Posted in Uncategorized on May 12, 2011| 1 Comment »
Patrick Galvin,the renowned Cork poet, writer and socialist, has passed away. Patrick wrote many great poems and songs, among them James Connolly. With this the anniversary of Connolly’s passing (May 12) I thought it fitting to post post Patrick Galvin’s rendition of the song and a rendition I’ve always found almost haunting from one of Dublin’s finest,the late Liam Weldon. Enjoy.
Patrick Galvin (1927-2011)-Rest in Peace.
Liberty Hall, May 12 1917.
Posted in Uncategorized on May 10, 2011| 5 Comments »
Some images from the Shed End Invincibles last night at Richmond Park. Long may they continue to bring the Richmond Roar back. Sadly their section remains segregated from the rest of the Pats support owing to some bizarre security decisions, but they seem to work around it the best way you can – make enough noise and each week more and more people want in.
The southside derby is always an unpredictable affair. The result? A probably fair scoreless draw.
Posted in Miscellaneous on May 9, 2011| 11 Comments »
Heading into town today I came across this sight outside the American embassy on Ballsbridge. Dozens and dozens of young adults queuing up for their Visa interview. Depressing.
Queue outside U.S. embassy. 9 May 2011. (c) Jay Carax
I don’t think there’s anyone out there who doesn’t know someone close who has moved away or is planning on doing so too. Over the weekend, I went to two going away drinks of close friends of mine. Both were leaving for the summer at lack of job opportunities in the city. One to Berlin, the other to South America.
Posted in Football Articles, Politics, Uncategorized, tagged football, football and politics, Politics, soccer versus the state on May 9, 2011| 4 Comments »
“The revolution will inevitably awaken in the British working class the deepest passions which have been diverted along artificial channels with the aid of football.” Leon Trotsky.
A couple of weeks back, I got the oppurtunity to interview Gabriel Kuhn of PM Press, and author of “Soccer versus the State.” Anyone on here knows our views when it comes to football, keep it local, keep it real and forget about your barstool; a lot of that is covered in the interview. Not initially done for here, it was DFallon who suggested I put it up. If you’ve an interest in football, history and politics, read on.
Notorious Boo Boys
1) Football comes in for much negative criticism from the left, mainly criticisms similar to Trotsky’s above, deriding it as cathartic and a distraction. Yet in recent years, we’ve seen iconic events like the “Football Revolution” in Iran, the Greek riots following the death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos (where Panathanaikos fans fought against the police side by side with Anarchists) and the Al-Ahly Ultras in Egypt and their apparent hand in revolution there. How influential has football been in Rebellions and amongst the rebellious throughout history?
Football has been attracting the masses around the world for over a century. Where masses gather, the powerful lose control – unless we’re talking about orchestrated mass gatherings, which are characteristic of fascist and authoritarian regimes. But this doesn’t really work with football, since it is hard to orchestrate a football game. Football is too unpredictable.
Authoritarian regimes have always used the prestige that derives from football victories for political purposes, but they have had a hard time to use football as a general propaganda tool. The Nazis abandoned national encounters altogether after an embarrassing loss to Sweden in Berlin in 1942. And it is not only the game that is unpredictable. So are football crowds. You never know which direction their desires might take. There is always a potential for rebellion – unfortunately, there is also always a potential for reactionary celebrations of the status quo. Neither football nor football fans are rebellious per se. We have radical supporters, we have fascist supporters; we have football teams that spur nationalism, we have football teams that spur international solidarity. At the right moments, the rebellious side comes through, as in the examples you mentioned and in many others: long before the current uprising in Libya, the terraces of Libyan football stadiums turned into spaces of dissent whenever Gadaffi-favoured teams were playing; in the 1980s, Polish workers made regular use of football stadiums to express support for the then illegal trade union Solidarność; in fact, the very first steps to regulate the game of football in the early 19th century was caused by regular antiauthoritarian riots in connection with the inter-village football games at the time.
Football does have the cathartic and distracting dimensions that many leftists deride, no doubt. But it also has a subversive dimension. The challenge for radical football-loving activists is to fuel the latter.
(more…)
Posted in Dublin History, Social History on May 8, 2011| 1 Comment »
A great piece this, and my thanks to Paddy Kelly for providing it.
This is a fascinating propaganda leaflet from 1922, deriding Michael Collins and the Free State. A different Queen Elizabeth to the one currently making the headlines here of course!
Posted in Politics on May 7, 2011| 7 Comments »
‘I wish to advise you that your application has been refused. This decision has been taken on the basis that no postering applications for events between 15th and 25th May are being granted in the interest of promoting a clean environment for Dublin City during forthcoming State visits.’
