The only Flag Draped Coffin Allowed on American TV
galway |
anti-war / imperialism |
feature
Saturday June 12, 2004 00:35
by John Cunningham - Galway Alliance Against War
'another teetotal warmongering president is coming to pose with a pint of Guinness' sez Wag
"Hey Ronnie Reagan, I’m black and I’m pagan,
I’m gay, and I’m left, and I’m free
I’m an unfundamentalist environmentalist,
Don’t bother me."
'In the few days before Reagan arrived, sleepy old Galway was transformed: the town was invaded by secret servicemen with cropped hair and dark suits, who spoke into hidden microphones on their cuffs; the black Mercedes population trebled; and the unusual helicopter activity was menacingly suggestive of ‘Apocolypse Now’. Those of us who had friends in the vicinity of the University were unable to visit them for a few days.'
Follow the link below for more of the History lesson:
Hey Ronnie Reagan, I’m black and I’m pagan,
I’m gay, and I’m left, and I’m free
I’m an unfundamentalist environmentalist,
Don’t bother me.
When told that Ronald Reagan was dead, my first reaction was to burst into song —a Christy Moore song that was on many a lip twenty years ago.
For it was exactly twenty years ago –the first Saturday of June 1984- that the then president arrived in town to accept an honorary doctorate (in laws, of all things) from University College Galway (UCG). It was an election year, and an opportune moment to pose for Irish-American voters with a parchment in one hand and pint of Guinness in the other.
We’d been planning our reception. For the previous eight weeks, dozens of us had gathered each Tuesday night in the Atlanta Hotel, separating into sub-committees in the several corners of the bar, and redividing into pint-drinking social groups afterwards. Nuns, republicans, Labourites, trades unionists, ex-aid workers, human rights activists, academics, young trotskyists (I was one of them), all had their different strategies and objectives, but it was a period of comradeship and excitement.
During the build-up, one memorable stunt grabbed national headlines. A group of academics at UCG organised a ‘de-conferring ceremony’ at which holders of UCG doctorates publicly burned them in protest. Among those who participated was the heroic veteran socialist republican and writer, Peadar O’Donnell, who had been awarded an honorary doctorate by UCG a short time before.
In the few days before Reagan arrived, sleepy old Galway was transformed: the town was invaded by secret servicemen with cropped hair and dark suits, who spoke into hidden microphones on their cuffs; the black Mercedes population trebled; and the unusual helicopter activity was menacingly suggestive of ‘Apocolypse Now’. Those of us who had friends in the vicinity of the University were unable to visit them for a few days.
It was a fine Saturday as several thousand marched from Fr Burke park towards the Cathedral car park —a space very near the University made available by the then bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey, who was boycotting the Reagan ceremonies himself. Suddenly, as the front of the demonstration passed the Atlanta Hotel, the heavens opened and we found ourselves in the middle of the heaviest rain our lives. We believed that the CIA was responsible for peppering the clouds from a helicopter with some substance or other —either to cause the more timid of the protesters to run for shelter, or to ensure that there would be no rain during Ronnie’s parade.
Twenty years later, it’s re-election time again, and another teetotal warmongering president is coming to pose with a pint of Guinness for the Irish-American constituency. The Atlanta Hotel no longer exists, but a new generation of unfundementalist environmentalists is coming into contact with veterans of the Reagan protests in other corners of other bars. At the very least, we should spoil his photo-opportunity.
Christy Moore is singing out against Bush as he sang out against Reagan twenty years ago –he is headlining the Irish Anti War Movement’s ‘When Bush Comes to Shove’ gig in Dublin on 19 June. And John Maguire, writer of ‘Hey Ronnie Reagan’ is currently a spokesperson for Anti War Ireland.
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Comments (25 of 25)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25It's a Professor John Maguire song, sung by Christy Moore.
Sorry! Just saw that was mentioned at the end of the article. I must be blinded by the fact that I've seen it referred to as a "Christy Moore song" so many times lately that I'm assuming everyone's ignoring the song's actual writer.
I was in Galway that day too, along with hundreds others -- and far many more than turned out to welcome the old faker. Let's make sure Dubya gets a similar reception!
Yes, the protests against Reagan were huge, and there was a heavy garda presence. I was at the protests in Dublin, parts of which was sealed off. There were only a handful of people who supported Reagan's visit, and I think most of them were only welcoming him because they wanted to be polite.
I was six when Reagen visited, and from what I remember, twas a grit oul dee fer oIreland, begor. RTE did a whole load of coverage for it. No one mentioned anything bout protests.
It will be slightly different this year, but at the end of the day, the Independent ( apparantly RTE is leftist now, if one is to believe The Sindo's Fifth column) will tell the rest of the country what a great day it was, and how anyone protesting has to be deluded.
Money talks, the majorety of people are getting more selfish, and selfishness seems to be one area ' history' is kind to. Reagen will not be remembered as the guy who made America homeless, he'll be rememberd as the guy who defeated the commies.
Despite the fact that the majorety of you are decent, good hearted, if sometimes naieve people, expect the media to label y'all as Osama bin Laden Jew hating Stalin worshipping baby eating Nazis.
