Well, it’s an ill wind, as they say, or
more specifically “it’s an ill wind that blows
nobody any good”. The ill wind of March and early April
was a cold wind from the North or north-east and it did make
it colder than normal for the time of year. But one benefit
was that the daffodils/narcissi and other spring flowers have
lasted much longer than normal. And that I found really pleasant
because I do like them, and sometimes a warm spell when they’re
starting to flower sends them into decline very fast. But
what will survive climatic change as Ireland gets colder with
the Gulf Stream slowing, I don’t know. Now isn’t
that an irony or ironies; the rest of the world gets warmer
and we, already in a cool wet climate, get colder. But we
can’t say we weren’t warned, and we won’t
be warmed either.
So when is a liar a
liar?
I had what you might call an energetic debate (raised voices
but not in anger) with my partner on when someone telling
an untruth is a liar; do they need to be know they are spinning
a yarn, telling an untruth, to be a liar? I was saying that
they did not necessarily need to intend to deceive to be a
liar; the commoner dictionary definition does indeed indicate
intentionality, but another one simply indicates ‘to
convey a false impression or practise deception’. I
think both senses are common. But I also think if someone
simply goes with their prejudices and makes statements without
checking the facts, then they are not only a liar in the non-intentional
sense but close to being a liar in the intentional sense as
well. Wilful negligence to check whether something or not
is true contributes to being an out and out liar, I believe.
And I am talking about facts here, not interpretation of facts.
The specific person we were thinking of was
Ian Paisley (see my column in NN 120) and by my definition
above and the facts which I previously related then I feel
he is without doubt a mighty liar. By my partner’s reckoning
he is simply someone who may not always tell the truth, but
not a liar. But in any case I find it totally sickening the
way some of the Northern Ireland media (specifically the Newsletter
and the Belfast Telegraph) are cosying up to him now that
he is leader of the largest political party, portraying him
as an elder statesman, and treating his 80th birthday as some
big celebration. Yes, maybe he has mellowed slightly but given
that the lies which I previously quoted from him are from
as recent as the year 2000, not so long ago, I think to look
up to him as some kind of example is totally misplaced. And
to use Christian language, I think he has some repenting to
do.
Black Shamrock
Trust those clever people in Derry to come up with an instantly
recognisable, and soon to be ubiquitous, symbol of opposition
to the war in Iraq and such neo-colonial ventures. As well
as badges I’ve already seen it stencilled on a wall
in Dublin, you may have seen it or see it down your way soon
(you can always make your own contribution). The main political
parties in the Republic saw it as right and fitting to support
the US-British venture in Iraq through the use of Irish airports
and thought they were doing their bit for western ‘civilisation’.
Well, unfortunately for them, and more catastrophic for Iraqi
people, they can see western ‘civilisation’ at
work in Iraq today – near civil war and sectarianism
and sectarian killings rife. Meanwhile there was one third
of a million US troops through Shannon last year! This makes
the Republic one big US aircraft carrier. Even now our political
elite, and their bosses Bush and Blair, refuse to admit their
mistakes. While the suffering goes on they deserve to be reminded
of it at every available opportunity; so plant a black shamrock
today. St Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the Christian
doctrine of the Trinity; the black shamrock’s leaves
today could be said to represent death, destruction and deceit
by all the B’s – Bush, Blair and Bertie.
For the good of the cause
“Daddy, what did you do in the Great War?” was
a First World War recruiting poster for the British army,
trying to make men feel anterior guilt if they did nothing
for the war effort. I’m not sure when this was first
satirised but it certainly was by the 1960s and 1970s, showing
a man being asked by his child exactly that question and having
a flashback to what really happened (and presumably the mayhem,
brutality and atrocities of whatever war he fought in). ‘Doing
time for the cause’ could be an equivalent concept in
Irish republicanism, brilliantly satirised in a 1970s Belfast
political comic as “Doing time for the cause? Yes, six
months in jail for blessing himself provocatively when an
Orange parade passed.”!
