INTRODUCING Dan ÓNéill AKA ODD BODKINS #8

Dan has granted Soñar permission to publish his ODD BODKINS cartoon strip.

ODD BODKINS ON Soñar. Vol. I No. 8



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Hugh Daniel ÓNéill.

© Dan ONeill

Thirty years ago Hugh Daniel ÓNéill was described as, “an innovator, a creator and a professional troublemaker” in a foreword to a collection of Odd Bodkins. For seven years his Odd Bodkins cartoons ran daily in The San Francisco Chronicle and in 350 other newspapers throughout the world. At its peak, the strip had a readership of fifty million. When he was hired at age 21 —the youngest cartoonist ever hired by a national syndicate— he was given three simple rules: no religion, no politics and no sex in the strip. He did his best to comply — he kept sex out of Odd Bodkins.

For further information on ÓNéill.
http://www.danoneillcomics.com/
http://origsix.com/index.asp

Nollaig Shona Duit

Wishing All My Friends

Nollaig Shona Duit

From the Centre of The Universe

ÓNéill

Irish National Caucus, 35 Years and Still Going

'Isn’t it very striking? The elected officials who led the campaign to end anti-Catholic discrimination in Northern Ireland were not Irish- Americans, but Jewish-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Hispanic Americans and others! To me, that is the great moral lesson of the Mac Bride Campaign.'


Fr. Seán McManus and Pat Doherty
© Fr. Seán McManus

Fr. Mc Manus is the president of the Capitol Hill-based Irish National Caucus. In November 1984, the Irish National Caucus launched the Principles -- named after Fr. Mc Manus’s good friend and supporter -- Seán Mc Bride, Noble Peace Prize laureate.

Last Tuesday, December 8, Fr. Seán McManus was honoured in the famed City Hall of New York for his work on the MacBride Principles.

The Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, hosted the event. Fr. Mc Manus’s good friend and colleague in the struggle for the Mac Bride Principles, Pat Doherty was also honored.

Doherty has worked for all the NY City Comptrollers since 1984.

Below is Fr. Mc Manus’s acceptance speech.

In 1795 Thomas Paine wrote: “An Army of Principles Will Penetrate Where an Army of Soldiers Cannot” (Agrarian Justice. Pamphlet written in 1795, published in 1797).

I think that perfectly applies to the Mac Bride Principles. The Principles penetrated the previously UNPENETRATABLE bastion of anti-Catholic discrimination -- the Northern Ireland State.

In the early years of our campaign, our opponents used to tell us to mind our own business – they clearly did not subscribe to Martin Luther King’s dictum: “ Injustice anywhere is an affront to justice everywhere”. But when our campaign began to take effect, they stopped telling us to mind our own business – because when Americans make sure that U.S. dollars are not subsidizing anti-Catholic discrimination in Northern Ireland, they are minding their own business.

It is generally accepted that Martin Luther King’s movement would not have succeeded without Jewish-American support. And the Mac Bride Principles would not have succeeded without Jewish-American support.

Just look at the record:

In July 1979, Congressman Ben Gilman (R-NY commissioned the Irish National Caucus to conduct an investigation of the U.S. companies in Northern Ireland.

We then planned to have our principle, “United States dollars should not subsidize anti-Catholic discrimination in Northern Ireland”, enshrined into law. In 1983, Congressman Dick Ottinger introduced Bill HR 3465: “Requiring United States persons who conduct business or control enterprises in Northern Ireland to comply with certain fair employment principles.” We had, of course, modeled the Ottinger Bill on the Sullivan Principles.

Our activity got a lot of attention and soon many State and City officials who wanted to join our campaign contacted us: most notably, New York City Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin and Council Member Sal Albanese (who introduced the very first Mac Bride Bill in the entire United States).
Comptroller Goldin went on to provide magnificent support and economic muscle for the Mac Bride Principles until he left office in 1989. His successors, Liz Holtzman (1990- 1993) and Alan Hevesi (1994-2001), continued to provide indispensable support for the Mac Bride Principles.
My dear friend, Congressman Ben Gilman, Chairman of the House International Relations Committee, championed our campaign in the Congress and the Mac Bride Principles (despite very powerful opposition) became US law in 1998.

So you can easily see the importance of Jewish-American support.

