This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Second Sight” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode. And unfortunately, not a very good one. I give it one star out of five.
“Sanctuary” See this for a plot summary.
The alien race from the Gamma Quadrant, the Skreeans are a female dominated-society. At one point, the main alien character says that “men are far too emotional to be leaders. They’re constantly fighting among themselves- it’s their favorite thing to do.” When she says that all their leaders are women, Bashir asks her “ALL of them?” and Dax says “you heard her, Julian.” Then when it seems like O’Brien is offended, the Skreean woman says “please do not misunderstand- we love our men- REALLY.” All of which adds up to a fairly good statement on how women have been excluded from power and how men have spoken of that.
The other main issue that this episode raises is that of refugees and kind of immigrants/settlers. Quark and Nog don’t react well to the presence of large numbers of Skreean refugees, because they act odd (they’re from a very different culture) and don’t have any money and Quark thinks that they’re affecting his business negatively.
The Skreeans also run into problems when they come to believe that their mythical homeland is actually the planet of Bajor. The Bajorans seem to be concerned about the welfare of the Skreeans who used to be oppressed and are now free but homeless. However, Bajor says no, because their planet is in horrible shape after the Cardassian occupation and they feel that they can’t handle what might be a burden if, for example, the Skreean attempts at farming on Bajor don’t work out.
At the end, when it’s settled that the Skreeans will not be going to Bajor, their leader says to Kira, “Maybe we could have helped you, maybe we could have helped each other. The Skreeans are farmers, kira. You have a famine on your planet. Perhaps we could have made that peninsula bloom again. We’ll never know, will we? Fifty years of Cardassian rule have made you all frightened and suspicious. I feel sorry for you. You were right. Bajor is not Kentanna.” (Kentanna is the name for their mythical home world).
First, in reference to refugees I would say that these are people who have to go somewhere, they’re likely to die in their home countries. People in those situations should be welcomed. When it comes to the United States, often the government or corporations have had a hand in the conditions that force people to leave their countries, so people here should be even more welcoming of refugees. (I don't refer to immigrants as "economic refugees" (I think there has to be some kind of natural disaster and/or persecution to use the word "refugee") but I feel at least roughly the same way (or exactly the same way) about immigrants as I feel about refugees)
I’ve described part of my attitude on immigrants in this post. With that in mind, and the humanitarian arguments, and the fact that they usually have to pay their taxes, immigrants should have access to public services.
Going back to the episode and the Bajoran rejection of the Skreean and their leader’s response, I’d say that although they were wrong to reject the Skreean, they were not motivated by some kind of bigotry or xenophobia (well, some minority of those opposed to Skreean settlement might have believed in “Bajor for Bajorans”). Instead, they seemed to have an inaccurate sense of the pros and cons of having the Skreean settle on their planet., although it’s close. The area sort of available for the Skreean was considered un-farmable, although the Skreean leader felt that as a farming people they could make it work. Bajor also felt like it didn’t have the resources if the Skreean ended up starving and needed help.
Although it’s not exactly the same, this does remind me of N. Ireland and Ireland as a whole, both of which have seen a lot of refugees and asylum seekers and immigrants and migrant workers. In the Republic, such people seem to be sort of welcomed on average- I think there’s less hostility to them than you would find in America, although probably not much less. Same thing with the nationalist community in the North. And the nationalist community are dealing with a continuing occupation, although it has been significantly transformed through the Good Friday Agreement and the UK has a fairly good welfare state that nationalists benefit from. But they still face high levels of unemployment and the services that the refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants, and migrant workers benefit from are supported by the taxes of nationalists, and yet, unlike many of the unionists, most nationalists don’t express hostility to those foreigners in the North.
This positive attitude is at least partly because of what Irish people in Ireland know about how Irish emigrants were treated in at least some of the countries they went to, including America. They weren’t treated well, and most Irish people feel strongly about not treating these groups of foreigners that way.
Going back to the episode, it’s good, I give it two stars out of five.
“Rivals” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode.
One bit of politics is the news that some government requires people who want to mine asteroids to do a study on the effects of such mining on inter-system navigation. Although it sounds a bit different, it reminds me of environmental regulations. It’s presented fairly positively, especially when seen in connection with other environmentalist statements by ST.
Another part of the story is that although Bashir and O’Brien are still something like 10-20 episodes from becoming friends, the tension between them is highlighted and they spend a lot of time together, which sort of lays the basis for them to become friends later.
I give it two stars out of five.
“The Alternate” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode, but a good one, I give it two stars out of five.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Oppressed of the UK (Lyrics!)
I've got three more songs. They're pretty good and have a common theme that inspired the title so I think I'll just do them now, not sure if I'll do any more on the same theme.
These songs are all based on stuff by an anti-fascist band called The Oppressed. I've done five other songs based on their stuff, four of them about N. Ireland. These three are all about N. Ireland and are more republican than the first four. The thing is, The Oppressed was a British band and it's kind of up in the air how the leader, Roddy Moreno, feels about N. Ireland. I have some reason to think he'd got the right attitude, but not much. I think the first four N. Ireland songs I did based on his stuff he'd like, but probably not these three. Anyway, the title is a reference to both the band and the nationalist population.
For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).
“London” based on “Government” by The Oppressed, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s set during the decades between the formation of N. Ireland (the Six-Counties) in the early 1920s and the large-scale intervention by London starting in Aug. of 1969. During that time there was a devolved government for N. Ireland that was unionist-dominated and sectarian. London provided a fair amount of support to that statelet in various ways but refused to intervene in the interest of the Catholic and nationalist minorites who were experiencing discrimination and other forms of sectarianism.
2. The B-Specials were kind of like the national guard if the police were the Army. You could also call them a unionist, government-sponsored militia.
3. The Orange Order often marches through Catholic areas. See this for why those parades should not go through Catholic areas.
4. The line about white sheets is borrowed from my favorite republican song, Time To Go by Black 47. In both that song and in this one, it’s referring to anti-Irish racism, although that would apply much more to the Tories than to Labour in my opinion. White sheets is a reference to the KKK.
**5. 59% of this version is me, 41% is the original.
6. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
7. Nothing about violent resistance.
The Six-counties are British, you like to insist
you say, we will be okay, if we don’t resist
But the B-Specials oppress us, with rifles that you sent
can’t you see, we don’t need, British government
Chorus:
Government, government, we don’t want British government
Government, government, we don’t want British government
we live with the poverty, the Orangemen on our streets
face it, you’re racists, all you’re missing are the white sheets
hiding behind your unionist Belfast parliament
But it’s your responsibility, you’re the government
*******
“Orange Society” based on “Violent Society” by The Oppressed, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s about the period 1970-1997; some of it (not the 4th line of the second verse) could be extended to some time around 2005-07, but it’s not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since 1997.
2. The parades refers to Orange and other loyal parades. See this for why those parades should not go through Catholic areas.
3. The police, until sometime shortly after the Patten reforms kicked in in 2001 were very unionist, or Orange.
4. Squaddies are British soldiers.
5. The comprehend line is a reference to Protestants abandoning their anti-Catholic bigotry.
6. Prod is a derogatory term for Protestant but has been adopted by Protestants. Fenian is a derogatory term for republican and for Catholic, and in the sense that it refers to the former, has been adopted by republicans.
7. The sectarian divisions and sectarianism, primarily from the Protestants, weakens the labor movement and leftist organizations. That’s almost guaranteed to change when Ireland is united, see this.
**8. 49% of this version is me, 51% is the original.
10. I give this song/poem five stars out of five.
11. Except for the 2nd and 4th lines of the 2nd verse, it's not necessarily republican.
Orange society, been this way for decades
Orange society, with their police and their parades
Orange society, to oppress, the state is designed
Orange society, resistance in your mind
chorus:
Orange society x3
We'll make it go away
Orange society, violcence from the police
Orange society, no justice, no peace
Orange society, Squaddies kicking down the door
Orange society, Ireland unfree will always be at war
Orange society, when will they comprehend?
Orange society, when’s it gonna end?
Orange society, Prod fighting Fenian
Orange society, the worker can’t win
********
“Rioting” based on “riot” by The Oppressed, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s about the response to the death of hunger-striker Bobby Sands in 1981. See the middle third of this.
2. Buses were often hijacked and set alight as barricades during riots.
3. The behavior of the police (“peelers”) contributed to why nationalists would riot, as would have more generally the policies of Thatcher. The second line is kind of borrowed from another song by The Oppressed, “Same Old Story.”
4. the red, white, and blue are the colors of the British flag.
5. Land rovers are a british kind of vehicle, this refers to the versions used by the Army and the police in N. Ireland.
6. Stormont is where the Northern Ireland Office, the British government in N. Ireland is headquartered.
7. Orange was put in place of blue (a reference to the police) because it’s the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in N. Ireland, and the police at that time were motivated by Orangeism.
8. The Battle of the Bogside, in Aug. of 1969, saw the police defeated by nationalist rioters.
**9. This version is 53% me, 47% the original.
10. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
There’s black smoke in the sky overhead
they just heard the news, Sands was dead
the kids are gonna set the bus alight
all this injustice makes them wanna fight
Chorus:
riot, riot on the street tonight
riot, riot, gonna do it right
riot, riot gonna scream “Brits out!”
riot, riot, we’re going to win this bout
who’s to blame, the peelers or the Tories
With Thatcher, it’s just the same old story
we’ll stick together, we’ll see it through
we’re gonna riot, fuck your red, white, and blue
Chorus
land rovers can burn, Stormont too
just like last time, when the petrol bombs flew and flew
we’re gonna smash your thin Orange line
Just like the Bogisde in August 1969
Chorus
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now.
These songs are all based on stuff by an anti-fascist band called The Oppressed. I've done five other songs based on their stuff, four of them about N. Ireland. These three are all about N. Ireland and are more republican than the first four. The thing is, The Oppressed was a British band and it's kind of up in the air how the leader, Roddy Moreno, feels about N. Ireland. I have some reason to think he'd got the right attitude, but not much. I think the first four N. Ireland songs I did based on his stuff he'd like, but probably not these three. Anyway, the title is a reference to both the band and the nationalist population.
For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).
“London” based on “Government” by The Oppressed, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s set during the decades between the formation of N. Ireland (the Six-Counties) in the early 1920s and the large-scale intervention by London starting in Aug. of 1969. During that time there was a devolved government for N. Ireland that was unionist-dominated and sectarian. London provided a fair amount of support to that statelet in various ways but refused to intervene in the interest of the Catholic and nationalist minorites who were experiencing discrimination and other forms of sectarianism.
2. The B-Specials were kind of like the national guard if the police were the Army. You could also call them a unionist, government-sponsored militia.
3. The Orange Order often marches through Catholic areas. See this for why those parades should not go through Catholic areas.
4. The line about white sheets is borrowed from my favorite republican song, Time To Go by Black 47. In both that song and in this one, it’s referring to anti-Irish racism, although that would apply much more to the Tories than to Labour in my opinion. White sheets is a reference to the KKK.
**5. 59% of this version is me, 41% is the original.
6. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
7. Nothing about violent resistance.
The Six-counties are British, you like to insist
you say, we will be okay, if we don’t resist
But the B-Specials oppress us, with rifles that you sent
can’t you see, we don’t need, British government
Chorus:
Government, government, we don’t want British government
Government, government, we don’t want British government
we live with the poverty, the Orangemen on our streets
face it, you’re racists, all you’re missing are the white sheets
hiding behind your unionist Belfast parliament
But it’s your responsibility, you’re the government
*******
“Orange Society” based on “Violent Society” by The Oppressed, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s about the period 1970-1997; some of it (not the 4th line of the second verse) could be extended to some time around 2005-07, but it’s not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since 1997.
2. The parades refers to Orange and other loyal parades. See this for why those parades should not go through Catholic areas.
3. The police, until sometime shortly after the Patten reforms kicked in in 2001 were very unionist, or Orange.
4. Squaddies are British soldiers.
5. The comprehend line is a reference to Protestants abandoning their anti-Catholic bigotry.
6. Prod is a derogatory term for Protestant but has been adopted by Protestants. Fenian is a derogatory term for republican and for Catholic, and in the sense that it refers to the former, has been adopted by republicans.
7. The sectarian divisions and sectarianism, primarily from the Protestants, weakens the labor movement and leftist organizations. That’s almost guaranteed to change when Ireland is united, see this.
**8. 49% of this version is me, 51% is the original.
10. I give this song/poem five stars out of five.
11. Except for the 2nd and 4th lines of the 2nd verse, it's not necessarily republican.
Orange society, been this way for decades
Orange society, with their police and their parades
Orange society, to oppress, the state is designed
Orange society, resistance in your mind
chorus:
Orange society x3
We'll make it go away
Orange society, violcence from the police
Orange society, no justice, no peace
Orange society, Squaddies kicking down the door
Orange society, Ireland unfree will always be at war
Orange society, when will they comprehend?
Orange society, when’s it gonna end?
Orange society, Prod fighting Fenian
Orange society, the worker can’t win
********
“Rioting” based on “riot” by The Oppressed, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s about the response to the death of hunger-striker Bobby Sands in 1981. See the middle third of this.
2. Buses were often hijacked and set alight as barricades during riots.
3. The behavior of the police (“peelers”) contributed to why nationalists would riot, as would have more generally the policies of Thatcher. The second line is kind of borrowed from another song by The Oppressed, “Same Old Story.”
4. the red, white, and blue are the colors of the British flag.
5. Land rovers are a british kind of vehicle, this refers to the versions used by the Army and the police in N. Ireland.
6. Stormont is where the Northern Ireland Office, the British government in N. Ireland is headquartered.
7. Orange was put in place of blue (a reference to the police) because it’s the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in N. Ireland, and the police at that time were motivated by Orangeism.
8. The Battle of the Bogside, in Aug. of 1969, saw the police defeated by nationalist rioters.
**9. This version is 53% me, 47% the original.
10. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
There’s black smoke in the sky overhead
they just heard the news, Sands was dead
the kids are gonna set the bus alight
all this injustice makes them wanna fight
Chorus:
riot, riot on the street tonight
riot, riot, gonna do it right
riot, riot gonna scream “Brits out!”
riot, riot, we’re going to win this bout
who’s to blame, the peelers or the Tories
With Thatcher, it’s just the same old story
we’ll stick together, we’ll see it through
we’re gonna riot, fuck your red, white, and blue
Chorus
land rovers can burn, Stormont too
just like last time, when the petrol bombs flew and flew
we’re gonna smash your thin Orange line
Just like the Bogisde in August 1969
Chorus
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews G
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Cardassians” See this for a plot summary.
This is a good episode. Not sure how applicable it is to N. Ireland or opposing bigotry, but it’s kind of relevant to both. There’s a lot about people who are self-hating, although in this case the person hating their identity is not oppressed but has been raised by people that his people treated very horribly. His parents loved him, but taught him to hate his people and to more or less identify with them (Bajorans) instead of his own people (Cardassians). I can’t see a similar situation developing in N. Ireland, or more accurately, the South after independence, but it’s possible it happened with something like some tiny number (5??) of people. I have heard of people who do not fit the Nazi mold (i.e. they’re non-white or Jewish) embracing racism or anti-semitism. There’s also something kind of relevant with American Indians being raised to be white in boarding schools.
We also get a better look at O’Brien’s anti-Cardassian bigotry, although it’s mixed and you might say kind of contradictory. Although I believe there are are shades of gray with bigotry and O’Brien’s is fairly mild, he still says things that seem a bit out of character. He’s very sympathetic to the Cardassian Pa’dar. It might not be out of character when you consider that Pa’dar is a civilian, not a military officer.
Overall a good episode, I give it three, almost four, stars out of five.
“Melora” See this for a plot summary.
This is a fairly non-political episode, although it does bring up two issues. First, the issue of disabilities and access. I’m not very familiar with these issues, but support work being done to either improve the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or improve enforcement. Second, the issue of retaining one’s identity. An alien (an Elaysian) whose planet has a lower gravity than normal receives treatment from Dr. Bashir which, over time will make it so she can function normally in normal gravity. At the end she changes her mind, saying that if she could function in normal gravity, she wouldn’t be Elaysian.
It’s an okay-good episode, I’m almost tempted to go as low as one (I’ll probably never use that for DS9 or Voyager, just some of The Next Generation, especially during the first three seasons) but I’ll give it a two.
“Rules of Acquisition” See this for a plot summary.
This is the first of several episodes that highlight how women are treated in Ferengi society (not very well). They’re not allowed to wear clothes or engage in business.
An important part of the episode is that it contains one of the best anti-homophobic statements of ST, which is significant considering how ST has been criticized (with very good reason) in relation to the lack of non-heterosexual characters (there was 1-2 who were villains). At one point the Ferengi female who is disguised as a male is talking with Dax who learns that the Ferengi loves Quark, a male. But before Dax learns that the Ferengi is female, she reacts as if there's nothing sognificant with a male being in love with another male (UPDATE 10/1/11 I wasn't an English major, and am not sure if that sentence implies that there is something wrong with men loving men; if it DOES, let me know and I will consult someone and change it).
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out of five.
“Necessary Evil” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode, but a good one. I give it three stars out of five.
Also, since ST seems to have accepted the word “terrorism” to describe anything from intentionally killing completely innocent civilians to gun-battles with armed security forces, I should say that based on my definition of a terrorist, as far as I can tell, the Bajoran resistance did not deserve that label. In this episode, the two actions of the resistance described are the sabotage of a mining facility where Bajorans worked under VERY harsh conditions for the Cardassians, and something that, at it’s worst, might have resulted in the assassination of collaborators, which although unpleasant for people in that situation, is not terrorism.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Cardassians” See this for a plot summary.
This is a good episode. Not sure how applicable it is to N. Ireland or opposing bigotry, but it’s kind of relevant to both. There’s a lot about people who are self-hating, although in this case the person hating their identity is not oppressed but has been raised by people that his people treated very horribly. His parents loved him, but taught him to hate his people and to more or less identify with them (Bajorans) instead of his own people (Cardassians). I can’t see a similar situation developing in N. Ireland, or more accurately, the South after independence, but it’s possible it happened with something like some tiny number (5??) of people. I have heard of people who do not fit the Nazi mold (i.e. they’re non-white or Jewish) embracing racism or anti-semitism. There’s also something kind of relevant with American Indians being raised to be white in boarding schools.
