Demilitarisation Protest @ Queens University

by Ógra B - Ógra Shinn Féin Tue Nov 15, 2005 16:06 osf6county at yahoo dot com

‘Stop British Army/ OTC recruitment in our University’
Ógra Shinn Féin will hold a demilitarisation protest outside Queen’s University Belfast at 1PM on Wednesday 16th November, The theme of the protest will be ‘Stop British Army/ OTC recruitment in our University’
Ógra Shinn Féin to protest outside Queen’s University

Ógra Shinn Féin will hold a demilitarisation protest outside Queen’s University Belfast at 1PM on Wednesday 16th November, The theme of the protest will be ‘Stop British Army/ OTC recruitment in our University’.

Andrea O’ Kane Ógra organiser in Queen’s said “this demilitarisation protest is to show
the opposition and disgust at the British army’s recruitment drive and charm offensive within our campus. The British army are an illegal force of occupation and should not be permitted to cover the university campus with their posters and recruitment
advertisements. A university should be a neutral environment free from offensive literature and poster that only serve to promote an atmosphere of exclusion and segregation. The British army have no right to be in Ireland never mind our universities.”


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by SPwatch Tue Nov 15, 2005 16:17

Wonder if SP or Organise will turn up? -- Ha, Ha.

by Gordon Brown Tue Nov 15, 2005 18:32

The BA's recruitment campaign at Queen's is utterly disgraceful, and Ógra are right to demand that universities not promote such partisan and insenitive politics.
It is a sign of the times in the North that Queen's - its very name once synonymous with sectarianism and intransigence - is now a largely nationalist university, and one in which such relics of imperialism as the BA are becoming unwelcome.
Troops out!!!

by Duine Tue Nov 15, 2005 18:40

Nach bhfuil an Ollscoil sin i dtír shaor? Nach bhfuil cearta ag daoine fáil amach i dtaobh deiseanna fostaíochta in arm na Breataine?

by Darragh Tue Nov 15, 2005 19:34

Tír shaor? Ná bí ag magadh. Níl na sé contaetha saor go fóill.

by ollie Tue Nov 15, 2005 19:39

yeah tá sé ag pleidhciocht anois darragh.

by waggon Minx Tue Nov 15, 2005 20:30

"its very name once synonymous with sectarianism and intransigence - is now a largely nationalist university"

What utter balls you talk. You rejoice that a previously sectarian institution has mutated into a "largely nationalist" institution, you fail to notice the contradiction in your statment

largely nationalist=sectarian
largely Unionist=sectarian

There is a laudable enthusiastic desire on behalf of northern nationalism and republicianism to smash unionist on nationalist sectarianism but is there also an unconcious or concious desire to restructure the northern state with its sectarian poles reversed?

The idea of living in a state controlled by the Ógra Shinners is as equaly repulsive as the idea of living in a sectarian Orange controlled state.

by Barry Tue Nov 15, 2005 21:40

and theyll be joining the British crown forces themselves quite soon , courtesy of the PSNI . Which makes you wonder why theyre bothering with this protest . The British Army are only servants of the British state in Ireland . Sinn Fein have accepted that state . Why protest ?

by Gordon Brown Tue Nov 15, 2005 22:37

Ah but of course! In the bourgeois, unthinking, regrssive mentality of some, the term "nationalist" is synonymous with "sectarianism".

My point in noting the new political dynamics at Queen's was not to suggest some sectarian role reversal, but to point to the fundamentally different thrusts within conetnding nationalisms. The unionist hegemony had promoted a supremacist mindset, excluded Catholics and suppressed their cultural and political expression. However, I believe that Irish nationalists, who have suffered such repression, represent a predominantly progressive, modern and forward thinking political ethic. They may oppose the British Army recruiting at Queen's, but they also oppose sectarianism and the dominance of one community over another. They often share a broadly (if watery) socialist political ideology (and I would even stretch this to include the SDLP) and support a libertarian outlook that challenges the outmoded tribalism of unionists.

Your belief that this is somehow sectarian is simplistic and mislead. It correlates with opinions I would normally associate with someone who has rarely, if ever, been to the North, supports the SWP, is a student from middle class Dublin, drinks Lattés, reads the Sunday Independent and the odd Sparticist pamphlet, thinks Nelson Mandela a counter-revolutionary and believes the May Day scuffles on Dame Street comparable - in historical terms - to the storming of the Bastille.

by Observer Wed Nov 16, 2005 10:12

'waggon Minx' obviously never attended uni. as he / she dont understand the meaning of sectarianism. Sectarianism is based on ones religion and not if your unionist or nationalist.

by gonzo Wed Nov 16, 2005 10:45

"The British army are an illegal force of occupation"

Actually when Gerry and the other revolutionaries of Sinn Fein signed the dotted line on that infamous good friday they legitimised the occupation. This is a bit like the vichy government of france clling for an end to german army recruitment.

Collaborator stick to thy last!

(and stop trying to fool the rest of us)

by Trotwatch Wed Nov 16, 2005 10:51

In the past a SP member on QUBSU Executive supported a BA recruiting stall at Queens. He called the SF opposition to the stall "sectarian". The same SP member opposed naming a bursary after muredered Human Rights lawyer Pat Finucane but then went on to support a proposal that a bursary be named after a Unionist who had been killed by the IRA.

by gonzo Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:04

he wasnt a student of english!

Sectarian: 1.of or concerning a sect 2. bigoted or narrowminded in following the doctrines of ones sect.

Oxford english dictionary definition of sectarian.

by Spartacus Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:41

How will ORANGEise wriggle out of this one? Seeing as they are opposed to the State you'd think they would oppose a British Army recruitment day. But this might be seen as sectarian so you wont see any members of ORANGEise at this protest.

by wagon minx Wed Nov 16, 2005 13:30

sorry observer it is yerself who has the limited understanding of sectarianism having lived in the north of Ireland all my life my use of the trems unionist and nationalist in referance to sectarianism is perfectly valid. The northern conflict may once have been rooted in religous oposition but it now has absolutely nothing to do with religon. It has evolved (if that is the correct word) into somthing quite different. Considering that the majority of the combatants are Catholic or Protestant in name only. I use the term sectarian to describe a an opposition between two SECTS.

Definition from Dictionary.com>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
sec·tar·i·an Audio pronunciation of "sectarianism" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (sk-târ-n)
adj.

1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of a sect.
2. Adhering or confined to the dogmatic limits of a sect or denomination; partisan.
3. Narrow-minded; parochial.
n.

1. A member of a sect.
2. One characterized by bigoted adherence to a factional viewpoint.


Hey Gordon (insult deleted -ed)
I have never been amember of any political party never mind the SWP and as I said I have lived in the north of Ireland all my life.

Ps observer observe this http://www.orsm.net/thumbs/rebeccaramosbf.jpg

by Gordon Wed Nov 16, 2005 15:27

"U Fuk", ahem, is the term of abuse minx uses to describe me.

I am above responding in like terms, but will note that his unqualified ascription of the term "sectarian" to all nationalists is absurd, and his defuinition of sectarian as "narrow-minded" and "parochial" might more fittingly be ascibed to his good self.

I suspect that there are at least five million people on this island who would agree with me, which suggests that his use of the term "factional" is just as absurd.

by Wagon wheel Wed Nov 16, 2005 18:59

...is an ignoramus, and obviously a unionist or stoop.