Catholics generally tended to do what some feminist groups couldn’t, and set aside the matter of republicanism entirely when assessing the Armagh women. Unlike the feminists who were objecting to the inequality the women experienced, Catholic responses tended to do otherwise, characterizing the women as helpless and in need of saving, as in the following appeal:
“To deliberately organise a large group of men to beat a group of helpless women would appear to be an action of peculiar heinousness. To do this on women who are imprisoned and helpless is worse, to misrepresent the truth about it is worse still, and to punish further the unfortunate women who have been beaten severely and indecently is the worst of all” (Weinstein, 32).
In fact, responses from the general Catholic community were in total conflict with those of the feminists. The ideology, even more pervasively so than within the Republican community, was so incredibly engendered. One observation defines the role of women in this ideology,
“We have apostrophised the country itself as a mother. The concept of Mother Ireland has met with wholehearted national approval. The message has been unequivocal. The proper place for women apart from the convent is the home, preferably raising sons for Ireland” (Weinstein, 31).
This response, above all others, did the opposite of what the women intended, and dis-empowered them entirely. Popular Catholic ideology at the time was incredibly restrictive on the role of women that it promoted, and in juxtaposition to an attempt at progress, proves incredibly ironic. The Pope defined the role of women in their ideology,
“May Irish mothers, young women and girls, not listen to those who tell them that working at a secular job, succeeding in a secular profession, is more important than the vocation of giving life and caring for this life as a mother” (Weinstein, 30-1)
Certainly these views did not adhere to the goals of the women in Armagh, but rather the attempt at support actively attempted to reinforce the roles from which the women were trying to escape. This reaction also ignored one of the main goals of the protests, which was in the name of treatment of republican prisoners, not solely women.
“Three women today joined the five-week-old hunger strike by prisoners in Northern Ireland demanding that the British Government grant them political status” (Borders)
The three, inmates of the women’s jail in the town of Armagh, are convicted terrorists, like the seven men who have been refusing all food since Oct. 27 at the Maze Prison near Belfast
The women at Armagh, though participating in the same protests as their male counterparts in H-Block, received a vastly different reaction to their efforts than the men.
“In terms of the prison regime they were deemed doubly guilty – not only had they broken the laws of the state but they had also gone against their feminine gender roles as defined by society” (Sharoni, 113)
“In the story the media coverage of Long Kesh contrasts with the lack of information about Armagh prison. The protagonist’s mother only knows how bad the situation is in Armagh because she can relate her daughter’s protest to the male prisoner’s no-wash protest. But Armagh women are not only ignored by the media, men also turn a blind eye to their protest; the other female prisoner in the story complains that her father “won’t even mention it”. A woman surrounded by her bodily waste and her menstrual blood was at odds with the traditionally gentle, passive, and maternal image expected of her gender” (del Pozo, 18)
Reactions towards the H-Block protests were polarized: people either saw them as terrorists or as martyrs, willing to dye for their country. The reactions towards the Armagh protests resembled more of a spectrum. Catholic responses tended towards viewing the women as helpless creatures who needed to be protected. Republican responses tended at first to view the women as having strayed from their domestic role, but ultimately supported them and produced social change. Feminists were split among their responses, and either lent their support in the name of women’s rights, but others refused due to the nationalist affiliations. Each group, in response to the same events produced vastly different reactions and rationale supporting them. Though the women received support from many of these factions, in each case it can easily be seen how complicated the support or lack of support is, with the main complicating factor being the pervasive traditional role of women in Ireland.
Rodney King drove recklessly to avoid a DUI and initiated a high-speed pursuit (anywhere from 55-115 miles per hour at different points) that found its way off of the Foothill Freeway and into neighboring residential neighborhoods [NYTIMES/Us news]. He was intoxicated and assaulted the five officers who attempted to arrest him when he got out of the car. Immediately after he charged them, they detained him more effectively, cuffed him, and lay him flat on his belly. After this, they spent around another minute beating him with truncheons. The first 10 seconds of the George Holliday tape, which shows King charging the officers, was almost always omitted in police reports because it was blurry and didn’t make for very watchable footage. Because of this, the beatings were mistaken to be completely unprompted and thus representative of many other LAPD misconduct incidents that were actually unprompted. Because of that factor, and because the LAPD had been engaged in widespread excessive force and other misconduct throughout the 1980s, this incident became, in the eye of the public, a symbol of routine LAPD misconduct by way of unwarranted and excessive force more than it would have been otherwise. As a result, when the officers involved in the beating were acquitted, South Central Los Angeles imploded into a week of acute civil unrest.
