Northern-Ireland

Well, I couldn’t let this week pass without some comment on the restoration of the Assembley.

Is this the beginning of a bright new future for Northern Ireland? That was the burning question yesterday. It’s really too early to tell, but surely the signs are hopeful?

I’m not sure what to make of Ian Paisley in the role of First Minister. Let’s face it, the man made his career out of opposing whoever held this (or equivalent) role in the past. In bringing down just about every ‘moderate’ attempt at peaceful governance, Paisley was the anarchist, the mixer, the organ grinder. He effortlessly roused the passions of paranoid Protestants in bigotted tirades against Catholics/Nationalist or anybody who looked at him squinty.

And now he’s the head honcho?

Over the last few years, The Reverend Paisley has had plenty to say about the IRA and Sinn Fein gaining the trust of the people. Today, Ian Paisley still has a long way to go before he has my trust. Too many stunts, posturing and double-speak from Paisley have left me rightly suspicious of his intentions for this Assembley.

My hope for the future is that Paisley decommissions his bigotted rhetoric the same way the IRA put their weapons away. Is it too vain to hope that he has seen the damage he has done to Northern Ireland and that in this late stage of his career (and life) he wants to finally be a force for change?

I hope so. Peace be with you, people…

Wednesday, May 9th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Seeing Ian Paisley, the representative of everything wrong with my tribe, and Gerry Adams, the representative of everything wrong with his, trying it seemed to find a “final solution” to the “Irish question” - was for me not surprising. It was what both Sinn Fein and the DUP wanted all along, not peace necessarily, but power - the former to join Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic to fulfil the “1916 prophecy” and the latter to “keep Ulster free from Dublin interference”. Two polar opposite positions have now been brought to the middle ground, which sounds good for Tony Blair and Peter Hain, but is not the reality as far as I can see.

Of course I welcome any move to bring our province into the 21st century, and peace is what I desire, but I am not convinced (yet) that Paisley and Adams can bring that about. Watching them together, I felt a nervous hope, but for a brief moment I wished it would have been David Trimble and John Hume! Not because I like Trimble or Hume, but because I believed they could have had a genuinely equally beneficial working relationship, that they would truely have embraced the middle ground - rather than just talking about it.

Ian Paisley has not fundamentally changed his position, he himself said it was more pressure and threats from Peter Hain and the British/Irish governments, than a genuine desire on his part to make a deal. Gerry Adams has also not fundamentally changed, he has made it his lifes work to destablise and destroy Northern Ireland, he is not seeking reconciliation within our country but a United Ireland “by any means necessary” - even if it does mean turning his back on certain, what Republicans wrongly call “principles”, he will do it all for a United Ireland and more.

I am more of a realist, I do not believe a few photos and nice words are enough, as the British and Irish governments do, to hear them you’d think Paisley and Adams peacenik photo-op was the solution in and of itself. Of course I’d welcome the reconciliation of Loyalism and Republicanism (Paisley is no Unionist) but are these polar opposite idealogues the way of the future or the past?

Paisley is still the old fundamentalist preacher who sees Rome and Leinster House as one, and perhaps believes the devil is behind both, there is a conspiracy behind it all involving the Republican movement as well perhaps?

Republicans accuse him, quite rightly perhaps, of living in the 17th century - of course their enlightened socialists and revolutionarys? Perhaps Adams and his comrades spout Wolfe Tone quotes (a man of the 18th century) about uniting the religious communities, but it means little in reality, they are a sectarian movement with little or no support from Protestants - and their campaign of murder…”armed struggle” has set back their cause by decades - yet Adams and the Volunteers cannot admit that it was a complete and utter failure; Paisley may well live in the 17th century but Adams and Sinn Fein are right there along with him: of course Republicans think living in the 1960s/1970s makes them so much more…”groovy”?

Hugging Fidel, supporting Basque separatists, drawing support for Fatah/Hamas isn’t about ebracing the future; its about clinging on to the past. Fidels Cuba is a relic of the 1950s, complete with that unwashed revolutionary zing, its funny when Republicans talk of the UN Charter on Human rights - when possessing such a simple document in Cuba can get you thrown in prison - as for the Basques, their decades behind the Provos, and for the anti-semites in Fatah/Hamas who strap bombs to small children - their light years away from the 21st century. You can always know someone by their friends, Sinn Fein are not representative of the future or of the 21st or any other century, so the question remains on mine and i’m sure others, lips:

Can Yesterday’s Men Become Today’s Future? We’ll have to wait and see…

Sunday, April 15th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Right, imagine you were approached by a friend or colleague and asked to recommend a good Northern Irish political blog….

Who would you recommend?

I’ve lamented the state of the Northern Irish blogosphere a while back, and now that I’m starting to get back into the flow of things I’d like to update my reading list. Damien Mulley pulled out a good list of Irish political blogs late last year.

I’d like to see something similar for Northern Ireland specifically. Roll up your sleeves, and help me out with your suggestions in the comments below!

