Sitting in a café, I asked a friend about it all, a fella who ain't never made no secret of his affiliations, least to those unlikely for to whip out an AK. Used to have a print hanging 'bove his bed, LVF leader Billy Wright, dead and lain out in an open-top casket. Dotted round about, slogans long the lines of White Power, Only Good Nigger Is A Dead Nigger, these sortsa things. Sortsa things would cause a man no end of anxiety if he didn't know that A- this fella had more desire to shock than to necessarily offer any sort of worthwhile services to the organizations in question, and B- if I didn't see it in this room, I just had to walk two doors down the street, just had to note the graffiti on the alleyway walls.
So I had "Beat The Bastards" and "Stamp Out Sectarianism" and "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" etched onto my bedroom door, and a number of friends had the polar opposite, that's how it went, that's how it goes.
So I'm asking this fella, "What the fuck's with all this in-fighting, anyroad?"
He sighs and wipes his nose. "Fucking arseholes have turned on each other, and all the while the IRA are sweeping up left and right."
Thinking goes that the loyalist paramilitaries are so busy shooting each other outside pubs that they fail to notice the continuing advances of the republican variants. Thinking goes that one day these loyalist cats are gonna be waking up hungover and blinking teeth out their eyes and seeing an Irish Government in Belfast.
If he don't watch himself, a fella can start believing that it all Means Something.
But these kids at the bus-shelter, far as they know, there's no rivalry amongst the protestants. Don't be fucking stupid. The loyalist paramilitaries are One Entity striving to keep Northern Ireland free of Irish Rule. That's the idea, the reality is irrelevant.
Yet the papers say all about they ain't got a bullet to spare for anyone but a fellow protestant hell-bent on selling crack on the wrong street.
Still, these young uns sing away, gloriously ignorant of the ever-slipping façade.
"I was walkin' down the Falls with a fuckin Tommy Gun,
I saw a Fenian coming, said nobody could stop 'im,
So I shot 'im,
And I watched that bastard die."
These fellas at the bus-stop, they assume the riots are on account of "Somethin to do with the IRA."
Article comments
1 - Bennett
When I saw the news about the disarm thing going on your way, I though about asking if it would have any effect on your life.
But then I thought, why bring up politics to The Duke just when he's probably creating something to make me laugh, or spit my food onto the keyboard.
Nah, don't ask I said.
And then this. The low from on high, the wank about being fucked, and sadly about being the same old story.
Masterful, Aaron. And thanks for shredding my hopes that there might be a Turn in Attitude in the land of my father's ancestors. This year at least.
Best of luck to you, and keep your head down.
Bennett
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
thank you, Bennett. but please, remember, this is just a particular view on a particular evenin. it's Part One, cause a follow-up with a much more optimistic bent will arrive sometime shortly. things are most certainly much, much better than they used to be, but one can get blinded by the good news from off the newstands an forget about the situation two miles down the road.
3 - Bennett
Well, okay then.
This view is aptly subtitled, and packs a punch. I look forward to the brighter side, cause there really needs to be something to offset the grimness here.
...and working the kids at the bus stop in and out of the story is great touch.
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
hmm, it is pretty grim, innit? maybe my mood's as much to blame as anything. but i don't think im exagerrating anything thats for sure. but yes, a brighter side will emerge, and i added a Part One to the actual title of the post so as the eventual part two doesn't confuse the hell out folks.
and thanks again, Bennett!
5 - Phillip Winn
Man, I hope that part two presents a slighty more optimistic view of the future. Or at least one that doesn't do quite such a job of making me want to slash my wrists.
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
ach, Phil, my apologies. but then again, a fella can only call it as he sees it, an such. an thank you for readin!
7 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
also, i think i should add, on the wall with the far-right slogans, couple faces across was none other than Bob Marley. go figure.
8 - Eric Berlin
Duke -- Man, what a powerful piece of writing this is right here. I look forward to the Part II, which I'll dive into in a moment.
Before I do, I was wondering how much of your own personal leanings you might want to share? What effect has your family had on it, if any (and we can assume quite a bit, one way or the other)?
9 - Eric Olsen
agreed, that's some drama in real life Duker: very real, immediate, and a slap in the face of complacency - thanks!
10 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
both Erics, thank you!
EB, my own leanings have little in common with either "side", as they say. Socialist is what i'd put on the forms, if i were asked. Certainly i have no time for the thugs in the green or the orange.
This particular area is mostly Loyalist (or Protestant, i suppose, since most folks seem to have tied the two up rather handily), but i have nothing in common with the political stances of these folks.
With regards effects and the like, i'm faioly lucky to be in an estate far enough from the town to be reasonably quiet. the town nearest here is, in fact, reasonably quiet, but the working class areas are still run by the pseudo-mafioso cum-rags.
A fella raises none much objections in their company, i might add. Although i did semi-accidentally steal a pint from under the nose of one of the head-honchos a couple years back. thankfully they were involved in a fist fight at the time, and took my apology / denial in good spirit.