Using the term ‘struggle’ for the
political cause(s) we are engaged in usually sounds somewhat
grandiose, somewhat old left or Che Guevara fighting in the
jungle. But not always – Rossport Solidarity Camp website
is at www.struggle.ws/rsc/ and my feeling would be, yes, that
deserves the term. But while there is massive support for
the Rossport/Shell to Sea campaign, the fact of the matter
is sometimes our causes are a struggle because public support
is hard to garner and the political elite, as always, wants
to avoid real issues that entail change. Banging our head
against a brick wall could seem like light relief. But actually
labelling our particular cause as a ‘struggle’
in any sense is usually a step to far; either it’s going
to give us a hard, old left image or make us look like we’re
about to hand in the towel because the going is so rough and
difficult that we don’t have a snowball in hell’s
chance of being successful.
It’s a truism that peace and other political
movements are not very good to celebrating our successes,
partly because things are not necessarily clear cut and sometimes
have messy endings where defining what was achieved and how
it happened is not so simple. This was the situation with
the end of the Cold war and the fall of the Iron Curtain.
Reaganites and neo-neo-cons in the States were able to claim
the fall of the ‘Evil Empire’ (Reagan on the USSR)
was due to their activities whereas I would put much more
of my money on peace and civil society movements in both west
and east showing a different way was possible. This is just
one of the reasons we need an understanding of the stages
social and political movements go through (cf Bill Moyer’s
‘Movement Action Plan’ material, a short version
of which is on the INNATE website under ‘Workshops’,
see ‘Workshop on strategising’). If we know what
to expect, and where we’ve been, we’re much better
placed to deal with what is thrown at us currently and at
the next stage.
I suppose another personal mantra I would have
is to allow people to define their own involvement, i.e. the
polar opposite of the “come to our meeting and you’re
elected chair/secretary at the first meeting”. This
is difficult when people are not usually queuing up to look
after the finances and fundraising. There are always tasks
no one particularly enjoys and I suppose sharing those out
across the board is the fairest way, when possible. It’s
also a matter or using people’s strengths and helping
them, myself included, avoid inflicting our weaknesses on
others. If we’re in for a long haul them we have to
take care of each other, we’re the best asset we have,
and balancing the enjoyable and the less so is part of this.
The extent to which we actually make ‘sacrifices’
for the cause is debateable. Are some of us martyrs for the
cause because we enjoy it? Or because we realise (are fixated
with?) the importance of the issues we’re dealing with?
Or can it be a complex mix of reasons, personal, political,
psychological and so on? And what is a ‘sacrifice’?
When ‘the cause’ interferes with our normal lives?
Affects our relationships? Our working lives and careers?
Keeping up our campaigning work and leading a balanced life
is a tightrope balancing act; it needs much skill, it can
be energising and exciting, but if we fall, we can fall hard.
And sometimes it is not ‘we’ who
make the sacrifice but our partners, families, loved ones
and so on because we’re too busy to do the other normal
things ‘normal’ people do. Working that out and
through can be tortuous – it can also lead to divorce
or a truncated life and lack of relationships (because ‘we’
are impossible to live with). ‘We’ may be doing
what we feel we have to do, what we feel called to do, what
we feel impelled to do; our loved ones may wonder what is
more important than human relationships. Which is a pretty
good question. Seeing bigger pictures can make life pretty
difficult.
Support is flagging
It’s an amazing sight in my neighbourhood in Belfast,
the massive Union Jack flying on the Orange Lodge flag pole,
sometimes looking like it stretches way over the road, up
there 365 days a year. I’m not sure of the dimensions
of the flag but it looks 3 metres long or more but I’m
not an expert at measuring things a few stories up [but
you’re good at making stories up – Ed]. As
our Arts Correspondent, Anne O’Front, revealed in her
review of the “Wind-driven Textile Installation”
in Northern Ireland (NN 101) it is “Reminiscent of a
starburst design, it is not strictly speaking symmetrical….the
whole comes across as an advanced design of overlapping crosses
and triangles in red, white and blue”. Actually I find
it quite pretty. However I am not of that political persuasion
and I think the appropriate expression about the flying of
flags (whether Union flag or Tricolour) in Norn Iron is that
they do protest too much. It’s not, of course, that
I don’t think people should express themselves or are
not entitled to the political orientation of their choosing
but that the flying of flags in this way is a) intimidating
to people not of that persuasion, and b) indicates how uncertain
people are of their identity that they feel they have to proclaim
it, usually at every lamppost (thus having a remarkable similarity
with the local dogs). This applies to both communities. Also
ironically, the area with this massive flag is one of the
most mixed in Belfast and a majority of people, if asked would
probably say ‘Take it down’ or ‘Only fly
it on a few special occasions a year’ or ‘Only
over the Twelfth fortnight’.
