Ardoyne Situation

So it has been a while since I posted anything here. Truth is, I've become rather fed up with everything. I want to discuss my opinions on the current trouble in Ardoyne. Firstly, I will discuss my opinion on the whole Orange Order, 11th/12th Nights and Orangefest.

The Bonfires of the 11th night, are completely unacceptable in a 21st Century society. I have blogged about this before so you can read that if you wish to know my opinions on the Bonfires.

Loyalist Bonfires: http://whatsachris.blogspot.com/2009/06/you-cant-decommision-attitudes-harsh.html

Republican Bonfires: http://whatsachris.blogspot.com/2009/08/republican-bonfire.html

On the Orange Orders own website it states that they "strenuously oppose the fatal errors and doctrines of the Church of Rome", and that they should "resist the ascendancy of that Church". This is blatant admission that the Orange Order are sectarian, in that they are antiCatholic. So, in this day and age where we are "Moving away from Sectarian divisions" in our City, the Belfast City council agrees to this farcical that is "Orangefest", trying to disguise this Sectarian bigotry as family fun. Then we have politicians claiming that it is a community event. Well, it clearly is not a community event. I would not be welcome at the "Festival" if I carried my tricolour, only if I carried a Union flag. So Orangefest is both antiCatholic and Loyalist only; It is not a family or community event.

So this leads me on to my opinions on the GARC's sit down protest.

I belief that the residents of the Ardoyne area are entitled to stage their protest, against this bigoted march through their area. The resident's of the area have staged their peaceful protest for the past few years, but what has it achieved? They still have not got dialogue with the Orange Order and the march still goes through their area. So this year I think it was right for the Residents to stage their sit down protest. Civil disobedience is a legal way of Protest and revolution. It was the soul solution to the downfall of Apartheid in South Africa. So at this I agree with the Protest. I think it was wrong for the police to remove the protesters by force, and completely unacceptable that they fired baton rounds.

However I can not give support to the constant riots. Many of these rioters are bored youths, without a political concept in their head. Not all of them, but many. I am sorry to say that I do not agree with the RSF opinion, that these people are defending their neighborhoods against British Police. These British Police would not have been there last night if not for the riots. Maybe on the 12th night you could use this argument, but not on the 13th Night. The 13th should be used to commemorate Martin Hurson who died after 46 days on the Hungerstrike.

I furthermore think that it is wrong for non residents to bus into the area to take advantage of the situation. If the people of the area called for Republicans to travel to their community in support then I myself would have gone, but they did not. This means, whether it was intentional or not, those that did travel Hijacked the protest, and marred the peaceful civil disobedience with violence.

At the end of the day do I condone the Loyalist, bigoted parades? No I do not. I believe there is no place in this society for this kind of contentious parading outside of their own areas. Do I condem the Residents sit down protest? No, I fully support their decision. Do I condem the youths rioting? No I do not. Society has failed these youths and they can not be completely condemned, though they must face responsibility. Do I condem the actions of those that are using these riots to their advantage? No, I do not agree with them but I have no right to condem them. My opinion is that all this trouble has done us great disadvantage.

The numbers of the Orange Order had reportedly fallen to 9000 across the occupied territory. That is a considerably lack of people in comparison to the years gone by. The lack of serious trouble over the past years has saw people lose interest and their numbers fall. This year will see a dramatic rise.

Beidh ár lá linn.

The Issue of National Sovereignty

I want to address the arrogance of people who take the no interest in the issue of National Sovereignty on the island of Ireland. Whilst doing door to door canvassing this past two years, I have been met with the arrogance and smugness of people who feel they are superior to me on a moral basis because they vote for a "neutral" party, such as Alliance. I feel that for anyone to use the line "I want the parties to deal with real issues" to be arrogant and I personally can't have it. Let me explain why.

Firstly, anyone that votes Alliance is delusional to think that they are voting for a neutral party. Alliance are not a neutral party. On the issue of National Sovereignty, they are Unionist. They share office with Sinn Féin, but have made it clear given the choice they would rather not. They are not neutral, they are smart with words.

