Sunday 29 March 2009

Standing on the shoulders of....Mickey-Bo

Do you remember the ad that appeared on television about 10 years ago with the two wee boys frolicking through the 'beautiful Northern Ireland landscape' and asking 'Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time?' It was a kind of forerunner for the film 'Mickey-Bo and me.' Cheesy as this ad was I fear this entry may lean toward such schmaltz....

Last night, on the recommendation of two good friends of mine, I went to a Belfast Giants Ice hockey game at the Odyssey.

As soon as we sat down a large group of 7-year-olds came in to be seated. All with inflatable hockey sticks and the giddyness that comes from a large Fanta with their fries...as soon as I saw them I groaned thinking it would be tantrums and toilet runs all night disturbing my view of the game.

But as the kids settled and the game began I realised there was something more significant about this group sat in front of me. Thats when the ad with the two wee boys popped into my head.

Waking up today many of you, like myself, will be reading about the rioting and violence at Windsor Park and Tate's Avenue last night. Although it is still unclear exactly what happened, it is understood a hardcore element of Polish hooligans -without tickets- came to NI with the intention of causing trouble.

That they did, causing serious damage to Wetherspoons in Bedford Street, injuries to NI and Polish fans, and chaos for traffic in Belfast city centre last night (we were stuck in the Odyssey car park in traffic for 30 mins after the game.)

This image of violent soccer fans is nothing new, indeed riot police are now a common sight at some games.

Yesterday a young man in Ballymena had his ear bitten off in a violent street attack. The reason for the assault? He was wearing a Rangers shirt. The attack had all the hall-marks of the sectarian attack on Michael McIlveen (known as Mickey-Bo) in the same town in 2006.

Unfortunately, like most other things in NI, sport has been held to ransom by people's inability to divorce political tribalism from other areas of life.

Such tribalism, and the sectariansim associated with it, is ingrained in soccer, as with many other sports.

There is, and was, none of this at the Giants game.

The allegiance to one team and desire to see that team beat others, as well as having a particular nemesis within a league, is part and parcel of the fun of following a sport. But here in Northern Ireland, as we have long learned, adherance to a particluar position or unwavering support for one side does not always bode well for intercommunity relations.

There is no d'Hondt system in sport however, and the scenes in Belfast last night, as well as the attack in Ballymena will have to be addressed by the relevant authorities to try and curb in the future.

The youngsters sitting in front of me last night hopefully won't be familiar with such scenes and could have been from any background or religion - they all just loved the Belfast Giants.

There was no sectarian or even antagonsitic chants against the visiting team - the Cardiff devils - and there was more fighting on the ice than in the crowd - the way a sports match should be.

There was something very refreshing about hearing people shout in support of a Belfast team and not having any obvious political allegiance attached to it.

Although soccer and GAA teams in Northern Ireland have done a lot over the past few years in terms of reaching out to the 'other side,' the fact that each sport has roots with one community cannot be erased.

The Belfast Giants team has no such historic baggage and offers an alternative to young people than simply following a team of past generations, support which may well carry political connotation.

Before people start thinking this blog is sponsored by the team, I have to say there was the odd brat kicking off because Daddy wouldn't buy them a foam finger so I didn't totally feel like I had stepped into the Waltons, but the atmosphere before, during and after the game was happy, healthy and lighthearted.

Although the giant Subway machine gun that fires out Subway sandwiches into the crowd and the various team mascots running around in the crowd, made the experience somewhat surreal (you really have to see Gordy the Gorilla rubbing his not insignificant backside on the head of a mortified middle aged woman to see what I mean) overall it was great night.

The formation of the Belfast Giants was billed as a deliberate attempt to normalise sport in post Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland. The group in front of me will hopefully benefit from the existence of such a team.

Thursday 26 March 2009

A voice worth having

Last night I was doing my usual parousal of songs on You Tube when I found a rare (and incidentally very good) collaboration between two of my favourite singers, Mama Cass Elliot and John Denver, doing a version of his song 'Leaving on a jet plane.'

I love finding wee gems like this on You Tube but it was one of those clips with lots of talking before the song actually begins. Usually I ignore these interludes but when I heard the subject on which the two were speaking I was immediately drawn in.

It was from 1972 and the two were appearing on 'Burt Sugarman's The Midnight Special.' I must admit I don't have extensive knowledge on American popular culture in the 1970's and so hadn't heard of the show. A quick glance on Wikipedia at the guests who appeared on the music showcase, indicates its popularity and searching You Tube for the artists who performed is worth a look for music lovers.

