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When ‘tradition’ becomes a clear display of hatred

425 replies

WhereIsMyJumper · 11/07/2025 14:52

Am I being unreasonable to be aghast at the bonfires in NI? Burning the tri-colour as well as an effigy of a migrant boat. How can this be referred to as ‘tradition’??

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/firefighters-take-two-hours-to-extinguish-controversial-bonfire-topped-with-migrant-boat-and-irish-flag-in-co-tyrone/a1274789953.html

Firefighters take two hours to extinguish controversial bonfire topped with ‘migrant boat’ and Irish flag in Co Tyrone

Firefighters took almost two hours to extinguish a controversial bonfire which was lit in Co Tyrone last night.

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/firefighters-take-two-hours-to-extinguish-controversial-bonfire-topped-with-migrant-boat-and-irish-flag-in-co-tyrone/a1274789953.html

OP posts:
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8
Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:15

UrbanOasis · 12/07/2025 23:10

What absolute bollocks. Your statistics about the population of Ballymena are busy made up. Total racist bollocks.

Perhaps the folk of Ballymena don’t want the same thing that’s happening in cities across Europe.

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:16

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:11

It was on an asbestos site, metres away from an electricity substation that served two hospitals, each less that 1/2 a mile away from the bonfire itself. This stuff has been covered by various news outlets this past few days.

Did you not check anything before voicing your ridiculous notions?🤯

Which bonfire are you on about? There’s been a few

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:18

UrbanOasis · 12/07/2025 23:10

What absolute bollocks. Your statistics about the population of Ballymena are busy made up. Total racist bollocks.

That poster is unconcerned with facts and reality. Their wee head is full of hobby horses' bobos and fantasy.🦄

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:19

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:16

Which bonfire are you on about? There’s been a few

The one I linked to upthread.

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:23

TooBigForMyBoots
Can’t be arsed to look back. You were not on about the boat one though.

OneLuckyBee · 12/07/2025 23:26

Yes I'm familiar with plantation. I can walk 5 minutes from my front door and see Scotland. People that lived here for thousands of years before me did the same, the Kingdom of Dal Riata (or Dalriada) predates a unitary Irish State by hundreds of years. Pretending that there was a peaceful united Irish Catholic state before the Brits came along is delusional.

Personally as a true Ulster pagan Gael I am despondent that my culture has been wiped from my homeland by Christian interlopers. My Gods where is the knowledge of history?

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:27

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:18

That poster is unconcerned with facts and reality. Their wee head is full of hobby horses' bobos and fantasy.🦄

Oh look at you, being all superior and shit.🙄

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:27

Fact resistance is a real thing folks.

It causes the stupid and the racist to support terrorism in the UK.🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:29

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:27

Oh look at you, being all superior and shit.🙄

Not superior, just knowledgeable.

Fearfulsaints · 12/07/2025 23:31

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:19

The one I linked to upthread.

I hope you don't mind me asking TooBigForMyBoots (maybe you don't know?)

But the article says the firebrigade were hosing down a block of flats that had been boarded up. Is this people's homes they had to vacate? Or an empty block.

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:35

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:27

Fact resistance is a real thing folks.

It causes the stupid and the racist to support terrorism in the UK.🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Edited

You carry on love. Your superiority complex is showing.
There are many English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish who are sick of the influx of irregular migration.
Terrorism in the UK is an Islamic thing mainly.

And yes it’s factual. Counter terrorism has it at the number one threat.
What’s the number one terrorist threat in NI?

cryingandshaking · 12/07/2025 23:35

WhereIsMyJumper · 12/07/2025 15:30

I’d like to see the reaction if Nationalists made an effigy of King Charles and burned it. Will that be harmless too?

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66515098

I don’t know about King Charles effigies but burning poppy wreaths is pretty bad too….. Using bonfires to peddle hatred is not as one-sided as your posts suggest.

IMO all bonfires like these should be banned, if not for political reasons then at least environmental ones, similar to the banning of single-use plastics.

Flags and poppy wreaths on a bonfire in Creggan in 2023

Derry bonfire: Poppy wreaths and flags treated as hate crime

Poppy wreaths and a number of flags were were placed on a bonfire in Londonderry.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66515098

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:35

Fearfulsaints · 12/07/2025 23:31

I hope you don't mind me asking TooBigForMyBoots (maybe you don't know?)

But the article says the firebrigade were hosing down a block of flats that had been boarded up. Is this people's homes they had to vacate? Or an empty block.

People's homes. Hosing down residences near the bonfires is par for the course here every year.

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:36

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:35

You carry on love. Your superiority complex is showing.
There are many English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish who are sick of the influx of irregular migration.
Terrorism in the UK is an Islamic thing mainly.

