Anti-Semitism In Student Protests Is A Problem, But Not As Much As You Might Think

Below is an essay which, after some editing, was published as a guest opinion in the Boulder Weekly here.

Tom

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As I write this I am having trouble staying on top of what is happening at this or that university campus- it’s wonderful that so much protesting is going on. Although, as I’ll explain below, I am concerned about the likely fact that there is at least SOME anti-Semitism among American progressives supporting the Palestinians, I recently decided that it is probably a smaller problem than what I thought most of the last seven months. What prompts me to say that? A 4/23/24 video on CNN’s web-site (not some far-left web-site) about how the Columbia encampment included a Passover meal.

 

I believe that there IS a substantial amount of anti-Semitism in the sense that these activists are probably not condemning Oct. 7th. I believe most American progressives supporting the Palestinians don’t understand that intentionally killing civilians in war is wrong. I believe that they also don’t understand that Hamas is not a progressive organization. The military wing of Hamas are religiously fundamentalist socially conservative mass murderers.

 

On the other hand, so many Americans, including a dwindling percentage of the Democratic Party, just don’t understand what the Palestinians have gone through- as horrible and unjustified as it was, Oct. 7th did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinians did experience, to various degrees depending on what part of Israel/Palestine they live in, some pretty serious injustice for decades BEFORE Oct. 7th. A very good source about that is the blog of an expert on the Middle-East who has written negatively about Oct. 7th but generally supports the Palestinians. His name is Juan Cole and his blog is at- https://www.juancole.com/ . If you want something less partisan, there’s an online Israeli newspaper called The Times of Israel, at- https://www.timesofisrael.com/ .

 

The problem of anti-Semitism among progressives might be greatly exaggerated by allies of Israel, but it is a problem. And I believe that Oct. 7th was anti-Semitic. You had an organization like Hamas targeting only Jews and mostly Jewish civilians. I am not sure what has happened recently in the investigation of the alleged use of rape as a weapon of war on Oct. 7th, but I read a handful of things in the last several months, from non-Zionist sources, making me think that it happened (see “UN: 'Convincing information' sexual violence committed against hostages in Gaza” BBC 3/52024). Even without this I am comfortable calling Hamas anti-Semitic, but if there was organized rape of Jewish women, that says something about the acute HATE that Hamas had for their victims.

 

I think that a lot of progressive supporters of the Palestinians need to seriously consider that Hamas doesn’t deserve their support and they need to take the threat of anti-Semitism more seriously. They need to understand that it will be easier to refute accusations of anti-Semitism if they DO condemn Oct. 7th. I think that American supporters of Israel (although the Jewish zionists are a small part of the Israel lobby, this is aimed more at them than at the MUCH larger population of conservative Christian zionists (who are less likely to care about justice)) need to think more critically about Israel and consider that it is impossible for a state to be based on religion and ethnicity and to simultaneously be democratic. There is a lot of material on my blog about these issues, at- https://theblackandthegreen3.blogspot.com/ .

 

I am concluding with a quote from the hard-working opponents of organized hate, right-wing politics and economic injustice at the Southern Poverty Law Center. In one of the articles in the Fall 2008 issue of their publication, they wrote the following (it’s a statement by the author of that article):

 

“College campuses are particularly susceptible to anti-Semitism that originates in certain sectors of the far left. This source of anti-Jewish sentiment often begins with condemnation of Israeli policies and devolves into derogatory statements about all Jewish people. Although criticism of Israel does not typically amount to anti-Semitism — and many critics of the Jewish state are unfairly accused of bigotry — in some cases those who denounce Israel also cross the line into denigration of Jews as a group.” (My emphasis)

 

The most important part is the last sentence. Both opponents and supporters of Israel need to think about that seriously.

 

My Review of Larry Bond's 1991 Anti-Apartheid Novel "Vortex"

In a book report (it wasn’t very analytical) I did in 2022 about a sort of sci-fi/sort of techno-thriller novel with a left-wing message, I admitted that a big chunk of the fiction I read is by Tom Clancy or authors like Tom Clancy (1989-2009 it was about 70% and since 2009 it’s been about 25% (hopefully I won’t go to Socialist Hell)). As far as I can tell, the author of the book I just referred to (David Mace) is progressive. If you look at the books I’ve read in the Tom Clancy genre there’s a handful with some stuff that is liberal or even progressive. It’s usually a small island of progressive viewpoints (by characters you’re supposed to like) with an ocean of center/center-right politics. There is one book which is written by someone much more right-wing than left-wing but which can nonetheless be greatly enjoyed politically by progressives, if you think about it the right way. I’m talking about Larry Bond’s 1991 novel “Vortex.”

“Vortex” is about Apartheid South Africa, and a “last gasp” attempt by hardliners to maintain Apartheid and Afrikaner colonialism. I believe the story starts in May of 1992, although it’s not clear what the year is. I am not sure how much or how little progress was made in the Peace Process between Mandela’s release and May of 1992 (in reality). Towards the very beginning of the book the President of SA talks about significant progress being made, which prompts the main villain (Karl Vorster, a Cabinet member) to carry out something which is basically a coup, but which appears to be the ANC’s military wing (MK) assassinating the rest of the cabinet (although this is known by almost no one until the last 1/3 of the book, the MK operation was manipulated by Vorster and the Intelligence agency he runs). He then reverses the small number of reforms that had been made to Apartheid, invades neighboring Namibia, and turns the security forces loose against Blacks and any dissent by whites.

The situation becomes chaotic. The leader of the Zulu population (who, in reality, may not have been as militant as the ANC was during the anti-Apartheid struggle) calls for the rest of the world to take action against the new regime and his people take up armed struggle. A large chunk of the military in Cape Town refuses to massacre white civilian protestors and rebels against the government.

Things also start to fall apart for Vorster in Namibia, whose government asks the Cuban Army in Angola to help repel the invasion. Although this is more complicated, to one extent or another during most of the book you can root for the Cuban Army. The head of the Cuban Army in Africa (General Antonio Vega) convinces Castro that Cuba should resolve the conflict by invading South Africa and overthrowing Apartheid. With some help from other “anti-Imperialist” countries (including three Libyan units probably the size of battalions) three columns (probably around 2,000-3,000 men in each) enter SA from the east, north and west. Because the Cubans hid their preparations for the invasion the SA military is still focused on Namibia and rapid progress is made, especially the column approaching Pretoria from the West. Because it is a desert and a sparely populated area (and because he is psychotic) Vorster eradicates that column with a nuclear bomb. SA is on the verge of using two more nukes to attack strategic targets when the US military captures them and removes them from the country in a massive airborne operation. Shortly after that the US military lands something like a division on the east coast of SA (at Durban) and starts fighting the SA Army on it’s way to Pretoria. Naval aircraft start attacking the East column of Cubans.

As you might guess, the US military stops the Cubans from reaching Pretoria until they (the US) can get there first. The aftermath of this victory for the US is largely a GOP fantasy. Because of some significant friction with the Cubans (see below), the ANC abandons it’s commitment to socialism. There IS something about recognition of the trade-unions, something proposed by the occupying US military, but I think we’re talking about something that is probably engineered to foster a pretty centrist labor movement.

There are two large aspects of this story relevant to how close it is to being a progressive book.

