Law and Order: SVU Reviews U

 This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m watching the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

(I’m temporarily skipping the publication of 4 reviews from Seasons 4 and 6 that I’ll come back to in about a week)

“Raw” Season 7. Wikipedia summary is: “A six-year-old boy who was adopted by parents (Myk Watford and Marin Hinkle) of a different race is killed in a school shooting. When detectives trace the rifle used back to a gun shop, Munch and Tutuola face hatred from a neo-Nazi group using the shop as its headquarters. The group consists of a white supremacist (J.C. MacKenzie), his son (Cody Kasch) and a woman (Marcia Gay Harden) who is not what she appears to be. When detectives arrest the shooter (Joel Marsh Garland) and put him on the witness stand, the group retaliates by starting a shootout in the courtroom that claims the life of a judge (John Rubinstein).”

In this episode the bad guys are neo-Nazis.

“Name” Season 7. Wikipedia summary is: “After the bones of a boy who disappeared in 1978 are found at a playground, Stabler, still visibly recovering from a recent gunshot wound, teams up with a CSU technician (Paula Garcés) who is taking the case personally. When a woman (Lisa Emery) comes forward, claiming that the boy was her brother, they reopen a cold case involving three murdered Puerto Rican boys in which the prime suspect (Richard Bright) worked with an accomplice (Ruben Santiago-Hudson).”

A crime scene tech believes that the disappearance of 4 Puerto Rican boys in 1978 wasn’t thoroughly investigated because they were Puerto Rican. It’s also stated that a lot of undocumented immigrants don’t report crime because they’re afraid of being deported. That’s one more reason to reform immigration policy in this country and until that happens it’s another reason for local governments to instruct local law enforcement to ignore the immigration status of people they interact with.

“Rockabye” Season 7. Wikipedia summary is: “A sixteen-year-old (Keri Lynn Pratt) loses her unborn child due to a severe abdominal beating. Her father (Skipp Sudduth) insists that she must have been raped and this leads detectives to the baby's father (John Patrick Amedori). The squad later learns that the girl was an active party in her own beating and that the teens found it necessary to do this after an abortion clinic deliberately stalled for time.”

This episode is about something I have never heard of before but which might exist- fake abortion providers. Clinics that stall for time with patients until the fetus is so old that an abortion is illegal. When two teens (boyfriend and girlfriend) get that treatment they decide to try to abort the fetus by hitting (with fists and a lamp) the girl’s belly. I think the point is that those who deny women an abortion force a lot of such women into doing something that must be even more difficult than having an abortion.

A few other notes:
1. The teens travel to NY from VA because in VA minors have to get parental approval to have an abortion, something I oppose.
2. The girl says that she was suicidal. In Ireland in recent decades if two psychiatrists agree that the female is suicidal, she is allowed to get an abortion. It’d be nice if something like that were done here if (or when) access to abortion is restricted.
3. One of the detectives implies that an OH high school that saw a lot of teenage pregnancies taught abstinence-only sex ed, which doesn’t include encouraging teens to practice safe sex.

“Alien” Season 7. Wikipedia summary is: “A school boy (Daniel Manche) becomes paralyzed after being stabbed in the back and detectives learn that the alleged perpetrator (Sasha Neulinger) was trying to protect his half-sister (Raquel Castro). While attending a Catholic school, the girl had been tormented continuously for having two mothers. One of her guardians (Amy Pietz) who never legally adopted her, is accused of sexual molestation by the girl's biological grandparents (Edmund Genest and Mary Beth Peil). While trying to decide if the claims are real or frivolous, Novak begins to suspect that their lawyer (Stephen Bogardus) is committing perjury.”

This is largely about homophobia and sort of about the Catholic Church. The detective Stabler says that being a Catholic means agreeing with the homophobia of the Church. First of all, the priest in this episode seems anti-homophobic. But more generally, the Church hasn’t in recent decades gone after anti-homophobic or LGB Catholics. It’s even more tolerant of such Catholics than it is of pro-choice Catholics, and as far as I can tell, the Church rarely THREATENS to go after pro-choice Catholics, and even then it’s just aimed at those who are elected politicians (and they don’t go through with the threats to ex-communicate).  

“Manipulated” Season 7. Wikipedia summary is: “The body of a young woman is found and when Benson and Stabler delve into her private life, they learn that in addition to being a respected lawyer, she was also a stripper. Her co-worker at the club (Faina Vitebsky) is later found murdered as well. Surveillance footage and DNA evidence implicate the lawyer's boss (Chris Potter) who appears to live with a disabled wife (Rebecca De Mornay). Further investigation reveals that the wife is living a lie and that she exacts revenge on her husband by hiring a hitman (Holt McCallany) to kill his sexual partners.”

Two notes.
1) There’s a fairly positive reference to efforts to unionize the dancers at strip clubs. That’s been tried in real life in at least one case- there’s a documentary about it called “Live, Nude Women Unite.”
2) There’s a less-than flattering reference to private military contractors (mercenaries of the sort used by the US government).

Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Reviews E

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

“Closure Part 1” Season 1. Wikipedia summary is: “Benson does her best to help a rape victim (Tracy Pollan), who is able to describe her attack, but not the attacker (Neil Maffin) in perfect detail. When the detectives revisit the case a few months later, they find the woman even less willing to talk about what happened, as she claims she has moved on. Things turn uncomfortable within the squad when Benson and Cassidy, who spent a night together, argue over whether the relationship should be continued. “

They somehow know that she smokes pot and decide to not bust her for it (this is 1999 or 2000)

“Bad Blood” Season 1. Wikipedia summary is: “The death of a young gay man initially leads Benson and Stabler to investigate his homophobic father, but once they start looking into the young man's living arrangements, they realize the person they're looking for may be closer than they think. Munch tries to help Benson find the man who raped her mother. “

There’s some stuff about homophobia in this episode. The detectives promise to respect the confidentiality of a gay NYPD witness, and in the show (maybe in real life?) there’s something called the “Gay Officers Action League.” There’s also a swipe taken at former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s ethics problems.

“Limitations” Season 1. Wikipedia summary is: “At the request of a victim, the police commissioner comes to Cragen with a special request: close the case of the man who raped three women (Jenny Bacon, Judith Hawkins and Seana Kofoed) nearly five years ago before the statute of limitations expires. The detectives finally get a lead when they realize one of the victims knows the rapist, but she is not willing to talk. Following Cassidy's departure, Munch is partnered with Jeffries.”

There are two political aspects to this. The survivor who gets the police’s attention is clearly a successful businesswoman and that might have something to do with her getting their attention. The second one is that the progressive Quaker religious community comes close to being endorsed by the show.

“Misleader” Season 1. Wikipedia summary is: “After the pregnant daughter-in-law of a prominent Christian right leader (Robert Foxworth) is found murdered in her hotel room, the detectives investigate a rash of hotel burglaries, only to discover that her adultery (and the probable father of her child) was what led to her death.”

A small aspect of this is the moral hypocrisy that exists in some members of the religious right.

“Remorse” Season 1. wikipedia summary is: “Television reporter Sarah Logan (Jennifer Esposito) refuses to let her recent rape get her down, and talks about her experiences on the air, leading to the arrest of a young man that the team feels is responsible. Over the course of the investigation, Munch and Jeffries become unusually affected by the case, albeit in different ways.”

There are two progressive elements to this. First, East Timor is referred to (East Timor was occupied by Indonesia between 1975 and 1999 or 2000 and it was a cause taken up by progressives in America). Second, one of the detectives is a fan of Noam Chomsky.

Women's Equality in Ireland

At one point one of the detectives says that Irishmen are raised to respect women. I’m not sure exactly where that line comes from, but there is some truth to it. Although I don’t know exactly what the current situation is, abortion has been in recent decades about 99% illegal in the Republic and before that it was completely illegal. But as far as I can tell, women there do okay in terms of equality. For 21 years starting in 1990 three Presidential terms were filled by women. During the last 30 years half the time the Deputy Prime Minister was a woman. I generally got the impression that Irish women do okay in terms of equality. Unfortunately, I think a majority of them are pro-life. I’m pro-choice but the point I’m trying to make is that there are pro-lifers who nonetheless are feminists or at least believe in equality for women, as flawed as such a combination of stances is. And I think it’s found in Ireland because a lot of Catholic pro-lifers don’t want women to “stay in their place” or something like that, they just believe that the fetus is alive, THAT’S why they’re pro-life, not sexism. (you see something similar with the membership of Sinn Fein, a party that is or was basically pro-life but which has also seen a lot of women involved as party activists or politicians and whose current leader is a woman) (You might see it a little bit with some other religious groups that are pro-life, but I think it’s mostly a Catholic thing)

Don't Vote GOP: Three New Poems

(this was originally published 4/27/20 but for some reason it stopped showing up, so I am republishing it now)

Here are three more poems. They are all based on offensive lyrics, I explain that here.

For all the poems, you can click on the "lyrics" label the bottom.

1. Stop the Klan. What you think it's about.
2. Irish Citizen Army. The Irish workers' militia of 1913-1916.
3. Don't Vote SDLP. What's wrong with Northern Ireland's Social Democratic and Labour Party.

“Stop the Ku Klux Klan” based on “Stand Up and Be Counted” by either The Klansmen in the 1980s or the racist assholes who originally wrote it several decades ago. Original lyrics are here.