Why did this (PAGST Helmet) work better than this (Brit steel pot)?
This is a question that quite frankly I haven’t got a comprehensive answer to yet. One thing of note is that the republican/nationalist element predominantly within Catholic communities in Northern Ireland regarded British troops as from the same governmental “sphere” as the RUC, seeing both as “invaders” and therefore inherently untrustworthy (Macstiofan interview for starters), whereas basically everyone in LA deemed federal troops sent to quell that disturbance as from a different governmental “sphere” and therefore more worthy of respect (LA riots/Operation Rio).
From at least the 1980’s to 1992, the LAPD had a well-earned reputation of meting out beatings to suspects, guilty and innocent alike, towards the ends of administering “street justice”. This reputation came to the fore in the weeks immediately following the night of March 4th, 1991, when five of its officers were taped beating a detained suspect, Rodney King, after he had been driving recklessly at 55-115 miles per hour while intoxicated and possibly under the influence of PCP [NYTIMES/Us news]. On April 29th, the officers involved in beating him were acquitted of all charges against them, and this kicked off the six-day 1992 LA riots.
For hundreds of years cattle have been extremely import in Ireland. In the middle ages and before cows were not only important as a source of food, meat and milk, but as currency and had significant economic and political influence. In this time the social and political importance of a person was evaluated based on how many cows their life was worth.² As the basic unit of wealth, cows were often used in most monetary interactions including fines, tribute and marriage presentations.¹ As might be expected cattle raids were extremely common but were not really considered crimes but rather demonstrations of social and political strength and become part of the folklore tradition. Tain bo Cuailnge, for example, is an epic tale of a queen traveling far and wide to find a prized cow to fight the kings prized cow and prove her superiority. However when the English began to assert there influence over the Irish they viewed this tradition of raiding as highly uncivilized and barbaric. English men like Edmund Spencer looked upon the Irish as a “degenerate race of cattle thieves and robbers,” and felt that they needed to put fences all around the Irish land scape to stop such savage behavior. Following plantation cows remained an important part of rural agriculture but were rarely a part of the poor farmers diet. Even in the years of the famine when many people were starving, cows were better left alive as a source of milk or export.
Modern Irish Cattle
Still today, though one can find organizations with great pride in Irish breads of cattle, such as the Irish Angus Society, very little Irish cattle is consumed in Ireland. A survey conducted in 2013 estimated that there are 6.6 million cattle in Ireland and that 110,000 of the the 139,000 farms in Ireland have some cattle. But even though beef makes up a significant portion of the agricultural economy cattle farmers earn very little and many hold supplementary jobs off the farm. In fact 92% of the beef produced in Ireland is exported. These statistic suggest that despite the historic cultural significance and the urban emphasis on “Irish Beef” there is little cultural influence in rural societies. Cows do not provide farmers with significant enough income and the large percent of exports suggest “Irish” beef is not exceedingly important to rural food culture.³
The Transition
In urban food establishment like Thornton’s there is a emphasis on Irish beef and its importance to the rural culture of Ireland, but a closer examination of cattle farming doesn’t entirely reflect that. In fact the urban cultures emphasis on beef seems to align more with a very historical notion of cattle significance than a modern one were most of the Irish beef is not actually consumed in Ireland. And though some of the breeds are unique to Ireland there is nothing particularly distinct about raising cows, its done all around the world. Urban food culture therefor must transform beef to make it even more distinctly Irish by feeding cows Guinness and letting them rest on peat. This transition illuminates a small example, of lingering nationalism and of urban Irishman’s slightly fantastic views of Ireland and their desire to remain tied to the land.
