Patsy McGlone…Cometh The Hour, Cometh The Man.

Posted on August 30, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

On 1st August 2011, Patsy McGlone, SDLP Deputy Leader and MLA for Mid Ulster announced his intention to stand for the Party Leadership in November. I support him.

It is hard not to feel sorry for Margaret Ritchie who was elected to the Leadership a mere eighteen months ago. She is the first SDLP Leader to face a challenge to his/her Leadership. But she is no Gerry Fitt, no John Hume, no Seamus Mallon and no Mark Durkan. She has been over-promoted.

McGlones announcement “I’ve listened to what party supporters are saying and I’m standing for Leader of the SDLP – people are hungry for change.” references Party supporters rather than Party members. Rightly so. As I have said SDLP pay far too much attention to its political opponents. It is long overdue that it listen to its own voters.

I was watching the South Belfast “count” in the Kings Hall, Belfast in May and the “rumbles” in SDLP started from the moment the ballots tumbled out of the boxes.
It had been a reasonable enough assumption that SDLP would at least hold its own in May. It fell back by two seats. Any success would have been in SPITE of Ritchie not because of her.
But certainly the feeling at 9am on Election Count morning was that the SDLP had “got away with it”. By 11am it had dawned (via text messages from other counts) that getting a good reception on the doorsteps, being liked, getting second preferences and (eventually) finishing seventh in seven constituencies wasnt enough.
It would be wrong to suggest that Patsy McGlones leadership bid is specifically related to him being overlooked in relation to a Ministerial position in the Election aftermath.
By 1pm on Election Count Day he was already the name on SDLP lips.
The ring of Belfast suburban seats…..East Antrim, South Antrim, Lagan Valley, Strangford and North Down………divides Belfast where the SDLP is holding ok….from the West where SDLP lost ground.
Too many people in SDLP have fallen under the spell of “New Labour” type gurus based in Islington-in-Belfast on the Lisburn Road. The ridiculous spectacle of SDLP listening to every voice but its own……..Brian Hayes Fine Gael TD, Joanne  “Ive never really thought about a  united Ireland” Tuffy Labour TD, Mary “Im leaving early to go to a rugby match” Hanafin Fianna Fáil TD, Colin Harvey, Patrick Corrigan, Rev Norman Hamilton, Davey Adams (!!!) and Duncan Morrow…..gets lots of plaudits but no votes.
It merely emphasises that the biggest electoral crime is ……..LOSING.
Sometimes voters let down political parties by not voting for them.
Sometimes political parties let down their supporters by not winning….not providing leadership.
And I say ….in sadness that SDLP has let down its voters.

It would be easy for the “Islington” SDLP aided by the “Islington” media to depict Patsy McGlone as a cracker barrel politician with an unsophisticated accent from the other side of the River Bann.
But that would be to underestimate a dedicated and sophisticated politician.
Ironically the double jobbing thing (she is Westminster MP AND MLA for South Down)provides a dignified way out for Margaret Ritchie. She was just too “cute” on that subject, including for many party members.
Stick to Westminster Margaret.
Its a job for life. And you cant do any harm there. You will be safely anonymous.
This will put pressure on Alastair McDonnell (South Belfast) to do the same and will bring two new SDLP members into paid employment (salaried positions) which will compensate for handing out redundancy notices to staffers in the Policy Department.

So the rumbles have been ongoing since Election Day (at least). And it is the only conversation within SDLP circles. SDLP members have wisely avoided public debate..
I unreservedly state that I hope Patsy McGlone is elected Leader of SDLP.
Its not opportunism.
As Deputy Leader, its his duty.

The nationalist/republican community (like its unionist counterpart) needs “choice”, two electable parties offering leadership.
Like them or loathe them, the SDLP has at least offered leadership to nationalists in the north.
Too prepared to listen to voices outside the Party (not just my usual list of suspects) but spin doctors who have played at a high level and carry a reputation….the SDLP in its current form is embarrassed by the notion of leading nationalism/republicanism.

The consequence is that it is winning plaudits but losing nationalist votes.
The more nationalist votes that SDLP gets, the fewer SF get.
And obviously the unionist community has an interest there.
But its not just about personalities. Its about policy.
And paradoxically nationalist votes can only be won by being (in effect) less attractive to unionists.
The people who always write SDLP obits will state that its already too late.
I dont think so. I only know that my vote is up for grabs in 2015 and that the SDLP failure of leadership will be an issue for me.

In early 2010 Margaret Ritchie defeated McDonnell by 222 votes to 187.
Perhaps some of those who voted for the losing candidate are now convinced by Ritchies eighteen months in charge. I doubt it.
More likely at least 50, 60, 70 people who voted Ritchie regret the decision. She is simply awful.
And will lose a straight fight with Patsy McGlone.
In fact she should probably see the writing on the wall and stand down to avoid humiliation as the Ian Duncan Smith of Norn Iron politics.

She can survive Criticism.
She cant survive Pity or Ridicule.
And even her closest supporters must realise that.
I heard her quoted as saying that she has not heard anyone say that any other leader would do anything DIFFERENTLY.
That may or may not be so………but rest assured Margaret, they would do it a helluva lot BETTER.

