Journalists And Actors

Posted on August 17, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Heres an odd thing.
The Fitzjames Horse family got our first TV set…an Echo (might have been spelt EKCO) in September 1959. It was Black and White of course.
Only two channels in those days, the BBC and the new, commercial ITV. Its local franchise of ITV was just about to start at the end of October. indeed its first production was the Joe Tumelty play, “All Souls Night”.
So when Mr Sweeney, the TV Man delivered the TV that Saturday in September 1959, we sat fascinated at….the Farnborough Air Show, commentry by Raymond Baxter.

The early announcers included Brian Durkin,Adrienne McGuill (the first Presenter of Romper Room) and James Greene. They had mostly been involved in local amateur dramatics but Greene was given a role reading news and reporting. Back in the early 1960s of course, nothing was happening in Norn Iron.
Yet Jimmy Greene shows up sometimes on British television. Last night he showed up again. He has a role in the new David Walliams comedy “Big School”. He plays a veteran teacher who is suffering dementia.
Occasionally he lands a featured role as about ten years ago, in a Martin Clunes vehicle “William and Mary” but mostly he shows up in uncredited roles (“Little Britain” with Walliams or getting knocked off a bicycle in “Band of Brothers”).

The point I make here is that …in the old days TV news-reading was regarded as a form of entertainment …the newsreaders had a background in dramatics. Newsreaders with a background in Journalism has happened gradually.
Jimmy Greene is not the only old UTV face that shows up in Dramas.
Helen Madden…the legendary Miss Helen ….from Romper Room. I think she married a BBCpolitical reporter and a few nights ago, I saw her playing Bobby Sands mother in “Hunger”.
Funny Old World.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Politics And The Internet

Posted on August 12, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

I was never really been convinced by the argument that The Internet will change Politics.
While I still think that firm believers in the New Technology are over-selling the importance, my own assessment that the Internet will be as influential an invention as the Hula Hoop….that might be wrong.
Of course it is true that the Printing Press changed History.
The Reformation was perhaps a direct result.
Literacy. An opening up of Discourse.
And breaking the monopoly of the Church on “books”.

Of course it is obvious that the Internet has broken the monopoly of Newspapers and other Media but has it really changed or is it really changing Politics itself?
For at least five years now, we have been told that “this” election will be fought on the Internet…and the advance of Facebook and Twitter seems to make that more likely.
But that really only supports my point that BLOGGING is not nearly as important as BLOGGERS seem to think.
The Blogger likes to think he is putting forward some kind of reasonable argument.
But Facebook and Twitter is where it is really at. Thats where REAL Internet Politics is.And YouTube and Photoshop.
Not particularly coherent and reasonable but Facebook one liners and Twitters 140 characters is actually much more significant than any Blog.
Politics is held to ridicule. Just look at the viral videos on YouTube.
All good photo-shopped fun.
Which brings me to the current state of unionist politics.
It all seems very good natured at the new party NI21. Basil McCrea and John McCallister seem like genuinely nice guys and seem to have surrounded themselves with even more nice guys and girls but something about them lacks gravitas. They put the “Party” into “Party”.
Recent GOOD performances by Mike Nesbitt of UUP seem to suggest that he is trying to disconnect himself from the worst elements of loyalism. Mike Nesbitt is far too sophisticated and too educated to want anything to do with the types of loyalist who wrap themselves in flags and shout “No Surrender”.
On the other hand, Peter Robinson has spent almost his entire adult life in a senior role in a political Party…the DUP…which has flirted with street politics and protest politics.
The DUP grew out of Ian Paisleys Free Presbyterian Church and in 2013, its dominance means that it has two wings….one which is Religious and the other Secular.
It has a nasty streak.
There is an element that plays to the Mob. And it all makes Robinsons half-hearted attempts to reach out to Catholic voters risible.
It has used the Mob …and now the Mob in Royal Avenue has become leaderless.

Sectarianism has been used by Unionism. Its their Dirty Little Secret.
The fact that the Mob cannot be controlled is testimony to the lack of leadership.
Shouting sectarian slogans on the Shankill Road is normal behaviour. Going into the city centre is somehow different.