1)McCormick, Finbar. The Decline of the Cow: Agricultural and Settlement Change in Early Medieval Ireland. 2008. https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/gap/Staff/FileStore/Filetoupload,287072,en.pdf
2) Sherwood, Amy. An Bo Bheannaithe: Cattle Symbolism in Traditional Irish Folklore, Myth, and Archaeology. McNair Online Journal.
3) The Importance of Cattle and Sheep Sectors to the Irish Economy. Irish Farmers Association. 2013.
4) Jenkins, Raymond. “Spencer on Ireland.” The John Hopkins University Press. 2011. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-5-JeCa2Z7hZjQxZWM1YTktNGE4OC00NjY5LThkNmYtMWQ1Nzk2Y2U5YTk1/edit?hl=en
“I have a passion for the finest quality, in everything I do. That’s why I set out to create a unique Irish product to serve in my restaurant. And I’d like to share it with you, too.”
– Kevin Thornton
Eireyu beef is the name given to the beef that is proudly bred and raised specifically for Thorntons restaurant. This delicacy is a cross between the typical Irish Angus and Japanese Wagyu beef, praised in gourmet chefs around the world for its high degree of marbling.¹ The beef is described not only as a blending of the animals themselves but also of philosophies, combining purity and naturalness of Ireland with gentleness from Japan.
Renowned chef Kevin Thornton, owner of Thronton’s, incorporated these two philosophies to create something new and traditional at the same time. The cows are raised with Japanese gentleness but the details of the process are full of Irish pride. The cows “feast on the green pastures of Ireland’s unspoilt land,” and quite luxuriously rest on ancient peat to improve their coat. And as if that star treatment isn’t enough the Eireyu beef cattle are surprisingly fed one of “Ireland’s finest exports,” Guinness twice a day.
These happy cows are a modern manifestation of a cattle culture that’s been part of Irish history dating back to the medieval era when cows were of exceptional social and economic importance.² So beef itself has a tradition associated with it, even if its not a tradition that is exclusively Irish, however the process by which the cattle are raised incorporates other Irish traditions, in hopes of creating a food that is more exclusively Irish. The pride in green Irish pastures and the use of peat indicate a desire for the food to remain intimately connected with Irish land as both a source of energy and beauty. And feeding the beef Guinness suggests the importance the chef feels in cherishing traditional Irish products in addition to Irish land. Situating the beef specifically in Ireland is a gesture to the localvore movement and the desire to understand the origin of the food before you, which goes hand in hand with the desire to present some sort of local Irish traditionalism.
There is however, an interesting contrast between the strong and intentional Irishness of the process and the obvious cultural fusion in the breading and philosophy of the beef. In contract to the desire to stay connected with the land and tradition, crossbreeding with the Wagyu beef, a very distinctly Japanese animal, makes the Eireyu beef obviously less Irish and less local. The implication seems to be that while there is a desire to keep with tradition, in a high end urban restaurant for the Dublin nouveau riche tradition can’t stand on its own. In other words just because traditional Irish food is simple meat stew, that doesn’t mean it can’t be served to the more modern and worldly, who still desire to consume local food and culture, it just needs an update.
1) American Wagyu Association. What is Wagyu? http://wagyu.org/breed-info/what-is-wagyu/
2) McCormick, Finbar. The Decline of the Cow: Agricultural and Settlement Change in Early Medieval Ireland. 2008. https://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/gap/Staff/FileStore/Filetoupload,287072,en.pdf
From at least the 1980’s to 1992, the LAPD had a well-earned reputation of meting out beatings to suspects, guilty and innocent alike, towards the ends of administering “street justice”. This reputation came to the fore in the weeks immediately following the night of March 4th, 1991, when five of its officers were taped beating a detained suspect, Rodney King, after he had been driving recklessly at 55-115 miles per hour while intoxicatedand possibly under the influence of PCP. On April 29th, the officers involved in beating him were acquitted of all charges against them, and this kicked off the six-day 1992 LA riots.
Much as excessively-aggressive and violent RUC police tactics and misconduct in general lead to the civil rights protests and subsequent troubles, so did similar policies adopted by the LAPD immediately lead to the 1992 LA riots. The LAPD had a history of questionable use of present as early as the late 1940s/early 1950s (Sleepy Lagoon/Bloody Christmas incidents), however, these really came to the fore from the mid-1980s up until 1992, when the lid flew off of the city. First and foremost, there is the notable similarity of both police organizations in that they both engaged in the beating of random people or suspects and released them, rather than arresting and seeking convictions.
