Archivo etiqueta «Irlanda del Norte»
By Colum McCann, a professor of creative writing at Hunter College, and the author, most recently, of the novel “Zoli” (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 08/05/07):
IT was summer 1975 when the chilling report filtered through to our suburban Dublin kitchen: there’d been another killing in Northern Ireland. Members of a well-known music group, the Miami Showband, had been driving home to Dublin after a gig in County Down. They were stopped at a false checkpoint 30 miles south of Belfast by members of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force. As one of the terrorists tried to plant a bomb in … Seguir leyendo
Por Bertie Ahern, primer ministro de Irlanda (EL PAÍS, 08/05/07):
Al asumir Ian Paisely y Martin McGuinness las responsabilidades de gobierno en Irlanda del Norte, vemos finalmente materializarse las esperanzas ofrecidas por el Acuerdo de Viernes Santo de 1998. Para una isla a menudo plagada de un exceso de historia, esto supone un movimiento espectacular y sin precedentes hacia el futuro.
El camino ha sido difícil hasta alcanzar este punto. Desde la firma en 1998 del Acuerdo de Viernes Santo, hemos tenido que abordar muchos temas que afectaban su aplicación. Ha supuesto un enorme reto superar la falta de … Seguir leyendo
Por Irene Boada, periodista y filóloga (EL PERIÓDICO, 08/05/07):
“Gran Bretaña no tiene ningún interés egoísta, estratégico o económico en Irlanda del Norte”, declaró en 1990 el ministro británico para el Ulster, el conservador Peter Brooke. Este fue un aspecto clave que hizo que el Sinn Féin, el brazo político del IRA, se entregara a la vía dialogada y que el grupo terrorista dejara, poco a poco, de matar o agredir. A partir de hoy este partido, estrechamente vinculado a la violencia durante décadas, formará Gobierno, un Gobierno que ha estado paralizado cinco años a causa, precisamente, de las … Seguir leyendo
Por Fred Halliday, profesor visitante del Institut Barcelona d´Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) y profesor de la London School of Economics. Autor de Revolución y política mundial: auge y caída de la sexta gran potencia (Palgrave, 1999). Traducción: Juan Gabriel López Guix (LA VANGUARDIA, 02/04/07):
Ningún conflicto del mundo moderno, ni siquiera la disputa árabeisraelí, ha suscitado tantas controversias, polémicas, poses públicas, palabras vacías e ideas equivocadas como la cuestión irlandesa;un término que remite al conflicto armado que estalló en Irlanda del Norte a finales de la década de 1960 y, de modo más general, a los conflictos políticos y … Seguir leyendo
Por Rogelio Alonso, profesor de Ciencia Política en la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 01/04/07):
La violenta historia del conflicto norirlandés ha sido inmortalizada a través de miles de fotogramas. En uno de ellos, filmado a finales de los sesenta, puede verse a un policía golpeando a un manifestante mientras éste se retuerce de dolor ante la brutalidad de quien debía velar por su seguridad. El oficial pertenecía a un cuerpo integrado mayoritariamente por protestantes unionistas, esto es, partidarios de mantener Irlanda del Norte dentro del Reino Unido. La víctima de la agresión era un ciudadano que … Seguir leyendo
By Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Féin and MP for Belfast West (THE GUARDIAN, 27/03/07):
At some point in every election campaign every candidate forms a view that they are going to win. This syndrome, known as candidatitis, is capable of moving even the most rational aspirant into a state of extreme self-belief. It strikes without warning, is no respecter of gender, and can infect the lowly municipal hopeful as well as lofty presidential wannabes.Screaming Lord Sutch, or his Irish equivalents who stand just for the craic, could be prone to fall victim to candidatitis as much as … Seguir leyendo
Por Andoni Pérez Ayala, profesor de Derecho Constitucional Comparado en la UPV-EHU (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 21/03/07):
Las recientes elecciones en Irlanda del Norte son las terceras que se realizan en este territorio desde que, hace casi nueve años (abril de 1998), el denominado Acuerdo de Viernes Santo abría un nuevo periodo en la vida política norirlandesa. El hecho de que se hayan celebrado desde entonces tres procesos electorales (1998, 2003 y 2007) sin la presencia de la violencia terrorista es, sin duda, el primer y más importante dato a reseñar. Ello tiene especial significación en un país que en … Seguir leyendo