11 - Victor Plenty
For all its pessimism, your reporting from the ground gives me hope, Aaron. It shows most people are just decent folks who want to get by and support their families and maybe contribute a little something positive to the world, even in war-torn conflict zones.
Outside war zones there are still criminals and thugs. In most of the world such types openly declare their sole allegiance is to money, instead of hiding behind political causes.
From the depths of your despair at the slow pace of change, you've still managed to show us most people just wish all these types would quit being such insufferable wankers. Thank you for that.
12 - Eric Berlin
Have you had to, at times, feign allegiance or at least support for one side or another, as you allude to with the slogans on your door?
Are there pubs you can go to that are more-or-less apolitical and aren't rife with violence after all have put back a pint or seven?
13 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Victor, thank you for the encouragement, means a lot to a fella. One thing i do feel a bit odd about is contributing in some way to the idea that Northern Ireland is some sort of terror-crazed chunk of blood an fire or somethin. it's by no means that way, but there's a tension every damn where, or most everywhere, a really casual fuckin spite an bigotry hangin about. its not to say a man's at risk of a bullet in the teeth wherever he may be, that's not the case at all, but there are areas, far to many, where the thugs run the streets. sometimes it hardly even registers, but when you think about it, in the town where i'm at, allegedly a god chunk of the businesses are paying money towards protection and the like. its ridiculous and disgusting.
Eric B, i don't know that i ever sided with any group even when it would be wise to do so, a lot of the time i just avoid the bars and the like (there are a god dozen bars in this particularly tiny area, three of which are the sorts you mentioned, where it's wise not to go in without a fair knowledge of the opinions therein) where it's gonna be neccesary, and since i don't drink anymore, i choose what bars or whatever i end up in here and there with a clear head, so there's scarsely any trouble. But at school and the like, was just a case of keepin the yap shut, even when the banter round about was enough to make a man puke. The stuff on the door and the like i mention i guess to show how it's easy to wax on and off about how vile these typsea people are, but whewn it boils down to it, a good number of my friends where only to glad to offer moral support to them. I guess i'm just mentionin it to show that it wasn't odd for me to be in a friend's room and see nazi propoghanda lying about , and it wasn't odd for them to see the comnplete opposite when they came over to me. I never hid my disgust of it from them, and the same applied the other way round. but what's said amongst friends is different to whats said in a place fulla strangers. a friend warned me about wearing a dead kennedys t-shirt down the street one time, cause it said "Nazi Punks Fuck Off". seeing as how many of the folks around where involved in organisations how have proven links to neo-nazi groups, seemed like an unwise move to be tellin them all to fuck off, particualrly since i'm far from the biggest a fellas. heh.
but no, i don't wanna give the impression that it's some sort of, well, war-zone i guess. even at the height of it all, in the seventies, it was certain areas, not the whole damn place. but there's still a massive, massive ammopunt of sectarian feeling, just that it's not neccesarily violent. if you know what i mean.
14 - Eric Berlin
Duke -- Just caught this last bit, which was really helpful in filling out some of my curiosity. Thanks man...
15 - KENNY
As an Ulster-Scot I know all about our supposed Loyalist 'heroes'. Your article is very true and if the Loyalist paramilitaries dont get over their fucking childish bickering and scum trade soon there will be no British Ulster, just Ireland...and that will be a sad day. NO HOME RULE!!
16 - Conor
British Ulster? Just Ireland? A sad day??
Whatever lad, go home
17 - Duke De Mondo
Kenny and Conor, thank you both for your comments.
I wasn't putting myself out in favour of one or the other political strand in the article, i should say again. i'm more concerned about the folks stood in the middle o' such.
mind you, the recent developments at St Andrews are incredibly heartening. the hope is that any moves forward made by the various political bodies filters through to the folks stood at the bus-shelters and the pub-doors.
18 - gonzo marx
wow...just fucking...wow
Duke, this is one powerful bit of prose, and my heartfelt Appreciation for sharing it all ... yes i noticed the date, and i am way late finding this ...
but i had to say it....
wow
Excelsior?
19 - Duke De Mondo
gonzo, thank you. i tend not to tread these sorts o' waters very often, and indeed i haven't done so really since this was written. i'm glad you liked it.
a somewhat more optimistic Part Two was published shortly afterwards, and can be found on BC HERE
again, thank you.
20 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Duke,
This piece, like your others, was a good read, but a hard one.
I know a Protestant lady in Northern Ireland who used to work for Ulster TV, a decent intelligent woman who talks when she has something to say. It dawned on me that the Protestants in Ulster would be much bigger fish in a Dublin Parliament than they are in the Westminster one, and would be treated not like second class Brits which appears to be the case now, but like first class Irishmen. She wrote back that this is exactly what her (Protestant) husband thinks.
Of course, there is a mafia in the Irish Republic, just as there is in Northern Ireland. The question is whether it would be worth it to the Dublin authorities to stamp out the mafias generally on the Emerald Isle if the whole Isle were theirs to rule. It's obvious that the Brits don't give a damn about you guys.
And now I'll go and read what you call optimism.
21 - Jimmy Kearney
Brilliant. I loved reading this view.