Monday, January 22nd, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Russian writer), Vaclav Havel (ex Czech President) and Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese pro-democracy activist) are all, for different reasons and in different parts of the world, very courageous people. They were also (and in the case of Aung san Suu Kyi still is) dissidents. And. no, that doesn’t mean they firebombed DIY stores or they couldn’t bear having a fenian about the place.

For, despite what the Sinn Fein/DUP Politburos and lazy N.Irish journalists may tell you, “dissident” is not a dirty word, a person to be shunned by all those naice people “committed” to the *Peace* Process.

Back to faithful Wiki, for a rather broader definition of the word “dissident“:

A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively opposes an established opinion, policy, or structure. The term is most often used to refer to political dissidents, usually against authoritarian regimes or established constitutional order (although there are rare uses of the phrase philosophical dissident). Political dissidents use non-violent means of political dissent, including voicing criticism of the government or dominating ideology, or protesting individual actions by the authorities.

“Dissent”, “Protest”, “Opposition to the Established Norms” and even,”Dissidents” are, (but whisper it gently in Norn Iron), generally recognised as good things for democracy.

Fact: party apparachniks and an electorate who obediently nod at everything Gerry and Big Ian tells them is not going to push forward the democratic process in N.Ireland.

Whilst I’d much rather that the present challenges to the DUP/SF were coming from secular, liberal Unionists and genuinely socialist Republicans respectively, if the end result is the same –the splintering of the DUP and Sinn Fein monoliths and the future development of a non-sectarian, fully functioning political system in Ulster, then I ain’t going to complain.

So, good luck to all the political dissidents!

Paul
A Dissident Unionist
(http://www.betterunion.co.uk)

Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

This post was submitted by CJ, one of our new contributors at The Levee Breaks…

After hearing about the incident in Clifftonvilles match with Glentoran, I was reminded of something about Northern Ireland, and its not that a lot of us can’t get over our respective “dislike” of each other or our political differences enough to even respect the dead; I was reminded that Northern Ireland is the most hypocritical nation in the world.

The reaction of certain Clifftonville fans to the minute silence was disappointing yes, but I had to laugh at the reaction of many who were struck with moral outrage and disgust, many but not all of them Loyalist or Unionist (like myself) the Newsletter summed up the C’ville fans behaviour as “Shameful”. I’m not saying I agree with those C’ville fans but did anybody really expect it to be otherwise? David Ervine was a member of an organization that murdered Catholics (Nationalists), so it would have been more hypocritical I suppose of certain C’ville fans (a majority of whom are Catholic/Nationalist) if they hadn’t reacted the way they did. But also the reaction of “Loyalists” was predictable and of course totally hypocritical, if Gerry Adams had popped his clogs would certain Glen’s fans have reacted any differently? Also I’m probably not defaming C’ville fans when I predict that a portion of its fans are supporters of “political parties” such as Sinn Fein whose members are responsible for the murders of innocent Protestants (Unionists).

Not only was I thinking of the hypocrisy of footie fans, but hypocrisy in the wider context . Take the DUP moral outrage brigade for instance, never too shy to boast about its independence from terrorism or paramilitarism, the DUP behave as though they’re as clean as baby angels in this whole mess. Ian Paisley may be a reverend, but his memory lapses sure to seem as close to lying as he’ll admit to getting, because they seemed to forget about the past connections to groups such as the Ulster Protestant Volunteers (UPV) and Ulster Resistance (UR). Big Ian’s also guilty I’m afraid of sparking the distrust and hatred of many young Protestants towards Catholics in the 1960’s who went on to join paramilitary groups.

Sinn Feiners also never fail to make them selves’ look like the innocent victims, they accuse the Police of being murderers and colluders, as though the IRA were some sort of boy-scout troop. The PSNI are unacceptable to Catholics is a constant rejectionist theme of Republicans, despite the increase in Catholics joining, and if the news is anything to go by a number of Polish people seem to be eager to fill up positions, yet they cannot promote that more Catholics (including those from Ballymurphy, Andersonstown and the Falls) should join? Of course they want their “own” community Police force with influence most likely from IRA volunteers to keep on top of their own ghettos, yet they pretend they couldn’t allow those senior Republicans to cooperate with the PSNI (like some of them haven’t already?).

While the hypocrisy of politics blocks progress towards the continuity of the peace process, those who believe you can’t get more extreme than SF/DUP should beware of those extremists on the fringes of both sides preparing to take the reigns away from Sinn Fein and the DUP; if that happens then any chances of a peaceful future for Northern Ireland goes down the toilet.

Friday, January 12th, 2007 // Northern Ireland: Politics

You know, there’s been a big hole in the political satire market since Newton Emerson hung up his boots for a semi-respectable career as a journalist. Thankfully, he’s done the decent thing and bundled the last couple of years worth of material into a book (did someone say “cash-in?”), The Last of the Portadown News.

The Portadown News was one of those sites that literally had me in stitches laughing. I’d check the site each week for new material, and within 5 or 10 minutes, I’d be getting told to shut up and stop laughing to myself.

Whatever you think of Newton Emerson, he’s got a sharp wit that cuts straight through all the bullshit and political rhetoric that gets spun around here. He can expose a double-standard in his sleep.

