25yrs since Irish Hunger Strike

[Nervous_Dog]

I don't think Australia ever had the fundraising for IRA on a organised level the USA did.

 

OH - Your not talking Catholics just because you and I can;t use a condom? err, not between each other but wth women of curse

[texascity]

hungar strikes are for publicity not self harm.

self harm would involve raming one's head into a wall .. or such

 

the stunt worked .. we are discussing it 25 years later.

 

to bad we're not discussing Black Sunday, an event that is more relavent to the actual situition precipitating the hungar strike.

the indigenous Irish have been subject to brutal foreign imperialism for near 1000 years now.

 

thank goodness, & the luck of the Irish, for the potato famines .. my grand daddy came to Texas in the 1870s & it has worked out very well for his family .. & lots of other Irish men as well.

[texascity]

 

"When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?" ~ Quentin Crisp

[texascity]

>specifically mentioned "WHICH" Americans<

 

Catholic Irish Americans..

my daddy went to Mass 7 days a week .. 5:30AM 6 days per week .. he took the family on Sundays.

 

he hung out with / drank with / hunted with Jesuit Priests .. many of his his close friends were priests.

he, & ALL of his closest friends, were traditionalist with very strong feelings about religion & Ireland.

& My grand daddy was a very POed Irish expat.

in his opinion, & in the opinion of many an Irishmen, the Irish cause is every bit as valid a cause as is that which is Zion.

 

I'm glad to be Texan, a Texan that agrees with the Dixie Chicks & Kinky.

[sayjann]

'I was completely puzzled by it, since prisons are supposed to keep people from committing suicide. So it is a no-no to hang yourself, jump off a roof etc ... but starving yourself is all right? Seemed inconsistent'

 

things have changed somewhat here in the UK.

we have some notorious murderers and when they go on hunger strike in the aim of killing themselves the Government goes to Court and gets an order which allows them to keep the prisoner alive.

Ian Brady comes to mind,and that cunt along with Ian Huntley deserves to be hung,drawn and quartered.......

 

[Nervous_Dog]

<>

 

I don't think it did, at the time it had a lot of coverage, but the 25 years slipped by.

 

<

the indigenous Irish have been subject to brutal foreign imperialism for near 1000 years now.>>

 

Then maybe here is the place to say what irks you?

 

DOG

[texascity]

>Then maybe here is the place to say what irks you?<

 

I appreciate your advice .. :-) .. but, IMHO, here is not the place to express my ideology regarding a planet free of hegemony .. errr, make that brutal colonial hegemony.

 

& Black Sunday could be considered considerably more than irksom ..

It accurately deplicts (IMHO) the nature / ideology of an amoral society's unethical views regarding personal property .. life ..mass murder

 

& an event that clearly delineates THAT culture's amoral, again IMHO, view of the 'second class people' of this planet .. '2nd class people' to be brutally dominated without conscience .. without regard to property rights .. religious rights .. societal rights.

 

bottom line: I am an anti-colonialism & Black Sunday was a definative moment in 20th century colonial hegemony.

 

now, here's a vexing topic for you: name an area of current terrorism that was not a colony in the mid 20th century.

 

in fact, & this vould be irksom, name a area of 21st century terror that was not subjected to the same form of vicious arrogant imperialism as the glorious & peaceful Irish people.

 

 

irked?...naw..

"I don't get vexed, I get even" might make a good bumper sticker.

I will not post to this thread again .. others might get irked.

bye.

[ulsterman]

 

hey all, first post and i never thought it would be about the skinny people! as a n.ireland protestant i can tell you the hunger strike worked and failed on different levels.

 

it worked in creating mass support, here in n.ireland and abroad, for the IRA. it swelled the ranks of the provos beyond their wildest dreams. it was the first move into mainstream politics when approx 30,000 voted bobby "skinny" sands as MP for fermanagh/sth tyrone.

 

it failed because they died

 

one of the main things that came out of the HS was it plumeted n.ireland into even greater sectarian division. after seeing 30,000 people voting for "skinny", protestants rightly or wrongly trusted not one single catholic. another thing that came from the HS was the cops made huge amounts of cash working overtime during the months of civil unrest. as the proud son of a now retired RUC member, we got several spanish holidays thanks to the "skinnys".

 

now for the good aul' usa!! many n.ireland prods have a deep dislike for america. not so much the people but the government. they refused to extradite many convicted IRA men through the 80's/90's. we had to suffer various visits from the fucking kennedys, telling us how bad we were!! many organisations in usa sent millons of dollars to the provos. NORAD being the main one. the now "war on terrorism" is greated with a ironic smile from n.ireland prods. it's also very annoying when you meet an american and hear those inevitable words "i'm irish". "oh yeah? where abouts you from?" says me. "oh i'm from america but my great great great great great great great grandfathers brother's wife's sister's friend is from cork".

 

unless you are from n.ireland it is impossible for anyone to understand the underlying distrust and general dislike the 2 communities have for each other. even in "peace" times.

 

one last thing!! texascity, one reason americans annoy us is because you get things wrong. it's not "black" sunday, it's "bloody" sunday. perhaps you are getting mixed up with "black friday" when the IRA blew up men, women and children shopping in belfast. i only say this because i vividly remember the emergency services scooping up body parts with shovels.

 

[Old Hippie]

I do recall severel Irish bars here in the states, in Boston, Chicago, New York, even a few in SFO hacving fundraisers for "Irish Reared Americans" (IRA for the Daft). Guys made speeches, bought t-shirts etc...real fanatical shit. Many were/are severel generations removed from Ireland, yet claimed to support the cause...doubt many of the stupid shits knew what they were talking about...

 

In any event, no doubt the money raised went to suport bombs, guns and Terrorismm in UK, N. Ireland etc...not exactly sure why or how the FBI decided to stop/crack down on it all. I do know some of it still goes on...even in Politiccally correct/sensitive Berkeley, The Irish bars fly the green or the orange, and you don't dare mix one with the other...stupid if you ask me...

[ulsterman]

 

to be fair to americans, it's not just in the usa that fundraising goes on. it goes on in any country that has an irish community, including mainland UK and other european countries. the annoying bit is that probably 99% of those that contribute to the "cause" have never set foot on the island or understand in the slightest what the troubles meant to people who lived through it. but when you talk to them, they're all experts!