Even More Lyrics

There are more lyrics. First, for those new to my songs see this post for an explanation, although this batch of songs is mostly from sources where I agree with the original lyrics (that's the last 4, the first three are based on the songs I don't agree with).

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


I'm going to start with three that really aren't that great, and end with the two that are the best.

1. Ireland Awake. The broad republican struggle in Ireland.
2. Make a Stand. N. Ireland.
3. Free at Last. Republican struggle in N. Ireland.
4. Spirit of '32. The need for working-class unity among Protestants and Catholics in N. Ireland.
5. Orange Tories. Class conflict in N. Ireland.
6. Surf Fermanagh. N. Ireland from a British dissident view.

7. The 26. An appeal from a N. Ireland Catholic to the population of the South for support in the Peace Process.

"Ireland Awake," based on "Europe Awake" by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here

1. This is largely aimed at people in the Republic.
2.  This is also about unarmed republicanism, and a lot of it could also come from nationalists.
3. The second line refers to how republicanism was widespread in Ireland during the War of Indendence.
4. In May of 2006, a Catholic teenager was beaten to death in Ballymena, the police and his family said the motive was sectarian.
5. The Gardai are the police in the South. In general they're probably a bit better than American and N. Ireland police (for one thing, they're mostly unarmed), but they have powers they shouldn't, are very hostile to republicans, and can be quite brutal. UPDATE 2/23/09 That line isn't meant to apply to all Gardai, but probably some small minority of them.
6. Ruth Dudley Edwards is an Irish scholar who is very pro-Unionist, not to mention very conservative.
7. The DUP is the Democratic Unionist Party.
**8. 29% of this version is me, 71% is the original (and I skipped the 3rd line of the Chorus).
9. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
10. Skrewdriver were British and supported the unionist causes in N. Ireland.
11. UPDATE 2/11/11 the 2nd line of the 3rd verse, is basically referring to an Ireland with an economy worse than it is now, probably some other things, all of which can be partly blamed on the partition of the island.

Ireland come join us for one final republican thrust
What has happened to the struggle that once belonged to all of us
A capitalistic economy, the divided working-class is too weak
Teenagers aren't safe in Ballymena, what solution do we seek?

Chorus:
Ireland awake, for the nationalists sake
Ireland awake, before it's too late

We've got to get together soon, and take our nation back
The Gardai and the traitorous politicians should be sacked
You can't turn on the TV because you know what you're going to see
Either Ruth Dudley Edwards or the lying DUP

Chorus

We've got to get together now, and wage our nation's fights
If we don't act quickly, we're going to face the endless night
We've got to take our nation back, from all the traitorous scum
You'd better believe it, our day will soon have to come

Chorus

********

UPDATE 6/10/09 I'm changing the names of those songs that had retained the original name.

"Make A Stand," based on "Fight Back" by Kill Baby Kill, the lyrics here.

1. "Unionist bastards" I'm not sure to what degree they have learned, in terms of being non-sectarian. For example, they still seem to think it's appropriate for the Orange Order to march through Catholic areas. For more info on why that's not a good idea, see this (and give money to the PFC, they're going through a funding crisis, and they're great)
2. In the NI context, I'm not sure exactly how to spin the last line of the second verse, although it seems pretty harmless. It could mean that republicans should stick to their beliefs and, baring some advancement of the republican agenda under the Good Friday Agreement (which is possible), wait for a better day to continue the armed struggle (of course, 9/11 means that day is a long way off, but if the armed struggle resumes at some point, maybe the rest of the world will put enough preassure on London that it will be successful, unlike the 1970-1997 period)
3. In general, there are other lines that seem to fit less than perfectly in the puzzle I'm putting together, but they seem okay.
**4. 8% of the lyrics are mine, 92% are the original.
5. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
6. This poem will seem barely twisted at all, but the band are from Holland (I believe) and would have probably gone with Ian Stuart's opinion about N. Ireland (he supported the unionists).
7. This is more or less about the IRA, although some of it could come from unarmed republicans and even from nationalists.

Will you stand and watch them take our Ireland down the drain?
Will you stay there on the fence, just sit there and complain?
Or will you listen to the republican's voice, which the Dail ignores
Will you fight to take your country back, take back what's rightfully yours?

Chorus:
Fight Back! Against the vested powers
Fight Back! Against right-wing lies
Fight Back! Against the corrupt system
Fight Back! Before your nation dies

The richman has a laugh, on the nationalist working-class
Will you stand your ground or will you sit down on your ass?
The unionist bastards haven't learned, will you let them get their way?
Will you stick to your guns and keep the faith for a better day?

We'll make a stand, to save our land, destroy this Orange state
We won't bow down to anyone, it's us they love to hate
It's time to face the enemy now that's causing all the fuss
It's up to me and you to take back what they took from us

*****

UPDATE 6/10/09 I'm changing the names of those songs that had retained the original name.

"Free At Last," based on "Hail The New Dawn" by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. Although there have been some tendencies like this in the past, I think that today very few republicans, and even fewer in Sinn Fein and the IRA, want to take state power through force (UPDATE 2/21/20 I doubt that at this point a single member of SF wants that, even if I were typing this before the recent election). UPDATE 2/11/11 I should also explain that I don't believe the British would be driven out by armed struggle alone, as the lyrics at one point seem to imply.
2. In general, it's not the most timely, although the fighting could be a reference to the non-violent sort, or a future armed struggle.
3. Bread is a symbol of economic justice.
4. My feelings about dissident republicans are here, towards the bottom.
5. UPDATE 2/23/09 I just realized that the last verse in reference to dissident republicans (who aren't on cease-fire) only makes sense if the fighting referred to earlier in the song is of the non-violent sense, and even then it's a little odd (this reflects a contradiction in the original).
**6. 36% of this version is me, 64% is the original, and I ignored those lines that were just a chant.
7. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
8. Considering the original, I should say that Irish pride within N.Ireland is very different from white pride (most of the time). (I just heard something making me think that it's probably a small minority of northern nationalists that would talk about "Irish pride"; I still feel odd completely re-writing that line, so I'm going to keep it)
9. Skrewdriver were British and supported the unionist causes in N. Ireland.
10. This is about armed republicanism, basically the IRA.

Comrades, the voices of the dead Battalions
Of those who fell, that Ireland might be great
Join in our song, for they still march in spirit with us
And urge us on that we gain the 32-County Socialist state

Chorus:
The streets are still, the final battle has ended
Flushed with the fight, we proudly hail the dawn
See over the streets, the Republican emblem is waving
Triumphant standards of a people reborn

Our fathers and daughters, friends and brothers
Of the small farmers and working-class, for who's sake they bled
Against the vested powers, Loyalist front and massed reaction
We lead the fight for freedom and for bread

People who we trusted, sadly have let us down
Ignoring the people's wishes, they won't work for peace
We will struggle forever, until we unite Ireland
But at least for now, the armed struggle must cease

*******

UPDATE 6/10/09 I'm changing the names of those songs that had retained the original name.

"Spirit of '32" based on "Work Together" by The Oppressed (Anti-Fascist Oi!), original lyrics are here.

1. The Orange Tories are the two main Unionist parties (plus 1 small party, 1 samll-medium party and some independents), who are basically centre-right. There are Green Tories, but among those Tories with power, only something like 1/4 are Green.
2. Fenian is a derogatory term for republican (in that sense it has been adopted by republicans) but is also often a derogatory term for Catholic; Prod is a derogatory term for Protestant, although I know that "Proddie" has been adopted by Northern Protestants.
3. '32 refers to the 1932 Outdoor Relief Riots, by the unemployed in Belfast- the first several days there were was a fair amount of unity between nationalists and unionists, but the police focused their violence on the former, and shortly after that Unionist leaders encouraged sectarianism, especially with serious competition over jobs at that time, to break the unity of the unemployed.
**4. 36% of this version is me, 64% is the original (this reflects the change I made to the last line of the 2nd verse).
5. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
6. This is about unarmed republicans and unity between working-class Catholics and Protestants.
7. UPDATE 11/4/10: I have re-written the last line of the 2nd verse.

Dreaming of how life could be
If Ireland was free
If no one voted for the Orange Tories
It's up to you, it's up to me, to me!

We gotta work, work, work together
Fight, fight, stay alive
Work, work, work together
We're fighting to survive
Connolly's vision we'll keep alive

Work for all in a care free state
No more anger, no more hate
No more fighting, Fenian and Prod
In '32 we all took on the riot squad

*******

UPDATE 6/10/09 I'm changing the names of those songs that had retained the original name.

"Orange Tories" based on "Same Old Story" by The Oppressed (Anti-fascist Oi!), lyrics are here.

1. Partition is the divison of Ireland.
2. I'm not quite sure how much this song applies to the current situation, especially with how reformed the police have become at this point. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if the stuff about schools and hospitals applies to earlier periods either (I'm fairly sure it at least sort of applies to the current situation UPDATE 2/14/11 At this point it definitely applies as services are being cut).
3. If it is about the current situation, it's not meant as an attack on SF members who currently or in recent years were in charge of health and education. I heard that when SF had health around 2000, that sector was already in horrible shape. In general, as far as I can tell (and if someone could point me to a credible source clarifying this, either way, I'd appreciate it) the Assembly and Executive have only limited power over how big the overall budget is (UPDATE 2/14/09 I've slightly tightened this up and am pretty sure they have very little control over the overall size of the budget, and also SF members have far from total control over their departments), and SF, as about 1/3 of the Government and 1/4 of the Assembly, have got very little control over the budget. Overall, I'm confident they're probably doing almost as good a job as can be done, and there are arguments against them taking up the position of opposition to avoid being connected to bad policies. Also, SF abolished the 11 Plus, a test school kids take at age 11 to determine what schools they go to- I've read that working-class kids disproportionately went to the less advanced schools. There's been some dificulty with replacing it, but as far as I can tell, abolishing it was a good idea. (UPDATE 4/14/09 A speech about 10 months ago by the head of the Northern part of the Irish Labour Party indicated that SF is not the problem with the Executive, and as recently as late 2005 he expressed some positive feelings for SF)
4. Orange Tories are Unionists, that community's political center is certainly center-right.
5. The issue of how Protestant workers were treated in N. Ireland under Unionist rule from the early 1920s until 1972 when London took over, is one reason I strongly reccommend people read Michael Farrell's book "Northern Ireland: The Orange State." It's an amazing book. Farrell is so well respected that in the 1990s he was a Co-Chair of the Irish Council of Civil Liberties, basically the ACLU in Ireland. Unfortunately, the vast majority aimed their hatred not at the bosses, but at Catholics.
6. There are also Green Tories, nationalists, but in the past they had basically no power, and today I think they represent probably something like 1/4 of NI Tories with any power, considering the continuing economic inequality (the last I checked, recently, Catholics were 50% more likely to be unemployed than Protestants) and the fact that the political center of the nationalist community is center-left.
**7. 26% of this version is me, 74% is the original.
8. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
9. This is meant to be about class war; not always non-violent and possibly armed, on the workers side.