But back to the talking. As I said, the episode was aired in 1972 and both John and Mama Cass before beginning their duet, made appeals to the American public to register to vote. It was the usual spiel about having a voice and being heard etc. As I'm sure you'll know the election in 1972 they were referring to was the same election that Nixon's team snuck into Watergate - changing the face, and operation of elections in the U.S and the world over forever.

Although neither John nor Mama Cass said anything particularly new or interesting about the importance of registering to vote (and voting itself), it struck me that the message need not be original all the time. The sentiment is so important its gravity should be delivered through simplicity, i.e get your finger out and vote and if your not registered, do so!

The European election is on June 4th this year. Although the newspaper coverage thus far has centred on the divisions within unionism and the likelihood of Sinn Fein topping the poll, not much attention has been paid to voter apathy in Northern Ireland.

I'm not suggesting there is voter apathy here on the scale of mainland Britain - as mentioned before on this blog, the north, and indeed island of Ireland, is a highly politicised society, a fact borne out by our relatively high voter turnout.

My annoyance is specifically with young people in Northern Ireland who either don't vote or simply vote along tribal lines without much thought or inclination to know the manifesto pledges upon which a candidate forms his campaign.

It seems to me this is a subject that only comes to the fore near election time when its a slow news day. The fact it is not always highlighted in the mainstream media does not mean it is not an ongoing problem.

How many times have you heard a young person moan about paying so much tax, not being able to get a job or the obvious bug bear - student fees, and in the same breath saying they don't vote!

I was at a press conference at Stormont not so long ago. It was for young broadcast and newspaper journalism students to practice questioning and interviewing in such an environment in front of real-life MLAs (I resisted the temptation to get out my autograph book.)

Slowly but surely it descended into role reversal with the politicians asking the young people what they wanted to see happen in future and why they didn't vote. It was quite embarassing when someone in the audience said 'Theres just no-one exciting to vote for, politics is boring.' If this is what broadcasters and journalists of the future are saying, god knows who'll be out First Minister in a few years....

The European election is probably not the best election to try and persuade young voters that informed voting is not only easy but important. The fact that Europe has a huge bearing on every aspect of modern life in Ireland north and south is not easily translated when one looks at the bureaucracy and red tape that permeates operations in Brussels and Strasbourg. But it does have a bearing.

From the Common Agricultural Policy to the most basic health and safety legislation (exciting stuff I know) Europe calls the shots. Human Rights? That too. I'm sure Colin Duffy and his solicitor are glad to hear that.

With the current antagonism between member states on a global fiscal initiative to deal with the greedy bankers, its safe to assume the wrangling will produce ripples effecting our pockets in the near future too. For good or bad.

Northern Ireland is a tiny entity in the grand scheme that is the EU. We should count ourselves lucky to have three elected representatives - we're half the size of London. We should take advantage of this and get the best elected representatives we can voicing Northern Ireland's concerns at the heart of Europe.

Everyone knows the issues. It is now more important than ever to make sure our voice is heard in the democratic process and to inform ourselves on the people who are standing on a ticket proposing to help us within such a process.

Read their websites, watch their 5 minute political broadcasts when they start and make sure your making the right choice. They might not change the world but at the very least they are representing our interests.

And seriously do check out John and Mama Cass on You Tube - what voices...almost as powerful as ours.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Manic Street Preaching

This blog will probably encompass a lot of issues today so bear with me on this if it is a bit manic.

While reading Mark Devenport's entries on the BBC website (see 'interesting sites') he made some comments that struck a chord with me, more so than usual. Covering the usual political paddy-whackery that is the St. Patrick's day celebrations at the White house he found time to visit the 'Newseum' at the National Mall in Washington (commemorating American journalism) and also St. Paul's Chapel in New York - set-up as a place of reflection and remembrance near Ground Zero.

Although he was more impressed with the latter, the experience of the two, he contends, confirmed his belief that some form of museum or place of commemoration should be established in Northern Ireland. But this desire for recognition and remembrance of the Troubles, voiced by Devenport and many others, is not without problems.

Anyone who follows the news will know of the arguments regarding a conflict resolution centre proposed in the now defunct redevelopment plans for the Maze site or the more recent controversy surrounding the £12,000 recognition payments proposed in the Eames Bradley report. Both issues clearly stirred deep feelings in the community and are testimony to the fact our past is still having a considerable bearing on our present.

I was at the press launch for Eames Bradley in the Europa hotel. For someone from the post-troubles era (in the sense that I cannot remember in any great detail the last throws of the conflict that existed during my younger years) it was quite disturbing.

