Welcome whoever you are, and an especially big
welcome if you’re one of our visitors from the USA military
and US government, and the British government apparatus. We
don’t know if it has been people ‘checking us
out’, just inquisitive, or wanting to genuinely see
what we have to say about the state of the world. In any case,
welcome to y’all.
Soldiers of Destiny
Fianna Fail (translated as ‘Soldiers of Destiny’),
usually on posters with the rider ‘the Republican Party’
(or should that be the ‘Re. Publican Party’?)
is the major government party in the Republic. Bertie Ahern
as Taoiseach has sought to avoid getting off the fence over
Iraq, at one point saying a second UN resolution was a necessity,
but subsequently refusing to stop US planes using and refuelling
at Shannon Airport, and justifying that in terms of past practice
and friendship with the USA. He then confused even himself
in the Dáil as to whether the Republic was measured
among supporters of the USA or not by the USA itself. But
in his continuation of support to the USA he is not only is
he off the fence he’s over the other side of the field
as well.
The bottom line is clear; he feels the USA ‘owns’
the Republic – economically, but also morally and spiritually.
It is really laughable. This is the same party founded by
people who refused to sign a treaty with Britain in 1921 on
a point of republican and sovereignty principle (and fought
a subsequent civil war about it), or go into a military alliance
with Britain. Now, they just do the bidding of another great
power, the great power of today, the USA. Bertie will kiss
US ass. Neutrality? Neuteredality is more like it. Fianna
Fail now translates as ‘Soldiers of US Destiny’,
and their slogan becomes ‘the US Republican Party’.
Nowhere is the middle of nowhere
Nowhere is the middle of nowhere. Everywhere is somewhere.
When Jonathan Swift wrote that:
Geographers on Afric’s maps
With savage pictures fill their gaps
And o’er uninhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns
he was reflecting or commenting on the lack
of knowledge Europeans had about Africa at the time (and maybe
today too if you interpret the verse loosely). And even if
there weren’t towns there were places, people, life.
Ireland had a vibrant culture before the Vikings came and
yet there was little in the way of ‘towns’ as
we know them.
I am old enough [or older – Ed] to remember
the Mustard Seed ‘festival of alternatives’ held
in Glencree in Co Wicklow in 1976, organised by the SCM/Student
Christian Movement in Ireland. This was the first such gathering
and there were several hundred people at it [yes, I remember
sleeping under the reception counter as the most congenial
space left! – Ed]. At one point, as a local or regional
networking exercise, people were asked to imagine the hall
we were in as a map of Ireland and meet together with others
from the same location – north-west, north, north-east,
east, south-east and so on. Except one thing had been forgotten;
someone from the Midlands came up to an organiser –
all the points on the compass of the periphery around Ireland
had been indicated, but not the fact that people live in the
centre as well! Not everyone wants to relate to the peripheries
of this island…..
Most USA citizens could not locate Iraq on a
map, certainly when a Second Gulf War was first mooted –
I don’t know if the skills of the US American people
have picked up in relation to the country which their government
wishes to bomb back into the stone age, if not further. But
everywhere is somewhere. Nowhere is nowhere to be found. And
in turn every human being is a human being and, in Quaker
language, has ‘that of God’ in them. Good use
of geography and good humanity go hand in hand, methinks -
whether that relates to war in Iraq or simply to not being
patronising about people because they live in a particular
place in a country, speak with a particular accent, or live
in a country with an unelected President (whether that be
the USA or Iraq).
Bill Moyer, Phil Berrigan,
Rest in Peace
What a shame the Iraq war is, in at least two senses, for
the ordinary and extraordinary people of the USA……a
disproportionate number of whom we find involved in European
peace and social movements if they are this direction. There
have been a couple of deaths in the USA peace movement worth
mentioning in this humble space. Bill Moyer, a long time activist
who developed various strategising/analytical tools [yes,
I use them as the opportunity allows – Ed], died in
October last. Then in December, Philip Berrigan died, aged
79. Phil along with his brother Dan were of Irish extraction
and became a major source of inspiration nationally and internationally
for their direct actions which earned them long periods in
prison (from the end of the 1960s there was even a radical
Christian magazine in Britain named after the action that
brought them international prominence - the place was Catonsville,
and the magazine “Catonsville Roadrunner’). As
a tribute here’s a poem by Dan Berrigan which seems
very apt for them, and for the times we live in:
Some
Some stood up once
and sat down
Some walked a mile
and walked away
Some stood up twice
then sat down
I've had it, they said
Some walked two miles
then walked away
It's too much they cried
Some stood and stood and stood.