Since 2002, Comptroller Thompson has provided magnificent leadership on the Mac Bride Principles. And here, again, is something that has touched me deeply: the support of African-Americans, who know a thing or two about discrimination. Along with Comptroller Thompson, the other names that immediately come to mind are Congressman Charlie Rangel of New York, one of our very earliest supporters, and Congressman Don Payne of New Jersey.

I have already mentioned Sal Albanese and the key role he played in our campaign. But one cannot mention American activity on behalf of Ireland without mentioning that other great Italian, Congressman Mario Biaggi, who for many ears was our key ally in Congress.
Isn’t it very striking? The elected officials who led the campaign to end anti-Catholic discrimination in Northern Ireland were not Irish- Americans, but Jewish-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans, Hispanic Americans and others! To me, that is the great moral lesson of the Mac Bride Campaign.

God bless America and God save Ireland.

Fr. McManus has written a history of the MacBride Principles campaign:

The MacBride Principles:

Genesis and History

and

The Story to Date

THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF THE MACBRIDE PRINCIPLES

The first book to tell the complete story of the MacBride Principles Campaign. 136 pages packed with vitally important details and 24 photos which help to document the story from 1978 to the present.

Available from:

Irish National Caucus
Capitol Hill
PO BOX 15128
Washington, DC 20003-0849
Tel. 202-544-0568
Fax 202-488-7537
sean@irishnationalcaucus.org

To order, send with your check payable to Irish National Caucus. Cost is $10.00 plus $1.24 for shipping and handling per book.

Fianna Fáil – the new, and the the not so new

Guest Blogger Cllr. Ian Parsley

Cllr Ian James Parsley, born in 1977, joined the Alliance Party in 2002, was elected to North Down Borough Council in 2005, and served as Deputy Mayor from 2008-9. He was the Alliance Party's candidate at the European Election for the Northern Ireland region, attaining the party's best result for 30 years.

In September this year Cllr Parsley resigned from the Alliance party to join the Conservative Party.

He will spend the next year working with the Centre for Social Justice delivering a "Breakthrough Belfast" report as part of the think tank's "Breakthrough Britain" series.

"Electorally, Fianna Fáil will also provide a welcome democratic alternative to Sinn Féin in those (primarily rural, border) areas where the SDLP is now all but absent."

Fianna Fáil – the new, and the the not so new

Much has been made of the potential for Fianna Fáil to enter representative politics in Northern Ireland after it was revealed independent MLA Gerry McHugh had joined the party.

My own instinct is to welcome the move. Regional politics in Northern Ireland has already grown stale, with parties used to managing peace processes but unused to managing government departments. The introduction of a party with the resources to expand and experience of government can only be a good thing in that context. Electorally, Fianna Fáil will also provide a welcome democratic alternative to Sinn Féin in those (primarily rural, border) areas where the SDLP is now all but absent.

However, all is not so new. Fianna Fáil does not offer a route away from identity-based politics to ideology-based politics, as it itself is based within an identity-based system south of the border; nor does it offer a route towards influence on the key issues of taxation, security or welfare reform because it has no say in politics at the relevant level. In short, even if it does cause an earthquake within one of the designations in Northern Ireland, Fianna Fáil’s involvement will not move us away from politics along sectarian lines.

As for Gerry McHugh himself, it is widely known in Fermanagh that he left Sinn Féin for reasons apart from Republican ideology. The stated reason, that he had in fact rejected his then party’s stance on policing, needs to be reversed immediately whatever he claims about his exact party status, or Fianna Fáil may face a false start.

For all that initial confusion, this does ultimately make the question to the SDLP leadership candidates all the more pressing: namely, what is the SDLP for? I have yet to hear either answer that other than by reference to the past. If this continues, they may have no future.

SDLP Leadership - What is That?

Guest Blogger Martin Morgan




Editor's Note.

This article was submitted before the the announcement that the current independent, and former Sinn Féin MLA for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Gerry McHugh, announced that he had joined Fianna Fáil. The announcement came after a Fianna Fáil support group in Fermanagh was formally established this past weekend. Fianna Fáil support groups now exist in counties Armagh, Down, and Fermanagh. Membership in the party in the previously unorganised six northern counties is believed to be around 500 with counties Antrim, Derry, and Tyrone, expected to launch by early next year.

