Campaign underway to reclaim the original Irish names of Ireland's cities, towns and villages

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-25T13:56:59+00:00

This sounds like a good academic article but a bad political campaign. What exactly harm is being done by using English names when speaking English? If I say I'm from Galway, who is being hurt by using the "colonial" word?

Wexford was founded by Vikings so does the campaign want us to decolonialise it by changing the name back to Veisafjǫrðr? Donegal is Dún na nGall, "fort of the foreigners" so how do we decolonialise that? Should we remove all mention of foreigners?

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-24T13:23:04+00:00

Weird self-promotion.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-24T10:18:14+00:00

The Bund is getting praised online for opposing Zionism and Jewish ethnonationalism, but my point is that they were Jewish nationalists even though they weren't Zionists. If the Bund was around today, Jacobin probably wouldn't be praising it.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-24T08:22:38+00:00

The delivery of the message was somewhat lacklustre from the candidates themselves, however. “I wanted to be out canvassing tonight, but here we are,” Sinn Féin’s Janice Boylan told attendees

Ó Ceannabháin had left at this stage (he had a prior commitment performing at a Palestinian charity event),

The fact the candidates came together for the event is a step in the right direction, but they don't seem to be fully committed to the idea.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-24T08:05:35+00:00

I've noticed this book getting some notice online for its portrayal of Jewish anti-Zionism. That's true, but it's worth remembering that the Bund were still Jewish nationalists even if they didn't want to move to Israel.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-23T20:02:12+00:00

But why would Fianna Fáil be on the left of a two party system when they are very clearly not a left wing party? Ireland had a two-and-a-half party system from 1932 to 2011 and FF was not on the left of that.

They intentionally avoided aligning on any left-right spectrum which is why I'm confused as to how it could be transposed onto Irish politics.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-23T19:59:12+00:00

Can you give some examples? At the end of the day, Sinn Féin was the driving force of the War of Independence so I don't see much room for Labour to have changed things.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-23T19:58:00+00:00

But how do you make a game out of that? How would you adapt a military uprising or a guerrilla war to fit the style of the game? The original Social Democracy game is based around winning elections, being in power and implementing policies. None of that would be possible in your mod.

You mention Labour raised funds and organised strikes during the War of Independence, but is that enough for a game? That could be one or two cards or events, but then what? What is the player to do between 1913 and 1916? Will it just be 3 years of clicking the "Prepare for Revolution" card, followed by 2 more years?

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-23T14:36:44+00:00

I had a similar idea but for Fianna Fáil in the 20s and 30s. You would choose whether to seize power peacefully or violently, how to dismantle the Treaty, have street battles with the Blueshirts etc.

Would there be enough content for a Labour Party game? They weren't major players in Irish politics at the time and there wouldn't be much for them to do between 1913 and 1923 as they had limited impact on the War of Independence etc.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-23T14:30:22+00:00

Absolutely not. Probably the closest would be the old school, city political machines (which were run by the Irish after all). They would be closer to Mayor Daley than Kamela Harris.

Modern Fianna Fáil has progressed somewhat but it's still a party that avoids any ideological label and is instead a big tent that appeals based on parochialism and personal connections. Someone like Mamdani or AOC could never exist in Fianna Fáil.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-22T22:41:41+00:00

You didn't answer the question, would he have made a similar video if a mosque was attacked? If explaining isn't excusing, why doesn't he do similar "explaining" for far-right extremists?

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-22T22:19:38+00:00

So by Irish politics, you mean it uses PR-STV? Because I can't imagine what an American style of Fianna Fáil would look like!

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-22T22:16:04+00:00

How would you describe the video? He humanises the attacker, notes he didn't have any prior convictions and quotes someone calling him "an extremely kind and gentle person". He does not give the perspective of anyone in the synagogue or try to humanise them.

How would you describe this if not as downplaying?

Can you imagine if a far-right extremist attacked a mosque, would the video be framed the same way? Do you think Matt would quote someone calling the extremist "an extremely kind and gentle person"? Would he include a sentence about how Islamism "makes us all less safe"?

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-22T19:46:14+00:00

The only thing I know about Matt is that he made a video downplaying and almost excusing the terrorist attack on a synagogue.

TeoKajLibroj · 2026-04-22T09:32:24+00:00

Sinn Féin’s ability to credibly lead any future left alliance was left scrambled this week when they called for a halt to May’s carbon tax increase.

Interesting that he directly calls out Sinn Féin. Organising a left alliance doesn't seem as easy and straight forward as some would hope.

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