I’m working on finding actual detailed first-hand accounts to insert, but for now this clip is pretty demonstrative. I might keep it for later for the picture it illustrates.
The RUC manifestation of this policy was deemed “internment”, and involved keeping detained persons awake for up to a week and beating them at irregular intervals. The LAPD from 1986-1992 had a prominent ~10% or more (Christopher Commission p.36 figures) of officers who accounted for 30% of complaints regarding excessive use of force, and furthermore, absolutely failed to counsel or sanction these individuals (Ibid pp.32-34). The manifestation of these, however, greatly resembled internment: oftentimes, officers would detain suspects, beat them senseless, and then release them. Sometimes there would be bogus use of force reports (See squad car communications pp.49-54), and other times they would be foregone. Both of these served as the immediate catalyst for violent civil disturbance. Republicans cited internment as an instrumental tool for Provo recruitment and subsequent violent action, and the acquittal of the officers involved in the beating of Rodney king that had for many come to symbolize LAPD excessive force in general was the immediate cause of the ‘92 LA riots.
Based on the novel by Tom Clancy, Patriot Games explores the relationship between terror and justice in a primarily Western European setting. Patriot Games is the story of an American hero and ex-marine Jack Ryan (played by Harrison Ford) who saves his family and many others from a revenge-seeking terrorist member of the Irish Republican Army, Sean Miller (Sean Bean).
Although it is true that the IRA used fear and violence in the late twentieth century, the portrayal of the IRA in the film depicts an exaggerated version of the IRA, a version that seeks no proper goal besides causing mayhem in the British government. Instead of seeking to benefit the cause of the Irish Republic, director Phillip Noyce chooses to represent the IRA as a blood-thirsty group of terrorists set on crippling an entire nation.
This use of the IRA serves only one purpose in the grand scheme of the film; to make money. The more villainous and savage that Noyce made the IRA, the more profit it would yield for those involved. American audiences nationwide are well known for their affinity towards action and violence in movies, as those movies tend to gross the most amount of money. Using the prejudice towards violence, Noyce throws away the legitimacy of the IRA and their cause in order put more money in his pocket.
The goal of this project is to examine the representation of the IRA in Patriot Games, and determine whether or not director Phillip Noyce correctly depicted the all-important Irish Republic group in the late 20th century.
Patriot Games (1992) Portrayal of the IRA
Based on the classic Tom Clancy novel, Patriot Games explores the relationship between fear and perseverance.
.Although Hollywood is universally known for its profits, extravaganza, and glory when it comes to movie making, many Hollywood films are also known for exaggerating aspects of their plot in order to appeal to the wider American culture. In many cases, directors and producers of the industry will simplify certain actions of groups, such as the IRA, in order to achieve a more a more thrilling plot. Patriot Games is a great example of how Hollywood, and director Phillip Noyce, boil down the agenda of the IRA into a mission of revenge in order to create a more diabolical antagonist.
When comparing the IRA portrayal in the Patriot Games to the IRA in the Irish Republic, it is important to note that these are not two completely different versions of the IRA. Instead, Patriot Games drains the story of the IRA of any meaningful historical context to the point that it becomes a generic terrorist trope. The forgotten history and purpose of the IRA was used by director Phillip Noyce to create a more vicious villain for his story. With no sense of purpose, the IRA become dehumanized creatures, with only a sense of violence as their cause. This dehumanization is common in Irish depiction by the British, and my fellow group member Dowon explains the connection between the Patriot Games IRA and “A King Of Shanty”.
In the first video above, entitled Patriot Games (1992) Example of IRA Terrorism, viewers are subject to see an attack on London by the IRA from a Patriot Games perspective. An attack in which first involves Harrison Ford’s character, Jack Ryan, whom witnesses and attempts to stop the killing. In this video, we see the IRA plant and detonate a car bomb in a public square, while also opening fire on the police force and citizens in the proximity.