Look around the North and see the state it's in
Discrimination, and repression, because of partition
Hospitals are closing and schools are falling down
The Orange Tories get the life-boat and the rest of us can drown

And every day we get the same old story
Just another lie from another Orange Tory
And every day we get the same old story
Just another lie from another Orange Tory

One law for the Protestant, who let's his religion speak
No law for the Catholics, because Northern equality is weak
So, you Protestant workers, before it gets too late
Open up your eyes and see the Orange Tory you should hate

One day you will understand just what they do to you
And then when you see the light, you'll know just what to do
'Cause all the years of suffering, and all the broken hearts
Will be remembered when the revolution starts

********

"Surf Fermanagh," based on "Surf Nicaragua" by Sacred Reich (despite their name, their politics are very progressive- I'm fairly famliar with all of their music and at least some of it is more or less socially liberally and it's also economically progressive and it's anti-war). The original lyrics are here.

1. There's actually a British version of GI Joe, I think it's called Action Force, but I decided to stick with GI Joe.
2. South Armagh is a staunchly republican area, and during most of the conflict the security forces could only operate by helicopter, they were at such great risk of IRA attack.
3. Fermanagh is a County in N. Ireland, and it actually does have two large bodies of water, but it's landlocked.
4. This is basically about the early years of the conflict (the 70s), although it would sort of also apply to the 80s. The line about maintaining the control the Unionists had isn't perfect, but in some ways it makes sense (London used internment as demanded by the unionists, the British Army forced Orange Order marches through Catholic areas, the British Army kept the anti-internment march which would become known as Bloody Sunday out of the center of Derry as demanded by the unionists, and the BA failed to break the 1974 anti-Sunningdale loyalist strike which brought down a sort of good effort at resolving the conflict). (It is slightly flawed in one way- towards the very beginning of the conflict the British BRIEFLY DID talk with the IRA, but overwhelmingly they were more interested in the SDLP).
5. Dublin and Cork refer to the War of Independence in Ireland, I think Dublin and Cork were two of the main centres of resistance.
6. To a significant degree, the security forces of NI before London took direct control in 1972 were supported by London.
7. The Social Democratic and Labour Party, Sinn Fein's more moderate rival, has sometimes been referred to as the "Stoop Down Low Party" (see here). From a republican and socialist perspective, they're horrible- they have even undermined non-violent efforts. Until sometime in the 1990s, the British were more or less inclined to isolate republicans and do some kind of deal with the SDLP, instead of addressing the situation by beginning a process of withdrawl (they haven't really moved much at all on the question of withdrawl, but the Good Friday Agreement is better than earlier efforts, and the British significantly changed their attitude about SF being involved) (UPDATE 2/20/11 I can't believe I forgot about this, but there were SOME negoatiations between Provisional republicans and London in the very early years of the conflict and also in the mid-1970s. But in general, the idea was to isolate and destroy republicans.)
**8. 28% of this version is me, 72% is the original.
9. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
10. UPDATE 3/24/17 this is sort of from the perspective of a Briton who’s fairly critical of their government’s actions in the North. If the last line of the 2nd verse sounds like they might support the BA, they don’t and I THINK that line is not in conflict with the anti-occupation position.
10. UPDATE 2/14/19 I Changed "Dublin" to Vietnam. I know the UK wasn't involved in Vietnam, but it was a good example of gueriila war . And I like to make my blog as internationalist as possible without being obnoxious about it. And Vietnam was right there in the original.

I know a place where you're all going to go
They'll pay you to kill if you're eighteen years old
First you'll need a haircut, and then some new clothes
They'll stick you in Belfast, to play GI Joe

Chrous:
You fight for "Democracy and the British Way"
But you're not in your country, what am I doing here you say
Now it's too late, you're entering south Armagh
If you had brought your surfboard, you could surf Fermanagh

What is this we're fighting for, what's our ultimate goal
To prop up the Unionists and maintain their control
Republican resistance grows deeper every day
The situation "worsens," more soldiers on the way

Chorus

Lessons we have learned, are easy to forget
Hints of Vietnam and Cork, how soon we all forget
First we sent them rifles, now go in the troops
And our best idea is to make a deal with the stoops

Chorus

*****

UPDATE 6/10/09 I'm changing the names of those songs that had retained the original name.

"The 26" based on "One Nation" by Sacred Reich (despite their name, their politics are very progressive- I'm fairly famliar with all of their music and at least some of it is more or less socially liberally and it's also economically progressive and it's anti-war). The original lyrics are here (Although it's not clear what it actually is, according to other sites, the very last line is "Why don't you understand?")

1. This is largely intended as a song to help recruit people in the South to support the republican movement, in the context of the early years of the Peace Process (most would say it started sometime in the mid 1990s, and this is about the period around 2000).
2. The issue of multi-racial unity isn't the primary issue, but it is there, and SF is good at anti-racism.
3. I said state instead of nation because there's already a nation of all religions, there needs to be a 32-County state with religious freedom, it's not calling for a formal relationship between religions and the State.
4. The soldiers being referred to are British.
5. At one point about 3-10 years ago, there was a lot of work done to dismantle British security force bases for them, mostly by Sinn Fein Youth.
6. Peace- I agree with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said that "Peace is not merely the absence of tension, but the presence of justice."
7. There are some people in the South who support the British presence.
8. The last thing I would say is that Irish unity must wait until the British public comes around, but in the past efforts were made on that, and today, with the end of the armed struggle, that's even more important. Also, although it's not super clear, it's pretty safe to say the IRA basically never or almost never intentionally killed innocent civilians in Britain.
9. TOM is the Troops Out Movement, a British organization that more or less supports SF.
10. At one point, around 1990, one of the the Birmingham Six (they spent about 15 years in British jails for a crime they didn't committ) at a rally in Derry, said A: the British Army should be sent home in boxes, and B: the English working-class people are the "salt of the earth."
**11. 27% of this version is me, 73% is the original.
12. There are 26 counties in the South (the Republic).
13. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
14. This is about non-violence, with the sort of exception of trying to dismantle security force installations.
4/5/11 UPDATE 15. I felt that there was something wrong with the lyrics, and I fixed that by re-writing a small amount of words to have the poem come from the voice of a northern nationalist (i.e. a Catholic living in N. Ireland). Below is the new version.

A vision of unselfishness, a union of black and white
One state of all religions, it's clear within my sight
I see it clear, no hate, no fear, no soldiers come to die
A state that's free and thrives on peace, no greed no threat to life

We'll dismantle the weapons of war which loom over our heads
We'll take on the British war machine that caused so many deaths
Don't close your eyes to the atrocities which abound
Don't stand and watch until you’re six feet under ground

The future is our burden, don’t stand and watch
Because the Peace Process might crumble and British units march
We all work towards our goal, one nation unity
And you must be the convert, who works towards Irish peace

There are those around you who stand and say NO WAY
They support the British presence, say it's here to stay
But no one knows until we try, what we all we can do
Don’t stand by, watch children die, it's up to me and you

Our island is divided, the boundary has been drawn
We must continue until the British have withdrawn
And we don't judge the British by the government of their land
The Troops Out Movement will work to educate them, until they understand


One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).

Stoop Down Low Party

The Social Democratic and Labour Party is the main rival to Sinn Fein in the nationalist community, and until 2001 they were the larger of the two. They were formed by the merger of elements from the old Nationalist Party (which the SDLP basically replaced), the Civil Rights Movement, and the Labour movement in 1970. They're overwhelmingly in favor of non-violence, and fairly consistent about criticizing the security forces almost as much as they criticized the IRA, and have carried out some boycotts of public bodies in protests. But they frequently disappoint on a range of issues, mostly in terms of their claim to be solidly on the left (they're a member of the Socialist International). Although it varies from issue to issue (and I think that in the beginning somewhere around half were socialists), I'd estimate about 1/3 of them can claim to be leftists. I was told in July 2002 that the then-head of the SDLP Youth was a socialist who planned on leaving the party if it merged with Fianna Fail (see first item below).

(I'm more or less in the SI tradition, and used to be a member of the American section of the SI, and I'm not saying this as someone hostile to the SI)

They are sometimes referred to as the Stoop Down Low Party, or stoops, although I think some of them have adopted it as their own term. Anyway, here's what justifies calling them stoops.

1) They are basically Third Way. Their program hardly talks about public ownership at all, but talks a lot about "partnership" between government, business, and labor. I have never heard of them criticizing the Third Way.

Since shortly after the 2001 Westminster election when SF overtook the SDLP, there has been a lot of talk from the SDLP about merging with Fianna Fail, a centrist/centre-right party in the South. Partly because of this, in 2003 the Irish Labour Party started organizing in the North. In 2005 I interviewed, by email, the most senior Northern member of the ILP, Mark Langhammer, and he said that the SDLP do not represent the labour tradition or program.