We also get a better look at O’Brien’s anti-Cardassian bigotry, although it’s mixed and you might say kind of contradictory. Although I believe there are are shades of gray with bigotry and O’Brien’s is fairly mild, he still says things that seem a bit out of character. He’s very sympathetic to the Cardassian Pa’dar. It might not be out of character when you consider that Pa’dar is a civilian, not a military officer.
Overall a good episode, I give it three, almost four, stars out of five.
“Melora” See this for a plot summary.
This is a fairly non-political episode, although it does bring up two issues. First, the issue of disabilities and access. I’m not very familiar with these issues, but support work being done to either improve the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or improve enforcement. Second, the issue of retaining one’s identity. An alien (an Elaysian) whose planet has a lower gravity than normal receives treatment from Dr. Bashir which, over time will make it so she can function normally in normal gravity. At the end she changes her mind, saying that if she could function in normal gravity, she wouldn’t be Elaysian.
It’s an okay-good episode, I’m almost tempted to go as low as one (I’ll probably never use that for DS9 or Voyager, just some of The Next Generation, especially during the first three seasons) but I’ll give it a two.
“Rules of Acquisition” See this for a plot summary.
This is the first of several episodes that highlight how women are treated in Ferengi society (not very well). They’re not allowed to wear clothes or engage in business.
An important part of the episode is that it contains one of the best anti-homophobic statements of ST, which is significant considering how ST has been criticized (with very good reason) in relation to the lack of non-heterosexual characters (there was 1-2 who were villains). At one point the Ferengi female who is disguised as a male is talking with Dax who learns that the Ferengi loves Quark, a male. But before Dax learns that the Ferengi is female, she reacts as if there's nothing sognificant with a male being in love with another male (UPDATE 10/1/11 I wasn't an English major, and am not sure if that sentence implies that there is something wrong with men loving men; if it DOES, let me know and I will consult someone and change it).
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out of five.
“Necessary Evil” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode, but a good one. I give it three stars out of five.
Also, since ST seems to have accepted the word “terrorism” to describe anything from intentionally killing completely innocent civilians to gun-battles with armed security forces, I should say that based on my definition of a terrorist, as far as I can tell, the Bajoran resistance did not deserve that label. In this episode, the two actions of the resistance described are the sabotage of a mining facility where Bajorans worked under VERY harsh conditions for the Cardassians, and something that, at it’s worst, might have resulted in the assassination of collaborators, which although unpleasant for people in that situation, is not terrorism.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews F
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“The Homecoming,” "The Circle," and “The Siege” See the links for a plot summary.
This three-parter raises the issue of “Bajor for Bajorans” and the related issue of Starfleet’s presence on Bajor’s space station that I already addressed in the first DS9 review, while discussing the episode “Past Prologue.” Some other notes:
1) I like the part about rescuing the Bajoran POWs. This is mostly because the Bajoran resistance was a good cause and I’ve gotten the impression that they conducted their struggle honorably. I also like POW stuff in general, especially World War II Allied POWs and Irish Republican POWs.
2) Considering that the station is Bajoran, the “Bajor for Bajorans” people don’t like the many non-Bajorans on DS9. It even affects Jake when his Bajoran date cancels on him beccause her father won’t let her date non-Bajorans. At one point, as the coup drives further wedges between Bajorans and non-Bajorans, we learn that a human Starfleet officer is engaged to a Bajoran. Although it’s nothing new on ST and I won’t be making a note every time this comes up, these two items are obviously good swipes at hostility towards inter-racial dating.
I recently looked up some polls on the sectarian or anti-sectarian attitudes of people in N. Ireland. I was surpised at how high the percentage of Protestants who say they’d have no problem with a close relative marrying someone of a different religion was (68%) and how low that figure was for Catholics (85%) (the figures for those who would mind a lot were 3% for Catholics and 9% for Protestants (almost everyone else was in-between with their attitude)). Even though my earlier estimate for those figures was off by about 10 percentage points (i.e. I thought about 95% of Catholics were comepletely okay with such marraiges, I knew there was a problem with that. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the reality isn’t quite as positive as what the survey indicates).
3) The politician who is launching a kind of coup is in agreement and alliance with the conservative, fundamentalist clergy member vedek Winn who I described in the last DS9 post, while discussing the episode “In The Hands Of The Prophets.” When Sisko bends his orders and ignores what the new government (after the coup) says about how non-Bajorans need to evacuate the station, I wonder if that counts as a (justified) case in which he doesn’t respect Bajoran independence. On one hand, Sisko’s Starfleet superiors believe that Sisko resisting the coup is in violation of the Prime Directive because the coup is internal to Bajor (there’s evidence of some minor Cardassian involvement, but it is basically a Bjaoran coup). On the other hand, Sisko had reason to believe that the Cardassians were helping the coup-plotters because they wanted the Federation to be tossed out by Bajor so that they could then re-occupy Bajor as part of seizing control of the worm-hole and he was also kind of following his original orders in terms of trying to maintain a positive relationship between the Federation and Bajor. Also, as a viewer, I feel better about what Sisko does knowing that (and this is not a big surprise) the “Bajor for Bajorans” forces are also allied with conservative religious fundamentalists.
Overall a very good three-parter. The plot is good, the action is good, the politics are good. All together I give it four stars out of five.
“Invasive Procedures” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode, but a good one. I’d give it two stars out of five.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“The Homecoming,” "The Circle," and “The Siege” See the links for a plot summary.
This three-parter raises the issue of “Bajor for Bajorans” and the related issue of Starfleet’s presence on Bajor’s space station that I already addressed in the first DS9 review, while discussing the episode “Past Prologue.” Some other notes:
1) I like the part about rescuing the Bajoran POWs. This is mostly because the Bajoran resistance was a good cause and I’ve gotten the impression that they conducted their struggle honorably. I also like POW stuff in general, especially World War II Allied POWs and Irish Republican POWs.
2) Considering that the station is Bajoran, the “Bajor for Bajorans” people don’t like the many non-Bajorans on DS9. It even affects Jake when his Bajoran date cancels on him beccause her father won’t let her date non-Bajorans. At one point, as the coup drives further wedges between Bajorans and non-Bajorans, we learn that a human Starfleet officer is engaged to a Bajoran. Although it’s nothing new on ST and I won’t be making a note every time this comes up, these two items are obviously good swipes at hostility towards inter-racial dating.
I recently looked up some polls on the sectarian or anti-sectarian attitudes of people in N. Ireland. I was surpised at how high the percentage of Protestants who say they’d have no problem with a close relative marrying someone of a different religion was (68%) and how low that figure was for Catholics (85%) (the figures for those who would mind a lot were 3% for Catholics and 9% for Protestants (almost everyone else was in-between with their attitude)). Even though my earlier estimate for those figures was off by about 10 percentage points (i.e. I thought about 95% of Catholics were comepletely okay with such marraiges, I knew there was a problem with that. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the reality isn’t quite as positive as what the survey indicates).
3) The politician who is launching a kind of coup is in agreement and alliance with the conservative, fundamentalist clergy member vedek Winn who I described in the last DS9 post, while discussing the episode “In The Hands Of The Prophets.” When Sisko bends his orders and ignores what the new government (after the coup) says about how non-Bajorans need to evacuate the station, I wonder if that counts as a (justified) case in which he doesn’t respect Bajoran independence. On one hand, Sisko’s Starfleet superiors believe that Sisko resisting the coup is in violation of the Prime Directive because the coup is internal to Bajor (there’s evidence of some minor Cardassian involvement, but it is basically a Bjaoran coup). On the other hand, Sisko had reason to believe that the Cardassians were helping the coup-plotters because they wanted the Federation to be tossed out by Bajor so that they could then re-occupy Bajor as part of seizing control of the worm-hole and he was also kind of following his original orders in terms of trying to maintain a positive relationship between the Federation and Bajor. Also, as a viewer, I feel better about what Sisko does knowing that (and this is not a big surprise) the “Bajor for Bajorans” forces are also allied with conservative religious fundamentalists.
Overall a very good three-parter. The plot is good, the action is good, the politics are good. All together I give it four stars out of five.
“Invasive Procedures” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode, but a good one. I’d give it two stars out of five.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews E
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“The Forsaken” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode, but an okay one. I hate to say this considering the role of the actor in the world of ST, but I’ve never been a fan of the Lwaxana Troi character which might be a small part of why I’m close to giving this episode one star instead of two. I’m not too interested in the awkwardness of Odo trying to fend off Troi who doesn’t take no for an answer. The other part of the episode, about the computer, is good, but I’m still tempted to go with one star. Having said that, I give it two stars out of five.
“Dramatis Personae” See this for a plot summary.
Another very non-political episode, but a good one. The way the crew start acting differently is interesting. I give it two stars out of five.
“Duet” See this for a plot summary.
This is one of my favorite episodes, I’ll say right away it gets five out of five stars.
It’s about a Cardassian who served as a military file clerk at a notorious forced labor camp where Bajorans mined for the Cardassians. He creates a situation where he is identified on DS9 as the notorious senior officer in charge of the camp. He does this so that his war-crimes trial at the hands of Bajorans will force Cardassia to confront the truth of what it did to Bajor.
When Kira figures out that he was only the file clerk and he describes how horrible he felt about what was done at the camp, they have the following exchange:
Kira: You didn’t commit those crimes and you couldn’t stop them. You were only one man.
Marritza: oh no, don’t you see, I have to be punished, we all have to be punished. Major you have to go out and tell them I’m Gul Darhe’el. It’s the only way
Kira: Why are you doing this?
Marritza: For Cardassia. Cardassia will only survive if it stands in front of Bajor and admits the truth. My trial will force Cardassia to acknowledge it’s guilt. And we’re guilty, all of us. My death is necessary.
Kira: What you’re asking for is another murder. Enough good people have already died. I won’t help kill another.
Later, when Kira is walking with Marritza on the Promenade, she says to him: “what you tried to do was very honorable. If Cardassia is going to change, it’s going to need people like you.” Right after she says that, a Bajoran fatally stabs him and says that he did it simply because he was a Cardassian, a justification Kira rejects.
Kira’s first and last lines and Marritza’s second line in the exchange are very good lines, as is Kira’s line right before Marritza is killed. Although it’s not a big surprise with Kira, it’s still noteworthy that she tried to make him feel better, recognizing that even though he was in the military at the camp, he was just a file clerk and he felt horrible about what happened.
What Marritza says in his second line, which is complemented by what Kira says right before he dies, is great. When one nation occupies or otherwise hurts another in a way comparable to what Cardassia did to Bajor (or worse), they also damage themselves. It invites an erosion of democracy, and also invites corruption and bigotry; and it harms that nation’s reputation with others. Once that has happened, the best way to deal with it is to be brutally honest. You can’t get rid of a problem until you admit that you have a problem- being honest about it will make it less likely that it will happen again in the future. The nation cannot regain the full respect of others until it is honest and does what can be done to right the wrongs they committed.
As far as something very comparable in the real world, it would be nice if more Germans with knowledge of the Holocaust had been honest about it- although some were, it wasn’t as many as we would have liked. But many did come forward with information about it. This also reminds me of how at the end of the war one American officer who liberated a camp forced the people of the local town to come to the camp to see what it was like, something which apparently shocked the townspeople.
Another good example of course is England/the UK and Ireland. I’m not too sure how much of the ancient part of that history Britain has acknowledged and apologized for. I know that in 1997 Tony Blair was the first British Prime Minister to apologize for British policy during the Famine. I also know that when that happened, republicans suggested that he should also apologize for London introducing sectarianism to Ireland as a way to oppress the indigenous population.
More recently, there’s been a lot of activity around looking into the past events in the conflict over the partition of Ireland. There’s the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, an investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombing (and allegations of British collusion in those bombings) and a lot of other deaths where the role of the security forces is an issue- either because it was the security forces who killed people, or they’re suspected of colluding with the loyalist paramilitaries. Although I’m not familiar with the details, various human rights groups have expressed concern about how the British government is setting up inquires and such into past events- it is setting them up in such a way that the government has a lot of control over the final product. There have been calls for an internationally organized inquiry into the past, comparable to S. Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation but organized by some international organization like the United Nations. There’s also a need to be more honest about the discrimination Catholic have faced, and about the conditions facing Catholics before the reforms of 1968-70. By the time the British government becomes honest about this, they’ll probably be politically ready to withdraw from Ireland, but in the meantime they can and should be pressured to go with an internationally organized look at the past as described above. Also, when the truth is more officially established or reinforced by new reports and statements by politicians, this will have an important effect on opinion among the Protestant population in N. Ireland. It will almost definitely nudge people towards being anti-sectarian if they have more reason to accept that Catholics have been treated very badly in N. Ireland. The ant-sectarian minority among Protestants will go from small to large (I’m defining anti-sectarian in the sense that they will take a stand and say something whenever inappropriate comments are made, that sort of thing). So, it’s not just the British that would benefit from someone like Marritza, but also the Protestants who are unionists in the North- if more of them would speak out against how Catholics have been treated and to a small degree still are being treated, that would be very beneficial. One part of why it would be beneficial is that eroding sectarianism would strengthen the broad working-class in N. Ireland, through the labor movement and other organizations that are pro- working-class.
Are there people more or less like Marritza in Britain or N. Ireland? Yes. there’s the Troops Out Movement in Britain, and lots of Labour, left, and some other politicians who say and do the right things. In the North, there are left politicians who more or less fill the role. One of Sinn Fein’s District Councilors is a Protestant who used to be a cop, Billy Leonard. In the late 1970s the chief of staff of the Irish National Liberation Army was Ronnie Bunting Jr. whose father was a notorious sectarian bigot. There are others who more or less fit the mold, in the sense that they are Protestants who have broken from Unionism and are part of and/or support the nationalist population.
Going back to the episode, I want to highlight Marritza’s powerful statement: “Cardassia will only survive if it stands in front of Bajor and admits the truth.”
Basically every aspect of the episode is great. Five stars out of five.
“In The Hands Of The Prophets” See this for a plot summary.
This episode introduces the character who, although I can’t stand her, is nonetheless a welcome part of the series. She’s vedek Winn, basically a priest, who is campaigning to be Kai, basically Pope.
In order to increase her profile and create a situation where her rival will be asassinated, she picks a fight with Keiko O’Brien who is teaching the children of the station. Winn objects that Bajoran religious beliefs are not being taught since some of the students are Bajoran.
I should say at this point that although I am mildly religious and fairly spiritual, I believe strongly in secular education with people of all religious beliefs and none learning together. Thus I agree with Keiko’s position that she won’t teach Bajoran religious beliefs and with Sisko’s opposition to creating a second school for the Bajoran kids. Keiko told Winn “I don’t teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs, that’s your job.” Later, Winn suggests that Keiko shouldn’t teach anything that conflicts with Bajoran beliefs. I can tell you that I was taught many things which contradicted the Bible, but it didn’t erode my religious faith. It is possible to learn scientific theories and facts that contradict your religion and still have faith in that religion.
UPDATE 12/27/15 I may have mentioned this elsewhere but I think it also needs to be mentioned here. I basically believe in Intelligent Design, but I don't believe it should be taught or even mentioned alongside evolution in science classes and probably no ore than slightly mentioned in school in general.
The idea of religious segregation in education reminds me, of course, about N. Ireland. According to Eamonn McCann, in April 1997, the Chancellor of the University of Ulster, rabbi Julia Neuberger, labeled the single-religion schools for Catholics and Protestants “sectarian” when she was speaking at the opening of an integrated school. Her statement caused an uproar, at least among large parts of the Catholic population. I think people should be careful using the term sectarian- it has two meanings in relation to N. Ireland and religion. First, a reference to DIVISIONS, and second, a reference to BIGOTRY. To suggest that the schools maintained by the Catholic Church are anti-Protestant is not accurate, but they do represent sectarian divisions. In the mid-1970s Seamus Costello of the Irish Republican Socialist Party said that he supported the continuation of separate education for Catholic children because in a united system, Catholic children would be taught the wrong things as far as Irish history and Irish politics (it would be Unionist). Costello made it clear that he didn’t like the Catholic Church controlling education but he felt that the alternative would be worse. That was before the development of integrated education in the early 1980s, years after Costello was killed. Today, especially with the Assembly set up so that education cannot be dominated by Unionism, I’d say that at this point, and for the last 11 years at least, integrated education is a good idea. It will erode sectarian divisions, has the potential to see some of the Protestant students won over to the Irish nationalism of some of their peers, and will weaken the political power of the Catholic Church, which is good for a lot of reasons (the social conservatism they promote and their support for the Social Democratic and Labour Party).
UPDATE 10/21/16 (my thoughts on the IRSP and Costello are found here (my high opinion of Costello is not reflected in my opinion of the Republican Socialist Movement since 1982) )
UPDATE 4/26/11 In early 2002, the then leader of the Irish Labour Party, Ruari Quinn, praised Martin McGuiness of SF for the work he was doing promoting integrated education as the N. Ireland Minister of Education.
Going back to the episode, it’s made very clear that Winn’s extremist, fundamentalist and conservative combination of politics and religion is a minority tendency in the Bajoran faith. The other side of Bajor’s religion, represented by vedek Bareil is very popular, both with the clergy and with the people. Which is more or less (in some ways less) how it is, in general, with religion.
Overall it’s a good story, although I have to take off a few points for how Winn annoys me, which brings it down to three stars out of five (without Winn I’d say three but almost four).
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“The Forsaken” See this for a plot summary.
A very non-political episode, but an okay one. I hate to say this considering the role of the actor in the world of ST, but I’ve never been a fan of the Lwaxana Troi character which might be a small part of why I’m close to giving this episode one star instead of two. I’m not too interested in the awkwardness of Odo trying to fend off Troi who doesn’t take no for an answer. The other part of the episode, about the computer, is good, but I’m still tempted to go with one star. Having said that, I give it two stars out of five.
“Dramatis Personae” See this for a plot summary.
Another very non-political episode, but a good one. The way the crew start acting differently is interesting. I give it two stars out of five.
“Duet” See this for a plot summary.
