South Belfast or South Park

DEY TOOK R DERS

St Pauli FC fans

I thought I would lighten the mood a little with a sing-song from our friends of the FC St Pauli Ultras. Enjoy...

UDA looking for backpay

The announcements of loyalist decommissioning this week by General John De Chastelain should be welcomed by all, even if it is a little bit late in coming. But then the announcement that the UDA wanted money in return for guns makes the extra wait a little more plausible. If I stay in work for a few extra hours per week, I get overtime pay. I guess the UDA leadership believe they are entitled to overtime for the work they have done over the years trying to expunge the world of people other than themselves. Maybe they think they are entitled to a refund for the guns, and maybe they would be better off going to South Africa for repayment, provided they have the receipts of course. I have never understood when the IRA began decommissioning their weapons in 2001, that the UDA were allowed to keep their guns for so long. Were they trying to find all the receipts? Or maybe they were keeping them in case a Romanian insurrection occurred in South Belfast? So what will the outcome be? Quis Separabit Armorum? Maybe they could go see what the scrap man will give them.

A favela é, um problema social

Collusion between armed drug gangs and so called security forces in Brazil, inspired a French artist to use photography to bring the attention of the world to the Rio de Janeiro favela or shanty town where the violence took place. Brazilian soldiers were arrested after the killings of 3 men by a rival drug gang. The men were detained by the soldiers and brought to a rival drug gang's shanty town where they were shot dead.The subsequent outcry from the people of the favela resounded with the artist who in response took photographs of their faces, and plastered the photos on the walls of the shanty town and places of interest in Rio de Janeiro.

Racial hatred in Belfast

Not satisfied with the beating and killing of their own countrymen, now the mob turn their ire upon people from half way across the world. Up to 100 Romanian people, about 20 families, were forced to flee their homes as racial hatred reared its ugly head in south Belfast. Police used a minibus to evacuate the people from their homes in fear of reprisals for an earlier anti-racism march that had taken place. The families are being cared for in a Church overnight.

The scenes, reminiscent of Nazi Germany, being played out in the Lisburn road area of Belfast, should be condemned and the people responsible brought to bear for hate crimes, and prosecuted under the full extent of the law. This makes me wonder which Triangle are these people going to have to wear?




Reference:
Christy Moore. Yellow Triangle. YouTube. Click on picture.

Picture of Romanian newspaper seller Belfast 2009
The Prehistory of the Crisis (II)
Susanne Bosch, Anthony Haughey, Daniel Jewesbury and Sinead McCann

Loyalist Mob Murder

'Disturbing' is how, UUP mayor of Coleraine David Donaldson Barbour, described the brutal beating and murder last night, by a loyalist mob, of father of three, Kevin McDaid. I get disturbed when I hear the phone ring whilst sleeping, not when I hear of such violence perpetrated by lynch mobs. The mob, not happy with the winning result of their football team, went out to score their own prize, and went home leaving tormented, frightened, and fatherless children in their wake. I wonder if the murderers who carried out this attack were like the mayor 'disturbed' by the memories of their victim as they slept last night. I doubt it. If the PSNI are as reformed as they say they are, then they should hunt down the 30 or so murderers involved in this act of terror, and bring justice to the family of Kevin McDaid.

Men of cloth failed us again

As Shakespeare would have it,"Truth will out". In my opinion, the truth was always there, and only needed a few brave souls to shine a light. For too long the 'revered' men in the Catholic Church have failed the people who profess their faith. The newly appointed leader of the Church in England said, that the report on the child abuse in Ireland by Christian Brothers and nuns from the Sisters of Mercy, "overshadowed' the good these institutions have done, and "It is a tough road to take, to face up to our own weaknesses" (BBC, 2009). Well, I'm sorry your Catholic guilt got in the way of owning up to years of abuse and torture of innocent children, and maybe we should 'forgive' these men and women, instead of turning them over to the proper authorities and jail where they belong.

The Irish are well known for their love and devotion to the mother Church, but what is less known is the mother Church's lack of compassion, and understanding for its followers. Throughout the Irish people's turbulent past, as the song goes, 'The men of cloth failed us again'. The Bishops blessed the Nazis on their way from Ireland to fight on the side of Franco in the Spanish Civil War; the Church turned their backs on the fight against oppression from the British by threatening excommunication of people during the famine, who would not pay rent to the British landlords; Proponents of civil unrest were threatened with excommunication in the Eighties by Bishop Daly, and more that are too numerous to rehash.