UPDATE 6/27/16 I haven't heard anything in the last 6-8 years about them wanting to merge with FF and it may have even stopped about 3 years before that. And I have reason to believe that the current leader of the SDLP, Colum Eastwood might really be a socialist.

UPDATE 9/28/17 A merger with FF is now being discussed again within the SDLP. See this.

UPDATE 3/15/20 Just recently the SDLP created some kind of formal arrangement (not a merger) with FF.

2) Based on their public statements, almost their entire economic strategy for N. Ireland is to attract trans-national corporations.

3) They have no formal relationship with trade-unions, which isn't too surprising, but as far as I can tell they don't even have an informal one.

4) Until recently Catholic unemployment in the last 4+ decades has always been between about 2 and 2.5 times greater than for Protestants- a clear sign of discrimination. In the 80s/90s there was a campaign to get US companies (and maybe multi-nationals in general, it's not clear and the campaign was at least focused on America) in the North to adopt the MacBride Principles (a set of equal opportunity/affirmative action measures). This was endorsed by, among others, the AFL-CIO, most of the Congressional Black Caucus, the British Labour Party, and major sections of the British and Irish trade union movements. But John Hume, the then-Leader of the SDLP, opposed this because he was afraid it would scare off multi-nationals.

5) The SDLP claims to be the inheritors of the civil-rights movement. I'm sure there is some truth to this, but Hume had opposed the 1968 Derry Civil rights march and the 1969 Belfast-Derry march by left-wing students which was based on the Selma-Montgomery march and was a major turning point in the civil rights movement as the students were brutally attacked. He also opposed the 1972 march which was fired on on Bloody Sunday. He had told people that the Civil Rights Movement (or at least the left-wing of it) was "dangerous."

6) In several cases in recent years they have encouraged nationalist/Catholic communities to allow sectarian Orange marches through their neighborhoods- in one case a senior SDLP member even suggested that residents just take an extended vacation during the marching season. (If you're wondering why this is a civil rights issue, see this)

7) Every single academic source I have read has suggested the SDLP are overwhelmingly middle-class.

8) In 1971 internment without trial was introduced. In brutal raids the British Army detained hundreds of nationalists (mostly suspected/actual republicans, and a small number of leftists from People's Democracy) (they were almost all a little tortured; some were subjected to 7 days of sensory deprivation). Over the next 5 years about a total of about 2,000 people were interned, all but about 100 were nationalists, republicans, and leftists; although loyalists were murdering Catholics left and right, only 107 were interned, and only after about 18 months of internment.

In response a strike of rents and rates was called, and was solid in working-class areas. In fact, the SDLP had been one of the groups who called for it. But in 1974 there was a brief power-sharing government of which the SDLP were a part. In government, they announced there would be no amnesty for those on rent and rates strike, and increased the amount that could be deducted from striker's social security payments. Internment didn't end until 1975. John Hume was a minister in that government.

9) In the early 1990s the SDLP opposed the opening of a Brook Advisory Clinic (basically like Planned Parenthood) in Belfast.

10) They are extremely pro-life. Abortion is hardly available in N. Ireland, and the Assembly in 2000 passed a resolution saying that they oppose the extension of the Abortion Act to N. Ireland; the SDLP voted for it. More importantly, when an amendment was offered which referred the issue of abortion to the health care committee for further debate, research, and discussion, the SDLP spoke and voted against that. UPDATE 2/8/15 They strongly oppose choice in cases of rape or where the fetus has a fatal abnormality- for more see this.

11) In a 1994 Westminster vote(s) on lowering the age of consent for gay sex, none of the 4 SDLP MPs supported lowering it to 16 (that's what it was for heterosexual sex). John Hume voted for 18, Joe Hendron (who was defeated by Gerry Adams in 1997) abstained; the other two, who are still MPs, voted against lowering it at all. (UPDATE 5/25/14 A month ago the SDLP joined SF in an Assembly vote to legalize same-sex marraiges, and were probably more or less anti-homophobic starting around 15 years ago)
UPDATE 5/2/15  in all fairness see this about a veteran NI gay rights organizer who was also in the leadership of the SDLP.
UPDATE 11/11/15 Read this about a senior SDLP politician opposing gay marraige (starting in 1997 he was the SDLP candidate in North Belfast for every Westminister election, and was elected at every Assembly election starting in 1998; this statement includes the most recent Assembly and Westminster elections)

12) The following is from a 1996 article in Z Magazine by Jim Dees:
"Washington eagerly pitched in. In October 1985, 12 senior SDLP members flew to Washington and met with officials of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which operates on grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), established by act of Congress in 1983. Neither the NED or the NDI are federal agencies, and as such their records are not accessible through the Freedom of Information Act. What is known is the NED's history of involvement in supporting the democratic process in Central and South America, South Africa, and the Philippines. The agency was also involved in channeling money to anti-Mitterand trade unionists and right wing French student groups in 1985. ......
"To cement the alliance, Washington pumped in $120 million during the first three years alone. New corporations were created to facilitate the disbursement of grant money. Conveniently, Catholic clergy, who remained solidly behind the SDLP, dominated most of the corporations. The message was clear: support the SDLP or face unemployment, poverty and despair. In west Belfast, where many nationalist areas face unemployment well over 60 percent, the message got through."

13) As for the border, some of them have been so willing to compromise on that that I think they are in serious conflict with anti-imperialism. At some point about 5-10 years after the Good Friday Agreement was approved in referenda, a senior SDLP member said that the spirit of the Agreement meant that now Ireland could only be united when a majority of both nationalists and unionists supported that. Setting aside his use of the word "unionists" (by definition, a unionist does not support a United Ireland, there will never be a majority), the idea that there now has to be a majority of Protestants is ridiculous. The thing is, it goes further than saying that there must be a voting majority in N. Ireland who support uniting Ireland before Ireland can be united, and even THAT, as I explained in the paragraph beginning "One thing..." of the post "Catholic, Protestant, and Dissenter" is ridiculous to begin with.
UPDATE 1/11/16 The Party Leader of the SDLP said, as a crisis started in the Peace Process grew, that if the Executive of the Assembly (created as part of the GFA) couldn't be re-established after an upcoming election, there should be joint authority between the Irish and British states (in the European sense of the word) in the running of N Ireland. This is a reasonable and very good idea. What I mean is that it's a much better thing to hear from a leader of the SDLP than what I described above. I'm actually becoming slightly positive about the SDLP, with Eastwood as it's leader.

Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter

(This is a new, comprehensively updated version of this post- it replaced the old version 11/5/20)

 

The title is a phrase created by Wolf Tone, a Protestant who is considered the founder of Irish Republicanism. He was the main leader of the 1798 Rebellion against British rule.

Initially this was going to just be about anti-Protestant bigotry and republicans, but it's now turned into more of a general discussion of the argument for a United Ireland. The part about anti-Protestant bigotry and republicans is in the second half of this post, and is part of the argument in favor of uniting Ireland.

One aspect of that argument is that Catholics are unlikely to experience justice or equality under British rule in Ireland. I won't go into many details, but here are some things that were done to the Irish before 1900:

1. There was the general practice of kicking people off their land.
2. The transportation of 10s of thousands who were sent to the Caribbean by Cromwell and worked under slave-like condition until they earned their freedom or died (many or MOST died (they usually lasted about 3-7 years)).
3. During the Famine, while 10-15% of the population starved to death and another 10-15% emigrated to avoid starving to death, food was being shipped out of Ireland to England.
4. For roughly 100-150 years, Catholics were stripped of more or less all the rights enjoyed by most or all Protestants (the details varied from right to right), under the Penal Laws.

After the War of Independence, during which the British were very brutal with the Irish, Ireland was divided. This was accompanied by great violence in the North against the Catholic community. In general I recommend the book "Northern Ireland: The Orange State" by Michael Farrell, and you can also read a good summary of what happened to Catholics the first fifty years of N. Ireland here (that also explains how N. Ireland’s creation was violent, sectarian, and undemocratic, and how the civil rights movement in the late 1960s transformed into a broad struggle for national liberation that included republicans).

During The Troubles, the Nationalist (Catholic) community went through a nightmare- probably the best way to briefly describe that is to say that while roughly 856+ Catholic civilians were killed in the years 1969 to 2005 by either loyalist paramilitaries or the security forces, a comparable scenario in America would have meant around 67,000 unarmed people of color killed by cops or Nazi skinheads (etc.) in the same time period (A: based on what I’ll describe below, I would guess that the actual number for that was probably somewhere around 7,000-8,000; B: I'm not saying the racist system in this country wasn't, ideologically or programmatically, capable of killing 67,000 people of color in those years if the "rebellion" among people of color here had been as militaristic as the one among Catholics in N. Ireland; but the reality is that as bad as it was for people of color here in those years, it was, in terms of deaths, MUCH worse for Catholics in N. Ireland). Although the security forces didn’t directly kill anywhere near as many Catholic civilians as the loyalists did, there was routine harassment and brutality experienced by the nationalist community at their hands. In the early 1970s Catholics were twice as likely to be unemployed as Protestants and in 1988 they two and and half times as likely. The maximum number of  MPs they could expect was negligible in the Parliament, and they were governed by a state that they quite reasonably considered both foreign and hostile. On average 1969-1990 about 10 anti-Catholic parades each year were forced through Catholic areas by the security forces, which often prompted rioting and violence against Catholic residents. For why opposition to those parades is legitimate, see this.    

There's a large pro-unity majority throughout the island, and about 90% of the Northern Catholic community, as well as about 5% of the Northern Protestant population also support that. Whatever right to national self-determination the Northern Protestants have is trumped by that of the Irish as a whole- the latter are relatively or completely indigenous, the former are the descendants of settlers.