Anyway, I got a copy of The Last of the Portadown News for Christmas this year. Needless to say, I was doubled over laughing yet again. I know this is juvenile, but the names of the reporters really got me started (Billy Shootspatrick, Reg Empty, etc) to the point where I wondered if Emerson’s own name wasn’t made up (Newtown-emerson, anyone? No?).

Anyway, despite the fact that it’s freely available online, get yourself a copy! You never know when they’ll pull the plug for good.

Sunday, December 31st, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

As many of you know, I’m in the process of looking for a new job. I’m currently breaking out in blotches at the sight of application forms and trying to ‘tweak’ my history to fit the job I’m applying for.

Anyway, I’ve been filling out another application form this evening, and the Equal Opportunities/Fair Employment declaration has me cornered from all sides. Basically I’ve got to get off the damn fence and identify myself as a Protestant or a Catholic.

First off, I’ve got to choose from five different shades of white. Of the two that are applicable, I’m either Irish White or British White. Right, I can understand racial profiling to a degree, but isn’t that splitting hairs a bit too much?

So, on the basis of technically being a UK resident, I choose British White. But it doesn’t feel right. Nor does Irish White for that matter. They’re both…well, they’re both a bit foreign….

Anyway, on to the old question of religion. Am I a Prod or a Taig? Neither, I answer with confidence, having shrugged off the God factor a long time ago.

But wait! What’s this extra question? They want to know what primary school I went to? For God’s sake leave me alone! I just want to be an ordinary white (Northern Irish White, thank you) athiest bloke. Why do they want to bring my primary school into it?

So, even though I’ve tried my best to be good ol’ neutral me, this form is insisting I take a side. I don’t want to take a damn side, I’ve avoided it all my life so far! Well, Saint Patrick’s Primary School might be a bit of a give away, but what choice do I have?

Anyone else think Irish White/British White is a step too far in the campaign for equality of employment?

Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics

I came across this list of 10,000 reasons civilisation is doomed. It seems to be an open list of all the reasons people think civilization (as we know it) is on the rocks. Among the contenders:

• Overpopulation - over time, larger population v non-renewable resources. Seems like a no-brainer, but no-one’s stepping in on this issue. Why not?
• Capitilism - because profit isn’t the purpose of life. Everybody trying to make a quick buck at the expense of everybody else - amateur property developers, suing your friends and neighbours, etc.
• Avarice in the hearts of apathetic consumers who feast on fried fat, luxury cars, and infinite unnecessary gadgets when millions die annually from malnutrition, murder, and disease. How can one purchase thirty pairs of shoes, $100 meals, and diamond rings when so many suffer from a want of basic necessities?
• Rape is not punishable by castration.

Anyway, my contender for the list is that people (as a group) are just too stupid. Human beings are dumb. Let me cite Northern Ireland to you as an example of how a group of people can endure years of bitter conflict and continue to vote for the idiots who caused the problem in the first place. At the expense of parties who just might help to create employment and opportunities for their doomed-to-be-idiot offspring.

Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 // Observations

A few months ago I posted about a fantastic website I had just came across called BookCrossing.

I have finally managed to register some books, and I now intend to release them into the wild.

The only problem is, I don’t know where to leave them. I live in Crumlin, but doubt that anyone around here bookcrosses. I see that someone else realeased one at Junction One, but it has yet to be claimed, so I have ruled that out.

I could get Mr Levee to release them in Belfast after work, but where should he leave them? I know that a few bookcrossers read the blog (Norah, Cybez and Jimmy Porter thats you!) so I would be grateful for any tips or suggestions you may have.

Thursday, July 13th, 2006 // General

If ever a website made you want to cringe with embarrassment, Black People Love Us will do the job every time.

Warning to the humourless: This is a spoof website.

Sally and Johnny are a middle-class white couple who find that they are well-liked by black people:

We are well-liked by Black people so we’re psyched (since lots of Black people don’t like lots of White people)!! We thought it’d be cool to honor our exceptional status with a ROCKIN’ domain name and a killer website!!

The pictures on the homepage are of Sally and Johnny ‘hanging’ with their black friends. Brilliantly, they are at the center of the group and all their black friends are laughing at their jokes. Underneath this, they have a set of testimonials from their “real life friends”:

Johnny calls me “da man!” That puts me at ease. It makes me feel comfortable, because I am Black and that’s how Black folks talk to one another.

Check out the hanging out section for pictures of Sally and Johnny chillin’ with their homies!

As you can imagine, there’s a serious message behind the satire, and it points the finger at the misconceptions we have of other races and the social stereotyping, like all blacks listen to gangsta rap, submit to ghetto culture and are somehow less intelligent than white people. Also, how all blacks think the same:

Sally and Johnny always ask me how the entire black community feels about certain topics. I really respect this about them because I am black and therfore obviously know how all blacks feel about everything! Black People Love Us Testimonials

We don’t really have this problem in Northern Ireland, because we’re not that multi-cultural. Yet. It’s coming, though and maybe we need to ask a few questions about our attitudes toward different races and cultures.

Friday, July 7th, 2006 // Fun Stuff