1. In 2017 or 2018 or 2019 there were reports that caravans of refugees from Central America were traveling through Mexico on their way to the US. Trump used this, probably successfully, to whip up anti-immigrant hatred. These were definitely refugees and they were traveling in caravan for security.
2. I believe that there is a spectrum between democratic and undemocratic and I believe that, politically, the US is closer to the democratic end of the spectrum. But my thoughts about how we can make it more democratic politically are here. I worry greatly that Trump is a fascist, literally, and my thoughts about that are in the middle of a post here.

3. Trump is a racist. See this and this. There’s also his comments on the murder of an anti-fascist by a fascist in Charlottesville in 2017. And there’s this, that I published elsewhere on my blog:

[When asked about David Duke endorsing him, his] response in an interview was:

Well, just so you understand, I don’t know anything about David Duke. OK? I don't know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I don't know. I don’t know, did he endorse me or what’s going on, because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about.

4. The Torah is the main Jewish text.
5. My thoughts about religion are found here, although a lot of those posts are only partly relevant.
6. **58% of this version is me, 42% is the original.

7. I give this poem 3 stars out of 5.

8. UPDATE 6/1/22 I believe there's a spectrum between democratic and undemocratic and I USED to believe we were in the middle but closer to the democratic end of the spectrum. With what the GOP has done in the last couple years I think we might be closer to the UNdemocratic end of the spectrum.

Chorus:
Stand up and be counted, welcome the caravans
Stand up and be counted, and stop the Ku Klux Klan

We are anti-racists and love our democracy true
We always can be counted on, when there's a job to do
We educate our communities day and night, to keep them Klan-free
And proudly display anti-racist bumper-stickers, promoting diversity

Chorus

The Bible’s pretty cool, but so are the Torah and Koran
We believe in gay rights, so fuck the Ku Klux Klan
In search of peace and liberty, with the constitution in hand
We will defeat Trump to save our democratic land

***********

“Irish Citizen Army” based on “Blackshirt and Roses” by Razor’s Edge. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is written from the perspective of an Irish Republican in the 1970s, or 1980s or 1990s in Ireland. The Irish Citizen Army was started in 1913 during a general lock-out (where, in response to labor activism, an employer throws their employees out of the factory, etc.) in Dublin. It was formed to protect workers from attacks by the police.  In 1916, when the Easter Rising (an attempt at getting the British out) took place, while most of the moderate Irish Volunteers failed to participate the (admittedly much smaller) ICA participated fully and James Connolly, the leader of the ICA, was the de facto leader of the uprising. Connolly was a Marxist theoretician and union organizer and considered Ireland’s greatest socialist- there is a train station in Dublin named after him.
2. The Starry Plough is basically the flag of republican socialism, although some non-republican socialists use it. At one point about 10-15 years ago, and maybe still today, the youth wing of the Irish Labour Party used it.
3. Connolly was one of the few European socialists to oppose the nationalism of World War I. (The original refers to WWII)
4. Razor’s Edge were/are British and support(ed) the British and Unionist causes in N. Ireland.
5. **54% of this version is me, 46% is the original.

6. I give this poem 4 stars out of 5.

They created the Starry Plough, an emblem of the Irish working-class
And they spread Marxism, patriotic workers struggling en masse.

(Chorus)
Fuck the British Empire
Ireland still recalls
The Irish Citizen Army
Heroes one and all.

Opposed the nationalist war in Europe, they knew the real enemy.
With the European Working-Class, they were in solidarity.

The flame they lit was not extinguished, still burning in our hearts today.
We're carrying on the fight because the ICA led the way.

(Chorus)

Fuck the British Empire
Ireland still recalls
Connolly and the ICA
Heroes one and all.

************

“Don’t Vote SDLP” based on “Freedom” by Razor’s Edge. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is NOT written from my perspective, but the perspective of  the type of person I probably could have collaborated with politically if I had lived in the Nationalist community of Northern Ireland in the 1970s, 80s or 90s (I’m American). It’s from the perspective of someone who lives in a working-class Nationalist area in the 1990s and is sort of pacifist and a left-wing social-dem and doesn’t like Sinn Fein very much because of the violence and doesn’t like the Social Democratic and Labour Party for the reasons I give here (there are some more thoughts about the SDLP here, while discussing the episode “Rising Star”).
The thing is, the British Labour Party hasn’t ever organized in the North and recently had to be taken to court to allow Northerners to join, but they refuse to let the Party run candidates there (which is more of a good thing than a bad thing). There are multiple tendencies in the BLP when it comes to N. Ireland and I think the dominant one is to support their official sister organization the SDLP. I don’t think they ever called for the IRISH Labour Party to organize there and it wasn’t until tension developed between the ILP and the SDLP in 2001, 2002, and 2003 that the ILP started a transitional process of organizing there that was supposed to result in them running candidates as rivals to those of their official sister party. I did an essay/article/post PARTLY about that here.
So, this person has little or no options for voting (even if the BLP had been running candidates there, this person wouldn’t have voted for them (unless they were comparable to Tony Benn or Ken Livingstone)).
2. The red, white, and blue are the colors of the British flag.
3. The SDLP encouraged their supporters to do little more than vote. They were more or less against marching and probably against rallies as well. It’s true that non-SDLP supporters could have become involved and the inevitable friction with the security forces may have been difficult for stewards to control and a riot could have developed. But they still should have tried it, maybe with double the usual number of stewards. If there weren’t enough good stewards in the SDLP, maybe, in the 1970s and 1980s, they could have acquired the help of members and former members of the Official IRA, whose movement the Provisionals (SF and the IRA) had split from, and which was committed to a relatively non-violent path (I just think it would have been great if they HAD organized marches and I wanted to explain that they could have found a way to do it with a low risk of them turning into riots). The failure to offer mass struggle as an alternative to armed struggle weakened the overall effort to advance the interests of the Nationalist population.
4. The SDLP was socially conservative and although they probably did a better job of attracting Protestants than the Provos did, they were also closer to the Catholic Church.
5. Critics sometimes call the SDLP the Stoop Down Low Party.
6. In the 70s and 80s and probably the 90s as swell, I can imagine SDLP canvassers at election time being uncomfortable when whoever they’re talking with informed them that they’re gay. That homophobia is largely gone now, and I don’t think it was all that hateful in the first place, but they were homophobes.
7. They’re in the Socialist International and today maybe the SI almost deserves them, but with their social conservatism and moderate, almost capitalist, economics, they certainly didn’t belong there in the 1990s and 2000s and probably not in the 70s and 80s.
8. My thoughts about what the Provos did are here.
9. Razor’s Edge were/are British and support(ed) the British and Unionist causes in N. Ireland.
10. **66% of this version is me, 34% is the original.

11. This poem gets 5 stars out of 5.

Sell-out politicians always seem confused
They can’t figure out how to eject the red, white and blue
the only time you matter is on Election Day
so they can grab your vote and then tell you to go pray

(Chorus)
Options, no options
For pacifist social-dems in this community
Options, no options
The Stoops offer no mass struggle opportunities

A community defended by heroes but who then go too far
There are too many problems with their repertoire
But the only time you matter to the Stoops is on Election Day
They really want your vote unless you’re lesbian, bi or gay

Chorus

With their moderate instincts, the community gets left behind
if you think they’re helping us, you must be f*cking blind
the only time you matter is on Election Day
They’re in the International, but they’re pro-life and anti-gay

1847: Three New Poems

Three more poems. These are all based on offensive material, I explain that and my poems in general here.

The rest of the poems are available by clicking on the "lyrics" label at the bottom. There are about 10 pages worth, so click on "older posts."

1. Black 47. About the Irish "Famine."
2. Still Right-Wing. About American politics.
3. 1945. About WWII.

“Black 47” based on “Six Million Lies” by No Remorse. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about the so-called “Famine” that Ireland experienced.
2. From elsewhere on my blog, here’s a fairly good summary:

During the Famine, 10-15% of the population died and 10-15% of the population would have died if they hadn’t emigrated. This was concentrated in the South and West of Ireland where there very few settlers- if you ignore the settlers and their descendents, it was probably closer to 15-20% and 15-20% of the population. Why did a potato blight result in something close to genocide? First, the indigenous Catholic population was still recovering from about 1.5 centuries of political and legal disempowerment that occurred because of the Penal Laws which denied them most of the rights enjoyed by most or all Protestants (it varied from right to right). “Catholic Emancipation” was only made about 90% complete about 15 years earlier. Because of this and general poverty, the indigenous population was largely dependent on land owned by land lords and the potato crop. For about 45 years before the Famine and during the Famine, Ireland didn’t have a devolved parliament, they were completely ruled from London. Crucially, during the Famine, MASSIVE amounts of food were being shipped from Ireland to Britain, something that involved seventy-five British Army regiments. …  the deaths only stopped when the blight stopped. … The British were more or less racist towards the Irish at that point in Anglo-Irish history and were more concerned about practicing Laissez-faire economics and feeding the British population than they were concerned about mass starvation among the Irish