But I am thinking that this street theatre is taking place LITERALLY on the streets.
And also being played out in the figurative street of the Internet….Facebook and the like.
There is a battle being played out on the Internet.
The vilest sectarian abuse, dressed up as loyalist CULTURE!!! has been appearing on Facebook for months. “Shared” postings reveal the old truth that racists and sectarian people are of course incredibly stupid. Respectable unionists have walked away.
I think all Republicans like to see loyalists make themselves look stupid.
Happily for Republicans, the advent of camera-phones means that loyalists love to record themselves looking like idiots.
And Republicans happily share and photo-shop the Stupidity.
We all enjoy the Loyalists Against Democracy Facebook Page.
It is a parody.
Loyalists photoshopped to look even more stupid.
Screen-prints of the HateSpeak on loyalist websites.
The Camera is not kind to loyalists.
The Internet is not kind to loyalists.
Barely 24 Hours after the Royal Avenue Riot, a video from LAD appears on YouTube.
“We Didnt Start The Riot” is a classic.
It begs the question.
Is there a Parity of Culture? Is Nationalism actually more cultured in terms of Music, Art, Drama, Poetry and Internet than the dour Ulster-Scots?
The Loyalist mob complain that they are disenfranchised (they are not), marginalised (certainly…but at least in part, they marginalise themselves).
Leaving aside the complexity of compromise between Nationalist and Unionist, Justice with Injustice….perhaps the greatest challenge is to facilitate Intelligence and Stupidity.
In the interests of a better Society, would it not be better to marginalise the sectarian mob even more?
What is the extent of our obligation to facilitate Stupidity to make a “shared future” theme park.

All political movements can deal with CRITICISM.
Few withstand RIDICULE.
Is it not simply a case where our patience is exhausted and we are entitled to heap as much RIDICULE and CONTEMPT on loyalist culture as we possibly can?
This might not be the high-minded Internet Politics of Citizen Journalists in which Bloggers believe. But it is REALITY.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 31 Comments

Happy Anniversary “Czar”

Posted on August 11, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

I started this blog two years ago today.
This is Post #875.
Congratulations if you have actually read ALL of them. 😉
I did not have particuarly high hopes for this Blog. It was not the first time I had tried to sustain a “blogging” presence.
The old “My Space” site worked well for a while.
I like the “Live Journal” format also.
All Blogs are really about TWO things. Posting AND Comenting.

I am not convinced that Blogging is important. There is just too many.
And the Internet is already “generational”.
From My Space to Live Journal. From Blogger to Word Press. From Facebook to Twitter.
The next big new thing is probably only months away.
The Word Press site suits me best….even if I dont have a clue how to use it to best effect. I remain a technophobe.
The first weeks of “The Czar” were not that much different from any other Blog I had tried. It was little more than a “journal” as I was sharing my thoughts with almost NOBODY.
Very slowly, it built up a following.
It was helped when Mick Fealty linked to it on Slugger O’Toole (March 2012).
And the Marching Season last year helped.
And of course the Flegs Dispute (December 2012)
And the major breakthru was Texas (February 2013).
Numbers still going up.
Knowing that the Blog is actually READ imposes a certain….responsibility.
It is I think the “right” of a Blogger to choose the issues.
I reserve the right to be “individual”, quirky, eccentric or downright mad. I have found what works for me.
Of course the Blog has been scathing about Letsgetalongerists, the Overclass, the MetroTextuals, liberal unionists and of course the Alliance Party.
And Conflict Resolution.
And theres a certain irony.
However critical I have been of my favourite targets, I have sought to have an ongoing discussion about the state of Nationalism/Republicanism and in providing that platform, I think we have managed to do so without “Stoop” and “Shinner” rhetoric.
Nationalism NEEDS that conversation.
And there are some great blogs out there.
I was always a bit of an anorak. I always attended a broad range of “events”.
Blogging imposes almost a duty to be present.
And a consequence is that I get reconised and I am usually uncomfortable with that. Indeed on Thursday night, I was asked pleasantly if I was a Blogger and I became really too defensive about it.
Yet along with being recognised as a “face”, I get recognised as my real name.
Yes I admit it …My real name is NOT FitzjamesHorse.
The serious Bloggers…Mick for example are to their credit, known by their real names.
It befits “public figures” not least where professionalism, career and reputation are issues.
I dont think I am a “public figure” Not by any standard. Yet I dont feel restrained by “security issues”. Rather its a case of being involved in other things of a non-political nature.

