I note that there are various messages on social media urging people to stand up/observe a minute’s silence at 14:06 for the victims of Loughinisland, when six innocent people (including an 87-year-old man) were shot dead by loyalist gunmen in an atrocity which almost certainly involved collusion. In some ways to recall that horrible night and respect the dead is a civilized and caring gesture. But I wonder if it isn’t a substitute.
What I mean is, it’s no bother. Who wouldn’t sympathise with these victims and their relatives? But when the minute is over and we’ve sat down, what will have changed? Do we make these gestures because they’re easy and don’t make demands of us? If we really cared about the Loughinisland victims, wouldn’t we be at least writing to the MLA/MP for the area, expressing our disgust at what happened and our outrage that the families have been lied to and hoodwinked for decades? Wouldn’t we be demanding, by letters to the newspaper or a united campaign of letter-writing to Theresa Villiers, that attempting to cover up for state collusion by talk of a “pernicious counter-narrative” makes her unfit to be Secretary of State here? Yes, online petitions can be effective, but an actual letter is at least ten times as effective. And if you’re too busy or too broke to write a letter, do you really care about the matter?
Yes, Virginia, letters may be frail things too. But at least they’re a specific step which might result in a reaction. If you were SoS and received, say, 5000 letters telling you you were unfit for office, mightn’t it worry you a bit, maybe prompt you to a retraction of your crassness?
I suppose what I’m getting at here is the “support” call – the urging of people to support a cause or a group of people, without indicating how that might be done most effectively. The danger with gestures is that they allow you to kid yourself that you’ve done your bit. There are people who think that standing for (and even bawling out the words of) Amrán n bhFiann means they’re somehow more Irish or have done their bit. Frankly, the only person they’re fooling with that kind of thinking is themselves
It got your attention and my attention via you Jude.
Collusion has been proven but the names of those who did the colluding are protected by the state. That needs to change and change needs support, and lots of it or the state usually gets its way.
I don’t think the standing is going to make us more Irish, I do love Amrán na bhFiann though, the best anthem on the planet. I turn the TV up.
I also do feel more Irish singing it and I am sure the players would be encouraged with a rousing rendition from the fans.
The French fans lifted the roof on the first game so I think the fans singing did indeed do their bit.
Every little bit counts Jude.
Again, I agree with virtually every word you say, Jessica. It makes me feel good too. But is that it – have I done my bit for Ireland now? I think the national anthem is used by a lot of people as an emotional cul-de-sac – it goes nowhere but it’s fun up there and we can kid ourselves we’re more nationalist after it. Which actually is bunkum.
I stood for the minute while at home.\ watching the match. I do not think it is an empty gesture, it is a show of respect for those innocents who were slaughtered by forces of the state. A prayer never hurt anyone. I beleive(hope) as long as people keep these murders and others in the public eye, maybe justice will be served. The Bloody Sunday victims obtained ‘some’ justice( All the big military boys Jackson, Wilford, Ford, Tuzo and even Heath got off without a sniff of blame)Also Gerard Donegheys name was not completely cleared as Saville ruled he ‘probably’ had nail bombs in his pocket, despite the fact no one saw him with them and he was wearing skin tight jeans with no room for anything in the pockets. That fight goes on, so do the Ballymurphy murders appeals and many others.
If that creepy Villiers got 50000 letters it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. Why? Because she doesn’t get any votes from the colony. Nor even her party. So why should she worry. On the other hand if somebody got a gun and shot her it would show her and the rest of her succubi and incubi that we were serious. How about that for action? Oh sorry, we’ve tried that and I don’t think it worked. We are now on Plan 26d, on the one road sharing the same load etc.
The recent longterm protests by San Francisco and Oakland residents against the brutality and scandals in their respective police departments is finally paying off.
If you want something from the state you must shame them with constant protest and public harassment of elected and appointed officials. You are going to have to be willing to be manhandled by the police, arrested by the police, put in jail by the judiciary.
Take the SoS Villers and protest every single public engagement she attends. Lock yourselves to gates to prevent her entering. Constant. Public. Shame.
And even in the likely eventuality that you fail in your goal. You will have done great work reminding everyone why we need a United Ireland.
I understand what you mean Jude.
I suppose the gesture here is reminding everyone about the Loughinisland murders, 6 Catholic men murdered while watching a football game simply because they were Catholics, whilst the Police/State that is paid to protect them did the exact opposite and still no one has been brought to Justice and the British State is still protecting those who committed it, both the people who pulled the trigger and their superiors who sit behind a desk.