Her behaviour in office was at least mixed in early days. Alienating some senior people but at least she showed a degree of ruthlessness that the SDLP had previously lacked and there were positive signs around the 2010 Election.
She made the fatal mistake of paying undue attention to Mandelson-like gurus (not necessarily with an official Party role) and that has cost her.
Likewise she allowed the Party to listen to such diverse voices as Duncan Morrow, Rev Norman Hamilton, Davey Adams (!!!) and got lured into a sense that SDLP was actually going to get rewarded for its “outreach”.
The Poppy nonsense said it all. A better tactic would be to have worn it and drawing attention to it being voluntary and that it should be in the BBC and UTV, where presenters from nationalist/republican backgrounds have no such choice..

But as I recall the 2010 SDLP Conference was held in the Ramada on the first week in November……poppy wearing season (which begins seemingly in September) and I only saw two people wearing poppies that day. One was a journalist and the other was Jim Wells (DUP MLA).
Presumably the 2011 SDLP Conference and possible Leadership Election will be held at the same time in poppy wearing season.
And I daresay some will follow the Leaders example and sights of poppys will be reported. But I doubt if the majority will be so inclined and the “red poppy” will be as iconic and a symbol of failure as the Jacobite “white cockade”.

Gerry Murray, a shrewd observer of SDLP and now designated as “former SDLP member” echoes my own thoughts that people voted SDLP in SPITE of Margaret Ritchie.
She loses votes. She does not gain votes.
Her 2010 Election performance was patchy but many gave her the benefit of the doubt as she was “new”. Her 2011 performance was simply a disaster.
Even if the SDLP had got away with it and survived with 16 seats, the writing was on the wall.
Success breeds Success and Failure breeds Failure.
So votes of 222 to 187 look a bit thin.
I suspect the vast majority of the 187 think they were right.
And I suspect a significant number of the 222 think they got it wrong.
Frankly shes……already in the Past Tense.
But she could get off the hook if the opposition is divided.
With McDonnell intent on standing for Westminster in 2015, he needs the support of the South Belfast branches which are generally pro-Ritchie.
There might be some choreography involved. He stands down as South Belfast MLA to facilitate the rise of an enthusiastic Ritchie supporter (Claire Hanna) into the Assembly. There will be cases of Quid Pro Pro when the Partys constituent parts…….Executive, Parliamentary Party, Councillors Forum, Womens Group, SDLP Youth start choosing sides.
There is all to play for.
And the mood music and optics at the Conference will be important.
Outreach type Conference set pieces? Surely not.
Fringe meetings with the Human Rights Consortium? Surely not.
A novel suggestion might be listening to voices like Brian Feeney and Gerry Murray.

With roughly 400 votes to be won, a lot depends on caucus meetings and informal contact. McDonnell has recently announced his intention to stand but frankly he is too associated with Failure and wont get anything like the 187 votes of last time.
Ritchie wont get 222 and (presuming its a three way contest) it depends who is left as the last two standing. I dont think anyone can win on the first count and second preference votes will be crucial.

Ms Ritchie looks as out of touch as Margaret Thatcher did in 1990. And I just cant see any way that she can win. But her Praetorian Guard has not yet told her that the game is up. Patsy McGlone will be the only candidate West of the Bann and the Derry votes which allegedly went Ritchies way eighteen months ago are certainly in play for him.

A lot of the initial disaffection with Margaret Ritchie started in the Clogher Valley within a week of the May Elections. Ritchie SHOULD have been able to rally the troops in Strangford, where it was reasonably predicted SDLP would pick up a seat. McGlone by contrast rallied the troops successfully in the target seat of West Tyrone.
Increasingly she looks like a creature of a SDLP faction rather than a Leader.

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Joining, Leaving and Re-Joining SDLP

Posted on August 26, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

I was thinking about how I joined the SDLP in June 1973, how I left it in 1981-82 and about the circumstances in which I might re-join it in 2011, SDLP has “lost” a lot of members …good members over the years.

To some extent I believe that 90% of people who join political parties eventually leave them. And further that most people who leave a Party feel a sense of political or personal betrayal. People join with too much enthusiasm. Eventually there is a sense of fatigue.

There were actually two elections in 1973, one of our most troubled years. SDLP like the Alliance were newly created and had never actually fought an election before. Sinn Féin was little more than a protest movement backing the (Provisional) Irish Republican Army and it was abstentionist. It did not believe in standing for or sitting in a “British Parliament” at Stormont. On the pro-British side, the monolithic Unionist Party was divided between hardliners and moderates. And there were also “new” Parties (Vanguard led by William Craig an ex Unionist Minister and the Democratic Unionist Party of Rev Ian Paisley).

To some extent the Elections for 26 District Councils in May 1973 and a 78 member Stormont Assembly in June 1973 were to address a “democratic deficit”, a phrase that took hold in the late 1970s . Stormont had been abolished by the British Government in 1972, following on the violence that had broken out in 1969 and the (failed) introduction of Internment without Trial, to deal with the IRA in August 1971.

