Patriotism and the Flag

Patriotism attached to a flag is misguided, we attach so much to a piece of cloth that winds up dividing us. Whether it be Union Jack, Tricolour or Gay Pride or whatever it is, this symbolism underlines our insecurities in that as a people we need a sense of identity. The flag issue as raised on this thread is an undercurrent of a bigger issue with that of Northern Ireland and its major problem of how people identify with one and other but the flag issue exemplifies it very well. Consider the British Legion who considers the flag sacrosanct and does not want it politicised. The Union Jack is already politicised through it being hoisted via Britian's imperial and colonial conquests throughout the years, Ireland's tricolour through its use in 1916, the gay pride flag to represent all the gay spectrum. Week in week out we wave these pieces of cloth for some sporting event or political reason to show that we have pride in our country and as a badge of identity, somewhere we can all belong and become part of some larger social group. It feels good, how many times do we get a shive down our back when we watch Ireland beat someone in rugby event, the cheer goes up for the anthem and there are various flags around the stadium with "Jacks Bar in Ballygofukwittery on tour" or some cringeworthy phrase. Far from being positive, flags and other such things as anthems and other symbols which appeal to our tribalistic personalities seek to undermine any sort of effort to build one thing we have in common, we are all members of the human race, all one and others brothers and sister and part of society which we formed, created and which we can drive for the better. Culture, Society, Politics, Economics are all driven by tribalsim and their interactions influence norms and values throughout the society we live. Through these values and norms things like flags become a symbol for a victor or an oppressed people, for those on the margins of soceity or left out in the cold or a sign of supremacy. For what end? The world is divided enough without us all resorting to belong to some sort of tribe as our caveman instincts lead us to become some sort of society fractured by our beliefs of superiority where one piece of cloth takes precedence over other group of people. The anarchists have it right to a degree, we should all strive for this masterless borderless world devoid of pseudo sentimental clap trap like flags, anthems, badges and other overtly nationalistic imagery in its tone.

Irish Human Rights and the UN

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/03/05/...ers-and-denis/




. Im not going to post links to the decisions but just give a brief outline.

-Legal action being used to intimidate and stifle journalism.
-The open nature of the law on blasphemy.
-Evidence of Garda Harassement.
-Guidelines on people who give info on abortions is not clear.
-Non consultation with groups representing travellers and the Roma communities.
-No protection of whistleblowers.
-Unfair treatment of asylum seekers.
-Issues at St Pats Institution.
-Irish prison service shambles.

Margaret Sekaggya, the rapporteur for the UN made a number of recommendations which can be viewed on the link on the Broadsheets website. Damning indictment again of failed government policies.

Paralysed Woman looks for right to die in Ireland.

Marie Fleming who is suffering from MS is seeking the right to die in Ireland. Mrs Fleming registered a few years back with Dignitas as a patient but was talked out of it by her husband. A solictor has been engaged to work on her behalf to challenge the ban on assisted suicide and that the prevention of her right to die is an infringement of her dignity and autonomy.The court has ruled on such a situation before:
http://www.independent.ie/national-n...e-3315954.html


 In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to die included the right to die a dignified and natural death in a case involving a woman who had been in a near-persistent vegetative state for more than 20 years. 
People who are in the legal definition "compos mentis" should have at their disposal all tools to enable them to die as they see fit. Such a choice rests with the person alone and no one else and those who aid them in situations where it is not murder or under duress should be free from legal reprecussion. The opinion of two doctos perhaps sought and a psychologist to ensure that the decision is entirely voluntary. We have DNR's already in Ireland as part of the legal framework, the right to die should be included too.

Are the Irish lacking Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence deals with our ability to deal with the emotions we experience. In Ireland while we are academically gifted and are well known in the arts world for our creativity do we lack any emotional intelligence? The ability model deals with four types of models in regards to emotional intelligence. Wikipedia explains it all pretty good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence

1.Perceiving emotions – the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible.
2.Using emotions – the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.
3.Understanding emotions – the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time.
4.Managing emotions – the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others. Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.

Irish society as a whole has failed to really become emotionally mature. In any society we learn from a hierarchy, those whom are in charge as to what becomes the norm in society and these norms dictate how we act. From the top we see a lack of all four models above. The bank bailout illustrates this point perfectly.

