Upcoming Events

National | History and Heritage

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link Ukraine Buys Huge Amounts of Russian Fue... Fri Jan 20, 2023 08:34 | Antonia Kotseva

offsite link Turkey Has Sent Ukraine Cluster Munition... Thu Jan 12, 2023 00:26 | Jack Detsch

offsite link New Israeli Government Promises to Talk ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 21:13 | Al Majadeen

offsite link Russia Training Iranian Pilots Ahead of ... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:19 | The Times of Israel

offsite link Lukashenko Abolishes Copyright Protectio... Tue Jan 10, 2023 15:05 | Nikki Main

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
A Blog About Human Rights

offsite link UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights

offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

offsite link Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Are We Being Gaslit Over the Cause of the Princess of Wales?s Cancer? Fri Mar 29, 2024 07:00 | Melissa Kite
First Charles and then Kate ? it's hard to ignore the soaring cancer rate when two members of the Royal Family are diagnosed within weeks. But are we being gaslit about what's behind the surge, asks Melissa Kite.
The post Are We Being Gaslit Over the Cause of the Princess of Wales’s Cancer? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Fri Mar 29, 2024 00:04 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the virus and the vaccines, the ?climate emergency? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Women?s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player ?Broke Opponent?... Thu Mar 28, 2024 19:30 | Will Jones
A women?s football competition has been branded misogynist after it was won by a team featuring five transgender players, amid accusations one had broken an opponent?s leg in two places.
The post Women’s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player “Broke Opponent’s Leg” ? But Teams Who Refuse to Play Against Them Are Branded “Discriminatory” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake Thu Mar 28, 2024 17:36 | Will Jones
The evidence that the Gaza casualty numbers from the Hamas-run Health Ministry (now over 32,000) are wildly inflated continues to mount. Mark Zlochin looks at what the proportions of male and female UNRWA workers tell us.
The post Further Evidence Gaza Casualty Numbers Are Fake appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Don?t Be Fooled by the ?Britain is Growing? Fairytales Thu Mar 28, 2024 15:22 | David Craig
Don't be fooled by the 'Britain is growing' fairytales, says David Craig. Any 'growth' is accounted for by the hike in the benefits bill and in civil servants' pay and a heap of other unproductive deficit spending.
The post Don’t Be Fooled by the ‘Britain is Growing’ Fairytales appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Moscow attack reminds us of the links between Islamists and Kiev's fundamentalis... Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:57 | en

offsite link Failure to assist a people in danger of genocide, by Hassan Hamadé Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:32 | en

offsite link Yugoslavia March 24, 1999 The Founding War of the New Nato, by Manlio Dinucci Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:15 | en

offsite link France opposes Russian Korean-style peace project in Ukraine Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:11 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°79 Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:40 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Burning the Embassy.

category national | history and heritage | opinion/analysis author Sunday February 05, 2006 15:21author by torch bearer Report this post to the editors

on the 2nd of February 1972, a group of between 20,000 and 30,000 angry people burnt the embassy of Her Britannic Majesty of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland.

The building used stand on Merrion Square opposite Leinster House. They had laid seige to the Diplomatic mission since January 31st 1972, and threw petrol bombs and stones.
In those days, the Gardaí had neither water cannon nor blunt trauma protection kevlar wear. And they were well worked.

Of course some think this incident best forgotten, and others as a "popular" reaction to the massacre known as "Bloody Sunday" on the Sunday previous (30/1/1972) which saw 14 people shot by the British armed forces in Derry.

Cartoonists both here in Ireland and over there in the UK recognised at once their vital rôle in society and were not found lacking. The British press of the time did its best & damned worst to promote racial, class, religious and other stereotypes, in the name of fair opinion.

The seige of the embassy began as the then President of Ireland, Eamon De Valera and the then taoiseach Jack Lynch had attended a national day of mourning, for which the state broadcaster RTé went off air for 4 hours.

Whilst they government and writers of the constitution of Éire observed silence outside the church an effigy of the then British prime minister Edward Heath and the Prime Minister of the Northern Ireland assembly at Stormont Brian Faulkner were burnt.

A great day out was had by all.

"Fuck you. Fuck yours. Fuck your State. Fuck your sensibilities.
Fuck your memory. Fuck your Church. Fuck your God. Fuck your economy. Fuck your children. Fuck your sensitivities."

The British government made a formal complaint to the Irish government and sued for compensation and damages. The Irish government had only 4 days before made a formal complaint about "Bloody Sunday" and we're still waiting on the truth.
The British used their compensation to buy two adjoining houses on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin 4, where their diplomatic legations to Ireland are to be gound to this day.

At the end of the ruck, everyone avoided singing John Lennon's "Imagine", coz though the prophet (PBUH) had written it the year before, the song described in his own words as "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." was still considered respectful by the Irish peoples who knew in their heart that he was on smack getting daily back rubs by Yoko Ono.

