Posted by Jim on June 25, 2018
The Fox the Birds and the Poets.
Geneticists, working out of Trinity College in Dublin, have discovered that the Irish gene pool is the least diluted in all of Europe, and perhaps the world. They have also found that the Irish traveling people (*tinkers) are purely Irish and date back to the nomadic hunter gatherers who inhabited Ireland beginning at the end of the last ice-age, prior to the arrival of our first named visitor, Cessair. The earth shattering discovery of the Fox P2 gene, which is high in the Irish DNA, has been found to control the ability to absorb and internalize information, then, after formulating, express it using the voice. This gene is also present in songbirds and serves to remind us that despite what the naysayers and begrudgers have said about us down through the centuries, we Irish truly are, a race apart, there’s no-one else like us, period.
*The word ‘tinker’ is short for tinsmith, denoting the ability to work with all metals including gold and silver.
In the age when the Maigue, flowing broad from the Shannon, winding slow through the sloping place of Crom Dubh, right there, right on that spot, it all changed forever. For it was there that the Long-ships carrying the sons of Thor along its’ looped course, stopped below the fastness sited high above the grassed banks, and sent the Linnet skyward from the heather, in frightful flight. And it was there, right on that spot, where O’Donovan parleyed, swore fealty and ruled in safety with the invasive Dane. And it was there that O’Connor encircled the ramparts at Rathmore, burned the enclosures and routed the pretenders.
And it was there that the Norman puppet masters, with their Welsh and Flemish bowmen in tow, installed the Geraldines to rule in lieu. And it was there that Red Hugh, after the night time march across the frozen bogs, en-route to meet the Spaniard, met first with the Countess from Kildare. And it was there too that the hedge masters of Kilmallock gathered and birthed the written and spoken native tongue. Thus, it was that the Fil Na Maigue rhyme was infused with life’s breath and it was then, right then, on that very spot, in that very place, that the Limerick was born.
The Birth of the Limerick
The two founders of the Maigue Poets in Croom were Sean O’ Tuama and his friend Andrias MacRaith. Both men grew up together in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick. O’Tuama went on to become a publican. After the two men had a falling out they began castigating each other in rhyme. Below are believed to be the first two Limericks ever written and predate Edward Lear by one hundred years.
O’Tuama wrote:
“I sell the best Brandy and Sherry
to make all my customers merry.
But at times their finances
run short as it chances.
And then I feel sad, very, very.”
MacCraith replied:
“O’Tuama, you boast yourself handy,
At selling good ale and bright Brandy,
But the fact is your liquor
makes everyone sicker
I tell you this, I, your good friend Andy.”
Dedicated to the Maigue Poets of Croom.
Posted by Jim on June 24, 2018
The British Crown Forces are refusing to release documents relating to
top loyalist paramilitary Robin ‘The Jackal’ Jackson, a former British
soldier linked to the Miami Showband massacre and other suspected acts
of collusion.
Three members of the popular band were taken from their tour bus and
shot dead on a country road after a gig in Banbridge, County Down in
July 1975. Jackson, who died in 1998, had been linked by fingerprints to
one of the murder weapons used in the massacre. He had been a member of
the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).
Victims of the attack are suing both the British Ministry of Defence and
PSNI police over suspected collaboration between serving soldiers and
the UVF paramilitary killers.
A British government minister is to decide whether to grant requests by
the British Army and PSNI for ‘Public Interest Immunity’ (PII) orders to
suppress the material on Jackson and related collusion within the UDR.
Military chiefs defending the legal action have claimed documents on the
soldiers involved have also been destroyed. The lawyer representing survivors
and relatives of murdered group members said he had been told material
on vetting and training UDR soldiers linked to the atrocity had been
destroyed more than a decade ago, but had been given no other
explanation.
The band had been travelling in their van to Dublin when a fake British
army patrol made up of UDR soldiers and UVF members stopped them at a
bogus checkpoint outside Newry. Band members were made to line up at the
side of the road while attempts were made to hide a bomb on the van.