To sit in a room with people I knew had suffered greatly during the conflict and watch them argue openly and at times aggressively over the proposed payments, exchanging recriminations and getting visibly upset, was shocking. Its one thing watching it on TV, quite another sitting right next to it.

The controversy played out in the media for a week or two, was subject to the same analysis and ' the intractable Irish problem' diagnosis and then left the front pages. For the families involved however, the struggle to come to terms with the trauma and grief of years of violence here continues.

Mark's visits to these museums and his musings on the need for some form of commemoration stood out for me - after months spent on a thesis covering the whole area, my summations on the issue were the same. Everyone knows issues relating to our past need to be dealt with, it was refreshing to hear a formiddable and astute political journalist get to the how he believes we should do so in earnest.

How poignant it is that I write a blog on this topic on the same day a 17-year-old boy is charged in relation to the recent death of the PSNI officer gunned down by so-called 'dissident republicans.'

This boy may have read about the Easter Rising, Wolfe Tone and various other venerated physical force republican dates in history but no amount of reading, or even understanding of the issues, could possibly justify the actions carried out by him (if he is guilty) and his ilk. They are tailcoat republicans - just as there are tailcoat loyalists - who justify sectarianism and violent acts on the back of a by-gone era where, in the midst of civil strife, taking up arms to defend a belief could arguably be justified.

Nowadays it is not, and thanks to the politcal agreements reached in Nothern Ireland, will it ever be again.

The feet dragging on dealing with our past comprehensively is why such coat-tailing exists.

Ofcourse I'm not saying there is a complete solution to these issues and that once dealt with, they can all be put away in a box labelled 'do not touch,' - but simply ignoring the problems and calling them a poisoned chalice allows our society to become poisoned - as three dead security force members and the existence of yet more peace lines attests to.

During my research I spoke to victims groups and victims. The two obvious commonalities between all of them in their search for reciprocity was that a form of 'story-telling' and remembering our experiences of the conflict was a way forward, there was also a recogniton on their part that there couldn't be a one size fits all approach.

The Saville Inquiry, the work of the H.E.T and other modes of reinvestigation into past events have all encountered well documented problems. The clear positive experiences of those who took part in them however, was the inherent catharsis in telling one's story and the realisation that there was someone willing to listen to it.

For this reason I think Mr Devenport is on the money when he talks of a commemorative museum such as St. Paul's in New York. It would be there for people to visit, tell their story, and hear others'. It can also be ignored by those who don't want to use it.

Aneurin Bevan (and the Manic Street Preachers) said: 'This is my truth tell me yours.' This seems to hold a lot of hope for those who lament the seeming unending capacity for people in the north to cannibilise our troubled history for their own ends.

It seems to me an implementation of these sentiments, in the form of a commemorative museum, is the only way our society can disentagle itself from the legacy of our past and in doing so neuter these 'dissidents,' and begin the long road to healing old, but still weeping, wounds.

Friday 20 March 2009

PC World

Although Jade Goody is now more famous for the Shakespearean tragedy her life has become, there was a time when the Bermonsdsey blonde was splashed across the papers for an equally dramatic, if less fateful, story. 'Poppadom -gate', and her ignorant treatment of Shilpa Shetty in the Big Brother house made national and global headlines and re-opened the debate on political correctness, cultural ignorance and ofcourse racism in modern Britain.

It seems such discussion has not reached the far reachs of the Republic of Ireland (a country which openly refers to their Taoiseach as BIFFO - you can google the acronym for yourself.)


As if such disregard for the sensititvites of their political leader was not enough (that is if he has any), this was pointed out to me yesterday http://www.hotelium.com/SearchedHotel.aspx?fileName=Court_Hotel_Letterkenny&languageCode=EN&currencyCode=GBP&tabId=Overview&checkin=2009-04-04&checkout=2009-04-05&Adults=3&Rooms=1&pageFrom=SearchResults.

Click on the first hotel that appears, scroll down the page and look at how they describe the first 'amenity.'

With things like this out in the public domain is it any wonder tourists still think we live in cottages and are all called either Mary or John-Joe?

We are a highly politicised society both north and south with many a generation well versed and rehearsed on their feelings of the geographical boundary seperating the two countries. Im not a fan of a nanny state but somewhere along the line people need to be taught boundaries of a different sort - social boundaries.

Thursday 19 March 2009

Why Eurovision?

We have all heard the oft quoted model of Northern Ireland's successful peace deal being used as a shining example to all other divided societies. For those of us who upon hearing this choke on our Twinnings and find it hard to swallow (in more ways than one), the disgraceful acts of dissident republicans in recent weeks have vindicated what we have long been thinking - the peace here is fragile. It is a peace without reconciliation but I'll save spouting on that issue for another day.