Perceiving emotions - Enda Kenny and the govt are out of touch with the effects that the cuts are having on us at the moment. Joan Burtons cuts and the imposition of cuts in terms of hosuehold taxes and water charges bring to the fray that we are more focused on monetary gain than understanding the emotions of the public.

Using emotions - these emotions will control us if we dont control them however we are also to use emotions to help us to problem solve and reach a conclusion. FG have been cold to the touch, they have completely being impartial in dealing with the EU and seeking teh bank bailout. There has been no emotion used in the decision again all financial dealings have lead to this.

Understanding the emotions - this ties in with the first point. At what point do we realise the needs of the people as opposed to the needs of the banks?

Manage emotions - indifference itself is an emotion IMO. How do we handle it ?We dont we seem to be too laid back any lack any fire. There is a lot of this passive aggressive bullshit floating about how do we direct our energies and bring about the revolution?

For too long from the RCC all the way up to lack of compassion from the banks and government we have become too lacking in emotional intelligence, its going to contribute to our downfall...

How held back is Ireland due to the church?

Irelands religious have their fingers in a lot of pies and while the church does not play a big role now in terms of legislation a lot of groups with ties to the church still hold a strong lobbying position. As was detailed in the Turn off the Blue lights site(http://www.turnoffthebluelight.ie/the-opposition/organisations/) on prostitution on the links between the various religious groups, we see more and more religious influenced faith groups now voicing their objection to things such as abortion, same sex marriage etc. With this in mind how far would we have come if these groups did not exist and how far would be socially without the church and other faith based organisations? Thanks to the church condoms would not be legal for years until there was ruling that we had a right to contraception and family planning (remember the pill train?).

A Reason to change the law on abortion?

http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/migration/ireland-has-worlds-highest-number-of-anencephaly-cases-669196.html

This is a case where there should perhaps be legal abortion. The child would have been carried to full term suffering from a condition called anencephaly in which the child is born with a brain stem and some parts of the brain but the rest is missing. At most the child can just carry out basic functions such as breathe and is just existing on the very peripherals of life. Morally for a situation like this to exist is completely wrong, this is the doing of the church and other fringe groups whom are intent on keeping the status quo. The child is suffering and the mother is suffering until she reaches England for the termination. This is not a case to further the pro choice cause in Ireland but to make a point that in even the most limiting of circumstances, issues like these warrant legal abortion here in Ireland.

Dublins Gay Pride

This weekend marks Dublin's gay pride and it's well into its older years having started out in the early 80's when several members of the gay community started it up and since then it has grown into a phenomenal success. Pride itself has its origins in the gay rights movement starting in the summer of '69 when police forced members of the LGBT community to disband from gay bars in New York in the Greenwich area, one of these bars , the Stonewall Inn, later became one of the flashpoints. Fast forward forty odd years later and now Dublin is holding its pride but who does it represent?

My fellow members of the LGBT community have taken it upon themselves to throw one hell of a party and what a party it is. This is one thing that can be done brilliantly is have a party but marching for rights? The world is a whole lot different than it was forty years ago we must admit. As per the Barons discussion with myself in the gay rights threads, his lesbian friends and I and others in the gay community cringe at the thoughts of glitter and Kylie representing us as is proclaimed by a wide section of the LGBT community. From skinny lads beat into jeans to bears pretending to be butch and everything in between, Pride has become synonomous with silliness as much as it has become to represent gay rights. Pride , it could be argued sets us back in society. The gay community seeks so much acceptance yet a march that seeks to only appeal to a minority and not the majority will never do that. Creating a bad impression of people like myself and others whom are quite happy to admit are gay but for whom being gay is only one of many aspects of our life. Straight people do not have straight pride do they?

I propose gay pride bring itself bang up to date and seek to change its attitude and mature itself. Gay marriage will not be achieved by waving glow sticks and endless amounts of Kylie are not going to bring us equal inheritance rights. By all means have the marches, I have joined you all in the past but this is a plea, take a look at the bigger picture. Become a part of active political and social life. Money spent on the parade could be used to fund a hostel for young LGBT people fleeing life from torture or persecution, it could be used to get more LGBT reps into the Dail, it could be used to open the gay switchboard for longer. Every pride I find myself repairing damage from the image portrayed which while fun makes life that little bit harder for me. Pride they say is about embracing our inner gay and being secure to do so but is it not stemming from an insecurity that we must show we are here and queer? Why not throw a concert and invite everyone from civic leaders to community organisations? We can gain acceptance more so through engagement on a more mature level.