-An email sent by Dublin City Council to various groups who applied for for permission to erect posters ahead of the royal visit to Ireland.
Regardless of what one thinks of the visit, this is remarkable. Even during the visits of George W. Bush and other controversial state figureheads, postering has been permitted. It’s worrying to see the council refuse the right to poster on political grounds.
Posted in Events, Miscellaneous, tagged idgtf, O'Byrne, theatre, theatre festival on May 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »
For those who aren’t sure what “We’re At…” actually is, I’ll yoink the following sentence from their Facebook as it succinctly sums them up; “We’re At…” is an exciting new community media initiative about to take part in the heart of Temple Bar. Using a fully digital, state of the art pop up TV studio in a shop front at 5 Scarlett Row, Dublin Community TV is going to throw itself into covering the roaring arts and culture festival circuit that takes over the city during the summer months.”
Come celebrate the launch of We're At....
To celebrate the launch of the show, the crew of “We’re At…” are teaming up with the IDGTF to bring you an early evening of performances from some of the star performers at this years festival.
Its a once off event, and a chance to have a gander at what’s going on at the IDGTF. Looks like a great evening, I’ve taken quite a liking to O’Byrnes, great pints of Guinness for €4 on the button, can’t go wrong. Might see yiz there.
Posted in Uncategorized on May 5, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Well done to the people at Dublin Community Television for this excellent interview with Sam Nolan, a man who has given decades to the trade union and labour movement. Brian Kenny’s Sam Nolan: A Long March on the Left has only recently been released.
There is an article in Dublin May Day’s I hope to get around to in time. Sadly the event has been in decline in Dublin for a number of years, with extremely small turnouts of several hundred people. Ironically I missed this years May Day with work commitments, but last year I got along and recorded Arthur Scargill’s speech:
Posted in Events on May 5, 2011| 1 Comment »
Maser/Damo Ballymun mural will be knocked Friday morning
-Image and above from MASER ART Facebook.
Posted in Miscellaneous on May 4, 2011| Leave a Comment »
These HUGE posters are hanging out the front of The Gibson Hotel down by The Point, with ‘Welcome To Ireland’ above them. On Facebook, Joe and Joanna Public are giving out yards.
Update: 00:40. Now they’re denying they’ve any role in the whole thing.
Update 15:30 5/5: “The gibson hotel would like to confirm that the banners placed in front of the hotel building at the Point Village were placed there by Crosbie Property, the owners of the development. Crosbie Property do not operate the hotel. The banners have now been removed.”
Posted in Football Articles on May 3, 2011| 1 Comment »
The Europa League trophy is in Dublin right now. Ultras FC Porto made it perfectly clear last week that they want to come here and get it.
A little different from the Shed End Invincibles and the Irish groups normally featured here!
Posted in Dublin History, Social History, tagged D'olier Street, Moving Statues, O'Connell Street, Sackville Street, Westmorleand Street, William Smith O'Brien Statue on May 3, 2011| 2 Comments »
I was looking through some old postcards of O’Connell Street and came across this one. It’s obviously depicting Dublin pre Easter rebellion, as I’ve circled the Dublin Bread Company on the right of the photo. The tower of the Dublin Bread Company was used by rebels during the rebellion to return fire to snipers from Trinity College Dublin, but it was never reconstructed following the rebellion.
Who is the statue circled in red? It’s William Smith O’Brien. I never knew he was positioned at the corner of D’olier Street and Westmoreland Street for a period. The statue, by Thomas Farrell,was unveiled in 1870.
William Smith O’Brien now stands proudly on O’Connell Street, across the River Liffey and among giants of Irish history.
O’Brien made the journey across the Liffey in 1929. A great article in the Independent at the time commented on the statue, noting it was “..about twice life-size” and “..is composed of Caravazzia marble”. The statue had first been unveiled on the southside of Dublin on Stephens’ Day 1870, before a large assembly. The Times in London remarked at the time “Why gibbet such a failure in monumental marble?”
In 1900, the statue saw the name “O’Brien” removed from its pedestal by Dublin Corporation, substituted for the current bi-lingual inscription. As noted in the Independent: “This was the outcome of an agitation aroused to remove the doubt that somehow got abroad that the statue was that of William O’Brien, the Irish Nationalist M.P, whose name was so much before the public at the time, and not that of the ’48 rebel.”
Will he be left in peace? Well, no. William Smith O’Brien is due to be moved again, though only temporarily. Collins Barracks is the location. The reason for his latest move is of course the Metro North project.
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