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Anthony McIntyre ☠ It is no great challenge to the imagination to entertain simultaneous thoughts that are wholly at odds with each other.

  • Willie McCrea - love thy neighbour
  • Donald Trump - strategic intellect
  • Gerry Adams - honesty
  • Orange Order - equality

It would be quite the irony, and a fitting one, were the Orange Order to see its life pronounced extinct on the hill of Drumcree, the coroner's verdict: death by suicide. The hilltop - from which it roared supremacist hatred while prioritising its right to march over the right to life of 21 people slain by those determined that the Orange would stomp its way through Garvaghy Road and trample over the residents who lived there - its final resting place, buried beneath a headstone engraved with a single sentence: here lies hate.

Not all members of the Orange Order are unalloyed bigots. Along with another former republican prisoner I once spoke in an Orange hall. The people there were most gracious and courteous. Their marches annoy no one nor are they intended to. It is impossible to see the late Brian Kennaway as anything other than a person who steadfastly refused to bear his Catholic neighbours as much as a slither of contempt. He certainly viewed those who wanted to push the hate marches down Garvaghy Road with unremitting disdain. Brian was not one of those Christians for whom there is no hatred like Christian love. The Irish Times said of him "he was loyal to the Orange tradition but highly critical of the Orange Order leadership."

Yet, people like Brian Kennaway apart, it seems undeniable that the Orange Order is institutionally bigoted and sectarian. It lacks the sway of yore but is still a hate institution, its influence a thing of the past, its hatred very much alive in the present. Its leadership has done nothing in 28 years to dissuade the Portadown District from lodging weekly applications with the Parades Commission to be allowed to perform the Hate Haka along the Garvaghy Road where it is detested by those who live there for its bigotry, coat trailing, triumphalism and supremacism. While the Orange, for understandable reasons, might value the tradition of marching, only a hate filled bigot would insist on stomping through the heart of a community that had endured so much suffering and loss of life due to Orange domination theology. The Orange Order might not have pulled the trigger, hurled the petrol bomb, placed the explosive device that ended 21 lives but the Spirit of Drumcree was present at the scene of the crime.

And it pretends not to understand why it is considered a plague. 

Many wonder what lies behind the Orange obsession with ostentatiously flaunting itself in areas where its presence is reviled. Kevin Haddick Flynn explained it best in his book on the institution. 

We are the masters here and you are Fenian scum - we will march where we wish and you are powerless to stop us … we are your superiors: we dare you to do something about it; if you don’t you confirm your own inferior status.

It didn't quite work out that way when last Sunday's planned hate march in Portadown was halted by community resistance and resilience, where the residents were not prepared to confirm their assigned inferiority, instead opting to go on the front foot against their self-styled superiors. 

Yes, the law has been disobeyed by the Garvaghy Road defenders. There is no shame in that, no reason to be apologetic or say sorry m'Lud. That is the very purpose of civil disobedience: facing down unjust laws and either taking the consequences or reaping the rewards for refusing to obey the law. The law was disobeyed in the spirit of Bobby Sands whose words helped exorcise the spirit of Drumcree with his admonition against 'systemised, institutionalised, decent law-abiding robots.' 

Not many of them on the Garvaghy Road. 

⏩Follow on Bluesky.


Hate Halted

Pádraig Drummond ✊ Well, apparently I have achieved the great political distinction of being Blocked by the National Party, or, as I prefer to call them, the Naz*list Party, for the heinous crime of pointing out something they apparently found unbearable, that their politics have rather more in common with the Orange Order than with the people of Garvaghy Road.

And what a beautiful little circus this is. There I was, merely pointing out the awkward similarities, the nationalism, the racism, the religious bigotry and the curious habit of treating an Irish identity as though it comes with a membership card, a blood test and a list of people who are sufficiently Irish to be admitted. Then click locked, the modern political equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and screaming, “I Can't Hear You!” while running away from the evidence.