The Elections were therefore set against a new and violent reality. As always in Norn Iron Catholics vote nationalist (or abstain from voting). Protestants vote unionist. And for many the emergence of a Party (the Alliance Party) which sought to speak for both Catholics and Protestants was a significant development.

My family were moderate nationalist. I had first voted as a 18 year old in 1970……for Gerry Fitt in a Westminster Election. Within a year Fitt would be the Leader of the newly formed SDLP.

The problem on the Nationalist side in 1973 was that Internment was a major issue. As was the behaviour of the police and British military, at least as much a problem as the IRAs military campaign.

In May 1973, a prominent “Civil Rights” priest (Father Dennis Faul) urged Catholics not to vote in the Council Elections as a protest against Internment. I did not vote. The consequence was that the Ulster Unionist Party took the lions share of unionist votes. And the “middle of the road” Alliance Party came second (94,000 votes), actually outvoting the moderate nationalist SDLP (92,000 votes).

The consequence of this was that I realised abstention was folly. It merely handed council seats to the Alliance Party which for all their high minded piety were actually enemies of nationalism. I actually joined the SDLP within days and was canvassing enthusiastically in West Belfast for SDLP for the more important Assembly Elections just a month later. A few days before that election, Paddy Wilson a SDLP member of the Belfast Council was stabbed to death by loyalists. Paddy was a good friend of my father and a regular visitor to our home.

I suspect many nationalists had made the same abstentionist mistake. Less than a month after the Council Elections, the Alliance Party vote fell to 67,000 and the SDLP vote rose to 160,000. As I recall being a SDLP member and (later) officer in West Belfast was not very difficult. The Provos were of course hypocrites. Publicly denouncing the SDLP, they privately sought SDLP help on many issues, including of course their “prisoners of war”.

I left West Belfast to move to Dungannon, in County Tyrone in February 1979. I retained SDLP membership but there was little “politics” at this time. The Provos entered politics almost by accident. The death of Frank Maguire MP (1981) and the election of Bobby Sands……was (for them) a major boost. After much debate, the SDLP decided not to field a candidate against Sands in Fermanagh-South Tyrone. It was a decision I opposed in Dungannon and I did not vote for Bobby Sands.

By 1982, I had left the SDLP. I am not exactly sure why. No local Government as an outlet for Politics, my upcoming marriage, the fact that Dungannon was not a place in which I was ever at home were all factors. Or maybe just boredom. Since 1982 I have lived in a third constituency. I voted SDLP until 1993, and since then I have voted Sinn Féin. In 2009 European Elections, 2010 Westminster Elections and 2011 Stormont Elections…..I have gone back to voting SDLP. I think that my prime reason is that I am a pan-nationalist and (without violence/peace differentiating them) SDLP and Sinn Féin are in reality constitutional nationalists…….effectively I voted Sinn Féin when they were the minority nationalist party or at most in parity with SDLP. Now that SF are the market leader, I have reverted to voting SDLP..they need the boost. Nationalism NEEDS two Parties.

Yet SDLP under Margaret Ritchie are a disaster. I attended SDLP Conference in November 2010 and found myself bemused by SDLPs obsession with outreaching to the “unionist” and “lets get alongerist communities”. All very noble but many if not all of the guests at SDLP Conference might “like” SDLP but not enough to vote for them.

Over the past few months I have become friendly with several SDLP folks and I almost joined the Party in the Spring.But I remain opposed to the direction that Margaret Ritchie has taken the SDLP and remain uncertain as to the direction it will go. I have blogged in support of Patsy McGlones Leadership campaign.

Now perhaps is…..the time for all to rally to the support of the Party……..but SDLP seem at times hell bent on self-destruction.

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Professional Politics Is A Very Bad Thing.

Posted on August 22, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

I wonder if being “good” at Politics is actually a Virtue. It is at best a devious kinda game and its probably a bigger virtue NOT to be good at it.
Id rather have an amateur politician than a “professional” one. Theres more to Politics that having a Politics A Level. I have one of them myself.
The current fad for professional politicians coming thru from PR firms and lobby groups and think tanks……and parachuted into safe seats while never having a real job…..or taking the “good route” to Politics via the local council or trade union or rank and file membership of a Party in which you actually believe..
Look at the professional politicians in England…………can we take Tony B Liar, (ex MP in a mining constituency Sedgefield) Peter Mandelson ex Blair spindoctor and ex MP for Hartlepool, Ed Miliband (current labour Leader) MP for a South Yorkshire constituency and his brother David Miliband MP for working class South Shields. These men are more used to jet-setting and having dinner parties in Islington, North London.

And Conall McDevitt SDLP MLA for South Belfast came into our Politics via the same route, a PR firm and co-option to a safe seat and undue and undeserved influence because of perceived professionalism.
Its the professionals who screw up more often than the “amateurs”.