3. It was close to genocide.
4. It wasn’t until the late 1990s that a British Prime Minister apologized for British policy during the Famine. I guarantee you they weren’t being honest about it and not apologizing.
5. I’m not sure to what extent the British pushed the idea that the Irish are all alcoholics, but I’m sure they at least sort of did.
6. If you focus on the number of INDIGENOUS Irish who died or emigrated, it was a little less than three million.
7. As far as the American establishment pushing lies about the Famine, see this. As far as I can tell, a lot of Irish-Americans believe that the Irish chose to just eat potatoes.
8. I’m not saying that everyone who supports Northern Ireland being part of the UK also peddle lies about the Famine, but I think that most of them do.
9. During the Famine, people were offered money if they didn’t teach their children Irish (that’s according to a Sinead O’Connor song).
10. The 12 of July is a major holiday for N. Ireland Unionists, and is political and sectarian (it’s the anniversary of a battle in Ireland where a Protestant contender for the British throne beat his Catholic rival).
11. Orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in the Anglo-Irish context.
12. Partition is the division of Ireland.
12. As I prove here only .3% of operations of the Provisional IRA resulted in civilian death. And I like referring to The Troubles as the Second Anglo-Irish War (the first being the War of Independence).
13. This isn’t ABOUT SF. It’s just saying that the cause of Irish freedom is strengthened by SF’s electoral success. It’s not saying SF believes this or did that, except that they will lead Ireland to unity (no member of SF is going to complain about that statement).
14. There is a theory I largely subscribe to, that the Unionists in N. Ireland are actually Irish, but I’m also comfortable with the idea that they can and (in a united Ireland) will develop a British-Irish identity which I’m sure the Irish will be willing to accommodate.
11. **78% of this version is me, 22% is the original. I took the first two lines of the original, combined them, altered them, and then created a completely new 2nd line.
12. No Remorse were British and supported the unionist and/or British cause(s) in N. Ireland.

Did the Irish really prefer potatoes or is it just a British lie?
20% left and 20% died
Genocide by the Brits, we have the proof
Why did they try to cover up the truth?
Scared that they would look like scum that they are
So they pushed the idea that the Irish can’t stay out of bars

Three million of the human race
Because the British Army had an iron grip on the place
They play down the fact that food was shipped across the Irish sea
They may have fooled you, but not me

The worst case of Laissez-faire economics in history
It was also racism and religious bigotry
American media and schools cooperate
With the lies of those who support the North being part of the British state
Well the beautiful Irish language didn't die
Fuck Margaret Thatcher and the 12th of July!

So let's make Ireland British Army free
We’ll make sure there's no return to an Orange society
The partition of Ireland is rotten to the core
Provos fought with courage and honor in the Anglo-Irish War
With Sinn Fein and global solidarity we'll surely win
And the Protestant Unionists will see us as their kin

**************

“Still Right-Wing” based on “Still Occupied” by Razor’s Edge. Original lyrics are here.

1. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is the address of the White House.
2. Fash is short for fascists.
3. I doubt it’s just a tiny minority of white people who worry about that. I think it might be around 20-30%.
4. “Right-to-work” is, in general, a reference to anti-union government policies. Specifically, “Right-to Work” laws say that someone can’t be required to join a union in order to get a job. This means that people who benefit from a union contract at their job don’t have to pay membership dues, which weakens the union.
6. As far as the racist, homicidal cops, see this.
7. A lot of GOP local and state elections officials pull fucked up shit. Not enough voting machines in certain precincts and few or no opportunities to vote early means long lines and people going home without voting so they can get up and go to work the next morning. There’s what happened in FL in 2000 where they were. WAY to quick to take people off the rolls because they MIGHT have been convicted of something. More recent fight-back against letting ex-cons vote, and creating a poll tax by saying that such people have to pay all the money they owe in connection with their conviction before they can vote again.
8.  In terms of racial equality, the FUTURE looked so bright when Obama was President. Trump took that and turned it on its head. Also, Obama (as a candidate and as President) was not a progressive, but nor was he a Clintonite. He was a liberal, as I non-philosophically define them here.
9. I’m not interested in an alliance with the obnoxious, extreme, sectarian anarchists. I think the moderate anarchists were SLIGHTLY happy with Obama being elected, because he was the first Black President, and as I explain above, he was not a Clintonite. And I think that most Marxists and almost all social-dems were at least sort of happy with him, for the same reasons.
10. **76% of this version is me, 24% is the original. The second-to-last line of both verses is brand new- it wasn't there before.
11. UPDATE 4/1/20 Just in case there's confusion, I'm not saying that everyone to the left of center and  opposed to the GOP is a leftist or more generally a progressive. It might sound like I'm saying that, but I'm not. I JUST CHANGED "WE'LL" IN THE COUNTY CLERK LINE TO "DEMS AND PROGRESSIVES WILL".

With Obama, the future looked so bright,
Finally, a President who wasn’t white.
But then, at 1600 Pennsylvania, Trump moved in,
Even though, the popular vote, he didn’t win.
Our society is being torn apart,
think this is bad but it's just the start.
Instead of health care fash worry that the white race will die
How can so many white people swallow so many lies?

Chorus
It’s still a “right-to-work” nation, workers aren’t free -
The working-class labor movement is on it’s knees
And it's hard, hard to defeat -
the murderous police departments patrolling the Black street!

With GOP County Clerks Dems and progressives will never have a chance to win
Their idea of democracy and fascism are almost akin
Hopefully the white working-class will awake, before it's too late,
And Labor will keep educating them, however much money it takes.
We’re trying to save the labor movement from homicide,
we're for comprehensive diversity and for class pride.
Whether we’re social-dems, Marxists or moderate anarchists
We're never ever giving in to the fucking capitalists!

*************

“1945” based on “Final Attack” by Final War. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about the last several months of WWII in Europe.
2. A bridgehead is either a position held to maintain the possession of a bridge at the front, or a position just behind enemy lines.
3. Many of them didn’t do any time because they were executed.
4. The Waffen-SS was the military (as opposed to paramilitary) component of the SS (the very ideological, official, domestic security part of the Nazi state).
5. Combined arms attacks involve more than one type of military unit (i.e. infantry, armor, ground attack aircraft, artillery)
6. The main weapon of a tank is its main gun. Bazookas were an early version of a Rocket-Propelled-Grenade type weapon.
7. Panzers were German tanks.
8. **71% of this poem is me, 29% is the original.
9. UPDATE 4/6/20 I need to say that as far as American servicemen opposed to anti-semitism, realistically it was probably just some moderate-sized minority of them.
10. UPDATE 4/6/20 The chorus is kind of out of whack chronologically (to one ridiculously large degree or another, knowledge of the camps was incredibly limited until the end of the war).

The day is approaching the day of victory
for the Poles, the Jews, and all those, opposed to the Nazis
gonna keep fighting gonna knock em dead
gonna reinforce the front and our bridgeheads

gonna take many prisoners when their lines we overrun
won’t stop till our mission is done
they took over Europe and made Jews wear an arm-band
now we’re gonna smash them with an iron hand

(Chorus)
Oh no, what are the Nazis gonna do?
when we find the concentration camps for the Jews
We’ll put them on trial for war crimes
After they’re convicted, they won’t do any time

we’ve got our sights set on the Waffen-SS
Arms factories, all those Nazis who oppress
we’re on a rampage we’re letting loose
And we’ll only accept unconditional surrender, without a truce

We carry out ambushes and combined arms attacks
they tried to take the world, now they cower at our artillery impacts
Main guns and bazookas are how we destroy Panzer tanks
And when we capture Krauts we love to interrogate their upper ranks

Anti-Zionism Is No More Anti-Semitic Than Irish Republicanism Is Anti-Protestant

I have always been a supporter of the Palestinians. Well, in Junior High, to whatever tiny degree I was political and politically educated, I guess you could say I was a neo-conservative and I drew Israeli flags on my my notebooks, etc. But since I started becoming more educated and progressive and active, in High School, I have been a supporter of the Palestinians. On this blog, as I simultaneously go to great lengths to oppose anti-Semitism (the best examples are here and here, but all my posts that are partly or totally about anti-semitism are here), I have also referred to Israeli Apartheid, as a way to describe how the Jewish State treats it’s Palestinian citizens and, more so, how it treats the Palestinians in the West Bank (I haven’t said much about Gaza but it is horrible what is happening there and it also involves the fact that the Palestinians are stateless and there is bigotry towards Arabs). But I have not really said much critical about Zionism.

In this post I will argue that Zionism was not justified, or a good idea, and has been a disaster., and that a one state solution is a better idea than a two state solution.

UPDATE 10/1/23 The next paragraph is a response to something I read from a fairly good source of information- the idea that critics of Israel, if they aren't anti-Semitic, must recognize the Jewish population's right to self-determination.

The Jewish people in general don’t have a right to self-determination. They are not a nation. Religious groups don't have a right to self-determination (Catholics globally and in Ireland don't). In America (and I think social scientists and/or Jews in other countries would agree) being Jewish is a religious and/or ethnic identity and ethnic groups don't have a right to self-determination (Irish-Americans don't have a right to self-determination). Even with a large concentration in Israel, Jews are mostly a diaspora, and that was even more true in 1948. The Irish diaspora does not have a right to self-determination. The Irish on that island do, but not the diaspora. Since many people use the term “bi-national” when describing a one state solution to the conflict, I use the term that way twice in this post. Some would say I’m saying that the Jews are a nation. On one hand, the Jewish people of ISRAEL might be a nation, but some people including some Irish republicans would say that N. Ireland Unionists are a nation, and IF they have a right to national self-determination, as a settler population, it is inferior to that of the indigenous Irish (although this is complicated because there are some Unionists who are Catholic and some of those are technically indigenous, it is a lot more accurate to say Unionists are an ethnic group that could be called British-Irish) (IF European-Americans have a right to self-determination, it is trumped by that of American Indians). So, the Jewish-Israeli population might have a right to self-determination, but it is trumped by the right to self-determination of the 100% indigenous population of Palestinians (almost the entire Jewish-Israeli ethnic group are settlers or the descendants of settlers). IF (and it might be a huge if) anyone says that the Jews are a race and therefore they have a right to self-determination, here's my response: A) No, races don't have a right to self-determination (does the white race have a right to self-determination?); B) The Nazis certainly thought Jews were a race, and C) are such hypothetical supporters of Israel saying that Israel is a racial state?