What makes the whole performance particularly absurd is watching self-appointed patriots suddenly discover Garvaghy Road whenever there is an opportunity to climb aboard its coat-tails. The people who actually live there, organise there and have carried the weight of that struggle do not need lectures from Johnny-come-lately nationalists with a suspiciously well-developed hatred of immigrants.

Garvaghy Road is not a stage for every opportunist faction looking for a few photographs and some borrowed legitimacy. Its history belongs to the people who live there. And if your version of Irish nationalism is rooted in racism, religious bigotry and exclusion, then perhaps the uncomfortable truth is that you have more ideological furniture in common with the sectarian Orange tradition than with the republican tradition you claim to represent.

Blocking somebody doesn't make the argument disappear. It merely means you have decided that the safest place for an argument is somewhere you don't have to look at it.
 
Notice how the Naz* rats didn't have the balls to announce their presence on Garvaghy Road. Not a banner, not a party badge, not even a little commemorative sticker clinging desperately to a lamppost.

And there is good reason for this remarkable outbreak of political invisibility, they know their particular brand of nationalism wouldn't exactly receive the warm embrace they enjoy from the safety of a keyboard. The revolutionary vanguard, brave enough to shout through a Facebook account, but suddenly afflicted with an extraordinary case of stage fright when confronted with the actual people whose history they have been so eager to appropriate.

Fu*k The Naz*list Party, Fu*k The Orange Order, No pasarán!

⏩Pádraig Drummond is an anti-racism activist.

Blocked By The National Party

Atheist Ireland ★ The UN Human Rights Council is examining Ireland’s human rights record this year under the Universal Periodic Review. This includes the right to freedom of religion and belief.

28-August-2026

The pre-session meeting took place this week in Geneva. The full review date is 10 November. Here are Atheist Ireland’s recommendations in our submission to the process.

1. Discrimination: recognise philosophical beliefs

Amend the Equal Status Act to protect philosophical beliefs from discrimination in line with Article 18 of the ICCPR.

Reasons: Ireland’s anti-discrimination laws do not protect philosophical beliefs, and nothing material has changed since the last UPR review.

Article 40.1 of the Constitution states that all citizens shall be held equal before the law. However, Section 3-2(e) of the Equal Status Act 2000 defines the religion ground only by reference to religious belief or the absence of religious belief.

This does not expressly protect philosophical beliefs and is inconsistent with General Comment 22, which protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief.

2. Discrimination: review equality laws

Amend the Equal Status and Employment Equality Acts to remove all forms of discrimination on the ground of religion.

Reasons: Section 7 of the Equal Status Act allows publicly funded second-level schools with a religious ethos to prefer co-religionists. They can also refuse access where they believe and can prove a child will undermine their ethos.

Since the introduction of the Education Admissions to Schools Act 2018 most primary-level schools can no longer give preference to co-religionists. We welcome this. However, they can still refuse access where they believe and can prove a child would undermine their ethos.

Section 37 of the Employment Equality Act obliges teachers in publicly-funded schools to uphold the ethos of the patron.

3. Discrimination: review solemnising of marriages

Remove all discrimination against secular bodies introduced in the Civil Registration Amendment Act 2012.

Reasons: Irish law discriminates in the solemnisation of marriages, purportedly to protect the institution of marriage.

Under section 3 of the Civil Registration Amendment Act, a body qualifies as a secular body only if it has at least 50 members, has been a charity for at least five years, does not promote a political cause, and has principal objects that are secular, ethical and humanist. None of these conditions applies to religious bodies.

A key restriction is that a secular body that solemnises marriages cannot promote a political cause. This means that the Humanist Association of Ireland, because it can nominate solemnisers, can no longer promote political causes such as reform of the Constitution, equality law, or the education system.

4. Discrimination: protect religious minority groups

Improve implementation of laws against discrimination for members of religious minority groups, particularly those with migrants and ethnic or racial minorities.