They were taken for fools
They were taken for being taken in.
Some walked and walked and walked
They walked the earth
They walked the waters
They walked the air.
Why do you stand
they were asked, and
Why do you walk?
Because of the children, they said, and
Because of the heart, and
Because of the bread.
Because
The cause
Is the heart's beat
And the children born
And the risen bread.
A Titanic effort
When and how does a disaster become a success? Doctors bury
their mistakes but don’t advertise the fact. Who is
proud to claim they launched the First World War? Britain,
France, Germany? No one. And yet the Titanic sinking in 1912
quickly attained mythic qualities and has continued to do
so since. Belfast’s greatest shipbuilding disaster is
somehow claimed as a triumph, in fact that city could be described
as making a titanic effort to benefit from the Titanic legacy.
I’m not a gigantic Titanic fanatic (there are plenty
of them about) but I would have thought that not only was
the ship not up to hitting a big iceberg, it was presumably
imperial pride in its unsinkability which led to so few life-boats
being installed in the first place [“Memo: Design fault.
Install life-boats for all crew and passengers”].
Belfast now has what looks like annual “Titanic
– Made in Belfast” celebrations (this year 19th
– 26th April). The visual image accompanying publicity
shows a mother and children waving as the ship sails by. Maybe
the semaphore flags adorning the illustration really say “Am
going to strike iceberg. Abandon ship now”. I find it
all a bit strange to be honest, although there is no risk
of the Titanic legacy sinking without trace like Belfast’s
effort to become European City of Culture. Belfast does have
a proud shipbuilding legacy (now only a legacy with the end
of shipbuilding at Harland and Wolff) even if a certain amount
of that was for the British Navy; the Titanic misadventure
(to put it in a rather understated way) is very much part
of that. But does Sarajevo try to attract tourism with “Where
the First World War began”?? The shipbuilders of more
recent maritime disasters, ferries sinking and the like, don’t
seem in too much of a hurry to say “We built it! Yes,
it was our fault! Aren’t we great. Come and visit us
soon”.
It was all a long time ago but it is of course
true that the Titanic sinking became an instant sensation.
The contrast between the hype – biggest, greatest, most
opulent, ship ever, and the reality – sunk on maiden
voyage with great loss of life, hit home to people. Various
sub-plots were developed (e.g. class). It became a canvas
for the telling of life and death, heroism and cowardice,
pride and prejudice. All human life was there, like a dance
band. On the Titanic. Nearer my God to thee (as the Titanic
band did not play when the ship was sinking). Belfast is sure
to develop its Titanic heritage, and perhaps the idea which
has been about, of the transport museum, including maritime
items, coming to rest in the ‘Titanic Quarter’
of the docks, will eventually become reality. But for me,
I could do without it – all of it gives me that sinking
feeling and I prefer my stories on a more even keel. [Groan.
More of that kind of ‘humour’ and I’ll ask
you to ship out of here or even go to hull – Ed] [I’m
being serious, I’d prefer to clear the decks of all
this kind of stuff – Billy].
Take a google at this
So Google.com are going
to have their Euro headquarters in Dublin. Isn’t modern
technology a wonderful thing. Here’s a sample of some
of the keywords people put in to their search engine to end
up at the INNATE site over just a couple of weeks...
‘Nonviolent protest’, ‘nonviolent
action training’, ‘stages of violence’,
‘pragmatic nonviolence’, ‘exercises for
breaking cycles violence’, ‘nonviolent protest
in ireland’, ‘nonviolent resistance methods’
‘gandhi sitdown strikes’, ‘adamnan’s
law’ and ‘nonviolent noncooperation’ all
make perfect sense as to come to the INNATE website. Some
are a product of language – ‘king billy’
rather than our columnist what is writing now. ‘Offaly
anti war movement’ and ‘corrymeela’ also
are understandable. But ‘pearse theory revolution blood
sacrifice peasant culture irish catholics’?
Various individuals were named but I’ll
spare their blushes at being linked with INNATE (queries on
a £10/€20 note please). Why did ‘saddam hussein
jokes’ end up with us? Or ‘professor northern
Ireland contact’? Somebody lost their professor contact
here?
