Phil Mac Giolla Bháin

 In a parallel universe there is an ice hockey match in Canada.   One club draws its’ support and its’ narrative from the thousands of Scots who left Scotland during the “Highland Clearances”.    The other club are their bitter rivals and their support is largely drawn from the English ascendancy in Canada.   The Toronto Royals are Canada’s establishment club.  The religious ethos of the club has always been Anglican. Their ex-players and managers populate the upper echelons of Canadian ice Hockey. Until 1989 they did not hire any player who had a Scottish background, especially of the player …

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  I had studiously avoided watching the Olympics, much less write anything about it when they were on.  I had caught a section of the opening ceremony on the news and it was a stunning spectacle.   In that I was drawn to the closing ceremony as I expected the same eye-popping, jaw dripping display. I was not disappointed.  For all the majesty, energy and synchronisation of motion I was unsettled by the similarity to the Nazi Olympics.   This was all too much like “Triumph of the will” for the digital age.   This is an empire on the …

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By Phil Mac Giolla Bhain Last week Alan Shatter TD submitted a Dail question to Foreign Minister Micheal Martin about the Famine Song controversy in Scotland. The Minister stated, ” in common with the vast majority of people in Britain and Ireland, I condemn the singing of songs or other actions which promote or encourage racism, sectarianism or xenophobia of any kind. “. I spoke with Deputy Shatter last week and he confirmed to me that he had also written directly to Rangers Football club to express his concern for this “anti-Irish chanting” indulged in by thousands of Rangers’ fans …

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  We are in the eye of a perfect storm. The shockwave is yet to crash against our lives, but be advised that which you thought was immutable. That which you thought was self-evident I being found out in front of your disbelieving eyes.   When I was teenager my first job in Glasgow was in a railway factory maintaining the rolling stock of the then nationalised British Rail.   The official name of the factory was British Rail Engineering Springburn Works.   To everyone inside and to the local people it was “the Caley”.   Thos was short for the …

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Phil was interviewed by Matt Cooper on Today FM’s “The Last Word” on Wednesday 8th October. Click link to hear audio  The Famine Song Phil was invited onto the show because he had broke the story on his blog earlier that day that a parliamentary question about the Famine Song was going to be asked the next day by Alan Shatter TD to Micheal Martin Foreign Minister.

April 16th – Celtic v Rangers.  It is aired for the first time. Within days Show Racism the Red Card are innundated with complaints. Week beginning April 21 – Complainants receive responses from SRTRC that the song is racist and they are in dialogue with the SPL, SFA and Rangers FC about the song.  The request for an ethnic group to go home is a racist mantra and has been for many years. It is NOT the Famine reference that makes the song racist. April 27th – Celtic v Rangers – It is sang in greater numbers and on at …

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By Phil Mac Giolla Bhain Exclusive Irish politician Alan Shatter TD has submitted a Dail question to Foreign Minister Micheal Martin about the Famine Song controversy in Scotland. I spoke with Deputy Shatter last week and he confirmed to me that he had acted after a constituent had contacted him. “I am urging Minister Martin to directly contact Alex Salmond, the Scottish First minister in Edinburgh, to deal with the racist chanting of the “Famine Song” by Rangers supporters at soccer matches in Scotland,” said Deputy Shatter  ”Rangers supporters should get behind their world famous team and move on from …

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This article is from The Irish Post on 4th October 2008 by Phil on the continuing debate over ‘The Famine Song’ or moreso the issue of Anti-Irish Racism in Scotland. Click on the image on the right to view the PDF of this article. The text from the article is posted below.   “Over the past few weeks I have re-visited the decision that my wife and I took in 1995 in Glasgow to sell up and move to Donegal.  When we moved our son Cathal was four his sister Roisin was a baby and we just got news that number …

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This video/audio clip is from the Real Radio football phone in, hosted by Ewen Cameron and Alan Rough. It covered the Famine Song story as the involvement of the Irish consulate in Edinburgh broke.

Racists always make sense. They make sense to themselves and other racists (presuming of course that they are of the same perceived racial/ethnic group). For the last 500 years the dominant ethnic group on the planet has been the white western European group. That much is undeniable and self-evident. The top of that particular racial pile-100 years ago-were the British. The Germans tried to topple the British, but they failed. However despite their failure to take out Britain Germany drained the strength of the London state and, in the end, the colonials in America had to save the old country …

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