A pandemic time love for R & I has been #DerryGirls set in the 90s and we often wonder, how did Ireland go from an extremely rabidly conservative, violence-riddled, and impoverished country to where it is now in just 2 decades? A rare positive move by a country in the 21st cent.
In 1986, Ireland had a referendum that continued the ban on divorce by a 64-36 margin.
In 2015, Ireland had a referendum that legalized gay marriage by a 63-37 margin!
That is a whiplash inducing pace of change in less than 30 years, right?
How did it happen?
In 2015, Ireland had a referendum that legalized gay marriage by a 63-37 margin!
That is a whiplash inducing pace of change in less than 30 years, right?
How did it happen?
Fintan O'Toole's book "We Don't Know Ourselves", reviewed in this week's New Yorker, lays in out in fascinating and acerbic detail!
Basically the hypocrites overplayed their hand after years of using hypocrisy to perpetuate orthodoxy & abuse.
newyorker.com/magazine/2022/…
Basically the hypocrites overplayed their hand after years of using hypocrisy to perpetuate orthodoxy & abuse.
newyorker.com/magazine/2022/…
In these dark times for India, the story of Ireland's rapid and unexpected progress that happened entirely in my lifetime, offers a glimmer of optimism.
And the continuing success of the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland gives me hope for Kashmir and Kashmiris.
And the continuing success of the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland gives me hope for Kashmir and Kashmiris.
Btw the so-called "Manmohan-Musharraf formula" for Kashmir was not unlike the Good Friday agreement iirc. Northern Ireland people could choose to identify as Irish or British or both!
In just a few years, a terrorism riddled N.I. became cool as a few cucumbers!
In just a few years, a terrorism riddled N.I. became cool as a few cucumbers!
Ireland was ruled for decades by a murderous misogynistic child abusing corrupt partnership of Catholic clergy & conservative nationalists, who tied Irishness as an identity to catholicism and conservative nationalism. Misogyny was central to it, cos you know, Catholic Church.
In the 90s, this "holy" alliance started falling apart after Mary Robinson, an independent liberal, was elected President. The conservatives who still held the more powerful Taoiseach (Prime Minister) attacked her so viciously that it started backfiring big time.
The end of the Northern Ireland conflict and then the formation of the European Union also reshaped Irish identity. No longer did you have to conform to harsh abusive Catholicism and narrow conservative nationalism to be Irish. Plus the money flowing in from EU/US companies.
Within my lifetime, Ireland went from a frustrated white conservative mess that voted by almost 2/3rd majority to keep divorces illegal, to the first country in the world to legalize gay marriage through referendum, also by almost 2/3rd majority!
And had a Marathi Taoiseach. 😊
And had a Marathi Taoiseach. 😊
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