First, the US government moves very slowly at each stage of the crisis and are usually far behind Cuba. And they (characters who are officials of the US government) are pretty honest about why they are initially very slow and behind Cuba, and they’re also very honest about why they DO send their own invasion force after Cuba invades- they don’t want Cuba to get credit for overthrowing Apartheid. I will add a lot of details to this in about a year when I read this book (for the 6th or 7th time) and take some notes, but in general, Cuba looks better than the US government.

On the other hand, there are some things Bond has the Cubans do that A) usually involve quite a bit of imagination on Bond’s part and B) make Cuba look bad. After one of his columns is wiped out by a nuke, Vega decides to compensate for that by using chemical weapons. In all fairness to Vega and in all fairness to Bond who was probably tempted to really slander Cuba at this point, they use NON-PERSISTENT chemical weapons which become impotent pretty quickly after they are released into the air. This means they’re not quite as indiscriminate as they would be if they were persistent. We don’t know how many battles involved Cuban chemical weapons, but there was at least one. And some small part of the nearby black population was affected, with some deaths.

Those black deaths contribute to the erosion of congeniality between the Cuban Army and the ANC’s military wing, Spear of the Nation. There is one bizarre incident that was a pretty good example of Bond trying to reassure most of his readers that he did not go commie while writing this book. The Cubans ask the black population in one town to help them make an airfield they took over functional again. There weren’t enough volunteers so a small number of Blacks were forced to help. This of course contributes to the conflict developing between the Cubans and the ANC. Bond does sort zig-zag a bit and quotes Vega’s thoughts, pointing out that he has Black officers on his staff- who he describes as brave and competent.

There is something I really need to say about Bond. Vortex is his second book. His first and third books are politically fairly centrist overall. His fourth and fifth books, I thought were racist towards Muslims and I will never read them again and I haven’t read anything he wrote after book five. (see this and this (and look for my name)). (I lost track of those two novels in my collection for several years but in the end I made a decision about 5 years ago to throw them away instead of taking them to a thrift store (I’m not totally okay with that, because it resembles book burning, but throwing them away was probably the right thing to do))

There is one last thing I need to get out of the way. In the very first sentence of the book, in a section that includes maybe 500 words, it sounds like Bond is saying that rural, uneducated Zimbabweans think that helicopters flying at night are “demons.”  There’s a bit more to that short first section, and I also think after I explain this next part, progressive readers will feel comfortable assuming that Bond is not racist towards Black people. In his first book (about a second Korean War), one of the main characters is an Air Force pilot who gets shot down behind enemy lines, and is rescued at night by a helicopter. This character does say that the helicopter appears like a demon.

It’s a massive book- 896 pages in paperback. If you’re not totally against anything military and you hate Apartheid, you will probably like this book. In about a year I will probably read it again and take some notes and have more to say.

Fuck Hamas

This is my position on what happened in Israel and Palestine in early Oct.

First, as far as the history of that conflict, about 20% of my knowledge comes from Juan Cole’s site Informed Comment and about 20% is from the BBC. The rest, about 60% is from various sources, some  mainstream, some progressive, including The Nation, the Washington Post, the Times of Israel, etc. In the last week it’s something like 50% the BBC, 10% Juan Cole, 10% CNN and the rest is miscellaneous.

I have been a supporter of the Palestinians pretty much since I started becoming more than a tiny bit political. I sort of explain my general thoughts about the conflict in a post here. I have only briefly been VERY familiar with Israeli and Palestinian politics, and that was the first 2-3 months of 2020 when I was reading about 15 articles a day on the web-based newspaper The Times of Israel. I used to be a member of what used to be the American section of the Socialist International (the Democratic Socialists of America) and in 2001 learned that Fatah, the leading part of the PLO (Arafat was a leader of Fatah), was a less-than-full member of the SI. Until recently I basically supported them.

That was increasingly (in recent years as more and more criticisms were made of the PLO) because of who the main alternative was. My position has always been- “Fuck Hamas.” To one degree or another Hamas is a lot more socially conservative than Fatah is, and I think that the activities of the military wing of Hamas were more likely to intentionally kill innocent civilians than the PLO was when they were fighting Israel.

But for decades now I have heard about the PLO being corrupt and abusing their power. They also have done a horrible job of advancing the interests of their people. Although that’s been clear to one degree or another for decades now, there was a BBC article that really explained that just recently. And then there was a BBC article accusing the President of the Palestinian Authority (sort of an extension of the PLO, in the West Bank) of giving a VERY anti-Semitic speech. As you’ll understand if you read that article, Abbas said that European Jews were targeted because they had money. This is not true and even if all Jews were rich, how in the world would that justify killing them- especially when rich people outside the Jewish population were not targeted as well.

I won’t discuss this in this essay, but I am not sure who I can support among the political movements in the Palestinian population.

The Palestinians have very serious and legitimate grievances. Those who are Israeli citizens experience a fair amount of inequality. Those living in the West Bank have it worse (they are state-less), and in different ways the residents of the Gaza Strip have it even worse than that. The first two of the three aspects of the Israeli state I just referred to are often referred to as being governed by “Israeli Apartheid.” I explain how that’s a legitimate term for how the Palestinians are treated here. The two state solution has been dying a slow death for decades as Israel plants settlers in the West Bank, changing the “facts on the ground” that will make an independent Palestine non-viable.  The Israeli Right, who are in power right now, wants to annex all of the West Bank, at the expense of the Palestinians living there.

So, yes, the Palestinians have every reason to be FURIOUS with the Israeli state and the Israeli people. But what Hamas has done in the last few days is horrible. IF it had been aimed at the military and (using methods that avoid civilian death) government and commercial buildings, I would at least sort of approve. But that’s not what happened. What happened was a massacre of civilians and, especially with a right-wing extreme Zionist government in Jerusalem, it will provoke an even greater (UPDATE 310/10/23 bigger, and/or more extensive) response than what we have seen in the last few days. It will probably bury any chance at peace for a generation.

Is that guaranteed? Fortunately it is not. We need to continue our efforts to change American policy on Israel. That effort will be boosted if we do more to incorporate opposition to anti-Semitism into our solidarity work in support of the Palestinians. That is one of the main themes in my post on Zionism and a one state solution. At the risk of scheming internationally, this is one more reason to support the Irish political party Sinn Fein. After SF got within striking distance of leading a left-wing and republican government in Dublin in 2020, Juan Cole wrote a post about what that might mean for the Palestinians. In recent years there has been a trend of bigger and bigger percentages of the Jewish-American population supporting the Palestinians, and this will help.

In general I am a supporter of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, although I worry that a CULTURAL boycott could fuel anti-semitism. But an economic and political BDS network would be awesome.

So, we need to do a better job than we have done. And I think that a good place to start is to react to recent events by condemning Hamas, talking up a one state solution, and doing more of what we have already done.

 

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UPDATE 10/12/23 There is another item on the same theme here.

The Palestinain-Israeli Peace Process is Over

I just sort of stumbled onto a news story about something I had been largely ignoring for about 2 months. The Peace Process between Israel and the Palestinians is over. Read this. I have done two important posts about this issue. One is about how the term "Apartheid" is an appropriate description of how Israel treats the Palestinians, and one is an argument against zionism.

A good source of information about the conflict is here. For a more frequently updated and relatively neutral source, see The Times of Israel.

Tom

Babylon 5 Reviews M

Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.

Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.


**Season 5 episode 7 “Secrets of the Soul”** See this for a plot summary.

There is one small political issue and one pretty large one.