Im sure some of the wannabee politicians in our Think Tanks (like Platform for Change) would happily pursue a career in ANY political Party. Platform for Change even provides a helpful list of the signatories to its agenda.
To this end we have seen wannabe professional politicians resign from one or even two Parties. We have seen Paula Bradshaw leave Ulster Unionist Party (she stood for them in the Westminster 2010 Election) join Alliance. She is married to Ian Parsley (Alliance European candidate in 2009, UUP candidate in 2010 and currently without a Party but singing Alliance praises on his Blog) and Harry Hamilton (UUP candidate 2010 and Alliance Party candidate in 2011).
Rather like Islington Labourites dispersing to northern constituencies, I suspect that people who have never left South Belfast in their lives will be seeking a nomination in West Tyrone and visiting the local pig market.

There are shadowy figures in  so called “lobby” groups working to place “professionals” in all our Parties and actually “bigging them up” on message boards. Why?

The point is that professional politicians is the last thing we need.

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GAA and the Police: Outreach

Posted on August 20, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

I was also at a Gaelic Athletic Association event in a local club (not my own) today. Tournament for underage teams under 8 under 10 etc.
All the kids received a black goody  bag with the the slogan “Be Social Dont be Anti-Social”. I think the general idea is that its used for carrying football boots etc.

The bag carried the logo of the local (unionist led) council and the District Policing Partnership. Several PSNI (Police Sevice for “Norn Iron”)  folks in attendance. I did wonder about the reaction of local uber-republicans to the goody bag.

Uber-republicans are opposed to the Peace Process and opposed to our new police service. Nice to see one sent his daughter up for another one.

People who are simply republicans/nationalists like myself rather than uber republicans value good (Irish) citizenship as many others in this part of the world value good (British) citizenship.
We are perhaps all better off if young people are simply taught the values of good citizenship of Wherever they give fealty……..in the world of the GAA, we are all Irish.
And full credit to those mentors, coaches, parents and (of course) grandparents who value that kinda thing.

Clearly the event that I attended today was hardly “cross community” but its refreshing that events can be carried out in one community…….the “other” (British) community and indeed “cross community”……..and everybody including doddery old folks like me can learn stuff……..and go away refreshed and uplifted by the knowledge that our children wont be condemned to the influences that we knew.

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The Media in “Northern Ireland” : Newspapers

Posted on August 18, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

Essentially there are three Daily Newspapers in Norn Iron.

The News Letter deserves to be mentioned first. It is the oldest English language daily newspaper, having been first published in 1737. It was the first European newspaper to report the American Declaration of Independence. Founded by Belfast Presbyterian radicals, it was actually Republican in its views in the late 18th century. But in the aftermath of the Act of Union and Catholic Emancipation adopteda strongly unionist tone. It is the chosen daily of the unionist/Protestant population. It is however not doing well financially selling only about 25,000 copies daily. Part of its dwindling circulation is due to a ceratin ongoing lack of confidence in unionist politics. The News Letter clings to a belief in “unionist unity” and the rise of the Democratic Unionist Party and the demise of the Ulster Unionist Party has meant it is a little out of touch. It has a serious rival in the Belfast Telegraph.

The Irish News (founded in 1891…thank you Wikipedia) is the chosen daily of the nationalist/Catholic population. In the 1960s it was my familys chosen daily. Rarely more than eight broadsheet pages, one was devoted to “death notices”/funeral arrangements and two pages devoted to Sport, mostly horse racing. I remember it with fondness, bringing the paper up to my late father on Saturday mornings. Checking the “Deaths” he would often say “my name is not in the Irish News…I should get out of bed”. In truth the Troubles which began in 1969, was the making of the Irish News. It had access to Republican areas and I think that the “Wikipedia comment” that it realised early that the Troubles was a significant and likely to be ongoing for years, meant that it had a head start on the other Belfast papers. It has a circulation of about 45,000. It does have the “ear” of nationalists/republicans/Catholics but is pro-Social Democratic & Labour Party even though it has been overtaken at the polls by Sinn Féin.

The Belfast Telegraph (per Wikipedia 1870)produces a morning and evening newspaper. It sells about 65,000 copies but is in decline. Traditionally an evening newspaper, it was the chosen newspaper of the evening commuter. Essentially it sets out to appeal to both communities, it is little more than a collection of advertisements……car sales, house sales, job notifications, lonely hearts and “kittens free to good home”. It still seems odd to see the “Tele” on sale in mid-morning and this move is generally seen as a bid to capture News Letter readers. While publicly appealing to both communities, the “Tele” is moderately unionist. And a critic of the DUP-Sinn Fein led government.

It is worth mentioning that the Andersonstown News (circa 1980s) is published twice weekly in Belfast, largely for West Belfast and it has smaller sister papers in North & south Belfast. It is stridently republican and pro-Sinn Fein. Circulation I cant pin down reliable figures but the “weekend” edition sells around 15,000 copies. The Monday edition a lot less.

The City of Derry also has a newspaper published twice weekly. The Derry Journal (late 19th century) is nationalist and sells about 20,000 copies.

All of these newspapers are tabloid in format. Increasingly the future of newspapers is in doubt. The threat from the Internet, although of the above newspapers the Irish News seems the best prepared in the digital age. But an over reliance on “agency” pieces and “press releases” is undermining real journalism.

It should be noted that there is a very wide range of newspapers available in Norn Iron. The three Irish Dailies (Irish Times, Irish Independent and Examiner) are more expensive. And not for the casual reader. The appeal is mostly to moderate nationalism.

The British Dailies are also widely available. Obviously the emphasis is on British news. The Times is moderately conservative, the Daily Telegraph is rabidly conservative while the Guardian leans to the left and the Independent is middle to left. They are the serious newspapers. The middle brow Daily Mail and Daily Express are conservative tabloids and The Mirror is a Labour Party supporting tabloid. Rupert Murdochs The Sun is currently pro-Conservative. The less said about the near pornographic Daily Star the better.

Yet the Troubles made Journalism and Journalists. Or should have. Journalists got rich and lazy. And ever ready to appear (for a fee) as an expert on the Troubles on international TV or have articles published worldwide. And local journalists have often acted as “stringers” for English newspapers. Arguably Peace is the worst thing that ever happened to local journalists.

But the staple of Norn Iron newspapers is the weekly local newspaper. They are generally apolitical except at election time and rely on sales to and advertising from Catholics and Protestants. Local papers are therefore non controversial…….”Mary passes driving test”, “George graduates University”, “Local Man ties his shoes properly”.

 

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Another Crisis For Catholic Church In Ireland

Posted on August 18, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

On Sunday & Monday of this week I attended three funerals (ie three in 26 hours) which may sound like a movie script where I am played by Hugh Grant. It did however give an insight into three very different churches with a different demographic and profile in each.

The first, in the village in which I live was a massive affair. Although the funeral Mass was offered by a relative of the deceased, the key thing about the parish is that there are actually two churches, three miles apart. Now served by just one priest a man in his early 80s. Back in the early 1990s there were two priests. The older man lived in this village. The younger man in the “other” village. Two Masses (Saturday and Sunday) in each Church. Now the Churches alternate. Saturday here, Sunday there or vice versa. The evidence of my eyes ……..I live about 200 metres from the Church was that (1990s) cars were parked well past our house…..actually increasing as the village got bigger……..then dwindling so that the cars didnt reach our house (the downturn in attendance) but now the cars park past our house again (a consequence of folks coming from our “sister” village). Demographic……certainly fewer younger faces. But in itself thats not important.

The second church was a “new” 1970s parish, a spin off from an older parish in Belfast. Built circa 1971 with much expense it was effecctively rebuilt this century and visibly has downsized (there is another church in the parish). It might be described as one of Belfasts poorest parishes. The third funeral was in (traditionally) Belfasts most affluent parish. Clearly a different demographic of people. But ironically this Church (or rather Parish), was originally built for the domestic servants of South Belfast. My late father used to take a morbid interest in Church collections mainly because of he was one of “the old decency” of pioneer men “who took up the plate”. Armed with the Down & Connor Catholic Directory he knew parish populations.

As with everything, it is often difficult to disentangle “reasons” from “excuses” and thats the case with falling numbers and falling collections. Too easy to blame both entirely on sex abuse scandals. In terms of falling numbers, I discussed this with two priests in March (Slugger passim) one who is 50plus, the other about 30. I pointed out that the “legal” definition of a Catholic is a person who makes his/her Easter Duty…..the younger guy was unaware of this and the older guy remembered vaguely that there was “something like that” in the old days. Effectively the Catholic Church has re-defined a “Catholic”. Needs must when the Devil drives is an inappropriate phrase perhaps……..but certainly no priest is going to scold parishioners who attend monthly as they would have scolded 40 years ago. Indeed anyone attending (increasingly expensive for parents) First Communions will note in the weeks after, the burden of actually bringing eight year olds to Sunday Mass falls on…..grandparents rather than parents.

And indeed the middle aged Catholic is the unhappiest of all. Brought up to believe Right from Wrong, the World has changed in his/her lifetime. Elderly parents have certainties. Children have different certainties. The middle-aged have no certainty other than a foot in both worlds. But the Catholic Church has re-defined Catholicism. You might move into a new parish and phone for advice on what time is “Sunday Mass?” and you might almost get a reply “what time can you get here?” But the four wheeled Catholic……..a pram to Baptism, a limo to a wedding and a hearse to a funeral was once despised by the (clerical) Church. Now it appears to be acceptable. It will do.

The key thing is that apart from trendy liberals, children are still getting baptised, still making First Communion……..and being facilitated from “integrated” schools in a way that Bishop Philbin would not have countenaced in 1970s Holywood. And despite hype to the contrary, integrated education is no real “threat”, especially in a community where people care more about a “nationalist” ethos rather than a “Catholic” ethos. Catholic schools provide both.