This is one of my favorite episodes, I’ll say right away it gets five out of five stars.
It’s about a Cardassian who served as a military file clerk at a notorious forced labor camp where Bajorans mined for the Cardassians. He creates a situation where he is identified on DS9 as the notorious senior officer in charge of the camp. He does this so that his war-crimes trial at the hands of Bajorans will force Cardassia to confront the truth of what it did to Bajor.
When Kira figures out that he was only the file clerk and he describes how horrible he felt about what was done at the camp, they have the following exchange:
Kira: You didn’t commit those crimes and you couldn’t stop them. You were only one man.
Marritza: oh no, don’t you see, I have to be punished, we all have to be punished. Major you have to go out and tell them I’m Gul Darhe’el. It’s the only way
Kira: Why are you doing this?
Marritza: For Cardassia. Cardassia will only survive if it stands in front of Bajor and admits the truth. My trial will force Cardassia to acknowledge it’s guilt. And we’re guilty, all of us. My death is necessary.
Kira: What you’re asking for is another murder. Enough good people have already died. I won’t help kill another.
Later, when Kira is walking with Marritza on the Promenade, she says to him: “what you tried to do was very honorable. If Cardassia is going to change, it’s going to need people like you.” Right after she says that, a Bajoran fatally stabs him and says that he did it simply because he was a Cardassian, a justification Kira rejects.
Kira’s first and last lines and Marritza’s second line in the exchange are very good lines, as is Kira’s line right before Marritza is killed. Although it’s not a big surprise with Kira, it’s still noteworthy that she tried to make him feel better, recognizing that even though he was in the military at the camp, he was just a file clerk and he felt horrible about what happened.
What Marritza says in his second line, which is complemented by what Kira says right before he dies, is great. When one nation occupies or otherwise hurts another in a way comparable to what Cardassia did to Bajor (or worse), they also damage themselves. It invites an erosion of democracy, and also invites corruption and bigotry; and it harms that nation’s reputation with others. Once that has happened, the best way to deal with it is to be brutally honest. You can’t get rid of a problem until you admit that you have a problem- being honest about it will make it less likely that it will happen again in the future. The nation cannot regain the full respect of others until it is honest and does what can be done to right the wrongs they committed.
As far as something very comparable in the real world, it would be nice if more Germans with knowledge of the Holocaust had been honest about it- although some were, it wasn’t as many as we would have liked. But many did come forward with information about it. This also reminds me of how at the end of the war one American officer who liberated a camp forced the people of the local town to come to the camp to see what it was like, something which apparently shocked the townspeople.
Another good example of course is England/the UK and Ireland. I’m not too sure how much of the ancient part of that history Britain has acknowledged and apologized for. I know that in 1997 Tony Blair was the first British Prime Minister to apologize for British policy during the Famine. I also know that when that happened, republicans suggested that he should also apologize for London introducing sectarianism to Ireland as a way to oppress the indigenous population.
More recently, there’s been a lot of activity around looking into the past events in the conflict over the partition of Ireland. There’s the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, an investigation into the Dublin and Monaghan bombing (and allegations of British collusion in those bombings) and a lot of other deaths where the role of the security forces is an issue- either because it was the security forces who killed people, or they’re suspected of colluding with the loyalist paramilitaries. Although I’m not familiar with the details, various human rights groups have expressed concern about how the British government is setting up inquires and such into past events- it is setting them up in such a way that the government has a lot of control over the final product. There have been calls for an internationally organized inquiry into the past, comparable to S. Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation but organized by some international organization like the United Nations. There’s also a need to be more honest about the discrimination Catholic have faced, and about the conditions facing Catholics before the reforms of 1968-70. By the time the British government becomes honest about this, they’ll probably be politically ready to withdraw from Ireland, but in the meantime they can and should be pressured to go with an internationally organized look at the past as described above. Also, when the truth is more officially established or reinforced by new reports and statements by politicians, this will have an important effect on opinion among the Protestant population in N. Ireland. It will almost definitely nudge people towards being anti-sectarian if they have more reason to accept that Catholics have been treated very badly in N. Ireland. The ant-sectarian minority among Protestants will go from small to large (I’m defining anti-sectarian in the sense that they will take a stand and say something whenever inappropriate comments are made, that sort of thing). So, it’s not just the British that would benefit from someone like Marritza, but also the Protestants who are unionists in the North- if more of them would speak out against how Catholics have been treated and to a small degree still are being treated, that would be very beneficial. One part of why it would be beneficial is that eroding sectarianism would strengthen the broad working-class in N. Ireland, through the labor movement and other organizations that are pro- working-class.
Are there people more or less like Marritza in Britain or N. Ireland? Yes. there’s the Troops Out Movement in Britain, and lots of Labour, left, and some other politicians who say and do the right things. In the North, there are left politicians who more or less fill the role. One of Sinn Fein’s District Councilors is a Protestant who used to be a cop, Billy Leonard. In the late 1970s the chief of staff of the Irish National Liberation Army was Ronnie Bunting Jr. whose father was a notorious sectarian bigot. There are others who more or less fit the mold, in the sense that they are Protestants who have broken from Unionism and are part of and/or support the nationalist population.
Going back to the episode, I want to highlight Marritza’s powerful statement: “Cardassia will only survive if it stands in front of Bajor and admits the truth.”
Basically every aspect of the episode is great. Five stars out of five.
“In The Hands Of The Prophets” See this for a plot summary.
This episode introduces the character who, although I can’t stand her, is nonetheless a welcome part of the series. She’s vedek Winn, basically a priest, who is campaigning to be Kai, basically Pope.
In order to increase her profile and create a situation where her rival will be asassinated, she picks a fight with Keiko O’Brien who is teaching the children of the station. Winn objects that Bajoran religious beliefs are not being taught since some of the students are Bajoran.
I should say at this point that although I am mildly religious and fairly spiritual, I believe strongly in secular education with people of all religious beliefs and none learning together. Thus I agree with Keiko’s position that she won’t teach Bajoran religious beliefs and with Sisko’s opposition to creating a second school for the Bajoran kids. Keiko told Winn “I don’t teach Bajoran spiritual beliefs, that’s your job.” Later, Winn suggests that Keiko shouldn’t teach anything that conflicts with Bajoran beliefs. I can tell you that I was taught many things which contradicted the Bible, but it didn’t erode my religious faith. It is possible to learn scientific theories and facts that contradict your religion and still have faith in that religion.
UPDATE 12/27/15 I may have mentioned this elsewhere but I think it also needs to be mentioned here. I basically believe in Intelligent Design, but I don't believe it should be taught or even mentioned alongside evolution in science classes and probably no ore than slightly mentioned in school in general.
The idea of religious segregation in education reminds me, of course, about N. Ireland. According to Eamonn McCann, in April 1997, the Chancellor of the University of Ulster, rabbi Julia Neuberger, labeled the single-religion schools for Catholics and Protestants “sectarian” when she was speaking at the opening of an integrated school. Her statement caused an uproar, at least among large parts of the Catholic population. I think people should be careful using the term sectarian- it has two meanings in relation to N. Ireland and religion. First, a reference to DIVISIONS, and second, a reference to BIGOTRY. To suggest that the schools maintained by the Catholic Church are anti-Protestant is not accurate, but they do represent sectarian divisions. In the mid-1970s Seamus Costello of the Irish Republican Socialist Party said that he supported the continuation of separate education for Catholic children because in a united system, Catholic children would be taught the wrong things as far as Irish history and Irish politics (it would be Unionist). Costello made it clear that he didn’t like the Catholic Church controlling education but he felt that the alternative would be worse. That was before the development of integrated education in the early 1980s, years after Costello was killed. Today, especially with the Assembly set up so that education cannot be dominated by Unionism, I’d say that at this point, and for the last 11 years at least, integrated education is a good idea. It will erode sectarian divisions, has the potential to see some of the Protestant students won over to the Irish nationalism of some of their peers, and will weaken the political power of the Catholic Church, which is good for a lot of reasons (the social conservatism they promote and their support for the Social Democratic and Labour Party).
UPDATE 10/21/16 (my thoughts on the IRSP and Costello are found here (my high opinion of Costello is not reflected in my opinion of the Republican Socialist Movement since 1982) )
UPDATE 4/26/11 In early 2002, the then leader of the Irish Labour Party, Ruari Quinn, praised Martin McGuiness of SF for the work he was doing promoting integrated education as the N. Ireland Minister of Education.
Going back to the episode, it’s made very clear that Winn’s extremist, fundamentalist and conservative combination of politics and religion is a minority tendency in the Bajoran faith. The other side of Bajor’s religion, represented by vedek Bareil is very popular, both with the clergy and with the people. Which is more or less (in some ways less) how it is, in general, with religion.
Overall it’s a good story, although I have to take off a few points for how Winn annoys me, which brings it down to three stars out of five (without Winn I’d say three but almost four).
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews D
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Battle Lines” See this for a plot summary.
The main story here is not that political. It’s about a moon that’s a penal colony where the prisoners are divided into two warring camps and no one can die because some kind of tiny technology brings people back to life when they die. It is a harsh punishment for the prisoners, who frequently die and then come back to life. The prisoners are there because they were at war with each other on their home-planet and no one could mediate a peace, so they were sent to the planet as an example of what happens to such people. I’m not sure how helpful the story is in highlighting harsh treatment of prisoners in real life, but it might help with that, it’s raising that as an issue. It also illustrates how conflicts should not be resolved. It’s likely the government on their planet did not do everything it could to resolve the conflict.
There’s also the part where the Kai, Bajor’s religious leader, when it turns out that the technology means she can’t leave the penal colony, decides to try and stop the fighting between the two sides. That’s another example of how good Kai Opaka is compared to Kai Winn who is Kai almost the entire rest of the series. And as soon as Winn shows up, I develop an intense hatred for her- although I more or less like her being a part of the show, as infuriating as she is. I mention that because this episode lays the basis for Winn to become Kai.
I give it two stars out of five.
“The Storyteller” See this for a plot summary.
Basically nothing political in this episode. However, it does contain a good story about Nog and Jake. Also, we see for the first time, Bashir’s attempts to be friends with O’Brien and the latter’s desire to not be friends. It’s a small part of how O’Brien is the most flawed main character in ST, which is a small part of why he’s my fourth favorite main character. As far as I can tell, Bashir isn’t so annoying that it justifies O’Brien’s attitude, and I consider him to be sort of a jerk towards Bashir until later on when they become friends.
We also see the first time when Ferengi “Rules of Acquisition” are used for good instead of evil. This happens MANY more times (including minor instances) throughout the series but it’s still made pretty clear in various ways that the Ferengi approach to economics is generally wrong- the Federation is still more or less socialist, there’s pro-labor stuff on the show and in various other ways it’s suggested that capitalism is flawed, Sisko frequently has to explain to Quark that his approach to business is unacceptable, and sometimes, even without someone being around to express disapproval, Ferengi say things that almost everyone would consider out of line. But it is neat when Ferengi values are used for good instead of evil.
Overall a good episode, although I don’t like the main story very much. I give it two of five stars.
“Progress” See this for a plot summary.
The main story is about forcibly relocating an inhabitant of a moon which is going to be exploited for it’s energy by Bajor. The last man living there refuses to leave and Kira has to find some way to get him to leave. She ends up burning down his house to force him to leave. This raises two issues.
First, in general kicking people off their land in order to develop an energy source. When I think of that happening to oppressed people, that’s horrible. I’ve got mixed feelings about it the rest of the time, depending on how environmental the energy development is- I’m very much in favor of shifting as quickly as possible to renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, and the idea of kicking people off their land for coal mining or something is even more offensive. One last factor is whether or not the energy development involves private profit- the less it involves that, the better. So, there would be a spectrum between me being okay with it and being against it, and I’d be more likely to be against it.
Related to this is the issue of governments forcing people to give up their homes for private development. There are some exceptions when this is okay- when utilities need some land for their network of power lines or something like that; when it’s going to a non-profit organization (in one case after a local government finished developing some land they took, they had some space left over and gave it to Habitat for Humanity to build a home); some other exceptions I can’t remember. But we should have incredibly high standards for when the government says people have to give up their home for private development. People shouldn’t have to do that just so someone can build a shopping center and make a profit. I’d say something similar about when it’s a business instead of a home, likely a small business with space that a larger business wants.
In this episode, there is no oppression involved, it’s public sector energy development, and after you remove the population from the moon, the environmental issue probably doesn’t matter, the only environment damaged is that of the moon, it doesn’t affect anything else. With that in mind, the energy development will benefit tons of people. So, it seems okay.
(UPDATE 7/21/17 I can't believe I missed this earlier but I need to say the following about the paragraph above: there could be a problem with any WORKERS on the moon getting sick or something in which case they would have look at it again while the place is closed until it gets fixed- I might be a little too willing to trust environmental tech to deal with environmental problems but I imagine they could fix it and get it up an running again)
There’s a secondary story that I like, where Jake and Nog acquire a shipment of food and trading it for something else, and that for something else, until they finally get paid with money.
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out of five.
“If Wishes Were Horses” See this for a plot summary.
This episode is mostly humor and character development, no politics.
One part of this episode highlights a part of the Sisko character that contributes a bit to him being tied with Janeway as my favorite Captain and my favorite character overall. That’s his interest in baseball. Baseball is one of the two sports I still have some interest in, the other being soccer, and I have a lot of fond memories of playing baseball for 4-5 years ending with 9th grade- most of that time I was very good. So, I like the baseball aspect of DS9.
The part where a walking, talking version of Dax that’s very attracted to Bashir appears is very funny.
There’s one brief bit of politics when Odo calls for attention from the “ladies and gentlemen,” and then adds “all androgynous creatures.” This is a suggestion that such people are a normal part of humanity’s sexual diversity, there’s nothing negative implied by his statement at all and considering ST’s general position on respecting differences, it’s clearly a statement against bigotry towards such people (ST still could have been much better on LGBT issues, but this is one of the times when they made the right suggestion about those issues).
Overall a good episode, I give it two out of five stars.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Battle Lines” See this for a plot summary.
The main story here is not that political. It’s about a moon that’s a penal colony where the prisoners are divided into two warring camps and no one can die because some kind of tiny technology brings people back to life when they die. It is a harsh punishment for the prisoners, who frequently die and then come back to life. The prisoners are there because they were at war with each other on their home-planet and no one could mediate a peace, so they were sent to the planet as an example of what happens to such people. I’m not sure how helpful the story is in highlighting harsh treatment of prisoners in real life, but it might help with that, it’s raising that as an issue. It also illustrates how conflicts should not be resolved. It’s likely the government on their planet did not do everything it could to resolve the conflict.
There’s also the part where the Kai, Bajor’s religious leader, when it turns out that the technology means she can’t leave the penal colony, decides to try and stop the fighting between the two sides. That’s another example of how good Kai Opaka is compared to Kai Winn who is Kai almost the entire rest of the series. And as soon as Winn shows up, I develop an intense hatred for her- although I more or less like her being a part of the show, as infuriating as she is. I mention that because this episode lays the basis for Winn to become Kai.
I give it two stars out of five.
“The Storyteller” See this for a plot summary.
Basically nothing political in this episode. However, it does contain a good story about Nog and Jake. Also, we see for the first time, Bashir’s attempts to be friends with O’Brien and the latter’s desire to not be friends. It’s a small part of how O’Brien is the most flawed main character in ST, which is a small part of why he’s my fourth favorite main character. As far as I can tell, Bashir isn’t so annoying that it justifies O’Brien’s attitude, and I consider him to be sort of a jerk towards Bashir until later on when they become friends.
We also see the first time when Ferengi “Rules of Acquisition” are used for good instead of evil. This happens MANY more times (including minor instances) throughout the series but it’s still made pretty clear in various ways that the Ferengi approach to economics is generally wrong- the Federation is still more or less socialist, there’s pro-labor stuff on the show and in various other ways it’s suggested that capitalism is flawed, Sisko frequently has to explain to Quark that his approach to business is unacceptable, and sometimes, even without someone being around to express disapproval, Ferengi say things that almost everyone would consider out of line. But it is neat when Ferengi values are used for good instead of evil.
Overall a good episode, although I don’t like the main story very much. I give it two of five stars.
“Progress” See this for a plot summary.
The main story is about forcibly relocating an inhabitant of a moon which is going to be exploited for it’s energy by Bajor. The last man living there refuses to leave and Kira has to find some way to get him to leave. She ends up burning down his house to force him to leave. This raises two issues.
First, in general kicking people off their land in order to develop an energy source. When I think of that happening to oppressed people, that’s horrible. I’ve got mixed feelings about it the rest of the time, depending on how environmental the energy development is- I’m very much in favor of shifting as quickly as possible to renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, and the idea of kicking people off their land for coal mining or something is even more offensive. One last factor is whether or not the energy development involves private profit- the less it involves that, the better. So, there would be a spectrum between me being okay with it and being against it, and I’d be more likely to be against it.
Related to this is the issue of governments forcing people to give up their homes for private development. There are some exceptions when this is okay- when utilities need some land for their network of power lines or something like that; when it’s going to a non-profit organization (in one case after a local government finished developing some land they took, they had some space left over and gave it to Habitat for Humanity to build a home); some other exceptions I can’t remember. But we should have incredibly high standards for when the government says people have to give up their home for private development. People shouldn’t have to do that just so someone can build a shopping center and make a profit. I’d say something similar about when it’s a business instead of a home, likely a small business with space that a larger business wants.
In this episode, there is no oppression involved, it’s public sector energy development, and after you remove the population from the moon, the environmental issue probably doesn’t matter, the only environment damaged is that of the moon, it doesn’t affect anything else. With that in mind, the energy development will benefit tons of people. So, it seems okay.
(UPDATE 7/21/17 I can't believe I missed this earlier but I need to say the following about the paragraph above: there could be a problem with any WORKERS on the moon getting sick or something in which case they would have look at it again while the place is closed until it gets fixed- I might be a little too willing to trust environmental tech to deal with environmental problems but I imagine they could fix it and get it up an running again)
There’s a secondary story that I like, where Jake and Nog acquire a shipment of food and trading it for something else, and that for something else, until they finally get paid with money.
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out of five.
“If Wishes Were Horses” See this for a plot summary.
This episode is mostly humor and character development, no politics.