In the second video above, entitled Manchester Bombing (1996), viewers witness the very real dangers of the IRA during the Manchester bombing in 1996, a bombing in which the IRA injured and killed many innocent civilians in order to achieve their goals. Although both incidents, the attack on London and the Manchester bombing, were malicious and caused much pain, IRA representation does not stay consistent across both lines.
In Patriot Games, the IRA were depicted as revenge-seeking killers, caring little about their own lives and only seeking retribution on Jack Ryan for halting their attack on London. This method yields little preparation, and represents a very simple view of the IRA. Although the IRA should not not be applauded for their disgraceful actions that have led to the deaths of many innocent civilians, they had more of a political agenda than the film would have you believe.
Although we feel feel as if Noyce oversimplified the agenda of the IRA in order to mold them into a classic American villain, it is important to note the terror that the IRA has done in over the past half century. The IRA tried to legitimize their motives through political agendas, and claiming innocence when one of their bomb warnings go amiss. Although they tried to defend their actions with purpose, unlike the revenge-clouded IRA in the film, the terrors caused by the IRA damper a proud Irish history.
Although it is true that the IRA used fear and violence in order to get their point across, Patriot Games, as depicted by Patriot Games (1992) Example of IRA Terrorism, depicted the members of the IRA as simple killers, with nothing on their agenda besides raising hell.
Patriot Games (1992) Example of an IRA Prisoner Escaping
Another prime example of IRA misrepresentation in the film Patriot Games comes when the IRA breaks Sean Miller (Sean Bean) free from the police escort. In the first video above, Patriot Games (1992) Example of an IRA Prisoner Escaping, audiences witness a full scale operation in which Miller’s fellow IRA members, once again, use brute force in order to accomplish their goals. Similarly to the example above, the attack on London, the IRA threw caution to the wind once again in order to achieve their desired outcome, terror. This escape plays right into the hands of the American audiences, whose affinity towards violence and action lead Noyce to depict the IRA escape as explosive.
However, in the second video above, it is clear that IRA prisoners escaping are never quite as grand as depicted in the film. In this example, entitled Real IRA Prison Escape from Brixton, poor financial status and security disasters on the part of the British government allowed two IRA prisoners escape from Brixton prison. This sort of escape, due to the poor conditions of many London prisons, is the more realistic escape route for IRA convicts. In this scenario, only one person was injured, and the IRA, as a whole, was not involved in the escape. The lack of involvement from the IRA correlates to the first example as well, as their careful and premeditated planning allows the organization to put themselves out of harms way as much as possible.
To compare the two IRA’s, the organization portrayed in the film and the real organization, is unfair to do. The film simplifies the actions taken by the IRA in order to ensure a fun and dramatic film that will gross the most amount of money from American audiences. Although it is true that the IRA uses means of terror in order to get their point across, the lack of agenda and purpose in the film shows a very simplistic portrayal of the Irish Republican Army.
The misrepresentation of the IRA in Patriot Games only furthers the ravaged legitimacy of the IRA and their actions in the late 20th century. With act of terror accounting for thousands of lives lost, the regard that some people held for the IRA has slowly dwindled away.
Traditional Irish cuisine is essentially the food of the poor, consisting of simple, starchy and hearty meals prepared with few ingredients by people with limited means. This food is simple,connected to the land and prepared in primitive ways, such as boiling meat and potatoes.1
The Potato
The potato had a considerable amount of influence in Irish cuisine, for it provided a new staple food. To eat bread, one had to grow and cut the wheat, make the wheat into flour, cook the flour and bake it into bread. Compared to this complex process, one only had to boil or bake the potato in order to consume it. Potatoes were cheap and convenient, not to mention hearty. Nearly the perfect food, potatoes are loaded with protein, vitamins and complex carbohydrates. Infant mortality plummeted and the Irish grew bigger, stronger and healthier. Soon the Irish towered in physical stature over their rural English counterparts who subsisted on bread. From 1780 to 1840, the Irish population doubled, from 4 million to 8 million.1
Potatoes & Politics
Perhaps the greatest example of an intrinsic relationships between politics and food is the Irish’s historic- and at times, tragic -connection to the potato. When the Spanish introduced it to the New World in the 16th century, the crop was originally a savior of sorts, becoming a low-cost food source for Irish peasants.