First, Dr. Franklin says, for the third time, that he will not be involved in biogenetic warfare and this time promises representatives of an alien race who are giving him their people’s medical information (probably the biology, chemistry, etc. and epidemiology) that he would rather die than be involved in that sort of thing.

While reviewing that information he learns that there were two races (the Hyach who are known to Earth and the Hyach-Doh who are buried in history) on their home planet in a case of “parallel evolution.” He is accosted by one of the Hyach intent on maintaining a cover-up of what happened to the other race. He learns that at one point centuries ago they briefly co-existed and there was inter-marriage. Then Hyach religious forces had that designated as immoral, which changed to illegal, and then became punishable by death. After that the Hyach spent centuries successfully pursuing a policy of extermination. This included bounties on the heads of the Hyach-Doh and a severe ban on anyone helping them leave the planet. The former reminds me of what happened to American Indians, and the latter goes further than what the Nazis initially did (for some period of time in the 30s German Jews could leave).

Dr. Franklin then learns that the race that continued (the Hyach) is numerically declining and that it’s doing so because they needed the inter-breeding with the other race (the Hyach-Doh) for biological or genetic reasons.

There is a powerful exchange between the Dr. and a Hyach who seems RELATIVELY willing to deal with the truth:

Hyach: We are a dying people unless you help us.

Dr. Franklin: No.

Hyach: You hold us responsible for those who were killed.

Dr. Franklin: Yes.

Hyach: Even though we ourselves were not yet born?

Dr. Franklin: You helped hide the truth about what happened by revising your history, cutting out the parts you didn’t like. Now as far as I‘m concerned that makes you an accomplice after the fact.


The one quoted above asks for forgiveness and Dr. Franklin says only the Hyach-Doh can do that, but they’re all dead.



**Season 5 Episode 8 “Day of the Dead”** For a plot summary see this.

There’s one tiny comment I need to make about this. This episode was made about 20 years ago and I think that back then this mistake I need to highlight was fairly common and today probably everyone against bigotry already knows what I’m going to say. But when discussing diversity and inclusion using the word “tolerance” is very inappropriate. It suggests something is wrong with, for example, the religion being discussed. So it was disappointing that the Captain of B5 used that word in connection with religion.


**Season 5 Episode 9 “In the Kingdom of the Blind”** See this for a plot summary.

There is one brief bit of politics. The Interstellar Alliance gets one of it’s member races to agree to not block the independence of a planet near them (although it’s not stated explicitly, the seperatists were probably governed by the IA member). That was in exchange for the IA agreeing to intercede in all border disputes there for the next 20 years. I imagine something like that might be helpful somewhere on Earth in reality- possibly with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, possibly with other international conflicts.



**Season 5 Episode 10 “A Tragedy of Telepaths”** See this for a plot summary.

There's only one political issue in this episode. Evidence is discovered indicating that recent attacks on shipping by Interstellar Alliance races may be carried out by OTHER members of the IA. There is some degree of escalation of threats and military deployments between three different IA races. Then Sheridan deploys Ranger White Star military vessels and threatens to attack anyone seen attacking the military of fellow IA races. Apparently it’s allowed by the constitution of the IA and it’s not a horrible idea but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.


**Season 5 Episode 20 “Objects in Motion”** See this for a plot summary.

There are two brief things about Mars that are worth mentioning. First, looking at the time when Mars was controlled by Earth, accusations are made about what Earth was doing with it’s colony: a vague reference to “exploitation” and a more specific reference to strip mining. Those accusations are the sort of things I had been hoping to hear about Earth's rule of Mars.

The other political thing is that Earth is using bureaucracy, especially about finance, to control Mars as it tries to realize independence- it’s basically neo-colonialism. Th Interstellar Alliance offers to help Mars get financial independence from Earth.

Babylon 5 Reviews G

Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.

Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.

**Season 3 Episode 3 “A Day in the Strife”** See this for a plot summary.

This episode contains a fair amount of stuff about the Centauri occupation of Narn. We learn that there is a resistance and that for every Centauri killed 500 Narn are killed. The former dissolved the old Narn government and created a provisional government. The representative of it sent to B5 opposes the resistance, saying it is the wrong time. I am inclined to think, when would be the right time? This Narn collaborator vaguely talks about waiting until they’re a bit stronger and the Centauri have been lulled into a sense of false security. Between the fact that he is officially a collaborator and at one point he blames the resistance, not the Centauri, for the nightmare the Narn are experiencing, I’m inclined to dismiss his opposition to the resistance.

Looking at N. Ireland, I believe that certainly there were some times when it was a bad idea to use violence. First I have supported the cease-fire since day one. And I would agree that in the late '60s it would have been inappropriate for the IRA to have been conducting operations in N. Ireland. But after Aug. 1969 (when there were massive anti-catholic pogroms) and especially about 9 months later when, independent of the IRA, the relationship between the British Army and the nationalist community went bad, it was legitimate for the IRA to attack the security forces. After that, they usually had the backing of about 40% of the population and in my opinion the right analysis of the situation- it was very important to unite Ireland, considering what had been done to the nationalist population around 1970. As I explain here only about .3% of the IRA’s operations were aimed at killing civilians.

There is a scene in the episode which I think is worth quoting in full. The Narn representative of the new government meets wit the Centauri ambassador (Mollari) and his aide, Vir.

Mollari: You know, I was thinking of visiting your world sometime soon. I couldn’t really get a good look at it the last time I was in the area. Do you think it would be safe for someone such as myself to visit your world now?

Na’far: Yes, quite safe.

Mollari: The streets are kept clear of troublemakers, rock throwers, protestors?

Nar’far: The surviving streets are quite empty, ambassador.

Molarri: The work farms, the relocation camps, the construction gangs are all operating at capacity?

Na’far: (nodds)

Mollari: And the executions, Na’far? The executions continue?

Na’far: The executions continue.

Mollari: Progress! It’s a beautiful thing to behold, no, Vir? [to Na’far] you may contact G’Kar, now. go, go (Na’far leaves)

Vir: Was that necessary?

Mollari: They got out of their place once. We must make sure it does not happen again.

Vir: Londo, we’ve beaten them. Their cities are in ashes, their mlitary is wiped out. They’ve lost hundreds and thousands of lives. They have nothing left!

Mollari: No, there you are wrong. They still have their pride. He tries to hide it, this one, but I can see it in his eyes. As long as it remains, they will always be a threat.

Vir: So, is that what it’s about? Pride? It’s not enough that we’ve beaten them, we have to break them?

Mollari: Yes. I’m sorry, I thought you understood that. I don’t want our people to go through this in another 100 years.


I think this illustrates the racial nature of imperialism very well.


**Season 3 Episode 5 “Voices of Authority”** See this for a plot summary.

The main political dimension to this episode is the appointment of a Political Officer to keep an eye on Sheridan. She talks a lot about his need to be more sensitive to what the Earth Government wants. She says a few other things that are worth noting:

1. She doubts that the Centauri are bent on war because Earth has a treaty with them- but in the previous year or so, the Centauri were invading planet after planet and showed no signs of stopping.

2. She says the homeless people on Earth don’t want jobs and have chosen to be homeless. She says “they’re either lazy, or they’re criminal or they’re mentally unstable.” She says that the Earth Government has promised everyone a job. But that must be something they didn’t follow up on (Captain Sheridan says the homeless can’t get jobs). At one point she admits that they re-wrote the dictionary in order to “solve” problems.

