The Yellow Vest movement that swept through Paris is further proof that European governments have lost touch with the proletariat who slip from wage-labour to slave-labour as austerity squeezes lower income households and struggling families.  

Quite simply the French government composed privileged policies to tackle climate change but they are not doing what’s best for their people. The change to renewables must be incentivised, governments must invest in the change through capital expenditure, not punish the average worker by pushing carbon taxes on people that have no choice or say in how they travel.

Similar to the water protests dividing public opinion in Ireland, the desire for a positive outcome is not enough to win over the will of the people, in particular when it comes at a significant cost to lower income households.

The yellow vest protests have no real ideology; opportunists from the left, right, and alt-right have all taken to the streets in anger, violence and anarchy. The movement has no leader and has made no demands. Common themes of insecurity towards immigration and hostility towards austerity are some of the reasons protesters took to the streets but it’s hard to tell who’s fighting for what and who will benefit in the end. Some call for lower taxes, while others call for higher wages, and some demand Macron’s head on a plate and further calls for Frexit.

Through the chaos Macron must decide if it’s time to support worker’s rights and decent wages or feed fuel to the alt-right fire through police violence. The possibility of the rise of the alt-right in France and ultimately a Frexit nightmare should be good enough reason for the government to meet with unions to put an end to this melting pot of uncertainty.
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Ireland will be paying close attention to the outcome of the Paris riots, as the recent housing protest touched on some of the deep feeling festering across every sector of Irish society and the difficulties experienced in accessing accommodation. As the housing crisis deepens you can imagine it’s only a matter of time before the situation boils over. 

An episode of Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History (podcast) I’ve been thinking about lately is called “The Celtic Holocust”. In it Carlin tells a story about a caravan of Celtic migrants travelling from Switzerland across Europe seeking refuge in Rome.

In 60BC Caesar was a politician with a thirst for power and control of the military, the only thing standing in his way was the Roman Senate and the rule of law. The Celts probably heard tales of Caesar, that he had brought some jobs back from abroad and required more workers to make Roman goods, to make Rome great again, I don’t know I can’t remember all the details.

Carlin tells that in 55BC these 350,000 Celtic migrants from across 400 villages, sought a better life in the empire. They burned their homes to the ground before they set off on their journey, this was to ensure they’d never return. But Caesar didn’t see a caravan of migrants full of hope; he sees a weak and frail people as a personal opportunity. He reacts by demonising the caravan as an invasion and sets about building a 16 mile long fortification. Caesar convinces the Senate to give him an army to protect the border. Some journalists speak out against him, they say what he’s doing is wrong, but he has them silenced, and their friends silenced, and anyone who defends them silenced.

Of course when the migrants arrive at Rome’s borders he refuses them entry because he wants them to come in legally, he wants them to come in through a process, but none of them have completed the Visa forms. With no homes to return to and having traveled by foot all the way across Europe in search of a better life, many having lost loved ones along the way, a feeling of disbelief descends amongst the refugees. Some react by hurling rocks and stones at the border wall and Caesar reacts with the sword, ordering his army to slaughter the migrants.

By all accounts this was genocide, of course Caesar has a different point of view, he sees it as an attempted invasion of Rome and considers the whole affair a military victory, he even declares himself a genius (probably). Caesar then takes his army and sets about to raise war on the Celts all across Europe before returning to Rome to take power by force and becomes a military dictator, and a name everyone recognises 2000 years later due to his conquests and the military power of the Roman Empire.
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It only takes one war to turn a politician into a dictator, it only takes the demonising of a foreign people looking for help to unleash the unthinkable. Keep this in mind, because if it happens again it might not happen exactly the same way, but if you hear someone say “We will open fire on them” be afraid, because last time it happened just like this it resulted in war after war, civil war, and it killed global democracy for 30 years. 

Eoin Berley is either a psychopath or a victim of a failed system. If the later is true then it’s sad that an abduction and rape case shows how our state is unable to take care of people with mental health issues, drug addiction, or severe personality disorders and I’m not sure jail is the answer for people who need help.

This country needs to do more to support people on the fringe of society, the consequence of failing people is the incubation of dangerous personalities, criminal minds, and saboteurs of humanity.

Last week Gene Kerrigan spoke out about racism shown towards the Traveller community, in his column he wrote;

"The Travellers are not a problem - the poverty, isolation and intolerance within which they live is the problem."

If we are to accept this then the same can be said for the state’s failure to care for troubled youths, the state’s failure to provide support for members of the homeless community who suffer from mental health issues, and the state’s failure to provide care for repeat offenders with addiction issues.

Eoin Berkeley went into foster care at the age of four as his mother had psychological problems which were compounded by alcohol. He did not have a secondary school education and had speech and language issues when he was younger. He was kicked out of school at the age of 12 for "extreme violence" and never went back or had a job. At the age of 14 his foster care situation broke down because of his behavioural difficulties and he was institutionalised at Ballydowd, a facility for “unruly youths”. Since leaving Ballydowd he has lived in unemployment and homelessness.

Berkeley previously pleaded guilty to possessing a replica AK47 in a public place on 29 May 2016.  At the time he had 24 previous convictions including a charge for possession of a knife, possession of cocaine and criminal damage to the marble plinth and granite pillars of the Central Bank building in Temple Bar in April 2016.

Earlier this year Berkley pleaded not guilty to causing criminal damage with chalk graffiti on the George Bar in May 2017. Despite allegedly admitting the crime to gardaí, he was granted a dismissal following a number of technical arguments made by his defence.

A month before the abduction and rape of the 18 year old Spanish student a Garda inspector in the Dublin city area directed Berkley's detention under the Mental Health Act. He was seen by a doctor who deemed him fit to be released.

When Gardaí arrested Berkley for the rape crimes he was taking an anti-psychotic drug, this was not prescribed but rather was procured on the streets. Berkley had been self medicating in the absence of state care and supervision. In custody Berkley used his own blood to write the words “I'm so sorry” on the walls of a prison cell.

Prior to his trial a doctor examined Berkley and tried to carry out certain psychological tests, Berkley threatened him with physical harm. The doctor concluded Berkley had a significantly compromised development and suffered from a severe personality disorder.

During the trial the Judge heard he told his victim that he'd stopped having feelings about people since the age of ten and said he had cut the paws off his household pets. The judge said he was not optimistic about the prospects of rehabilitation. 

This is the mentality of the courts, a system of judgement based on the merits of good and evil from a time when 90% of crimes were committed by witches and agents of the devil.

The reality of course is that people are very complex but when you have someone with a history of criminal offences it’s easy to throw them to the wolves. It’s a lot harder to convict someone when they’re a rugby player from the other side of the tracks.

I’m not sure prison is the right place for Eoin Berkley but it’s the place he’s ended up, because the crime he committed was indefensible. I’m also not sure Eoin Berkley will ever be able to help himself with his psychological issues and wonder what answer prison brings other than locking our problems away.
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What I am sure of is that Eoin Berkley isn’t simply an anomaly who fell through the cracks; he’s the result of vast inequality and poor investment in mental health and drug treatment facilities. You can lock up the products of a failed system but you can’t simply lock the problems away.