The Union flag was recently celebrating
400 years of existence [flags can’t celebrate! –
Ed] [they can certainly have a good flutter – Billy]
[I was just trying to wind you up – Ed] [Jack of
all trades and tricolour of none – Billy] though of
course that predates Irish incorporation into the United Kingdom
at the point of bribery and force in 1800/1801 and so “Saint
Patrick’s” cross wasn’t there originally.
The BBC website said “The union jack dates back to 1801,
when Ireland joined Great Britain in a single kingdom”
– which makes a tawdry and sorry affair sound like coming
together at a polite tea party. Even more telling is that
what is arguably England’s first colony, Wales, is not
represented on the flag at all. The flag originated with the
incorporation of Scotland under the same crown as England
in 1603. United Kingdom?
The Irish tricolour includes orange but, the
way it is used in Norn Iron, you wouldn’t usually know
it. The aspiration represented in the flag is the unity of
orange and green, of Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter, but
the way it is used is usually to rub unionist noses in it.
It may make the flag flyers/wavers feel good about themselves;
it does nothing to persuade anyone else to feel included.
Northern Ireland has made strides on flags and
emblems and the increasing public unacceptability of paramilitary
flags has been a matter of both community and police attention.
If I didn’t see any flags flying for a decade I would
be the first not to complain. But then it wouldn’t be
Northern Ireland where proclaiming your politico-religious
identity is seen to be a civic right, nay duty, but also effectively
a right to put up a barrier against others.
Britain and Iraq
It was good to hear Milan Rai speak on the subject of his
latest book “7/7 – The London bombings, Islam
and the Iraq War” (Pluto Press, ISBN 0-7453-2563-7)
at a Justice Not Terror Coalition meeting in Belfast early
in April. As always, he blends painstaking research and the
assembly of known and new facts with original interpretation
and clear analysis.
He pointed out that three-quarters of British
people linked the London bombings with the Iraq war, something
which Tony Blair had denied – and only 8% of Londoners
agreed with Blair on this lack of linkage; British intelligence,
the Home Office and the Foreign Office all saw a link between
an aggressive foreign policy and the risk of terrorism in
the UK. Furthermore, Tony Blair had been warned before the
war started in Iraq that such a war would increase the numbers
and risk of terrorists wanting to attack Britain. You could
say that Blair’s protestation of lack of connection
was extremely disingenuous.
Milan Rai went on to share some of his analysis
of the British Muslim community and the 7/7 bombers. His talk’s
conclusion was that we can carry on with policies of injustice
and aggression or change and behave more humanely.
Tony Blair also knew so much better than all
those millions or people who demonstrated against the then
forthcoming Iraq war both in Britain and around the world,
and those who had struggled [there you go using the word you
rejected earlier! - Ed] to oppose the war for a long time
before it started. He had the advantage of British intelligence
reports in his assessment of the situation (if he didn’t
believe his own administration’s interfering with these
for public consumption) . And still he made a complete hames
of it. History will not be kind and the way the history of
political polls are going he’ll be a footnote in the
not too distant future when the British Labour Party realises
he’s a complete liability.
We’re just…
The well dressed gent in the large, four-wheel drive type
car was irate. I presume he was a senior manager at Thales
Air Defence at Alanbrooke Road, Castlereagh, Belfast. He was
trying to drive in the front entrance of Thales and there
were these ‘’dead’ people and ‘blood’
lying on the ground. The protesters were badly mistaken he
said, their missiles were purely defensive and didn’t
kill people, ‘we’ should do our research better.