The device exploded prematurely, killing some of the would-be bombers.
Their accomplices then opened fire on the band, murdering lead singer
Fran O’Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty and trumpeter Brian McCoy. Two
other band members, Des McAlea and Stephen Travers, were also injured
but survived.
Survivor Stephen Travers said of the development: “The only response
from British authorities to the charge of murdering three members of the
Miami Showband and the attempted murder of two others is to run and hide
behind a PII cert. Any British minister who grants them this cert will
be complicit in the crime.”
He added: “Until the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern
Ireland stops hiding the files on Robin Jackson, the mass-murderer and
butcher of my band-mates, I will have no option but to view them both as
two sides of the same coin.”
Posted by Jim on
This week in 1897, James Connolly was arrested and detained for
organising a series of protests in Dublin over Queen Victoria’s diamond
jubilee, soem of which resulted in riots.
James Connolly called the Jubilee a “feast of flunkyism” and wrote:
“Join your voice with ours in protesting against the base assumption
that we owe to this empire any other debt than that of hatred of all its
plundering institutions.”
One march was held across the city, with a mock coffin draped in a black
cloth with the words British Empire embroidered on it. Maud Gonne
organised the production of a series of black flags, on which were
written statistics of the famines/starvations, evictions and other
social disasters that had taken place in Ireland during the long reign
of Queen Victoria.
The coffin was eventually thrown into the River Liffey, with Connolly
reportedly shouting as it entered the water, “Here goes the coffin of
the British Empire.”
The following is a speech delivered by Connolly, as transcribed by the
James Connolly Society in 1997.
———————————————————————
“The great appear great to us, only because we are on our knees: LET US
RISE.”
Fellow Workers,
The loyal subjects of Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland,
Empress of India, etc., celebrate this year the longest reign on record.
Already the air is laden with rumours of preparations for a wholesale
manufacture of sham ‘popular rejoicings’ at this glorious (?)
commemoration.
Home Rule orators and Nationalist Lord Mayors, Whig politicians and
Parnellite pressmen, have ere now lent their prestige and influence to
the attempt to arouse public interest in the sickening details of this
Feast of Flunkeyism. It is time then that some organised party in
Ireland – other than those in whose mouths Patriotism means Compromise,
and Freedom, High Dividends – should speak out bravely and honestly the
sentiments awakened in the breast of every lover of freedom by this
ghastly farce now being played out before our eyes. Hence the Irish
Socialist Republican Party – which, from its inception, has never
hesitated to proclaim its unswerving hostility to the British Crown, and
to the political and social order of which in these islands that Crown
is but the symbol – takes this opportunity of hurling at the heads of
all the courtly mummers who grovel at the shrine of royalty the contempt
and hatred of the Irish Revolutionary Democracy. We, at least, are not
loyal men; we confess to having more respect and honour for the
raggedest child of the poorest labourer in Ireland today than for any,
even the most virtuous, descendant of the long array of murderers,
adulterers and madmen who have sat upon the throne of England.
During this glorious reign Ireland has seen 1,225,000 of her children
die of famine, starved to death whilst the produce of her soil and their
labour was eaten up by a vulture aristocracy, enforcing their rents by
the bayonets of a hired assassin army in the pay of the -best of the
English Queens’; the eviction of 3,668,000, a multitude greater than the
entire population of Switzerland; and the reluctant emigration of
4,186,000 of our kindred, a greater host than the entire people of
Greece. At the present moment 78 percent of our wage-earners receive
less than #1 per week, our streets are thronged by starving crowds of
the unemployed, cattle graze on our tenantless farms and around the
ruins of our battered homesteads, our ports are crowded with departing
emigrants, and our poorhouses are full of paupers. Such are the
constituent elements out of which we are bade to construct a National
Festival of rejoicing!
Working-class of Ireland: We appeal to you not to allow your opinions to
be misrepresented on this occasion. Join your voice with ours in
protesting against the base assumption that we owe to this Empire any
other debt than that of hatred of all its plundering institutions. Let
this year be indeed a memorable one as marking the date when the Irish
workers at last flung off that slavish dependence on the lead of ‘the
gentry,’ which has paralysed the arm of every soldier of freedom in the
past.