I have hinted too much recently that this Blog is likely to be more “limited” in the future. It was never intended to be the full days work that it has turned out to be.
Ironically I will be stepping back (can I REALLY mean that?) as I take on at least one other project.
At least thats the idea.
To those of you who actually read this Blog. …Thank you.
To those of you who actually comment on this Blog….Thank you.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 19 Comments

The Night They Drove Old Ulster Down?

Posted on August 10, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

“A Week Is A Long Time in Politics”
Forty-Two years….is a very long time indeed.
Earlier this week I blogged about the introduction of Internment without Trial and its violent aftermath on 9th August 1971.
For several years afterwards the anniversary was marked by violent outbursts in West Belfast. Deaths often resulted.
In 1988, the Festival …An Feile…was started. The object of the exercise was to promote West Belfast and nationalist and republican culture in a more positive way.
It has grown and grown and now bills itself as Europes biggest and best anti-racist and anti-imperialist festival.
Its strength or weakness is that Sinn Feins fingerprints are all over it. Groups such as Amnesty International, Palestine Support etc host events…and other players in West Belfast (Catholic Church and SDLP for example) are struggling to play ” CatchUp”.
Big name bands like the Charlatans and Happy Mondays headline in open air concerts in the Falls Park.
Stand-Up Comics like Patrick Kielty.
Art Exhibitions, Writing Workshops, Irish Language events, Sport….music from the rebel songs of the Wolfe Tones and loads of DIDDLY DEE music.
West Belfast loves DIDDLY DEE music.
The World loves it.
And it seems to be a step up from Orange culture of Kick the Pope Bands.
There was a nice little bonus for the anti-imperialists. The World Police and Fire Games held in Belfast and a renaissance man in Mairtin O’Muilleoir of Sinn Fein, taking on the 2013-14 Mayor of Belfast.
He belongs to the “SUITED” not “BOOTED” wing of Sinn Fein….the type of person who wont scare off the tourists. Especially Police visitors.
And Mairtin had them eating out of his hands.
Americans love all that Irish charm which doesnt actually impress Irish people.
I mean it would be hard to find someone as charming, intelligent and amusing as “FitzjamesHorse” and yet I had to go to Texas to actually be told that I am charming, intelligent and amusing.
In Belfast…Irish Charm is not a unique selling point.
Mairtin has been all over Belfast this week.
His every movement has been tweeted. And lovingly retweeted by just about every Sinn Fein member….and indeed every member of Belfasts pretentious Artsy Crowd. That Poet Laureate thing got them onside.
He seems to have attended every event at An Feile, every event at World Police Games. Never missed a photo opportunity at either.
In between he has managed to get himself jostled and pushed around by Fleg protesting types at the Woodvale Park….and attended an event promoting Caribbean Culture.
A truly renaissance man.
There is a slightly risible side to all this Mayor for ALL BELFAST …it is just a little too CALCULATED. Of course its absolutely proper that he does so.
Twitter is over-loaded with multiples of 140 characters where people correctly state that the image of Belfast has been tarnished this week….by loyalists….AND enhanced by An Feile, Police Games and indeed the prrformance of Mairtin O’ Muilleoir.
Last night, while tweets told the story of devastation in Royal Avenue….just as many tweets told the story of the warmth of Belfast hospitality and the jollity on the Falls Road, with all that diddly dee music.

HOW BIZARRE IS THIS?
FORTY TWO YEARS AGO THE FALLS ROAD BURNED AND ROYAL AVENUE WAS A MILLION MILES AWAY (actually its no more than a mile)
IN 2013 THE FALLS ROAD FIDDLED WHILE ROYAL AVENUE BURNED (well actually thats a bit of hyperbole bit you get the point).