Brought up Catholic in Ireland I was well aware of the bigotry, and hatred perpetrated against Catholics in that part of the world, since the days of Cromwell and the Penal institutions that he promulgated.The children who were subjected to the horrors of evil men and women must have thought Cromwell's men had returned.

There were always rumours of the abuse, and people surely knew this type of thing was going on, but the fear of the Church was so instilled in the people, that the matter was swept under the carpet and backs were turned to save face. Now faced with the truth, what does the commission report to do? Build a memorial to the abused. And the new leader in England, what does he say? "Pray for those who suffered".
That'll help.

Watching me, watching you

Another Earth Day has come and gone, and we're still spinning. At least that's what I'm seeing on my television. The satellite TV company, DISH Network have a camera set up on their broadcast satellite, 22,000 miles away in space. It is a strange phenomenon being able to watch the Earth 'live' on a television screen. Its even stranger when the network play easy listening music, James Taylor and such, whilst the Earth is there spinning in all its glory. As I sit here watching Ireland disappear into the Eastern clouds, and Hawaii comes into view, Van Morrison belts out his ode to a 'Brown Eyed Girl', and the World keeps on turning, and tuning in.

Obama and Gerry

As President Obama makes his way across the Middle East, I am wondering if he'll bump into Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams, along the way. Mr Adams is on a trip to Gaza, and has spoken with the Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya. Unlike many of his Western counterparts, Mr. Adams has been open to dialogue with the Hamas leader, and "said he was encouraged by the dialogue. "Mr Haniya told me that Hamas wants a peace agreement" (BBC, 2009).
Meanwhile in Turkey, President Obama addressed the Turkish Parliament, and commented "In a speech to the Turkish parliament in Ankara, he said: "The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam"(BBC, 2009). So, now on his way to Israel with a unnanounced visit to Iraq, will the President encourage Israel to open dialogue with Hamas, so as to further Obamas's commitment to find a solution to the conflict? Maybe if Obama talks to Gerry, and finds out what Hamas are willing to do, then a broker of some sort could maybe bring Israel to the table.

BBC.(2009).Adams meets Hamas PM in Gaza. Retrieved April 9, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7991311.stm

BBC.(2009).Obama extends hand to Muslims. Retrieved April 9, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7985945.stm

Síocháin sna t-am ár?

Casadh an tUachtarán Obama leis an tUachtarán Rúiseach Dmitry Medvedev agus d'aontaigh siad le laghdaigh armlann núicléach. Ar an taobh eile, géaraigh an Tuaisceart Chóiré a tabhair amach a bhagairt do an tIarthar,roimh tá sé lainseáil roicéad i bfhad réimse más amhlaidh an tIarthar atá idiragairt sna lainseáil. "A statement from the North's official Korean Central News Agency warns "if hostile forces make any slight move to intercept" the planned launch, the North's military will retaliate with force" (VOA, 2009).
An rachaimid amach de phlab nó an rachaimid síocháin sna t-am ár?

Wear an Easter Lily

I wrote this poem a long time ago, and thought what better forum to share than this. I dedicate the poem to those who have died in the struggle for Irish freedom, and to those who are struggling to keep peace a reality in Ireland.

An T-oilean a Gcuireann Muid Eireann Air (The Island we call Ireland)

The day you were born the heavens rang with cheer,
they lamented when you died.
All Hell broke loose
FAMINE RAGED!
WAR DESTROYED!
POVERTY REIGNED!
DEATH TOLLED ITS BELLS!
But through it all,
through the barricades and boundaries,
the hate,
the lies,
the torture,
the sadness,
the weeping,
the senselessness,
you saw the beauty in your people,
and know that when you rise again, this pain will end.
With this hope they struggle on till that
day when Freedom comes.

Martin Devlin

Police and Thieves

What is it that drives young men to attack the elderly? Over the last two months the papers seem to be filled with headlines detailing atrocious attacks on pensioners. The victim in the latest of these attacks was a 95 year old man from the Beechmount area. I knew the man personally, and was shocked and dismayed that a man who has worked all his life to make a living is attacked by five thugs, who probably never worked a day in their lives, for what amounts to 'carry out' money stolen from an old man.
Over the last few years the people of Beechmount and other areas have been under attack, not from a foreign enemy, but a domestic one. The people have had enough and stood up in protest against the so called 'hoods', but their voices seem to be lost in the other more pressing matters of Government such as waging war in Iraq, and paying off their buddies in the banking industry. Now, if thousands of people marching across the North calling for an end to the violence over the last few weeks, is what it takes for the government to listen, can the same not be applied to calling for peace in the streets, and an end to the violence perpetrated against the elderly of the nation?

