Originally published at: The President of Ireland released a stunning statement about the lingering impacts of colonialism | Boing Boing
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Sod all royals.
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Irish Lenin
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pain and resentment, sometimes passed down through generations
Made me think of the US South.
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Always worth mentioning that when he travelled to Australia he apologised to the indigenous population for the harm Irish people caused by colonising there. It’s only words but at least you can start there and work towards reparation.
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If you are talking about the descendants of the former slaves, then sure. The losers of the war to keep slavery not so much…
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Oh, I’ll tell you a tale of peace and love
Whack fol the diddle o the die do day
Of a land that reigns all lands above
Whack fol the diddle o the die do day
May peace and plenty be her share
Who kept our homes from want and care
Oh, God bless England is our prayer
Whack fol the diddle o the die do day
Chorus:
Whack fol the diddle o the die do day
So we say “hip hooray”
Come and listen while we pray (1st chorus only)
Whack fol the diddle o the die do day
Now our fathers oft were naughty boys
For pikes and guns are dangerous toys
At Ballinahab we had Peter Sill
We made poor England cry her fill
But old Brittania loves us still
God bless England so we pray (remaining choruses)
Now, when we were savage, fierce and wild
She came as a mother to her child
Gently raised us from the slime
And kept our hands from hellish crime
And she sent us to heaven in our own good time
Well, now Irish men forget the past
And think of the day that’s coming fast
When we shall all be civilized
Neat and clean and well advised
Oh, won’t mother England be surprised?
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Is this the kind of leader you get when Russian trolls don’t care about influencing your election?
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Many people forget this, but the Irish (and the Scots) were like Indians and Africans victims of english colonialism
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Eh, no offense to any Scots but that is a bit oversimplified, especially considering the Union is based on a Scottish attempt at colonialism gone wrong.
Ireland is a different story, where there was a literal invading force and concerted attempts to change demographics through settlement.
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Yep. As bad as the Scots may have been handled in the past, they didn’t have to deal with Oliver Fucking Cromwell declaring them subhuman, and the repercussions of that.
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There are more examples. Never forget colonial countries existed and were run entirely for the benefit of the gentry and business of the core country. Everything else was to be exploited: minorities, outer regions, working and servant class, etc. Colonialism requires the idea of exceptionalism and for that you need all others to be er… othered.
The Netherlands for example did it to the southern provinces hence Belgium.
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Michael D. Higgins is everything that he appears to be.
But the last presidential election here (2018) was a shitshow. There were three candidates with connections to Dragon’s Den (the Irish equivalent of The Apprentice), and two right-wing populist nutbags.
The electorate more-or-less washed their hands of the whole thing and voted Michael D. back in in a landslide.
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Michael D. Higgins’ finest hour (make sure you listen to the end).
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The Presidency is a ceremonial position here, essentially holding similar powers to the Monarchy in the UK - signing legislation into law, engaging in PR/diplomatic duties and the like. Our actual political leadership is your standard mildly socially conservative neoliberal capitalists who are currently terrified of losing ground to vaguely Social Democrat parties.
Higgins is a member of our Labour Party and is an old-school socialist, but the party has basically shot themselves in the foot by going into coalition with one of the main centre-right parties and essentially betraying their traditional voter base. Higgins is incredibly popular though - he won re-election with 55.8% of first-preference votes.
I live near the President’s residence and he made an appearance at a street festival in my neighbourhood a couple of years ago - his speech was some good old-fashioned working class rabble-rousing.
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