Occasionally earnest sounding tweets from West Belfast reported a sadness at it all. That worry about “IMAGE” …giving the impression that the Sender is concerned but actually quite glad.
Because the most popular Facebook Page and Twitter Account is LOYALISTS AGAINST DEMOCRACY (sic) which promotes PARODY OF ESTEEM (sic). It is a clever satire showing up the nihilistic nature of loyalist protest. Republicans and Nationalists are lucky that the “Stupid Wing” of Unionism….led by the nose or nearly a century by UUP and DUP has now effecively broken away.
Should we worry?
Are these people our fellow citizens? Or maybe not quite yet.
Unionism is in melt-down.
Their only hope post Good Friday Agreement 1998 was to deal with nationalists.
They have split and the only worry must be is …is it dangerous?
Belfast is now a Nationalist-Republican- letsgetalongerist- liberal unionist city (Alliance and NI21 MUST make Council gains as DUP and UUP implode).
What a difference from 1971.
Then Belfast was firmly unionist…with just Most of West Belfast “nationalist”. and of course enclaves in other parts of the City.
The situation is now reversed. The East of the City is of course loyalist but now there are small enclaves of loyalism dotted around the City.

Belfast …as we knew it…has gone.
Like the Old South in 1865….Gone With The Wind.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Religion, Conflict & Peace

Posted on August 9, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Lecture by Professor John Brewer at St Oliver Plunkett at Lenadoon 8th August 2013.
image

It was interesting watching the audience arrive. Some (elderly) parishioners from St Oliver Plunkett, a sprinkling of ecumenical people, academics and some men with that whiff of cordite that people like me can recognise. And a former Sinn Fein MLA prominent.
Professor John Brewer has the new Chair on Reconciliation at Queens University.He began…with a nod that he was off his usual academic beat by pointing out that people had “firm opinions…wrongly held”. And debate around these issues was usually between other academics.
The Conflict was not Religious. It was political in substance and took on a religious form. Indeed the RELIGION IDENTITY and TERRITORY Conflict was Familiar from the Old Testament.
This caused two problems. The institutional churches were associated with one side or the other…and this fear of association limited the response of the churches. There was never any encouragement for violence preached from the pulpit of any institutional church.
Churches WERE citicised for being “political” usually from the Other Side.
The INSTITUTIONAL Churches did little beyond grand statements condemning Violence.Churches lacked the knowledge to deal with the problem. They were fearful of engagement and fearful of feeding into the stereotypes that they were prrceived as being committed to one side or the other.
Despite this failure of Leadership, individual churchmen DID step forward. Often acting without “authority”. But these people were mavericks and independent thinkers, often detached from the instiutions…from cross-community organisations such as Corrymeela or religious orders such as the Redemptorists.
The Politics demanded Secrecy.
Things DID go on behind closed doors.
There HAS been Conflict Transformation. There has been no Social Transformation.
Ex-Combatants rejected the Institutional Churches and had been rejected by them.
Any conversion away from Violence was more often to Politics rather than Religion.
Ex-prisoners had been grateful for the help they …and more often …their families had received from Churches.
Politicians had failed. They should be ashamed.
Professor Brewer said that churches and civic society…” churches, universities, women, trade unions” need to be involved.
Surprisingly perhaps Professor Brewer, said that Victims should not veto the process. In any case, the connexion between Victims and groups that speak for Victims is not that strong. Surveys indicate that Victims are actually much more understanding of ex-combatants than the general population.
There was a lively Question and Answer Session.Apparently fifteen in all.
For me…thru no fault of the Chair, a disproportionate number of these contributions came from men….always men….who began their speech/eventual question with a prologue ” I am an ex-combatant…ex-prisoner….I am an athiest…. I think the Churches need to…..”
While Professor Brewer had pointed out earlier that these voices needed to be heard and that victims had no veto….the same is of course true of the ex-combatants.
I am NOT a victim. Most people are not Victims.
I am NOT an ex-combatant. Most people are not Ex-Combatants.
Some in both these groups have been treated appallingly.
Some of the most vocal advocates of Victims AND ex-Combatants have been pampered and over-indulged as they press the “guilt” button.
I have often used this Blog to point out that Victims Groups are disparate and that Victims themselves are highly individual.
Some want nothing at all, other than to get on with their lives. Some want “The Truth”, with or without Justice. Some want Cash. Some want Revenge. Some want a side order of a Pound of Flesh. And some want a Veto on any Progress….some for ever.
But the most interesting aspect of An Feile has been that just about every event or every social contact this week has involved the words “Im an ex-prisoner” (which is incidently code for a bigger statement).
The ex-prisoners….of course there are some just getting on with their lives…either at ease with the Process or cynical about it. But theres a hardcore vocal group that can pull the strings of the nominal Leadership in Sinn Fein.
The biggest minority group in West Belfast is NOT Poles or Czechs. It is “ex-combatants” and really time that they integrated into Society.
I know sincere ex-combatants when I see them. Many were after all friends and neighbours.
And I know spoofers and chancers when I see them. Many were after all friends and neighbours.
And there IS a lobby here of people “cute enough” to use the system that Conflict Resolution provides.
I did ask a question. It was maybe not as nuanced or as coherent as the written version below.

