The United States of America is on fire.
The anger of ordinary people at the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer is palpable.
It is also entirely justified.
Across the world, all decent human beings are with those who surrounded the White House.
The crowd that made President Twitter cower in a bunker are demanding justice for the murdered man and an end to the institutional racism that defines much of US law enforcement.
At times like this, international solidarity can be crucial.
Therefore, I was heartened to see the Liverpool players take a knee.
UEFA have consistently pushed the message that racism in the beautiful game is unacceptable.
That is why Sevco was sanctioned twice for the racism of their fans last season.
Consequently, I was not surprised at this message from the Vanguard Bears supporters’ group yesterday.
Some will say that the much-vaunted “decent Rangers fan” will have nothing to do with this world view.
Except that it is isn’t a tiny unrepresentative minority who regularly sing the Billy Boys and the Famine Song.
The first ditty lauds the memory of a razor gang that was led by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Billy Fullerton did not have people of colour to target.
Instead, it was the Irish of Glasgow who were his victims.
Fullerton deployed hundreds of armed men to terrorise a socially excluded immigrant community.
Apparently, some folk think that they can sing about being up to their knees in “Fenian blood” at Ibrox and then attend an anti-racist seminar without having an irony attack.
The second musical offering from the Ibrox klanbase that I mentioned above was created in 2008.
Yes, the 21st century in Fair Caledonia.
The following year the High Court in Edinburgh ruled that the Famine Song was racist and aimed at the multi-generational Irish community in Scotland.
That was not before a senior journalist in the Daily Record had written a defence of the ditty.
In 2012 the delightful fellows at Vanguard Bears created a “death wall”.
Their club had died, and they were not taking it well at all.
As I recall, your humble correspondent is on that edifice of hate.
Like the MAGA hat wearer in the States, their racism makes them feel good about themselves.
That is why they find it so difficult to give it up.
Indeed, the Ibrox matchday experience has been built around anti-Irish racism for generations.
It is axiomatic that if you authorise on type of xenophobia, then you open the door to other variants.
This piece of mine from 2009 about the abuse of Rangers player Maurice Edu from is a case in point.
A decade later, I re-visited that shameful incident at Ibrox.
I have often written here that the Ibrox klanbase continually authorise my harshest assessments of them.
Yesterday was just another example of that.
I’m told that some of the Vanguard Bears are from the North East of this country and resident in Béal Feirste.
If they are of a similar age to your humble correspondent, then they grew up as the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was challenging the certainties of the old Orange State.
That polity is as dead as Rangers although some in Norn iron mourn the passing of both.
The example of Doctor King and Rosa Parks were a massive inspiration to the people behind NICRA.
Tragically, the response of the Stormont regime was to gas and batter peaceful protestors off the street.
It could be argued that the chain of events that led to the armed struggle started at Burntollet Bridge.
I have a working theory on uprisings.
Here it is:
Ordinary people only face down the state when the functionaries of that state have made every other stance impossible.
So, for the day that’s in it, my thoughts are with these fellas.
Ordinary lads who routed the highly paid war criminals of a global empire and then showed them mercy.
On this day 99 years ago, the West Mayo Flying Column spared the lives of the murderers who surrendered to them at Carrowkennedy.
It was better than the Tans deserved.
In every sense of the word, the Óglaigh were better men than their enemy.
Lest we forget.
My grandmother Julia wrote up the dispatch of that successful IRA operation and her husband Joe carried it on the Westport train up to GHQ.
My grandfather did that right under the noses of the Brits!
Had they caught him then they would not have been merciful like the Flying Column at Carrowkennedy.
History remembered is a weapon.
The murdering mercenaries of the British Empire were, in part, authorised by a racist superiority complex over the “mere Irish”.
Of course, their hubris blinded them.
They could not understand how they were being defeated on the streets of Dublin and on many a bóithrín down the country.
The graduates of Frongoch University had perfected a new form of warfare, and the British had no answer but to terrorise innocent civilians.
The Ibrox klanbase, like the Tans in Ireland, are also on the wrong side of history.
Their time is slipping away, and they become more and more frightened of the future.
Therefore, we shouldn’t be surprised that the mask slips when issues of racism and oppression are making the news in the global village.
Of course, the ugly racist reality of Ibrox is in stark contrast to the Everyone Anyone marketing campaign.
No doubt those excellent folks at Show Racism the Red Card will be onto this without further delay.
Stay safe.
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The same Jimmy Reid that wrote for the Sun newspaper and sold out the miners
This would be the Jimmy Reid that I voted for to be rector and who flounced past us with an ermine robe and was never heard of again. Or is it the Jimmy Reid that wrote for the Sun newspaper and put his name to an article selling out the miners. That Jimmy Reid
Canny help but wonder if Liverpool Fc will be up on a UEFA Charge for first team players making a Political Statement?
Or is it only deemed Political when UEFA don’t agree with the message being conveyed?
Palestinian flags at Parkheid anyone?
An anti-racism statement is NOT the same as a political statement. Although I do agree with your views on UEFA. They ARE picky about what does constitute a political statement.
Phil as always great piece, the klan /brethren have Lizi and her pederist family up here North of the border it didn’t take her long to say ‘fuck this I’m off to visit my loyal supporters up there in ‘Phillip where we going again’ never mind, I’m sure no-one will question why we came,’ yea yer peasants were dropping like flies. The people of the free state should thank all those Óglaigh Last we forget.
Stay safe
Hail Hail
I realise that it may be somewhat controversial, but a better more inclusive slogan would be
‘All lives matter’ We are all brothers and sisters sharing this one planet.
The BLM movement emerged precisely because being black in the USA is a high-risk factor when dealing with the police.
You think???
I watched with horror the video of the Floyd murder. How anyone can attempt to justify the treatment he recieved is beyond me. Its just a pity that the so called “gangs” in London, that are killing their own, dont appear to have heard that “Black Lives Matter”
Straight out of the racist playbook, professing “horror” at the murder of George Floyd but really as a cover to indulge in bigotry, as would’ve been the case in the Sun/Mail etc. I don’t read them but its their standard tactic.
I live in London, which is a vibrant multicultural city that overwhelming rejected the bigotry of Brexit and the Tories.
It also has a Muslim Mayor and, although that was not part of this election campaign, he was opposed by bigotry from the Tory racism ranks and their fellow travellers but Londoners, of all persuasions, saw through this and overwhelming elected him.
Its been encouraging in the last few days to see protests of mainly young people of all colours and creeds, which is representative of the people of this city rather than the usual racist tropes.
Sadly there’s bad policing here, with a recent video highlighting this; yes, it doesn’t normally reach the horrific conclusion as in the USA but with hard right Tories in charge nationally, they would’ve no problem escalating this.
Of course London, like all big cities, has its problems but people should be alert to these being exploited by racists who have no interest in solving them.
There has been very little written about the mass gatherings in America, does the coronavirus not come to town when there is a demonstration happening?
The civil unrest in the US is due only in part to the murder of Mr Floyd. The ‘ tinder’ for the unrest has been lying around for decades. The ‘hollowing out’ of the US economy with major industries going offshore meant that large swathes of the country were left destitute. More than fifty percent of ordinary US citizens live from paycheck to paycheck and could not raise five hundred dollars in an emergency. There is now a category of person known as the ‘working poor’, people whose wage has to be supplemented by food stamps . They work for companies like Walmart ( Hillary Clinton is/was on the board). No less a person than former president Jimmy Carter has said that the US is no longer a functioning democracy and is, in fact, an oligarchy wherein both political parties are in the pay of corporate donors. The. ‘golden era’ for the American working class was from the end of WW 2 to the mid seventies. It’s been all down hill since then. I noted that a contributor to this blog bemoaned comment on US politics . But what this most dangerous of countries does effects us all. They ( the US political elite) have overseen the greatest transfer of wealth from poor to rich in history through bailouts to Wall Street and the ‘ ‘corporatocracy’. Having practically destroyed their own economy the are now demonising China for taking advantage of their corporate greed.There are now serious voices talking about the need for military confrontation with China. And if that Hell should come to pass, whose side do you suppose we would be on? The US is a troubled country, but their troubles may not be confined to their own shores.
I’d recommend a thorough read at Jimmy Reid’s acceptance speech, when he was made a rector of Glasgow University. Whilst reading his POV on socioeconomics and social injustice in general add racism into what he is trying to state, and you may well arrive at the conclusion that Jimmy was a modern-day Rabbie Burns (a man’s a man, for a’ that).
Also consider how people of colour indirectly contributed to the wealth of not only Scotland, but the entire British Empire. Now, there was institutionalised racism, right there!
Anyway, here’s the link to Jimmy Reid’s piece:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/still-irresistible-a-working-class-heros-finest-speech-2051285.html
My god they should be terrified. 0.033% of the population of the United States have died of coronavirus, or should I say “with”.
It’s twice as bad in the UK a totally mind blowing 0.06% have died. I’m sure you are terrified at the odds of dying.
“Of” or “with”. There’s a big difference and the distinction between them when reporting fatalities appears to be very blurred……….pretty much everywhere.
Yes especially as I have an underlying illness.
Stay safe
It’s not gone away you know
No. And there WILL be a second wave. There always is. Generally worse than the first.
Stay safe buddy.