The Jewish population dispersed from the Holy Land almost two millenia ago. Yes, some remained, but the idea that they could reserve the entire area for all the descendants (two millennia later) of those who left is ridiculous. MANY Irish Catholics left Ireland and although some of their descendants can become Irish citizens, the VAST majority cannot. And that includes the descendants of that VAST majority of the emigres who left as result of British and Unionist policy in Ireland. Let me focus on the area currently called Northern Ireland. For centuries there’s always been a large minority of the population that identify as Catholic and/or Irish. No one says that all the descendants of the emigres can come back.

Some would point to the Holocaust as a relevant difference, and that’s not totally irrelevant. I’m not saying I deserve an award from the Anti-Defamation League for this, but there is a fair amount of material on my blog about the Holocaust, here. Although I have mixed feelings about criminalizing Holocaust Denial because I am opposed to censorship, I believe an argument can be made that Holocaust Denial breaches international law on genocide, and I don’t oppose criminalizing it. At least half, maybe 2/3, of Europe’s Jewish population was killed intentionally and efficiently by a regime that meant to exterminate the entire population and that fought to the death and was only defeated after a MASSIVE military effort that included what you might say were at the time three of the world’s super-powers (the US, the USSR, and the UK). As I have written elsewhere, genocide is the cultural equivalent of a species going extinct. And of course there is the background of widespread global anti-Semitism before Nazi Germany, and the refusal of most, maybe all countries to take in more than a handful of refugees during the Nazi era in Germany.

On the other hand, here’s what the Irish went through that comes sort of close. Although this is roughly equivalent to what Hitler did with the work camps in the early years of the Holocaust, Cromwell (in the 1600s) sent tens of thousands of Irish people to the Caribbean as some kind of cross between indentured servants and slaves. They had no choice and worked under slave-like conditions until they earned their freedom or died (many or MOST died) (they usually lasted about 3-7 years). During the Famine, 10-15% of the population died and 10-15% of the population would have died if they hadn’t emigrated. This was concentrated in the South and West of Ireland where there very few settlers- if you ignore the settlers and their descendents, it was probably closer to 15-20% and 15-20% of the population. Why did a potato blight result in something close to genocide? First, the indigenous Catholic population was still recovering from about 1.5 centuries of political and legal disempowerment that occurred because of the Penal Laws which denied them most of the rights enjoyed by most or all Protestants (it varied from right to right). “Catholic Emancipation” was only made about 90% complete about 15 years earlier. Because of this and general poverty, the indigenous population was largely dependent on land owned by land lords and the potato crop. For about 45 years before the Famine and during the Famine, Ireland didn’t have a devolved parliament, they were completely ruled from London. Crucially, during the Famine, MASSIVE amounts of food were being shipped from Ireland to Britain, something that involved seventy-five British Army regiments. Now, as I have pointed out elsewhere, it’s not like the British were rounding up the Irish with the goal of extermination. But the deaths only stopped when the blight stopped. And the facts are the facts as far as how many people died or had to emigrate to avoid dying. There’s much more, but that’s the most serious and relevant stuff.

What happened in the Holocaust, is not much worse than what happened to the Irish. On the other hand, what the Nazis wanted to do is worse than what the British wanted, IF the British had wanted what happened to the Irish to happen. But there are two more things to consider: A) The British were more or less racist towards the Irish at that point in Anglo-Irish history and were more concerned about practicing Laissez-faire economics and feeding the British population than they were concerned about mass starvation among the Irish, and B) keeping Jews in concentration camps (not DEATH camps) or ghettos with little or no food or medicine was not terribly different from what the British did disempowering and impoverishing the Irish and taking food, at the barrel of a gun, out of Ireland while there was a potato blight.

On one hand, you could sort of compare Zionism with the 1800s immigration of Irish to America and what happened to the indigenous population of this country during that century. But the Irish population didn’t rally to that to quite the same degree that the Jewish population rallied to Zionism (I would estimate that in an average year of the last 8 decades, about 80% of Jewish people were Zionists, and I think that about 35-44% of the world's Jewish population live there, and many others spend some time there; there isn't a comparably solid ideology about the Irish emigrating to America, although probably 60% of the diaspora live here). And I am not happy about what Europeans and European-Americans have done here in relation to the indigenous population, and I have done some activism about that. My activism on the issue reflects the fact that I got an Ethnic Studies degree with a primary focus on American Indian Studies. And in both cases, I’m not saying anyone needs to get on a boat and go back home. But the white population here and the Jewish population in what used to be called Palestine, need to transform their relationship with the Indians and the Arabs, respectively.

You could also sort of compare it to what the British did settling the Irish province of Ulster, 2/3 of which makes up N. Ireland (although it was not in response to mass suffering let alone genocide). I’m not real familiar with that, but I guarantee you that centuries ago the Catholic population was treated perhaps worse than it was the first 80 years after N. Ireland was created, and there’s some information about that here, here, and here. We are talking about a colonial effort, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone when I make that comparison on this blog.

I’ll return to the N. Ireland comparison soon, but let me say a few more things first. Responding to the Holocaust by founding a Jewish State in the Holy Land was not a great idea. After the war, those Jews who just couldn’t stay in Europe would have found safety in America, or probably SOME European countries like the UK, Ireland (although they were neutral, the war-time Prime Minister had a fairly good record of opposing anti-Semitism and the 1937 Constitution explicitly recognized the Jewish religion as part of the Irish nation), Denmark (whose population went further than any other to save the Jewish population from the Nazis), just to mention a few solid examples. In terms of safety, founding the Jewish State was, at least in hind-sight not that helpful in reducing anti-Semitism and the Jewish population there has only been relatively safe because of A) a ridiculously skilled or ridiculously lucky military, B) MASSIVE military support from the US, and C) in the last 4-5 decades, the possession of nuclear weapons. As far as anti-Semitism world-wide, the fairly predictable effect of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians under its rule has been to just make anti-Semitism more popular than it was shortly after WWII.

Also, I’d say the Jewish religion isn’t as connected to the land once known as Palestine as the Christian religion is. What I call the Old Testament begins a long way from Jerusalem. And then there was 400-500 years in Egypt. Although the early history of the Jews is part of the Bible, Christianity is INCREDIBLY defined by the birth of Christ, his life, his death, and if you believe people like me, his resurrection, and then his ascendence into heaven. It all took place in the area once known as Palestine. And yet, I think the Crusades by European Christians were reactionary.

In Ireland, the goal of republicans and nationalists could be called a “one state solution.” They want Ireland united. Some socialists and others predict that if Sinn Fein got close to its goal, the actual result would be a repartitioning of N. Ireland. I think that’s unlikely and crucially, SF would not accept that. Also, what they want is a secular state of all religions and you MIGHT also use the term bi-national. There is a theory I largely subscribe to, that the Unionists in N. Ireland are actually Irish, but I’m also comfortable with the idea that they can and (in a united Ireland) will develop a British-Irish identity which I’m sure the Irish will be willing to accommodate. Below I address the idea that the South of Ireland is today based on religion and/or ethnicity (it’s diverse enough that ethnicity is the right word).

I don’t know when I started to drift towards supporting a one state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But with settlements and with the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and with Trump’s “peace” plan, I am thinking that the two state solution is dead. There’s also the fact that MANY West Bank Palestinians (not to mention many of those in Gaza) would like to experience the relative democracy that Israelis enjoy and certainly most of them would like to enjoy the relative prosperity most Israelis enjoy. MANY people in the West Bank are not happy with the Palestinian Authority and I imagine that when it comes to a democratic society a small or large minority of people in Gaza are not happy with Hamas. A recent poll described and analyzed in an article here found that about 2/3 of Palestinians have given up on the two state solution.

(I should explain something about one of the polls results- that 84% want to withdraw recognition of Israel. It might be a large minority of that 84% want to destroy Israel. There must be GREAT anger towards Israel in Gaza considering the humanitarian disaster, the complete lack of state-hood and the resources for state-hood, and the periodic, brutal and short-term invasions by the Israeli military in the last 15 years. But it might also be a flawed response to calls for the PLO to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, something that will make it easier for Israel to treat it’s Palestinian population as second-class citizens, and it might be inspired by a desire to see Israel destroyed in the sense that it is replaced by a secular, democratic, bi-national state including the West Bank and Gaza. I mean, in the same poll 78% want to stage NON-VIOLENT protests against Trump’s plan, suggesting that they aren’t out for Jewish blood)

There’s also a poll saying that 30% of Israelis want a federation with Palestine, which might indicate support for a one state solution, although in that article Juan Cole is pessimistic that it’s that positive.