ALL CONFLICTS END. American Civil War ended at Appomattox. WW1 in a railway carriage at Versailles. WW2 on USS Missouri, Vietnam when the helicopters left US Embassy. And these Conflicts ended in Victory and Defeat. The Victors imposed the Resolution on the Vanquished…An end to Slavery, the end of the German and Austrian monarchies, De-Nazification in Germany, re-education camps in the Mekong Delta.
Our Conflict ended in Creative Ambiguity. A stalemate and the minimalist Agreement. Sold as
Stepping stones to a United Ireland
Or
Obstacles to a United Ireland.
It might be one or other. It might be neither. It is not both.
We stook second steps with Policing and Power Sharing.
And STOPPED. Did not deal with other issues such as Irish Language or Victims.
We have PASSIVITY. And it is ENOUGH.
We cant proceed to the third step of social engineering. Nor do we deserve to.
DOES CONFLICT RESOLUTION NOT JUST ATTRIBUTE VICTORY AND DEFEAT AND IS IT NOT SIMPLY AN ATTEMPT BY LETSGETALONGERISTS TO CREATE A LIBERAL UNIONIST STATE…TO UNDERMINE THE DEMOGRAPHICS.

Professor Brewer did not see it this way. There is VICTORS PEACE which often results in the annihalation of a Culture North American tribes etc). Even where this does not happen, it can have long term resentment (Ireland for example) leading to even more conflict. Nor did Professor Brewer see the emergence of a liberal unionist state as I had feared.

On reflection I dont actually see a liberal unionist state as inevitable, although we COULD sleep-walk into it.
But what I see now is that there are two distinct types of Conflict Resolution.
One it might be said is RELIGIOUS. A recognition that GOD is not a unionist or nationalist. “Progressives” in Catholics and Protestant faiths see that. BUT there is a SECULAR Conflict Resolution. A letsgetalongerist check-list of initiatives to promote a liberal unionist Theme Park.
The RELIGIOUS and SECULAR Conflict Resolutionists…their worlds are entwined. They sink and swim together.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Ballymurphy 1971

Posted on August 8, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Unfortunately I cannot be in two places at the one time.
I commend the talk on The Ballymurphy Massacre on the night of 9/10 August 1971.
The talk takes place tonight in St Marys College at 7pm.
As readers will know, I lived in the area at the time of those tragic events.
Some of the ten people killed were known to me. Two were friends.
The killers…I dont hesitate to say MURDERERS were British Parachute Regiment members.
They would of course, just a few months later earn even more notoriety in Derry…Bloody Sunday.
The Derry relatives did not get any semblance of Justice until 2010, when thr civilians who died were exonerated and the murderers condemned.
The Ballymurphy Relatives still wait.
I was 19 years old when I saw and heard events unfold. I am now an old man of 61 years.
TRUTH?
I know the Truth. Everyone knows the Truth. Just like the people in Derry…in Ireland…the World knew the Truth.
Nothing will change my mind about what happened in August 1971.
But people more obviously unjustly treated deserve to be told the Truth.

I very much regret that there are TWO events tonight and I cannot be at both.
I wish the Campaign to vindicate the victims find Justice.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Parsley Gets It Right!

Posted on August 7, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

I think I broadly agree with Ian James Parsley, the politician and business man and currently a member of the Alliance Party ( previously Alliance and previously Conservative) who opines on Slugger O’Toole that spouses are often very good advisors and excellent employees.
Mr Parsley is of course married to Mrs Parsley…Paula Bradshaw (currently Alliance Party and previously UUP) who is I understand on the Alliance Party Executive.