Secondly, the reason I can't handle that excuse is because of the obvious self interest it displays. For me, and hundreds of people like me, National Sovereignty is a real issue. It is an issue of major importance. To say you don't like the parties here because they don't deal with real issues really translates to "my real issues". If I was to state that I wouldn't vote for a party cause they are only interested in taxes and not real issues would be laughable; and it is just as laughable when one discusses national sovereignty in the same way.

It would be equally delusional to think that the parties here do not deal with real, or "bread and butter" issues. All the major parties here have proposals and mandates for the likes of general taxes, water charges, fuel charges, education, poverty, depravation etc. However the parties are also involved and have proposals for the issue of national sovereignty.

Now I feel I should address the issue of national sovereignty and why I deem it important. People that lack the interest in the issue, usually are unaware of why other people are. It is no secret to me that people deem the likes of me, as laughable paranoid fools living in the past. Very few people would take the time to ask me why, or try to find out my opinions on the issue. However I feel that if some one is going to judge me for my opinions on the issue they should at least take the time to educate themselves of what my opinions actually are.

So what are my opinions. Well it would be true that some of my issues come from the past. Having educated myself on the actions of British rule in my country I do honestly think that a free Ireland is the right thing to do. It is the only really way to get justice for our country. But it is so much deeper than that.

NOTE: This next paragraph will be the part that people will refuse as the paranoid rant of a "dissident Republican". I am not a dissident. People just don't want to admit that these things are true. Due to this fact however I will keep it to a short paragraph.

These unfair actions of British rule are still ongoing in our country. Last year, as I have stated many times before, the PSNI/RUC stopped and searched 110 people a day, including a three year old and her pram, under section 44, in Republican areas, according to their own figures. Since the European union have deemed this illegal, the PSNI/RUC have continued to use these searches. The British army where involved in a raid on the home of 3 Republicans in Derry last week. This is not speculation, they provided a document to the home owner stating who was searching the house. They only reason for this search was their membership with the 32CSM. I am not really a fan of the 32CSM, but I know that this is wrong. As was the case in 1981 (which I bring up due to its public attention), Republican prisoners in British gaols are denied political status. These same prisoners were not allowed to commemorate their fenian dead at easter when they were denied the right to wear their lily, despite the poppy being worn in the gaol every year. In republican areas, real criminals, the likes of Drug/Death dealers are more likely to receive protection from the PSNI/RUC in exchange for information on Republicans. The catch 22? The more criminals that are allowed such protection, the more people join the ranks of the armed organisations, wether it be the IRA or the likes of RAAD, who focus more on drugs than the issue of national sovereignty.

So now to address another reason I deem national sovereignty to be important. I am from a working class family. I deem the people to be important. I believe that the people, their rights and their well being should be more important than that of big businesses and banker interests. In a word I would be describe as a "socialist" and where as I use this word for simplicity, I don't really like it. I don't think their is a word to describe my political views.

I believe that governments should not be shirts and ties, and fancy cars and security and, as in the case with America, celebrities. The politicians should be working for the people, where as despite what every one of them says, we clearly work for them. I believe this is directly related to the issue of national sovereignty because whilst we live under British rule we will not be able to revolutionize the British institution in a way that will empower the people. The occupied territory is to small for any major changes to be made on their behalf. The fact that George Galloway has been removed from the house on various occasions for acting on behalf of the oppressed Palestinians shows this.

Before we can live in a truly socialist society, where by the people are empowered we must liberate ourselves from a country that still has a monarch. A single family who deem themselves more important than anyone else, for no other reason than their mother and father thought the same thing. We must liberate ourselves from a country that still has a colonial empire, by forced rule over Ireland. We need to liberate ourselves from a country that deems itself better than others. If this is the attitude of the government towards Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine or Iran, how can we expect that same government to respect the rights of six simple counties on an adjacent island? Britain believe that they have the right to have weapons, and spend huge amounts of our taxes on weaponry, and yet they somehow feel they have the right to demand that Iran does not have weapons; That Palestinians live under Israeli oppression and show no resistance.

