For the day that was in it the optics of a steward at Dens Park stating that the national flag of Ireland was verboten was not great.
One Scotland many cultures…
Apparently, the official explanation was that flags or banners would cover advertising hoardings.
Presumably, then it is the same for all visiting clubs.
Oh dear…
Although it has perhaps lessened somewhat in recent years there is still a perceived general lack of respect for the Irishness in contemporary Scotland.
The debacle over the official memorial to An Gorta Mór in Glasgow is a case in point.
Some time ago I was heartened to learn that the Irish community in the city was going ahead with their own project to commemorate those who fled to Clydeside from Ireland in those awful years.
The City Council had apparently opposed their request to have memorial down on the Broomielaw.
This was, in my opinion, an ideal location for the memorial as it is where many of the famine refuges first set foot in their new home.
However, after two years of stonewalling by the City Council, the Committee decided to call it a day and the alternative site will be St Mary’s in the Calton.
After a competiton, the winning sculpture was by Donegal artist John McCarron.
Last Sunday the whole world celebrated Irishness in the public spaces of their great cities.
In this Glasgow and Scotland generally has abnormalised itself.
Looking back at the city of my birth from my current vantage point in Dún na nGall it isn’t a good view.
Moreover, there shouldn’t be a need for an organisation like Call It Out in nice multi-cultural Scotland.
However, there most certainly is.
It is self-evident that anti-Catholic hatred and anti-Irish racism are intertwined within the Scottish context.
I outlined this in a talk I gave at the ChangeIn Scotland conference in Ullapool in 2010.
Today Call It Out won their first discernible victory over hate parades in Glasgow.
Maith thú!
It is a sad fact that these fine folks have much work to do before the slogan “One Scotland many cultures” actually has some basis in reality.
Saint Patrick’s Day is a celebration of global Irishness.
I never thought when I gave a Terence MacSwiney memorial lecture in London in the late 1980s on the subject of the Irish in Scotland that an organisation like Call It Out would be needed in 2019.
Looking forward then the year we are in now was the setting for Ridley Scott’s dystopian masterpiece Blade Runner.
The Glasgow I grew up in had a “CitySpeak” that was laced with anti-Irish racism.
However, it would be a crass mistake to believe that these prejudicial attitudes only exist at street level.
They can be found in the legislatures on the United Kingdom and at no cost to those who openly espouse them.
Consider this, the pro-independence party currently has an MP in the British Parliament who thinks nothing about sneering about “Plastic Irishmen” in an interview.
Moreover, although spotted by the Irish Voice (the newspaper of the Irish community in Scotland), Ms Mhairi Black MP has never been asked to explain herself by any mainstream Scottish journalist.
I still harbour a hope that one day Fair Caledonia will decide to join the grown-ups in the global village and realise just how we Irish enriched their country.
You never know theScots might even become brave enough to vote for independence.
you have no relevance in the debate on modern Scotland. You have a blog that rehashes the same old shite ad verbatim like a stuck record.
look at the photo you used, see the kid at the front in his Rangers top, how does he fit your narrative.
You are a narrow minded bigot with no understanding of the complexities of the political landscape of 21 century Scotland. Yes we have our problems, but we are trying to address them. Your agenda is hideously outdated. you opted to take your family to Ireland for a better life. I admire you for doing that, but my question would be, why the fuck are you still banging on about rangers when no-one here gives 2 fucks about them.
In the week that featured St Patrick’s Day, it was both topical and funny that TV host “Alan Partridge” had his Irish doppelganger closing out his “This Time” show with an Irish sing-along like no other. Who would have thought that we would hear rebel songs being sung on the BBC?!! Watch and enjoy!!
https://metro.co.uk/video/irish-alan-partridge-sang-come-ye-black-tans-tv-1886362/?ito=vjs-link
It’s despicable that all over the world the day is celebrated by the Irish diaspora along with the citizens of the country that they now live in yet in Scotland it’s frowned upon whilst every summer thousands of bigots are permitted to take to the streets to walk the Queens highway to celebrate a victory by an army of Dutch mercenaries funded by the Vatican.
But don’t let the truth get in the way of banging the drums especially where there is a chapel on the route.
However what does reduce the noise to a peep will be 8 IAR and a historic treble treble.
Just think that in a couple of seasons when we hit 55 we can then claim Rangers mantle of the most successful club in the world!
Though I suspect that by then the narrative will have changed somewhat and that the SPFL will be referred to as a diddy league and the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona will be taking the title previously claimed by the Ibrox club and fans,
I too share those hopes,but I don’t expect to see a total overhaul in my lifetime.Tbph I’ll be glad with any improvement on the anti-Irish/catholic that festers in Scotland.
There’ll be a few that might take offence to your last line though Phil.Controversy Inc.
George Orwell right enough!..,eh?
G’luck and thanks,🍀🇮🇪✅🌱🦠💚
Phil , I share your ( sarcastic ? ) view Scots like me will see Scotland become an independent country in the very near future .
I was born and raised in the East End of Glasgow , third generation immigrant family , and saw at firsthand the casual/institutionalised anti-Catholicism that was endemic in the 50’s . Like so many others I have lived my life here and I am happy to report that so much of the prejudice that I saw and experienced has become a memory .
Yes there are pockets of resistance to moving into the 20th Century ( never mind the 21st ! ) , foremost among these is civic tolerance of the Neanderthals marching in our streets frightening the horses and the continuing tumour that festers out Ibrokes way . This too will pass away !
Our ‘problem’ is in being so close to N. Ireland ( geographically ) and having such close ties over the last several centuries that tensions/prejudices are heightened and , at times , blown out of proportion . This is not to excuse the continuation by some of their anachronistic views – but I contend that they are a dying breed .
I am optimistic that things will continue to improve ( what country in the world does not have a prejudice problem of one kind or another ? ) and that some day ( soon ) we will consign the ‘Walks’ and the ‘Klan’ to the same dustbin as the ”Black and White Minstrels Show ” and ”Love Thy neighbour” and many other intolerant episodes from our sullied and ignorant past .
Very sensible response. Phil drives this very subjective agenda currently, based on half wits he comes across on social media and and drunken clowns behaving embarrassingly at football matches. He never objectively refers to anything positive in Scots and Irish relationships as that would deflect the narrative.
As for call it out. This is a regressive waste of time and is as relevant as those pathetic chip on the shoulder Sevco fans protesting(about discrimination) in small numbers outside of the BBC at the weekend. Two of the most prejudiced groups per head of population in western Europe are the Black Irish and the traveling community there. If we are going to call it out, lets call it all out, particularly that, that is much closer to home.
Care to expand on your last two sentences there.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/ireland-sees-record-number-of-racist-assaults-in-2015-report-1.2742455
Not very good with links. 2015 “tip of the iceberg” it has got statistically worse since.
Per head of population. You do the Maths.There have been many articles since , in The Irish Times.