In the unlikely event of Mr Parsley getting elected (say it aint so) as MLA for East Antrim, he can surely only benefit from being married to Mrs Bradshaw and her excellent portfolio of skills.
In the unlikely event of Mrs Bradshaw-Parsley being elected (if not co-opted) as MLA for East Antrim, she will have Mr Parsley.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 15 Comments

Parity Of Esteem…The “Gotcha” Moment In Irish History?

Posted on August 7, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Years ago…pre Good Friday Agreement I believe, David Trimble signed unionists up to Parity of Esteem.
I dont recall if I actually punched the air at the news. But I am pretty certain that I said “Gotcha!” because signing up to Parity of Esteem signed away Unionism.
Unionists dont do Parity.
Of course REASONABLE people believe in Parity of Esteem…Equality is RRASONABLE. Republicanism is a product of the Age of Enlightenment… Egalite, Liberte, Fraternite…loyalists wont go aux barricades mes amis for anything like that but re-route an Orange parade hardly a product of the Enlightenment and they go ballistic.
The question Republicans ask themselves is whether unionists should be educated out of their blind stupidity (the nice option favoured by decent people) or the other option, relying on and exploiting unionist stupidity. Decent people are appalled at this option. Not being a decent person, I much prefer this option.
We NEED Ruth Patterson.
We NEED William Humphrey.
Even the very best kind of unionist does not really beleve in Equality.
I have not heard any unionist proclaim that the Irish National Flag should have parity with the British Flag. They favour Parity of Esteem up to the point that unionism is given just a little more parity. Which of course undermines the entire concept.
Which is very bad for Norn Iron. And great news for nationalists.
Thus we can rely on the Flegs protestors and we can rely on the Orange Order…to screw everything up for themselves.
Build an elephant trap….put a great big sign beside the elephant trap which says “Beware of the Elephant Trap” and unionists will still throw themselves in.
They cant help it. They are just incredibly stupid.
Take Castlederg. The 60-40 (at least) Catholic village in West Tyrone. You dont actually have to be a unionist to think that a Sinn Fein parade to honour “IRA martyrs” inluding two who died transporting a bomb into the town, is “insensitive”.
Sinn Fein is obliged to do this sort of thing to keep its core (as it is eupemistically called) on board. A reminder that the Leadership and scores of youthful advisors, all wearing suits up at Stormont, have not forgotten.
The parade is of course controversial.
And unionists are particuarly enraged.
Then the Organisers of the parade announce they have listened to local opinion and quietly re-route the parade.
Unionists made to look stupid and intolerant, because of course Orange Order demands to walk where it is plainly not welcome.
Nationalists take the high ground.
Meanwhile Mairtin O’Muilleoir gets to be Mayor of Belfast. From a Sinn Fein perspective he is an excellent choice. Grammar School, local media owner, journalist and kinda sophisticated. A Renaissance Man.
Appointing a Poet Laureate for Belfast is of course risible nonsense.
But with just about every academic and artsy person in Belfast overloading Twitter to congratulate the Mayor on his vision…the Mayor is on the high ground.
Announcing the Poet Laureate nonsense in the week of An Feile (the republican and anti racist anti imperialist) festival centred on West Belfast is a master stroke.
Republicans…cultured. Unionists…knuckle-draggers.
It might be a cliche…but its true.
Its tempting to think that the Mayor got lucky with the whole World Police Games. But I wonder if his selection as Mayor for 2013-14 was sealed by this event. He is the perfect “new” Sinn Fein face…no whiff of cordite about him, nothing scary. Therefore he can amble about Belfast and get his photo taken with police officers from Chicago, Munich and Johnannesburg.
He can even turn up at a memorial service at St Annes Church of Ireland, …a service for fallen police officers and firefighters. No sense of irony at all because the great and good are all letsgetalongerists and on message with the new narrative.

And frankly Nationalists and Irish do the whole “failte…welcome” thing better than those dour Unionist Ulster-Scots.
Internationally with the Police Firefighter Games.
Or just locally like yesterday when tiuring Belfast City Parks.
DUP councillors welcomed into the Dunville Park in the heart of the Falls Road.
But our poetry-loving Mayor was jostled when doing the whole ” I am the Mayor for all of the City” thing at the Woodvale Park on the Shankill.
Eight police officers from the PSNI were injured.
And police officers getting injured did not …we are told….go down well with those thousands of police officers from around the world. The story they take back…and Sinn Fein wont be sorry …is that loyalists are very bad people standing in the way of progress.
The Mayor who likes to tweet his entire day is re-tweeted across the wold by Sinn Fein followers and the Belfast artsy crowd.
The Mayor in the Woodvale Park. Someone should write a poem.