3. She talks about the expansion of McCarthy-esque policies and admits that civil rights and civil liberties will be abridged further than they already have been, and explicitly talks about keeping Earth “ideologically pure.”

**Season 3 Episode 6 “Dust to Dust”** For a plot summary see this.

There is one small bit of politics at the beginning. It's another example of the Night Watch’s McCarthyism. Captain Sheridan stands against it forcefully.

**Season 3 Episode 10 “Severed Dreams”** See this for a plot summary.

In recent episodes there was nothing that really stood out as especially political. The anti-democratic tendencies of the Earth Government  have been mentioned in episodes a little earlier so I didn’t say anything till now about the political crisis on Earth when it was exposed that the President had come into power as the result of a coup. Martial law was declared, the Senate was dissolved, and in this episode, there is a full-blown civil war.

In this episode, Mars rebels against the government, and two other colonies plus Babylon 5 declare independence.

Babylon 5 Reviews E

Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.

Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it is more significant than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.

**Season 2 Episode 6 “A Spider in the Web”** See this for a plot summary.

There is one political aspect that definitely needs to be mentioned and a couple others that are also worth mentioning.

First, an Earth businessman comes to B5 to do some negotiating for a business effort on the Earth colony of Mars. Captain Sheridan is asked by an Earth Senator to spy on him. Their conversation I think is worth quoting in full (at the very least SOME of what was said is important enough to be quoted):

Senator Voudreau: Captain Sheridan.

Sheridan: Senator, what can I do for you?

Senator: Taro Isogi, chief executive of FutureCorp. has arranged a meeting on Babylon 5 with Amanda Carter, a representative of the Mars Provisional Government. Carter is an outspoken advocate of mars independence and we suspect FutureCorp. is conspiring with her to finance another rebellion on Mars Colony.

Sheridan: Do you have any proof?

Senator: We know FutureCorp desperately wants a foot-hold in space. An exclusive trade and services agreement with Mars would give it to them, if they could move the current Mars conglomerate out. Many of the members wanted to pull out after the last rebellion. Another would have them running like river rats.

Sheridan: I understand your concern. But there’s not much I can do about it. I have no authority over corporate negotiations. Babylon 5 is neutral territory. Any race can negotiate here without interference, even our own.

Senator: This is a possible threat to Earth Alliance security Captain and as such we are asking you to check it out. nothing official. just keep an eye peeled and an ear open. and report anything of interest to me.

Sheridan: with all due respect senator my duties as commander of B5 don’t include spying on civilians.

Senator: these are volatile times, Captain. practicalities are more important than principles if lives are to saved. I’ll expect to hear from you soon.


I think this illustrates that the Earth Alliance is imperialist towards Mars, although I believe the conflict and background to the conflict is probably similar to what happened with Britain and the 13 American colonies. It also may be a sign that the Earth Alliance was becoming openly undemocratic after the coup that happened at the end of the first season (that is, they might be behaving less democratically than they were before the coup (that might seem like a stupid statement, but as some readers might not know, the coup took place when the President was killed in an APPARENTLY accidental explosion- it wasn't SEEN  as a coup by hardly anyone, but viewers know that the then-Vice President was responsible)). It seems like security must be spying in some of their investigations, which if done when a judge with very high standards for that sort of thing says they can, would almost definitely be okay with me. In general, and in this specific case, I like what Sheridan has to say about neutrality and civil liberties on B5. The Senator seems willing to spin ridiculous conspiracy theories about Mars if they help Earth retain control of that planet.

There is also some other talk about the cause of Martian independence. The Earth businessman believes that his plans will make Mars self-sufficient and that will lead to independence non-violently. I’m not sure how true that sort of thing is (in reality or on this show). I guess it would make Mars less dependent on Earth, but I haven’t gotten the impression that Earth opposes Martian independence because Mars is not self-suffient (although if the problem is partly about convincing more residents of Mars to support independence, than I guess less economic and developmental dependence on Earth would help). And economic development might possibly make Earth less willing to leave Mars, if that development would mean more tax revenue, for example.

Some relevant facts about the North of Ireland:

1. I read once or twice that one reason the British and Unionists retained Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone when N. Ireland was formed is that a four county statelet wouldn’t be economically viable.

2. On a related note, a lot of people in the 1960s believed that new economic developments in the North would result in equality and a decline in sectarianism but it got worse. Part of what led to that is that the old NI-based and Unionist-owned companies were being replaced by foreign firms who didn’t care what someone’s religion was. Which meant that Protestant workers benefited from discrimination and sectarian attitudes in general less than they used to. They did not take that change lying down.

3. Lastly, some of the government actions of the Unionists in the 1960s (those which were in conflict with the modicum of movement towards equality) involved shifting development away from equality for Catholics. They cut a railroad to Derry; when they wanted to place a new university in the West they choose largely Protestant Coleraine instead of largely Catholic Derry (Coleraine is also pretty close to the East); and when an expert on development suggested a new city in the West they instead developed one just outside the Belfast area.


**Season 2 Episode 9 “The Coming of Shadows”** See this for a plot summary.

When the leader of the Centauri (Emperor Turhan) comes to B5, G’Kar (the Narn Ambassador) tries to get him banned by Sheridan. We hear that the Centauri occupation of Narn (which lasted about 100 years and ended about 15-30 years earlier) involved the strip-mining of the planet and the death of 100,000 Narn (and that may have been just one incident). Sheridan points out that while Turhan’s FATHER was responsible for that occupation, the Emperor was trying to make amends with the Narn. Sherdian seems to understand that what happened to the Narn was horrible, but encouraged G’Kar to start a dialogue with Turhan. When Sheridan refuses to ban the Centauri leader, G’Kar plans to assassinate Turhan. Before he has the chance, the Centauri is taken to the med lab and within hours is dead. G’Kar learns that he came to B5 to apologize to a Narn (specifically G-Kar, a governmental official) for everything his people did to the Narn. Specifically he said: “We were wrong. The hatred between our people can never end until someone is willing to say 'I’m sorry' and try and find a way to make things right again. To atone for our actions.”

In response to a set-back for his political associates in a domestic Centauri political battle, Molari has his allies the Shadows attack and defeat a Narn colony which is subsequently occupied by the Centauris. Right before he learns that the Centauri were responsible for the attack, G’Kar does try some dialogue with Molari. G’Kar forsees another genocidal occupation of Narn planets by the Centauri. The likelihood of it being genocidal is confirmed when the latter initially refuse to allow the civilian population to leave the colony. Molari actually says they’ll be kept busy, and when the Minbari ambassador suggests that means labor camps, Molari actually responds by saying they’ll just be getting re-training! That’s practically an admission that they were planning the creation of labor camps (Molari agrees to let the civilians leave when Earth threatens to send in observers who will investigate what is happening to them and exactly what happened with the initial attack). At roughly the same time, the Narn declare war against the Centauri.

Lastly, there’s one bit of civil liberties when Sheridan expresses alarm at the possibility that his staff eavesdropped on diplomatic communications. I can only imagine how he’d respond to what the American NSA has done.