And ( sorry to be the cynic) expect Joe belledin Pubic, sorry, Public, to swallow such hook,line and sinker!
Two years ago on May Day you guys were rioters, that is until a journo from the Independent got battered. Then it was all shock and awe!
Except that, in the few lumpen proletariat bars, the word was " Bleeding deadly! I'd have helped the Gards batter dem hippies!"
Damn. I'm afraid of turning into that lumpen reprobate, Loan Gunman. Help, someone! Give me advice! The inherent selfishness of humanity is bringing me down!
God Speed ye, though, at the Protests.
Oh, and make sure you actually get Brendan O' Connor on camera this time!
He will definatly be there shaking his ass.
The author of that song, John Maguire, is currently a spokesperson with Anti-War Ireland and he will be travelling to the demo assembling at 7pm in Shannon town centre on Friday evening, June 25th, to unwelcome George Bush as he arrives in Ireland. Now that's consistency!
poem by Mario Benedetti
To Ronald Reagan
the Death of a Son Of a Bitch
poem by Mario Benedetti
To Ronald Reagan
the Death of a Son Of a Bitch
poem by Mario Benedetti
The SOBs they live a long time, but one day they die
To Ronald Reagan
Obituary with Hurrah!
Let's celebrate it
Come everybody
The innocents
Those who have been hurt and cry during the night
Those who dream during the day
Those who suffer in their bodies
Those who keep ghosts
Those who walk barefoot
Those who curse the gods and burn with passion
The frozen poor
Those who love somebody
Those who never forget
Let's celebrate!
Come everybody
The unscrupulous is dead
The dark soul is over
The thieve
The pig
Is done forever
Hurrah!
Come everybody
We will celebrate
Let's not say
Death
Always erases everything
Purifies everything
Any day
Death
Does not erase anything
The scars
Always remain
The imbecile is dead
Let's celebrate
We will not cry as if just by habit
Let those like him cry
And swallow their own tears
The great monster is finished
Done forever
We shall celebrate
And we will not be shy
Do not believe that this one
Is just another dead man
Let's celebrate
Let's not be timid
Don't forget that this one
Is a dead son of a bitch
translated by Carlos Miguel Silva
Spanish original at: http://www.rebelion.org/imperio/040610benedetti.htm
Ronnie was a HERO!
He cried out fearlessly in Berlin for all the world to hear:
"Mr. Gorbachev..... TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"
That was the first hammer of liberty struck against what defeatists thought was the unwielding monolith of Communism.
When the Evil Empire sought to rule the world at the point of its ICBM's and prowled the seas with its Red Fleet submarines and when it massed its tanks against the borders of Europe ready to sweep freedom aside we needed a hero.
RONALD WILSON REAGAN!
Ronnie never doubted
When he saw EVIL camped on the horizon he called it by its name and it fled before him.
Evil lives in the darkness.
Ronnie saw the light.
He never hid it under a bushel basket but set in on a lampstand for ALL THE WORLD TO SEE!
God Bless You Ronnie.
Rest in Peace after a life work done well.
You would make a great Simpson's character.
anyone know why our flags were flown at half-mast today in Galway?
was it a nationwide thing?
pls tell me we didnt honour one of the greatest war criminals in recent history today?
We had better think of the living.
I noticed the other day that the flags (EU, US, Ireland and Company flag) at the Wyeth Medica factory in Newbridge were at half mast too. The Reagan thing never clicked.
He will be spoken of thousands of years hence, if civilisation survives.
He literally saved the world from Communism. He is one of my greatest heroes.
Míle buíochas, Ronald Reagan.
…if there is no human society to mourn my hero in a thousand years time, it will probably be because of Ronnie's/Bush's 'Star wars' program
He saved the world from the evil clutches of Communism ....
AND DELIVERED IT RIGHT INTO OUR HANDS .........
Thank you Ronnie Regan ......
...he deserves all the credit but gets none for ending the so-called Cold War. Still, you can't expect the US's running dogs to understand anyt'ing atall, atall.
a priest remembers:-
Miguel D'Escoto, RC priest was minister for foreign affairs in Nicaragua during the 1980s.
Ronald Reagan said of the insurgents the USA backed to topple the regime :-
"They are our brothers, these fight for liberty, and we owe them our support. They are morally equivalent to our founding fathers."
May the man rest in peace.
May we all rest in peace.
Rest. Peace. Maywe.
Now can we get on with it?
He is an iconic talismanic figure for Americans and for those of us in the world who love freedom and believe in self-reliance, enterprise and Christian values.
A great man gone to his rest. Thank you Ronald Reagan, you saved the world from the evil of communism.
I am obviously a failure, because I feel too sorry for those murdered by contras in Nicaragua. I wish I could be a materialist type, and glibly forget about dead people in Nicaragua. Succesful people never concern themselves with such. If you kill loads of people, you are a killer, that is unless you are a big, corparate financed right wing politico who helps big companies, and fights communism!
Then you are a hero.
Beware of kids that do well at subjects like religion or history or art at school. The only thing that matters today is prestige and money. Morals are a smokescreen.