And yes it’s factual. Counter terrorism has it at the number one threat.
What’s the number one terrorist threat in NI?

Loyalist paramilitaries.

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 23:37

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:29

Not superior, just knowledgeable.

I have found truly knowledgeable people to be anything but judgemental.
Judgemental people are usually not as bright as they would like everyone to think.

Martymcfly24 · 12/07/2025 23:38

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:35

People's homes. Hosing down residences near the bonfires is par for the course here every year.

I was just reading it cost 6.1 million to police the bonfires last year and expected to go up this year.

What a shocking amount of money for a couple of nights.

Fearfulsaints · 12/07/2025 23:39

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:35

People's homes. Hosing down residences near the bonfires is par for the course here every year.

Thank you for clarifying. That's terrifying.

OneLuckyBee · 12/07/2025 23:40

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:36

Loyalist paramilitaries.

Edited

I think it is dissys, loyalist paramilitaries are pretty busy with the drug dealing and organised crime.

TooBigForMyBoots · 12/07/2025 23:49

OneLuckyBee · 12/07/2025 23:40

I think it is dissys, loyalist paramilitaries are pretty busy with the drug dealing and organised crime.

Those are terrorist activities.

CandidRobin · 12/07/2025 23:49

WhereIsMyJumper · 12/07/2025 15:30

I’d like to see the reaction if Nationalists made an effigy of King Charles and burned it. Will that be harmless too?

They celebrated when the Queen died with many vile acts. There were no consequences. The Queen was a true compassonate leader, advocate for peace, visiting the Republic, shaking hands with a terrorist. The Queen was dignity personified and did not deserve the disrespect displayed upon her death.

It's an extremely complicated situation that has existed for centuries. Very easy for outsiders to comment. Not so easy for the people who lived through the worst days, who stayed when others left and who are trying to navigate the period post GF agreement whilst raising the next generation hoping for a better future.

The intergenerational trauma has been near catastrophic. Suicide rates are very high. The poverty in marginalised communities on both sides is also significant. When trauma and poverty collide it's never a good outcome.

Traditions give a sense of belonging on both sides. The judgement of people who have not walked in our shoes does not matter. Have your opinions without looking at the whole picture if it makes you feel virtuous. There are good people in both communities in Ni who are surviving, working towards thriving, who will get it wrong, but you know what, we will not give up on each other, we all belong to this beautiful country. There is so much cross community work taking place. Our bereavements will not be in vain. When you have feared for your life regularly in a part of the UK and witnessed bombings, shootings, seen body parts strewn over the High Street, maybe things won't be ideal because that is not normal. These things were experienced commonly by people who are now in their 40s so not very long ago. We will work it out in spite of all the judgement from people who have no idea.

pinkhousesarebest · 13/07/2025 00:08

We are on holiday in Belfast ( timed it wrong!). We left in 1998 and I am always perplexed to return and find the same riven society 30 years later. We just went out to walk the dog and the streets are post apocalyptic. Rubbish, bottles, cans , carry-outs and hung on one of the railings a microwave. There were a few timid tourists out and about and I was deeply ashamed.

OneLuckyBee · 13/07/2025 00:27

'The Queen was a true compassonate leader, advocate for peace, visiting the Republic, shaking hands with a terrorist'.
The other view is that Martin McGuiness was a compassionate leader and advocate for peace shaking hands with the head of state of a country that had the blood of thousands of Irish people on its hands.
If you can only see one of those views you are part of the problem.

DrPrunesqualer · 13/07/2025 00:54

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 22:15

The effigy burning isn’t the issue.
As I’ve said effigy burning isn’t a religious or political thing in England although obviously it started the ritual in the first place.
Yes catholics don’t particularly like it but they tolerate because they understand it’s no longer about them anymore

Wrong. We tolerate it because we have no choice. People like you and the police and the Government don’t give a shit

GrammarTeacher · 13/07/2025 05:05

Madcatdudette · 12/07/2025 22:59

Yes, yes I am.
Most people are sensible when it comes to bonfires..
Was this NI bonfire next to a hospital or electricity supply?

Yes! Have you actually read anything about what you’re commenting on!

OchonAgusOchonOh · 13/07/2025 10:17

cryingandshaking · 12/07/2025 23:35

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-66515098

I don’t know about King Charles effigies but burning poppy wreaths is pretty bad too….. Using bonfires to peddle hatred is not as one-sided as your posts suggest.

IMO all bonfires like these should be banned, if not for political reasons then at least environmental ones, similar to the banning of single-use plastics.

Except burning poppy wreaths was treated as a hate crime.