The Irish landlords, now as ever the enemy’s garrison, instinctively
support every institution which, like monarchy, degrades the manhood of
the people and weakens the moral fibre of the oppressed; the
middle-class, absorbed in the pursuit of gold, have pawned their souls
for the prostitute glories of commercialism and remain openly or
secretly hostile to every movement which would imperil the sanctity of
their dividends. The working class alone have nothing to hope for save
in a revolutionary reconstruction of society; they, and they alone, are
capable of that revolutionary initiative which, with all the political
and economic development of the time to aid it, can carry us forward
into the promised land of perfect Freedom, the reward of the age-long
travail of the people.
To you, workers of Ireland, we address ourselves. AGITATE in the
workshop, in the field, in the factory, until you arouse your brothers
to hatred of the slavery of which we are all the victims. EDUCATE, that
the people may no longer be deluded by illusory hopes of prosperity
under any system of society of which monarchs or noblemen, capitalists
or landlords form an integral part. ORGANISE, that a solid, compact and
intelligent force, conscious of your historic mission as a class, you
may seize the reins of political power whenever possible and, by
intelligent application of the working-class ballot, clear the field of
action for the revolutionary forces of the future. Let the ‘canting, fed
classes’ bow the knee as they may, be you true to your own manhood, and
to the cause of freedom, whose hope is in you, and, pressing unweariedly
onward in pursuit of the high destiny to which the Socialist Republic
invites you, let the words which the poet puts into the mouth of Mazeppa
console you amid the orgies of the tyrants of today:
But time at last makes all things even,
And if we do but watch the hour,
There never yet was human power
That could evade, if unforgiven,
The patient hate and vigil long,
Of those who treasure up a wrong.
Posted by Jim on June 23, 2018
“Ever since the 1920 British Government of Ireland Act —which artificially created a pro-British majority by ripping the Six Counties of Northern Ireland away from the other 26 Counties of Ireland— the British Government and the Unionists/Loyalist/Protestants have defended this gerrymander by claiming the ‘majority wanted it.’ … So, ‘majority rule’ was allegedly the settled British opinion, against which nobody could legitimately argue. It was reasonable, sensible, and fair-minded —everybody had to go along with it because that is how democracy works.
So, now that a Nationalist/Republican/Catholic majority is emerging in Northern Ireland, why is it suddenly irresponsible and undemocratic to acknowledge it, and its implications? Especially given the implications of Brexit for the entire island of Ireland? And, why would this article in the British newspaper Express claim that Irish Senator Mark Daly is being ‘triumphant’ and is ‘inflaming tension’ when he acknowledges the indisputable demographic changes in Northern Ireland. Whatever happened to the British position that ‘majority rule’ is reasonable, sensible, fair-minded and democratic—against which nobody can legitimately argue?”
—Fr. Sean McManus
‘Brexit is pushing Ireland closer to UNIFICATION’ – Irish politician’s triumphant boast
A LEADING Irish politician has risked inflaming tensions after claiming Northern Ireland could quit the UK over Brexit as he said Theresa May’s negotiations with the EU were isolating voters in the province.
MARK DALY
By James Bickerton . Express. UK. Saturday, June 23, 2018
In a triumphant statement, Mark Daly, a member of a top Irish Parliamentary Committee, said said “Brexit and the changing demographics of Northern Ireland” are going to end the province’s UK membership.
He claimed “The history of Irish unification is still to be written” and said both the British and Irish Governments should prepare for a referendum on Irish unity.
He argued the uncertainty as to whether people and goods will still be able to travel freely across the 300 mile Northern Ireland/Ireland border after Brexit was fueling the nationalist sentiment.
Whilst the UK as a whole voted for Brexit on 23 June 2016 Northern Ireland voted “Remain” by 56 percent to 44 percent.
A total of 85 percent of Northern Irish Catholics, who tend to support the unification of Ireland, opposed Brexit.