Young people today need to be encouraged at business, maths, economics, and voting PD.
Laugh at the poor, they are merly dead weights. Only help them at Christmas time; that is when they become cute and adorable like Special Olympics contestants.
Irrespective of whether you liked the man or not, you should not gloat at his passing. Its rude and offensive and it takes power away from your statements.
You didn't see the pro-Israelis or whatever gloating when Rachel Corrie was killed, or when the English Guy was shot. Its not polite and its offensive.
I didn't particularly hate Reagan, certainly not as much as I hate the Bush clan, but I know that either way if they die, I am not going to have a celebration.
The flags were at half mast, coz the former leader of a country that is allied to our own died. We did the same when Hitler died, and others.
As for his policies, jesus its old news, it happened, and it was horrible what happened in Nicaragua, but if people are gonna stay so rooted in the past and fail to progress then, they are failing the memories of those that did die.
For reconciliation and progression, it is necessary for one side, unfortunately its normally the poorer side, to accept what happened strive to work past it.
'You didn't see the pro-Israelis or whatever gloating when Rachel Corrie was killed, or when the English Guy was shot. Its not polite and its offensive'
Jeaz, I heard loads of them gloating here and elsewhere over her death. Which is quite a bit different than laughing over the death of a body (see theonion.com) who was a bad, bad whore in its time.
Excerpted from Deterring Democracy, 1991 by Noam Chomsky
The Media Has Made a Hero of a Villain
As and Americah who lived through the sixties and was actually clubbed by a Reagan goon in Berkeley, Cal., I offer the following historical and personal commentary.
Thank God For Mr. Raygun:
No doubt the old ‘gipper” has moved on and is in another place. Perhaps he dwells in the stars planning a high-tech war or perhaps he is somewhere else along with his cronies. Maybe devilish a host of compassionate conservatives will join him soon and he can have tea with Maggie Thatcher and dictators from around the world that he supported. Pinochet is about ready. It way be awhile before the members of the Whitehouse junta join him. Either way it is probably a better place than the America of today that the neocons used him to create. Yet, since he passed away, the "liberal" media as been turning a B actor turned politician into a heroic American myth. He started out as a Demo actor's union organizer but as a Repugnant destroyed unions that took a century to build. As Governor of California he and Ed Meese organized Gestapo police units to beat and eventually kill students exercising non-violent free speech. Meese later stepped down as attorney general due to a bribery scandal along with others like his H.U.D. director. His famous California ranch was acquired for a fraction of it’s cost exchange for tax breaks for Paramount studios…etc… They forgot to mention as President he stole from the poor and gave to the rich reducing upper level taxation from about 70% to 30%. His voodoo economics doomed social security and any chance of national health care. He sold the corporate tax breaks as a way to rebuild American industrial infrastructure to create more jobs and they took their tax breaks and outsourced. He and the media convinced the American public that he was a war hero by destroying a popular government in helpless Grenada. Everyone forgot that the Afghan Muslim jihad fighters (one million dead Afghans that we bombed again) and resistance in the Eastern block did more to turn Russia from corrupt military government into a corrupt capitalist mess than all of his military pork spending. Now the “evil empire” no longer feeds their people or provides health care. His defense orgy and star wars dementia created a record national debt. And he could not handle a open question press conference and without a teleprompter. He often slept during the day and they woke him up to sign documents he did not really understand. Nancy made national policy decisions after consulting with her astrologer. His economics destroyed the one job middle class and crushed the poor. He played the "race card" to sway southern voters and did nothing for women's rights. He outspent the Demos while preaching and end to "big government" and Bush has done it again. But... perhaps Raygun was not evil and had only lost his mind due to brain disease which was advanced while in office. Perhaps he was telling the truth when he said 300 times during the Iran Contra investigations that he could not remember. And he must have died at peace forgetting that his death squads in El Salvador killed peasants, women and children and raped and killed nuns....etc...The Historians at purged Universities will probably forget all of this and more. Such is the power the boob tube and the "liberal" consolidated corporate media. And now we have a further mutation of this mindset except the un-elected Shrub is not a good enough speaker or actor to pull it off. And the good news is that more than half of the registered voters decided last time around decided that there was no point in voting for a President. Or maybe their too busy watching homicidal daytime soaps or sex crime prime time cop shows. Although George W.’s government cabal has done more than enough damage already he is destined to inherit war crime profits from Big Bush's kinder and gentler CIA Saudi morphed Carlyle Group....etc... Perhaps we should all put our money on the myth and live the American dream and we too can appear live on TV as the next great star of corporate democracy. But watch out you may loose your dream in another Enron or Savings and loan robbery. But we all still dream of being President and spending a few million on an inaugural ball while real Christians starve in Ethiopia. The Babylon system lives.
He ended the Cold war, thereby freeing millions from Marxist tyranny.
One of Reagan's most enjoyable legaices is the handful of embittered old Marxists who are still hanging about, long after their dreams of a Socialist World have been reduced to ashes.
Man, they've been grinding out their hate-filled bile these past weeks!
Get over it dudes, Freedom won!! Reagan won!!