Undoubtedly the north has learned valuable lessons on the long road to this fragile peace - lessons which can, and have been shared with other countries. Power-sharing and a commitment to negotiating with all political parties (even those deemed to be the 'political' wing of a paramilitary group which back in the 1990's was a major precedent to set) are among the lofty ideals formulated by the main players in the 'peace process.' (Should this be trademarked I wonder?)

We all know these main players,, but who'd have thought the Eurovision song contest and Irish celebrity Linda Martin would be keeping company with George Mitchell, Bill Clinton et al as forward thinking sources of inspiration and reconciliation?

Recent controversy surrounding Israel's 2009 Eurovision entry (http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/7948494.stm) is proof positive of the depth of feeling over identity that has always been a central issue in the Middle East conflict.

These identity problems, which have existed since the formation of the NI state in 1921, and still exist today in Northern Ireland are a major issue in the existence of this peace without reconciliation referred to earlier.

It seems however, such difficulties were dealt with easily in the 1990's when Linda Martin, a Protestant from Belfast via Omagh, took to the stage under the green white and gold singing 'Why me?' and winning the Eurovision for Ireland.

I assume the title of the song was not a lament at being chosen to represent a country which at the time still laid claim to the north in their constitution.

The year she won was 1992. It was the same year a PIRA land mine killed eight Protestant civilians at Teebane Crossroads near Cookstown and British agent Brian Nelson revealed the extent of security force collusion in his undercover activities within the UDA. Yet the sight of a northern Protestant singing for the Republic didn't attract the controversy the Mira Awad has.

Of course to compare the two as if identical would be wrong (don't get me started on my problems with comparative politics.) But if people insist on holding Northern Ireland up as a bastion of all thing peaceful and wholesome as an example to others, Linda Martin must be applauded for her brave steps towards reconciliation, ahem. Just a pity about the hair.



Sorry to begin this blog with two back to back entries on Palestinian(ish) related stories - there'll be more diversity in the future...maybe.

Wednesday 18 March 2009

Violence in Palestine...Street

It is believed St Patrick returned to Ireland from Wales even after years of slavery here due to a vision. As written in his self-penned Confessio, he read a letter given to him by ‘Ireland’ and came back to ‘the Voice of the Irish.’

If yesterdays scenes in the Holylands are anything to go by, it might have been better if he stayed away.

12 arrested and 5 charged with various misdemeanours including riotous behaviour, the sight of riot vans in Carmel Street and drunken young people in leprechaun hats cavorting senselessly in front of PSNI officers was simply an ‘Unholy Mess,’ as the Belfast Telegraph punned this morning. It was also an embarrassment, and about as far away from a celebration of our patron saint as you can get.

The usual righteous indignation has appeared from political representatives and calls for the universities and colleges to take severe action – the same calls as the last time things got out of hand in this student area. This year was clearly different however, and saw the worst student trouble in Belfast ever seen on St. Patrick’s Day.

I say student trouble because none of the 5 charged are from Belfast – leading credence to the opinion that most of the trouble was caused by students.

After years of increasing trouble on March 17th it seemed last year had seen a solution to the problem, and a balance had been struck, with wardens on the streets and a highly publicised universities campaign about acting responsibly.

The scenes on Tuesday rightly aroused anger in residents and politicians but also from students from Belfast who are associated with the behaviour. After last year there was a sense that students from far and wide who came to live in the Holylands had finally wised up and stopped treating the place where they spent term time as a dumping ground.

It seems these students are far away from home in Belfast where no-one knows them, or their families, and are simply treating the novelty of anonymity as a licence to wreck the place that some of us call our home.

However, I’m not hear to ‘bate’ culchie students - there were clearly people involved in the incidents who were not students and didn’t even live in the Holyland area.

You know you’ve a good riot on your hands when the peculiar Norn Iron species of ‘recreational rioter’ pulls himself away from Jeremy Kyle or his knock-off Playstation to see what the craic is with the cops.

Maybe it was the non-student element this year which tipped the revelry into something decidedly more sinister…or maybe it was the good weather bringing more people out onto the street. Whatever the reason, one thing is for sure, March 17th will never be the same again in these student areas.

Long gone will be the freedom to sit out on the street and enjoy one of the highlights of the year, or the freedom to have music or mix freely on the street.

One of the unique features of Belfast universities and colleges is the sense of community that exists within this famous student area – the events on Tuesday have permanently tarnished such an image and sense of community and have set back carefully fostered student-resident relations tenfold.

I hate to sound like a pissed-off parent but you have no-one to blame but yourselves.