Ireland recalls 1916 Easter Rising against British rule

Associated Press ^ | Mar 27, 2016 9:47 AM EDT | Shawn Pogatchnik

[Olog-hai]

Thousands of soldiers marched solemnly Sunday through the crowded streets of Dublin to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of Ireland’s Easter Rising against Britain, a fateful rebellion that reduced parts of the capital to ruins and fired the country’s flame of independence.

The Easter parade through Dublin featured military ceremonies at key buildings seized in 1916, when about 1,200 rebels sought to fuel a popular revolt against Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom. […]

Many Dubliners opposed the insurrection as an act of treason in time of war, but public sentiment swiftly swung in the rebels’ favor once a newly arrived British Army commander decided to execute Pearse and 14 other rebel leaders by firing squad in Dublin’s Kilmainham Jail. …

[Olog-hai]

The State may become a member of the European Coal and Steel Community (established by Treaty signed at Paris on the 18^th day of April, 1951), the European Economic Community (established by Treaty signed at Rome on the 25^th day of March, 1957) and the European Atomic Energy Community (established by Treaty signed at Rome on the 25^th day of March, 1957). No provision of this Constitution invalidates laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the State necessitated by the obligations of membership of the Communities or prevents laws enacted, acts done or measures adopted by the Communities, or institutions thereof, from having the force of law in the State.

— Third Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland, 1972

Since they threw it all away in 1972, I see nothing to commemorate.

[Vaquero]

Since the IRA is a bunch of commies now.....who cares

[Snickering Hound]

Brits put down the rebellion with heavy machine guns and artillery.

Different times.

[Olog-hai]

They were a bunch of commies then too. Chief among them was James Connolly, whom Lenin cited as inspiration, and James’ son Roddy who was a close associate of Lenin and also a participant in the “Rising”.

[IronJack]

An utter disaster for the Independence movement. The rebellion was put down almost immediately, demonstrating that a frontal assault on British institutions would never achieve an Irish Republic. The leaders were tracked down and hanged.

All except two who would play the most critical roles in establishing a Free Ireland: Michael Collins, who became a guerrilla leader without peer, and Eamon DeValera, whose battlefield was Parliament and the bank.

[Farmer Dean]

I guess that fighting a major war of attrition in the trenches of France and Belgium spoiled the Brit’s sense of humor.
The Irish staging an insurrection during time of war was vile treachery.

[Zionist Conspirator]

An attempted Communist revolution by James Connolly and his comrades.

Why do so many FReepers support socialism when white people "benefit?"

[nathanbedford]

As one greatly proud of Irish heritage, I am equally ashamed of the mindless communist content of much of modern political philosophy in Ireland.

I have met and talked to IRA members at length and they are even more impenetrable in their hermetically sealed cult like view of the world as are supporters of a certain presidential candidate in the United States. It goes without saying that these left-wingers regard America to be in desperate need of "transformation" as the principal villain on the world stage. Regrettably, this view has been seeping into Germany of late and there is a small but cultlike minority echoing the same opposition to America here.

Meanwhile, I have the memory extending back to the 1960s of Irishmen perched on barstools crying in their beer in America over the auld sod and throwing a few dollars into the hat to buy guns for the IRA or bombs to blow up Belfast.

But, of course, there is far more to the Irish contribution to civilization than the intoxicated mutterings of barflies or the hallucinations of IRA Bolsheviks. Let the Irish come to America as my ancestors did and they are likely to produce a president inside of two or three generations and a speaker of the house or a Senator before you can say kiss the Blarney Stone. Their contribution in the ranks in American wars has been noteworthy, very much so in the Civil War, in the first world war with the fighting sixty-ninth and extending to today in the Marine Corps. There would be no modern English literature without them.

"Erin go bragh" hangs today on the exterior of my door here in Germany for Easter.

[Olog-hai]

There’s a reason why I put Ireland’s Third Amendment in this thread at the top. Just as quickly as de Valera established the Irish Republic, he disestablished it.

[PTBAA]

What allegiance did the Irish owe to their murderous oppressors?

[DesertRhino]

“The Irish staging an insurrection during time of war was vile treachery.”

Spoken like a Brit. It is only treachery only if you were a British subject. If you were occupied by the Brits as the Irish were, its smart timing. You might notice that Britain and France were in almost constant war in the decades before and after the American revolution.

We essentially staged OUR insurrection during time of war as well.

[Leaning Right]

What allegiance did the Irish owe to their murderous oppressors?

The same allegiance as, say, Washington or Gandhi did. In other words, not much.

Side note: Yes, I know that the 1916 leaders were not Washingtons or Gandhis. But PTBAA's point is valid nonetheless.

[Laser_Ray]

The revolution amounted to a frontal assault executed with poorly trained and lightly-armed riflemen against numerically superior forces packing artillery, machine guns and a primitive but operational air force to call on with nowhere to retreat in case of failure, against a foe that has a long history of using collateral punishment without hesitation...all while a war for England’s existence was raging right on her damn doorstep.

You couldn’t have won that kind of engagement short of divine intervention. So what exactly am I supposed to commemorate? The fact that the Irish bloodline was improved by a mass Darwin Award?

[Olog-hai]

Occupation? Then it was one fomented by the Papacy, since it was Pope Adrian IV who gave English King Henry II lordship of Ireland in the twelfth century (reconfirmed by Alexander III). Even under the Kingdom of Ireland, the English King was recognized as Ireland’s king.

And the majority of Dubliners regarded the Rising as “vile treachery” too; what swayed public opinion the other way was the summary execution of the rebels. Thing is, some of these rebels would have instituted a reign of terror in Ireland if they had gained power over the island.

Another significant difference between Ireland and the USA is that Ireland had the very thing that the USA did not, which was the first grievance of colonial Americans when stamp duties came into effect, that being representation in Westminster. Irish MPs had the power to direct the course of the British Empire. They possess no such power over the European Union.

[Olog-hai]

What with Gandhi’s affinity for the USSR, I wouldn’t compare him to Washington.

[Olog-hai]

Given what it inspired Lenin to do, and what they were duped into giving up in 1972, I just shake my head at the whole thing.

[IronJack]

Not to mention the Irish contribution to the Union Pacific’s part of the Transcontinental Railroad.

[IronJack]

There were things to admire about DeValera, but there was much there to despise as well. He eventually morphed into the consummate politician: a man who could speak out of both sides of his mouth at once.

[Doulos1]

The names Washington and Gandhi don’t belong in the same sentence.
Gandhi was a queer.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/04/11/i-was-gandhis-boyfriend
Yuk.

[Leaning Right]

The names Washington and Gandhi don’t belong in the same sentence

Oh, for goodness sakes. Washington opposed British rule. Gandhi opposed British rule. The thread I posted on was about those who opposed British rule, and nothing more.