Even without hindsight knowledge of Turhan’s intentions, I think Sheridan had a good idea encouraging G’Kar to attempt a dialogue with him. Assuming Turhan didn’t believe that the Centauri deserved an apology from the Narn, what he said about reconciliation between the two races was good. At the end, I think that the Narn were not only justified but correct in declaring war on the Centauri- as they explained in G’Kar’s statement, they won’t allow another 100 years of genocide. It’s an even better statement when seen in the context of Molari’s admission that Narn civilians would be used as forced labor.


**Season 2, Episode 10 “GROPOS”** See this for a plot summary.

There are about seven political aspects to this episode. It’s set against the background of an Earth military force waiting on B5 for orders to help one side of an alien civil war.

1. As part of the preparations for the attack, B5 is given a major weapons systems upgrade. Sheridan sees conflict between that and B5 being a place for peace-making. It reminds me of a quote of Einstein’s that you can’t simultaneously prepare for and prevent war. I don’t embrace it whole-heartedly (I’m not a pacifist and believe that as horrible as I’m sure it is, war is sometimes necessary, and/or helpful, and/or justified) but I think there’s a fair amount of truth to it. As I’ve said elsewhere on this blog the “posture” of the US military is sort of saying “don’t fuck with us” to most of the world. The thing is I think in that situation some people will WANT to fuck with us (I know there are other reasons for hostility to the US, but I think that’s part of it).

2. Sheridan learns that Earth is helping one side of the alien civil war so that they can have a presence in that part of space, a part that is strategically close to the front line of the war between the Centauri and the Narn. In an earlier conversation the assault force commander says that with the Narn-Centauri war going on the other alien races will get more aggressive. This seems fairly militaristic on the part of Earth. I also wonder if you could call it racist towards the other alien races that will allegedly get more aggressive because of the Narn and the Centauri. It SOUNDS like it MIGHT be a legitimate concern considering what I’ve seen in movies about bar brawls starting. On the other hand, I believe it’s been established that Earth is xenophobic.

3. We are reminded that B5’s doctor refuses to do exobiology work for the military when what they want are better ways to biologically or genetically wipe out alien life. In fact most of the conversation in which he explains that to his Marine father in this episode is a good example of human racism- from his father. He doesn’t pull any punches when he lets his dad know how offended he is by that.

4. There is a minor hate crime committed by a few Marines against the Minbari ambassador. They harass her for appearing part-human, surround her with her back against a wall and threaten her before another Marine intervenes.

5. The arrival of six large transports for the Marines required the dock workers to work a lot more than usual, and Sheridan has Ivanova arrange for paid time off for them as compensation for their extra work.


**Season 2, Episode 11 “All Alone in the Night”** See this for a plot summary.

There are two political issues here that are basically about the role of the military in politics.

We learn that traditionally the 9-member governing body of the Minbarri is divided between the three castes on Minbar, with the warrior, religious, and worker castes each getting 3 seats. When Delenn is replaced (because they disapprove of the transformation she went through), it is by a member of the warrior caste instead of someone from her own religious caste, thus giving the warriors 4 seats out of nine. She expresses serious concern about this. The new member from the warrior caste argues that since they are the ones who fight the wars, they should have greater representation than the workers or the religious caste.

I certainly don’t think there should be any formal expansion of power that the military have in relationship to government policy. To a large degree I think influence by the military here in the US depends on who the elected civilian leaders are and how THEY feel about the military- do they unquestioningly agree with whatever the military says about foreign policy and war? And for better or worse, the fact is that when vets run for office a certain section of the population give them a few extra points for being vets (and sometimes that involves some votes for PROGRESSIVE, anti-war vets). Although I would love to see free college education for everyone who gets accepted to a college in this country, for now people in the military get a lot of help paying for college. And then there are other things like veterans’ medical benefits, Memorial Day, etc. So it’s not like our society doesn’t recognize, for better or worse, the sacrifices made by service men and women (sometimes for a good cause but usually not (that statement is referring to ALL of the history of the US)).

There was an interesting episode on the TV show “The West Wing” in, I think, the first season. There is a violent incident involving people who are Arab and/or Muslim and might be called terrorists. The President’s personal physician, a Navy doctor, is killed. In the Situation Room the military propose some kind of minimal armed response against a state that might be partly responsible (I think it may have been Syria). The President demands something more aggressive, so the senior military officers leave and then return to the White House with a proposal that would be very bad for the civilian population of part of Syria (much worse than it would have been under their earlier proposal) and get the President to accept the earlier proposal. (I can’t remember if this was before or after the President started acting in line with his very liberal-progressive principles, but in any case it was weird because he had those principles)

The second issue is the existence of people in the military who are either progressives and/or believe very strongly in democracy in the face of some degree of authoritarianism. We learn that since Earth President Santiago was assassinated (the official line is that it was an accident) a resistance has developed in the military and Sheridan is part of it and brings his Executive Officer Ivanova, security chief, and B5’s head doctor into the conspiracy. It’s said that Santiago was a friend of B5, but we also know that he was budget-cutting, xenophobic, and isolationist which might have meant anti-war although I don’t think we can be sure of that (he was also possibly anti-labor). But apparently his replacement is worse- after the Narn-Centuari war starts he is quite ready to get into inter-stellar fights without any apparent progressive ideas guiding that (although I lean heavily towards non-violence, it IS possible for force to be used for progressive goals and as I watch the show I would be less concerned about the new President of Earth if he were guided by progressive values); we can probably assume he is continuing the budget-cutting, that he is probably an opponent of Martian Independence, and that he is xenophobic. As we see in the 3rd and 4th seasons, there is a Civil War on Earth over the legitimacy of Santiago’s successor.

I’m not going to cover more than .001% of this subject, but I think there are progressives in state military organizations (i.e. the US Army). I knew a democratic socialist who joined the military to pay for school. In the mid-1970s a fascist dictatorship in Portugal was overthrown by elements of the military who then gave up power and a democracy was created.

New Poems: Saorsie is Irish for Freedom

Three new poems. In the next few months you'll see a lot more poems (as well as "reviews" of Babylon 5 TV show episodes and maybe a long essay) here. I explain some stuff about the poems here.

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

“Saoirse” based on “Freedom” by Brutal Attack, original lyrics are here.