Although it’s easier said than done, a one state solution would solve the conflict better than a two state solution would. It would turn Israel into a fully fledged democracy and the odds are that social conservatism would be weakened in both the Palestinian and Jewish populations, and even if Israelis see some small decline in their lifestyle as part of a redistribution of wealth, hopefully it would be negated by the creation of a social democracy- Israel, in a slightly warped way, used to be a social democracy, and Fatah, the dominant part of the PLO, has been for decades a Jr. or (today) a full member of the Socialist International (sure, the SI isn’t as socialist as it used to be, but still…). Even if Jew-hatred continued in Iran and they got a nuke (I’m saying IF to both), if the Jewish and Palestinian populations were more integrated and the Palestinians were happy with the new state, I doubt a WMD or conventional attack would take place. Some of the money currently spent on destructive military activities would be funneled to things like health care and education and the environment.

I have tried to find out exactly what contributes to calling Israel The Jewish State. I spent hours in the library. Actually I didn’t but I am really good at using Google Advanced Search and identifying what sites are good sources for this or that topic. I couldn’t find hardly anything except for stuff about the recent Nation-State law which is both horrible and fairly vague (there's also a ton of stuff on a related question here). I believe that some of what contributes to use of the phrase Jewish State can be retained in a one state solution. The Jewish religion and culture can be protected along with Islam, Christianity, Druze, and the various other cultures like that of the Arabs. Equality legislation can be created and enforced.

Immigration policy would probably have to change in two ways. Those who fled or were expelled from Palestine as a result of the creation of Israel (and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza), and their descendants will have to be allowed back. We’re talking about people whose parents or grandparents left, not people whose ancient ancestors left. Jewish immigration might have to be curbed a little compared to the current policy and hopefully Jewish leaders in the new state won’t travel the globe unnecessarily encouraging Jewish immigration. It should remain a safe haven for Jews fleeing persecution. If you doubt that happens or think it will cease when the conflict there is resolved, think again. Fascism is on the rise throughout the world, including in Europe, and although it’s possible they’re not all as anti-Semitic as Hitler was, it’s still a problem. Although, or perhaps because, it’s an unbelievable story, read here about how a Jewish-American had few options but to immigrate to Israel to avoid being killed by Nazi Skinheads partly because he’s Jewish (even before the Internet, Nazi skinheads networked pretty well and Daly might have had trouble avoiding them by simply moving somewhere else in America, and I'm pretty sure he decided to immigrate around 1995) (I read elsewhere that on one hand he became a Likud activist but on the other hand he did work supporting Ethiopian Jews facing racism)). The new state could use diplomacy, economic power, and when needed their scaled down but probably still efficient foreign intelligence agency and military to help those Jews in the world who are experiencing persecution. And their diplomacy will be more respected than it is now.

It might be a good idea to initially have some kind of power-sharing set up like they have in N. Ireland. Not comparable to the one in Lebanon which is stupid, but like the one in N. Ireland. See this and this. There might be some relevant ideas here, in a peace plan proposal for N. Ireland I developed (that’s right, the UN Secretary General DID call me on the phone to discuss it- in my wildest dreams). (UPDATE 4/2/20 As far as the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, that can be done in some way that resembles what's done in N. Ireland with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister. What was difficult for me until now was what to do about a Head of State? I just figured it out. They could use what's called in Britain and Ireland "Alternative Vote" (what's called "Instant Run-Off Voting" in America). In the UK/RoI context it's proportional representation (with Single Transferable Vote) with just one seat being filled. They could use that, but with an elevated threshold, like 66% instead of 50%+1. That way the top parties (I don't think there should be a limit, but I imagine most of the smallest ones won't bother) will probably nominate moderates who can attract a lot of votes, and the winner will definitely be someone a large majority of the voters will be more or less happy with. And it might be best to put a lot of the power over the military and foreign policy in the President's hands, at least kind of like they do in France (also, one more idea- Constitutional Amendments should definitely require what in Northern Ireland they call "cross-community support") (It might also be a good idea if the Interior Ministry is formally or informally reserved for a MP who designates themselves as "Other" and/or it requires "cross-community support;" informally it's reserved for an "Other" in N. Ireland) (I'll be honest, I don't know what happens with the French President and the Defense and Foreign Ministries, but I would suggest that those ministers in a future WhateverIt'llBeCalled be appointed by the President and require confirmation by the Parliament with "cross"community support"))

A one state solution might avoid an Israeli Civil War, although it might also unavoidably be preceded by one. When the government pulled settlers out of Gaza, there was talk of civil war. To one very large degree or another, settlers in the West Bank wouldn’t have to leave.

Let me say a little more about N. Ireland and a one state solution. Republicans and especially the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party in the North don’t want the Protestants to leave (although the SDLP is closer to the Catholic Church than SF is, they’ve overall done a better job of attracting Protestants). They have worked with the Unionists to sustain the Peace Process and create a new society in N. Ireland and take steps towards a United Ireland. I believe that SF compromised more than they should have had to in terms of agreeing that Ireland will only be united when a majority in N. Ireland want that, but for the most part I support the GFA and the steps republicans have taken to make the Peace Process work. An example of this is senior SF leaders attending various events that are MUCH more Protestant and/or Unionist than Catholic and/or Nationalist, if not totally Protestant/Unionist. At least once in the last twenty years organizers of the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Belfast printed their materials in English, Irish, Chinese, and Ulster-Scots (a very, very minor language associated with Protestants and Unionists). Although SF believes that there should be separate legislation for promoting the Irish language in N. Ireland, they support something similar for Ulster-Scots. SF has practically always been willing to work with Unionists. The recent three year crisis in the Peace Process which was started with SF withdrawing from the Assembly’s Executive, was triggered largely by a financial scandal involving the First Minister (a Unionist) and involved  Unionist opposition to an Irish language act and same-sex marriage, a sectarian policy decision by a Unionist minister, and Unionist talk about how much anti-Protestant bigotry there is in N. Ireland (seriously, very little, and if you think I’m downplaying it because I hate them, too, see this (especially the notes BELOW the poem) and/or look at the survey results for “Equality” and for “Contact and Mixing” here or read this about sectarianism in the first 50 years of N. Ireland).

Lastly, here is my response to the idea that the Republic of Ireland (the South) is comparable to Israel.

After the War of Independence in Ireland, in 1920-1925 the South became what was called a “Free State.” Its independence from the UK was limited. For example, members of Parliament had to swear an oath to Queen. The 1937 Constitution created the position of President and the first President was a Protestant. Presidential terms are normally seven years and someone can serve two terms. In the 1970s there was another Protestant President for about 2 years before he died. So, out of 9 Presidents, two were Protestant. As far as the 1937 Constitution and Catholicism, it’s true that early drafts emphasized Catholicism and the Catholic Church, but there was GREAT opposition to that. The final draft of the relevant section recognized the existence of the main Protestant churches in Ireland, as well as the Jewish religion, and it recognized “the special position” of the Roman Catholic Church “as the guardian of the faith professed by the great majority of the citizens.” This special place for the Catholic Church was done away with in 1972. The ban on divorce was done away with in 1995. There were of course homophobic laws (only in 1993 was homosexuality decriminalized) and the constitution had to be amended in 2015 to allow for gay marriage (there wasn’t anything in the document about “a man and a woman,” but still, only in 2015 was it amended to solidly legalize gay marriage in a country where a law could be more easily overturned by politicians if the country drifted to the right) and abortion is 99% illegal there. But there is plenty of homophobia and pro-life nonsense among Protestants, Jews, Muslims, etc. (also, although the Catholic Church is in two ways sexist, that can be exaggerated, and in recent decades, FREQUENTLY the Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) has been a woman and between 1990 and 2011 the slightly powerful position of President of Ireland was held by women, one of whom went on to become the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights)

Is Ireland defined by ethnicity? Until about 20 years ago the South was almost literally 100% white, and there weren’t many non-Irish white people (in the last 20 years there has been bigotry that sort of resembles racism towards, for example, Poles). In 2004 there was an Amendment to the constitution that eliminated birthright citizenship for people born to parents who are not both citizens of Ireland. But if one parent is a citizen, they get citizenship. Also, although naturalization has been restricted, it’s still possible and it’s still fairly easy for citizens of the European Community (although that could be interpreted as racist, I don’t think they had much of a choice as a member of the EU). First, the parties in Ireland I primarily support (SF and Irish Labour) opposed the citizenship Amendment as racist (and also as being in conflict with the Good Friday Agreement). Second, although I couldn’t have said this until recently, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland for the last few years was a man named Leo Varadkar, whose father is Indian. Also, he’s an openly gay man. I don’t like him or his party (Fine Gael, who are sort of socially liberal but sort of pro-British and in love with capitalism). According to wikipedia, he was a government minister between 2011 and 2017 when he became Taoiseach. Between 2007 and 2011, when FG were in Opposition, he was a  Spokesperson (shadow minister?). The Irish language is recognized by the Constitution as the first official language and English is recognized as the second. A lot is done to promote the former, but practically everyone practically always speak the latter and everything official is available in both languages. The British came very close to stamping out the Irish language (and they WERE trying to).

The South is not comparable to the Jewish State. And SF doesn’t want a United Ireland to be any more Catholic or based on ethnicity than the South is now. The second half of this (starting with the sentence “A lot of people…”) talks about the former, and most of this deals with the latter.