Reason: Articles 18, 26, and 27 of the ICCPR protect faith-based religious minorities through several overlapping guarantees. Articles 2 and 5 of CERD require the State to address overlapping racial or ethnic discrimination. Two such religious minorities in Ireland with migrant members are the Evangelical Alliance of Ireland and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community of Ireland.

5. Freedom of religion or belief: remove religious oaths

Commit to holding a referendum to amend the Constitution to remove compulsory religious declarations for public office and replace them with a single neutral declaration compatible with freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief.

Reason: Ireland’s Constitution requires religious oaths for the President, Judges, and members of the Council of State. These provisions discriminate against non-religious citizens, and against anyone whose conscience does not permit a religious declaration, by attaching religious conditions to public office.

6. Education: provide objective education and nondiscriminatory exemptions

Ensure that children and parents have real access to neutral and objective education, in accordance with General Comment 22 on Article 18 of the ICCPR, including through non-denominational schools and non-discriminatory exemptions from religious instruction/education.

Reasons: Ireland has not opened non-denominational secular schools or ensured access to neutral and objective curricula. It continues to ignore repeated concluding observations over the years from the UN and Council of Europe human rights bodies.

A Convention on Education has recently been established. However, no groups representing philosophical beliefs have been invited as stakeholders, despite longstanding UN concern about freedom of conscience, discrimination and equality in education.

Under Article 42.4 of the Constitution, the State ‘provides for’ rather than directly provides education. In practice, the State has chosen to do so through private patron bodies.

Boards of Management must uphold the ‘Characteristic Spirit’ (ethos) of the patron of the school. There are no non-denominational schools with a secular ethos. The ethos is not confined to the patron’s programme. It can permeate the entire curriculum.

At second level the State’s Religious Education course is not a neutral and objective course about religions and beliefs. Denominational schools may also integrate their own patron’s programme into that course and present it as suitable for all children.

The broader structure of the system was outlined by the European Court of Human Rights in Louise O’Keeffe v Ireland, where the Court held that the State could not avoid its Convention obligations by delegating them to private bodies or individuals.

Article 44.2.4 of the Constitution protects the right of a child to attend a publicly funded school without attending religious instruction. Section 30(2)(e) of the Education Act 1998 reflects this principle for all schools.

Section 62-7(n) of the Education Admissions to schools Act 2018 requires schools to state in their admissions policies the arrangements for not attending religious instruction.

However, the Minister leaves it up to each school to implement this legislation according to its own ethos. In practice, schools have refused to comply with this law and the State has ignored this issue. All of this results in the following discriminatory treatment:No access to a neutral and objective studying environment.

  • No inspection of patron’s religion or ethics programmes.
  • Our children are left sitting in the religion class as no supervision is provided.
  • No other subject is offered during this time and consequently our children get less teaching time because of our families’ conscientious objections.
  • At second level our children receive fewer exam points, as Religion is an exam subject.
  • Religion is integrated into the State curriculum.

Keep up with Atheist Ireland.

Freedom Of Belief Rights 🪶 The UN Is Reviewing Ireland’s Human Rights Record

Ukraine Solidarity Group ✊ A Digest of News from Ukrainian Sources ⚔  28-September-2026.

In this week’s bulletin

⬤ Who gets sent to war.
⬤ Will Russia go further? 
⬤ “Resist invasion or accept occupation.”
⬤ Research on human rights in Ukraine. 
⬤ Evidence of Russian torture. 
⬤ Oleshky under siege.
⬤ Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children.
⬤ Russia’s rigged election.