The Collection argument is slightly different. Monthly and Yearly attenders dont actually contribute much. Thats obvious. But “supporting the upkeep of our pastors” as it was known was always a bit “iffy”. The traditional reading of yearly offerings in rural parishes (long stopped) is a thing of legend. Farmers accepting their role as “£5 donors” to get one up on their neighbours in the “£4 list” and looking down on the ten shilling donors. “Ten shillings Paddy?…….I heard that the smuggling was good last week” can be effective from a South Armagh pulpit. But in fact I know plenty of people who would happily not contribute. “Two shillings a week for the Catholic school……..why should I? I have no kids and the family next door gets away with paying one shilling and they have three kids there”.

It was always thus. But it seems unfair that the burden of Church upkeep (including compensation payments to sex abuse victims) is falling disproportionately on blameless people in the pews and very understandable that they dont like it, while the Church sits on valuable portfolios. My impression is that there is a stand-off. The Church needs the cash. And the congregations aided and abetted by reformist clergy are holding out for more accountability in parishes and dioceses. And Money is the trump card. Its not just abusing bastards who have been drummed out of the Church. Several were money grabbing bastards. There is a certain kinda priests now identifying themselves more overtly with the folks in the pews and “you need it more than I do” goes a long way. Its a long game.

And that really sums up the Irish Catholic Church. It was persecuted for centuries and at times the head of a priest was worth five pounds. Unlike Italy, Spain, Bavaria or even England, the Irish Church and the Irish people have been held in low esteem by the authorities in Rome. The Irish are simply regarded as a lower class of people.The Papal Doctrine (admittedly in the reign of the only English Pope, Adrian IV) of Laudabiliter enshrines English dominance over Ireland. It was enacted in 1155AD, three decades before the Reformation which further complicated hostilities between “Protestant” England and “Catholic Ireland”.

The Irish Catholic Church has always been the persecuted Church of the “Mass Rock” (open air Mass as it was illegal) “hedge school” (illegal) education and the Priest being identified with a broader “nationalist” identity.

The French Revolution (1789 et seq) complicated things. Irelands first legal seminary was set up by the British Government in 1795 as a common cause with Catholicism against anti monarchist and anti Church….Republican feelings in post Revolutionary France. Tragically the “official” Irish Catholic Church sided with the British against the United Irishmen Rebellion in 1798 even though it was supported by its own flock in Wexford and Connacht. It is really only in the nineteenth century that Catholic and nationalist/republican interests came together.

Arguably, the foundation of the Republic of Ireland gave too much say of all religions especially Catholicism and the Irish Catholic Church has been a de-facto monarchy in Ireland. Being “allowed” to act above the Law.

The sex scandals have empowered the Republic to assert its primacy.

 

 

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The Blogosphere, Blaggersphere And The Czar of Russia

Posted on August 16, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

I am not a bit fan of the Blogosphere. Nobody over 35 should take it seriously.

All the Blogosphere really is ….is rather eccentric individuals with far too much time on our hands typing away with a maximum of three fingers. A few years ago a lot of Guardian readers like myself got carried away by the notion of the “Baghdad Blogger” and the concept of the “Citizen Journalist”. The awful reality is that Quantity is not Quality.

Take my least favourite Norn Iron political message board. “In the Land of the Blind, the one-eyed man is King”. On message boards, nobody has 20-20 vision. The best contributors are the one-eyed kings who view each newcomer with suspicion. Is he/she blind or a rival one eyed “expert”?

I cant really take it seriously. This is NOT the “Huffington Post” and I cant believe it actually started like this. Bloggers……I prefer the word “Blaggers” are for the most part people who would have kept diaries decades ago. The anonymity of the Internet allows people to portray themselves as “experts”. There is no quality control.

I also cling to my “anonymity” under the nom de guerre, FitzjamesHorse. At least I have to be consistent with anything that I have posted under this name on other message boards in Ireland, Britain and United States.

Which brings me neatly to….the Czar of Russia. Because his ghost hangs heavily over all Blaggers…er Bloggers.

Back in the 1850s, the editor of the small town Irish newspaper (the Skibbereen Eagle)wrote editorials on great world events…hardly of interest to his West Cork readership. Once fulminating about Russian intentions in Afghanistan, he warned that “the Skibbereen Eagle is keeping an eye on the Czar of Russia”.

And thats exactly what I am doing. I am a complete nobody (albeit one who knows a bit about History and Politics) who is keeping an eye on President Obama, David Cameron, the Yoorpeen Union, International Monetary Fund, the Middle East and of course the politics and politicians locally. They must surely be quaking at the thought.

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Liberal Dissidents and Liberal Dysentery Explained.

Posted on August 15, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

One of the most unfortunate aspects of Political Life over the past few years is the presence of a class which I desribe as “Liberal Dissidents”.

We have of course got Republican and Unionists and the underbelly of these traditions  “dissidents” who are not wedded to the Peace Process are dangerous. Liberalism is also of course honourable but it also has an underbelly which is in opposition to the Good Friday Agreement and their dissident activity is in its own way as dangerous as a terrorist bomb.

Basically Liberals were (prior to the Good Friday Agreement 1998) in favour of Peace. To some degree this was because……like us all……they imagined that the shared future would have the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and SDLP leading the “unionist tradition” and “nationalist tradition” in government”. It was fully expected that the “extremes” Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin would be brought to heel.

