鈥淎rthur's Day鈥, that ingenious marketing campaign thought up in 2009 to mark the 250th anniversary of the Guinness brewing company and to raise further sales of 鈥渢he black stuff鈥, will be celebrated most of all by executives, sales teams and shareholders on September 26.
According to Diageo (the British-based conglomerate that now owns Guinness), on September 26 every year: 鈥淕uinness fans around the world will come together at a series of exciting musical events to raise a glass to Arthur Guinness and celebrate those who like him, make great things happen.鈥
Ireland
Towards the end of 2008, I joined thousands in Toronto to protest Israel鈥檚 attack on Gaza. At York University, where I was a student, we mobilised the campus to defend Palestinian rights.
A few months later, bombs were falling on my own people 鈥 in the predominantly Tamil Vanni region of northern Sri Lanka. And once again, we hit Toronto鈥檚 streets in protest.
I realised then that even though our homelands are oceans apart, Palestinians and Tamils have much in common.
Through the 鈥渨ar on terror鈥, the Israeli and Sri Lankan armies have waged war on civilian populations.
The predominantly Catholic and nationalist community of Ardoyne in north Belfast has been subjected to a campaign of violence as part of the sectarian 鈥渕arching season鈥.
In recent weeks, the six counties still claimed by Britain have been the scene of violence by 鈥渓oyalists鈥 鈥 those who support ongoing British rule and the privileges given to the Protestant majority to ensure loyalty to British rule. The article below was published by Irish Republican News on July 19.
* * *
Stephen Murney is a political and community activist who lives in Newry in the north of Ireland. He is also a member of Eirigi (鈥淎rise鈥), a legal, registered Irish socialist republican political party.
Murney has frequently documented, photographed and recorded incidents of harsh Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) stop and searches of people, house raids and other rough treatment in the Newry area. Murney regularly highlighted these issues in local newspapers and on the internet.
Northern Ireland: The Reluctant Peace
Feargal Cochrane
Yale University Press, 2013
368 pp, $38.00
Reginald Maudling, the Tory Home Secretary who oversaw the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland, perfectly expressed the British ruling class鈥檚 blend of condescension and indifference towards Ireland when he blurted out to his staff: 鈥淔or God鈥檚 sake bring me a large Scotch 鈥 what a bloody awful country.鈥
As his policies created mayhem on the streets of Ulster, he coined the cute phrase 鈥渁cceptable level of violence鈥 to describe what was going on.
Martin Corey is a 63-year-old man jailed in the six counties of Ireland's north still claimed by Britain. He has been held for three years without trial.
On April 16, 2010, Corey鈥檚 house in Lurgan was visited by members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and Corey was arrested.
When he asked what the charges were, Corey was told that the police officers 鈥渄id not know鈥. All they were told was to arrest Corey.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams accused the British government on May 24 of breaching commitments given during peace talks over a decade ago. Adams' comments came after the arrest of leading Donegal Sinn Fein member John Downey.
The 61-year-old was brought before Westminster Magistrates Court to face charges over a 1982 IRA attack in London鈥檚 Hyde Park in which four soldiers were killed.
Adams said an agreement forged with the British government at the 2001 Weston Park talks about republicans still pursued over outstanding prosecutions had been breached.
Irish Republican political activist Marian Price was released from jail on May 30 after more than two years of internment without trial, rish Republican News said.
The decision to release Price was taken by the parole commissioners. Price was jailed in the otherwise all-male Maghaberry Prison in the six counties of Ireland's north still claimed by Britain. She was moved to the hospital wing of Hydebank prison in February last year.
Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, veteran Irish civil rights leader, said in response to the case of Irish republican Marian Price, who was returned to jail in 2011: 鈥淚t is a clear signal to everyone who is not 'on board' and who is not of the same mind as the government that no dissent will be tolerated.
鈥淣o dissent will be tolerated and you challenge the status quo at your peril.鈥.
Sinn F茅in President Gerry Adams commenting on the death today of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Plastic bullets were fired and water cannons were used as rioting erupted again in Belfast on January 12 at loyalist flag protests, Irish Republican News said that day.
Belfast has been hit by violent protests and riots in the aftermath of a decision by Belfast City Council to restrict the flying of the Union Jack at Belfast City Hall to 17 days a year.
Thousands of people marched through Dublin on November 17 to protest against the death of dentist Savita Halappanavar, who died of blood poisoning after being refused an abortion.
More than 10,000 people gathered for a vigil and march over the death and the country's draconian abortion laws. A minute's silence was held at Merrion Square by the crowd, followed by chants of 鈥渘ever again鈥.
Irish doctors appear to have judged that leaving Ms Halappanavar for two days with a fully opened cervix did not present any risk of the infection from which she eventually died.
- Previous page
- Page 10
- Next page