Conflict – Page 20 – Slugger O'Toole

“I’m just not convinced that the outcome we do have..”

Pete Baker on August 2, 2008, 9:12 pm

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Some snippets in the Irish Times from yesterday’s final panel discussion at John Hewitt Summer School, “Reflections on 1968”. Firstly from Paul Bew “I have never felt self-congratulatory in any way about my involvement because it did precipitate a conflict which eventually claimed 3,500 lives, and that is inescapable,” he said. “It would be very cruel to say that what we have ended up with is a twilight home in east Belfast for retired gunmen, but are relations today between …

More ursine mammals, more defecating in forested areas..

Pete Baker on July 28, 2008, 6:52 pm

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To be fair, as with a previous survey, the point of the report ‘Can Contact Promote Better Relations? Evidence from Mixed and Segregated Areas of Belfast’ – full report here and summary here [both pdf files – fixed link] – is that it’s the first “longitudinal study (tracking the same individuals over time) of whether (and if so, how) contact works.” The researchers sampled adults living in Andersonstown and Ballybeen [the two segregated communities used] and Fortwilliam and Rossetta [the …

“This isn’t objective journalism but covert propaganda”

Mick Fealty on July 14, 2008, 3:50 pm

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Eamon McCann’s in column yesterday Derry Journal picks up on the sponsorship of a heavily weighted political media project: the controversial petition against three illegal organisations in the city and puts it in the context of Ed Moloney’s call for a debate on the subject of politics and journalism.By Eamon McCann There was an intriguing letter from the journalist Ed Maloney in yesterday’s Irish Times which throws some reflected light on recent controversy in Derry. Ed drew attention to a …

Ahern’s ‘pitch’ pays off

Pete Baker on July 14, 2008, 3:07 pm

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There had been some speculation about what former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern would do next, after his “pitch for a future international role” before a joint session of the US Congress in April. RTÉ reports that he has been appointed to the World Economic Forum’s Council on Negotiation and Conflict Resolution – one of the Forum’s network of global agenda councils. Other members of the council mentioned in the RTÉ report include former US President Jimmy Carter, George Mitchell and the …

Would a more honest journalism make a difference?

Mick Fealty on July 14, 2008, 2:49 pm

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Well, it hasn’t gone away you know. Ed Moloney, author of a useful essay on the peace process and what he believes to be a kind of Stockholm syndrome effect it has had on Northern Irish journalism wrote to the paper on Saturday: Are we to take it from Ms O’Connor’s confident assertion that the cat is now out of the bag, as it were – that Tommie Gorman has rescinded his denial or at least allowed it to wither …

“shouldn’t stretch facts to fit a particular party’s particular analysis..”

Pete Baker on July 9, 2008, 3:47 pm

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In the Derry Journal Eamonn McCann takes issue with a recent editorial in the paper [this one presumably] responding to Northern Ireland deputy First Minister Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness’ rhetoric about dissenting republican paramilitaries. “It’s OK by me if Sinn Fein leaders offer a different account. It’s hardly unusual for a political party to offer a version of its past (re)designed to meet present needs. But the rest of us, when purporting to offer a fair and objective opinion, shouldn’t …

On the abject failure of the Public Prosecutions Service..

Mick Fealty on July 6, 2008, 2:46 pm

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Earlier in the week, Newton Emerson asked some searching questions about the conduct of the PPS in relation to the McCartney murder trial. It amplifies the argument of Davy Adams in the Irish Times on the same day. The burden of proof in a criminal trial is “beyond a reasonable doubt” and witness C only served to introduce reasonable doubt. It beggars belief that a murder case was brought on this basis. If the PPS needed more witnesses it should …

“…could have been passed for a News Letter editorial circa 1980”

Mick Fealty on July 1, 2008, 3:38 pm

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Liam Clarke picks up on Martin McGuinness’s ‘no mandate whatsoever‘ statement on the Politics Show on Sunday, with the wry observation that somehow, we have been here before: The irony was that exactly the same arguments which McGuinness deployed at the weekend were dismissed by him when they were used against the Provisional IRA. They had no mandate; they brought only death; they were obstacles to peace; and if they had listened to the people they would have known that …

Power of arrest used against Belfast blogger…

Mick Fealty on June 27, 2008, 4:12 pm

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Malachi O’Doherty points to a disturbing development, that could have widespread implications, not simply for bloggers, but for any journalists in their legitimate business of tracking down a story. It’s with regard to a Belfast blogger called Alan Murray, who has been using his blog Holylands Warzone to campaign against the privatisation of public housing in his local area of Belfast. Malachi notes: He is on a very important issue here and he has been writing about it more eloquently …

Newsletter hosts live webchat with Victim Commissioners

Mick Fealty on June 25, 2008, 8:45 pm

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Aha… The Newsletter is using the Cover it Live technology we first used for the London Mayoral election to host a participatory discussion with two the Victims Commissioners, Mike Nesbitt and Brendan McAllister.. Starts at 12 noon tomorrow… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

“One wonders whether Powell fully understands how revelatory his account really is…”

Mick Fealty on June 24, 2008, 8:06 pm

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Mitchell Reiss comes to Jonathan Powell’s magnum opus on the peace process under the Blair regimine a little later than some others, but given he was a key player in the Bush administration for latter years of the process, he is, as one might expect, a good deal more critical that some the earlier entrants in the debate. Although there are echoes of Mandelson’s: “the Process is the bare minimum of the policy you need…” He doesn’t pull many punches. …

Is it the Boyne, or Scarva?

