U2 - Bloody Sunday

[BeatleBoot]

Run time: 07:19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFM7Ty1EEvs   Posted on YouTube: September 29, 2006 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 31, 2009 By DU Member: BeatleBoot Views on DU: 735

 
37 years ago today...


On January 30, 1972 soldiers from the British Army’s 1st Parachute Regiment opened fire on unarmed and peaceful civilians in the Bogside, Derry, Ireland near the Rossville flats killing 14 and wounding many others.



January 30, 1972 was a Sunday.

[stlsaxman]

1. A dear friend of mine was there when the shots rang out. She just got "Stand Up" and they were

sitting on a wall listening to it when it all started. I'll send her this link- thanks for posting it, BeatleBoot.

All this reminds me of a verse in a Clancy Brothers song i loved as a kid- never understood it really until i was older.

Up the long ladder
and down the short rope
to Hell with King Billy
and God bless the Pope-
if that doesn't do
we'll tear 'em in two
and send 'em to Hell
in their red, white and blue".

[BeatleBoot]

2. We'll be watching the movie in a few moments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xBcwhq_zXA&feature=related

[Larkspur]

6. I've got the DVD

and I also have the DVD of the movie "Michael Collins" starring Liam Neeson.

[Rainbowreflect]

3. Thanks!

[tblue]

4. Ashamed to admit, this is the first I ever heard of this. So I looked it up. Here's one summary:

Bloody Sunday, January 30, 1972

On January 30, 1972, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) organized a march on Londonderry to protest against the British practice of internment; that is, the detainment of Irish activists without formal charges or court hearings. Although the NICRA planned a peaceful demonstration, British security forces got wind of an Irish Republican Army (IRA) plan to take over the march and turn it into a riot. The British forces set out to arrest the protesters, who were already breaching a Northern Ireland-wide prohibition against processions that had passed the previous August. The troops effectively blocked the march at William Street and then proceeded to box the crowd in between William Street and the Flats. Apparently unable to control the situation, the British soldiers fired 108 rounds into the unarmed crowd of thousands, killing fourteen and wounding many more. The British press claimed that the crowd had been carrying weapons, but no weapons were found on the fourteen dead. Nine of them were under age 25. Although a tribunal was held to investigate the incident, the British government never officially apologized and none of the soldiers involved were ever put on trial. Recently, the British government re-opened the incident with a second tribunal. As yet, the tribunal under Lord Saville has not finished their investigation of that fateful day 30 years ago. So-called “Bloody Sunday” marked a rise in support for the IRA and the beginning of the modern “Troubles” in Northern Ireland.

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~sschreib/autumn_02/introductions/bloody_sunday.html

Thank you for the post. I am very moved by the song and the video, too, and I am intrigued to learn more about it. Do you have a personal connection to this event?

[Larkspur]

5. This incident is similar to what is happening in Israel and Palestine

I think of Rachel Corrie and Brian Avery, who were non-violent activists helping the Palestinians. Rachel was murdered and Brian survived but his face was horribly disfigured by IDF bullets. And there are thousands of non-violent Palestinian activists who have also been wrongly imprisoned by the IDF.

While the names of the victims change, the tactics of the state and its military arm do not.