In conclusion, Zionism was not justified, or a good idea, and has been a disaster. That doesn’t mean Jews need to leave. But they do need to transform their relationship with the Palestinians, and I believe that is best achieved through the creation of a truly democratic, secular, bi-national state.

Brexit, A Hard Border, and Irish Unity

You should read this. It's about the Northern Ireland aspect of Brexit, the departure from the EU of the UK. While reading my thoughts below, you should also read this. It's about how a "hard border" between the two parts of Ireland might violate the letter and certainly violates the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement. It doesn't mention that much of the business community, probably the vast majority, in both parts of Ireland oppose a hard border

I might be over-reacting, but there might be a new push for Irish unity soon. Besides Sinn Fein's success in the South, and the growth of Nationalist political strength in the North, there's also Brexit, and since a majority of N. Ireland voters voted to remain in the EU, there were definitely some Unionists who voted to remain (of 11 unionst MPs at the time, one opposed Brexit). Although the SF Deputy First Minister did at one point express opposition to a border between GB and NI, I think that might be because it was difficult for her to avoid since the First Minister and a large chunk, probably a majority of NI's business community oppose a border in the Irish sea (I've read that SF opposes it for different reasons than the DUP have for opposing it, but I just found something on the SF web-site indicating they might be sort of in favor of it) but SF definitely opposes a hard border in Ireland and and I think they probably realize that the EU will not accept a soft border in Ireland without a border in the Irish Sea. SF and the Social Democratic and Labour Party opposed Brexit. And the EU seems pissed about what London might be intending to do, and might strongly suggest that the situation be resolved by uniting Ireland (I believe it should be a 30 year process, but it should start ASAP).

UPDATE 3/5/20 I could swear I read somewhere that a senior DUP politician, perhaps Arlene Foster (leader of the DUP) said that a border in the Irish Sea would be the end of the Good Friday Agreement. I just found an article where a senior DUP politician says that the spirit of the GFA would be threatened by such a border. And I also just found an article where Foster said that there is so much opposition to such a border in the unionist community that there could be violence from that community, and although she didn't specify this, she's probably talking about loyalist paramilitaries. IF the DUP do walk away from the GFA because of a border in the Irish Sea, that could easily see a resumption of republican violence. There is a chance that a "hard border" in Ireland would see a small increase in republican violence, which would probably result in loyalist violence and/or repressive activity by the security forces. Hopefully the EU and America can put enough pressure on the British to resolve this by uniting Ireland. Unfortunately, as I write here, it's possible that Trump won't give a shit what SF wants (UPDATE 3/7/20 also, it was just reported that he made his now former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney his envoy to N. Ireland, and as far as I can tell, he doesn't like Mulvaney, and that makes me think that as flawed as his approach to the conflict would probably be, he also just doesn't care).

UPDATE 3/5/20 I stumbled across an Irish Times article about a December 2019 opinion poll of people in N. Ireland by the University of Liverpool, . The first relevant paragraph is:

In the 2016 Brexit vote Northern Ireland voted by 56 per cent to stay in the European Union. Excluding don’t knows, those who refused to say and those who would not vote, the survey found that now 63 per cent would vote to stay in the EU compared with 37 per cent who would vote to leave.

The second relevant paragraph is:

On checks on goods travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland, and between the North and the Republic, 68.5 per cent of those who stated an opinion believed they would be unacceptable.

The General Election in Ireland, the Working-Class, and the Palestinians

I am a little late doing this, but here are links to two articles about the recent election in the South of Ireland (the Republic).

1. An article about how Sinn Fein is a working-class party. About 15 years ago in another election there about 1/3 of SF candidates had some connection to the trade-union movement.

2. A post by Juan Cole about how Ireland is overwhelmingly in support of the Palestinians and a Sinn Fein government might turn that into policy.

Because of some things in the first article and the fact that in the PAST Cole has attacked the IRA, I want to link to a post on my blog where I explain that the IRA were not terrorists.

Also, it looks certain that there will be another election there, the numbers just don't add up to a 80 without so many different parties and independents that I doubt it will be a stable government. And, since SF didn't run many candidates, if there is another election, they might get a large plurality- hopefully seats taken from FF and not the left, but in any case it might make it more likely SF can form a government.

Also, SF is very much against anti-semitism, although it's a bit complicated. There's some stuff about that here, here, and something a little more critical here. UPDATE Another critical piece is here.



Something I wrote elsewhere:

In a recent post on his blog Juan Cole talks about SF and the Palestinians and says that unlike Germany with it's Nazi history, Ireland will be able to support the Palestinians without that kind of baggage. But That is not entirely true since Ireland was neutral and the IRA accepted aid from Nazi Germany. Unless SF has admitted recently that the IRA was wrong to do that, they are vulnerable to attacks. I go into more detail about that here. But multiple things indicate that SF IS VERY much against anti-Semitism (although it's not all favorable and some of it is ancient history much of this post is about SF and anti-semitism) and I wanted to make that even clearer to people who will criticize them over supporting the Palestinians. (I just did a google search for news about SF's current stance on the IRA and Nazi Germany, and subscribed to the Irish Times and searched that site and found nothing about SF changing it's stance on this (I found something from 2004 indicating that SF was still defending what the IRA did (using Google Advanced Search, I searched SF's web-site and found nothing, although several possibly relevant documents seemed to have been moved or removed (they probably can't archive everything (I also used the search function on SF's web-site and didn't find anything)))))

**********

UPDATE 2/22/20 First, there is an article here you read. Between this, and the WWII stuff, if Juan Cole is right, SF will be destroyed by Trump and AIPAC and much of the Left in America will look the other way because of the IRA/Nazi Germany thing.  A moderate Dem will be more merciful, but even a progressive supporter of the Palestinians like  Sanders will be pressured to criticize  SF. And AIPAC can use Congress to hurt SF. SF really needs to say that the IRA was wrong. As I said in a recent email to the TD mentioned in that article (I am typing a post about her tweets), what if the Israeli government in the 1970s offered the Provisional IRA money? Also SF needs to understand how much Americans like what we did in WWII.

 

Black Lives Matter Is Not A Hate Group

There is an important article about the Black Lives Matter movement here. It's by Richard Cohen, President of the Southern Poverty Law Center, at least one of the top two organizations monitoring the radical right, hate groups in general and some other extremists in America. This article should hopefully convince people skeptical of or hostile towards BLM that the movement is not anti-white. The thing is, the SPLC are saying this because the issues being raised by BLM are legitimate issues of racial injustice and inequality, and I believe that motivation triumphs over the positive relationship that the SPLC has with lots of police departments- that is, the SPLC cannot be written off as anti-cop, because, for better or worse, they overwhelmingly AREN'T anti-cop. But they are very much against hate and inequality.

UPDATE 3/1/20 The Anti-Defamation League also says fairly or very positive things about BLM.

Tom

UPDATE 7/19/16 I almost forgot to include something. There's an article about support in Ireland for BLM. It's here. Although I'm not half as familiar with it as I should be, Irishcentral seems pretty mainstream in Irish-america, which makes the part of the article about the protests in Ireland a pleasant surprise.

The Irish, Slavery, and Racism Today

On the blog of the Southern Poverty Law Center there was a very prominent post where they interviewed an Irish scholar about a new racist meme on the Internet. For the most part I'll just encourage you to read it yourself. It's fascinating and could come up as something anti-racists have to deal with while doing our work.

This is fairly embarrassing, but earlier there were three posts on this blog that claimed that Cromwell sent 10s of thousands of Irish people to the Caribbean to work as slaves. First of all, I never said or even thought, not even briefly, any of the offensive claims about slavery attributed to racists in that article (that is, the following: "that “Irish slaves” were treated far worse than black slaves; that there were more “Irish slaves” than black slaves; that “Irish slaves” were worth less than black slaves, that enslaved Irish women were forced to breed with enslaved African men, and that the Irish were slaves for much longer than black slaves;" or, "overtly racist statements, e.g. 'yet, when is the last time you heard an Irishman bitching and moaning about how the world owes them a living?' ”). But after discussing it with three knowledgeable people, I know now I was wrong to refer to the Irish in the Caribbean as slaves who were treated the same as African slaves. I'm not sure where I got that from. They were more or less forced into indentured servitude, although they would have worked in slave-like conditions and many or MOST died before earning their freedom (they lasted about 3-7 years). Their children did not become slaves (I somehow got the idea that 1-2 generations would have been born slaves and then that practice would have died out somehow (I could see the British doing that for 1-2 generations and then a majority of decision-makers deciding that the Irish were white enough that their forced labour shouldn't be hereditary- that that would apply only for Africans)). In fact, a friend knowledgeable about this told me that some of the Irish, after earning their freedom, became overseers of the slaves or even slave owners themselves.

One of the three references to this issue on this blog was in a poem and it made the most sense for me to remove the issue from that poem. The other two I fixed a bit and left them there.

Tom

"The winner of Election 2016 is social democracy"

Last Friday the 26th there was a general election for the parliament in the South of Ireland. Below are the election results:

Fine Gael   50 seats. FG is economically moderate or conservative and socially moderate or liberal. They're descended from the pro-Teaty side of the Irish Civil War (which took place in the early 1920s).

Labour 7 seats. Centre-Left

Fianna Fail 44 seats. FF is economically moderate or conservative and socially moderate or conservative. They're descended from the anti-Treaty side of the Civil War (what you might call the side that wanted to continue fighting the Britsh).

