Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘Six County State’ Category

ULA: What kind of party do we need? 4

with one comment

ULA: What kind of party do we need? 4

Guest post

1. Publish and be damned.

At a People Before Profit Alliance Activists Meeting in May Kieran Allen of the SWP responded to Brendan Young’s call for a ULA publication – not a PBPA publication – by firmly ruling it out. His argument was that to have a publication you need to have agreement on what to say in it and the ULA was a diverse formation and therefore was not in a position to produce a publication. If that were the only obstacle it would be easily overcome by acknowledging that the publication should, in any case, carry debate within the overall context of the agreed message.

On this site Mark P of the Socialist Party took issue with Brendan in response to his article ‘United Left Alliance “A Work in Progress” -Steps Towards a New Party’:

https://tomasoflatharta.com/2011/05/20/united-left-alliance-a-work-in-progress-steps-towards-a-new-party/#more-404

Brendan had asserted that “the production of an independent publication for the ULA – to give expression to our views and an independent identity to the organisation – remains an argument to be won”. Mark P did not agree and commented: Read the rest of this entry »

Tale of the tape pits law against history

leave a comment »

Liam Clarke has written a very good article about the PSNI (six-county police) “attempt to gain access to Boston College’s Belfast Project Archive of the taped testimonies of IRA and loyalist figures.”

It can be read here on the excellent Newshound site :

http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Sunday_Times/arts2011/jun19_Tale_of_tapes_BC__LClarke.php

Written by tomasoflatharta

Jun 20, 2011 at 11:22 am

Watch Out! – Dodgy Survey Suggests “Most Northern Ireland Catholics want to remain in UK”

with 4 comments

Elizabethan Fun - Opinion Poll shows there are 12 million republicans in Great Britain

This Irish News headline caught my eye on the way to work this morning – “Most Catholics Want to Stay in the UK : Poll”.

A table on page 7 suggests a huge swing against a United Ireland among Catholics between the years 1998 and 2010 –

support for “staying part of the UK” rose from 19 to 52 per cent, while “Reunify with the Rest of Ireland” slumped from 49 per cent to 33 per cent.

Readers of this site know that we respect polls based on credible scientific research – how does this poll stand up?

Very badly is the blunt answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Jun 17, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Irish Soccer Players Won’t Play for Prodestan (aka Northern Ireland) – but Will Tog Out for Trapattoni’s Boys in Green – Let’s Discuss the Elephant in the Room

with 6 comments

Irish Soccer Players Won’t Play for Prodestan (aka Northern Ireland) – but Will Tog Out for Trapattoni’s Boys in Green – Let’s Discuss the Elephant in the Room

Prodiban

Protestant Christian Fundamentalists of the North of Ireland’s Bible belt. Often claim that the world is only 6000 years old. This belief is founded on the work of James Ussher. Many also believe that the Giant’s Causeway of North Antrim was formed after the biblical flood experienced by Noah in the bible. Many of the prodiban also believe that Catholics on grounds of their Popery should not be allowed the right to vote.

Followers of the Free Presbyterian Church are members of the Prodiban

Prodiban Definition

Prodestan

An imagined community/nation/country/province, soccer team of the Prodiban.i Under pressure because many young players are declaring their allegiance to international near-neighbour and rival team, the Republic of Ireland.

———————————-

Fans of the Splintered Sunrise blog know all about Mullah Jim and the Prodiban – Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister. Mullah Jim Rallies the Prodiban Troops

That blog also features hard-to-believe-but-true stories about Ian Parsley – a party-hopping Alliance/Conservative/UCUNF/Unionist candidate who unsuccessfully sought the votes of dyslexic Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) faithful, unaware that Ian Paisley (Senior)’s name is no longer on Euro-Parliament ballot papers.

Ian (not Paisley) Parsley of North Down

Not-Paisley-Parsley did not run in the recent Stormont Assembly poll – he seems to have run out of Unionist-lite parties which will nominate him for yet another electoral defeat. Ian is now examining sporting failure on his chosen home patch – the Norn Iron soccer team is doing badly, and their prospects are darkened by the decision of a magnificent sevenBarton, Duffy, Ferguson, George, Gibson, Kearns and Wilson – to pledge their international allegiance to the Republic of Ireland team and refuse a call-up from Prodestan manager Nigel Worthington. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Jun 15, 2011 at 6:29 pm