During TheTroubles, a large chunk of the Republican Movement’s response to British Imperialism and Unionism is described here. In the 1990s the Provisional Republican Movement increasingly pursued an unarmed strategy.

On a related subject, the British Government was overwhelmingly responsible for the nightmare the Catholic community went through.

Looking at the 856+ murders of Catholic civilians (by either the security forces or loyalist paramilitaries), the vast majority were the work of loyalist paramilitaries, but there's evidence of collusion between the security forces and the loyalists, and even if that didn't happen, there's solid evidence that the security forces and the government took one attitude towards loyalists and another towards republicans.

On collusion, there have been allegations by credible human rights groups and there have been credible whistle-blowers. Part of the argument that there was collusion is that the security forces had agents in the loyalist paramilitaries and were not too worried about stopping them from killing Catholics, as proven by the following (all but the last item is from the Conflict Archive on the InterNet, a very neutral, academic site; the last is from the Pat Finucane Centre, who are so well respected, that they organized the main Bloody Sunday Commemoration events every year until recently, in Derry, an SDLP strong-hold; with the exception of the internment figures, which might be off a tiny bit, it's accurate (when I say "3-4" that's from me)):
1) The entire conflict, the security forces killed about 145 republican paramilitaries, and 16 loyalists. They killed 22 Protestant civilians, and 162 Catholic civilians.
2) In the early and mid 1970s, during internment without trial, 107 loyalists were interned, 1,874 republicans (and two leftists who were not republicans) were interned, and on average the republicans were interned longer because the first 1.5 years not a single loyalist was interned.
3) From it's formation in 1971 until 1992, the main loyalist paramilitary, the Ulster Defence Association, was considered a legal organization by the British government. In 1974, when the gov't finally got around to declaring Sinn Fein a legal organization, they "balanced that out" by declaring that the Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary, was legal. That lasted for a year, during which the UVF was blamed for about 50 murders.
4) I can't find figures on sentenced prisoners, but considering that membership of republican paramilitaries was always illegal, odds are very high that there was something like 5-10 times more sentenced republican prisoners than loyalist sentenced prisoners.
5) In July 1996 during 5 days of loyalist rioting, 662 plastic bullets were fired; immediately after that, during 3 days of nationalist rioting, 5,340 plastic bullets were fired.

(That adds up to a double standard, and there’s some more solid evidence of collusion in a post here)

In general, there was probably something like 20 times more activity from republican paramilitaries than from loyalist parmilitaries (if you ignore the racketeering of the latter), and probably about a few times more rioting from Catholics than there was from Protestants. But the loyalist paramilitaries focused overwhelmingly on killing Catholic civilians and the IRA was focusing overwhelmingly on the security forces and (with very few civilian casualties) the destruction of civilian buildings (according to work I did here).                                      
 

Only .3% of IRA operations resulted in civilian death and probably about 5% of their civilian victims were not innocent). Clearly, the greater threat to innocent life came from the loyalists. There’s also the fact that sectarian murder has more of a terroristic effect on the community being targeted than the occassional accidental death of civilians, and should be a higher priority for the State. There's no way that the total northern membership of republican paramilitaries during the internment period was anywhere near 18 times that of loyalist paramilitaries- maybe 2 or 3 times.

Although I don't know exactly what it is, if you count all the British monarchs and Prime Ministers the last 300-400 years, I'd be surprised if more than 1% were Catholic, and I know that starting somewhere about 300 years ago, the British monarch cannot be a Catholic, or (until very recently) married to a Catholic. It's also not insignificant that Tony Blair waited until he left office to convert.

What I have hopefully established is that there is little reason to believe that Catholics will experience justice or equality under British rule.

A lot of people seem to think that the republican struggle is anti-Protestant, and more generally, believe that Protestants in a United Ireland would probably be treated the way Catholics have been treated in N. Ireland. Here's why that's very unlikely (this is close to all the info on the subject that I'm aware of, but is probably FAR, FAR from an exhaustive list of everything indicating that it’s very unlikely):

On the Republican Movement:

1) There's a solid history of Protestants being involved (in the decades before The Troubles (which started in the late 1960s)), although in the Provisional IRA (formed in 1969, now known simply as the IRA) they may have been less common than was the case with other parts of the republican family during The Troubles and less common than in earlier history. But at least one and perhaps three PIRA martyrs were Protestant. And a senior officer in the Belfast Brigade in the 1970s was Ivor Bell, a Protestant.

2) The first chief of staff (leader) of the PIRA was basically 1/3-2/3 Protestant (he was raised Catholic, but one or both of his parents were Protestant). The one parent who I know was Protestant, her family was from Belfast (he was born and raised in England and his father was English) and she was the one who inspired him to identify as Irish.

4) Rita O'Hare was for many years a senior member of SF. Her father was a Protestant.

5) In the late 1970s, the PIRA collaborated with the Irish National Liberation Army, which from 1978-1980 was led by a Protestant.

6) Based partly on a fairly scientific look, only something like .005% of the PIRA's operations were sectarian murder (that rough estimate is based on a more solid estimate that only .2 of their operations resulted intentionally in civilian death, as I explain here). I'm pretty sure you could say roughly the same thing about other republican paramilitaries. With the PIRA, it's also signficant that a minority of their operations against the British involved great effort as they traveled to Britain and mainland Europe to attack British targets.

7) Billy Leonard is a Protestant and was an SF politician between 2004 and 2011, and some of that time he was an MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly). He left in 2011 because of the financial aspect of being a SF politician. He felt there was some hostility towards him in SF but felt it had as much to do with his former membership in the security forces as it had to do with his religion.

8) In 2002, SF's Martin McGuiness, when he was N. Ireland Minister of Education, was praised by a political rival, the then-leader of the Irish Labour Party, for the work he did promoting integrated education.

9) Every year republicans commemorate Wolf Tone.

10) SF has almost always been willing to dialogue with anyone in the unionist/loyalist community. When they started contesting elections in the mid-1980s, if elected to local government they would take their seats which I think is evidence they were willing to try non-violent democratic engagement with their Unionist opponents.

11) When Gerry Adams attended the funeral of David Ervine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, he gave Ervine's widow a hug.

12) Some time around 2005-2009 there was a debate in Sinn Fein about the slogan "Brits out." I'm not sure how it ended, it's one of those things I missed when I took a break from following NI. The idea was that it was being widely mis-interpreted as referring not just to the British Army and government but also the Unionist population (which overlaps heavily with the Protestant population) and should be dropped. The thing is, SF does a fairly good job of making it clear they're not anti-Protestant and want the Unionists to stay, so I'm not sure if they should abandon it as some have argued (the idea is that the popular slogan isn't worth the damage it was doing).


The second part of this is the situation in the Republic. The state there is nowhere near as anti-Protestant as people think it is.

1) As far as I can tell, there's been almost zero anti-Protestant discrimination or violence.

2) Although most schools are heavily connected to the Church, and I have heard one situation where there was a problem, in general, as far as I can tell, Protestants are happy with the education system.

3) At one point Protestants were over-represented in the Parliament. Also, according to Michael Farrell's "Northern Ireland: The Orange State" (page 186) in the late 1940s, while Protestants were 6% of the South's population, they were 35% of public appointments.

4) Around 2005 there were at least several Orange Order marches that took place without any security problems.

5) Out of nine Presidents of Ireland, two have been Protestants.

6) Some people point to the situation with abortion and say that Protestant women will be disadvantaged. The thing is, while abortion is something like 99% illegal in the Republic, it was about 95% illegal in the North until recently. When the Abortion Act was extended to N. Ireland by the British Parliament it was over the objections of a majority of people there. And in fact, the Protestant population (at a political level) is a little bit more pro-life than the Catholic population (as evidenced by statements made during an Assembly debate on the subject in 2000 or 2001).

So, Protestants have very little to fear in a United Ireland, Catholics have much to fear in N. Ireland. And depending on when you start counting, most of the progress that has been made since the early 1990s has been made under a Labour government in London (yes, I'm saying something nice about Tony Blair, someone please shoot me). The British Tories have a past and present tight organizational relationship with the Ulster Unionist Party, and spent some time in Government dependent on the Democratic Unionist Party for support in Parliament. At the very most, there has been a small decline in sectarianism among Unionists, and just a couple years ago there was a 3-year crisis in the Peace Process largely because of lingering Unionist sectarianism. Now, tories in London are caving into them over new arrangements made necessary by Brexit. Brexit requires either a “Hard Border” in Ireland between north and south, or a new trading boundary in the Irish Sea between the North and Britain. As I explain here this represents an opportunity to move towards Irish Unity but could also cause the conflict to re-start. The British are moving, in the Fall of 2020, to create a Hard Border in Ireland in order to appease the Unionists.

One last part of this is that ending partition will almost definitely strengthen various left, progressive, liberal, and working-class movements. To some degree the border (which creates organizational divisions, with some exceptions), and the fact that 2-3 governments have to be lobbied, makes it more difficult to advance those agendas. In the North, there are certainly sectarian divisions (although often that's more accurately described as political instead of religious). Also, tons of people in both parts of Ireland who work on issues connected to the border would otherwise be spending more time on stuff like building unions, gay rights, etc. (they DO work on that stuff, and the border-related issues aren't necessarily much of a detour, but they kind of are). There's also a good chance that in the North, a lot of Protestant workers and progressives will stop voting for the Orange Tories and start voting Labour or something like that. Something similar will happen in the South, where the Center/Center-Right Fianna Fail gets a ton of working-class votes, partly because they're seen as good on the border. Unlike their sister parties elsewhere in Europe, the Irish Labour Party has only been in government as a jr. partner.

The above won't happen over-night, but within 1-2 generations as more and more Protestants realize that they will almost definitely not be victimized by religious bigotry (aside from the liklihood of a tiny number of incidents that would be nothing compared to what Catholics went through), this will happen. Anti-Catholic sectarianism will go down as they realize that they won't be mis-treated, and this will be helped by the elimination of practically all anti-Protestant bigotry as Catholics experience equality and justice.

