their consciousness-raising historical narrative, a means not only of conferring agency on subsequent generations but also of empathizing and finding common cause with others in like circumstances,