An Irish Socialist Utopia Project

This occured while thinking of how we could set up a model for humanity to co exist and this idea popped up. Its off the wall but just go with me. Punch holes in the idea and add or subtract from it and improve as you see fit.

Take an uninhabited island off the West coast. Supply them with seeds , solar panels, high speed internet access and the means for self sufficiency.

-First off build housing that is low cost and self sufficient, the houses are powered by solar power and use membranes off the tides and wind power. There will always be a source of energy to power the house .

-Ensure that that the island is connected up to high speed broadband to allow conncection with the outside world.

-Set up (and this is the most important part) a Co-op which is a viable business. Use this to gain a profit which is then put in to building up the commune and supply finances for another co-op business. Each of these should exponentially grow.

-The land becomes self sufficient to grow blight resistant potaotes and other hardy crops .


If we have people here on the asylum list , offer them Irish citizenship and a home o n the island or others here whom are facing hardship. Its a chance for a new beginning and a chance to see if this model could work overall.


Am I missing anything?

Achill

The sweeping landscape really is breathtaking when you think about it. We went for a drive a couple of weeks ago and the rugged coast line just took our breath away. Roads tucked into the road side and cliffs that just drop off. The last stop after these cliffs? The US...

Gay Marriage

A lot of talk recently on gay marriage after North Carolina in the US rejected it out right opting to define marriage as being between a man and a woman . This move in itself is an affront to the dignity of the LGBT community in North Caroline but got me thinking about gay marriage in a general context and especially here in Ireland. Ireland has as you know , civil partnership which confers most entitlements to a smae sex partner but stops short at adoption and there is an issue around inheritance. To this end I propose the government introduce gay marriage or indeed something akin to gay marriage as marriage to me has religious connotations. There is support here in Ireland from all corners of society for such a move and such a move should be granted no questions asked. As I pointed out on another thread, some rights are non negotiable and are not subjective as society sees it that way. Why should others dictate to me how I live my private life? From most quarters the religious institutions in Ireland and the right in Ireland have consistently undermined or made efforts to bring anything in by stifling it.

The Irish Psyche at the moment...

My finger tips just wanted me to write this piece at this moment in time, so Im satisfying that urge. Various things have struck me over the last few months about the mental well being of our nation, its soul, its spirit. Captain Con's recent thread on Irish forum politicalworld.org on the Irish mindset (http://www.politicalworld.org/showth...ht=clandestine) provides a useful tool to how we Irish think but what about this current moment in time? With Croke Park coming to and end and a second bailout possibly needed, the whole psychology of Irish people is going to change. 


We are, for a lot us, Celtic cubs, we became accustomed to a certain way of life and now we find we don't have the material possessions around us we find ourselves becoming more and more dissatisfied as we do not know any other way to live our life . Material objects that once satisfied a craving are now replaced by despondent people looking for their next hit much like a junkie should he crave his heroin. The flash cars have gone back and the four bedroomed houses have gone back to the banks and people are left with nothing which marks them out as being what they were, rich, middle class and "look what I have and what you cannot afford". Second houses, holidays to the US for two weeks and the Beamer are all in the past now but those cravings still remain.


It pains me to bang on and on about the apathy that people have. They have literally being raped by the banks for everything that they own while the rich upper class dance away in their ivory towers in tax free havens. People though lack any sort of passion that once made Ireland what it was . The money that was their drug having been whipped from underneath them as it was about to put the barmans college or up their nose instead is now being handed back to Merkel. They stay in their little two bedroom matchboxes on some half finished pyrite infested estate on a suburb far flung from Dublin getting upset , not because they are broke, not because they were victims of being raped by the rich but because they did not see their favourite singer get through X Factor. Apathy descends on these households, Troika to them is some new holiday destination in Spain for all they care.


Imagine being in a box, with steel doors that wont open and a feeling of general anxiety that surrounds you. You have limited oxygen, food and other things at your disposal , what do you do? You suffer anxiety, clawing and scaping at the door. Its more or less akin to being buried alive. This is what a lot of young families are suffering after watching their father or mother lose the jobs , the homes , the cuts in welfare. A feeling of hoplessness drifts in to people, they see no way out excpet a six foot wooden shiny box that slowly descends into the cold ground of an island they once loved.