News from the territories occupied by Russia

Russia upends the law for 12-year sentence against 62-year-old from occupied Luhansk oblast (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 25th)

Russian court upholds medical torture and likely death sentence against Crimean Tatar political prisoner (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 25th)

The Sixth Summit of the International Crimea Platform: Key Messages (Crimea Platform, Sep 24th)

Russia sentences four Melitopol men, one just 18 when abducted and tortured, to up to 28 years (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 24th)

Russian invaders sentence Mariupol man to 25 years (Kharkiv Human Rights Prot’n Group, 23 Sept)

Over 1,000 sexual crimes since Russia's full-scale invasion, including the rape of a 4-year-old, genital beatings and torture (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 22nd)

Weekly update on the situation in occupied Crimea (Crimea Platform, September 22nd)

The EU and Ukraine’s partner states have condemned Russia’s sham elections in the temporarily occupied territories (Crimea Platform, September 22nd)

Massive 18-year sentence in Russian copy-paste ‘trial’ of Ukrainian from occupied Kherson oblast (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 21st)

Progress of the war

The Realities of Russia’s Brutal War Against Ukraine and Europe (Russian Reader, September 26th)

Environmental Consequences of War, July-Aug (Ukraine War Environmental Consequences work group, 26 Sept)

Oleshky under siege: a city where people eat grass, hide bodies in a hospital basement and wait for an evacuation that never comes (Ukrainska Pravda, September 25th)

The consumer boom is over: Ukrainian drone strikes on Wildberries and Ozon mark the end of Russians’ spending spree (The Insider, September 22nd)

Before the war and now: shocking images of Ukrainian cities (Eastern Frontier Initiative, 27 August)

News from Ukraine

Journalist Maria Yizhvenko killed in Russian drone strike (Ukrainska Pravda, 26 Sept)

US allocates $27 million for return of kidnapped Ukrainian children (Kyiv Independent 25 Sept)

Bail that cannot be paid is not bail. Statement by human rights organisations (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 23rd)

Former Supreme Court deputy head faces corruption charges (Kyiv Independent, 23 Sept)

Improving Humane Conditions in Places of Detention by Strengthening the National Preventive System in Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 18th)

Ukraine foreign minister: Ukraine should choose its heroes carefully (Ukrainska Pravda 17 Sept)

War-related news from Russia

Elections expert Alexander Kynev arrested (Meduza, 25 September)

Women in Prison: Serving Full Time (Posle.Media, September 23rd)

Cases of forced deployment are multiplying (Mediazona, 22 September)

About 60% of United Russia votes might be fabricated (iStories, 22 September)

Four years of ‘partial mobilisation’ (Mediazona, 21 September)

Comment and analysis

Will Russia go further and start a conventional war against another country? (Oksana Dutchak on facebook, 27 September)

“Resist invasion or accept occupation”: reply to Lindsey German of ‘Stop the War’ (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, September 26th)

Russia’s rigged election gives Putin mandate for all-out war (Kyiv Independent, 22 Sept)

TUC Congress votes to reaffirm solidarity with Ukraine (Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, 21 September)

Who Gets Sent to War? (The Radical, September 21st)

It doesn’t have to be this way (Radical Dumpling, September 21st)

Research of human rights abuses

Report: human rights in Ukraine (Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, September 26th)

ECtHR held a hearing on Russia’s abduction of ten Ukrainian children from occupied Crimea: ZMINA and other NGOs joined as third parties (Zmina, September 23rd)

Access to justice behind bars: Ukraine’s experience presented (Zmina, September 22nd)

Human rights defenders discuss cognitive occupation of Ukrainian territories in the framework of Crimea Days in Czechia (Zmina, September 22nd)

UN Commission points to human impact of Russia’s targeting of energy infrastructure, militarisation of education, and recruitment of foreign nationals (UN Human Rights, September 21st)

Also not to be missed

From Russia with ‘Russophobia’: propagandists pose as ‘angry Latvians’ (The Insider, 26 September)

The EU lifted sanctions on two billionaires, extended sanctions on others (Meduza, 25 September)

Empty streets and ‘dragon’s teeth’: Lithuania-Russia border (Eastern Frontier Initiative, 20 Sept)
🔴This bulletin is put together by labour movement activists in solidarity with Ukrainian resistance. More information at Ukraine Information Group.

We are also on twitter. Our aim is to circulate information in English that to the best of our knowledge is reliable. If you have something you think we should include, please send it to 2U022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.


