Archive for the ‘Arts and Culture’ Category
Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song – Ian Parker’s Critical Review
Source : Prophet Song The Grim Booker
The evening of 23 November 2023 in Dublin saw a mixture of racist protest fuelled by the far right and “riots” by marginalised youth taking what they could from stores, for which they will be punished. The alarm at the potent combination of populist rage and popular resentment was palpable (I arrived on Friday afternoon and heard accounts of what had gone on), and that Saturday’s Palestine solidarity march (which I had planned to attend) was postponed for a week.
On the Sunday evening this year’s Booker Prize was announced, Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song (Oneworld, 2023). Some enthusiasts for the book are treating it as prophecy, and it does trace a downward spiral into chaos that engulfs the south of Ireland after the election of a “National Alliance Party”.
Austerity and reaction
There has been plenty of speculation in Ireland and abroad about how Lynch touches nerves about austerity and reaction, and warnings about plot spoilers now are hardly necessary. You know what is coming before you open the book.
Read the rest of this entry »Reflections: Dublin’s racist mobs smashed the city centre, 23.11.23 – “You Don’t get to be Racist and Irish” – Imelda May
Very often, like many others (in their millions), I walk into Dublin city centre, passing through Parnell Square. November 23 2023, shortly before 1.00pm seemed no different. That impression was soon shattered. I collected a monthly prescription from a chemist on Portland Row, off the North Circular Road. Proceeding into town past Mountjoy Square, I dropped into my former place of work – the FÓRSA Trade Union headquarters in Nerney’s Court off Gardiner Place – for a chat, a cup of coffee, and a visit to the jacks. The staff at reception were, as usual, very friendly. Then a woman in her 30’s entered, very shook. She told us about a big police cordon around Parnell Square and a horrible incident – news was spreading about a man who stabbed children and an adult outside an Irish language school. Rumours were circulating.
At this point I encourage readers to read and listen to a very good short Dáil speech of Paul Murphy delivered on November 28 2023. It explains a lot :
First, I send my thoughts and solidarity to the victims and the families of the victims of the stabbing attack. It is just horrifying and so nightmarish to think of children being attacked in such a way. In the response to that horror, we saw the very best of our city – Warren, Caio, Leo, Siobhán and others – people who were white Irish and immigrants coming together and putting their lives on the line to try to protect children.
Paul Murphy TD (Dublin South-West), People Before Profit, Dáil Éireann, November 28 2023
Our city and country should have now been uniting around the families of the victims in solidarity with them. Instead, sickeningly and disgustingly, far-right, racist and fascist agitators said this was their chance to incite a riot and to spread hatred and division. We know who incited this riot and called for people to come out on the streets. These people did not hide themselves or issue the calls anonymously. At 2.16 p.m., a white supremacist, Mick O’Keefe, issued his first tweet. He followed that at 2.50 p.m., saying that a foreign man entered the school and stabbed five children and he said the kids were dead. Fergus Power tweeted at 2.55 p.m. that a five-year-old girl was alleged to have passed away and that “This better get people off their arses and out onto the streets”. Phillip Dwyer, a crèche creeper and dog kicker, streamed a video at 4.04 p.m. in which he said he would be in town at 6 p.m. Gavin Pepper, another far-right agitator, called people onto the streets for 7 p.m. in town. Derek Blighe had a video in which he said “We are at war,” echoing the words of Conor McGregor. We know who called people out. We also have to look at the role of some people in this Chamber. I will mention one. Deputy Mattie McGrath earlier called for a “reasonable debate” on migration. Fine, let us have the debate but a part of that will be Mattie’s connections with the far-right. He has been photographed with Gavin Pepper; photographed with Andy Heasman; a street meeting with many of the people who were involved in organising this. He has been laundering far-right conspiracy theories using his platform in this Dáil repeatedly and he is not the only one.
An Immigrant History of a Dublin Street – Reflections: Dublin’s racist mobs smashed the city centre, 23.11.23
From O’Connell Bridge to the Gate Theatre, via Jamaica, Finland, Ukraine and France – Maurice J Casey
Introduction :
Maurice Casey’s article is brilliant.
This article should encourage all Irish revolutionary socialist activists who are anti-racists to examine our connections with the Eastern part of the European continent.
Below Maurice’s article we publish the words of Imelda May’s stunning poem “You Don’t Get to be Racist and Irish”.
An Immigrant History of a Dublin Street – From O’Connell Bridge to the Gate Theatre, via Jamaica, Finland, Ukraine and France
My thoughts are with all those impacted by the attack that took place in Parnell Square, Dublin, on 23 November. You can find some fundraisers to help here.
Irish migration history is traditionally told as a history of emigration outwards. We rarely talk about the history of immigration inwards to Ireland.