A 2015 BBC/RTE poll found that 30 percent of Northern Irish residents want to see a united Ireland.
However since the Brexit vote, this figure has exploded with a recent LucidTalk poll finding support at 42 percent, only slightly below the 45 percent who want to remain part of the UK.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended the bloody Northern Ireland conflict, says a referendum on Irish unity should be held if it “appears likely” to get a majority.
Mark Daly has warned Theresa May there could be another Ireland referendum
The Irish Government has already got the EU to agree that if Northern Ireland joins the Republic it will automatically rejoin the EU, mimicking what happened with East Germany in 1990.
However, Brexiteers appear unfazed by the threat issued by Mr. Daly and are have said leaving the EU is more important than Northern Ireland remaining in the EU.
A polling report by Lord Ashcroft earlier this month said: “If it were not possible both to leave the EU and to keep England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales together in the UK, 63 percent of Leave voters in Great Britain (including 73 percent of Conservatives) said they would choose to leave the EU.27 percent said they would choose to keep the UK together, and one in ten say they didn’t know.”
Posted by Jim on
The unionist paramilitary UVF are being blamed for an ‘Eleventh Night’
bonfire being built close to a children’s play park in a built-up
residential area of Belfast.
More than 1,000 pallets and six black oil drums have already been
assembled to an area off the Newtownards Road near Ravenscroft Avenue.
East Belfast cleric Lucas Parks, whose grandfather was an Orangeman,
said he was highlighting his concern now because many others living in
the area were afraid to do so.
“It’s a UVF bonfire; it’s an overtly sectarian bonfire – tricolours get
burned,” he said. He said he worried about anti-social behaviour in the
run-up to the Eleventh Night, the night before the biggest day of the
year for sectarian Protestant marches.
Belfast City Council, which owns the public car park where the fire is
being built, said it would allow ts to proceed.
“We will continue to work with elected members and key stakeholders to
address how bonfires are managed and to minimise any potential negative
impacts on local residents,” the council said. “The approach to managing
bonfires is a member-led issue and a member-led decision making process
has been agreed.”
Meanwhile, dozens of UDA paramilitary flags have been erected in south
Belfast in recent days, including outside a primary School.
The SDLP’s Donal Lyons said the appearance of the flags at Taughmonagh
Primary School was “outrageous” and shows there are some who continue to
act as if they’re “beyond the law”.
“The fact that these UDA flags have been put up at the entrance to a
primary school and outside the local community centre where young
children will be forced to pass under them is particularly outrageous,”
he said. There is no justification for these flags to be up and no
reason that they should stay up”.
Another nationalist SDLP politician was mocked by paramilitaries after a
bonfire sign was erected of him wearing an Orange sash. Former Assembly
member John Dallat is depicted in Limavady wearing in an Orange sash and
includes a message that reads, “Dump bonfire wood”.
“I will be taking this intimation seriously,” he said. “I have asked the
PSNI to interview the culprits with a view to prosecuting them.”
Meanwhile, around 30 pallets were burnt prematurely this week at a
bonfire site on the Sandy Row in south Belfast. It is the second such
case of bonfire material being set ablaze before the marching season
gets underway.
The incident comes despite city council funding of over #26,521 for the
paramilitary-linked Belfast South Community Resources, based in Sandy
Row, to organise a “bonfire diversion”.
Meanwhile, DUP leader Arlene Foster has said she wants to work with the
anti-Catholic Orange Order to challenge “bigotry and prejudice” towards
the organisation.
The Orange Order, which only admits Protestants, was described recently
as a “reservoir of anti-Catholicism and sectarianism” by Presbyterian
Moderator Rev Ken Newell. On July 12, they organise the annual Twelfth
parades, which celebrate the Battle of the Boyne, a 17th century battle
victory over Catholics.
“I want to work with the Orange Institution to ensure the bigotry and
prejudice shown toward its members, halls and parades is challenged,” Ms
Foster said, without irony. “There is no place for such intolerance in
2018”.