By Peter Preston (THE GUARDIAN, 12/03/07):
It’s a romcom ending tacked on to a Strindbergian tragedy you stopped reading years ago. Yes, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, big winners both, can finally plight their political troth. Yes, this is devolution at last. Yes, Northern Ireland has voted for low water rates, mobile phones that work both sides of the border – and a warm bath of southern comfort. Yes, this is Tony Blair’s legacy (with a nod to John Major). Yes, we mainlanders can relax, switch off and concentrate on global warming, not Belfast hot air. And no, Nuala O’Loan … Seguir leyendo
By Jonathan Freedland (THE GUARDIAN, 07/03/07):
This is what will happen today and over the rest of this month. Elections will anoint Ariel Sharon, miraculously resurrected from his coma, as Israel’s prime minister. They will also establish Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas as his deputy. These two men, mortal enemies for so long, will govern together. The finance ministry will stay in Likud hands, but the education minister will be a veteran of Hamas’s armed wing, a man who once served several years in jail for his part in a lethal bombing. After decades spent fighting each other to the death, … Seguir leyendo
Por Ian Gibson, historiador (EL PERIÓDICO, 05/02/07):
A los surrealistas les intrigaban las coincidencias, el azar, las cosas raras que nos ocurren sin aparente explicación racional pero que, cuando se producen, parecen tener su propia lógica. Grandes maestros en el arte de vivir, receptivos ante las oportunidades que nos brinda nuestro discurrir cotidiano –aunque no siempre las sepamos reconocer, apreciar o aprovechar–, bucearon en el inconsciente y siempre abominaron de una sociedad que consideraban miserable, pacata, acobardada. Luis Buñuel no fue excepción a la regla. En sus memorias, recuerda la fuerte sacudida que le produjeron las primeras lecturas de … Seguir leyendo
By Peter Taylor. BBC reporter Peter Taylor has covered Northern Ireland for over 30 years; a longer version of this article appears at commentisfree.co.uk (THE GUARDIAN, 31/01/07):
Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley first came into each other’s orbit in 1966, on the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Sinn Féin had defiantly displayed an Irish tricolour in its office window in Belfast and Paisley threatened to lead a march to remove it unless the authorities did so first. Such a display was illegal at the time. The police moved in, removed the flag, and republicans promptly reinstated it. The … Seguir leyendo
By Tim Hames (THE TIMES, 29/01/07):
When I was a child Irish jokes were the absolute staple of humour. That was as true for television comedians as it was in everyday banter. Looking back, it must have been an irritation for those who paid their licence fee in Northern Ireland (and viewers who did not do so in the Republic but could receive a BBC signal anyway) to have to put up with the likes of Ken Dodd implying that they were collective idiots.
You rarely hear an Irish joke these days and for my son’s generation (aged ten) they … Seguir leyendo
By Sean O’Neill (THE TIMES, 03/11/06):
A PRIMARY school teacher in Northern Ireland in the mid-1970s posed his class of nine-year-old boys a tricky theological question: “Hands up those of you who think Protestants believe in God,” he said.
Only five of the thirty-two Roman Catholic children in the class raised their hands. The rest either didn’t know or, for one reason or another, imagined that Protestants worshipped some unknown deity.
I was one of the ill-informed children and, as the teacher tried to explain that Protestants believed in exactly the same God that we supposedly did, clearly remember experiencing … Seguir leyendo
By Niall Stanage, a correspondent for the Dublin-based Sunday Business Post (THE GUARDIAN, 10/10/06):
Will Ian Paisley wreck hopes for peace in Ireland again? Or will the fundamentalist cleric, nicknamed “Dr No” for the glee with which he kiboshed past deals, finally bend to become Northern Ireland’s first minister?These questions hang in the air as the North’s political parties prepare to meet tomorrow. The talks, aimed at restoring devolution, follow last week’s Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report – which confirmed what fairminded observers have known for years: the IRA’s armed struggle is at an end.
The roaring reverend, who … Seguir leyendo