The more strangely humorous or unusual ones
include; ’french food riots February 15-27 1793’
(how on earth did that ever link up with INNATE?) [surely
they meant ‘freedom food riots’? – Ed],
‘photos of rossnowlagh co Donegal’ (ditto), ‘funny
irish avatars’, ‘protestant god king billy’,
‘nonviolent revenge’ (a bit of an oxymoron, huh),
‘william mccrea music’ (well, he has been mentioned
in our pages, his CDs being put under ‘Irish music’
– shock horror – in a music library), ‘vigil
ant’, ‘how does Christianity feel about dancing’,
‘brendan behan cap badges’, ‘sin sceal eile’
(but that’s another story), ‘infamy awards’
(well, it makes sense with our annual Adolf Awards), and ‘how
to spake sexy Spanish on line’! Others include ‘celtic
fans palestine’, ‘curriculum for the music school
of katowice poland’, ‘roman army recruitment posters’,
‘drogheda western culture’, ‘prime monister
of uk’, and ‘I hate peaceniks’. And finally,
‘all are rubbish when we check it out where does it
go’. Indeed.
Peeling onions
Well, if Onionist [don’t you mean ‘Unionist’?
– Ed] {No, ‘Onionist’ – it’s
enough to make you cry! – Billy] commentator Steven
King is to be believed, the protesters at the 22nd March anti-war
rally in Belfast, a few days into the US-Iraq war, were ‘dupes
of the Socialist Worker Party’. Dear, dear, I never
realised, I can see it clearly now, and I thought I was a
peace activist who had some things in common, and a lot of
differences with, the SWP. I suppose King [no relation] could
equally have been accused of being a dupe of the Blairite
faction of the British Labour Party. David Trimble, that Noblest
of Peace Prize winners, called on the organisers to cancel
the Belfast rally in support of British troops. Tony Blair,
having pursued the most divisive foreign policy decision in
the UK for many years, had the audacity to call for national
unity and people to stand behind British troops. Well, I consider
this war just…..just appalling and awful. And I would
certainly like to stand right behind British troops. This
would, of course, be in order to call on them to stop their
unnecessary and illegal war, to disobey orders, and come home
where they are safe and secure. Mutiny is the best policy.
If the British troops in Iraq get chocolate from home maybe
we could have ‘Mutiny on the Bounty Bar’. Better
than Tony Blair’s muttony (following George W Bush like
a sheep). PS I would stand behind Iraqi soldiers with the
same intent.
But isn’t it amazing to see the same old
pattern of people in the USA and UK rallying behind the flag
when their country goes to war. It seems to work nearly every
time, and leaders can rely on it. But if a war is immoral,
unethical, unjust, hypocritical, contrary to any religious
belief, before war starts, how does it suddenly become ‘right’
when war starts? It’s back to the old ‘my country
right or wrong’. What a load of crap. And what a pathetic
sight in the ‘democracies’; of the USA and UK
to see the same old war card played. It may not be a gunboat
any more but a helicopter gunship. Or some missiles. Weapons
of mass destruction how are you!
The people who stood up and were counted against
the war have been rebuffed in the cruellest way. Tony Blair
took not a blind bit of notice, nor, indeed, did Bertie Ahern
of the anti-war demonstration in Dublin. And then they wonder
why people get pissed off with politics!!!!
Anyhow, I’ll only get angrier if I keep
going, so I’ll sign off until next time,
Yours in sorrow and anger, still struggling,
Billy.
PS I never mentioned, even the Editor tries
to have a sense of humour. For those who don’t know
(cf news section of this issue) ‘Maguire and Patterson’
are the best known brand of matches in Ireland. Strike a light!
Who
is Billy King? A long, long time ago, in a more
innocent age (just talking about myself you understand),
there were magazines called 'Dawn' and 'Dawn Train'
and I had a back page column in these. Now the Headitor
has asked me to come out from under the carpet to write
a Cyberspace Column 'something people won't be able
to put down' (I hope you're not carrying your monitor
around with you).
Watch this. Cast a cold eye on life, on death, horseman
pass by (because there'll almost certainly be very little
about horses even if someone with a similar name is
found astride them on gable ends around certain parts
of Norn Iron).