Keeping the pressure on the British to leave Ireland is still important. Although I believe it should be gradual there should be a process with a guaranteed outcome of Irish Unity. And the sooner it starts the sooner it ends which is important because it’s not impossible that the UK could become fascist at some point and as bad as that would be for the British people, it would probably be even worse for Catholics in N. Ireland considering that a fascist government in London would be less responsive to Catholic complaints, more pro-British Army, and would have connections with the loyalist paramilitaries.

Ending partition is still very important.

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

What makes me confident about my statement “probably somewhere around 7,000-8,000”?

1. Between 1996 and 2005 according to the FBI there were 38 racist murders. I have read that the Department of Justice officially estimates that for every hate crime reported to the FBI there might be 20-30 that aren’t reported because not all local law enforcement agencies report such crimes to the FBI. So I came up with 1,140 for those years.
2. I heard (from organizers of a Black Lives Matter protest) that in a 12 month period during a 2014 (apparent) surge in police murders of black people including those of Eric Garner in NY, Tamir Rice in OH, and Michael Brown in MO among other highly publicized such cases, that around 200 black people armed or unarmed, had been killed by cops in America. Although I’m very open-minded about accusations that cops plant guns, this country also has a ridiculous number of guns.
3. Bear in mind that decades ago the number of people of color and the number of cops in this country were both smaller or much smaller than they are today.
4. If it’s worth much, about 10 years ago I read a huge amount of what the Southern Poverty Law Center put on their web-site in the previous 10-15 years. I also got an Ethnic Studies degree if that’s worth much.
5. There was little or no talk about “Brown Lives Matter” so I get the impression that very few Latinos/Latinas/Chicanos/Chicanas have been killed by cops in recent years (as far as I know, even Arpaio’s sheriff’s department in AZ didn’t kill a single such person) and that might reflect the situation in earlier decades. I have practically never heard of Asian-Americans being killed by cops. And if Native Americans were being killed at a high rate in the 80s and 90s I would have heard (a massive chunk of my major was Native American Studies).

UPDATE 6/9/21 I just found a Democracy Now! story relevant to this. It's about the last 20 years, but there's a small overlap between that and the period I was looking at Catholics and people of color (1969-2005), and it's possible that what I said about this comparison is off a little. Bear in mind that the figure I refer to in item #2 above came from organizers of a Black Lives Matter protest.

More new songs

This is another post of the poems/songs that I have done

So, what songs am I talking about? See the post below, with the first set of lyrics.

One other thing, although I'm going to continue messing with the racist lyrics, I think I might also start looking more at the loyalist, republican, and left-wing/anti-fascist stuff and change the subject matter (or, with the loyalist stuff, basically twist it into more or less the opposite of what it originally is). One of the songs below is a N. Ireland version of the classic pro-labor union song "Soldiarity Forever."

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

I think that's it. Below are the lyrics. I'm going to more or less start with the least impressive and end with thye most impressive (that's more or less accurate, but even the very first one is great).

1. Oh, No, Here Comes a Fascist. Fascists globally or specifically in America.
2. Invisible Comrades. Gay members of the IRA.
3. Smash the UDA. N. Ireland.
4. The Army Made us Strong. The IRA and the Nationalist community in N. Ireland.
5. Fuck Ian Stuart. About the late leader of the world-wide Nazi Skinhead movement.
6. Green Rider. The IRA.
7. Iris Robinson (Oh, No, Here Comes a Unionist). Homophobia and sectarianism in N. Ireland.

The first song is based on "Oh No, Here Comes a Commie," by Skrewdriver. Here are some notes on "Oh No, Here Comes a Fascist."
1. In Germany, especially in the early 1930s, the Nazis got a significant amount of money from the upper-classes, who felt that the Nazis were a good way to beat the left. Something similar happens today in most countries, and I'm sure that a small chunk of the upper-class also like the way bigotry divides workers (probably some small minority are simply white supremacists and/or fascists, probably another small minority like the idea of dividing workers and watching white nationalists attacking the left).
2. Spain refers to the era of Franco.
**3. 25% of this version is me, 75% is the original.
4. Himmler was head of the SS.
5. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
6. As far as I can tell, the fascists in Spain were not as anti-semitic as the Nazis were, so it's dificult to say they were dividing the masses. But I'm sure the upper-class supported the fascists and when I tried those two lines with Germany or Italy, there was basically nothing to rhyme with it (I guess at the time I wasn't happy about just using the "y" at the end of both to make a rhyme with something else). So it kind of makes sense.
7. As far as the 2nd verse, our land is multi-cultural, so they do hate their own land, and their bigotry makes it more likely that our country will go downhill (I'm thinking of America here, but I'm pretty sure that verse applies to a lot of other countries). And I've read some things indicating that the fash do have some spies.
8. The fash usually claim that they are of and for the (white) working-class, so they don't like people knowing the support they get from wealthy people.
9. For better or worse there is nothing in here about anti-fascist violence, so you could say it's about non-violent anti-fascism.

The original lyrics are here (the 3rd to last line should say "nigh" instead of "right").

He looks to Hitler, He worships Himmler
Nothing but air in his head
Appears in your eyes, Peddling lies
Selling ideas that are dead

He's out there every single day
Talking 'bout the Jews and the gays

Chorus
Oh, no, here comes a fascist
Swastika on his breast
Oh, no, here comes a fascist
Won't you give it a rest

He hates his own land, he has a plan
To bring it all down to the ground
Confuse you with lies, installs his spies
Brings our destruction around

He just wants to see our nations dying
His desire is for a nazi flag flying

Chorus

Support for his plans, comes from the rich man
People who fear the working-classes
Just like in Spain, even though it lead to fascist reign
They want to divide the masses

The fascist gets his support from the well-heeled
Hopes that their role will remain concealed

Chorus

Oh no, here comes a fascist
Says his revolution is nigh
Oh no, here comes a fascist
Won't you off and die?

******

UPDATE 6/9/09 I'm renaming those songs that retained the original name.

"Invisible Comrades," based on "Sick Society" by Skrewdriver, lyrics are here

1. As you'll figure out, she's a lesbian former republican Volunteer (Volunteers are members of republican paramilitaries). Feel free to change "girlfriend" to "boyfriend."
2. I heard in the late 1990s about how there were some gay former Volunteers being harrassed. I also heard of something much more recent involving gay men in a nationalist area of Derry (I have no reason to think they're former Volunteers) being harrassed.
3. In general, read my post "Invisible Comrades."
4. The 3rd verse isn't that singable, but it's okay. In general, aside from the politics of it, it's not my favorite among the songs I've "written." UPDATE 12/24/09 I have decided to break my rule, and I made two changes to the 3rd verse that improve it's quality.
5. Homophobia in the nationalist community isn't that widespread, but what the song describes could happen.
**6. 29% of this version is me 71% is the original, plus I ignored 2 lines at the end.
7. The RUC, until late 2001, were the police.
8. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
9. The green, white and orange are the colors of the Irish flag.
10. The nationalist community and the republican family are overwhelmingly working-class.
11. Skrewdriver supported the unionist and british causes in N. Ireland.
12. Besides the stuff about the IRA, the last line of the 2nd verse and the entire last verse are about fighting that would probably be non-violent about 98% of the time.

You risked your life for this country when you were young
Never questioned orders that they gave
'Cos the love of the Green, White and Orange was in your heart
Against the British Army and the RUC you were so brave

Chorus:
Now look at a sick society, why are they so dense?
Now look at a sick society, their hatred makes no sense

You did your time for class and people in D-Company
Spent years trying to make this nation free
Now you're not allowed to walk the Irish streets today
And you're fighting against a foe you cannot see, just because you're gay

Chorus

When you wanna walk with your girlfriend
Through the streets of the country you fought to liberate
Then you're struck down by a mob of screaming bigots
Raining with bricks from above, faces full of hate

Chorus

Middle Eight
We remember the things that you have done
Against all odds you would not run
We remember the years you gladly gave
Your people's freedom you do crave

Chorus

You're still fighting for your country
Fighting against an enemy that's within
Now I'll make a promise to you
We'll keep on fighting, until we win

********

Skrewdriver did a song called "Smash the IRA." Well, this is "Smash the UDA." Some notes:
1. The UDA is the Ulster Defense Association, a loyalist paramilitary.
2. The line about fighting fascism in Spain doesn't apply to the entire Nationalist community (most of the Nationalist Party supported Franco), but something like 1/2-2/3 of Irish people who fought against the fascists were former IRA members (actually, they might not have resigned their membership, but I imagine they did).
3. It's about British supporters of the IRA. Obviously the song goes kind of far in terms of how to deal with the UDA's supporters, but it's just a song (I doubt British supporters of the IRA ever had plans to attack their opponents in Britain).
5. The Red Hand is a Loyalist symbol.
6. Sinn Fein's support for the anti-aprtheid struggle has been recognized in multiple ways. For examples, see this.
7. This is not an endorsement of continuing the armed struggle since 1997.
**8. 24% of this version is me, 76% is the original.
9. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.

The original lyrics can be found here

"Smash the UDA"
On the streets of Belfast, the battle rages on
Irish people fighting for their land
Fought fascism in Spain, stood with the ANC
Gotta help them, stop the Red Hand

Chrous
Smash! Smash! The UDA
Smash! Smash! The UDA
Smash! Smash! The UDA
Remember the victims of their bombs

We gotta change our policies and hang the UDA
Let the IRA deal with them their way
Corrupt politicians and sniveling right-wing scum
Are quite content to let them get away
Come on Belfast!

Chorus

UDA supporters are marching on our streets
Are we going to let them spread their lies?
Are we going to let them march or are we going to smash them?
Laughing while the Irish people die
Come on Belfast!