Sinn Fein 23 seats

Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit 6 seats. Hard left.

Social Democrats 3 seats

Green Party 2 seats

Independent Alliance 6 seats. Progressives.

Independents 17 seats. I imagine mostly progressives.

The article I link to below says something I think I need to respond to now:  SF is not a right-wing party at all, although I have heard before that some of their voters in the south might vote right-wing if SF wasn't around (in America, where they visit, SF is less left-wing than they are in Ireland where they live and work, etc.). I explain why it's not accurate to call them right-wing here.

I used to be a member of the Irish Labour Party's American sister organization, the Democratic Socialists of America and my understanding of socialism and how to achieve it has not changed. My thoughts on the ILP and the meltdown of the ILP's vote (in the previous election they got 37 seats):

1) I have felt comfortable calling myself a supporter of both SF and the ILP because almost every election on that island involves Proportional Representation and/or the ability of voters to transfer their votes from one candidate to another (so IF I lived there I could more or less vote for both of them). 

2) I support SF a bit more  because they have a huge mandate from the nationalist community in the North. I would love to see the ILP running candidates in the North, where they have been organizing for around 10 years now.

3) It sucks that this happened to the ILP, but as far as I can tell, the gov't they were a part of pursued an agenda of austerity. I believe that is not what the ILP wanted to do (I am not real familiar with them but I have never heard anyone say they're Third Way (the politics of Tony Blair in seemingly socialist organizations)  and I heard something making me think they're as anti-Third Way as DSA is), but for decades now they have been kind of stuck with going into gov't with FG, and FG is, unfortunately, overall no better economically in my opinion than FF and even after their best elections, the ILP was not able to lead a gov't (something I blame on the fact that the conflict around the North hasn't been resolved yet). 

4) There have been some instances of SF and the ILP getting along, but not many. One example would be that in the 2007 elections to the Irish Senate, they had a voting pact.
5) UPDATE 3/6/16 An Irish leftist friend of mine who seems non-hostile to the Socialist International, painted a far less rosy picture of Irish Labour for me. It also made me attach greater value to what the Irish Times opinion piece said about the governing coalition Labour was a part of. On the other hand, he did say that in opposition, Labour is good. I still think that if Labour were LEADING a coalition gov't and/or had a partner closer to them ideologically than FG is, they would probably act more like social-dems.

There's an opinion piece in the Irish Times (Ireland's largest paper) that I wanted to mention. To whatever degree it's head-line is accurate, and I think it largely is, that's great. I don't follow Southern politics as much as I follow stuff in the North, and RECENTLY I've only been reading an average of about 50 articles a week about that. But this article seems pretty accurate and I thought it was an important one to highlight. The article is written by the IT's literary editor.

Tom

Irish History, Today's World, and Our Education System

Just a quick link to a great article on another blog. I had no idea our education system was so bad in this area. The article touches on part of a theory I have, that to whatever degree our educational system and our media ignore Irish history and the situation in N. Ireland, it's partly or very much because of the potential of such material to get some Irish-Americans (almost all of whom are white) to think more critically about how people of color are treated in this world and in this country.

Anyway, there's a great article here.

Tom

Two New Poems: "Neutral No More" and "Brits Out II"

I usually wait till I have about four poems before I do a post of them, but the last couple days I have tried to alter two songs that I thought I'd really like altering, but I feel defeated just looking at the original. So I'm not sure when I will do more and I'd like to get these two published now.
For some info on how I "write" these poem, see this.

The rest of the songs/poems can be found by clicking on the "lyrics" label (there are several pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page)

“Neutral No More” based on “Fools No More” by Skrewdriver Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about a large number (around 5,000) of men and women who were members of the Irish military in the years before World War II that deserted in order to fight with the Allies (to a very large degree, Ireland was neutral).When they came home after the war, they were black-listed and treated just the same as people who deserted for other reasons. Just in the last month or two has the Irish governemnt acknowledged the importance of their contribution to the defeat of the Axis Powers. There is more information here and here.
2. “They shall not pass” is an anti-fascist slogan first used (in Spanish) in Spain’s Civil War.
3. The “loyalist Red Hand” isn’t really a BRITISH thing, but is a symbol used by many-most people in the North of Ireland who support Britain’s presence.
4. Deporting Jews to the East was one of the last steps towards genocide.
5. **72% of this version is mine, 28% is the original.
6. I give this poem three stars out of five.
7. This poem is related to a post about Ireland, the IRA, and Nazi Germany.
8. UPDATE 3/16/15 i added "and women" to the second verse, first line.
9. Many would say that it was reasonable for the vast majority of the Irish to refuse to fight alongside the British because of what the Brits have done to Ireland. I’d respond by pointing out that the 442nd Regimental Combat Team saw more combat than any other similarly sized unit of the US Army in Europe during WWII. After the war, they were the most decorated Army unit of that size in US military history up to that point. They were entirely Japanese-American (I think some of the officers were white) at a time when about half of Japanese-America was in internment camps.
10. The line that ends with "begun." I know it's not the Queen's English, but I'm an Irish Republican, so fuck the Queen (seriously, it rhymed).

Gloom in the trenches, fire in the sky
You wait for the signal, the order to die
You're scrambling forward, with fear in your eyes
Charging the enemy to tear down their lies
Obey all your orders, and you do what they say
You fight to stop fascism, you won’t go astray
And although the Allied leaders are not consistent
Defeating the fascist states is important

(chorus)
We’re neutral no more and they shall not pass
We’re going to help kick some Nazi ass

Millions of men and women are taking a stand
They fight the fascists for the good of their lands
The Brits have done horrible things in Ireland
But Hitler is a bigger threat than the loyalist Red Hand
Without exception the Nazis are scum
Who lie to their people since the 3rd Reich begun
They tell the Germans, the Jews must go East
And that just makes you even more displeased

(chorus)

War should be avoided, but not at any cost
If Germany wins, freedom is lost
While the Irish Army stay home to maintain neutrality
You fight to stop Nazi Germany’s brutality
They remained on the side-lines as Europe clashed
They were neutral as the Jews were gassed
And if you expect medals or a parade
You'll be lucky to get a job, lucky to get paid

****

“Brits Out II” based on “Muslims Out” by Kill, Baby Kill, original lyrics are here.

1. This is set more or less anytime 1973-1997, but probably makes the most sense sometime in the late 1970s or the 1980s, whenever the British were building watchtowers in South Armagh (and 2-3 others in county Fermanagh).
2. Estates are more or less neighborhoods in urban and suburban areas.
3.The Union is (in this context) the connection between N. Ireland and Great Britain.
4. Squaddies is a word for British soldiers.
5. I don’t know how theologically anti-Catholic the British Army is, but there’s at least a little bit of that and generally the BA in the North was certainly anti-Catholic. Also, I realize there are plenty of atheists and some protestants and some others in the nationalist community. Also, I'm pretty secular when it comes to politics.
6. The watchtowers were constructed where the security forces were very vulnerable to IRA attacks. 

7. British Nazis overwhelmingly supported the unionist and British causes in the North. 

8. As far as them being very one-sided, some proof of that is found here, in the three paragraphs starting with the one that starts- “Looking at the 825+...” 

9. **61% of this version is me, 39% is the original.

10. I give this poem four stars out of five.
11. I could almost describe this as a rare N. Ireland poem of mine that has nothing to do with republican paramilitaries but I guess it refers to the IRA at the end and more generally is about how the Nationalist community is attacked by the British Army. Much of it could come from a Nationalist.

Fucking British battalions they come over here.
They try to keep us down, keep us down with fear.
They attack our estates, trying to control.
Maintaining the Union is their only goal.

Chorus:
Brits out! Brits out!
Hear the people scream, hear the people shout.
Brits out! Brits out!
Squaddies go home, no more pushing us about.

Their religion they think is superior to yours and mine
They disrespect our culture, and our language they malign
Watchtowers are rising on every hill,
Fascists always celebrating whenever they kill

They claim they’re peace-keepers and don’t take sides
But the brits are running the North, the Six-Counties are occupied.
When I think of what they’ve done here it makes me so pissed
We don’t like war, but we will resist

Eyes On The Prize: Three More Poems

Below are three more poems. For an explanation of how and why I "write" the poems, see this.

For the rest of the poems click on the "lyrics" label at the bottom (there are at least four pages worth of posts, so click on the "older posts" at the bottom of the first page).

“Internment Night” based on “Fiery Cross” by Hate Society, original lyrics are here.