Of course Conflict Resolutionists will tear their hair out.
We are supposed to have parity of esteem. We are supposed to be equally good and equally bad.
That analysis defies History.
Imperialism is not the moral superior of Anti-Imperialism.
It is not even the moral equal.
Unionism is not the moral superior of Nationalism.
Anthropologists, Historians and Political Scientists ….REASONABLE people ….prostitute themselves to come up with an alternative analysis.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Sometimes ….There Are No Words

Posted on August 6, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

Well attended SDLP event at An Feile last night. Truth. Reconciliation. The Past. Victims.
Panel chaired by Alex Attwood MLA.
Catherine McCartney…whos brother was murdered some years ago.
Brid Quinn from South Armagh…whos son was beaten to death with iron bars by fifteen people.
Eleanor Toner…from the Windsor Village Womens Centre
Mark Thompson from Relatives for Justice.

And contributions from the flor, including the 59 year old man whos brother was murdered ….shot four times in the head, having been tortured for ten hours. Nearly forty years ago. No arrests ever made. The Historic Enquiries Team cant deliver.

Discussion. Some people want/ need CLOSURE. Others just want Justice. Many have given up on both. That Victims have been asked to put their hurt aside, in the name of the Greater Prize of Peace. Do we have Peace? Or just Passivity? Can we stomache that the “actors” State and Paramilitary senior figures are lauded and lionised and actually in charge of Government?
Can anybody really deliver anything for Victims?
When David Cameron called the Finucane Family to Downing Street, only to tell them that they would never find the Truth about State Collusion…it typified the fact that there are just too many secrets that “have to be” kept.
We are left with trauma that is even affecting people, who were not even born during the Troubles.

THERE ARE NO WORDS OF MINE THAT CAN ADD ANYTHING TO WHAT I HEARD LAST NIGHT.
AND FOR ONCE…IN THIS BLOG THAT RELIES ON COMMENTS…THERE ARE NO WORDS OF YOURS THAT CAN ADD ANYTHING.
WE….I….TREAT VICTIMS, THE PAST, RECONCILIATION LIKE IT WAS POLITICS. OR ACADEMIC.
ITS NOT.
ITS THE MOST BASIC OF ALL HUMAN EMOTIONS. THE VERY STUFF THAT MAKES US HUMAN.

LAST NIGHT WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE TIMES.
SO…I WANT TO LEAVE IT EXACTLY AS IT WAS. NO COMENTS. THANKS.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Amnesty Event Falls Flat

Posted on August 5, 2013 by fitzjameshorse

The Amnesty Event at An Feile failed to sparkle.
And certainly no fireworks.
The Panel chaired by Patrick Corrigan
Allison Morris…Irish News BBC Investigative Reporter.
Kevin Magee….BBC Investigative Reporter
Barry McCaffrey….a reporter with “The Detail” .
What we had was virtually a re-hash of last years event. the narrative exactly the same …that newspapers are under-staffed and under pressure, that there are too many press officers in government departments.
Questions from the audience, particuarly one about Leveson and phone hacking and a question which speculated that some aspects of the media were merely parroting British propaganda during “Conflict” were too easily side-stepped.
What I fail to understand is that Amnesty, which effectively sat on its hands during the years 1969-1998, pleading Amnesty “policy” of the local office not getting involved in a local dispute.
Except for some passing references to the difficulty of journalists working in totalitarian countries and a reference to an exhibition downstairs on Afghanistan….there was no international dimension.
Worryingly Paddy Corrigan spoke of this event on INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM as being an annual event.
I honestly dont see a connexion between the important work that Amnesty does and the relationship between local journos and Stormont.
Yet one interesting fact.
Journalists are now under threat of physical violence at riot scenes. The PSNI are not overly sympathetic and there is no real organisation behind the riots.
In the good old days, a journalist could turn up at a riot scene in the Lower Shankill and be seen chatting to the likes of Johnny Adair and effectively get treated well by the mob.
Now that there is no organisation, covering a riot has become dangerous.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments