ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Partitionism Rules.
Simon Harris has said that Irish unity is not a priority for him. That is self-evident. But for him to say so is at odds with the stated position of most senior Irish politicians including An Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Their position is one of verbalised adherence to the constitutional objective of unity. In other words, they are verbalised republicans. Rhetorical United Irelanders. Mr Harris doesn't even pay lip service to this. Some may think this clarity from him is good for the unity debate. And they have a point.
Simon Harris words reflect the reality of the position of successive governments. Thus far no Irish government has a strategy or a plan for unity. So unity is not only not a priority for Simon Harris. It is clearly not a government priority either.
The truth is he reflects a deep-rooted view within the southern establishment which sees partition as acceptable. For 100 years Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have run the southern state – in their own interests. One led the government. The other led the opposition. And every so often they would walk across the floor of Leinster House, play musical chairs and change places. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Now they are Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dum.
International support grows for Palestinian Struggle
As the Israeli state’s brutal assault on the rights of the Palestinian people continues in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank nine countries came together last Friday at The Hague, in the Netherlands, to inaugurate a new international alliance in support of Palestinians.
‘The Hague Group’ supports South Africa’s genocide case against the Israeli state at the International Court of Justice, and also seeks to maximise international diplomatic and legal action in support of Palestinian national and human rights.
OFF LINE.
I ordered a pair of jeans on line recently. Why, by the way, do we say a pair of jeans? It’s the same with trousers. A pair of trousers is what we say. That means literally two trousers. Or does it? Maybe it’s a generational thing. Do younger people just say jeans? Or trousers? And why is it plural? Maybe because most jeans and trousers have two legs? A pair of them. So maybe that’s the answer to my question.