The sheer frustration felt by people coupled with the above just makes us more and more tired, downtrodden as a nation. We feel frustrated by our lack of opportunity. 


All is not lost though, just as pandora's box was said to contain all the evil and fears of the world , the Greek gods knowing man was curious put one thing in it, hope. It would act as a defence against all the bad qualities humanity would inflict on one and other . That is what it is important for people to understand, we have a hope of sorts. Admist all the squabbling, the finances, the banks , the despair. We have one thing....each other. Lets not forget that we need to keep hope, for the Irish psyche has taken quite a battering but lets not lose our faith in one and other.....

Irelands Newest Right Wing Party - falls flat on its face !

Much hilarity ensued when Michael Quinn, father of eight and leader of Irelands (lol) newest right wing party was ousted from his position of the leadership of the anti immigrationist Democratic Rights Movement . John Kavanagh suddendly announced on Quinns usual rant against the "invasion of Ireland" that he was taking over the mantle but Michael was welcome to come back at the helm. Lets not beat around the bush, both Kavanagh and Quinn made a laughing stock of themselves and again proved why the right wing in Ireland is hilariously inept. Riddled with infighting and playing the race card only attracts the sort of scum you do not want. Lads, give up politics and stick to drawing the dole . Was delighted to see them ,ahem, "give up their protest " at the British embassy .Fuck it Im being too nice.


Your party was a load of old bollocks lads, fuck off back to Limerick and never darken the doors of Irish politics again. Your policies are utter scummery. There is a reason Im a socialist. So I can tell people like yourselves, you are not fuckin wanted ....


More info here ! http://www.indymedia.ie/article/101151

Oscar come home...

Thursday afternoon was chilly in Pere Lachaise. Wandering up from seeing Jim Morrison , it was quite striking to know that the next grave to be seen was Oscar Wilde

. Meself and himself took a casual stroll and came to the grave side and it struck me how lost perhaps it felt to see him away from his home soil in a dark graveyard where he is along side some people whom are not even in the same league as him. Oscar died destitute in Paris after contracting cerebral menengitis and subsequently was buried in Pere Lachaise. Oscar suffered severely in his life for his homosexuality after being prosecuted for sodomy after the Marquess of Queensbury more or less accused him of it and in a subsequent ill judged move by Wilde who tried to sue and failed, this turned the tables on Wilde.




Should we look for an apology? Well the British pardoned Alan Turing, why not Wilde? Oscar should come home to a land that is different to what he knows now. "We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars" hold especially true now, this quote has the finger on the button as regards the state of this nation but it is his words from De Profundis (something I have tried reading but cant get into but the prose is extremley moving)





Quote:


When first I was put into prison some people advised me to try and forget who I was. It was ruinous advice. It is only by realising what I am that I have found comfort of any kind.
Oscar we have not forgotten who you are....

Marxism and Trotskyism in a modern context

Marx’s ideas if studied in the language at the time may seem to be fairly simple and irrelevant but that is because of the use of the language of the time. Marx consistently refers to the bourgoise and the serfs and plebeians but in a modern context all this has changed. The proletariat as he referred to would not recognise they are being exploited and would be able to seize power from the bourgoise. Just who constitutes the bourgoise and the working class these days? Marx was very right in his prediction that we have the ability to seize the power of the bourgoise and bring about change. The bourgoise now days we can take to be the banks and the politicians who are inextricably linked to one and other. Loans , political donations and cronyism all sought to undermine the working man (the proletariat) in this modern age of capitalism , the fourth stage which Marx remarked we are going through. The sheer indifference and apathy of the working man to his plight is certainly evident throughout the scorn poured on the left from all sections of society . The working class rising up though has become apparent through the occupy movement which shows its power in being able to use social media and mass gathering to show that we will not be stopped as the working class and with it being a global movement it also shows an element of Trotskyism. From my understanding of Trotskyism is that we need a global labour and Union movement to take back the power and empower the working class man once again, the Occupy movement have done this and are continuting to evolve. Indeed as per the Industrial revolutions people were forced to change as a result of their conditions and what was then could very well be now as the rolling chains of industry continually force people to live on the margins as exemplified by the cut in social welfare that is coming in this years budget. Perhaps I may have somewhat simplified but any input or criticism is welcome 





Sourceshttp://www.e-ir.info/?p=14937





http://www.scribd.com/doc/73467038/1...t-Perspectives