Chorus

*********

"The Army Made Us Strong" based on "Solidarity Forever," the Pete Seeger version- I can't find the lyrics on the web (and because I suspect there are MULTIPLE versions about American labor, I'm not going to try and find the right one to link to).

1. There have been strong connections between the trade-union movement and armed republicanism, including the IRA of the last 40 years.
2. The IRA was overwhelmingly working-class and since the late 1970s, mostly-overwhelmingly left-wing.
3. James Connolly was Ireland's greatest socialist/republican and was a trade-union organizer. Duirng the 1913 Dublin Lockout, he organized the Irish Citizen Army to defend workers. The ICA was later a huge part of the 1916 Easter Rising, was integrated into the IRA during the War of Independence, and showed up here and there in the 20s and 30s. The Starry Plough, the flag of republican socialism is either the ICA flag, or based on it, depending on which version you look at. (the blue one is not the original)
4. This song somewhat exaggerates the role that the IRA played in strengthening the nationalist community, but it was part of that. Also, I believe that the Good Friday Agreement is a little bit better than the two earlier attempts at resolving the conflict (the Sunningdale Agreement and the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which you could kind of connect to the early 1980s Assembly) and that the British and maybe the Unionists negotiated a bit differently when the GFA was being worked on than they would have if they weren't reluctant to continue fighting the IRA. I might do a post on that soon. Also, and I'm not too sure how much this happened in the North because I've gotten the impression that the Republican Movement generally could have done a slightly better job of mobilizing mass struggle, but in S. Africa the ANC partly justified their use of arms by saying that their military activities inspired people to resist in other ways.
5. Considering discrimination in employment, I'm not sure how much of the North was built by Catholics, but I imagine that if they were 1/3 of the population and overwhelmingly working-class, you could probably say they built somewhere around 1/5 of it. Also, I feel very comfortable assuming there was at least some discrimination in pay and benefits, there was certainly discrimination in the allocation of public housing which resulted in the severe homelessness that was the main spark of the Civil Rights Movement, and there was also serious political disempowerment.
6. The North is probably about 4/5 between what it was at it's worst (since the creation of the Statelet in the early 1920s) and where it should be in terms of being Orange (sectarian) or democratic (non-sectarian), and some movement has been made towards a United Ireland via the cross-border bodies of the GFA (there is potential for that to change in the wrong direction when the British Conservatives get into power, since they're likely to side with the Unionists on various issues that might come up).
7. According to the Pat Finucane Centre's "Alternative Guide To Derry," in the 1980s a multi-national corporation decided it wasn't making enough profit off the backs of Derry people, and we're going to move elsewhere. The IRA temproarily (I don't know how long this lasted, but there's no way it was permanent) prevented machinery from being removed from the factory (to be transported elsewhere by the corporation) by issuing a threat (and, I'd say, probably stationing Volunteers nearby to enforce it).
8. To a large degree, this song is inspired by the last 5 minutes of the documentary "Off Our Knees, 1968-1988: From Civil Rights To National Liberation." It's worth whatever you have to pay for it, although ideally you can find it from some source that will loan it to you. It's also available on You Tube, thanks to some awesome person, starting here (it's available from Celtic Video)
9. The line "because we learned" I think makes sense in this context, because A: in the mid-late 60s when the nationalist community rose up en masse they were inspired by world events, especially the American civil rights movement, and also because the republican movement developed new strategies (such as elections) and more or less learned from mistakes they made.
**10. 9% of this version is me, 91% is the original.
11. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
12. In the 2nd verse there are some thing that don't make sense in the Irish context- I might change that- it'll be a VERY small change. UPDATE 11/20/10 I replaced a couple parts with references to cattle and computers, which are fairly-very appropriate for the Irish situation.
13. It is about the Northern Catholic working-class but the idea is that they were strengthened by the activity of the IRA.
13. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.

Chorus:
Solidarity forever
Solidarity forever
Solidarity forever
For the Army made us strong

When Connolly's inspiration through the people's blood shall run
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one
But the Army made us strong

Chorus

It is we who herd the cattle, built the cities where they trade
Make the computers and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid
We used to stand outcast and homeless mid the wonders we had made
But the Army made us strong

Chorus

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn
We're breaking their haughty power, gaining our freedom because we learned
And the Army made us strong

Chorus

In our hands is placed a power greater than their horded gold
Greater than the might of atoms magnified a thousand fold
We're bringing to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the Army made us strong

Chorus

*******

"Fuck Ian Stuart"
In 1993 Ian Stuart (also known as Ian Stuart Donaldson) was killed in a car accident. He had been the leader of the world-wide Nazi skinhead music scene, and every year there are memorial concerts in his name. I've found three songs in his memory, there's probably more. On the other hand, if you think he was scum, you might enjoy the following links:
Dead But Not Forgiven Lyrics (as you probably know, "walhalla" is actually "valhalla," which is a mythical place where people who die in combat go- Nazis love Valhalla)
Dead But Not Forgiven Song
Nazis Shouldn't Drive lyrics

Some notes on the altered version (the original is called "Farewell Ian Stuart by No Remorse) (the original lyrics are here.

1. "Seamus from Bray" refers to Seamus Costello, PAST leader of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and Chief of Staff of the Irish National Liberation Army. (I do not support them today, see this.)
2. "Bonehead" is an anti-racist term for racist skinheads.
3. Body Count is Ice-T's heavy metal band.
**4. 52% of this version is me, 45% is the original.
5. It probably goes without saying, but I never saw Ian Stuart, but felt like keeping that line largely unaltered.
6. I give this song/poem three out of five stars.
7. The bit at the bottom that's in quotes, is taken from the same line of the original.
8. He actually DID spend a fair amount of time in jail.
9. For better or worse, with the exception of the line about Seamus, there is nothing about anti-fascist violence in this poem.

Ian Stuart, we didn't need your hate
Delivered by a quack and taken away too late
You were an ass, a Nazi, a joke to us all
I know for sure a million idiots that heeded to your call
They lived by your example, their brains full of mold
Unmatched in stupidity and hearts that were so cold

The last time I saw you, I saw the dullness in your eyes
I would have danced in the street if I knew you were going to die
So with smile on face and Body Count in ears this song I'll write
To remember Ian Stuart and to carry on the ANTI-FASCIST fight

So farewell Ian Stuart, to hell you will descend
You did your worst, our world you reversed
You were an idiot till the end
Farewell Ian Stuart, you just could not comprehend
You will rot forever, because Nazis never ascend

From '82, we hated you, your band and your scene
Your white power songs, they were always wrong
You were the dumbest band we'd ever seen
Through all the years, you pushed your fears
And the damage you did on the way
They should have locked you in a cell, you caused all kinds of hell
You're lucky you never met Seamus from Bray
Against common sense and humanity, with your racist insanity
You stood up and took on the globe
From the albums and t-shirts to the rallies and concerts
Whatever happened to your frontal lobe?

And they will carry on, with the delusions in your songs
To turn back now would make too much sense
And they are "ready to toil, for the blood and the soil"
Ian Stuart your fans are so dense!

So, fuck you Ian Stuart, fuck you to the end
Fuck you Ian Stuart, a bonehead till the end

*******

This one is based on "White Rider" by Skrewdriver. It's a little simplistic, but I call it "Green Rider." Some notes:
1. Considering the source of the original, I feel like I have to point out what is probably obvious: as long as it doesn't cross a certain line (and I imagine it rarely does in the North of Ireland) Irish pride is very different from White pride. (I just heard something making me think that it's probably a small minority of northern nationalists that would talk about "Irish pride"; I still feel odd completely re-writing that line, so I'm going to keep it)
2. When I refer to loyalty, I'm being very harsh on those Irish who DON'T support the IRA- I only sort of mean it.
3. I use "bread" to refer to economic justice.
4. The Dail is the Irish Parliament in Dublin, and the reference makes sense since the goal is to extend the reach of the Dail to all of Ireland.
5. UPDATE 5/12/10 I just made a small change to the 2nd line of the last verse, earlier it said "led by" and I explained here that it was an exaggeration, but I now think it's such massive exageration that I have changed it.
Also, it's a reference to the Republican Movement's very good record (in the last 20-40 years, depending on what issue we're talking about) on opposing homophobia, racism, and anti-semitism. I thought "fascists" would cover that.
6. Just to be clear, in the 3rd verse, the "fools" are seperate from the "enemy."
7. This is not an endorsement of continuing the armed struggle since 1997.
**8. 9% of this version is me, 91% is the original.
9. I give this song/poem five out of five stars.
10. This version is about the IRA. Skrewdriver supported the unionist and british causes in N. Ireland.
11. It's about the IRA.
12. UPDATED 2/8/16 Based on what might be called a fairly scientific look, only about .2% of the IRA's operations intentionally resulted in civilian death.

The original lyrics are here

"Green Rider"
You ride through the streets with your head held up high
For your flag and your country you're willing to die
Your fore-fathers fought and your fore-fathers died
They died for a feeling they felt deep inside

Chorus:
Green Rider, Green Rider, your strength is your pride
Green Rider, Green Rider, you'll stand, never hide
Green Rider, Green Rider, your flag is your voice
You scorn the conscripted, you're fighting through choice

Your flags are unfolded, salute them with love
To fight for your people is a gift from above
Some fools will oppose you, true Irish will stay loyal
But victory shall be ours for the bread and the Dail

Chorus

Your feel love for your people, disdain for the fools
The enemy's helped by the fascist tools
You fight for your people who shall be proud and free
And the only reward that you crave is victory!

Chorus

******

Iris Robinson (Oh No, Here Comes A Unionist) based on "Oh No Here Comes a commie" by Skrewdriver.

The original lyrics are here (the 3rd to last line should say "nigh" instead of "right").