The UUP and SDLP effectively blew it after 1998. David Trimble’s fractious UUP and Mark Durkans complacent SDLP lost ground to the DUP and Sinn Féin. Liberals who thought they could hitch their wagon to the UUP-SDLP-Alliance respectability have been disappointed. Devastated even. The middle-of-the-road and allegedly non-sectarian Alliance Party is now firmly part of the new regime.

Journalists and Commentators who cheer-led for the Good Friday Agreement have now turned against the Peace Process, mostly on the basis that it wasnt supposed to be like this. These are the people I call “Liberal Dissidents” and I refer to their self-serving, malcontent statements as “Liberal Dysentery”.

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Culture After Conflict: (British-Irish Studies Event)

Posted on August 14, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

Culture After Conflict: Between Remembrance and Reconciliation:

Ulster Museum 23rd March …Sponsored by Instiute of British-Irish Studies (IBIS) at UCD.

Following closely on “Remembering the Future” a CRC event, IBIS held a related event at the Ulster Museum. There were about 200, mostly pre-registered, “attendees” but I noted that many of the well known names on the list did not actually show up.

Against a background of upcoming centenaries what exactly can or should the Cultural Community do to foster a positive approach to it all.

Chairing a discussion on “Legacies of Conflict”, historian Pat Cooke reflected on his time as curator of Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. There is an attempt to escape History as there are attempts to escape prison but Cooke issued a cautionary note into the proceedings by stating that in the rush to escape, prisoners often have no idea where they will end up.

Even having escaped the building there is the ball and chain around the ankles which is inhibiting. He talked about the “ouch factor” in History, the need for a physician to actually touch and press a wound to see how it’s healing.

Former Poetry Professor, Edna Longley proved somewhat of a revelation. She was concerned at the notion that a role should be assigned to Culture. Forgiveness is a religious theme not a matter for Culture.

She noted the similar conference at City Hall, just two days previously and the concern about these centenaries. I paraphrase “we have conferences about the centenaries and then mark the centenary of the conferences”. It resonated with the audience

Philip Orr, dramatist, spoke of working with loyalists (including ex- prisoners). Orr spoke of the stereotype of loyalist culture as “angry, marginal and embarrassing” and the cliché that loyalist culture is an oxymoron.

But he seems tired of people approaching him to write another play about the Somme. He works with loyalist bands. He notes that in the aftermath of Partition, plays (O’Casey) were written and books written but there was no equivalent culture in the North.

There are different attitudes to Culture within the northern communities. Loyalists are resentful that nationalists seem to have a monopoly of culture. Hollywod does “Michael Collins” and “The Wind That Shakes The Barley” but where is the Loyalist screenplay?

Re-Imaginings of “Northern Ireland”

Imelda Foley spoke about theatre work on the Shankill Road and community art in general. David Park, the writer told us that Art comes from a narrative and that very little of the drama, books and stories relating to the Troubles will actually endure. The Troubles have actually damaged us creatively. “Artists can’t live off the Troubles forever”.

Writing and other forms of art are about exploring what it is to be human. And these narratives must be true. He was saying that Art cannot be produced to order for the Common Good.

Tim Loane, theatre director went further. We are a society in denial and Art is our Prozac. We don’t need more Prozac Art. Art is not social engineering. With community art, we have fostered Inclusivity in place of Excellence. Art is NOT fireworks and face painting. It is not the function of the Arts to engage in Reconciliation and took a side swipe at Ulster Scots and Irish.

According to Loane, the simple truth is that our indigenous artists are tribal. We actually encouraged Michael Stone to believe he is an artist and Danny Morrison to believe he is a playwright.

He criticised a play “We Held Your Secrets” (authors name I did not catch) where an American director had taken real life stories of victims and edited them into a drama. It was obscene “Troubles Porn”…..a means for people who have not suffered at all to “get off on other peoples misery”.

He said that the impuse  for Art to be part of a Reconciliation Process is coming from outsiders and do-gooders. How risible is it that “the City of Culture does not have a professional theatre”?

For me, Loane overdid the passion. It resulted in a heated exchange between him (he was forced to back pedal a little) by the force of feeling) and two women community writers, who accused him of elitism.

Eamonn McTeagues artistic speciality is photographing and displaying the Belfast murals. He is particularly interested in their changing nature. A  contribution from the floor. was telling. Seemingly one of the walls on the Ormeau Road in his presentation had actually been the scene of a 1970s killing…….a young man who was painting a mural.

The final session “Arts and Culture After the Conflict” was effectively the Gerry Anderson Show. Frankly nobody on the panel, Pauline Ross (Community Theatre in Derry), Alan Gillis (Belfast poet), Robert Ballagh (Dublin artist) Glenn Patterson (Belfast writer) spoke about Conflict Resolution..

It was back and forth banter about Pattersons hasty retreat from a Lisburn bar as his red velours trousers were causing a disturbance, Ballagh selling his guitar to Phil Lynnott, Gerry Anderson loaning Lynnott a tenner in the gents in a Dublin bar…….and well I guess you had to be there.

