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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1997-12 > 0881220961


From: "Edward Andrews" <>
Subject: Re: Closed minds reinforce decay
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 10:38:52 0


> Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 18:50:42 -0800
> From: Roger Hillhouse <>
> To: Gareth Cromie <>
> Cc:
> Subject: Re: Closed minds reinforce decay

> Boy oh boy, have you ever misread your history.
This is where the conflict lies. I am not an apologist for "The
English". The language which Roger uses however is
first of all intemperate, secondly appears to be the generally
unthinking acceptance of popular myths rather than resulting from an
historic assessment of the facts.

The Anglo-Normans sat
> in their London Clubs renting land in smaller and smaller parcels until
> nobody could make a living on it.
Because the potato made it possible for people to live on extremely
small areas of land, it was possible for the Population to increase
very rapidly. This produced an increased demand for land. Most of the
shrinkage of plots was due to (sometimes illegal) sub leasing of
land.
The fault was not with any particular people, but with the whole
system of landlordism. There is an exact parallel in Latin America
today.
It was then the failure of the Potato, and the fact that the
policies of Trevelyan (economic liberalism which has been reborn as
monitrism ) were incapable of dealing with such an economic disaster,
which reduced the people to poverty. The British reaction to the
Irish Famine was no different to that of the authorities to the
Belgium Famine 20 years later.

> Then they would throw the poor sap
> off and put another on -- if >you have nothing, anything looks
better.
True. It was only when the people began to Boycott evicted land in
solidarity of the Rural Proletariat that this move failed.

> The Scotch-Irish moved on to America and the Irish returned to Northern
> Ireland.
Sorry I cannot recognize what you are saying. You have not
defined your time frame. I am assuming that you are writing
about the early 19th Century. There was no Northern Ireland at the
time. The statement that the "Irish returned to Northern Ireland." is
not true.
> What do you think the Easter Rising was about?
The main reasons for the Easter Rising were
1. Because the offer of Home Rule contained in the 1914 Act was not
sufficient for some (a small minority) of the nationalists.
2. The availability of Guns through the Irish Volunteers.
3. The belief of Pearse of the need for a "Blood Sacrifice"
4. The development of class (Marxist) politics with Connolly and his
Citizens Army.
5. The encouragement of Germany who was at war with Britain.
The Easter Rising was only significant in that Pearse's Blood
Sacrifice took place, and from being a small minority before the
rising republicanism was widely supported after it.
Lennin described Connolly's Citizen's Army as the first People's
Army, so the Easter Rising could be seen as the precursor of the
Russian and Chinese Revolutions - the parallels with
pre- revolutionary China are quite striking, - and the Viet Nam war.
Before you disagree I suggest that you read the writings of
Connolly.
Incidentally Connolly was Scotch Irish, in terms of the list.

> father-in-law was a returned soldier at the end of WWI and got into the
> Black and Tans. He got out when he was ordered by his commander to
> assassinate an Irish leader.
I don't doubt it. All governments use extra legal methods when
necessary. vide the CIA in a number of places. The same happened
in Argentina during the dirty way, and so on. He was fortunate that
he could get out.
> The English are responsible for the current situation.
Would that they were. The people of Ulster, both
Roman Catholic and Protestant have to accept a lot of responsibility
for how they have acted over the past 80 odd years.
Those countries whoes citizens or governments who provided support
for the terrorists have to share the blame.
Scapegoating one particular community or nation does not help.
This is why in Scotland the nationalist movement is very careful to
distance itself from the traditional expressions of anti English
feeling, and rather look positively at what the people of Scotland
from whatever origin can do.
Edward Andrews
St Nicholas Buccleuch Parish Church Dalkeith, Midlothian Scotland
Visit our Web site http://www.btinternet.com/~stnicholas.buccleuch/index.ht

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