Yet a migrant population has existed in Ireland throughout its modern history. And this community’s overlooked story reflects common European migrant experiences: adversity, cultural influence, assimilation, xenophobia, and so on.
In other words, it is the kind of history that defies notions of Irish exceptionalism.
To explain more, let me take you through the immigration history of a single patch of Dublin city centre. Together, we can traverse the same streets associated with the appalling images from last Thursday; from O’Connell Bridge up towards the Gate Theatre.
I’ll try and give those images of the far-right instigated riots, now burned into so many of our anxious minds, a few historical counterpoints.
Read the rest of this entry »Honour Shane McGowan and the Pogues – “Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six”
Shane McGowan died on November 30 2023.
In 1988 Shane McGowan and the Pogues released “Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six”
The song was banned by the British Independent Broadcasting Authority.
The Birmingham 6 – Paddy Hill, Richard McIlkenny, Johnny Walker, Hugh Callaghan, Billy Power, and Gerard Hunter – were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 following their false convictions for the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings. Their convictions were declared unsafe and unsatisfactory and quashed by the Court of Appeal on 14 March 1991.
John Meehan November 30 2023
Irish podcast host and former Gaelic Footballer Joe Brolly slams President Joe Biden over USA support of Israel : “a rogue state completely out of control”
We thank Joan McKiernan for drawing our attention to Joe Brolly’s blistering attack on Joe Biden’s support of Israel.
Irish podcast host and former Gaelic Footballer Joe Brolly has criticized President Joe Biden over America’s support of Israel. The American President has requested a package worth $105 billion to be used towards humanitarian and military assistance for both Israel and Ukraine.
The $ 14.3 billion earmarked for Israel includes $10.6 billion – via the Defence Department – including provision for air and missile defense. There is also $3.7 billion from the State Department to be used to bolster the Israeli military and strengthen the US Embassy’s security.
Read the rest of this entry »Bono and The Edge pocket millions from deal with Israeli bank – Electronic Intifada
We thank Roland Rance for drawing our attention to a sordid story
Source : https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/david-cronin/bono-and-edge-pocket-millions-deal-israeli-bank
Bono and The Edge pocket millions from deal with Israeli bank
David Cronin Rights and Accountability 19 October 2023
Bono preaches about peace while doing business with a bank profiting from war crimes. (Via Twitter)
A bank enabling Israel’s war crimes has issued a major loan for the purchase of a Dublin hotel owned by Bono and The Edge from the rock band U2.
The loan – worth more than $45 million – was announced this week at a time when the death toll resulting from Israel’s latest bombardment of Gaza is rising rapidly.
The deal means that U2 – a group that constantly preaches about peace and nonviolence – is now tangled up with a bank profiting from Israel’s violations of international law.
Read the rest of this entry »What is a word you feel that too many people use? (indirect answers – or statements you should never believe in Ireland)
i was asked to answer this question :
What is a word you feel that too many people use?
The question is not directly answered here.
Many people deploy the following suggestions instead of saying Yes or No to a direct request – pointless conversations, EMail exchanges etc follow instead of simple actions.
Some of these are famous – they are assurances you should never believe in Ireland :
The cheque is in the post.
Send me a copy of a document (which the author already has) and I might be able to do something for you.
I will do that immediately and get back to you.
Sinéad O’Connor – Political and Musical Tributes
I think this photo was taken in August 1989 at a FADA (Forum for a Democratic Alternative) march outside the RDS, Ballsbridge, Dublin. It was a protest marking the 20th anniversary of British troops taking over the streets of the six counties after the 1969 Battle of the Bogside. Other speakers included Eamonn McCann. Sinéad O’Connor is singing, flanked by Joe Kelly who chaired the meeting. Thanks to Niamh Kelly, Joe’s daughter, who supplied the photograph.
Sinéad O’Connor understood, better than many others, that the partition of Ireland is a 32 county problem – it is not just about the north. This letter was published in the Irish Times edition of Tuesday, July 30, 1996.
John Meehan August 8 2023
Sinéad O’Connor’s funeral tribute in Bray Co. Wicklow – where she spent many happy years in a house on a promenade beside the sea – was led by a beautifully decorated old van, almost vintage :
Mandy La Combre’s Tributes
Mandy la Combre is a feminist and trade union activist.
I really wanted to be in Bray today to say a final farewell to Sinéad but unfortunately I’m working in Belfast so couldn’t make it. This made me sad. I also haven’t really seen any of the coverage of this morning but I have it recorded at home to watch on my return.
It still feels like a gut-punch to lose this priestess, political agitator, and gifted songwriter, who had an otherworldly voice like an angel and who inspired so many of us teenage girls growing up in grim 1980’s Ireland. What a terrible loss for us all.