1.This is about a loose collection of Irish political elements that might be described as “non-republican/non-nationalist but anti-partitionist, radical and fairly militant anti-Unionists.” It would, to one degree or another, include the late group Peoples Democracy, and probably around 50% of the Civil Rights Movement and probably somewhere around 25% of the movement in support of republican prisoners around 1980. It is basically set between the beginning of the civil rights movement (around 1967) and the 1981 Hunger Strike. (actually if it weren’t for some talk of socialism and the bit about Blacks, I would be on very safe ground attributing the positions in the poem to the nationalist community which would also include many of the people I referred to above (UPDATE 4/24/17 I'm increasingly unsure why I DIDN'T do that- I guess I wanted to do something a little bit different- there ARE people who are neither nationalist nor republcian but who still have very good positions on issues very central to the search for equality, justice and freedom for the nationalist community, AND who are also DEFINITELY VERY socialist and DEFINITELY VERY anti-racist (somewhere around 50-85% of the nationalist community is anti-racist and/or socialist, but ALL the miscellaneous people I'm thinking of are SOLID anti-racists and socialists)))
2. Orange parades should stay out of Catholic areas. For a good set of reasons why, see this.
3. The starry plough is generally the flag of republican socialism but there are non-republican groups that use it as well.
4. During the conflict frequently city centers were off limits to anti-unionist marches and rallies.
5. The RUC were the police until late 2001.
6. The anti-internment march attacked on Bloody Sunday was part of the civil rights movement. Although many of the original demands of that movement had been conceded, the existence of “emergency” legislation was also an issue addressed by that movement since it’s beginning.
7. Kent, Ohio is where the Kent State massacre took place in 1970. (Four anti-war college students were killed by the National Guard)
8. Squaddies is a term for British soldiers.
9.Bread is a term for economic justice.
10. In the mid and late 70s a struggle between republican prisoners and the prison authorities developed around whether they were prisoners of war or criminals. After about 2-4 years the prisoners had a majority of the nationalist community behind them. For more see the middle third of this starting at “For 3-4 years in the 1970s….”
11. When internment was phased out in the 1970s it was replaced by a series of mechanisms collectively described as a “conveyor belt.” This included the power to hold suspects for 7 days without charge, and non-jury courts.
12. “Bourgeoisie” is a term for the upper-class.
13. The original is by a British band that supported the Unionist and British causes in N. Ireland.
**14. 69% of this version is me and 31% is the original.
15. I give this poem 4 stars out of five.
16. Saorsie is Irish for freedom.
17. The second to last line, I’m not envisioning something where 100% of the people on the island are black. To a large degree it was just me being a smart ass twisting the lyrics of the original. It could be a future where Ireland is roughly 2-5 times as diverse as it is now and most of the relatively white population are less than 100% white.

when we don’t want an Orange parade on our streets the police won’t ban it
And take a look at history, the British began it.
Yeah, they’re afraid of us because we tell the world
As we stand up to them with the Starry Plough unfurled
My patriotic heart for my country feels so proud
But when we want to march in the city center we’re not allowed

Chorus
We want freedom from poverty and the British Empire
They’ve joined forces and against us they conspire
London can try to suppress us with their army and the RUC
we will emerge victors against the British bourgeoisie

the Civil Rights Movement marched in Derry against internment
We were shot down by state terrorists just like those in Kent
We don’t want no squaddies, and yes most of us are reds
We’ll resist, the Unionists, and push for universal bread

So let’s keep organizing, the prisoners need political status
We will not tolerate the British “conveyor belt” apparatus
We want a country full of reds, and why not a country full of blacks
we want a United Ireland with a progressive income tax

******

“Irish Revolution” based on “Final Solution” by No Remorse, original lyrics here.

1. The first verse is basically about the decades before the deployment of massive numbers of British Army soldiers in 1969. To a large degree British politicians were reluctant to get involved with the N. Ireland issue. The Tories especially deferred to the Unionists, who were part of their party. In the first 5 decades of N. Ireland, there were many protest efforts, political, or violent, or non-violent and the hands-off attitude of Westminster and #10 Downing St. contributed to the explosion of violence in 1969.
2. I believe that the use of force by the IRA did get London to briefly negoatiate with the republican movement in 1972. And I believe that two decades of IRA actions are part of why the combination of the Good Friday Agreement and the political scenery behind it was better than the combination of the 1974 Sunningdale Agreement and the political scenery behind IT.
3. The chorus is sort of influenced by the slogan “No Justice, No Peace.”
4. Some of the statements are about the IRA, not the nationalist population in general (I’m defining that as including northern republicans). Those are: Verse 1, line 1; verse 2, line 1 is about the IRA and rioters; same with the first half of verse 2, line 2; second half of Verse 2, line 4; first half of verse 3, line 1.
5. Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
6. As I explain in the middle third of a post here, what I wrote about global support was a bit off or something- huge chunks of the world didn’t want to be educated or be involved even though they should have.
7. The last two lines are about the protest among republican prisoners. There’s more about that in the middle third of this.
**8. 66% of this version is me, 34% is the original.
9. I give this poem four stars out of five.
10. No Remorse were British and supporters of the British and unionist causes in N. Ireland.
11. This poem is set basically in the decades before 1969 and ends roughly in the late 1970s.

Most of the Brits never listened Until the guns were in our hands
They read the Unionist papers and Ignored our democratic demands
We Nationalists protested for equality or fought to secede
London left it up to the Unionists, No matter where it would lead

Chorus:
Irish revolution
As conflict resolution

Our strategy is not to rock the boat We've got to blow it out of the sky
Got to make their nation tremble Expose and challenge all their lies
We’ll educate the world and isolate the British Tory scum
They may ignore our speeches But they'll listen to the gun

Chorus

As we gain momentum, The People continue to let loose
words, rocks, petrol bombs the BA and RUC are showered with abuse
As the blanketmen start the protest, the support starts to grow
The nationalists need defenders, they don’t want the IRA to go

Chorus

******

“Free Occupied Ireland” based on “Still Occupied” by Razor’s Edge, original lyrics are here.

1. In late 1968 the civil rights movement in N. Ireland seemed very strong. They had had two major marches, one of which was attacked in such a way that it generated a lot of anger among Catholics. The Prime Minister had made some moves towards meeting some of their demands and he SEEMED to have the support of the Unionist grass roots in doing so.
2. The RUC were the police until late 2001. A “game changer” march in early 1969 was attacked directly and indirectly by the RUC and the B-Specials (a semi-military force that could be described as a cross between the State Patrol and the National Guard in American states). In Aug. of 1969 the RUC and loyalist mobs joined together and unleashed a couple days of anti-Catholic pogroms or attempted anti-Catholic pogroms in Belfast and Derry.
3. The march that was attacked on Bloody Sunday was a civil rights march. The initial response to the massacre was a flurry of demonstrations, but in general the civil rights movement kind of ended shortly after BS and the Provisional IRA’s campaign intensified and became the dominant response to unionism and imperialism.
4.  James Connolly was Ireland’s greatest republican-socialist, Collins was a major leader of the IRA during the war of Independence and has been credited with developing urban guerrilla warfare, and
5. Che is Che Guevara, who has been credited with developing rural guerrilla warfare.
6. “West Brit” has multiple meanings- indigenous/relatively indigenous Irish people sympathetic to the unionists/British in relation to Ireland, friendly to the British monarchy, hostile to Irish culture, friendly to British culture (that last one isn't necessarily so bad, in this poem it refers to the others, especially the support for unionism/the British in relation to Ireland).
7. Green Tories are basically centre-right nationalists (in the South that refers to a political instead of community identity).
8. Most of the time, in most parts of the North there was intense conflict between republicans and the Church.
9. The Stoops are the Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein’s more moderate rival in the Nationalist community. For more on them see this.
10. In 1974 a brief power-sharing attempt to resolve the conflict was made. It was aimed partly at destroying the IRA politically. Among other problems, the first half of the Sunningdale period PSF was a banned party, and when that was fixed, the UVF (a loyalist paramilitary) was legalized for about 1.5 years.
11. In recent decades and I think in the 1970s as well, republicans have been very supportive of the Palestinians.
12. Lines that end with * are referring to just the IRA.
13. I ignored a non-rhyming line at the end of both verses of the original lyrics.
**14. 80% of this version is me, 20% is the original.
15. I give this poem three stars out of five.
16. Estates are basically neighborhoods.
17. UPDATE 7/8/17 Calling N. Ireland a dictatorship (before the GFA) isn't the most accurate thing you could say, and to a large degree fascists were not among the most immediate enemies of Catholics in N. Ireland- the British government and Unionists weren't fascist, it's just a statement against fascism and dictatorship.
18. Razor's Edge were British and supporters of the British and unionist causes in N. Ireland.

