I agree that would be an exercise in fantasy but that still goes to human nature and while we might think it is silly for Muslims to dream of the great Caliphates its probably if we were in the same position we would dream of the time of US dominion too. [quoteAnd actually Mussolini was not to big on the Roman Empire imagery, and his policies very much were about creating a new type of Italian state. His big expansion push started in Ethiopia, which I don't think was ever part of the Roman Empire. He wasn't very successful at it, but he didn't try to drive the Ostrogoths and Visogoths out of Germanium back on the other side of the Rhine and force everybody to wear togas and visit the coliseum.[/QUOTE] Mussolini didn't try to recreate the Roman Empire but he certainly used imagery of it and spoke about it in his speeches as a way to rally Italian nationalism. The term "Fascist" comes from the Latin Fasces that were a symbol of Roman rule.
Just to pimp my own band check out our song "Its Hard to Write a Rebel Tune" celebrating the North Ireland peace treaty. http://www.myspace.com/mnserfs
i'm irish..not northern irish!! my family was from Dublin on my mom's side. my father's family is irish, but they don't know specifically where from...they believe from the eastern coast of Ireland.
i suppose irish pubs in houston are far tamer than those in Boston and elsewhere. but i don't see the ira as being relevant. you're talking about people here supporting them 20-30 years ago...but i don't know how much support there was for terrorism. that was pretty widely condemned. i know black and tans and billy reid. i just don't heard them played anywhere. having said that...what the English did to Ireland was criminal. equally terroristic in my view. just as what Israel has done smacks of the same to me.
From a purely detached perspective I would love to see Mickey Mouse talking about terrorist propoganda. It sounds like it would be hilarious.
They sure play them in in Irish pubs in the Twin Cities. As a matter of fact my own band plays several of them and "Men Behind the Wire" and "Boys of the Old Brigade" usually bring the house down, figuratively speaking. The IRA as a military force is no longer relevant but the context that the Rebel Songs were played at still matters along with the fact that most of the IRA's financial support came from the US. While the IRA was engaged in terrorism there were US politicians who supported it and it wasn't listed as a terrorists organization. Gerry Adams was also free to travel in the US unlike the leaders of other terrorist organizations. There is also evidence that the CIA helped to arm and fund them. Agree with you that what the British have done in the North is criminal and heavy handed. OTOH the IRA can hardly be said to be innocents. I love the songs but like it or not the IRA were terrorists on par with Hezbollah, Hamas and Mahdi Army. They engaged in random bombings, kidnappings and shootings of both British troops but also civilians in Northern Ireland but also London. Also they cooperated with groups hostile to the US like the FARC, Red November and Qadafi's regime in Libya.
Does Dublin count as Northern Ireland? I guess since you're not catholic though you would more likely be a Unionist than a Republican.
Sishir -- again..you're talking about stuff that happened 20-30 years ago. who is arguing with you that the IRA were anything but terrorists??? i'm a freaking mick, and i'm not telling you they were anything other than terrorists. i'm not sure who you're arguing with. and tell your band to stop playing those songs.
easy, big fella. i've got a mc on the front of my middle name...my mom's maiden name...a catholic name. i'm certain my family on both sides was catholic coming out of ireland. and no..dublin doesn't count as northern ireland. that's why i said my family wasn't from northern ireland.
Why does it matter if it was 20 years ago.(FYI there was still Irish sectarian violence up until a few years ago.) Does time change the fact that its celebrating terrorism? If Hamas has a peace treaty with Israel would singing Hamas rebel tunes be OK 10 years from now? Honestly I am conflicted about it. I know a few musicians who want play rebel tunes for that reason. It is ironic that a band that only has one guy that is even part Irish is playing Rebel songs. My explanation is that my dad was oppressed by the Brits in Hong Kong and Irish anti-Brit songs sound better than Cantonese. That said we take a rather satiric attitude towards what we play and have written a song joking about how its hard to write good rebel tunes since peace is declared and also do a rebel tune like song about the Opium War. To answer my own question time does make a difference, like blue grass bands that play Southern Civil War songs. Still IRA terrorism is very fresh in the minds of many and it strikes me as odd that we would condemn Hamas propaganda while IRA propaganda was acceptable even while they were still fighting.
it matters because i said, "how long has it been since the IRA has even been relevant?" yeah, i'm very aware that sectarian violence still exists. i think it will be another generation before that dies completely.
Militant 'Mickey Mouse' Pulled Off Air RAMALLAH, West Bank — Hamas militants have suspended a TV program that featured a Mickey Mouse lookalike urging Palestinian children to fight Israel and work for global Islamic domination, the Palestinian information minister said Wednesday. Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said the character _ a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice _ represented a "mistaken approach" to the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation. He said that the program was pulled from Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV at his ministry's request and "placed under review." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070509/hamas-mickey-mouse
