Protest
#Flegs Protest: Blocking the highway is only one way you can be convicted…
Tweet For me this was the most straightforward and relevant contribution on last night’s Nolan. Peaceful protest is fine this audience member says, but who is informing the young people who are getting involved about what is and what is not legal. Obstructing the highway has been a focus (because it is probably the most [...] more »
A Northern Ireland that cannot govern itself will always be brittle and unstable
Tweet Okay, Nuala McKeever’s piece for the Belfast Telegraph put me in mind of the paper we pulled together and published ten years this May on, as it happens, the future of unionism: This is not about making unionism more yielding. A ‘long peace’ will not be an easy peace and unionists will often need [...] more »
“…a disruptive loyalist protest outside an empty Leinster House on a busy retail day”
Tweet So, now it is the SDLP who are getting it in the neck from the flag protesters. Patsy McGlone (who has said nothing on the matter, so far as Slugger is aware, but who is unfortunate enough to live in a UVF dominant part of the world) has had a bullet in the post. [...] more »
“Not always possible to align the democratic and the retail calendars…”
Tweet First sign of any sort of kick back on the Alliance, the SDLP and Sinn Fein came from President of the Chamber last night, Joe Jordan who criticised the timing of the vote (rather than the vote itself), and the widespread unrest in and now way beyond the city.. It fell to Mairtin O’Muilleoir, [...] more »
Unionist violence after flag vote…
Tweet AS predictably as night follows day, unionist protesters have turned to violence after tonight’s City Hall vote to restrict the flying of the Union Flag to designated days. Trouble erupted in and around the City Hall itself, but is right now spreading to other areas, noteably East Belfast. A number of police have been [...] more »
Talking to Occupy Belfast camp in Writer’s Square
Tweet Following on from my earlier Occupy Belfast – rebels without a cause? post, I spoke to Gerry Carroll at lunchtime today, sheltering under a pagoda set up beside the impromptu Occupy Belfast camp in Writer’s Square opposite St Anne’s Cathedral. Gerry from the @OpOccupyBelfast camp in Writer”s Square /cc @OccupyBelfast (mp3) About ten tents [...] more »
Occupy Belfast – rebels without a cause?
Tweet Occupy Belfast are reclaiming the ‘O’ word in these neck of the woods as they organise a protest “to show solidarity with workers and young people fighting against austerity and for a better future across the world, and to tell our politicians that the fight is coming to them”. Over the weekend, there were [...] more »
No Free Presbyterian protest lodged against Belfast Pride Parade this year
Tweet Now in its 21st year after its first “run through the city centre” Belfast Pride has a week of activities (and a growing set of events on the fringe) surrounding the Saturday afternoon parade through Belfast city centre. This year only one group has registered a protest with the Parades Commission. So unless the [...] more »
Photograph of the Day – William and Victoria
Tweet Ulster Says No (neigh)to the cuts. Taken at yesterdays ICTU organised rally which, by my estimation, had at it’s peak between 3500- 4000 people in attendance, (though the umbrellas made it difficult to guage). The building site that is Royal avenue also played it’s part in making it difficult to count the numbers. more »
Republican protest doesn’t need or seek permission
Tweet This afternoon saw a large enough gathering of republicans in Lurgan (500+ seems a reasonable estimate). For those attending their intention was to demonstrate support for republican prisoners and protest against the conditions/regime they face in gaol. It also exposed an entirely different issue, a problem that could present an increasing challenge to the [...] more »
Date and venue set for round 2
Tweet Greater Ardoyne Resident’s Collective (GARC) spokesman Mairtin Og Meehan has confirmed the group’s intention to stage a protest at the Apprentice Boy’s parade past Ardoyne on August 14, reports the newsletter. ABOD Ligoniel Walker Club have sought permission for a parade with one band and up to 90 participants, with August 4 the date [...] more »
“This story could end very badly indeed”
Tweet The No Wash protest in the Long Kesh during the late 70s and early 80s never really created an impact outside groups already sympathetic to republican prisoners. No matter how hard families, committees and republicans tried the prison struggle did not influence broader public consciousness until well into the 2nd Hunger Strike. So it [...] more »
Cui bono? Not those protesting for sure
Tweet Over a period of months a diverse group have been turning up at the gates of Magheraberry prison in support of republican prisoners. The day after the most recent protest what was described as ‘an elaborate hoax’ bomb was found near the gaol. The next day a similar device ‘later declared an elaborate hoax’ [...] more »
A farce within a force
Tweet With today’s protest against DUP/SF proposed legislation to restrict the right to public assembly the PSNI earlier demonstrated how they will try and curb the current right to legal Public Assembly anyhow. Last year the PSNI successfully prevented éirígí’s protest against Armed Forces Day in Belfast by blocking protestors as they made their way [...] more »
Belfast – a tale of three protests
Tweet Belfast is protest central tomorrow – for the leftie, libertarian, socialist, republican or just plain serial moaner you are positively spoilt for choice. In the best traditions of protest, you will have to choose because three protests take place separately and are essentially competing. You could join the protest against the DUP/SF drafted bill [...] more »
In solidarity?
Tweet Joe Higgins, Irish Socialist Party MEP, is sponsoring a march and rally in Dublin as part of a ‘Europe-wide week of solidarity and protest’ something he initiated within his European political group (nothing arranged north of the border that I can see). The poster advertising it states the rally has been endorsed by; Socialist [...] more »
Republicans, prisoners, parades and conflict
Tweet I previously noted the Independent Hunger Strike Commemoration parade that applied for permission from the Parades Commission and how this was at least one reason RSF refused to support it. Last week’s parade in support of Republican prisoners in Belfast, organised by RSF, didn’t apply for permission and was allowed to take place unhindered [...] more »
Justice Minister is ‘cross’ community when it comes to republican prisoners
Tweet A SF delegation recently visited Magheraberry to investigate complaints from Republican Prisoners which have resulted in growing protests on the streets. SF MLA Raymond McCartney reported a very positive engagement: “A range of issues were raised by the prisoners. They included complaints about a number of punitive actions such as the use of strip [...] more »
“..things are what they are and will be what they will be”
Tweet The number of people protesting over the conditions republican prisoners face in Magheraberry is growing. Newry Republican has a blog that gives an impression of the crowds that attended Sunday’s rally at the prison. The Pensive Quill covers the speech made by Harry Fitzsimmons‘ sister Maureen at that protest (also on YouTube). More photographs [...] more »
-
Books
-
What Ireland did right (and what it needs to do)…
Tweet It is difficult to believe now that one country recently sent 19 delegations to Ireland to study how well our economy was managed. The revelation that our model of economic management featured positively in political and economic discussion in countries including Estonia, Greece and Scotland may also come as a surprise. As we survey [...] read our review »
-
“Good Friday. The death of Irish Republicanism” by Anthony McIntyre: a review
Tweet This was a book that I first reviewed at the same time as “Unionism Decayed” back in 2008. Like Vance’s work, it is the author’s portrayal of a defeated political movement or ideal and as a Unionist it was instructional to read an interpretation of the immediate post-Agreement period from the other side of the [...] read our review » -
Of the Old North and other Vanished Kingdoms..
Tweet I’m currently trawling through Norman Davies’s fabulous new tome – “Vanished Kingdoms” – Five stars in the (London) Telegraph’s review from Ben Wilson: All the nations that have ever lived have left their footsteps in the sand,” writes Norman Davies. “The traces fade with every tide, the echoes grow faint, the images are fractured, the [...] read our review »
-