One part of this episode highlights a part of the Sisko character that contributes a bit to him being tied with Janeway as my favorite Captain and my favorite character overall. That’s his interest in baseball. Baseball is one of the two sports I still have some interest in, the other being soccer, and I have a lot of fond memories of playing baseball for 4-5 years ending with 9th grade- most of that time I was very good. So, I like the baseball aspect of DS9.
The part where a walking, talking version of Dax that’s very attracted to Bashir appears is very funny.
There’s one brief bit of politics when Odo calls for attention from the “ladies and gentlemen,” and then adds “all androgynous creatures.” This is a suggestion that such people are a normal part of humanity’s sexual diversity, there’s nothing negative implied by his statement at all and considering ST’s general position on respecting differences, it’s clearly a statement against bigotry towards such people (ST still could have been much better on LGBT issues, but this is one of the times when they made the right suggestion about those issues).
Overall a good episode, I give it two out of five stars.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews C
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“The Passenger” See this for a plot summary.
This is another episode that is overwhelmingly just a mystery, although it’s a pretty good one (I especially like how Bashir speaks and acts differently (his face, his body language) when he is being controlled by Vantika)- I give it three stars out of five.
“Move Along Home” See this for a plot summary.
Not much political in this episode. But it is interesting, Starfleet’s first formal reception for a Gamma Quadrant alien race. The story is good, I also like the rhyme they have to say at one point as they work their way through the labyrinth. I give it three stars out of five.
“The Nagus” See this for a plot summary.
This is the first episode where we meet the Grand Nagus, the leader of the Ferengi financial empire. It’s not made very clear exactly how things work, but he’s basically the political leader of the Ferengi and works to promote Ferengi business interests, regulates who gets which market, and enforces the extreme capitalist rules of the Ferengi business community, which exist for the benefit of the most cut-throat businesspeople, not for those with ethics, not for workers, and not for consumers or the public. Also, the Grand Nagus has the power to appoint his successor, so the system is very undemocratic. It’s also common for rivals for the position to threaten each other, although it’s unclear how often such threat are acted on- but the threats themselves further indicate that Ferengis don’t have a democratic political culture.
We are also reminded that Ferengi don’t value formal education (in an earlier episode, it’s explained that children are tossed into the darwinian business community to learn about surviving economically), and the men are very sexist.
Another aspect of this episode is the development of Nog and Jake’s friendship, despite their parents discouraging them based on how Ferengi and humans usually don’t get along. This is welcome, as their friendship is one of my favorite aspects of the series, it takes the multi-culturalism of ST a bit further than usual, and it also sets the stage for Nog later becoming the first Ferengi in Starfleet.
It’s a good episode, I give it three stars out of five.
“Vortex” See this for a plot summary.
This episode is mostly about Odo’s desire to learn about where he comes from and whether or not there are others like him, a question which has a very interesting answer as his people end up being the main villains in DS9.
The alien, Croden, from the Gamma Quadrant who is sort of the center of the episode is from a society where the punishment for every single crime is very harsh. He’s also some kind of political dissident whose two wives are killed by the security forces as punishment for his dissent and who then kills the members of the security forces. This sort of thing, where it’s vague about the politics involved, isn’t as cool as it would be if they were specific about it and it was about opposing bigotry or organizing workers or something, but it does raise the general issue of human rights and is therefore pretty cool.
Odo, who was supposed to hand Croden over to the authorities on his planet, ends up allowing him and his daughter to board a Vulcan vessel to start a new life.
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out of five.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“The Passenger” See this for a plot summary.
This is another episode that is overwhelmingly just a mystery, although it’s a pretty good one (I especially like how Bashir speaks and acts differently (his face, his body language) when he is being controlled by Vantika)- I give it three stars out of five.
“Move Along Home” See this for a plot summary.
Not much political in this episode. But it is interesting, Starfleet’s first formal reception for a Gamma Quadrant alien race. The story is good, I also like the rhyme they have to say at one point as they work their way through the labyrinth. I give it three stars out of five.
“The Nagus” See this for a plot summary.
This is the first episode where we meet the Grand Nagus, the leader of the Ferengi financial empire. It’s not made very clear exactly how things work, but he’s basically the political leader of the Ferengi and works to promote Ferengi business interests, regulates who gets which market, and enforces the extreme capitalist rules of the Ferengi business community, which exist for the benefit of the most cut-throat businesspeople, not for those with ethics, not for workers, and not for consumers or the public. Also, the Grand Nagus has the power to appoint his successor, so the system is very undemocratic. It’s also common for rivals for the position to threaten each other, although it’s unclear how often such threat are acted on- but the threats themselves further indicate that Ferengis don’t have a democratic political culture.
We are also reminded that Ferengi don’t value formal education (in an earlier episode, it’s explained that children are tossed into the darwinian business community to learn about surviving economically), and the men are very sexist.
Another aspect of this episode is the development of Nog and Jake’s friendship, despite their parents discouraging them based on how Ferengi and humans usually don’t get along. This is welcome, as their friendship is one of my favorite aspects of the series, it takes the multi-culturalism of ST a bit further than usual, and it also sets the stage for Nog later becoming the first Ferengi in Starfleet.
It’s a good episode, I give it three stars out of five.
“Vortex” See this for a plot summary.
This episode is mostly about Odo’s desire to learn about where he comes from and whether or not there are others like him, a question which has a very interesting answer as his people end up being the main villains in DS9.
The alien, Croden, from the Gamma Quadrant who is sort of the center of the episode is from a society where the punishment for every single crime is very harsh. He’s also some kind of political dissident whose two wives are killed by the security forces as punishment for his dissent and who then kills the members of the security forces. This sort of thing, where it’s vague about the politics involved, isn’t as cool as it would be if they were specific about it and it was about opposing bigotry or organizing workers or something, but it does raise the general issue of human rights and is therefore pretty cool.
Odo, who was supposed to hand Croden over to the authorities on his planet, ends up allowing him and his daughter to board a Vulcan vessel to start a new life.
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out of five.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews B
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Babel” See this for a plot summary.
Basically no political themes at all. It’s a good story though, I’d give it two stars out of five.
“Captive Pursuit” See this for a plot summary.
Almost the entire story is about an alien from the Gamma Quadrant who is bred by other aliens to act as hunting game. It raises issues of respecting sentient life, and is anti-hunting in general, although there are differences between the alien and, say, a deer, since the alien is more intelligent than an animal and can communicate with those who hunt him, which makes it different and worse than hunting animals. As far as normal hunting, I’ve got mixed feelings about that, maybe lean towards negative; as far as hunting beings comparable to humans, obviously that’s pretty messed up.
Besides that, the only other political issue to come up is at the very beginning with a conversation that has nothing to do with the rest of the story. A female employee of the Ferengi Quark (Ferengi are very sexist) whose job is to entertain customers gambling, complains to Sisko about Quark requiring her through her contract to provide him with sexual services. Sisko says that he’ll explain to Quark that he cannot enforce that part of the contract.
The main story is pretty good, the idea of the hunt, the technology of the aliens, and the first encounter with life from the Gamma Quadrant are very interesting, and O’Brien’s friendship with Tosk is good. I give it three stars out of five.
“Q-less” See this for a plot summary.
This is the only Q episode on DS9, which I have mixed feelings about. Although the Voyager Q episodes were pretty good, in general I’m not a big fan of the Q episodes. On the other hand, considering how Q was part of the other two 1990s series, it would be weird if there wasn’t one on DS9, and this one has something that is special. That’s how Sisko relates to Q compared to how Picard handled Q. At one point Sisko hits Q, something which Picard never did.
The only political theme is the references to how Vash has an ethics problem with her archeology work. As she admits, she’s more interested in making a profit than anything else. This results in her taking items of various planets cultures and histories that the people on those planets want to keep on their planets.
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out five.
“Dax” See this for a plot summary.
Overwhelmingly just a mystery, basically no political issues at all. But a good story anyway, even though this is the 4th or 5th time I have seen it and I know how it ends. It also goes into more detail about the Trill host-symbiant relationship, something which is neat and lays the basis for more stories later. I’d give it three stars out of five.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Babel” See this for a plot summary.
Basically no political themes at all. It’s a good story though, I’d give it two stars out of five.
“Captive Pursuit” See this for a plot summary.
Almost the entire story is about an alien from the Gamma Quadrant who is bred by other aliens to act as hunting game. It raises issues of respecting sentient life, and is anti-hunting in general, although there are differences between the alien and, say, a deer, since the alien is more intelligent than an animal and can communicate with those who hunt him, which makes it different and worse than hunting animals. As far as normal hunting, I’ve got mixed feelings about that, maybe lean towards negative; as far as hunting beings comparable to humans, obviously that’s pretty messed up.
Besides that, the only other political issue to come up is at the very beginning with a conversation that has nothing to do with the rest of the story. A female employee of the Ferengi Quark (Ferengi are very sexist) whose job is to entertain customers gambling, complains to Sisko about Quark requiring her through her contract to provide him with sexual services. Sisko says that he’ll explain to Quark that he cannot enforce that part of the contract.
The main story is pretty good, the idea of the hunt, the technology of the aliens, and the first encounter with life from the Gamma Quadrant are very interesting, and O’Brien’s friendship with Tosk is good. I give it three stars out of five.
“Q-less” See this for a plot summary.
This is the only Q episode on DS9, which I have mixed feelings about. Although the Voyager Q episodes were pretty good, in general I’m not a big fan of the Q episodes. On the other hand, considering how Q was part of the other two 1990s series, it would be weird if there wasn’t one on DS9, and this one has something that is special. That’s how Sisko relates to Q compared to how Picard handled Q. At one point Sisko hits Q, something which Picard never did.
The only political theme is the references to how Vash has an ethics problem with her archeology work. As she admits, she’s more interested in making a profit than anything else. This results in her taking items of various planets cultures and histories that the people on those planets want to keep on their planets.
Overall a good episode, I give it two stars out five.
“Dax” See this for a plot summary.
Overwhelmingly just a mystery, basically no political issues at all. But a good story anyway, even though this is the 4th or 5th time I have seen it and I know how it ends. It also goes into more detail about the Trill host-symbiant relationship, something which is neat and lays the basis for more stories later. I’d give it three stars out of five.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews A
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Emissary” Parts 1 and 2. For plot summaries, see this and this.
Although DS9 is one of my two favorite series, I was never a big fan Sisko being the Emissary, especially considering how towards the end of the series it turns out he’s not completely human- and it’s not like he’s part alien, he’s more supernatural (at least that’s how it seems to me). I’m also not interested in the lengthy effort at explaining to the wormhole aliens about linear existence.
On that note I should say that I generally like the religious/spiritual aspect of DS9. ST has generally suggested that jettisoning religion is part of the development of humanity along with world government, universal acceptance of multiculturalism, a shift from militarism to exploration with Starfleet, and some kind of democratic socialism. The only (or at least almost only) religious people in ST are aliens, but with the exception of the Klingons it wasn’t discussed much. It was nice to see a people like the Bajorans who are friendly to the Federation with some religion and spirituality, especially considering how those beliefs are often referred to as having helped them deal with and throw off the Cardassian Occupation.
So, I have mixed feelings about that part of Emissary. It of course sees the discovery of the wormhole, without which DS9 would be about 1/3 as interesting as it is. Considering how the station is stuck in one place, without the wormhole they’d either have to use the same setting more and more often, or they’d have to spend a lot more time traveling to places further away, which probably wouldn’t have worked. Also, of course, the wormhole brings the Dominion, which is a great part of the overall ST story.
They briefly introduce Nog, one of my favorite secondary characters on DS9. They also introduce what I find very interesting and often humorous, how Sisko was friends with the Dax symbiant when the symbiant had an old man as a host, and now the host is a young woman. Of course all the other characters are introduced.
I think that’s about it. It’s a good episode- far from one of my favorites but very necessary to get the series going. I give the two parts together two out of five stars.
“Past Prologue” For the plot summary, see this.
This episode raises issues about how guerrillas respond to the end of the foreign occupations they’re fighting.
1) The Cardassians, although they kept many objects sacred to the Bajoran people and made clear in several ways that they still didn’t respect the Bajorans, did end their occupation of Bajor and Bajor had a new government. But a small faction of the resistance (the Khon-Ma) continue attacks on Cardassia, to “punish” them for half a century of occupation. Now, horrible things WERE done to the Bajorans, but punishment isn’t appropriate in that situation. And that’s not a common reaction. Looking at post-Apartheid South Africa, there seems to have been VERY little turning of the tables, probably close to ZERO. Based on their record during The Troubles of almost NEVER intentionally killing civilians and based on how little support there is since 1997 for continuing armed struggle even while British rule more or less (less) continues, it seems very unlikely that Irish republicans will engage in that sort of behavior when the British leave. There will probably be a VERY small amount such behavior, or more likely, NONE. (the impression given in this episode is that the Khon-Ma had done A LOT to inflict punishment on Cardassia)
2) At one point the main Khon-Ma character says that he wants “Bajor for Bajorans.” To some degree this is fine in general, although depending on what is meant, there’s possibly a problem. For one thing, there are people left on Bajor who are either half Cardassian/half Bajoran, or in some cases, completely Cardassian. Also, although this would be a matter for the Bajorans, I think it would be good for them to join the Federation (at one point they almost joined, but when Sisko had a vision and advised them not to at that point, they decided not to). Federation membership is probably incompatible with “Bajor for Bajorans” as Federation citizens from elsewhere would have to be welcomed, not to mention, their independence would be limited. As I’ve explained here, Sinn Fein and the nationalist community have good anti-racist records and welcome people from outside Ireland (except of course people trying to police and run part of Ireland). They welcome people who come for brief periods of work and also probably consider people who immigrate to become Irish to some degree. Unless it’s made clear that it’s not excluding people who should be made to feel welcome, I’m not a big fan of phrases like “Bajor for Bajorans”
3) It also raises the issue of third party intervention. It seems like it was a good idea for the Bajoran provisional government to invite Starfleet to establish a presence after the Cardassians left. Cardassia might have continued seriously hurting Bajor if given a free-hand, implementing some kind of neo-colonialism, occasionally attacking, that sort of thing. Bajor also got some technical assistance with reconstruction and some advice on political development. And those are the benefits before the wormhole was discovered, which, without the Federation presence, would have resulted in Cardassia re-occupying Bajor as a base from which to control the wormhole. And, although it’s complicated by his role as the emissary and there’s at least one debatable kind of exception, Sisko (throughout the series) does a good job of respecting Bajoran independence. This reminds me of what I wrote about the role of the international community as Ireland is united, as it will be someday. My thoughts on that are here.
Overall a good episode, I give it three out of five stars.
“A Man Alone” For the plot summary, see this.
This episode is significantly about character development, plus the main plot story about a murder. It’s when the friendship between Jake and Nog starts, and that’s a good part of the series. It’s mostly just a mystery story, besides the character development and the establishment of a school for children on DS9. There’s three political issues that come up:
1) Odo, not trained in the human rights culture of the Federation, and having learned his job under the Cardassians, feels that he can throw anyone off the station if he wants to, and Sisko has to explain that that’s not how it works.
2) When Keiko starts up a school, we hear more about how the Ferengi believe in something that’s more or less a pure market system of economics and business, and that it’s a very important part of their culture. As you would guess, I don’t like that much, but I like to interpret this part of the role that Ferengis have in ST series as meaning “capitalism would look something like this if it weren’t for various forces like organized labor, the left, progressives, and most liberals.” I mean, American capitalism could be worse, our society could be even more capitalist.
3) We also hear, perhaps for the first time in ST, that the Ferengi are ridiculously sexist, although we learn more about that later. You could say something similar about this that I said about capitalism above. It also sets the scene for some later episodes where that sexism is seriously challenged.
The mystery is good, although probably better the first 1-2 times I saw this episode. Overall a good episode, I give it two out of five stars.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Emissary” Parts 1 and 2. For plot summaries, see this and this.
Although DS9 is one of my two favorite series, I was never a big fan Sisko being the Emissary, especially considering how towards the end of the series it turns out he’s not completely human- and it’s not like he’s part alien, he’s more supernatural (at least that’s how it seems to me). I’m also not interested in the lengthy effort at explaining to the wormhole aliens about linear existence.
On that note I should say that I generally like the religious/spiritual aspect of DS9. ST has generally suggested that jettisoning religion is part of the development of humanity along with world government, universal acceptance of multiculturalism, a shift from militarism to exploration with Starfleet, and some kind of democratic socialism. The only (or at least almost only) religious people in ST are aliens, but with the exception of the Klingons it wasn’t discussed much. It was nice to see a people like the Bajorans who are friendly to the Federation with some religion and spirituality, especially considering how those beliefs are often referred to as having helped them deal with and throw off the Cardassian Occupation.
So, I have mixed feelings about that part of Emissary. It of course sees the discovery of the wormhole, without which DS9 would be about 1/3 as interesting as it is. Considering how the station is stuck in one place, without the wormhole they’d either have to use the same setting more and more often, or they’d have to spend a lot more time traveling to places further away, which probably wouldn’t have worked. Also, of course, the wormhole brings the Dominion, which is a great part of the overall ST story.
They briefly introduce Nog, one of my favorite secondary characters on DS9. They also introduce what I find very interesting and often humorous, how Sisko was friends with the Dax symbiant when the symbiant had an old man as a host, and now the host is a young woman. Of course all the other characters are introduced.
I think that’s about it. It’s a good episode- far from one of my favorites but very necessary to get the series going. I give the two parts together two out of five stars.
“Past Prologue” For the plot summary, see this.
This episode raises issues about how guerrillas respond to the end of the foreign occupations they’re fighting.
1) The Cardassians, although they kept many objects sacred to the Bajoran people and made clear in several ways that they still didn’t respect the Bajorans, did end their occupation of Bajor and Bajor had a new government. But a small faction of the resistance (the Khon-Ma) continue attacks on Cardassia, to “punish” them for half a century of occupation. Now, horrible things WERE done to the Bajorans, but punishment isn’t appropriate in that situation. And that’s not a common reaction. Looking at post-Apartheid South Africa, there seems to have been VERY little turning of the tables, probably close to ZERO. Based on their record during The Troubles of almost NEVER intentionally killing civilians and based on how little support there is since 1997 for continuing armed struggle even while British rule more or less (less) continues, it seems very unlikely that Irish republicans will engage in that sort of behavior when the British leave. There will probably be a VERY small amount such behavior, or more likely, NONE. (the impression given in this episode is that the Khon-Ma had done A LOT to inflict punishment on Cardassia)
2) At one point the main Khon-Ma character says that he wants “Bajor for Bajorans.” To some degree this is fine in general, although depending on what is meant, there’s possibly a problem. For one thing, there are people left on Bajor who are either half Cardassian/half Bajoran, or in some cases, completely Cardassian. Also, although this would be a matter for the Bajorans, I think it would be good for them to join the Federation (at one point they almost joined, but when Sisko had a vision and advised them not to at that point, they decided not to). Federation membership is probably incompatible with “Bajor for Bajorans” as Federation citizens from elsewhere would have to be welcomed, not to mention, their independence would be limited. As I’ve explained here, Sinn Fein and the nationalist community have good anti-racist records and welcome people from outside Ireland (except of course people trying to police and run part of Ireland). They welcome people who come for brief periods of work and also probably consider people who immigrate to become Irish to some degree. Unless it’s made clear that it’s not excluding people who should be made to feel welcome, I’m not a big fan of phrases like “Bajor for Bajorans”
3) It also raises the issue of third party intervention. It seems like it was a good idea for the Bajoran provisional government to invite Starfleet to establish a presence after the Cardassians left. Cardassia might have continued seriously hurting Bajor if given a free-hand, implementing some kind of neo-colonialism, occasionally attacking, that sort of thing. Bajor also got some technical assistance with reconstruction and some advice on political development. And those are the benefits before the wormhole was discovered, which, without the Federation presence, would have resulted in Cardassia re-occupying Bajor as a base from which to control the wormhole. And, although it’s complicated by his role as the emissary and there’s at least one debatable kind of exception, Sisko (throughout the series) does a good job of respecting Bajoran independence. This reminds me of what I wrote about the role of the international community as Ireland is united, as it will be someday. My thoughts on that are here.
Overall a good episode, I give it three out of five stars.
“A Man Alone” For the plot summary, see this.
This episode is significantly about character development, plus the main plot story about a murder. It’s when the friendship between Jake and Nog starts, and that’s a good part of the series. It’s mostly just a mystery story, besides the character development and the establishment of a school for children on DS9. There’s three political issues that come up:
1) Odo, not trained in the human rights culture of the Federation, and having learned his job under the Cardassians, feels that he can throw anyone off the station if he wants to, and Sisko has to explain that that’s not how it works.
2) When Keiko starts up a school, we hear more about how the Ferengi believe in something that’s more or less a pure market system of economics and business, and that it’s a very important part of their culture. As you would guess, I don’t like that much, but I like to interpret this part of the role that Ferengis have in ST series as meaning “capitalism would look something like this if it weren’t for various forces like organized labor, the left, progressives, and most liberals.” I mean, American capitalism could be worse, our society could be even more capitalist.
3) We also hear, perhaps for the first time in ST, that the Ferengi are ridiculously sexist, although we learn more about that later. You could say something similar about this that I said about capitalism above. It also sets the scene for some later episodes where that sexism is seriously challenged.
The mystery is good, although probably better the first 1-2 times I saw this episode. Overall a good episode, I give it two out of five stars.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Some new lyrics
So, this is another lyrics post. Some of these are really good, those will be towards the bottom, the okay ones will be towards the top. Also, three of them are about anti-racist skinheads, the first post I did with those songs contains some notes in the intro that you might want to read before you read those lyrics.
That's about it. Like I said, I start with the ones that are only okay and end with the ones that are the best. The ones that involve twisting lyrics I politically despise (see this for an explanation) will be identified with a ++ and I'll specify what the original is.
For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).
(I've been and will probably continue to be, kind of lazy about indicating when the chorus is repeated twice at the end of the song, that sort of thing)
I just deleted one of the worst poems I've done, about the Black Panthers
1. RASH. About Irish anti-racist skinheads.
2. People's Democracy. About People's Democracy, the left-wing/civil rights/anti-partition group in N. Ireland that existed from 1968 until sometime in the 1980s.
3. Spirit of the Streets. Anti-racist skinheads.
4. PIRA. The IRA in N. Ireland.
5. Red Rider. Anti-racist skinheads.
6. Stoop Down Low Party. About how bad the Social Democratic and Labour Party in N. Ireland is.
UPDATE 12/12/10 I just took down a poem about the ANC. The quality annoyed me, AND I'm not sure I have enough knowledge about the ANC's struggle to write a poem about it, even a brief one.
*****
“RASH” based on “One Shot Paddy” by Justice, original lyrics are here.
1. V-E day refers to the day victory was declared in Europe during WWII.
2. the last two lines don’t rhyme in the original, which seems to work for listening to the original, and I’m going to keep it as is, just changing IRA to ARA.
3. Brown is the color of fascism.
4. RASH is Red and Anarchistic SkinHeads.
5. ARA is Anti-Racist Action, a group connected to anti-racist skinheads.
**6. 24% of this version is me, 76% is the original.
7. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
8. I don't know why I kept the first two lines as they were in the original. I would have made more sense if the poem was about Irish SHARPs/RASH (I kind of bumped into (on the web) an Irish SHARP, and when he criticized me for my position on the North, I ripped him a new one). I might change that first verse, one way or the other.
9. I am now changing this poem to being about IRISH RASH, instead of American RASH.
10. AFA is Anti-Fascist Action (Ireland)
In Ireland many years ago or so the legend says
Saint Patrick roamed the hills and glens to drive the snakes away,
But now Ireland has anti-fascist skins- they’re bad news for the brown
Their name is RASH and it’s fash that they will hound!
[chorus]
The fash are getting worried they’ve all gone underground
If the RASH see them they know they’re going down
So the next time that you see the fash with their faces full of fright
Look out for the RASH and make sure that your laces aren’t white
Through the cities of Ireland these gallant heroes roam
They’ll wander through the streets they like to call their home,
And when they find fash they loudly charge forward and attack
It is then that you will hear the crack of bone as the fash are pushed back
Chorus
So if you’re home at night and the newsflash it is read,
The RASH has been at work – another fash bashed in the head
And when it comes time to celebrate V-E day’s cheer,
Remember the RASH and the gallant AFA!
Chorus
****
“People’s Democracy” based on “We Are The Law” ++ RACIST by Kill Baby Kill, original lyrics are here.
1. People’s Democracy was a militant, left-wing, and initially student part of the Civil Rights movement in N. Ireland starting in Oct. 1968 (it later became a political party and then around 1980 declined, and many members joined Sinn Fein and then it adopted another name). There’s more about them here, and the first 1/3 of this. PD doesn’t exist anymore, so this doesn’t violate my rules on publishing songs about actual organizations.
2. The first line is kind of a reference to the ambush at Burntollet.
3. The references to fighting are meant to be about 95% non-violent. I imagine there was some involvement with rioting (especially Devlin's role in the Battle of the Bogside) and there was some support for the IRA, but I think PD were largely about non-violence.
4. Probably something like 50%-60% of PD in 1969 were Marxist.
5. I’m not sure how into Irish pride they were, but I think the vast majority in 1969 identified as Irish and that probably went up to 100% about 2 years later, and I only like to change as much as I need to. Irish pride, most of the time is different than white pride. (I just heard something making me think that it's probably a small minority of northern nationalists that would talk about "Irish pride"; I still feel odd completely re-writing that line, so I'm going to keep it)
6. The Six-Counties is a republican term for N. Ireland.
**7. This version is about 46% me, 54% the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
9. PD were very anti-racist and had connections with the Black Panthers.
Rise up all you fallen marchers, rise up and take your stands again.
Let us march for a new tomorrow, let us fight until the day we win
Marching into countless battles, students marching side by side.
Nothing stronger than the troops of Marx, nothing stronger than Irish pride.
Student legions marching for radical change, starting in Oct 1968.
To all of those who cross our path: capitalism and sectarianism we do hate
Never will they take us down, we’re born to fight and so we will.
The Six-Counties are our battleground, for the working-class we’re fighting still.
Chorus:
We are marching on the street.
PD… we take on the elite.
We will win and you know why.
People’s Democracy will never die.
Irish men and women the time has come,
to take down all the Unionist scum.
Our marching days are here now,
to our mighty legions they shall bow.
So listen here, we are socialists,
we keep on fighting Brits and Unionists.
We keep on fighting til sectarianism ends,
to this government we shall never bend
2nd Chorus
We are marching on the street.
PD… we take on the elite.
We will win and you know why.
we’re People’s Democracy and we will never die.
*******
“Spirit of the Streets” based on “We Are the Law” ++RACIST by Kill Baby Kill, original lyrics are here.
1. “Spirit of the streets” is probably more associated with traditional, non-racist skinheads than with anti-racist skinheads (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice, SHARP) but I’ve seen SHARP youtube videos that included imagery with that phrase.
2. Skinheads have a sense of working-class pride and/or pride in being a skinhead. With the anti-racists, they do represent the best of the skinhead culture.
3. Skinheads wear different colored laces on their boots to indicated their politics or lack thereof.
4. The culture being referred to is the SKINHEAD culture, or subculture, which SHARPs feel is at risk from the Nazi skinheads (also known as boneheads).
5. The reference to workers seems to go a bit beyond how I normally talk about the working-class and anti-racist skinheads (traditionally skinhead is overwhelmingly working-class and probably remains so, or at least mostly so). If it does drift to the left, and only some small majority of anti-racist skinheads are more or less left-wing, that’s fine, I’m a leftist and that's how I'll sometimes write the songs.
6. In various ways, anti-racist skinheads are helpful to those who struggle en masse, even though probably something like 1/3 of anti-racist skinheads don’t really think about that (there’s a spectrum on this, and many are relatively non-political).
**7. This version is 33% me, 67% the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/1/11 9. As far as helping "those who struggle en mass." A: Although many/most SHARPs don't care about that much, if at all, the fact is that what they do is helpful for people trying to combat racism non-violently; B: I use that rhyme pretty often, because I often forget to try similar words like "last."
Rise up all you fallen fighters, rise up and take your stands again.
Let us fight for a new tomorrow, let us fight until the day we win.
Marching into countless battles, Skinheads marching side by side.
Nothing stronger than the skins of SHARP, nothing stronger than Skinhead pride.
Shaven-headed legions march for freedom, Nazis won’t escape their fate
To all Nazis who cross our path: change your laces before it’s too late
Never will they take us down, we’re born to fight and so we will.
Our streets are our battleground, for the working-class and our culture we’re fighting still.
Chorus:
We are the spirit of the streets
Skinheads… We’re the elite.
We wear our boots and you know why.
SHARP Skinheads will never die.
Workers now the time has come,
to save your class from the scum.
The boneheads’ days are over now,
to our mighty legions they shall bow.
So listen here, this is our town,
we keep on fighting the Nazi clowns
We keep on fighting for the working-class,
fighting to help those who struggle en masse
2nd Chorus
We are the spirit of the streets
Skinheads… We’re the elite.
We wear our boots and you know why.
we’re SHARP Skinheads and we will never die.
*******
“PIRA” based on “CYC” ++LOYALIST by Rab C. original lyrics are here (this is probably the most offensive thing I listen to, it might be upsetting)
1. The original is loyalist. This is about the Provisional IRA.
2. The smell is from the firing of weapons.
3. AK-47s are automatic rifles, RPGs are Rocket Propelled Grenades.
4. Peeler is police. Squaddies are British soldiers.
5. The Warsaw ghetto was one of the few places where there was Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. There’s a great movie about it called “Uprising.” (see this). You might think that this reference is innapropriate, considering that the IRA accepted aid from Nazi Germany and did some things that might have slightly benefited Nazi Germany. I did an entire post about this where I ripped the IRA a new one over it, and went half as far about Irish neutrality during the war. For my post on this, go here.
6. The RUC were, until 2001, the police.
7. The song, including the last line, is not an endorsement of continuing armed struggle past 1997.
8. This is the 3rd song in which I assume that republican paramilitaries wore combat boots. It just worked too well in some ways, and it’s possible some/most/all of them DID wear combat boots. UPDATE 3/11/10: A good source has told me that, yes, sometimes they did, but it was more common in rural areas.
9. The song describes something which probably happened zero or one time the entire conflict, although some things almost as intense probably happened something like five times. I’ve seen video of one gun-fight that was sort of similar.
10. The first two lines don’t rhyme in the original or my version, but in both it seems to work.
**11. 46% of this version is me, 54% is the original. Also I ignored one entire verse that I couldn’t do much with.
12. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/1/11 13. As far as triangulating fire, I am almost certain that's something combatants in combat do, although I can only find a small number of web-pages with that phrase. I believe it refers to pinning your opponent down with fire from multiple directions, or something like that.
13. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
All told their partners when they got home that,
They didn't know where the smell came from,
They attacked with AKs and RPGs and boots on their feet,
And they forced them all the way back down the street,
Cos they hate the Queen and the House of Lords,
They’re the band that defended the Lower Falls ward
All the peelers were acting like Nazi pricks,
And the Provos triangulated their fire and put them in a fix
It was the maddest thing that you ever did see,
All the young soldiers in D Company
They battled them good and they dealt them a real blow
They fought like the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto
When the Squaddies tried to intervene,
They got it too the best you've ever seen,
The RUC ran away in total retreat,
They left their colleagues behind, littering the street
The crowds all cheered as the Provos marched by,
All the soldiers with their head held high,
They clapped their hands and they stapmed their feet,
Republican Fighters are on the street.
So please love don't be mad with me,
Send my uniform out for a wee dry clean,
And if the peelers break down the door,
Tell 'em Ireland unfree will always be at war.
****
UPDATE 7/27/11 There used to be a poem here about the killing of five communists by the Klan and Nazis in 1979. Apparently there's VERY few anti-racists out there who believe that their deaths should be commemorated. There's also the fact that it had potential to give former friends and potential allies the wrong idea about my beliefs.
****
“Red Rider” based on “White Rider” ++RACIST by Skrewwdriver, original lyrics are here.
1. This is my 3rd song about Red and Anarchistic SkinHeads (RASH) exclsuively, which is kind of over-representing thier numbers among anti-racist skinheads, but A: I’m a leftist and close the political center of RASH, and B: I needed a color, and there’s not much of a color for the rest of the anti-racist skinheads (blue’s close, but doesn’t symbolize them the way that red symbolizes communism).
2. Historically skinheads have been into scooters, and I think that today is much more popular with anti-racist and non-racist skins than it is with Nazis. So, the “rider” part actually makes a lot of sense.
3. I’m tempted to de-sex the reference to fore-fathers, but it’s largely referring to, for example, those who fought fascism in the Spanish civil war or those who fought with the Allies in WWII (at the very least those who were motivated by anti-fascism and fought in the Atlantic/N. Africa/Europe, since we’re not talking about Japanese-imperialist skinheads), so the people I’m referring to would be something like 90% male. UPDATE 3/18/15 I added "fore-mothers."
4. Pride in this version refers to working-class pride.
5. Just like the other anti-fascist version of this song I’ve done, the reference to standing fast is a bit problematic, but works more or less, in this case, better than the other one if you consider that it’s calling on workers to oppose bigotry and fascism in whatever way they feel comfortable but to also support anti-racist skinheads (unless they're pacifists).
6. Just to be clear, that’s all peopleS meaning all cultures.
7. Overwhelmingly, when white supremacists try working within one of the two mjaor parties, it’s the Republican party (there's probably only some small minority of Republican tools who are aligned with the white supremacists, although there's a larger number that flirt with white supremacists) (I do know of at least one case where Nazi skinheads worked the election campaign of a Republican).
8. The culture referred to is the skinhead culture, which anti-racist skinheads feel is under threat from Nazi skinheads.
**9. This version is 23% me, 77% the original.
10. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
You ride through the streets with your head held up high
For the working-class and your culture you're willing to die
Your forefathers and fore-mothers fought and your forefathers fore-mothers died
They died for a feeling they felt deep inside
Chorus
Red rider, red rider, your strength is your pride
red rider, red rider, you'll stand, never hide
red rider, red rider, your boots are your voice
You scorn the conscripted, you're fighting through choice
Your banners are unfolded, carry them with love
To fight for the working-class is a gift from above
Some fools will oppose you, true workers will stand fast
But victory shall be ours for the multi-racial working-class
You feel love for all peoples, disdain for the fools
The enemy's allied with the Republican tools
You fight for the working-class which shall be proud and free
And the only reward that you crave is victory
******
“Stoop Down Low Party” based on “Just Look Around” by Sick Of It All, original lyrics are here.
1. This is set sometime in the early 1990s.
2. Stoops are members of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein’s moderate rival in the nationalist community. See this.
3. FF and FG are Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the two main parties in the Republic and are right around the center on economics, especially FG, and FF has a history of corruption. They also don’t care about the North as much as they should, especially FG (recently FF started organizing in the North).
4. The Irish Army is often sent overseas on UN Peace-Keeping missions. Although I think that’s great (and I think most republicans would agree), and it’s unsure what republicans would have done if they had had control of it during the conflict, I like the idea of republicans complaining about how the Army is being sent over-seas when there’s a need for it in the North! Volunteers are members of republican paramilitaries.
5. Hoods are young, usually more or less apolitical nationalist youth who engage in behavior that they more or less shouldn’t be- basically criminal, although there’s a spectrum and probably some of it is what a lot teenagers do everywhere- smoking pot for example. Because there was no support for the police, Nationalists would turn to the IRA to deal with crime, and this created a lot of hostility between the IRA and their supporters (“Provos”) on one hand and the hoods on the other hand, especially since, as far as I can tell, some large minority of the time the IRA either went too far or should have done nothing at all.
6. The majority of Provos at that time would have been against homophobia, but I know that some large minority were homophobic.
7. The three groups I chose- Provos, hoods, and gay people, seem like the best substitutes for the chorus, and it pretty much makes sense. To whatever degree the hoods are political, they’re closer to the Provos than the SDLP and we’re talking about working-class Nationalist youth who don’t benefit from the SDLP’s moderate politics. The SDLP back then were also very homophobic.