We need to liberate Ireland, and begin to build the country imagined by all those who have died for it. An Ireland where the tricolour is not the only change to our government corridors, but the very foundations that the political institutions are based are also changed. Where everyone enjoys the same equality that Martin Luther King Jr had his dream about.

National Sovereignty is the only way we can bring the institutions right back to the beginning, and rebuild them. This is why it is a real issue, and an issue of major importance.

"...all that time on the Blanket wasn't wasted"

I know its been a long time since I had a proper post here. Being in my final stretch of university is keeping me on my toes, and sadly away from the political circles. However I have kept on top, still reading and watching as much as I can.

There has been plenty going on; policing and justice talks to name one thing. I will not bring his up in detail, other to say I was really unsatisfied with how it went about, and I am less than convinced, especially since we will be forced to wait longer to see how it plays out; I'll keep an eye open though.

On top of that we have Israel up it their usual tricks. Once again Israel are breaking international laws and once again the world are staying relatively quite, apart from a few Arab nations. Mossad, illegally obtain false passports, they stole the identity of innocent people and they sent a hit squad to kill a man. If an Arab "secret service" were to be involved in this kind of thing the world would near implode with condemnation, threats and most likely sanctions. However Israel obviously will get away with sending out their murder squads.

Anyway that is taking me miles away from my intention of writing here tonight. I felt compelled to write tonight in response to a letter response I read in the Art Issue. I just could not believe what I was reading. Obviously the letter was art related and so only the first paragraph is related and so I will transcribe that paragraph before passing judgement. This is what the "Art Doctor" Orme O'Bakery had to say:

"Dear David. Whoa there tiger. First of all, are you the same David Davidson who's regional operations manager for Sainsbury's in Northern Ireland? If so, well done on the bilingual branch in Andytown, it's nice to know that all that time on the blanket wasn't wasted after all"
- Orme O'Bakery

The letter then goes on to address a topic in relation to art. However I didn't get much further than this because this response completely threw me. I actually found myself rereading this 3 times before moving on. Is this what it has come too? Is this what all those men suffered the cold nights on the blanket in filthy cells for? Is this what 10 men ultimately died for? For a bilingual Sainsburys?

Here is why it baffles me:

1. The fact that some one can actually say that the time on the Blanket was not wasted, but still use the term "Northern Ireland", without questioning it.
2. The fact that they believe that having a single bilingual shop, in a land that is still occupied, where Irish men still struggle for freedom, is a success.
3. The Irish language is still not held in equal standing.
4. They mention the time on the blanket but fail to mention the price paid by Sands, Hughes, McCreesh, O'Hara, McDonnell, Hurson, Lynch, Doherty, McElwee or Devine.

The 10 aforementioned men gave their lives for political status, to legitimise the Republican cause in the eyes of the world. Their death was a turning point in the history of our Country and a turning point for the peace process of the occupied state. It was their lives that turned many men and women towards the ballot and away from the gun. Whether you believe this is what they died for or not, one can not argue that the Kesh concentration camp has had a huge impact on the direction this occupied state took. The long road to the ceasefires, GFA and ultimately the current Stormont government.

Despite this the Irish people still suffer under the occupier. 110 a day stopped under Section 44, which in itself breaks international law. John Brady hanged in Police Custody. Still no Irish Language act. Still no equality for Gaelic games.

People are more and more accepting the term Northern Ireland, and its use is merely legitimising British Rule. So to recognise the state of Northern Ireland and claim that the time on the blanket was not wasted is laughable at least and insulting at most. It is naive and ignorant.

"Britain Has no Right in Ireland, Never had any right in Ireland and never can have any right in Ireland"

- James Connolly

Until British rule and occupation has been completely and utterly banished from Irish shores then the "time on the blanket" has not ended and the Job is incomplete. We must take up our roles now. If British rule and Northern Ireland are accept and people refuse to oppose it the the time on the blanket was wasted and the lives of the 10 were squandered.

This is the exact attitude that will see the time on the blanket wasted and Irish Republicans must address this attitude now, before it settles and we see all those lives wasted.

I have nothing more to say just now but hopefully I will post again soon.

God Bless and Peace