In a brief exchange which I did not try to extend (there are
no winners in heated conversations of this nature) I informed
him that we were quite well aware of the nature of the products
produced and they were part of the war machine without which
other attack would be impossible.
In war there are two or more sides – that’s
what makes it a war. ‘You’ try to destroy your
enemy’s weapons and forces. Thales’ Starstreak
missiles, for example, can be used ground to air, air to air,
or ground to ground. Without such equipment an attack on Iraq,
or Iran, would be incredibly difficult. These are weapons
of war – and they do kill people. They are not simply
‘defensive’ and in a war any such notions are
out the window anyway. In a much more ‘passive’
way, Bishopscourt Radar Base in Co Down, at which there was
a peace camp from 1983-6 (before technology made it redundant
– the RAF radar base I mean, not the peace camp!) was
part of the UK’s early warning system which in turn
was necessary if there were to be military or nuclear attacks
by the UK, and that made it a weapon of war. The ‘well
dressed gent’ at Thales is deceiving himself to think
that the products there are simply ‘defensive’
– and they can be used in a war of aggression.
Of course the other aspect of it is who these
weapons are sold to, and while the truth will eventually out,
Thales have as yet refused to name the fifty or sixty countries
they have exported to. But we can be certain it includes corrupt
and undemocratic regimes whose people could have badly used
the money squandered on missiles.
The man’s response reminds me of a cartoon
[everything reminds you of a cartoon – Ed]
on crucifixion. One man cuts down the tree and says “I
just cut down the tree”. Another cuts it into pieces,
“I just cut it into planks of wood”, and so on
until the final person says “I just put the nails in”
(to the hands of the prisoner). So everyone ‘just’
does their bit. And feels ‘justified’ because
they don’t do the other bits of the process. But together
they are part of a brutal and inhuman process. There must
be a lot of hand-washing going on in a firm like Thales (some
of it, as with yer man, perhaps unaware or unconscious of
their hand washing), nearly six hundred people ‘just’
going about their daily jobs, there to get paid and support
themselves and their families, ordinary decent people like
you and I, but together producing weapons of war (and profitable
ones too – Thales Air Defence in 2005 made £15.3
million profit before tax on a turnover of £88.9 million
– 17% profit to turnover ratio).
During the protest some workers in overalls
called out to those involved in lying in the ground in the
die-in that they should be careful or they’d catch their
death of cold. They were about twenty-five metres away inside
the premises but coming out of a building. I called back immediately
that it was better to do that than to be responsible for the
death of other people. I wasn’t sure about responding
because in this situation it is better not to risk people
feeling more resentful than they may do anyway by people questioning
their livelihoods. I thought it better to make a response
so that they knew we had arguments and views, and humanity,
and not just bodies lying or standing around, an alien species,
and my reply wasn’t to ‘get one over’ on
them by a smart retort. They did not respond further. Maybe,
just maybe, one or two workers at Thales will start to think
further about the nature of their products as a result of
this Justice Not Terror Coalition demonstration and hopefully
some more of the public will know just what is made in the
anonymity of a suburban industrial area.
Well, here we are, already in May and
the summer just around the corner – which usually means
a couple of my busiest months, between one thing and another
[what’s between one thing and another? – Ed]
[between pillar and post – Billy]. Before the greater
relaxation of summer it’s necessary to get all sorts
of things out of the way, and maybe end up in queer sorts
on the way. So, keep a firm hand on the tiler, as the man
said who was trying to get his kitchen floor finished. Bye
for now, Billy.
Who
is Billy King? A long, long time ago, in a more
innocent age (just talking about myself you understand),
there were magazines called 'Dawn' and 'Dawn Train'
and I had a back page column in these. Now the Headitor
has asked me to come out from under the carpet to write
a Cyberspace Column 'something people won't be able
to put down' (I hope you're not carrying your monitor
around with you).
Watch this. Cast a cold eye on life, on death, horseman
pass by (because there'll almost certainly be very little
about horses even if someone with a similar name is
found astride them on gable ends around certain parts
of Norn Iron).