8. The SDLP is very middle-class and elements of the nationalist middle-class about that time were doing very well.
9. The Lower Falls is a working-class nationalist area where, at that point, SF was getting something like 70% of the vote.
10. Although there were other problems with the education system (it was structurally biased against working-class kids (that’s in the process of being changed, by SF)), I decided to pick on the Catholic Church and their homophobia and moderate, almost pro-British politics.
11. The Dail is the parliament in Dublin, which has basically never shown as much concern about the North as it should.
12. Squaddies are British soldiers, an estate is basically a neighborhood. The hatred is aimed at the British government and the British Army.
**13. This version is 29% me, 71% the original.
14. There are places where the lines don't rhyme in either my version or the original.
15. The line about Irish mankind is off a little bit, but it says Northern Irish (within a couple hours of publishing I added Northern) so it's referring to the Nationalist population, it's pretty accurate, unemployment back then was pretty high for Catholics.
16. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
17. The voice in this poem is militant and sort of pro-IRA. But many of his/her complaints would also be voiced by a lot of SDLP voters and some SDLP members.
UPDATE 2/1/11 18. In the 5th line of the 2nd verse, I just replaced the word "they're" with the word "London's."
The question the stoops keep asking me
how can one so young be so bitter and angry
well, the answer is plain to see
maybe if they weren't so blind they'd see what i see
i see the Brits patrolling on our streets
on every corner they're asking for ID
i start riots whenever I can
but sometimes the Brits just keep driving by
i see the repression and unemployment of Northern Irish mankind
the greed of FF and FG has made them blind
to our problems
Dublin sends battallions overseas,
Volunteers right here are fighting a war everyday
Chorus:
I see the hood that hates the Provo
Provo against the gays, neighbor against neighbor
and they're all too blind to see
When we fight each other it puts the SDLP at ease
it keeps us so busy, so they can do what they please
election time comes and they're out for votes
that's when you see and hear from them the most
The North is what London's calling a democracy
that's just another word for hypocrisy
Nationalist workers keep fallin' for the SDLP’s bait
And when they realize, it's always too late
Chorus
As the stoops get richer, the Lower Falls goin' hungry
i've seen the toll it takes on the workers family
education system that's obsolete
Preaches bigotry and tells kids not to riot in the street
see a father's fear, hear a mother's cry
what kind of a Dail watches our children die
The squaddies raid every single home in the estate
then you're gonna ask me why I hate
Why don't you open up your eyes so you can see
open up your ears so you can hear
take a look around and you will find
take a look around and you will find out why
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).
That's about it. Like I said, I start with the ones that are only okay and end with the ones that are the best. The ones that involve twisting lyrics I politically despise (see this for an explanation) will be identified with a ++ and I'll specify what the original is.
For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).
(I've been and will probably continue to be, kind of lazy about indicating when the chorus is repeated twice at the end of the song, that sort of thing)
I just deleted one of the worst poems I've done, about the Black Panthers
1. RASH. About Irish anti-racist skinheads.
2. People's Democracy. About People's Democracy, the left-wing/civil rights/anti-partition group in N. Ireland that existed from 1968 until sometime in the 1980s.
3. Spirit of the Streets. Anti-racist skinheads.
4. PIRA. The IRA in N. Ireland.
5. Red Rider. Anti-racist skinheads.
6. Stoop Down Low Party. About how bad the Social Democratic and Labour Party in N. Ireland is.
UPDATE 12/12/10 I just took down a poem about the ANC. The quality annoyed me, AND I'm not sure I have enough knowledge about the ANC's struggle to write a poem about it, even a brief one.
*****
“RASH” based on “One Shot Paddy” by Justice, original lyrics are here.
1. V-E day refers to the day victory was declared in Europe during WWII.
2. the last two lines don’t rhyme in the original, which seems to work for listening to the original, and I’m going to keep it as is, just changing IRA to ARA.
3. Brown is the color of fascism.
4. RASH is Red and Anarchistic SkinHeads.
5. ARA is Anti-Racist Action, a group connected to anti-racist skinheads.
**6. 24% of this version is me, 76% is the original.
7. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
8. I don't know why I kept the first two lines as they were in the original. I would have made more sense if the poem was about Irish SHARPs/RASH (I kind of bumped into (on the web) an Irish SHARP, and when he criticized me for my position on the North, I ripped him a new one). I might change that first verse, one way or the other.
9. I am now changing this poem to being about IRISH RASH, instead of American RASH.
10. AFA is Anti-Fascist Action (Ireland)
In Ireland many years ago or so the legend says
Saint Patrick roamed the hills and glens to drive the snakes away,
But now Ireland has anti-fascist skins- they’re bad news for the brown
Their name is RASH and it’s fash that they will hound!
[chorus]
The fash are getting worried they’ve all gone underground
If the RASH see them they know they’re going down
So the next time that you see the fash with their faces full of fright
Look out for the RASH and make sure that your laces aren’t white
Through the cities of Ireland these gallant heroes roam
They’ll wander through the streets they like to call their home,
And when they find fash they loudly charge forward and attack
It is then that you will hear the crack of bone as the fash are pushed back
Chorus
So if you’re home at night and the newsflash it is read,
The RASH has been at work – another fash bashed in the head
And when it comes time to celebrate V-E day’s cheer,
Remember the RASH and the gallant AFA!
Chorus
****
“People’s Democracy” based on “We Are The Law” ++ RACIST by Kill Baby Kill, original lyrics are here.
1. People’s Democracy was a militant, left-wing, and initially student part of the Civil Rights movement in N. Ireland starting in Oct. 1968 (it later became a political party and then around 1980 declined, and many members joined Sinn Fein and then it adopted another name). There’s more about them here, and the first 1/3 of this. PD doesn’t exist anymore, so this doesn’t violate my rules on publishing songs about actual organizations.
2. The first line is kind of a reference to the ambush at Burntollet.
3. The references to fighting are meant to be about 95% non-violent. I imagine there was some involvement with rioting (especially Devlin's role in the Battle of the Bogside) and there was some support for the IRA, but I think PD were largely about non-violence.
4. Probably something like 50%-60% of PD in 1969 were Marxist.
5. I’m not sure how into Irish pride they were, but I think the vast majority in 1969 identified as Irish and that probably went up to 100% about 2 years later, and I only like to change as much as I need to. Irish pride, most of the time is different than white pride. (I just heard something making me think that it's probably a small minority of northern nationalists that would talk about "Irish pride"; I still feel odd completely re-writing that line, so I'm going to keep it)
6. The Six-Counties is a republican term for N. Ireland.
**7. This version is about 46% me, 54% the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
9. PD were very anti-racist and had connections with the Black Panthers.
Rise up all you fallen marchers, rise up and take your stands again.
Let us march for a new tomorrow, let us fight until the day we win
Marching into countless battles, students marching side by side.
Nothing stronger than the troops of Marx, nothing stronger than Irish pride.
Student legions marching for radical change, starting in Oct 1968.
To all of those who cross our path: capitalism and sectarianism we do hate
Never will they take us down, we’re born to fight and so we will.
The Six-Counties are our battleground, for the working-class we’re fighting still.
Chorus:
We are marching on the street.
PD… we take on the elite.
We will win and you know why.
People’s Democracy will never die.
Irish men and women the time has come,
to take down all the Unionist scum.
Our marching days are here now,
to our mighty legions they shall bow.
So listen here, we are socialists,
we keep on fighting Brits and Unionists.
We keep on fighting til sectarianism ends,
to this government we shall never bend
2nd Chorus
We are marching on the street.
PD… we take on the elite.
We will win and you know why.
we’re People’s Democracy and we will never die.
*******
“Spirit of the Streets” based on “We Are the Law” ++RACIST by Kill Baby Kill, original lyrics are here.
1. “Spirit of the streets” is probably more associated with traditional, non-racist skinheads than with anti-racist skinheads (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice, SHARP) but I’ve seen SHARP youtube videos that included imagery with that phrase.
2. Skinheads have a sense of working-class pride and/or pride in being a skinhead. With the anti-racists, they do represent the best of the skinhead culture.
3. Skinheads wear different colored laces on their boots to indicated their politics or lack thereof.
4. The culture being referred to is the SKINHEAD culture, or subculture, which SHARPs feel is at risk from the Nazi skinheads (also known as boneheads).
5. The reference to workers seems to go a bit beyond how I normally talk about the working-class and anti-racist skinheads (traditionally skinhead is overwhelmingly working-class and probably remains so, or at least mostly so). If it does drift to the left, and only some small majority of anti-racist skinheads are more or less left-wing, that’s fine, I’m a leftist and that's how I'll sometimes write the songs.
6. In various ways, anti-racist skinheads are helpful to those who struggle en masse, even though probably something like 1/3 of anti-racist skinheads don’t really think about that (there’s a spectrum on this, and many are relatively non-political).
**7. This version is 33% me, 67% the original.
8. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/1/11 9. As far as helping "those who struggle en mass." A: Although many/most SHARPs don't care about that much, if at all, the fact is that what they do is helpful for people trying to combat racism non-violently; B: I use that rhyme pretty often, because I often forget to try similar words like "last."
Rise up all you fallen fighters, rise up and take your stands again.
Let us fight for a new tomorrow, let us fight until the day we win.
Marching into countless battles, Skinheads marching side by side.
Nothing stronger than the skins of SHARP, nothing stronger than Skinhead pride.
Shaven-headed legions march for freedom, Nazis won’t escape their fate
To all Nazis who cross our path: change your laces before it’s too late
Never will they take us down, we’re born to fight and so we will.
Our streets are our battleground, for the working-class and our culture we’re fighting still.
Chorus:
We are the spirit of the streets
Skinheads… We’re the elite.
We wear our boots and you know why.
SHARP Skinheads will never die.
Workers now the time has come,
to save your class from the scum.
The boneheads’ days are over now,
to our mighty legions they shall bow.
So listen here, this is our town,
we keep on fighting the Nazi clowns
We keep on fighting for the working-class,
fighting to help those who struggle en masse
2nd Chorus
We are the spirit of the streets
Skinheads… We’re the elite.
We wear our boots and you know why.
we’re SHARP Skinheads and we will never die.
*******
“PIRA” based on “CYC” ++LOYALIST by Rab C. original lyrics are here (this is probably the most offensive thing I listen to, it might be upsetting)
1. The original is loyalist. This is about the Provisional IRA.
2. The smell is from the firing of weapons.
3. AK-47s are automatic rifles, RPGs are Rocket Propelled Grenades.
4. Peeler is police. Squaddies are British soldiers.
5. The Warsaw ghetto was one of the few places where there was Jewish resistance to the Holocaust. There’s a great movie about it called “Uprising.” (see this). You might think that this reference is innapropriate, considering that the IRA accepted aid from Nazi Germany and did some things that might have slightly benefited Nazi Germany. I did an entire post about this where I ripped the IRA a new one over it, and went half as far about Irish neutrality during the war. For my post on this, go here.
6. The RUC were, until 2001, the police.
7. The song, including the last line, is not an endorsement of continuing armed struggle past 1997.
8. This is the 3rd song in which I assume that republican paramilitaries wore combat boots. It just worked too well in some ways, and it’s possible some/most/all of them DID wear combat boots. UPDATE 3/11/10: A good source has told me that, yes, sometimes they did, but it was more common in rural areas.
9. The song describes something which probably happened zero or one time the entire conflict, although some things almost as intense probably happened something like five times. I’ve seen video of one gun-fight that was sort of similar.
10. The first two lines don’t rhyme in the original or my version, but in both it seems to work.
**11. 46% of this version is me, 54% is the original. Also I ignored one entire verse that I couldn’t do much with.
12. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/1/11 13. As far as triangulating fire, I am almost certain that's something combatants in combat do, although I can only find a small number of web-pages with that phrase. I believe it refers to pinning your opponent down with fire from multiple directions, or something like that.
13. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
All told their partners when they got home that,
They didn't know where the smell came from,
They attacked with AKs and RPGs and boots on their feet,
And they forced them all the way back down the street,
Cos they hate the Queen and the House of Lords,
They’re the band that defended the Lower Falls ward
All the peelers were acting like Nazi pricks,
And the Provos triangulated their fire and put them in a fix
It was the maddest thing that you ever did see,
All the young soldiers in D Company
They battled them good and they dealt them a real blow
They fought like the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto
When the Squaddies tried to intervene,
They got it too the best you've ever seen,
The RUC ran away in total retreat,
They left their colleagues behind, littering the street
The crowds all cheered as the Provos marched by,
All the soldiers with their head held high,
They clapped their hands and they stapmed their feet,
Republican Fighters are on the street.
So please love don't be mad with me,
Send my uniform out for a wee dry clean,
And if the peelers break down the door,
Tell 'em Ireland unfree will always be at war.
****
UPDATE 7/27/11 There used to be a poem here about the killing of five communists by the Klan and Nazis in 1979. Apparently there's VERY few anti-racists out there who believe that their deaths should be commemorated. There's also the fact that it had potential to give former friends and potential allies the wrong idea about my beliefs.
****
“Red Rider” based on “White Rider” ++RACIST by Skrewwdriver, original lyrics are here.
1. This is my 3rd song about Red and Anarchistic SkinHeads (RASH) exclsuively, which is kind of over-representing thier numbers among anti-racist skinheads, but A: I’m a leftist and close the political center of RASH, and B: I needed a color, and there’s not much of a color for the rest of the anti-racist skinheads (blue’s close, but doesn’t symbolize them the way that red symbolizes communism).
2. Historically skinheads have been into scooters, and I think that today is much more popular with anti-racist and non-racist skins than it is with Nazis. So, the “rider” part actually makes a lot of sense.
3. I’m tempted to de-sex the reference to fore-fathers, but it’s largely referring to, for example, those who fought fascism in the Spanish civil war or those who fought with the Allies in WWII (at the very least those who were motivated by anti-fascism and fought in the Atlantic/N. Africa/Europe, since we’re not talking about Japanese-imperialist skinheads), so the people I’m referring to would be something like 90% male. UPDATE 3/18/15 I added "fore-mothers."
4. Pride in this version refers to working-class pride.
5. Just like the other anti-fascist version of this song I’ve done, the reference to standing fast is a bit problematic, but works more or less, in this case, better than the other one if you consider that it’s calling on workers to oppose bigotry and fascism in whatever way they feel comfortable but to also support anti-racist skinheads (unless they're pacifists).
6. Just to be clear, that’s all peopleS meaning all cultures.
7. Overwhelmingly, when white supremacists try working within one of the two mjaor parties, it’s the Republican party (there's probably only some small minority of Republican tools who are aligned with the white supremacists, although there's a larger number that flirt with white supremacists) (I do know of at least one case where Nazi skinheads worked the election campaign of a Republican).
8. The culture referred to is the skinhead culture, which anti-racist skinheads feel is under threat from Nazi skinheads.
**9. This version is 23% me, 77% the original.
10. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
You ride through the streets with your head held up high
For the working-class and your culture you're willing to die
Your forefathers and fore-mothers fought and your forefathers fore-mothers died
They died for a feeling they felt deep inside
Chorus
Red rider, red rider, your strength is your pride
red rider, red rider, you'll stand, never hide
red rider, red rider, your boots are your voice
You scorn the conscripted, you're fighting through choice
Your banners are unfolded, carry them with love
To fight for the working-class is a gift from above
Some fools will oppose you, true workers will stand fast
But victory shall be ours for the multi-racial working-class
You feel love for all peoples, disdain for the fools
The enemy's allied with the Republican tools
You fight for the working-class which shall be proud and free
And the only reward that you crave is victory
******
“Stoop Down Low Party” based on “Just Look Around” by Sick Of It All, original lyrics are here.
1. This is set sometime in the early 1990s.
2. Stoops are members of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein’s moderate rival in the nationalist community. See this.
3. FF and FG are Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the two main parties in the Republic and are right around the center on economics, especially FG, and FF has a history of corruption. They also don’t care about the North as much as they should, especially FG (recently FF started organizing in the North).
4. The Irish Army is often sent overseas on UN Peace-Keeping missions. Although I think that’s great (and I think most republicans would agree), and it’s unsure what republicans would have done if they had had control of it during the conflict, I like the idea of republicans complaining about how the Army is being sent over-seas when there’s a need for it in the North! Volunteers are members of republican paramilitaries.
5. Hoods are young, usually more or less apolitical nationalist youth who engage in behavior that they more or less shouldn’t be- basically criminal, although there’s a spectrum and probably some of it is what a lot teenagers do everywhere- smoking pot for example. Because there was no support for the police, Nationalists would turn to the IRA to deal with crime, and this created a lot of hostility between the IRA and their supporters (“Provos”) on one hand and the hoods on the other hand, especially since, as far as I can tell, some large minority of the time the IRA either went too far or should have done nothing at all.
6. The majority of Provos at that time would have been against homophobia, but I know that some large minority were homophobic.
7. The three groups I chose- Provos, hoods, and gay people, seem like the best substitutes for the chorus, and it pretty much makes sense. To whatever degree the hoods are political, they’re closer to the Provos than the SDLP and we’re talking about working-class Nationalist youth who don’t benefit from the SDLP’s moderate politics. The SDLP back then were also very homophobic.
8. The SDLP is very middle-class and elements of the nationalist middle-class about that time were doing very well.
9. The Lower Falls is a working-class nationalist area where, at that point, SF was getting something like 70% of the vote.
10. Although there were other problems with the education system (it was structurally biased against working-class kids (that’s in the process of being changed, by SF)), I decided to pick on the Catholic Church and their homophobia and moderate, almost pro-British politics.
11. The Dail is the parliament in Dublin, which has basically never shown as much concern about the North as it should.
12. Squaddies are British soldiers, an estate is basically a neighborhood. The hatred is aimed at the British government and the British Army.
**13. This version is 29% me, 71% the original.
14. There are places where the lines don't rhyme in either my version or the original.
15. The line about Irish mankind is off a little bit, but it says Northern Irish (within a couple hours of publishing I added Northern) so it's referring to the Nationalist population, it's pretty accurate, unemployment back then was pretty high for Catholics.
16. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
17. The voice in this poem is militant and sort of pro-IRA. But many of his/her complaints would also be voiced by a lot of SDLP voters and some SDLP members.
UPDATE 2/1/11 18. In the 5th line of the 2nd verse, I just replaced the word "they're" with the word "London's."
The question the stoops keep asking me
how can one so young be so bitter and angry
well, the answer is plain to see
maybe if they weren't so blind they'd see what i see
i see the Brits patrolling on our streets
on every corner they're asking for ID
i start riots whenever I can
but sometimes the Brits just keep driving by
i see the repression and unemployment of Northern Irish mankind
the greed of FF and FG has made them blind
to our problems
Dublin sends battallions overseas,
Volunteers right here are fighting a war everyday
Chorus:
I see the hood that hates the Provo
Provo against the gays, neighbor against neighbor
and they're all too blind to see
When we fight each other it puts the SDLP at ease
it keeps us so busy, so they can do what they please
election time comes and they're out for votes
that's when you see and hear from them the most
The North is what London's calling a democracy
that's just another word for hypocrisy
Nationalist workers keep fallin' for the SDLP’s bait
And when they realize, it's always too late
Chorus
As the stoops get richer, the Lower Falls goin' hungry
i've seen the toll it takes on the workers family
education system that's obsolete
Preaches bigotry and tells kids not to riot in the street
see a father's fear, hear a mother's cry
what kind of a Dail watches our children die
The squaddies raid every single home in the estate
then you're gonna ask me why I hate
Why don't you open up your eyes so you can see
open up your ears so you can hear
take a look around and you will find
take a look around and you will find out why
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).
Monday, June 1, 2009
Lyrics!! Lyircs!! Lyrics!!
On one hand this is a new batch of songs, the second I've posted in just a few hours. The first were songs which, with one exception, I had created a week or months ago. This batch are all new. They're from a variety of sources, some involve twisting lyrics (see this for an explanation) those will be ID'd with ++ as a symbol.
For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).
I think that's about it. As usual, I start with the least impressive and end with the most.
1. University of Freedom. The 1981 Irish Republican Hunger-Strike.
2. Stand up and Be Counted (IRA). Guess.
3. Scum of Britain. About Ian Stuart Donaldson, the late leader of the world-wide Nazi skinhead movement.
4. The Great Esacpe. Allied POWs in WWII.
5. Son of America. Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. Soldiarity. The American Left and N. Ireland.
“University of Freedom” based on “Bowels of the Devil” by Body Count (Ice-T's heavy metal band), original lyrics are here.
1. Irish republicans often would refer to the main prison that held many of them, Long Kesh, as the “University of Freedom” becaue they did a lot work educating themselves and eachother in anti-imperialism and (for the majority) left-wing politics.
2. ASU is an Active Servicce Unit. Most of the IRA (it’s not super clear, but I’m pretty sure this was not univeral throughout the organization) adopted a structure where the ASU was the smallest unit. The Company was another, larger unit of the IRA.
3. There are 32 Counties in Ireland.
4. Squaddies is a term for British soldiers.
5. The Falls is a republican area.
6. In the late 1970s the British tried to break the republican family by criminalizing republican prisoners. See this and this (most of the last 1/2 is about the hunger-strike era). The prisoners resisted this effort, culminating in the 1981 Hunger-Strike when 10 men died, Bobby Sands was the first.
7. The Hunger-Strike resulted in the prisoners’ demands being quietly conceded by the government, which meant that the British failed to break them, and although it involved 10 men dying on hunger-strike, it strengthened the struggle. It also involved the incorporation of electoral politics into the republican struggle which greatly strengthened that struggle.
8. It's basically about someone in the prison during the struggle against criminalization, and who is speaking between then and 1997.
9. I eliminated some of the Ice-T stuff (“yo”), but left some of it.
10. I ended up using the word “learns” the way that people say “teaches.”
11. The "North's LAPD" refers to the police, the RUC. I thought it was a nice way of thanking Ice-T for the original lyrics. Also, I've heard that very recently the LAPD has improved, and you could say that even before that change started, the LAPD was not as bad as the RUC.
12. the seperate race line is probably GREATLY exaggerating, especially in terms of how widespread that sentiment is.
**13. 71% of this version is me, 29% is the original.
14. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
15. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
16. Is about the IRA, but it's not a bad moment to remind readers that around 80% of the nationalist community supported the hunger-strikers.
17. UPDATE 5/1/17 A "nine" is a gun.
18. UPDATE 6/8/18 The first two lines might sound like I'm calling the British Army the "North's LAPD." I didn't mean that and I think it makes sense to see the first line is about the BA and the second is about the RUC police, but I wanted to make CERTAIN there is no confusion.
Out one night, fighting Brits with my Company
We fight for our people, against the North’s LAPD
Got a nine at my waist
Brits think we’re a seperate race
They fuck with West Belfast right here'll be their resting place.
Some squaddies, they tried to put a move on the Falls
I shot them in the face, but I was captured in the brawl
Then I was in Long Kesh, They wanted us to crawl
they thought they’d break us, but we remained standing tall
Chorus:
University of Freedom,
let me tell you what that muthafucka learns,
its faculty filled with revolutionaries
liberation, socialism, the people’s concerns.
University of Freedom,
listen close, 'cause I've been there before
And those who died there,
They are why we will win this war,
THEY ARE WHY WE WILL WIN THIS WAR!
Aiming the mortars at the British Army base
With the people’s support we’ll get them out of this place,
and my ASU’s down, we don't mess around,
Brits fuck with us, They’ll be six feet underground.
Prison couldn’t break us, we’ll resist to our last breath
Thatcher, that motherfucker, is responsible for Bobby’s death.
That's right, homeboy couldn’t be broken by the bourgeoisie
up there in Freedom’s University.
Chorus
******
++“Stand Up And Be Counted (IRA)” based on “Stand Up And Be Counted” by The Klansmen original lyrics are here.
1. The original is a classic Klan song, but the version I heard is by a side project of Ian Stuart Donaldson of Skrewdriver, a British Nazi skinhead band which was very supportive of the British and loyalist causes in Ireland.
2. Since the original is American racist, I made a point of including certain elements, see this.
3. This is not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since the IRA’s declaration of a cease-fire in 1997.
4. AK-47s are rifles.
5. The Plough is the Starry Plough, the symbol of republican socialism.
6. The Sunburst is the symbol of the old youth wing of the IRA..
7. Bread is a symbol of economic justice.
8. I went with Tory instead of Brit because A: it involved further twisting, and B: the Tories are a much bigger part of the problem, probably something like 1/3 of Labour are friendly to Sinn Feiin, probably something like 1/3 are okay-good, and probably 1/3 are more or less (less) Unionists.
**9. 47% of this version is me, 53% is the original.
10. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/2/11 I just replaced the word "mortar" with the word "Tri-Color" (the flag of Ireland) in the 2nd verse.
11. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
Chorus:
Stand up and be counted, we’ll make a stand today
Stand up and be counted, and join the IRA
We are anti-fascists, who love our country too
We always can be counted on, when there's a job to do
We serve our people day and night, and soon they will be free
Proudly wear the mask, fighting for our community.
Chorus
Survival calls for vigilance the symbols of our fight
The Sunburst and Plough, Tri-color and AK, we know we are right
In search for freedom and bread we fight with rifle in hands
We must defeat the Tory to unite our Irish land
Chorus
******
++“Scum of Britian” based on “Son of Britain” by Saga, original lyrics are here.
1. Bonehead is an anti-racist term for Nazi skinhead.
2. Suss seems to mean, in British, smarts or something like that.
3. Ian Stuart was the leader of Skrewdriver, which in the 80s and early 90s was the world’s leading white supremacist skinhead band; he died in a car accident in 1993.
4. Valhalla is part of Norse mythology, it is where warriors go when they die, although there’s some debate about whether or not you have to die in combat. The nazis love Valhalla and are all convinced that Ian Stuart went there, but an anti-Ian Stuart song by the Stage Bottles says that he didn’t because he was killed in a car accident; I’d imagine he was more a musician than a fighter, and then there’s the idea that people who attack others (likely smaller and/or weaker) through bigotry are not eligible for Valhalla; so I’m open-minded about whether or not he’s in Valhalla (that is, if I believed in it, and I sort of pretend to just to have some fun at the expense of the fash, and to make a good point).
5. Musically he was actually very gifted; I don’t believe in Hell.
6. The RA is the Republican Army; Ian Stuart was a supporter of the British and Unionist causes in N. Ireland.
7. The line about Nazis driving is inspired by a professional anti-Ian Stuart song by MDC called "Nazis Shouldn't Drive."
8. You could argue that, like Hitler, he will long be remembered, but I don’t think so.
**9. 66% of this version is me, 34% is the original.
10. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
11. If not for the 2nd to last line I would say there's nothing about anti-racist violence and in my opinion that anti-racist violence would be a small or tiny part of things- small if we're just talking about dealing with Nazi skinheads, tiny if we're looking at the larger picture.
UPDATE 2/2/11 12. When I refer to a nightmare and a greatest enemy, I'm sure I'm kind of exaggerating, ESPECIALLY with the latter. For a large number of individuals, it has been a nightmare. And as far as I can tell, in terms of physical violence, armed or unarmed, they have the potential to do huge amounts of damage.
UPDATE 2/4/20 I just added the word fascist to the second line of the chorus.
From the boneheads of Great Britain, a nightmare came to us.
He brought us hate and terror, The man who had no suss
Ian Stuart has now died, but our hatred for him still lives on.
So it will continue, until all the Nazi hate has gone.
chorus:
Their ranks are filled with boneheads, marching down the street.
They are our greatest fascist enemy since the Axis regimes were beat
Ian Stuart is no longer marching, but nor is he in Valhalla
His music sucks, he’s in Hell, and Up The Irish RA
Ian Stuart's downfall, was that Nazis don’t know how to drive
unfortunately the other nazi bonehead scum they all survived
A messenger of hate, a man who helped us see
That we must always be vigilant against the return of the Nazis
Chorus
When all the Nazi hate is gone, we will soon forget the man,
who weakened the working-class, because he could not understand.
The smashing of his mission is now our destiny -
To democratize our nations, and to set the working-class free.
Chorus
*****
UPDATE 6/11/09 I am renaming songs that had retained the original name.
++"The Great Escape" based on "Men Behind The Wire" by the Thornlie Boys, original lyrics are here (not exactly what I used, but close enough).
1. It's about Allied POWs in WWII. Frustratingly, it's only slightly twisted. The original is N. Ireland loyalist, and they did more or less support and fight in the Allied cause- sometimes, especially when they talk about the IRA and Nazi Germany and/or they're accused of being racist or friendly to British Nazis, you can't shut them up about how they helped defeat Nazi Germany : ). And even worse, it's not specific to a certain organiation, so I can only sort of point to the UDA being friendly with today's Nazis. You could imagine the character is an Irish-American Catholic, for whatever that's worth. As you can tell from the sampling of movies I watch on my profile, I'm really into Allied POW stuff (there's at least two other such movies I like besides "The Great Escape") and this was a good song for that. UPDATE 2/20/20 I just confirmed that the UDA was a majority of the loyalist paramilitary community and learned that the other main group, the UVF had some minor contacts with British fascists (contacts that followed some members who broke off and formed the LVF)) (UPDATE 2/21/20 I changed "cried out "No Pasaran,"" to "said a quick Hail Mary, thought." The Hail Mary prayer is MUCH MUCH more common with Catholics than Protestants, and I doubt more than a tiny minority of members of loyalist paramilitaries were raised to say it and probably stopped saying it as they became incredibly bigoted towards Catholics since Mary is a lot more important to Catholics than Protestants in general)
3. I imagine that only something like half of the American and British forces were motivated by anti-fascism (probably some moderate-sized minority were totally non-political and probably another moderate-sized minority were so conservative and/or anti-semitic and/or racist that they were open-minded about the Nazis maybe being okay), but I like to talk about it that way. As far as being anti-racist, this guy was part of the, let's say some very small minority of White American personnel who could be called anti-racist.
5. I felt like I had to switch two sets of two lines, and thus the second verse is a little awkward in terms of twice referring to "men behind the wire."
6. As far as POWs opposed to anti-semitism, realisticly probably some moderate-sized minority of the Allies. But they were determined to defeat the Nazis, who did hate the Jews.
7. What's that? It's "wierd" that my pro-IRA blog contains songs in favor of the Allies when the IRA accepted aid from Nazi Germany? Read this.
**8. 49% of this version is me, 51% is the original and I switched two sets of two lines, so maybe it's more accurate to say something like 60% me.
9. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
10. UPDATE 10/6/11 I am not sure if "Jerries" is an offensive term (it's not like Germans (in recent decades) have been or are oppressed because they're German); Even if someone says it is offensive, I might leave it considering how that's how some of the Allies spoke at that time.
11. UPDATE 2/27/17 I changed "jerries" to "krauts."
it was a dark and grey november morn as we flew off towards Germany
in a cramped and cold B-29, we were going to bomb the enemy
when the flak got real heavy, we took some hits and went down for a crash
I said a quick Hail Mary, thought "bless FDR and fuck all the racist fash"
We crashed hard but my spirit was unbroken and my heart was still on fire
for soon I knew I would be with the men behind the wire
We were captured by Krauts and interrogated, but our situation was not dire
we were soon allowed to join our brothers, the men behind the wire
There were many faces strange to me, and many more I knew
who were solidly committed to smashing those who hate the Jews
and a love for dear old democracy, even in it's darkest hour
did shine within, these brave men, the men behind the wire
and when this war is over, and our victory is won
let us not forget the sacrifice made by these courageous sons
they were staunch and true, for me and you, so lift your glasses higher
where would we have been, without them, the men behind the wire
*****
++“Son of America” based on “Son of Britain” by Saga, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s about Martin Luther King Jr.
2. The reference about Americans isn’t meant to exclude people, but seemed a bit better than “people” or “humans.” (the original is “comrades” but that wouldn’t go over so well with most people at a MLK march)
3. Dr. King obviously had an impact beyond America, especially in N. Ireland.
4. America could become significantly more democratic, as I discuss in the post "American Democracy" and could happen in a way that could possibly be referred to as something close to a revolution, especially if several changes were made at once.
5. Towards the end of his life, he also addressed the Vietnam War and poverty. Besides his talk about poverty, I’d also say (in connection with the last line) that racism shackles the working-class (obviously it affects middle- and upper-class people, and what I’m thinking of will involve rolling back racism throughout society, but it negatively affects the working-class more).
**6. 42% of this version is me, 58% is the original.
7. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
8. Just non-violence.
9. UPDATE 7/5/16 I changed "Americans" to "people" in the chorus.
From the great city of Montgomery, a leader came to us.
He inspired courage and bravery, in a struggle that’s so just
Dr. King has now fallen, but his memory still lives on.
So it will continue, when all the hate is gone.
Chorus
Our ranks are filled with people, marching down the street.
We are preassuring the enemy, let's force them to retreat!
Dr. King is still marching, walking by our side.
His words are still clear and loud, his spirit spread world-wide!
Dr. King’s weapon, was the message he worked to spread
His spirit fills my backbone, and it will until I’m dead.
A messenger of justice, a man who made us see
eternal laws of equality in his words for you and me.
Chorus
When the new democracy rises, we wont forget the man,
who bravely stood against war, poverty, and the Ku Klux Klan
Fulfilment of his mission is now our destiny
To further democratize our nation, and to set the working-class free
Chorus
****
++“Soldiarity” based on “Napalm In The Morning” by The Klansmen, original lyrics are here.
1. The original is written by Ian Stuart Donaldson for a side band of his, but he was mostly known for his British nazi punk band Skrewdriver and he supported the loyalist paramilitaries.
2. The reference to Vietnamese flags makes more sense than you think. First, it’s part of twisting the lyrics, since the original is pro-America in relation to the Vietnam war and refers to Confederate flags. Second, in general the nationalist community and the republican family supported the Vietnamese resistance. At one point when Free Derry Wall was painted in the colors of the flag of N. Vietnam, Eamonn McCann highlighted that in an article and said that in the late 1960s a lot of the student radicals who were part of the N. Ireland civil rights movement would have had that flag in their rooms. It’s unlikely more than a very tiny minority of those student radicals joined republican paramilitaries, and it’s still not a perfect line, but it’s pretty good.
3. It’s technically off, but the body bags are those of British soldiers.
4. In general, a large part of this song is the soundtrack for one of my earlier posts.
5. The Union Jack is the British flag, that refers to it flying in the Six-Counties of N. Ireland.
6. Although you should read that post, the first line of the last verse refers to the worst of the problem, the leftists in America, the EU, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, (possibly others), who dismissed the oppression of Northern Catholics because of their religion and/or the color of their skin. The word traitor was already there, and kind of works in the sense that they betrayed their committment to supporting oppressed people.
7. I believe that people looked at the number of Catholic civilians killed by the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries and thought that it was small, but didn’t consider that the Catholic population was small and those deaths had a great impact on that community.
8. The Civil Rights marchers refers to Bloody Sunday, when 14 marchers were killed.
9. As I explain elsewhere, the world and specifically the Left failing to do what it should have done varies from country to country based on various criteria, but referring to the all foru directions pretty much makes sense.
10. Bombay St. was one of the main victims of the Aug. 1969 anti-Catholic pogroms which is usually seen as the beginning of the conflict. During a period of 2-3 days in Belfast, 1,505 Catholic families fled their homes (probably something like 18% of Belfast’s Catholic population, probably something like 1.8% of the North’s Catholic population). For more, see this.
11. I’m almost reluctant to post this song. Even though I have improved the post this is based on and am even more convinced than before that there was some kind of serious gap between what the world did and what they should have done, I’m a little uncomfortable rubbing it in with a song. I’m basically saying “Greetings Comrades, care for another kick in the balls?”
**11. 69% of this version is me, 31% is the original.
12. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
13. Besides the part about the global left, this is about the IRA and has little to say that would be repeated by nationalists.
14. UPDATE 1/25/14 I just changed the words "was on" to "begun" in the second line, first verse.
15. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
Northern kids in Belfast signed up to fight London
To fight against Orange tyranny an epic war begun
The kids signed up in Derry, south Armagh and Tyrone too
They wouldn’t submit, to the Brits
So they did what they could do
Stand and fight, for what was right
We wouldn't give in to imperialist might
The republican gains, the new day dawning
The Brits will count their dead in the morning
The Northern kids they went to war they took North Vietnamese flags
The rest of the world did nothing while these Volunteers filled body bags
Across the world no one was taking to the streets
A war wasn’t won because of leftists whose politics were weak
The idiots stand, in all our lands
But they will never raise their hands
They want to see a new day dawning
But they don’t care if the Union Jack is flying in the morning
The traitors were idiots and bigots of the political left
They couldn’t figure out the math on all those Catholics’ deaths
The Civil Rights marchers, they'd fallen to British guns
But these idiots, all they could think of were anti-gay priests and nuns
The Left’s very best, North, South, East and west,
Didn’t try to learn, how Bombay St. burned,
unless we end Irish partition
there will continue to be murders sectarian
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).
For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least two pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).
I think that's about it. As usual, I start with the least impressive and end with the most.
1. University of Freedom. The 1981 Irish Republican Hunger-Strike.
2. Stand up and Be Counted (IRA). Guess.
3. Scum of Britain. About Ian Stuart Donaldson, the late leader of the world-wide Nazi skinhead movement.
4. The Great Esacpe. Allied POWs in WWII.
5. Son of America. Martin Luther King, Jr.
6. Soldiarity. The American Left and N. Ireland.
“University of Freedom” based on “Bowels of the Devil” by Body Count (Ice-T's heavy metal band), original lyrics are here.
1. Irish republicans often would refer to the main prison that held many of them, Long Kesh, as the “University of Freedom” becaue they did a lot work educating themselves and eachother in anti-imperialism and (for the majority) left-wing politics.
2. ASU is an Active Servicce Unit. Most of the IRA (it’s not super clear, but I’m pretty sure this was not univeral throughout the organization) adopted a structure where the ASU was the smallest unit. The Company was another, larger unit of the IRA.
3. There are 32 Counties in Ireland.
4. Squaddies is a term for British soldiers.
5. The Falls is a republican area.
6. In the late 1970s the British tried to break the republican family by criminalizing republican prisoners. See this and this (most of the last 1/2 is about the hunger-strike era). The prisoners resisted this effort, culminating in the 1981 Hunger-Strike when 10 men died, Bobby Sands was the first.
7. The Hunger-Strike resulted in the prisoners’ demands being quietly conceded by the government, which meant that the British failed to break them, and although it involved 10 men dying on hunger-strike, it strengthened the struggle. It also involved the incorporation of electoral politics into the republican struggle which greatly strengthened that struggle.
8. It's basically about someone in the prison during the struggle against criminalization, and who is speaking between then and 1997.
9. I eliminated some of the Ice-T stuff (“yo”), but left some of it.
10. I ended up using the word “learns” the way that people say “teaches.”
11. The "North's LAPD" refers to the police, the RUC. I thought it was a nice way of thanking Ice-T for the original lyrics. Also, I've heard that very recently the LAPD has improved, and you could say that even before that change started, the LAPD was not as bad as the RUC.
12. the seperate race line is probably GREATLY exaggerating, especially in terms of how widespread that sentiment is.
**13. 71% of this version is me, 29% is the original.
14. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
15. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
16. Is about the IRA, but it's not a bad moment to remind readers that around 80% of the nationalist community supported the hunger-strikers.
17. UPDATE 5/1/17 A "nine" is a gun.
18. UPDATE 6/8/18 The first two lines might sound like I'm calling the British Army the "North's LAPD." I didn't mean that and I think it makes sense to see the first line is about the BA and the second is about the RUC police, but I wanted to make CERTAIN there is no confusion.
Out one night, fighting Brits with my Company
We fight for our people, against the North’s LAPD
Got a nine at my waist
Brits think we’re a seperate race
They fuck with West Belfast right here'll be their resting place.
Some squaddies, they tried to put a move on the Falls
I shot them in the face, but I was captured in the brawl
Then I was in Long Kesh, They wanted us to crawl
they thought they’d break us, but we remained standing tall
Chorus:
University of Freedom,
let me tell you what that muthafucka learns,
its faculty filled with revolutionaries
liberation, socialism, the people’s concerns.
University of Freedom,
listen close, 'cause I've been there before
And those who died there,
They are why we will win this war,
THEY ARE WHY WE WILL WIN THIS WAR!
Aiming the mortars at the British Army base
With the people’s support we’ll get them out of this place,
and my ASU’s down, we don't mess around,
Brits fuck with us, They’ll be six feet underground.
Prison couldn’t break us, we’ll resist to our last breath
Thatcher, that motherfucker, is responsible for Bobby’s death.
That's right, homeboy couldn’t be broken by the bourgeoisie
up there in Freedom’s University.
Chorus
******
++“Stand Up And Be Counted (IRA)” based on “Stand Up And Be Counted” by The Klansmen original lyrics are here.
1. The original is a classic Klan song, but the version I heard is by a side project of Ian Stuart Donaldson of Skrewdriver, a British Nazi skinhead band which was very supportive of the British and loyalist causes in Ireland.
2. Since the original is American racist, I made a point of including certain elements, see this.
3. This is not meant as an endorsement of armed struggle since the IRA’s declaration of a cease-fire in 1997.
4. AK-47s are rifles.
5. The Plough is the Starry Plough, the symbol of republican socialism.
6. The Sunburst is the symbol of the old youth wing of the IRA..
7. Bread is a symbol of economic justice.
8. I went with Tory instead of Brit because A: it involved further twisting, and B: the Tories are a much bigger part of the problem, probably something like 1/3 of Labour are friendly to Sinn Feiin, probably something like 1/3 are okay-good, and probably 1/3 are more or less (less) Unionists.
**9. 47% of this version is me, 53% is the original.
10. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
UPDATE 2/2/11 I just replaced the word "mortar" with the word "Tri-Color" (the flag of Ireland) in the 2nd verse.
11. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
Chorus:
Stand up and be counted, we’ll make a stand today
Stand up and be counted, and join the IRA
We are anti-fascists, who love our country too
We always can be counted on, when there's a job to do
We serve our people day and night, and soon they will be free
Proudly wear the mask, fighting for our community.
Chorus
Survival calls for vigilance the symbols of our fight
The Sunburst and Plough, Tri-color and AK, we know we are right
In search for freedom and bread we fight with rifle in hands
We must defeat the Tory to unite our Irish land
Chorus
******
++“Scum of Britian” based on “Son of Britain” by Saga, original lyrics are here.
1. Bonehead is an anti-racist term for Nazi skinhead.
2. Suss seems to mean, in British, smarts or something like that.
3. Ian Stuart was the leader of Skrewdriver, which in the 80s and early 90s was the world’s leading white supremacist skinhead band; he died in a car accident in 1993.
4. Valhalla is part of Norse mythology, it is where warriors go when they die, although there’s some debate about whether or not you have to die in combat. The nazis love Valhalla and are all convinced that Ian Stuart went there, but an anti-Ian Stuart song by the Stage Bottles says that he didn’t because he was killed in a car accident; I’d imagine he was more a musician than a fighter, and then there’s the idea that people who attack others (likely smaller and/or weaker) through bigotry are not eligible for Valhalla; so I’m open-minded about whether or not he’s in Valhalla (that is, if I believed in it, and I sort of pretend to just to have some fun at the expense of the fash, and to make a good point).
5. Musically he was actually very gifted; I don’t believe in Hell.
6. The RA is the Republican Army; Ian Stuart was a supporter of the British and Unionist causes in N. Ireland.
7. The line about Nazis driving is inspired by a professional anti-Ian Stuart song by MDC called "Nazis Shouldn't Drive."
8. You could argue that, like Hitler, he will long be remembered, but I don’t think so.
**9. 66% of this version is me, 34% is the original.
10. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
11. If not for the 2nd to last line I would say there's nothing about anti-racist violence and in my opinion that anti-racist violence would be a small or tiny part of things- small if we're just talking about dealing with Nazi skinheads, tiny if we're looking at the larger picture.
UPDATE 2/2/11 12. When I refer to a nightmare and a greatest enemy, I'm sure I'm kind of exaggerating, ESPECIALLY with the latter. For a large number of individuals, it has been a nightmare. And as far as I can tell, in terms of physical violence, armed or unarmed, they have the potential to do huge amounts of damage.
UPDATE 2/4/20 I just added the word fascist to the second line of the chorus.
From the boneheads of Great Britain, a nightmare came to us.
He brought us hate and terror, The man who had no suss
Ian Stuart has now died, but our hatred for him still lives on.
So it will continue, until all the Nazi hate has gone.
chorus:
Their ranks are filled with boneheads, marching down the street.
They are our greatest fascist enemy since the Axis regimes were beat
Ian Stuart is no longer marching, but nor is he in Valhalla
His music sucks, he’s in Hell, and Up The Irish RA
Ian Stuart's downfall, was that Nazis don’t know how to drive
unfortunately the other nazi bonehead scum they all survived
A messenger of hate, a man who helped us see
That we must always be vigilant against the return of the Nazis
Chorus
When all the Nazi hate is gone, we will soon forget the man,
who weakened the working-class, because he could not understand.
The smashing of his mission is now our destiny -
To democratize our nations, and to set the working-class free.
Chorus
*****
UPDATE 6/11/09 I am renaming songs that had retained the original name.
++"The Great Escape" based on "Men Behind The Wire" by the Thornlie Boys, original lyrics are here (not exactly what I used, but close enough).
1. It's about Allied POWs in WWII. Frustratingly, it's only slightly twisted. The original is N. Ireland loyalist, and they did more or less support and fight in the Allied cause- sometimes, especially when they talk about the IRA and Nazi Germany and/or they're accused of being racist or friendly to British Nazis, you can't shut them up about how they helped defeat Nazi Germany : ). And even worse, it's not specific to a certain organiation, so I can only sort of point to the UDA being friendly with today's Nazis. You could imagine the character is an Irish-American Catholic, for whatever that's worth. As you can tell from the sampling of movies I watch on my profile, I'm really into Allied POW stuff (there's at least two other such movies I like besides "The Great Escape") and this was a good song for that. UPDATE 2/20/20 I just confirmed that the UDA was a majority of the loyalist paramilitary community and learned that the other main group, the UVF had some minor contacts with British fascists (contacts that followed some members who broke off and formed the LVF)) (UPDATE 2/21/20 I changed "cried out "No Pasaran,"" to "said a quick Hail Mary, thought." The Hail Mary prayer is MUCH MUCH more common with Catholics than Protestants, and I doubt more than a tiny minority of members of loyalist paramilitaries were raised to say it and probably stopped saying it as they became incredibly bigoted towards Catholics since Mary is a lot more important to Catholics than Protestants in general)
3. I imagine that only something like half of the American and British forces were motivated by anti-fascism (probably some moderate-sized minority were totally non-political and probably another moderate-sized minority were so conservative and/or anti-semitic and/or racist that they were open-minded about the Nazis maybe being okay), but I like to talk about it that way. As far as being anti-racist, this guy was part of the, let's say some very small minority of White American personnel who could be called anti-racist.
5. I felt like I had to switch two sets of two lines, and thus the second verse is a little awkward in terms of twice referring to "men behind the wire."
6. As far as POWs opposed to anti-semitism, realisticly probably some moderate-sized minority of the Allies. But they were determined to defeat the Nazis, who did hate the Jews.
7. What's that? It's "wierd" that my pro-IRA blog contains songs in favor of the Allies when the IRA accepted aid from Nazi Germany? Read this.
**8. 49% of this version is me, 51% is the original and I switched two sets of two lines, so maybe it's more accurate to say something like 60% me.
9. I give this song/poem three stars out of five.
10. UPDATE 10/6/11 I am not sure if "Jerries" is an offensive term (it's not like Germans (in recent decades) have been or are oppressed because they're German); Even if someone says it is offensive, I might leave it considering how that's how some of the Allies spoke at that time.
11. UPDATE 2/27/17 I changed "jerries" to "krauts."
it was a dark and grey november morn as we flew off towards Germany
in a cramped and cold B-29, we were going to bomb the enemy
when the flak got real heavy, we took some hits and went down for a crash
I said a quick Hail Mary, thought "bless FDR and fuck all the racist fash"
We crashed hard but my spirit was unbroken and my heart was still on fire
for soon I knew I would be with the men behind the wire
We were captured by Krauts and interrogated, but our situation was not dire
we were soon allowed to join our brothers, the men behind the wire
There were many faces strange to me, and many more I knew
who were solidly committed to smashing those who hate the Jews
and a love for dear old democracy, even in it's darkest hour
did shine within, these brave men, the men behind the wire
and when this war is over, and our victory is won
let us not forget the sacrifice made by these courageous sons
they were staunch and true, for me and you, so lift your glasses higher
where would we have been, without them, the men behind the wire
*****
++“Son of America” based on “Son of Britain” by Saga, original lyrics are here.
1. It’s about Martin Luther King Jr.
2. The reference about Americans isn’t meant to exclude people, but seemed a bit better than “people” or “humans.” (the original is “comrades” but that wouldn’t go over so well with most people at a MLK march)
3. Dr. King obviously had an impact beyond America, especially in N. Ireland.
4. America could become significantly more democratic, as I discuss in the post "American Democracy" and could happen in a way that could possibly be referred to as something close to a revolution, especially if several changes were made at once.
5. Towards the end of his life, he also addressed the Vietnam War and poverty. Besides his talk about poverty, I’d also say (in connection with the last line) that racism shackles the working-class (obviously it affects middle- and upper-class people, and what I’m thinking of will involve rolling back racism throughout society, but it negatively affects the working-class more).
**6. 42% of this version is me, 58% is the original.
7. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
8. Just non-violence.
9. UPDATE 7/5/16 I changed "Americans" to "people" in the chorus.
From the great city of Montgomery, a leader came to us.
He inspired courage and bravery, in a struggle that’s so just
Dr. King has now fallen, but his memory still lives on.
So it will continue, when all the hate is gone.
Chorus
Our ranks are filled with people, marching down the street.
We are preassuring the enemy, let's force them to retreat!
Dr. King is still marching, walking by our side.
His words are still clear and loud, his spirit spread world-wide!
Dr. King’s weapon, was the message he worked to spread
His spirit fills my backbone, and it will until I’m dead.
A messenger of justice, a man who made us see
eternal laws of equality in his words for you and me.
Chorus
When the new democracy rises, we wont forget the man,
who bravely stood against war, poverty, and the Ku Klux Klan
Fulfilment of his mission is now our destiny
To further democratize our nation, and to set the working-class free
Chorus
****
++“Soldiarity” based on “Napalm In The Morning” by The Klansmen, original lyrics are here.
1. The original is written by Ian Stuart Donaldson for a side band of his, but he was mostly known for his British nazi punk band Skrewdriver and he supported the loyalist paramilitaries.
2. The reference to Vietnamese flags makes more sense than you think. First, it’s part of twisting the lyrics, since the original is pro-America in relation to the Vietnam war and refers to Confederate flags. Second, in general the nationalist community and the republican family supported the Vietnamese resistance. At one point when Free Derry Wall was painted in the colors of the flag of N. Vietnam, Eamonn McCann highlighted that in an article and said that in the late 1960s a lot of the student radicals who were part of the N. Ireland civil rights movement would have had that flag in their rooms. It’s unlikely more than a very tiny minority of those student radicals joined republican paramilitaries, and it’s still not a perfect line, but it’s pretty good.
3. It’s technically off, but the body bags are those of British soldiers.
4. In general, a large part of this song is the soundtrack for one of my earlier posts.
5. The Union Jack is the British flag, that refers to it flying in the Six-Counties of N. Ireland.
6. Although you should read that post, the first line of the last verse refers to the worst of the problem, the leftists in America, the EU, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, (possibly others), who dismissed the oppression of Northern Catholics because of their religion and/or the color of their skin. The word traitor was already there, and kind of works in the sense that they betrayed their committment to supporting oppressed people.
7. I believe that people looked at the number of Catholic civilians killed by the security forces and loyalist paramilitaries and thought that it was small, but didn’t consider that the Catholic population was small and those deaths had a great impact on that community.
8. The Civil Rights marchers refers to Bloody Sunday, when 14 marchers were killed.
9. As I explain elsewhere, the world and specifically the Left failing to do what it should have done varies from country to country based on various criteria, but referring to the all foru directions pretty much makes sense.
10. Bombay St. was one of the main victims of the Aug. 1969 anti-Catholic pogroms which is usually seen as the beginning of the conflict. During a period of 2-3 days in Belfast, 1,505 Catholic families fled their homes (probably something like 18% of Belfast’s Catholic population, probably something like 1.8% of the North’s Catholic population). For more, see this.
11. I’m almost reluctant to post this song. Even though I have improved the post this is based on and am even more convinced than before that there was some kind of serious gap between what the world did and what they should have done, I’m a little uncomfortable rubbing it in with a song. I’m basically saying “Greetings Comrades, care for another kick in the balls?”
**11. 69% of this version is me, 31% is the original.
12. I give this song/poem four stars out of five.
13. Besides the part about the global left, this is about the IRA and has little to say that would be repeated by nationalists.
14. UPDATE 1/25/14 I just changed the words "was on" to "begun" in the second line, first verse.
15. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
Northern kids in Belfast signed up to fight London
To fight against Orange tyranny an epic war begun
The kids signed up in Derry, south Armagh and Tyrone too
They wouldn’t submit, to the Brits
So they did what they could do
Stand and fight, for what was right
We wouldn't give in to imperialist might
The republican gains, the new day dawning
The Brits will count their dead in the morning
The Northern kids they went to war they took North Vietnamese flags
The rest of the world did nothing while these Volunteers filled body bags
Across the world no one was taking to the streets
A war wasn’t won because of leftists whose politics were weak
The idiots stand, in all our lands
But they will never raise their hands
They want to see a new day dawning
But they don’t care if the Union Jack is flying in the morning
The traitors were idiots and bigots of the political left
They couldn’t figure out the math on all those Catholics’ deaths
The Civil Rights marchers, they'd fallen to British guns
But these idiots, all they could think of were anti-gay priests and nuns
The Left’s very best, North, South, East and west,
Didn’t try to learn, how Bombay St. burned,
unless we end Irish partition
there will continue to be murders sectarian
One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).
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