Enoch Burke to spend Christmas in prison
Teacher detained indefinitely in show of force by the courts
20 December 2023
Enoch Burke
Enoch Burke will remain in jail for Christmas and apparently indefinitely when he refused to obey a court order to stay away from the secondary school where he was employed. Burke, who has spent over 200 days in jail, argued that he was “not a thief, a murderer or a drug dealer” and was behind bars because of his religious objections to transgenderism.
The judge said that he was not prepared to release Mr. Burke as he will not comply with “a valid court order”. Burke could secure his release at any point by coming before the court and purging his contempt. So, in the Irish legal system, disobedience is the ultimate crime and indefinite incarceration the consequence. Once the court order is made, the context can be forgotten and is no longer relevant.
But Burke has been subject to a whole series of extraordinary events. Rapid suspension, lightning dismissal from his job, swingeing legal penalties. All of this is wrapped up in layer after layer of unctuous hypocrisy, claiming that excessive rudeness is the cause of his woes. In fact, Enoch Burke is correct. He has been punished for his views on transgenderism, specifically a refusal to use preferred pronouns.
We are not concerned about the detail of Mr. Burke's beliefs. What we are concerned about is the ranks of teachers and other workers standing in the background. What if Mr. Burke had been a member of a trade union? What if a group of teachers had mounted a picket? What lessons are to be learnt by other teachers? Not to be rude? Or that the power of gender ideology reaches into their school and noncompliance could lead to their dismissal?
Identity politics has been inserted into society at the speed of light by the Irish government. Up until recently the power of the church helped suppress the Irish working class. Now Identity politics has fragmented society and deflected from the reality of class oppression. The authorities are now edging towards hate laws that will inevitably be used against workers and to suppress freedom of speech.
An unctuous hypocrisy has surrounded the Burke case. Politicians shook their heads at his stubbornness and rudeness while street parties openly proclaimed joy in punishing the gender bigot who clearly deserved to go to jail. To the forefront of these demonstrations were a woke left incapable of perceiving the rights of the working class.
As the Burke case drags on the woke have become silent, but they haven't changed their positions. The NGOs, supported by sections of the union bureaucracies, are strongly supportive of identity politics. Only the secondary teachers’ unions, TUI and ASTI, come out with any principles, protesting the ignoring of employment procedure in his firing.
Many are secretly appalled by the Burke case, but argue that he is so unpopular that we should be silent. But you can't always pick the terrain on which you fight. Ireland's courts, judiciary and state forces have a long history of draconian repression. Ireland is moving to the right and the government and Gardaí are doing everything in their power to placate them. New laws and powers are proposed. The rightwing are the excuse, but the left and the working class will be the target.