in ’68 the future looked so bright,
It seemed we were so close to getting our civil rights
But then the RUC and loyalist mobs invaded our estates
Because for our civil rights we dared to demonstrate
The civil rights movement was shot off the streets by the BA
And now we’re fighting in the spirit of Connolly, Collins, and Che *

Chorus
Still occupied, we're not free -
But we are definitely off our knees!
Still it’ll be hard, hard to defeat *
the crown forces patrolling on our streets! *

The Brit, west brit, and green tory propaganda begins
to the priests conducting mass our resistance is a sin. *
The stoops are trying Sunningdale, but it’s just one big mistake
And we are fighting on for Irish freedom, whatever it takes. *
We're against fascism and dictatorship
We’re for freedom and justice, in the North and in the Gaza Strip

3 New Poems: Irish Tet, We Are All Republicans, and Six Million Died

Below are three new poems. For an explanation of how I do these poems, see this. The last poem, "We Are All Republicans," is based on a non-political skinhead song by an anti-fascist skinhead band, so that's different than most of my poems.

1. Six Million Died. About Holocaust Denial.
2. Irish Tet. About the IRA
3. We Are All Republicans. About the IRA.

The rest of the poems can be found by clicking on the "lyrics" label at the bottom. There are about five pages worth so click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of each page.

“Six Million Died” based on “Six Million Lies” by No Remorse, original lyrics are here.

1. This is about the Holocaust. About six million Jews died.
2. With the last line of the first verse, I don’t mean to say there aren’t large differences between anti-Semitic extremism/violence and anti-fascist extremism/violence.
3. “Living Space” is English for a Nazi German term for what they wanted in central and eastern Europe- space for German settlers. I think this was largely but not totally separate from the Final Solution, since that part of Europe had a lot of Jewish people. I think it makes enough sense.
4. Zyklon B was the gas they used.
5. In EUROPE (and kind of in the Pacific), the Allies or at least the US, waged a fairly honorable war against the Axis.
**6. 60% of this version is me, 40% is the original.
7. I give this poem three stars out of five.
8. Occasionally I use words like"fight" and actually mean non-violent "fighting"; in this poem I was thinking of a response to to holocaust denial and fascism generally where the response is PROBABLY about 99% non-violent.
9. UPDATE 2/17/16 I replaced "in case" with "that" in the 5th line of the first verse.

Six million lies?
No, that’s how many died
Torture by the Nazis, we have the proof
Why did they try to cover up the truth?
Scared that they would all hang
yeah, their extremism and violence would boomerang

Chorus:
Six million of the human race
Partly to get more “living space”
Genocidal use of Zyklon B
By the fucking Nazis, of Germany

One of the worst genocides in history
They wanted Europe Jewish free
A cover-up is what nazis have tried
To hide the lies of their white pride
Well anti-fascism didn't die
The truth will break through all the Nazi lies

Chorus

So let's make the world Nazi free
We all want a diverse society
Nazism is rotten to the core
We’re fighting for truth and justice in this war
With honour and respect we'll surely win
Just like we did when we took on Berlin

*********

"Irish Tet" based on "Final Attack" by Final War, original lyrics are here.

1. In the 1980s the IRA had planned and partly armed themselves for what might be called an Irish version of the Tet offensive of the Vietnam War. Partly because some of their arms were lost or intercepted, they called it off. This poem is sort of a “what-if” about those plans.
2. I deleted the chorus and the last two lines of the last verse.
3. The BA is the British Army.
4. In such a situation I’m not sure if their mission would have been to maintain that level of activity until the British agreed to leave- it probably would have been to do that for as long as possible (and liberate as much territory as they could for as long as they could). Such a campaign would have contributed to a later agreement by the British to leave, especially as it would have drawn a LOT of global attention to their cause.
5. The 3rd line of the second verse is a reference to historical events centuries ago.
6. With the last line of the 3rd verse I probably greatly exaggerate how much revenge motivated them. But the British Army and the RUC did horrible things to the nationalist community.
7. The last line refers to the WWII (brown is the color of fascism). I just learned that apparently sometimes the French Resistance DID take and hold objectives for a short period of time. (this creates the necessary minimum conflict between my poem and the beliefs of the (AMERICAN and possibly Irish-American) authors of the original lyrics (more here))
**8. 58% of this version is me, 42% is the original.
9. I give this poem four stars out of five.
10. UPDATE 2/17/16  Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.
11. UPDATE 7/5/16 I replaced "unleash" with "release."


The day is approaching, the day we release
All hell on the BA and the RUC police
gonna fight back, gonna knock em dead
Like fire the revolution will be spread

gonna use RPGs and heavy machine guns
won't stop till our mission is done
they invaded and took our land
now we’re gonna smash them with an iron hand

we've got our sights set on BA choppers and watch towers
corporate buildings, we’ll show them this country is ours
we're on a rampage, we just let loose
We’re gonna make them pay for all their abuse

we’re seizing mills, bridges and towns
We’re inspired by those French that fought against the brown


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

“We Are All Republicans” based on “We’re The Oppressed” by The Oppressed original lyrics here.

1. This is basically about the IRA although some of it could apply to other mainstream republicans as well depending on how we define words like "fight" for this poem. It’s set sometime before the 1997 cease-fire, I guess at least about 4 years before.
2. Orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in the Irish-British context.
3. The BA is the British Army.
4. They were forcing the British elite to move towards a united Ireland, and to some small degree they succeeded (my thoughts about the compromise of the Good Friday Agreement are here).
5. At some point in the past for at least a year or two and probably a decade or two, Sinn Fein called for a constitutional convention to be part of a future unification of Ireland. I think it’s a great idea that should be revived for two reasons: 1) it would probably shift Ireland towards the left and even more importantly, 2) it would give the northern Protestants a very big say in what kind of Ireland they’re being added to (they’d be on the same level as everyone else). (more of my thoughts on how to ease Protestants and unionists into a united Ireland are found here)
7. The second half of the first line of the second verse is a little strange, but that was already there and for the time being I have decided to keep it (and I wouldn’t be surprised if BA soldiers saw the Nationalist community as being the “other”).
**8. 79% of this version is me, 21% is the original.
9. I give this poem five stars out of five.
10. The second line of the last verse refers to the NORTHERN Catholic working-class.
11. Armalites are rifles, RPGs are Rocket Propelled Grenades.

Born to fight, born to win
We are all republicans.
Born into this sectarian Orange state
Fighting for Irish freedom, we won’t wait

The BA fears us, thinks we're strange
Armalites and RPGs, we fight for change
We will never, ever be beat
As we force the British elite

We are Volunteers, of the Irish masses
Fighting for the Catholic working-classes
Advancing freedom and revolution
A new Ireland and a new constitution

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

The KKK are Fools: Three more poems

I have three more poems. for a description of how and why I do these poems, see this.

1. Join The IRA. Guess what it's about.
2. No Surrender (to the KKK). Guess.
3. Orange Fools. About the broad Nationalist/Republican struggle in N. Ireland, only slightly pro-IRA.

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).

“Join The IRA” based on, “Join The Klan” by The Klansmen, original lyrics are here.