1. She's married to the head of her party, the DUP, which is currently the largest unionist party. She made very homophobic comments in mid-2008, see my post "Invisible Comrades."
2. Fenian is a derogatory term for republican, although it's been adopted by republicans.
3. The Red Hand is a loyalist symbol.
4. As far as "bringing around destruction," the sectarianism, homophobia and continuation of British rule in the North that she pushes all weaken various liberal, working-class, progressive and leftist movements in Ireland and therefore, especially with the economic crisis, do great harm to Ireland. I would say more or less the same thing to explain the line about her plans being supported from alien lands- support for her sectarianism and homophobia would be less if those movements were stronger, and they'll almost definitely be stronger within 1-2 generations of Ireland being united (I might do a post on that, but for now take my word for it).
5. The Union Jack is the British flag.
6. There's a history of black propaganda against republicans, although it's probably mostly aimed at dissidents today, I don't know how much is aimed at Sinn Fein.
7. "Crusaders" probably greatly exaggerates how religiously motivated today's British Army is, but centuries ago it was probably fairly accurate.
**8. 30% of this version is me, 70% is the original.
9. I give this song five out of five stars.
10. Skrewdriver supported the unionist and british causes in N. Ireland.
11. There is nothing about republican violence in here and with the possible exception of citing her hostility to fenians, I think most of it could come from nationalists.

She looks to London, She worships Robinson
Nothing but air in her head
Appears in your eyes, Peddling lies
Selling ideas that are dead

She's out there every single day
Talking 'bout the Fenians and the gays

Chorus:
Oh, no, here comes a Unionist
Red Hand on her breast
Oh, no, here comes a Unionist
Won't you give it a rest

She hates Ireland, she has a plan
To bring it all down to the ground
Confuse you with lies, her hate she can't hide
Brings our destruction around

She just wants to see our nation dying
She insists on a Union Jack flying

Chorus

Support for her plans, comes from alien lands
People who don't belong here
They come to these shores, they always want more
With their rifles and their propaganda smears

The homophobe gets her support from these invaders
Hopes that we'll be defeated by these crusaders

Chorus

Oh no, here comes a Unionist
"No Surrender" is her war cry
Oh no, here comes a Unionist
Won't you off and die?



One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).

Fun with Nazi lyrics

UPDATE 8/19/12 The intro for this post has just been re-done, primarily to shorten it.

I do a kind of poetry on this blog. I take the lyrics of songs I listen to and alter them in different ways. On average about 60% of the syllables in my version are mine, 40% are from the original (that was updated 3/28/20). One of the two main ways I alter the lyrics is that I take lyrics about N. Ireland and make them about general liberal-left stuff, or vice versa. The other way is to take lyrics that are politically offensive to me and twist them into more or less the opposite of what they were originally (i.e. I took a song called “Oh no Here Comes a Commie" and made it “Oh no, Here Comes a Fascist”) (those poems also often involve a change of subject as well, and there's a small number of poems that contain only a small amount of material in conflict with what the original authors believe, but at the very least there's that). Almost all of the offensive lyrics that I alter are from Nazi skinhead bands.

I can't remember exactly how it started, but I decided that I like taking the lyrics of racist songs and twisting them into more or less the opposite of what the original said. I like the idea of taking their songs and throwing them back in their face, saying "look what I did, I took your lyrics and twisted them into the exact opposite of what you intended, you racist mother-fucker!” I imagine them reading my poem and recognizing some of the lines and getting pissed off about that in connection with what AT LEAST one line that I put there says (or a word in a line, etc.). Another way of looking at it is that it's like in those cartoons where Elmer Fudd points a gun at Bugs Bunny and Bugs bends it so that the gun is pointed at Fudd. Also, sometimes it's entertaining to read the original lyrics and then read my poem, at least when my version says the opposite of what the original says. I have also frequently done poems based on lyrics I like. (I have often referred to the poems based on offensive stuff as “Those Lyrics”). Almost all the time when I'm twisting offensive lyrics, I more or less change only what has to be changed- if it's completely different from the original, that kind of defeats the idea, although it could still be a good poem. I have also started twisting loyalist lyrics like I twist the racist stuff.

I do these poems because writing them is a fun, creative process, I get to express myself and explains stuff, especially through the notes, and some are really good.

A lot of the poems about N. Ireland are based on lyrics by people who more or less support(ed) the British and/or unionist causes in N. Ireland. With the rest of the N. Ireland poems based on racist stuff from other  countries with a significant chunk of the Irish diaspora, I have included at least one bit of something hostile to white supremacists (See this for more about that). Some of the former bands are Skrewdriver, No Remorse, and Brutal Attack. Some of the latter bands are Final War, Bound for Glory, and Bully Boys. Some poems are based on Nazi Skinhead stuff from other countries like Belgium. Without a lot of Irish-Belgians around talking about "the Cause" I think they probably just go with what their hero Ian Stuart of Skewdriver said about the North.

I have done my best and last calculation of how much of the lyrics are me and how much are the original. I counted all the sylables, and then the sylables of the words I put in the poem and came up with what % of the lyrics are me. ** marks this last, best, and final calculation.

Although this probably goes without saying, I am never or practically never referring to me when I use the first person. You might say the poems are about actual people who are not Tom Shelley or characters or something like that. I was not interested in changing all the first person statements, but I am no Walter Mitty!

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


Why do I listen to that kind of music? (between late 2008 and mid-2018, I’ve spent an average of about 1 hr. a day listening to music by Nazi Skinheads (probably an average of about 5 hours a day listening to more or less anti-racist or neutral music):
1. I’ve always been interested in skinheads and very much opposed to Nazi Skinheads. In general, there’s something about listening to the music of my enemy that I find fascinating.
2. Although I don’t have to listen to study the lyrics, that is part of why I listen. It’s kind of research. Same for the fan-vids I downloaded from YouTube that have a lot of imagery.
3. The ones I listen to are MUSICALLY good- I like the sound.
4. These "poems" I write (and inspiration often strikes when I'm listening, so I kind of DO need to listen for this reason).

Some other things about me listening to that music:

1. I listen to a small amount of N. Ireland loyalist (anti-Catholic/anti-Irish) music and several of the Nazi songs I listen to have the same message (I’m Irish-American and Catholic).
2. I have heard of other people doing something similar.
3. From about 1989 til 2009 about 70% of the FICTION that I read was by people like Tom Clancy and Stephen Coonts, people who are very close to the political center, and yet half that time I was doing a ton of left-wing activism (the rest of the time I was doing almost nothing political).
4. I have done a ton of activism on anti-racist and/or anti-homophobic issues and did a pretty good job of organizing that way on other issues. This blog has a ton of material that’s anti-racist, anti-homophobic and even more material that is against anti-semitism. 

 

UPDATE 1/21/19 I am leaving the above 2 sections because I DID for about 10 years listen to that music, but I also need to announce that I stopped listening to it recently. I learned recently the hard way that listening to it when I'm already depressed just makes my depression worse, and I also worry that anti-racist people will attack me over listening to that stuff. On the other hand, the last thing I'm going to do is delete my poetry from this blog. To one degree or another it's really good.

Why do I provide a link to the original lyrics even when they are offensive fascist or loyalist stuff?

1. I probably have nothing to worry about, but I DO worry about getting sued or legally harassed by the authors of the original lyrics, who despise me. I think that linking to the original lyrics might make it less likely that sort of attack on me would work.
2. I would say something similar about being criticized for stealing from artists without giving them credit.
3. Some of the best lines in my poems are unaltered from the original and I believe strongly in giving credit it when it’s due.
4. When less than about 50% of my poem is me and at least 51% of it is the original and my poem is saying the opposite of what the original was saying, sometimes it’s kind of amusing to read the original and then read my poem.
5. Sometimes the best lines were mostly or entirely written by me and I want people to know which amazing lines were written by me.

That's about it. Here are the poems- with some notes, which are probably more or less needed.

1. Costello's Song. Irish politics.
2. Red Power. American politics.
3. The Spirit of Che Guevara. Global resistance to oppression.
4. Fuck Orangeism. Anti-Sectarian Protestants in N. Ireland.

Costello's Song

Based on "White Power" by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. Seamus Costello was a socialist republican leader in the 1970s, for more see the post below this.
2. FF and FG are Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the two largest parties in the Republic, more or less centrist/centre-right.
3. The divison of Ireland and the sectarianism that goes with it weaken various liberal, left, progressive, and working-class movements, and therefore are part of the socio-economic problem; also, the two main unionist parties are basically centre-right, and Blair's economic policies have not helped the North.
4. "just sit and scoff" I'm exaggerating how little was done to stop it, buit 90% of the time, unless I have a good reason, I don't like to alter the lyrics unless neccessary (i.e. Red instead of White). Same thing with the line about corruption. Also, on a related note, it now exaggerates how little was done to stop the growth of corporate power- it might also exaggerate how powerful corporations in Ireland have become.
5. Aside from a huge chunk the loyalist paramilitaries, there aren't many fascists in Ireland (although, there's a large number in Britain and they often visit N. Ireland), and I don't advocate killing them, but I didn't have a good reason for changing that line any more than I did.
6. The line that ends with "begun," might not be the Queen's English, but I'm an Irish Republican, so fuck the Queen (seriously, though, it rhymes).
7. The North is a lot less Orange today than it used to be, but aside from uniting Ireland, there's still room for improvement on that front.
8. Ian Paisley was a notorious anti-Catholic bigot most of his life.
9. In my songs, I use the word "fascist" to refer to more than just Nazis, but also as a statement against bigotry (that doesn't mean I advocsate killing them, but in these first two poems using the word "fascist" is meant to bring up the subject of bigotry, something otherwise absent from the poem).
10. UPDATE Both Red Power and Costello's Song have a line about corporations taking over, and the second half of that line is different for each song. I'm switching them- the slam dance analogy makes more sense in the American context.
**11. 35% of this version is me, 65% is the original.
12. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
13. Orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in N. Ireland.
14. It's about republican socialists in general. I don't think Costello advocated the violent overthrow of the Dublin State. In any case this poem isn't advocating that. and today probably only a very small minority of republican socialists advocate that.