We are now on Facebook and Substack! Please subscribe and tell friends. Better still, people can email us at 2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com, and we’ll send them the bulletin direct every Monday. The full-scale Russian assault on Ukraine is going into its third year: we’ll keep information and analysis coming, for as long as it takes.

The bulletin is also stored on line here.

To receive the bulletin regularly, send your email to:
2022ukrainesolidarity@gmail.com.
To stop it, please reply with the word “STOP” in the subject field.

News From Ukraine 💣 Bulletin 214

National Secular Society ★ 17 baby boys treated for "life threatening haemorrhage, shock or sepsis which relates to a circumcision" at one NHS trust last year.


The National Secular Society has warned of a 'catastrophic failure of child safeguarding' after damning new research reveals boys are coming to serious harm following circumcision in Birmingham.

Data acquired by the NSS shows 17 baby boys were treated for "life threatening haemorrhage, shock or sepsis which relates to a circumcision" at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust last year.

A further 29 babies were treated at the Trust for serious complications between 2022 and 2024, at an estimated cost of £264,000 to the taxpayer.

The NHS only funds medically necessary circumcisions, which are rarely needed for infants, suggesting that many of the procedures were performed in the local community for non-therapeutic (i.e. religious or cultural) reasons.

Under UK law, anyone can legally circumcise boys, even if they have no medical training or "proven expertise". Anaesthesia does not have to be used, and doctors struck off the medical register for dangerous circumcisions can continue to legally circumcise boys as laypeople.

At least five babies have died since 2007 following non-therapeutic circumcisions.

Continue @ NSS. 

Birmingham 🪶17 Babies Suffer Serious Circumcision Complications

Merrion Press 🔖 has published a new book by  Orlaith McBride & John Gibney




THE STORY OF US
Independent Ireland and the 1926 Census
 

 Orlaith McBride & John Gibney



On 18 April 1926 the first census of an independent Irish state was undertaken. Across the 26 counties over 700,000 census forms were completed by, or on behalf of, the 2,971,992 people living in the Irish Free State. But what can we know of the lives that they led?

A century later, with the release of the 1926 census by the National Archives on 18 April 2026, those forms come alive again – revealing a nation in transition and a people forging their identity in the early decades of independence. The Story of Us brings together a wide range of scholars to illuminate the individuals and communities hidden within the census returns. From island settlements to expanding cities, from rural farms and urban tenements to the mansions of the aristocracy, the book traces a vibrant cross-section of society. Lavishly illustrated, it explores themes ranging from entertainment and the arts to housing, infrastructure, family life, and social change.

The Story of Us offers not only a compelling portrait of 1926 Ireland but a deeper understanding of the world in which these lives unfolded.

Hardback • €24.99|£22.99 • 216pages • 240mm x 190mm • 9781788551816
Buy your copy

About The Authors

Orlaith McBride has been Director of the National Archives/An Chartlann Náisiúnta since April 2020. She previously served as Director of the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, where she led major national initiatives including the 2016 commemorations programme. Earlier in her career, she worked widely across the arts sector. She has served on Dublin City University’s Governing Authority and is a member of the Brian Friel Trust.

John Gibney is Assistant Editor with the Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy programme. He has written widely on Irish history and historiography. His books include A short history of Ireland (Yale University Press), and he was one of the co-curators of the major international exhibitions presented by the National Archives in partnership with the RIA to mark the centenaries of both the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 and Irish membership of the League of Nations in 1923.


Out Now 📚 Orlaith McBride & John Gibney

Right Wing Watch 👀Written by Peter Montgomery.


While the Family Research Council’s recent and final Pray Vote Stand national activist conference was a pale imitation of the group’s glory years, speakers made clear that the still-powerful religious-right movement is committed to advancing an anti-equality, anti-freedom, exclusionary Christian nationalist agenda—and looking to make it all possible by keeping Republicans in power in the upcoming midterm elections.
Ending Access to Abortion

The stars of the opening night were U.S. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri and his wife Erin Hawley, a lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which played a major role in getting the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Sen. Hawley, a close ally of dominionist activist Sean Feucht, expressed anti-abortion activists’ frustration that the number of abortions in the U.S. have risen since Roe was overturned, because federal policy changes made during the Biden administration facilitate the distribution of the abortion drug mifepristone by mail, allowing patients to access it despite state-level abortion bans.

