| Culzie | Date: Saturday, 2012-06-16, 3:23 PM | Message # 1 |
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| I think of Gerry Fitt as the man most responsible for starting the 'troubles' which led to over thirty years of conflict and 3,000 plus deaths. Some see others as bearing responsibilty and this is true,but Gerry Fitt was the man who went to Westminster and agitated there. He presented himself as a 'man of the people' and appealed to the Protestant electorate in his speeches etc. But behind all this he let the IRA use his Labour Party premises for their arms training and gun lectures. When Celtic won the European Cup in 1966 the other side of Gerry Fitt showed for a moment or two...
At the end of the month Glasgow Celtic became the first British soccer club to win the European Cup. This success produced utterances from Fitt that have taken on a mythical dimension and since the episode is often cited as an example of the 'real' Gerry Fitt it deserves some attention. Glasgow Celtic was and is traditionally supported by Scottish Catholics;Glasgow Rangers by Scottish Protestants. This support extends to Northern Ireland,which exhibits the same religious split. A crowd of 15,000 took part in one of the largest parades ever seen in the Falls Road district to celebrate Celtic's victory. Fitt was invited to the celebrations and addressed the crowd on 29 May.....'As I stand on this platform and witness such a vast concourse,Iam more than ever convinced that the ordinary people of West Belfast are prepared to take a stand in defence of all the ideals which have been their way of life for so long. 1966 has indeed proved to be year of great significance to Falls,Central,Dock and many other areas. We have beaten our opponents in politics,sports and in every other field they dare to confront us and I have no doubt that this will be the continuing trend in the years to come.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| RSAUB | Date: Saturday, 2012-06-16, 11:04 PM | Message # 2 |
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| True colours showing through indeed.
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| Culzie | Date: Saturday, 2012-06-16, 11:32 PM | Message # 3 |
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| Yeah, especially those last couple of lines. And they criticised the 'we are the people' attitude of the Prods 
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| RSAUB | Date: Sunday, 2012-06-17, 8:12 PM | Message # 4 |
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| Very true, but unfortunately what he says seems to be very accurate as to what's been happening over the past 50 years or so.
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| Culzie | Date: Sunday, 2012-06-17, 8:46 PM | Message # 5 |
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| 100 per cent right RSAUB...''We have beaten our opponents in politics,sports and in every other field they dare to confront us and I have no doubt that this will be the continuing trend in the years to come''.
That says it all, and his forecast spoken in 1966 is spot on.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| Culzie | Date: Tuesday, 2012-06-19, 5:48 PM | Message # 6 |
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| Just to clarify the above post. I don't think they could ever beat us physically. They have tried repeatedly to do so and have failed. So a new approach was needed and that was the cultural absorption of Protestants. A weaning away from an Ulster-British way of life and to be replaced by an Irish culture and identity.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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| RSAUB | Date: Tuesday, 2012-06-19, 10:08 PM | Message # 7 |
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| Very true, we as a people, are good at a knee-jerk reaction when the blood is up, but this cultural and political warfare is a nightmare for our people, who just haven't got it in them to fight against it when everything is happening on a slow drip and we have this live and let live attitude.
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| Culzie | Date: Wednesday, 2012-06-20, 2:33 PM | Message # 8 |
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| Yes no doubt Prods like the quick-fix. They are not up for a 'war of attrition'. The micks know this so the long drip is used. Another of Adams's 'stepping stones' took place when the female head of police got her irish language badge. Cultural absorption continues unabated.
A letter to the Irish News in the 1930s complained that the Dock,York st area to Brown Square was losing ground to Protestants, and that only Weaver St and Stone St remained Catholic. However things changed.
In 1949 Alderman Cole won the Dock seat for Unionists by 284 votes. Dock had a small Protestant majority but was open to capture by a Catholic with a Labour following. It was lost to Eire Labour in 1953 by 179 votes. Protestans won it back in 1958 when Oliver polled 3,156 votes to Fitt's 2,900 a majority of 256 with a swing of 500 votes. Fitt won the seat back and defended it again when O'Neill called an election. Fitt won again and claimed that he was overwhemingly supported by the combined votes of the Catholic and Protestant socially conscious working people of the area. His manifesto had steered well clear of overt republicanism.
Fitt's wife Ann stood for Dock in the 1972? election. Redevelopment and 'slum clearance' had changed the religious demography of the Dock Ward to such an extent that by 1972 Catholics were in a majority of two to one. Ann Fitt easily won the seat and David Robb of the Constitution Party lost his deposit.
So we can see how the gerrymandering under the cover name of 'redevelopment' changed the area and made it a safe Catholic seat. But the question remains who was responsible for the 'gerrymander' was it the Unionists or the Westminster goverment 'calling the shots'. But whatever or whoever was responsible have satisfied the complaint of the Irish News writer.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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