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Londonderry, Northern Ireland— Terrorists from the Irish Republican Army are reportedly targeting gays now that they have abandoned their war against the British government.

As the political wing of the IRA concentrates on peaceful talks about the future of Ireland with the government in London, members of the military wing in Northern Ireland have turned into marauding bands - robbing banks and beating gay men.

A gay student in Londonderry has gone into hiding after receiving threats from men he says identified themselves as IRA members.

Paul Mooney, 20, says that he has beaten on a number of occasions. After one beating he required hospitalization for several days.

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What brave heroes! Just gotta have someone to terrorize, eh?

link to Belfast Telegraph article

[ 14 March 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

This clown beat the victim, stabbed him, called an ambulance for him, and then threatened his life... WTF?!?!

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The attack took place after Mr Maguire let a female friend, two other girls and McKinney, whom he did not know, come to his house on June 5, 2004.

Mr Maguire said that he had gone to his bedroom later in the evening and dozed off. He awoke in pain a short time later when McKinney began to hit him repeatedly on the head.

"The next thing I knew I was on the floor and pieces of my two front teeth were lying beside me. I played dead," he said.

Crown Counsel Stephen Fowler told Londonderry Crown Court sitting in Belfast yesterday that the girls took McKinney to the kitchen to calm him down but he lifted a small kitchen knife, returned to the bedroom, and stabbed Mr Maguire in the chest.

In a bizarre twist, McKinney then used his victim's mobile phone to call an ambulance and assisted Mr Maguire to the end of the road to await its arrival.

But as they sat on a wall, the sadistic attack resumed.

Mr Maguire said McKinney asked to see his wound. "I showed it to him and he stuck his finger in it and twisted his finger round. He said: 'If you tell the cops that was me, you are dead, you queer b******."

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But it has been a long time since anyone half-conscious from the republic has romanticized the IRA -- the organization in the south has for a long time been understood to have turned into a purposeless gang.

In the north it has been harder for obvious reasons, as lagatta says. Are you willing to argue that the British occupation was not horrendously cruel until the last decade?

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Originally posted by skdadl:
Are you willing to argue that the British occupation was not horrendously cruel until the last decade?

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________________________________________________

Come all ye young rebels, and list while I sing,
For the love of one's country is a terrible thing.
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame,
And it makes us all part of the patriot game.

My name is O'Hanlon, and I've just turned sixteen.
My home is in Monaghan, and where I was weaned
I learned all my life cruel England's to blame,
So now I am part of the patriot game.

This Ireland of ours has too long been half free.
Six counties lie under John Bull's tyranny.
But still De Valera is greatly to blame
For shirking his part in the Patriot game.

They told me how Connolly was shot in his chair,
His wounds from the fighting all bloody and bare.
His fine body twisted, all battered and lame
They soon made me part of the patriot game.

It's nearly two years since I wandered away
With the local battalion of the bold IRA,
For I read of our heroes, and wanted the same
To play out my part in the patriot game.

I don't mind a bit if I shoot down police
They are lackeys for war never guardians of peace
And yet at deserters I'm never let aim
The rebels who sold out the patriot game

And now as I lie here, my body all holes
I think of those traitors who bargained in souls
And I wish that my rifle had given the same
To those Quislings who sold out the patriot game.

_________________________________________________

Romantic, perhaps.

I remember when Judy Collins sang (an admittedly terrible) version of that, she took a lot of criticism.

I read Gerry Adams's autobiography, interesting guy. Given a choice between sharing a cell with Adams or Paisley, I'd take Adams anyday.

The theme song from that dramatization of Gerald Seymour's novel (1975) is one of the most haunting I've ever heard -- performed by Clannad. The song itself made me sit down to watch.

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Originally posted by lagatta:
Lots of former national liberation or social movements have degenerated over the years in many ways - alas the IRA is among their number - but remember that the Protestant paramilitary groups are just as brutal.

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I know of a shop keeper who has 2 million pounds of insurance on his own head because he wouldn't pay extortion money to the local "protectors."

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But that is no reason to oppose the fight for Irish national liberation - of the entire island - a fight that goes back a good hundred and fifty years at least. The famous saying - a nation that oppresses another can never be free - refers to British rule of Ireland.

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
The day that 50% plus one of the people of Northern Ireland support beiung unified with the Republic, I will support it, but in the meantime, the rights of the Protestant majority in Ulster must be respected.

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Sounds very much like the sort of thing Ian Paisley would say.

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Originally posted by skdadl:
what kind of democrat argues only from "majorities"?

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In Ireland and Northern Ireland, all democrats, have agreed to:

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recognise the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland with regard to its status, whether they prefer to continue to support the Union with Great Britain or a sovereign united Ireland.

and

acknowledge that while a substantial section of the people inNorthern Ireland share the legitimate wish of a majority of the people of the island of Ireland for a united Ireland, the present wish of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland, freely exercised and legitimate, is to maintain the Union and, accordingly, that Northern Ireland’s status as part of the United Kingdom reflects and relies upon that wish; and that it would be wrong to make any change in the status of Northern Ireland save with the consent of a majority of its people;

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[ 18 March 2005: Message edited by: Wilfred Day ]

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On the other hand, I do remember that the Catholics in NI did start off with protests and whatnot. The protests were shot at and brutalized and many people were killed.

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
About 60% of the population in Northern Ireland is Protestant.

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what kind of democrat argues only from "majorities"?

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We have these artificial boundaries -- in Canada, in the Middle East, in Ireland, etc -- drawn by colonial powers close to a century ago, or in Canada's case longer ago than that.

In the more recent cases, the boundaries are drawn to determine the votes, rather than the other way round. That was certainly true of the six counties. I think if you took a vote in each county, at least two would return majorities desiring union right away.

And yet in all cases, over time, population will shift, and sometimes, sanity will set in, not only locally but in the former colonial powers.

In Quebec's case, eg: a majority where? Of the First Nations, eg?

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
If Nationalists in NI would just stop sympathizing with the IRA and voting Sinn Fein . .

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Originally posted by jamestephen:
... it's been my experience that all Irish guys are gay, once you pour enough Guinness into them. It's only when they sober up and the Church takes hold again that there are problems.

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Cripes, don't be saying that... you'll just add to Gir's conviction that all gay guys are manipulative "pervs" who can't rest while there is one undespoiled straight guy left out there...

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Originally posted by skdadl:
PS: Not to mention religion.

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People who are being violently oppressed by religious bigots, perhaps? I would no sooner live in Ireland than Iran, frankly. I don't like colonization any better than anyone else, but if I lived in Northern Ireland, and saw this kind of religiously-motivated crap, it certainly wouldn't give me the warm fuzzies about embracing the cause.

[ 19 March 2005: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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If Nationalists in NI would just stop sympathizing with the IRA and voting Sinn Fein and start voting SDLP or Alliance and if Unionists would just denounce the paramilitary forces and stop voting for Ian Paisley's party and start supporting parties that support compromise - this conflict could be over in a flash. Trying to an apologist for the IRA is totally counter-productive,

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Northern Ireland's housing authority discriminates against victims of homophobic abuse, as it turns out. Given the recent rash of attacks, it's particularly dangerous for Irish queers. After sharp criticism, authority officials say the system for awarding emergency housing will change.

Jim Maguire, 21, who fled his native Derry after being stabbed and badly beaten last year, was told by housing officials that his ordeal did not qualify as intimidation. "It made me feel like they were against me too. They wouldn't help me out at all," he said. Maguire left his home and moved to England.

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Originally posted by Lena:
The Catholic Church condemns violence against all persons

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Originally posted by skdadl:
Oh, good. They've found each other. Lena and Stockholm: this looks like a match made in heaven. All happiness to you both.

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