I stand and watch my country, going down the drain
The Brits and unionists, FF and FG, they are all to blame
The corporations have taken over, we just let them advance
But if we remember Seamus, we still have a chance

Red Power
For Ireland
Red Power
Today
Red Power
For the world
Before it gets too late

Well we've seen a lot of privitisation, we just sit and scoff
We've seen a lot of corruption, and the judges let 'em off

We've got to do something, to try and stop the rot
And the fascists that abuse us, they should all be shot

Are we going to finish what Seamus begun?
Have they got the Republican Left on the run?
Orange society is a mess
We ain't gonna take much more of this

What do we need?

Red Power
For Ireland
Red Power
Today
Red Power
For the world
Before it gets too late

Well, if we don't win our battle, and all does not go well
It's Apocalypse for Ireland and we'll see Ian Paisley in hell

********

Red Power

Based on "White Power" by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

1. I exaggerate how little was done to stop the growth of corporate power and privitisation, but crucial parts of those lines are in the original.
2. "fascists" I don't advocate killing them (and with some exceptions I don't believe they should be shot either), but the vast majority of the time, unless I have a good reason, I don't like to alter the lyrics unless neccessary (i.e. Red instead of White).
3. I slightly exaggerate how bad things are for the poor and how judges treat corruption.
4. Obviously no one's being drafted, but it could happen, it's even slightly possible with Obama, and just recently it was very possible.
5. Obama, who is slightly to the left of the Clintonites, is probably going to disapoint, but A: he's probably still better than McCain (especially considering Palin), and B: overwhelmingly the current situation can be blamed on the two groups mentioned.
6. In my songs, I use the word "fascist" to refer to more than just Nazis, but also as a statement against bigotry.
7. UPDATE Both Red Power and Costello's Song have a line about corporations taking over, and the second half of that line is different for each song. I'm switching them- the slam dance analogy makes more sense in the American context.
8. "Slam dance." Probably something like 2/3 of concerts, slam dancing/moshing is the exact opposite of what I'm talking about. But "slam dance" rhymes and mostly makes sense. (of course it's been about 13 years now, but I doubt it's changed)
**9. 34% of this version is me, 66% is the original.
10. I give this song/poem four out of five stars.
11. Obviously corporations have been dominant in America for many decades, but in the last 20 or so years it's gotten worse- i.e. privatization.
12. This is about combating injustice in different ways and what I have in mind overall would be about 99% non-violent.

I stand and watch my country, going down the drain
The Republicans and Clintonites, they are all to blame
The corporations have taken over, it's a social slam dance
We used to have the New Deal, now the poor don't have a chance

Red Power
For America
Red Power
Today
Red Power
For the world
Before it gets too late

Well we've seen a lot of privitisation, we just sit and scoff
We've seen a lot of corruption, and the judges let 'em off

We've got to do something, to try and stop the rot
And the fascists that abuse us, they should all be shot

Are we going to sit while they draft our sons?
Have they got the unions on the run?
Capitalist society is a mess
We ain't gonna take much more of this

What do we need?

Red Power
For America
Red Power
Today
Red Power
For the world
Before it gets too late

Well, if we don't win our battle, and all does not go well
It's Apocalypse for the world and we'll see George Bush in hell

******

The Spirit of Che Guevara

Based on "Soldier of Freedom" by Skrewdriver, original lyrics are here.

0. UPDATE 2/15/19  The line about heroes bleeding- I could have sworn it was a fairly or at least sort of common line when discussing martyrs, etc. of armed struggle. And after searching for that phrase just now, it seems like practically no one uses it the way I was using it. I might change it sometime soon.
1. I'll keep this brief, but I don't believe universally in seperatism. There has to be either serious oppression and/or something like 65% support for it among the relevant population, or some kind of combination (that applies to independence, I have slightly lower standards for autonomy) (besides what I mention below, I support the Basques, Turkey's kurds, iraq's kurds, possibly some others, and potentially many non-European-American nations inside the US (the main issue there is how much popular support there is for seperatism among that nation, also possibly all residents of the area that will become independent (if a situation roughly geographically similar to the Irish situtaion develops, I would look at it roughly the same way); I do not, at this point, support Scottish Independence (UPDATE 4/11/16 I do NOW since last years British election saw the Scottish Nationalists get 56 out of 59 seats in Scotland (in the previous British Parliament they had 6 out of 59 which is believe is very close to what they have gotten in recent decades)).
2. I don't know how sympathetic Cheney was to Apartheid, but I believe that he voted for a resolution labeling Nelson Mandela and/or the ANC as terrorists. (UPDATE 1/31/09: Although I wouldn't be surprised if he did exactly what I said he did, I have found two things about him I'm certain of, which are basically the same as that (including one vote against sanctions on S. Africa))
3. Although I'm not sure that line is worded the right way, the World Bank and IMF frequently do stuff that makes poverty worse despite popular support for progressive economics in countries that get involved with the World Bank. In South Africa for example, one or both institutions thwarted the ANC government from advancing the economic policies they had campaigned on at the end of Apartheid (I'm not sure to what degree some of the people in the ANC had to be dragged into implementing WB's preferred policies, but the fact is that that kind of aid from international institutions shouldn't be used to discourage democratically elected governments from implementing the progressive economics they said they would when campaigning for office).
4. The last line is adopted from my favorite song, "Your Daughters and Your Sons." The lyrics are here.
5. Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland.
6. Spain refers to the Spanish Civil War, which was won by the fascist side, which was followed by a fascist takeover of most of Europe.
7. S. Africa refers to the anti-Apartheid struggle.
8. The couplet that mentions Little Bighorn is referring to conflict between America settlers and the US Army on one hand, and Native Americans on the other. The tentacles part is about how after that battle, the westward settlement of the US continued.
9. The Warsaw Ghetto during World War II saw a rebellion by the Jewish occupants.
10. West Bank refers to the Palestinian struggle.
11. East Timor experienced a genocidal occupation by Indonesia until 1999.
**12. 48% of this version is me, 52% is the original, which doesn't count eliminating the 3-line chorus but does count adding two completely new lines at the very end.
13. I give this song/poem five out of five stars.
14. The reference to class pride is about WORKING-CLASS pride, and is not the best line I've done, (because most of the conflicts in this poem are more about national/religious/racial oppression than they are about class oppression) but it's okay.
15. UPDATE 7/9/12 This is not exclusively about armed struggle.
16. UPDATE 6/19/16 I changed WIN to SURVIVE in the 2nd line of the 3rd verse.

I don't fight for money, the whole world is my land
I'm fighting for freedom, I know where I stand
I fight for the nations, that haven't yet died
I fight to stop Imperialism, creating global class pride

I fought in Belfast, where the heroes bled
I fought in Spain, but the Brown disease, it spread
I fought in South Africa, against Dick Cheney's pets
Now I see democracy undermined by World Bank debt

I fought at Little Big Horn, but the tentacles spread
We are determined to survive, we will plow on ahead
I fought in the Warsaw Ghetto and the West Bank
With our rifles and petrol bombs we took on their tanks

We won in East Timor, against mass slaughters
It'll happen again, because you sow the seed of freedom in your sons and your daughters

*****

This one is actually not based on a racist song, it's a N. Ireland version of my favorite anti-fascist song. Considering the source of the original (white British people) and the lyrics, it's mostly aimed at celebrating Protestants who are anti-sectarian, or even better, republican. The original is called "Fuck Fascism" by The Oppressed. I guess I call it "Fuck Orangeism," (Orange is the color of anti-Catholic bigotry in N. Ireland) although I don't change all the key lyrics since there are obviously racists and fascists there (and the vast majority of them are associated with the Unionist/Loyalist side). It's about a mixture of violence and, mostly, non-violence.

**10% of this version is me, 90% is the original.

I give this song/poem four out of five stars.

The web-site of The Oppressed has shut down and I can't find the lyrics on-line except for a long discussion, so I'll just post them below the altered version. UPDATE 3/9/20 I decided that I like this poem more than I used to, but I also decided that a few more words need to be changed- it was written in 2008 and talks about an Orange State as if there wasn't one at that time, and there kind of WAS- I guess you could say that now, in 2020 it makes more sense since it isn't Orange at all today.

"Fuck Orangeism"
You don't understand us, we're nobody's fool
We know there's no freedom, under Orange rule
You'll never oppress us, you'll never dictate
Don't you see, we don't need, your sectarian hate

FASCISM, FASCISM, FUCK YOU AND YOUR FASCISM
FASCISM, FASCISM, FUCK YOU AND YOUR FASCISM

We'll NEVER surrender, we'll NEVER give in
We will NEVER turn our backs or let the sectarians win
So, don't try and tell us, about your Orange state
Don't you see, we don't need, your racial hate


"Fuck Fascism"
You don't understand us, we're nobody's foll,
We know there's no freedom, under fascist rule,
You'll never oppress us, you'll never dictate
Don't you see, we don't need, your racial hate

CHORUS:FASCISM,FASCISM,FUCK YOU AND YOUR FASCISM

We'll never surrender, we'll never give in,
we will never turn our backs, or let the racists win,
So don't try and tell us about your fascist state,
Don't you see, we don't need, your racial hate


One last note: Even with the songs that are only about 10% me (and at the upper end, one is 75% me), I have a request, although I don't have strong feelings or expectations about this. First, I want credit for these songs. Second, I'd appreciate it if the notes follow the lyrics around the internet. If you modify the lyrics further, please either make some notes for the changes if you leave some of my changes, or just provide a link to this URL so people can see my version. Although I'm not sure how many people will like what I'm doing with the lyrics, to one degree or another (depending on how much I changed them) I'm proud of these songs- and at the risk of getting a little personal, if people like the songs, I could really use the extra boost of getting credit for them right now (or if you don't like them, they were all written by Sarah Palin- that fascist, what kind of sick person enjoys altering racist lyrics?).