Because of this, the conflict didn't end there.

I apologise for the scarcity of detail, I make history not write it.
Please feel free to add details, personal observations or recollections and of course tippy toppy analytical comparisons to how Embassies get burnt in today's society.

author by typopublication date Sun Feb 05, 2006 16:07author address author phone Report this post to the editors

for the line :-
"At the end of the ruck, everyone avoided singing John Lennon's "Imagine", coz though the prophet (PBUH) had written it the year before, the song described in his own words as "an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted." was still considered respectful by the Irish peoples who knew in their heart that he was on smack getting daily back rubs by Yoko Ono."

please read -

"At the end of the ruck, no-one sang John Lennon's "Imagine" vecause though Lennon the prophet had it written it the year before, the song described in his own words as "anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic [ ... ] sugar coated" was not yet considered by the Irish peoples of either then dominant of ethnic, or cultural, or religious background to be respectful, and many of them knew in their hearts he was on smack getting daily foot massages from Yoko Ono, and if their kids were into that sort of thing, there was always a boat to England which left in daily basis, and no you're not welcome home, off with ye"

Think of this as a Sunday Papers Historical supplement.
Now fish out your elders and ask them about it.

author by migrant diasporiapublication date Sun Feb 05, 2006 18:07author address author phone Report this post to the editors

because of their wish to listen in freedom to the prophet Lennon, and yet more funkier lyricists like James Hendrix. And because of the cartoonists long term effects a few of them got locked up within five years for something they didn't do. But that was history. Oh and it was not that nice for women either, sure they couldn't find a condom unless they hijacked a train from Belfast and copies of edna O'brien had to be passed around on the "Q-T" for their shocking irreligious content. But as the president of Ireland remarked last week in UCC we have to accept that the republic of 1916 was promoted by men and women of catholic persuasion which "opened them up to a global world of reference" and meant they were really nice people just that somewhere between 1916 and 1972 something went wrong with "global catholicism" but its all been sorted out now with the revolutionary motion picture "Life of Brian" by a British sociologically minded collective (open only to Etonians) which they first screened in 1979 though Irish people couldn't see it legally in Erin till 1986.

That was the brits fault.

everyone had a great day out.

FUCK YOU.

kids learn that way.

Fuck the kids as well.

author by Flynn O'Flynnpublication date Mon Feb 06, 2006 18:50author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I believe it was legitimate and indeed inevitable that Irish people vented their anger at the Bloody Sunday tragedy by burning the British embassy.
Few people would disagree that it was sane response rather than that the entire 32 counties of the Irish nation as a whole became locked in a futile war with the British military. It was restrained and within proportion. In "Seven Ages" the RTE produced series from the mid 1990's Garret Fitzgerald believes that the frustration of the Irish people was allowed to be vented without the interference of the police forces on a symbol of the British establishment for percisely this reason.

Some deluded individuals would draw a crude paradigm with the burning of the Danish embassy after the "insult" of Muhammed, the alleged founder of Islam. That's my opinion. Do you agree?
Muslim governments I believe are allowing their citizens to attack symbols of the Denmark so that their violent hostility will be vented harmlessly rather than to cause a bigger explosion later.

author by manserghpublication date Mon Feb 06, 2006 22:22author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I like that line "Muslim governments I believe are allowing their citizens to attack symbols of the Denmark so that their violent hostility will be vented harmlessly rather than to cause a bigger explosion later."

Of course many people make the mistake of thinking something is crude, when in fact is anything but.

The Irish state of course was loathe to pay HMG the compensation it demanded for the destruction of the Merrion Sq legation. There wasn't even enough time to check the walls for the sort of listening devices they later were to get in the Falls road, and sure maybe even popped up in the Rialto home of the Trident ploughshares.
Instead, as the British white-washed Bloody Sunday with the Widgery report, the Irish state organised a deal with many of its vested interests to find a new and more suitable location for the legation of HMG to the republic of Ireland (Eire).

The arrangement of the two adjoining properties on Shrewsbury Road seemed to work well, and the title deeds were transferred from the Royal Dublin Society (founded 1731) to the British state by approval of votes of the member of that society, thus saving the Irish state a few bob.

The British for their part seemed quite happy with the arrangements continuing to hold their ambassador's residence in the Dublin Mountains, and not until they opened the British Tourism offices on Dame street were they to return to the centre of the city.

I wonder where the Lebanese and Syrians will put the new Danish embassy? I wonder these things, because I have occupied so many diplomatic legations over the years, and learnt quite a lot from it.

I hope that young people will do their best to talk to their elders about these years of Irish history. And remember from whence they came. As Tacitus a roman writer put it "veritas visu et mora falsa festinatione et incertis valescunt" = "Truth is confirmed by inspection and delay, falsehood avails itself of haste".

or put very very simply crudely even-

first impressions are generally false.

your history your heritage : think it & work it.

 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy