Well I leave the madness of local events to remember my cousin Michael Tighe who was murdered on November 24 1982 during the period known as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. He was murdered by the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) at an IRA arms cache on a farm near Lurgan, County Armagh. His murder was carried out by a specially trained undercover RUC team known as the "Headquarters Mobile Support Unit" who used a "shoot-to-kill" policy. Michael was unarmed and 17, when he was shot dead in the police ambush near his home
A British television series has documented Michael’s and other victims of the British "shoot-to-kill" policy. Below.
That was just a small snippet of the series but if any of you are interested it is easy to find on You Tube.
Good bye for now and I will have a new post Sunday night.
15 comments:
Bad time. It's good to remember what the Irish have suffered. I'm always so upset when I hear black people argue for monetary compensation for slavery. My family didn't emigrate to the USA until the early 20th century from Ireland. They worked like dogs.They certainly never owned slaves. If anything they were escaping from the slave like conditions imposed by the British. We don't owe any compensation to anyone. Sorry about your cousin.
Saratoga will be a mess tomorrow. Kegs &eggs starts at 8 am. It's. Saturday and its going to be really warm. Sad story. Were you and Michael close?
No wonder Ranere doesn't scare you
There is something beautiful, touching and poetic when one person loves others buts seeks nothing but justice in return. I don't think any lover of Ayn Rand could comprehend that
“One should say before sleeping: I have lived many lives. I have been a slave and a prince. Many a beloved has sat upon my knee and I have sat upon the knees of many a beloved. Everything that has been shall be again.”
― W.B. Yeats
It's important during theses dangerous times to understand that we should not compromise our liberties under the Constitution to combat terrorism. The IRA was a terrorist group.But many people were terrorized and killed by the British in the name of safety. Their crime? They were Catholic. That alone made them terrorism suspects. Obama has said that, as long as he gives the Ok, even American citizens can be murdered by the government with no due process in the name of homeland security. That is a threat to all of us-not just Muslams. The only candidate talking about this is, of course, Ron Paul.
Powerful film. Scary.
I would disagree the IRA was a terrorist organization.
The IRA (Irish Republican Army) was a guerrilla organization created in 1919 to end british rule in Ireland and gain Irish freedom from Britain. The guerrilla war raged by the IRA gained limited independence and partitioned Ireland this led to a civil war between the IRA and the Irish free state army, which the IRA lost, in 1969 this organization split into 2 factions, the provisional IRA and the official IRA. the Provisionals or provos as they were called became the dominant paramilitary and is referred to as the IRA. They were determined to protect catholic areas from loyalist and police attack. After this they began a campaign that would last 30 years and claim 1,800 lives.
Now and then the debate raged on whether the IRA were mindless murdering terrorists or organized guerrilla freedom fighters. The statistics of the IRAs campaign tell a story the british press wanted to hide. 32% of those killed by the IRA were civilians, 60% of those killed by the British army were civilians, and 93% of those killed by loyalist paramilitaries were civilians. The IRA said there campaign was aimed at the british presence in Ireland, not at protestants. But the IRA did kill innocent civilians, perhaps not always on purpose but these could have been avoided. In the early 1970s the IRA had a policy of killing one innocent protestant for every 3 catholics killed by loyalists, however by the late 1970s they would not sanction attacks on civilians at all. In all out of nearly 2000 civilians killed in the troubles, 600 were killed by the IRA.
This differs greatly from what modern civilization would call terrorism, the barbaric attacks of 9/11 are what people would think of as terrorism. But it seems that whether the IRA are referred to as terrorists or freedom fighters depends on who is asked.
"one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter"
The IRA is a strictly paramilitary organization. Its political wing is Sinn Féin (We Ourselves, in Gaelic), a party that has represented Republican (Catholic) interests since the turn of the 20th century. When the first Irish assembly was declared in 1918 under the leadership of Sinn Féin, the IRA was considered the official army of the state. Sinn Féin has been a significant force in Irish politics since the 1980s.
In the North, the Catholic minority, many of them with "republican" or "nationalist" sympathies," found they faced discrimination for jobs, housing, and in their treatment before the law. On the other side, Protestant "unionists" held sway, controlled the patronage that doled out government jobs, and remained fiercely loyal to the British crown. Throughout much of the 20th century, Northern Ireland's shipyards, linen mills, and other manufacturing hubs played an important role in the economy of the British Empire. Catholic residents, however, largely were excluded from this prosperity, and when the conflict the Irish call "the Troubles" erupted in 1969, the Catholic unemployment rate in some parts of the province topped 30 percent.
For years, beginning in the late 1960s, the IRA was considered one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world. In July 2002, on the thirtieth anniversary of the 1972 "Bloody Friday" bombings, the IRA startled its sympathizers and enemies alike by offering "sincere apologies and condolences" to the families of its civilian victims. The IRA has never been listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department,* but the British Home Office lists any group under the IRA name, as well as various splinter organizations, as proscribed terrorist groups. The IRA no longer describes itself as an armed force and officially ended its armed campaign to reunify Ireland in July 2005. An independent report stated that the IRA has decommissioned its weapons. This announcement was greeted with praise and hope by both the British and Irish governments. However, the IRA and its political wing still oppose what it calls an illegal foreign occupation of its country.
Happy St. Patrick's Day you Irish Feck!
Happy St Patrick's Day to one of the best Irish men I know....Your the best John, hope your having a great day...
Thanks so much for the history lesson. It's important to talk about the suppression of the Irish. They are a stoic group for the most part. Thanks, John. Enjoy the day.
Happy St Patrick's Day JT.
how does someone on disability afford to travel the world like you.
I wasn't born disabled.My travels now are pretty tame. Owning a house in Saratoga that tripled in value didn't hurt. Being disabled doesn't mean dumb any more than being born rich doesn't make you smart
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