Mick Fealty on June 4, 2008, 2:42 pm

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Nice line from Gerry Moriarty in the Irish Times today. IS IT the Boyne or Scarva? Such was the question posed by a senior DUP source yesterday (which he couldn’t answer) about this standoff between Sinn Féin and the DUP over whether or not Gerry Adams will allow Peter Robinson to be elected First Minister tomorrow. If it’s the Boyne, as in the battle, then this could be a serious encounter between Sinn Féin and the DUP with the possible …

The problem with another election…

Mick Fealty on June 4, 2008, 12:18 am

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Interesting to note that the Guardian today seemed so blissfully unaware of the debacle behind the scenes that they have chosen to mark Thursday in advance in its leader column, by suggesting a smooth transition will prove how we’ve all finally grown up and gotten lives of our own (or whatever it was that Jonathan Powell said). Now no one is sure any more. Whilst Gerry Adams was in London seeing Gordon Brown, his press officer Richard McAuley was in …

Moving away from ‘bloodied’ to ‘full blooded’ politics…

Mick Fealty on June 2, 2008, 6:21 pm

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First of a couple of pieces on the succession of Paisley by Peter Robinson. For a man who has been in politics just about as long as his now middle aged party, it’s unlikely he will come to symbolise ‘change’ any more than Gordon Brown was able to after Blair. But there is a dilemma facing both himself and Martin McGuinness. How to create conditions for a full blooded politics, that yet transforms the mercilessly uncivil politics of war? And …

“Tell the police about IRA business, do you think I am f****** nuts”.

Mick Fealty on June 2, 2008, 4:29 pm

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The Sunday Independent has been following the Robert McCartney murder inquiry. Adds: Suzanne Breen has more detail to add here. H/T Dec. On Friday, before the murder trial was adjourned, Gowdy gave more details of his meetings with the IRA during further difficult cross examination by Mr. Lyttle for Fitzpatrick. He said the first visit from the IRA lasted about one hour and was for the organisation’s “fact finding” purposes. He had two further meetings with the IRA which lasted …

“As soon as I got clearance from the IRA…”

Mick Fealty on May 30, 2008, 2:42 pm

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Interesting evidence being given at the trial of the men accused of murdering Robert McCartney, in which he accuses the IRA of managing the extent of who could or could not go to the police after Mr McCartney’s killing in January 2005: Ed Gowdy, 40, said he “can’t remember 90%” of what happened that evening. However he told the court that following the killing, IRA members called to his house on several occasions. He said: “as soon as I got …

In praise of the ‘dissident’ journal…

Mick Fealty on May 19, 2008, 10:42 am

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The last edition of The Blanket magazine is now online. Over the last eight years it has enjoyed a degree of fame (and notoriety amongst some) for the forthrightness of its writer’s opinions and its propensity for saying the unsayable. A specifically Republican project it won admiration and contributors from far beyond those narrow bounds. It repeatedly broke the cultural conventionalism of NI Catholic society. Indeed it was an attempt to retrench to the very Enlightment values that sustained those …

No viable road back…

Mick Fealty on May 14, 2008, 7:28 pm

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There are clearly some individuals and organisations that are not particularly happy about the settlement of the Republican Movement’s war with the UK. And in the Strabane area, there is even sufficient organisation to have mounted an attack on an off duty PSNI man out by Castlederg. Yet the prospects of prosecuting a successful ‘revolutionary struggle‘ are remote to say the least. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on …

“There are no clean wars and no intelligent deaths”

Mick Fealty on May 11, 2008, 12:31 pm

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For those who may have forgotten our past, this guy has some intelligent narration of Beirut’s troubles at the moment… “There are no clean wars and no intelligent deaths, but civil strife certainly takes the prize for dirtiest and dumbest. Anything -anything- is better than civil strife.” His latest examines how the competing sides seem to be living in different tenses. Sound familiar? Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet …

JOurnalism and the peace process…

Mick Fealty on April 25, 2008, 7:29 pm

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Cian’s picked up on an interesting thought arising from Garrett FitzGerald’s recent assertion that there had been editorial timidity when dealing with ‘terrorists’ both during the Troubles and after. FitzGerald is rather gently taken to task by former Irish Times editor Conor Brady for suggesting the paper had acquiesed to Gerry Adams denial of IRA membership. There are shades here of the argument outlines in Ed Moloney’s provocative essay from Lives Entwined II, Peace process and Journalism. Although Moloney does …