It seems fitting that a giant installation honouring Sinéad was unveiled on Bray Head, Co.Wicklow, as she too was a giant. It reads ‘ÉIRE LOVES SINÉAD’ and is located where the recently rediscovered World War Two ‘ÉIRE’ navigational landmark is, also close to Sinéad’s former seafront home at Strand Road, Bray.
I love the below images. Sinéad indelibly marked into the Irish landscape as she should be, and a wonderful happy picture of Sinéad at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1990 – long before she was battered at the hands of the press and the world.
If I was religious I’d say something like I hope she’s sleeping soundly now in the arms of her boy, but unfortunately I’m not, and I’ve a hard time believing that to be true.
So when you don’t know what to say….
“Where words fail, music speaks”.
Thank you Sinéad, for everything. 
Written on August 8 2023
It’s taken me 24 hours to post anything about Sinéad O’Connor. It was actually quite a shock to hear the news.
I’ve enjoyed Sinéad’s music since the 80’s. When she rocked out onto the scene with her doc martens, rolled up jeans, shaved head and a screeching voice like an angel – she was quite the firebrand. Relentlessly willing to stand up for her beliefs even when they were not popular, and they so often were not.
As a teenage girl I wasn’t that many years younger than her and consumed her debut album ‘The Lion & The Cobra’ mercilessly. Playing it for years long after its release date. In fact when pregnant, the first time my son kicked inside my womb I was listening to ‘Troy’ on my Walkman, and so it was set in stone that would be his name. Over 30 years later the album still resonates, it’s a timeless work and an astonishing debut…and Troy still has the coolest name.
I’ve seen Sinéad live only a few times in my life; once in the 80’s in the Olympic ballroom where she looked incredible flouncing around the stage in a black tutu like a beautiful angry nymph, once in the 90’s in Giant stadium in New York, where she headlined an Irish music festival and she filled the stadium with her voice singing a capella literally stopping me in my tracks. And later in the 00’s singing on stage with Gavin Friday with whom her stunning performances with her iconic voice and attitude always complimented Gavin’s shows.
I met her briefly on two occasions and she was always polite. One particular occasion she appeared particularly quiet, shy and unassuming gripping Gavin’s arm for moral support as she navigated the nightclub trepidatiously as if worried that people would start looking at her – even though she looked just beautiful.
Last year I read her book ‘Rememberings’ and saw the film about her life ‘Nothing Compares’. Both fantastic pieces of work, both I seriously recommend to get a real insight into Sinéad’s character and talent.
The book is a brutally honest account of Sinéad’s life in her own words and the film is a stunning portrayal of a celebrated rise to fame and quick exile from mainstream music as a result of her outspokenness and activism. I was delighted to see I had a two second accidental cameo in the latter, it made me giggle in the cinema. Also, my abiding memory leaving the viewing was walking away thinking what a remarkable woman she really was.
You will see a multitude of platitudes to Sinéad in the coming days and weeks, most sincere, and some by those that used, persecuted, and mistreated her while she was alive. But if you really want to remember and celebrate Sinéad, get her back catalogue. That is where the real magic lies. The music and her unique voice speak for themselves. That is where she really shone.
Yes, she was a trailblazer, a feminist, an activist, a moral character that relied on honesty and was always true to herself – but she was also damaged and dreadfully hurt and her songs are an expression of all that she was, not faux, but genuine, and oftentimes in your face. That’s why we loved her and that’s what we should remember.
Right now I really feel for her children, her family and her friends that loved her so much, it must be an unbearable loss. But I also extend condolences to those fans that never wavered and always held Sinéad in their hearts through thick and thin and all the ups and downs. We’ve lost a true talent, and Ireland has lost the best female voice this country has ever produced.
Her work was such a gift.
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor, rest in power.
You have been loved. 
Written on July 27 2023
Sinéad O’Connor reached back to a powerful Irish ballad, “The Foggy Dew”, and produced a haunting new version with the Chieftains in 1995 :
Twas better to die neath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sud-el-Bar
Tributes to Sally Shovelin, Socialist and Feminist Activist – August 25 1957 – August 4 2023
Sally Shovelin passed away on August 4 2023 after an 18 month battle with cancer.
Sincerest Condolences to Sally’s partner John Gallagher, her close friends Betty Purcell and Helen Mahony, her sister Nora Shovelin and many other friends and family.
I first met Sally in the mid 1970’s via membership of People’s Democracy (part of the Fourth International). From that time onwards she was a committed left-wing, feminist, trade union, and anti-imperialist activist – always courageous and willing to confront injustice.
Sally Shovelin holds a Poster “Dublin Women Support Women Prisoners”, Armagh, April 7 1979 – many thanks to Derek Speirs for the photograph
We remained in regular contact for many decades, our paths often crossing in political campaigns and many enjoyable social events. Sally had an impish sense of humour, and was great company.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 