Cá bhfuil na daonlathas?

During the Bush administration, the call for democracy in so called 'failed states', was a rallying excuse for the wars in the middle east, and elsewhere. So in 2006, the people of Palestine heeded the call, and went to the polling booths. The result of that democratic election was a victory for Hamas. Now, maybe I am biased in my belief that governments who have had an impact on my life so far, have elements of corruption, thievery, and trickery. But for a moment lets say I am wrong, and lets say GB actually won his Presidency, and democracy was working as it should, then why have Hamas been rejected outright by the Western Democracies, and their leaders arrested and imprisoned? I understand the frustration of the Israeli government over the kidnapping of one of their soldiers, but consider the frustation of the Palestinian people over the imprisonment of 11,000 of its people.

In the early 1980s the Irish people democratically elected political prisoner Bobby Sands to government, and the voice of the Irish people was heard around the world, Maybe in this time of change in America, the Palestinians voices could be heard, and Israel called upon to recognise the democratically elected officials, and cease its blockade of Gaza. If not then where is the democracy to be found? Cá bhfuil na daonlathas?

Hail, Hail, The Celts are here!

You'll Never Walk Alone!!

Bucky Bombs

I wonder if Frank Mitchell used this picture on his daily skit "Where in the North?", would you say Falls Road? Take a closer look at the improvised bombs these two fine wooly faced chaps are holding. There is one clue this is definitely not in the big smoke hey! And what gave it away is the, you guessed it, bottle of Bucky! Buckfast, the world famous 15%, red wine 'wreckahouse' tonic, made by monks at Buckfast Abbey in England, now availabe in molotov cocktail flavour, will be winging its way across the streets of Lurgan.I wonder if they drank the wine or just stuck a rag in the top. That stuff could stoke the fires of hell.

Not to be outdone by the tonic swigging rioters, even though assurances were given for no retaliation, Loyalists staged a cowardly attack on the Fountain Bar in North Belfast, throwing pipe bombs into the bar's beer garden. Luckily the pipe bombs did not explode, but in a separate attacks launched from the Tigers' Bay area, one of these devices did explode, and another two found by police in a follow up search of the area. No-one has been hurt so far, but if the attacks are allowed to escalate, we all know what the outcome may be.

Irish-American Month

In the days preceding the attacks in Ireland on the two soldiers, and the policeman, the President of the United States declared March 2009, Irish-American Heritage Month. Reflecting upon the suffering endured by the Irish people during an Gorta Mor, and the resilient nature of the Irish people to overcome hardship, President Obama declared, "NOW, THEREFORE, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2009 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I encourage all Americans to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies, programs, and activities" (The White House, 2009).

Martin McGuinness and Peter Robinson, once enemies, are now, together going to meet with the new President this week. Three men once separated by violence, and bigotry are meeting together to bring change to the country where their forefathers lived. Are their wishes, and the wishes of the thousands who marched in a rallying call for an end to the violence this week, going to be overshadowed by the hatred portrayed in the window from the past? Or will the changes in the past year in America influence the people of Ireland, like the events in the 1960s did when the marchers for freedom in America were mirrored by the Civil Rights Marchers in Ireland? Tá súil agam sin.

Cothrom an lae bás m'athair

My da always loved this song, and on his anniversary March 9th, anseo an Samradh o Tom Waits. Hope you enjoy!

Tom Waits - Summertime (1978)
Uploaded by revolution2

Celtic preab anios faoi chuimsiú!

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

Flesh Gordon and the Attack of the Orangemen

Nior mise anseo ar feadh scathaimh ach mar gheall ar sin seo an sceal greannmhar!
Not to be outdone by the ever increasing popularity of the Irish language, Ulster-Scots enthusiasts have 'shot' back with the release of an t-Uladh na Albanach version of the 1970s cult soft-core porn Flash Gordon parody, "Flesh Gordon". My favorite part of this story is not the Flesh Gordon movie, though I did enjoy the movie (hmmmmmm), but rather the comments from Thatcher wannabe, UUP David McNarry. McNarry's use of the double-entendre,well makes 'fae a quare yarn'.
"Porn is porn, is porn, is porn - and whether it is done Ulster-Scots-style, well, it really doesn't come into it. This event has presumably been given funding and all this kind of thing does is make people look all the harder at an application the next time it comes round.said the UUP MLA.

Oooh Matron!

Hail, Hail!!

I'll make this quick: 7-0