Gara Friabh

Statue of Gara Friabh in Báil na Dhír

Gara Friabh(/gʌɾə fɾiˑv/) sometimes nicknamed Gá, was a Glí accountant, philosopher and economist as well as a notable proponent of Unitarianism (ceúbh) especially economically speaking during the Rebuilding Period of Dírmala's history. Friabh is cited as one of the main figureheads of the idea and has subsequently become a cultural icon for later supporters of Unitarianism.

## Biography

Born in Cóch, Glí, Friabh lived with his mother due to repeated fights between his father and mother, eventually causing them to unofficially divorce from each other and live seperately. Notably, Friabh's father was glad to be single again but his mother longed for her now broken relationship to be repaired and for her family life to continue, it is this early experience to not only a divided Dírmala but also a divided family life that many say heavily influenced Friabh's views on unity and divisions both interpersonally and economically.

Friabh did not write very much as he only had a rudamentary understanding of writing from his upper working class education that did not extend much further than the mathematics required for his profession as an accountant, however he did befriend Prád Feósap during their time in school together. Feósap would later become one of the earliest sociologists as the field was emerging and as such would receive a higher education, this gave Friabh the sociological perspective and writing ability he lacked but required to spread his ideas.

## Personal Life

Not much is known about Friabh's personal life outside of his parents' names, places and dates of his birth and death and his friend group, the latter of which is only known due to those he worked with developing his ideas of Unitarianism and may have extended beyond this group. Friabh is known to have belonged to the higher bracket of the working class, it is generally agreed by historians that this upper working class would later become the middle class in the prosperous years after the Rebuilding period ended.

## Thought

Due to Friabh's family sitaution and the situation of Dírmala at the time, Friabh developed ideas of unity and division, viewing the two as opposites that are mutually exclusive. Friabh posited that the divisions between the islands of Dírmala when the Agépsa crumbled in The Fall, occurred due to the divisitory nature of imperialist rhetoric and systems, with economic classes being systemically generated and perpetuated due to empires requiring a hierarchy to operate but this dividing was the cause of the eventual collapse. Friabh proposed that economic hierarchical divisions are only capable of operating temporarily and will eventually either cause divisions so large that the system fails or unifies, thereby changing the system meaning that the divisitory system has still failed, albeit unspectacularly but unity saved it from its own inexorable demise. Friabh, due to his patriotism, believed that Dírmala was a strong nation but he also admitted that it was in a state of division and therefore a state of weakness. Friabh put forth the idea that if the major and minor islands were to unify, Dírmala would be capable of reaching its potential as a strong nation once again, importantly, Friabh specified that he did not use the term 'strong nation' in the same way that imperialists used it to justify the Agépsa, he explicitly used it to mean economically prosperous, ideologically consistent, and economically, legally and socially stable.

## Legacy

Future leftists would build upon Friabh's ideas of divisions after his death which at the time were considered close to far left though over time they became more associated with liberal thinking. The more specific focuses on topics such as economic class, race and sex being the primary dividing social lines would influence ideas such as Máircish(communism), bábh(feminism) and niábh(anti-imperialism). Friabh's ideas of unity would later be used as a base for the idea of fébh(intersectionality) with the aim of left unity. Many argue that Friabh's ideas have been watered down and limited in their application to serve the new ruling class who benefit from dividing and conquering while giving the illusion of unity, the debates are ongoing. Certain right wing groups have attempted to use Friabh's ideas as a tool to show that racial homogeneity and exclusion of minority groups is beneficial as minority groups dilute and divide the populous, however these attempts were short lived as Friabh was explicit in his critiques of the Agépsa and his use of the term 'strong nation' being different from how such right wing groups used it.