Family evicted during the Irish Potato Famine
The agriculture in Ireland was highly developed, as peasants produced grain crops, such as wheat and barley, for the English. However, these crops were reserved for export, even when the blight decimated potato crops in the 1840s. As a result, the Irish Potato Famine, which lasted from 1845 to 1852, would claim approximately one million lives and lead to more than one million more emigrants fleeing Ireland. Aaron Hostetter, an assistant professor of English at Rutgers University-Camden, who examines the literary history of food, said, “The blight was a biological event, but famine and starvation are never natural events…The necessity to select certain kinds of food to eat – even when no other viable alternatives are available – is always politically motivated.”
The sculpture is a commemorative work dedicated to those Irish people forced to emigrate during the 19th century Irish Famine.
The potato then becomes part of the Irish émigré identity. By wresting back the crop from failure, it is elevated to a symbol of victory over material circumstances.1There are many instances in which foods that are products of an oppressed identity become celebrated as symbols of resistance,” says Hostetter.
The Sophistication of the Spud
When the potatoes were first implemented in Europe, there weren’t “dishes”,so much as the bare minimum for survival. The ones who ate them were mostly ones who couldn’t
Temple Bar Market on the bank of the River Liffey, Dublin
afford what was considered a “proper” meal; they were prepared in the most simple and easy methods to be readily eaten-merely boiled or baked. However, as the potatoes began to gain prominence in Europe, potato dishes began developing into modern delicacies.
Gourmet Ireland may sound like an oxymoron, but the fact is Ireland’s cuisine has risen to astonishing heights since the dreary day of the fifties and sixties where insipid, waterlogged veggies and fatty fried foods seemed to be the norm.2 By the eighties, a revolution was taking place all over Ireland with the newly gained popularity of food fairs, food festivals and gourmet markets.
La Med is a unique, lively and cosy brasserie specialising in French, Italian, Mediterranean and Irish Cuisine, located in Dublin
As Ireland’s economy expanded, so did the number of fine dining establishments. In Dublin, Patrick Guilbaud opened a new French restaurant bearing his name, a 2-star Michilin eatery.Others, like Kevin Thornton, fused classic Irish ingredients of beef and potatoes with the elaborate techniques of French cuisine. Thornton’s Pomme Mousseline is a very indulgent way to make mashed potatos, incorporating whisked cream for a lighter, richer version.
Pomme Mousseline
In fact, Kevin Thornton went so far as to “forcibly eject” a man from his restaurant, when the patron ordered chips. Thornton later explained that whilst chips were not on his menu, he often cooks them on special request for children. To some, Thornton was made out to look like a snobby chef, to others; however, he was an “uncompromising perfectionist”, who provided a “quality, value product, than a cheap compromise.”3 It is from the bare minimal preparation for survival, to the gourmet standard of urban restaurants, that the evolution of what are still traditional Irish ingredients can be observed. The potato itself is traditional, being prepared in a most contemporary and globally influenced way.
But not all restauranteurs were interested in expanding the repertory of French foods. Some chose traditional Irish dishes, creating them in new and updated ways. And that is precisely what the new Irish food is about. It is the old Irish food, updated with healthful preparation and keying on what is fresh and plentiful. Ireland is a land that excels in some of the world’s best dairy, fish and meat products.2
While Irish economy has suffered, along with many other countries in the global recession, the desire for fine cuisine has not. This is mainly because the standard for good ole’ fashioned Irish cooking is in the use of local ingredients. Some recipes show a regional influence, perhaps Asian or Mediterranean, but the basic dishes are Irish, and Irish at its best. When once visitors traveled to Ireland for the scenery, now they just might be going for the delicious food.2
Student chef Liadan Sheehy, at the launch of the Dingle Food Festival
3)”NO WE DON’T DO CHIPS HERE! GET OUT!” Heffernan’s Tyre Blog. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. 02 Dec. 2014.http://heffernantyres.blogspot.com/2012/11/no-we-dont-do-chips-here-get-out.html>