Yet for me the single most poignant moment of the day was Anderson’s recollection of a suppressed memory from St Patricks Day in Derry on St Patricks Day 1952. I wont elaborate on that.

So what did we learn about Conflict Resolution and Art? There was a general acceptance that it is not the responsibility of artists to be involved. There is possibly a bigger debate about Art being subsidised. Whether at community or professional level, is the artist obliged to follow the wishes of a patron.

The other most noticeable theme was that so many “History” and “Politics” registered names from QUB who failed to attend.

We already know from a previous post that the Churches aren’t overly concerned about playing a part in Conflict Resolution. Neither are Historians who value the historical record above its re-writing for the perceived benefit to Society. And the Arts people feel the same way.

Yet that’s the point that Pat Cooke, the Historian made at the very start of the day. When you escape from History, you don’t really know where you will end up.

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Why Do Nice People Vote Sinn Féin “Terrorists” ?

Posted on August 14, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

So why do nice people vote Sinn Féin? I suppose we should ask one. Take the case of a Man who describes himself  as ……a socialist, republican, moderate and nationalist. And skeptical of Journalism and Conflict Resolution.

He first voted as a 18 year old in West Belfast for Republican Labour and Gerry Fitt. A straight fight with Brian McRoberts a Unionist. Hardly a choice.

As a 21 year old in 1973, he did not vote in the Council Elections as a gesture of support for the “internees”. Strange as it may seem now Father Dennis Faul (who would later be highly critical of the Provos) had called for a boycott of the Election.

But just a month later, the Man was voting SDLP in the Assembly Elections. And did so thru the 1970s.

In 1981 he was living in Fermanagh-South Tyrone and did not vote for either Bobby Sands or Owen Carron (he spoiled his vote on both occasions as SDLP had no candidate). Married in 1982 and living in a third constituency he voted SDLP consistently until 1993 local council elections when he voted DUP.

The reason …he and his wife had been in a dispute with a SDLP figure  and he could not bring himself to vote Sinn Féin and DUP was a safe protest vote. His wife who is a much nicer person than he is, always voted SDLP and thru the rest of the 1990s and well into the 21st century he voted Sinn Féin.

Which was actually a neat little compromise because essentially his family is “pan nationalist” in its outlook. With two sons now on the Voting Register it was a simple fact that younger folks vote Sinn Féin..so he switched back to vote SDLP in European Elections in 2009, to give a 2-2 balance to the “family vote”.Family is everything to him.

There are three power blocks in Norn Iron. The Unionist community may feel they are in a worse position than they were in 1966. The Nationalist community certainly feels they are in a better position. The 59 year old Man remembers the 1960s and the 1970s. You might think that both the SDLP and Sinn Féin like how he votes but actually he irritates them.

See the simple and uncomfortable fact is that the SDLP  believe it was them “wot won it” with Politics and Peace. But they didn’t. And Sinn Féin believe that it was them “wot won it”. With the gun and bomb. And it wasn’t. Effectively it was both….and they both hate to hear it.

But why should the SDLP be surprised by that? John Hume did after all talk to Gerry Adams. And why should Sinn Féin reject that view.?Did they even notice that THAT Bobby Sands mural says “everyone ….republican and otherwise has a part to play”. And that’s what happened.

In the 1980s the Voter might have thought that unionist talk about a pan-nationalist front was their usual paranoia. In fact with hindsight, they were absolutely right. In 2010 and 2011 the household vote was 3-2 to the SDLP.

Understandably our Man will never be a unionist. Nor does he expect any unionist to be a nationalist. Its an ongoing dispute but he gets on surprisingly well with unionists. Unionists get on surprisingly well with him.

Alliance folks don’t like him much. Which is okay because he wouldn’t vote Alliance if he was paid. Not that he has ever seen one in either Fermanagh-South Tyrone or his post 1982 constituency.

SDLP people are nicer than Sinn Féin people. Not to mention all that “unfortunate” 1970s and 1980s stuff, much of which he seen up close and personal in West Belfast. And he doesnt much care for the Sinn Féin way of doing things, their ruthless efficiency and the fact that they have activists and not members.

He is not nearly energetic enough to actually join Sinn Féin (besides he doesn’t like all that baggage). And a few months ago came very close to joining SDLP but frankly even they are more energetic than he is.

And worse…..they are just totally inefficient. They have a hopeless and hapless leader, Margaret Ritchie who led them to a state where they have fewer seats and an almost impossible chance of making a comeback.

It’s likely but not certain that SDLP will decline further and eventually split with about two thirds of voters going to Sinn Féin while the other third mostly around the Belfast suburbs goes to Alliance……..or into a short lived leftist Party.

Thats how he sees it. Politics is about high ideals and low self-interest and a basket of philosophies… in his case nationalist, republican, moderate and socialist. Throw in democracy and efficiency…..and the understandable human emotion that things get better for him and his…..and you might get some idea how a “nice” person votes Sinn Féin.

They simply tick more of the boxes than a rival in the nationalist community.

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