Remembrance

The British have been attempting to rid themselves of Northern Ireland for the best part of three decades, I hate to tell you that cactus, but it is the truth. Name me the single economic advantage Northern Ireland presents... to anyone quite frankly.

cactus flower wrote:

Ronald Binge wrote:

Whatever about "poppy fascism", of which very little if any exists in this country, in fact the reverse, the bitterness and viciousness of the p.ie threads on this subject finished me with that board.

Individual Irish people for generations made the choice for generations, for whatever reason, to join the British Army. I can understand many Irish people being offended by coverage on RTE though I do not share that point of view personally. As to Irish Times coverage, those who did not believe that Britain was the root of all evil in the world are part of the core constituency of that paper. Other newspapers are available.

My grandfather was in the British army as a conscript. Like most people, he never fired a shot in anger. He spent the war filling in forms. The British regular army is something else altogether: it role is still to maintain power relations that are advantageous to Britain's economic interests. Iraq, Afghanistan, the North of Ireland or strikebreaking, to name but a few jobs. People can't be stopped from making the choice of joining, but I wish they could be dissuaded.

That is an entirely fair and reasonable point, but when did the BA do strikebreaking?

Ronald Binge wrote:

That is an entirely fair and reasonable point, but when did the BA do strikebreaking?

Arguably during the miner's strikes in the 1980s. Although I don't think much evidence has been produced to demonstrate it as fact. Welcome to be contradicted there, just I haven't come across the evidence save for individual testimony of miners... who I suppose you could say were biased.

The Irish Army provided an emergency transport service during Dublin City Bus Strikes in the seventies and eighties, so we've done strike breaking too it seems.

Ronald Binge wrote:

The Irish Army provided an emergency transport service during Dublin City Bus Strikes in the seventies and eighties, so we've done strike breaking too it seems.

I think there is a bit of a difference. As I have said, I have not seen evidence that the British Army was actually used to break strikes during the miner's strikes, though I have often heard it alleged. There however, a difference between proactively breaking and dispersing a strike and the provision of essential services during a strike. For instance, when bin men go on strike the Army will carry out their activities on the basis of public health. That is different to forceably breaking their strike.

I don't think there is any comparison bewteen Dublin Bus strikes and the miners strikes in England... which are very much in a league of their own in terms of many things.

I can certainly remember seeing legions of policemen around the miners strike but can't recall the BA. BTW, was my second post before this one edited? Unless I'm losing it I don't recall adding the line about the firemen and the general strike.

I'll look into it.

Ronald Binge wrote:

cactus flower wrote:

Ronald Binge wrote:

Whatever about "poppy fascism", of which very little if any exists in this country, in fact the reverse, the bitterness and viciousness of the p.ie threads on this subject finished me with that board.

Individual Irish people for generations made the choice for generations, for whatever reason, to join the British Army. I can understand many Irish people being offended by coverage on RTE though I do not share that point of view personally. As to Irish Times coverage, those who did not believe that Britain was the root of all evil in the world are part of the core constituency of that paper. Other newspapers are available.

My grandfather was in the British army as a conscript. Like most people, he never fired a shot in anger. He spent the war filling in forms. The British regular army is something else altogether: it role is still to maintain power relations that are advantageous to Britain's economic interests. Iraq, Afghanistan, the North of Ireland or strikebreaking, to name but a few jobs. People can't be stopped from making the choice of joining, but I wish they could be dissuaded.

That is an entirely fair and reasonable point, but when did the BA do strikebreaking?

Beg your pardon, Ronald Binge - I inadvertantly stuck this into your post, instead of quoting you - "The firemen' s strike and the General Strike - going back a bit for that one, I'll admit."

No problem