@Cybercubed In Terry Eagleton’s book The Truth About The Irish there’s a bit where he describes Ireland as an essentially clannish society. In a society based on clans it’s very important where people are from and what people they belong too, and Ireland this idea still has influence and matters. This was a bit of an aha moment for me since I have Irish parentage on one side but grew up abroad. I got the “welcome home” when we visited but at the same time felt endlessly that I didn’t fit it and was made to feel slightly wrong. As an adult I don’t care as much and have forgiven. Abroad I describe myself as Swedish but since I have a name that belies it I often directly have to get in to my other heritages. In Sweden I often have cause to say that I’m not completely Swedish enough (to eat surströmming or not invite cousins to my wedding or whatever).
A pp posted an article about a Ugandan (I think?) priest who was born in Ireland but hasn’t set foot there since yet thinks of himself as Irish. That’s odd to me since he’ll have basically nothing culturally in common with anyone from Ireland. I don’t go straight for describing myself as Irish and I’d say I know a lot more about it than he does. ;) I think the Irish could do well to open up the concept of who is Irish a bit more, and hopefully that’s where we’re headed. But I think historically the citizenship and the ethnicity have been very interlinked. Also I think all of us English speakers tend to class people by accent, don’t we? The accent will say what “people” we belong to. It seems very ingrained.
For the record the Polish haven’t gotten over shit. I have family from there so I can tell you that the partition of 1795 is still a point of soreness. Do not lean on the Polish as people who are “over the war” - absolutely not. The Swedish wars and accompanying atrocities in the 17th century are known as “the deluge” (potop) and I would argue influence Poland to this day. In the late 19th century a polish author wrote an epic novel about the period and it has been filmed several times since then. The Polish LOVE a good historical moan.
It is always unwise to tell people to get over a trauma. At some point, sure, the trauma has to be put in the past, but this is difficult if you don’t have the trauma recognised by others, ideally including the perpetrators of it with analogous/admission of guilt/reparations.
The thing with the Irish famine is that there is a line from famine to increased fight for independence to Easter rising to Black and Tans to Partiton to Troubles to now. It is a bit meaningless to say get over it when all the issues become tangled up. Having also family and friends in England (sic) I can say that there are apparently many brits who do not get over the atrocities committed by their own government towards its people. See Margaret Thatcher, subsections “milk for school children” and “mines”.
It is worth thinking about whether a nation or government or group of people of whatever uses historical trauma to cover up ongoing problems of their own making. Keeping historical trauma alive that way can be a useful tool. Definitely oh so definitely true in Poland. I suspect a lot of Irish people could agree that focussing on Cromwell’s barbaric Ireland could mean that current human rights issues in Ireland could be ignored.
For what it’s worth, if the British government did nothing more wrong than be passive regarding the famine then that crime is perfectly analogous with Ireland’s perceived crime of passivity in WW2, don’t you think? But as a Catholic I’d like to remind us of sins of omission. Failing to so something can also be a sin. ;)