Could much better things be done rather than standing up for a few seconds and then immediately forgetting about the atrocity? Of course but the sad reality is that most people are more concerned about the scoreboard during a football game or who is having the latest affair in a soap opera than about atrocities and the denial of Justice in real life. We see this in general in the Western World when it comes to politics. We have talked many times about non-voting on this blog. Its just that the vast majority of people are distracted by stupid things whilst they remain ignorant of Injustices and Politics, things that actually matter and effect everyone’s lives on a daily basis. Instead, the like of “who shot Phil Mitchell?” in EastEnders has paramount importance.
I honestly don’t see how Theresa Villiers can possibly remain as Secretary of State. This woman has shown numerous times she is not impartial and is bias. The SDLP has called on her to resign because she cant accept the report into Loughinisland. Sinn Fein, like often in the past year, has remained silent…..
PS: on a slightly different topic. The PSNI, under the instruction of a DUP led council, has destroyed and demolished a memorial to the Heroes of 1916 under the cover of darkness. Commentator Chris Donnelly has described it as a “purely sectarian act”. Its funny how the PSNI can do this but they cant take down Loyalist flags put up to intimidate Catholics or arrest UVF men literally going around the houses of Catholics and ethnic minorities in East Belfast to intimidate them…..
PPS: Are we 100% sure certain RUC/Special Branch members aren’t still in the PSNI?….
‘thanks for thoughts as ever, Ryan. My point is that when we call for ‘support’ for some cause, we are very general about how it should be shown. People who feel strongly about an issue (or a political party) should be able to come up with at least one constructive action in support of the issue/party beyond standing up. I also don’t like gestures too much, because they let us off the hook of DOING something – we go off happy after we’ve bawled the national anthem (which I agree is pleasurable) and with a notion that we’re more Irish. I’m a tolerant man but I’m going to say ‘Bollocks to that’…
Your welcome Jude.
It certainly would be more constructive for people to write to Theresa Villiers (or the media) expressing their disgust and outrage at her recent words in reference to collusion instead of standing up for a minute or two then sitting right back down again.
But would people actually do that if it was advocated? Well I can only speak for myself but I would do it because I care enough about Collusion and the countless families (both Catholic and Protestant) who have lost loved ones and have never got Justice or the Truth because the British State has too many dirty secrets to hide.
Another tactic that would be more constructive would be a protest march in Belfast in support of the victims of Collusion and a demand for Truth and Accountability from the British Government. When I think of the many years when Catholics simply murmured their grievances about the Unionist state, it wasn’t until Catholics rallied together, held protests and parades (all peaceful) that even the Unionist Government under O’Neill couldn’t afford to ignore us any longer. Maybe such tactics should be used in pursuit of the Truth about Collusion? Independent Investigations, etc……Just an idea.
“Ryab”
Oops typing error lol
I think I see where you are coming from Jude, perhaps the national anthem is not a good example.
The anthem to me represents the struggle it has been for the Irish people, protestant, catholic or whatever, to pursue freedom to represent ourselves and no longer to have to suffer despotism. That no matter what the adversity, or superior weaponry we face, our ancestors faced the same and we pledge ourselves to do likewise that our children wont have to.
It is not an anthem of the republic, it is the anthem of the whole Irish nation of which I belong.
Perhaps before we learn to sing the anthem, we should first educate all of our people as to its meaning, for both the anthem and the flag have been tarnished from the recent conflict and many protestants on this island see them as I do the loyalist rag or union jack, symbols of oppression?
But back to your point, for someone to sing the anthem, and then turn around and insult those of us who still live under the same state which they should know will never have our best interests at heart shows they are not worthy to sing it in the first place.
And those in the north who would stand up and sing it, but then turn around and claim a UK passport when an Irish passport is available just does not compute with me. If it is just to save a few pounds then it is an insult to those who have given so much to pursue our freedom and equality.
We do indeed need more people to DO something.
When I pointed out the above simple passport choice, many actually defended the choice.
As you say, lip service is not enough.
Ryan, IMHO the PSNI is still teeming with RUC and RUC types. Remember at the launch of thye PSNI how they hired over 1000 ‘retired’ RUC/SB because they needed more experience
New name new uniforms same old biased force, again IMO
Hiring back RUC/SB was just their way of putting bad apples in the barrel to spoil the rest.
What about everybody learning Irish and using it? Wouldn’t that be cool? Naw, it’s easier to whack the old keyboard.