1. The Klansmen was a project of Ian Stuart Donaldson, who was a supporter of the British and Unionist causes in N. Ireland.
2. Volunteers are members of republican paramilitaries.
3. This is about the Provisional IRA (in recent decades known simply as the IRA) and is basically set during the Troubles, prior to 1997, and probably AFTER the mid-1970s, since it includes a lot of socialist talk and I don’t think there was a socialist majority in the leadership of the PIRA until sometime around 1980. Something at least close to revolution was on their agenda for around 15 years after that point. (in general it seems safe to say that SF’s politics more or less mirrored those of a majority of IRA members). Also, there’s reason to believe that the armed struggle of republicans inspired other forms of resistance (the African National Congress said that about their armed struggle in S. Africa). It refers to "the People" at the end and that's basically a reference to people who are more or less IRA supporters as described below.
4. The BA is the British Army.
5. James Connolly was Ireland’s greatest republican/socialist. Michael Collins was a major leader of the IRA during the War of Independence and has been credited with developing urban guerrilla warfare. Che is Che Gueverra, who has been credited with developing rural guerrilla warfare.
6. “Óglaigh na hÉireann” is the official name of the IRA and means “Irish Volunteers.”
7. In the Irish-British context, orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry.
8. Geographically, N. Ireland could sort of be called the north-east of Ireland.
9. I give this poem two stars out of five.
10. **68% of this version is me, 32% is the original.
11. UPDATE 5/14/12 The "People" was basically just the nationalist population, but they were the ones being oppressed and were 1/3 of the population (I'm not saying that entire 1/3 was in support of the IRA, but 40% of that population supported the IRA and probably around 40% KIND OF supported the IRA, and to either a large or small degree there was mass struggle).
12.  UPDATED 2/5/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.


be a Volunteer, fight for what is right
Socialist revolution, we will ignite
Fighting for the day, when the BA’s gone away
In the tradition of Connolly, Collins, and Che

Óglaigh na hÉireann, the people's Army
Freeing the country from the Brits and bourgeoisie
The orange terror raised it's ugly head
With the Provos, resistance became widespread

The Irish flag is held up high
James Connolly’s spirit will never die
The People are rising in the north-east
In battle the IRA takes on the beast

*****

“No Surrender (to the KKK)” based on “No Surrender (to the IRA) by Strikeforce UK, original lyrics are here.

1. This is about non-violent opposition to the Ku Klux Klan. Uusally the original lyrics my poems are based on leave little room for writing a poem like this, but I wanted to a poem about non-violent opposition to the Klan and this seemed like the best chance.
2. The original is by a racist band.
3. Fighting the Klan would partly involve, directly and directly trying to change their minds in various ways and alternative events during klan rallies, etc..
4. The line about David Duke is, in the original (with Gerry Adams instead) a reference to death. But in this version, it would be either prison, and/or isolation and defeat as his followers leave him.
5. This version is **37% me, and 63% the original.
6. I give this poem four stars out of five.
7. I know Duke technically isn’t a Klansman.

No surrender!

No surrender to the KKK
Across the US, defeating them is our crusade
We stand by the multi-racial working-class
The Klan’s hate and division, workers will surpass

Chorus:
No surrender, no surrender, no surrender to the KKK
No surrender, no surrender, we’ll fight them every day
No surrender, no surrender, no surrender to the Ku Klux Klan
No surrender, no surrender, we’ll fight until they understand

Their terrorist attacks are going on still
And they don't give a fuck who they maim and kill
David Duke better wave bye bye
Cos the Ku Klux Klan’s defeat is nigh

Chorus

No surrender!

We will smash that racist scum
No time to lose cos the battle's begun
We're loyal to the working-class and we're gonna win
We will not back down and we'll never give in

Chorus

*****

“Orange Fools” based on “Reds Are Fools” by Kill, Baby, Kill. The original lyrics are here.

1. This is set pretty much in July 2002.
2. The original is by a Belgian band. I’m not sure, but since there is probably close to zero Irish diaspora in Belgium, they probably agree with the late Ian Stuart Donaldson and support the British and Unionist causes in N. Ireland.
3. Although the vast majority of republicans have, to some degree, put the push for a United Ireland on hold, I’m sure all of that vast majority agree that the GFA is kind of a stepping stone to their goal.
4. Some things that indicate a continuing inequality for Catholics (the first two indicators were worse in 2002):
A: In 2010 Catholics were 50% more likely to be unemployed than Protestants.
B: I discuss some recent figures relevant to reforming the police in N. Ireland in the first five or so paragraphs of this post.
C: In the year before July 2002, there had been three sectarian murders of Catholic civilians and one murder of a Protestant civilian socializing with Catholic friends, all by loyalist paramilitaries. (The Ulster Defense Association was blamed by pretty much everyone, but the British government said their cease-fire was intact)
D: During the Marching Season of 2002 at least three times Orange parades were forced through Catholic areas and there were at least three times when nationalists protesting this were attacked by the police and the Army. (For why those marches shouldn't be forced through catholic areas, see this)

5. The Union Jack is the British flag.
6. The Good Friday Agreement, when considering the context and related elements, such as the use or absence of internment, is better than the earlier efforts at creating peace. As far as the actual text of the Agreement, republicans got: Prisoner releases (which would have been at least sort of important for probably about 80% of the Nationalist community); a stronger committment to reforming the police; and in general their inclusion without prior decommissioning by the IRA. More of my thoughts relevant to the GFA are in the first 1/3 of this post.
7. The Orange Order is an anti-Catholic group. More on them here.
8. Besides being anti-Catholic to one degree or another, a lot of Unionists are also racist. There’s some more of that in the first 1/2 of this post (I also read an article by an African-American who visited the North and he said that in a Unionist area he saw lots of Confederate flags).
9. The UDA is a Unionist death squad that overwhelmingly just killed Catholic civilians.
10. Orange in the British-Irish context, is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry. That line is about the beginning of the Troubles.
11. The Short Strand is a Catholic enclave surrounded by Unionist areas (and a river to the west). For some number of weeks in early-mid 2002, it was under siege. Although I think this went too far, a senior member of the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party compared what was happening to the Short Strand with what happened to Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II. That line doesn’t mean that the IRA should have gone back to war.
12. Overwhelmingly, the enemy in the N. Ireland conflict is/was not the “Nazi clowns”- that last 1/3 of that line is simply an anti-fascist statement.
13. **61% of this version is me, 39% is the original.
14. I give this poem four stars out of five.
15. This is more or less about the broad anti-Unionist/Nationalist/Republican struggle with the sort of exception of the line about going to war, which is more specifically about the IRA.
16. UPDATE 2/9/13 In the third line of the third verse, I replaced THEY with MANY.

The struggle’s not over, we’ve got a long way to go.
We haven’t won our freedom yet, that's a fact that we all know.
There are still too many ways equality is denied,
but soon the truth will break free and unionism will die.

The Union Jack in Belfast is a symbol of oppression.
But after decades of resistance, we extracted some concessions
With bullshit propaganda the Orange Order kept people divided.
The unionist rich are to blame, for decades hate they incited

We’ll always fly the Irish flag, no matter what they try
Cause Unionists are bigots, Confederate flags they fly.
Many supported the UDA, a choice filled with hate
We’ll keep on working, till their bigotry we negate.

Orange Democracy was a lie, we had to go to war.
Now the Short Strand is under siege, a fact we can’t ignore.
Why are they still trying? They can’t keep us down.
Ireland belongs to the workers, the people, and not the Nazi clowns

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 **