"Fianna Fáil offers what both the SDLP and Sinn Féin cannot; it could produce Stormont Ministers and has had Dail Ministers for more than fifty five years of the eighty eight years since partition occurred. Add this together and you could see the creation of the most potent All-Ireland political movement in the island’s history."

Martin Morgan is a former SDLP Lord Mayor of Belfast (2003-2004) and former SDLP Councilor for the Oldpark constituency in north Belfast ( Ardoyne, Waterworks, New Lodge, Cliftonville, Ligoniel wards) which he served for 12 years and was a European Parliamentary candidate in 2004.

A double graduate of the Queen's University of Belfast, he is a Social Worker by profession, Martin left the SDLP in 2005 to progress his professional career. Since then Martin has maintained a strong interest in the organisation of Fianna Fáil as a 32-county political entity. He believes that Fianna Fáil is the only political party on the island of Ireland that has the ability to fully promote the well being of all of the people who live on the island.

Maintaining a strong interest in politics across Ireland especially in his home town of Belfast, Martin is of the view that the current political representation afforded to the people of north Belfast is inadequate, outdated and out of touch and requires replacing.

SDLP Leadership – What is that?

Mark Durkan’s stepping down as the leader of the soft Nationalist SDLP has come as no surprise to me. Durkan was Hume’s left hand man in Derry before becoming the SDLP leader and throughout his stewardship of the Party he was dogged by those who believed that being an able Lieutenant to a former leader was his strongest and most able position in the Party. He is a decent person and was an alright steward, but he was not a leader in its truest sense at a time when the SDLP was losing its direction, requiring a strong and confident hand at the wheel, rather than bowing to the inevitable “I am clever than you” abstract sound bite, which left most of us bewildered.

Since Durkan’s announcement Alasdair Mc Donnell and Margaret Ritchie have declared their intentions to replace him. Others in the Party would have aspired to declare openly their ambition to enter the race. Some of these individuals were clearly delusional having overseen their own electoral demise in their respective home constituencies and their failure to strengthen an eroding electoral base. Their vanity by far outweighed their grasp of reality. At least some members of the SDLP had the sense to counsel them against contesting a race that at best had only three serious contenders and at worst two, the third potential candidate being John Dallat from the East Derry area, who would not enter the race even though he narrowly lost out to Mc Donnell for the Deputy Leadership.

Both Mc Donnell and Ritchie are reasonably well-profiled politicians and in the eyes of the electorate Ritchie in particular has handled her Ministerial portfolio well. However, in my opinion, neither Ritchie nor Mc Donnell can turn the tide of fortune back in the direction of the SDLP.

The reasons;

Firstly neither are charismatic characters, commanding the attention of the Party or the electorate.

Secondly we should not be fooled by the “just good enough” election results of the past five years. The results were just good enough for the Party to avoid collapsing, but not anyway nearly good enough to begin to think that the SDLP was returning to former strengths and glories.

Thirdly even though they topped the European poll in the north Sinn Fein has probably peeked at a time when the SDLP’s life support system coughs and splutters along the same as before. The soothsayers of the SDLP always held out hope against hope that the demise of the Sinn Féin experiment would see again the rise of the SDLP. That has not happened. The SDLP’s old boast of being a “broad church” has ultimately obstructed the Republicanism that lies deep within elements of the Party in favour of a significant number of “latte sipping” come lately representatives ( where were they before the ceasefires?) who want status, status and status. This in turn fed into the Sinn Féin machine that eventually decimated the SDLP.

Fourthly a new powerful, mature and experienced political force in northern politics is rising rapidly in the form of Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil is now organising across the six counties and has recently opened a political surgery in Crossmaglen. Early indicators show a groundswell of goodwill, support and new members for the 32 - county Party, including strong overtures being made by some elected representatives and members of the SDLP to join Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil offers what both the SDLP and Sinn Féin cannot; it could produce Stormont Ministers and has had Dail Ministers for more than fifty five years of the eighty eight years since partition occurred. Add this together and you could see the creation of the most potent All-Ireland political movement in the island’s history.

All of this added together is just too much of a challenge for whoever the new leader of the SDLP will be thus sealing the SDLP’s fate.