1. This is about the annual rioting on “Internment Night” in N. Ireland during the earlier years of the conflict (I'm not sure how much that has happened in the last 1-2 decades) (the rioting for some number of years was accompanied by creating bonfires (at least in 1988) in republican areas). I read that at some point, probably 15-20 years ago, a community festival in west Belfast was started partly to give teenagers something else to do instead of rioting. Is this poem meant as a criticism of the organizers of that festival? NOT AT ALL- as far as I can tell, that festival was/is a great idea, and of course it is/was anti-Unionist and anti-Imperialist and was therefore a form of resistance (considering the progress made so far with the Peace Process, I’m not sure if “resistance” is the right word for today). But I also believe that during the conflict, rioting was generally a good thing- it was closer to mass struggle than the IRA’s campaign. It was just one more way of resisting along with rallies, marches, the IRA, elections, etc.
2. The phrase, referring to POWs is usually “men behind the wire” but “fence” rhymed and made sense. 1971 was the first year of internment. There’s a good, academic summary about internment here.
3. Squaddies is a word for British soldier, peeler is a word for the police.
4. Provos are the Sinn Fein and the IRA that in recent decades have been called simply Sinn Fein and the IRA. I haven’t really nailed down when this takes place, so I’m not sure what to say about them being “on the rise.” It’s a bad line in what is a bad poem.
5. BA is the British Army, and they didn’t defeat the IRA.
6. The phrase “freedom’s seeds” is based on a republican song called “Your Daughters and Your Sons” (it's my favorite song). The idea is that the children of (for example) Catholics in N. Ireland were the seeds of freedom in the future.
7. The idea behind the 2nd line of the 2nd verse is that the rioting of youth could possibly be seen as a small taste of what the security forces would get from the IRA (there’s more than that, the rioting also was to some degree mass struggle).
8. Normalization was a part of Thatcher’s N. Ireland policy where they tried to convince people the war wasn’t having much of an effect on N. Ireland society. Although they were rioting very frequently for years before that, nationalist youth rioting could be seen as doing a pretty good job of undermining normalization.
9. I deleted the last verse for various reasons.
10. I give this poem two stars of five.
11. **71% of this version is me, 29% is the original.
12. The reference to fascism towards the very end. For the most part, you’re right- their enemy was not fascist. But they were anti-fascist youth.
13. The original is by an American band, and so I made a point of including some anti-fascist/right/bigot or pro-left (I explain that a bit more here). With this one, it’s the term “anti-fascist” (Overwhelmingly, the enemy in the N. Ireland conflict is/was not fascists- that part of that line is simply an anti-fascist statement).

They’ve been lighting their bon-fires for years as resistance
And remembering those in ‘71 taken behind the fence
Already rioted a hundred times and never were arrested,
the squaddies and peelers presence would not go uncontested

Chorus:
Fiery resistance still burning - lighting up the land!
Better watch out squaddie - the ‘RA will shoot you where you stand!
Fiery resistance still burning - lighting up the skies!
Better watch out peeler - the Provos are on the rise!

Another army the BA couldn’t defeat, they are freedom’s seeds
They will let the crown forces know, a warning they should heed
Anti-fascist youth in one struggle - an army of the poor
Rejecting normalization, it’s their battle in a people’s war

chorus

****

“We Are Standing” based on “They Stand Alone” by No Remorse, lyrics are here (not exactly what I used, but close).

1. The first verse is about “Operation Motorman,” a British offensive against no-go areas (Nationalist areas where the security forces couldn’t easily enter because of barricades and armed Volunteers (members of republican paramilitaries)) For more info, see this. At that point, in 1972, the British Army (BA) were in complete conflict with the nationalist community. I’m not sure if that means they were there to support the status quo since the regional government in Belfast had been suspended, and the BA wasn’t in complete lock-step with the Unionists. But they were continuing the oppression of the nationalist community. And a year earlier, they had carried out the internment operations demanded by the Unionists. And in 1974 they allowed the Unionists to bring down the power-sharing government. So it largely makes sense.
2. “Orange Jim Crow” is my way of referring to the anti-Catholic environment of N. Ireland back then (orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in N. Ireland). In the period around 1972, there were still some Jim Crow-type laws, and certainly four years earlier they had them. You could also say that in some ways it continued up until somewhere around 10 years ago.
3. The second verse is about the formation of the state of Northern Ireland. The USC was the Ulster Special Constabulary, a kind of state militia to help the police, but they were worse than the police in terms of sectarianism. Britain paid a lot for the various efforts of establishing and securing N. Ireland- they turned the Six Counties (a republican term for N. Ireland) into an armed camp.
4. As I have explained in the last 1/3 of this, I believe the Left in many countries dropped the ball in terms of doing work on N. Ireland. The media didn’t help with that problem.
5. The line about Soldiers of Empire refers to the build up in the early 1970s.
6. I give this poem three stars out of five.
7. The Ulster Unionist Party was the main unionist political force in N. Ireland for decades until about 7 years ago. It’s leadership was overwhelmingly upper-class and the rich benefited greatly from UUP governments.
8. No Remorse was British and supported the unionist and/or British causes in N. Ireland.
9. **70% of this version is me, 30% is the original.
10. UPDATE 5/15/12 The last line of the first verse could be seen as conflating those who supported the IRA with the nationalist population in general. That's not my intent, although I could almost do that without it being more than sort of inaccurate- beyond the 40% who definitely supported the IRA, there's evidence that something like another 40% sort of supported the IRA. You could say it's a look at N. Ireland that could be shared with non-IRA supporters, but in this poem it's coming form IRA supporters.

A tank rolls up the Creggan Rd.
The BA’s here to support the status quo
The Volunteers escaped, to fight another day
Our day will come- victory to the IRA

Chorus
British Army man, you must go.
We’ll defeat you and Orange Jim Crow.
Northern Catholics, now we are standing
Freedom and justice, we are demanding

A State built on sectarian violence of the USC
An Orange system for the rich of the UUP
Propped up by pillars, of British pounds
Thousands of guns, to occupy Irish ground

Chorus

Oh! Northern Catholics, No-one on your side
Hopes are nearly fading. Freedom’s nearly died
come on

Chorus

Silence from the Left, while Nationalists die.
World-wide news media won’t ask why.
Soldiers of the Empire, build up in Six Counties.
It's an imperialist creation, they want us on our knees

Chorus

Take back your land...

*****

“Eyes On The Prize” based on “Final Attack” by Final War, original lyrics are here.

1. This is about Ireland, close to the day when Ireland is unified. UPDATE 4/27/12 I just realized, I was a little lazy with part of writing this poem- I'm kind of conflating the northern Catholic population with the Irish population in general; in the next week or so, I'll fix that (same thing with supporters of the armed struggle and those who didn't support it).
UPDATE 4/29/12 It’s overwhelmingly about the nationalist population in the North. I don’t know if this is really a good idea, this will probably be the only poem I do this with, but I am going to use asterisks to indicate which lines mean this or that. * Just nationalists; ** Nationalists and the South; *** Largely pre-N. Ireland and more general; **** Northern Protestants. And there is only one line that refers to the use of force as part of a wide variety of efforts to unite the island and/or work for equality for the nationalist and Catholic populations; that doesn't mean that it was supported by the entire nationalist community (about 40% strongly supported the IRA and somewhere around 40% sort of supported the IRA).

2. The Dail is the parliament in Dublin. There’s a good chance that unification will begin shifting Ireland towards the Left. There’s some more about that towards the bottom of this post.
4. As far as I can tell, with Ireland united and free, there would be very little left of British imperialism.
5. As far as dialogue and reconciliation and helping the unionist bigots move beyond the end of N. Ireland, there is some info about that here and (as far as my record on supporting dialogue and reconciliation), here. You might also want to read this.
6. The red, white and blue are the colors of the British flag.
7. The Republic is already much more secular than it was decades ago (gay rights are fairly advanced) and even decades ago, Catholic fundamentalism rarely took the form of anti-Protestantism.
8. Anti-Catholic bigotry in Ireland was largely encouraged by the British.
9. It’s difficult to say when The Troubles ended. It was a gradual process, probably beginning with the Good Friday Agreement, and ending with Sinn Fein accepting the new police force.
10. “Eyes on the prize” was the name of a documentary made in the 1980s about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (and the years between that era and 1985). I’m not sure if it’s a perfect fit, but the last line in this poem, I believe, works very well.
11. In the last line, “we’ve all” refers to about 90% of the Northern Catholic population and what would be a growing minority of Northern Protestsants.
12. I give this poem four stars out of five.
13. **80% this version is mine, 20% is the original.
14. The original is by an American band, and so I made a point of including some anti-fascist/right/bigot or pro-left (I explain that a bit more here). With this one it’s the title of the poem.
15. Orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in the Irish-British context.
16. UPDATE 4/21/16 I replaced the word "enslaved" with "killed" in the 3rd line of the 2nd verse.
17. UPDATE 11/8/16 In the 3rd line of the last verse, I changed "many" to "hundreds of thousands" because "many" would probably be interpreted as MUCH less than "hundreds of thousands." At this point there's about 1.1 million Protestants in the North and although "hundreds of thousands" is kind of a mouthful, I think that TODAY there might be about 75,000-100,000 adult anti-sectarian Protestants there and this poem is about a possible near future where a lot more progress has been made.

The day is approaching, the day of unity n/a
for you and your family, will finally be free *
gonna celebrate, and remember the dead **
gonna paint the Dail a light shade of red **

We’ll have equality and justice, with our liberation *
we’re also gonna have truth and reconciliation *
the Brits took our land, and killed many of us ***
Now British imperialism has been turned to dust n/a

Chorus:
Oh no, what are the bigots gonna do ****
when the Brits lower the red, white and blue n/a
We need to talk with them, make them understand- **
We’re all gonna share this island **

the Brits introduced sectarianism and kept the Nationalists down ***
Occupied all our cities and all our towns ***
explosions and gunfire had been part of our struggle *
As well as voting and marching, during and after the Troubles *

Chorus

We've got our sights set on a new democracy **
We guarantee, it won’t be, a Catholic theocracy **
Hundreds of thousands have broken free from the orange lies ****
And we’ve all got our eyes, yeah, eyes on the prize **