Religious-right groups have been demanding that the Trump administration reverse those policies, which Hawley complained “is turning every mailbox in America into a Planned Parenthood.”

Continue @ RWW.

Religious Right Wants GOP In Power to End Abortion Access, Reverse Marriage Equality, Impose Religious Test On Supreme Court

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of Two Thousand One Hundred And Twelve

 

Pastords @ 64

 

A Morning Thought @ 3283

Kate Rice ✍ Like most people, my social media feed has recently been awash with news of protesters in Dover, Portsmouth, and other seaside towns, demonstrating against small boat migration and the RNLI’s "helping hand." 

The fallout from these actions hit a boiling point when the Portsmouth Lifeboat Station was forced to temporarily suspend its services due to the intense physical and online abuse directed at its volunteers.

Where I can usually form a coherent opinion on complex public matters, I find myself completely baffled by this. The RNLI has existed since 1824, and since its inception, it has been an entirely indiscriminate humanitarian service. Its founding ethos is to protect those in peril on the sea—full stop. There is no clause stating "protect as long as they look like us" or "protect as long as they hold the right documentation." Its only mandate is to save those who are drowning.

When I was a child visiting the seaside, the RNLI hubs were places of community and pride. Volunteers were always happy to show you the lifeboats and share stories of maritime history. They never spoke of a political agenda because they didn't have one; their sole focus was saving lives. To any normal person, this selflessness is admirable. So why are we now seeing crowds calling themselves "patriots" protesting heroic charity work, threatening good-hearted volunteers, and driving vital rescue operations off-service?

The forced closure of the Portsmouth station creates an undeniable hazard. On an immensely popular stretch of coastline, risks emerge every day for hobby sailors, windsurfers, families, and yes, migrants in small boats. The irony is that during the Portsmouth incident, RNLI volunteers even stepped in to ensure the safety of the protesters who had waded into the water to confront the arriving boat. The charity protects everyone.

This unconditional humanity isn't new. During the Second World War, the RNLI routinely rescued downed German airmen from the sea. They did so without stopping to check documentation, and without pausing to consider that these men were actively at war with their country. They saved them simply because they were human beings facing death in the water. Once safe on solid ground, the proper authorities took over.

This is exactly what happens on the rare occasions they assist small boats in the English Channel. It is not the purpose of a volunteer rescue crew to act as border enforcement or to assess legal status; their only job is to ensure a person doesn’t die when a tragedy is entirely preventable. Channel rescues make up barely more than one per cent of the RNLI's nationwide callouts, yet volunteers are being branded as "traitors" online and targeted at their stations. Demanding that volunteers stand by and watch people suffer or drown is, without question, inhuman.

All human beings possess a fundamental right to life and safety. The human condition must always take precedence over a political or legal status. Protests targeting a lifesaving charity are dangerous reflections of xenophobic rhetoric. The consequences of these actions do not just endanger migrants; they put the volunteers themselves at risk and threaten the legal citizens who rely on those same lifeboats every single day.

When does it end? Will these critics only be satisfied when more small boat crossings end the way it did for two-year-old Alan Kurdi, the Syrian child whose lifeless body washed ashore, becoming a horrifying symbol of global inaction and a heart breaking picture on the cover of our newspapers? We cannot allow political bias and bigoted anger to dictate who lives and who dies when the means to save them are readily available.

The RNLI and its lifesaving mission must be fiercely protected. To those standing on the shores shouting insults at rescue boats, I ask a simple question - will you only be satisfied when the tide brings in nothing but bodies to bury?

⏩Kate Rice is a peace baby.

Hating The RNLI

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