A letter to Facebook

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Today we sent a copy to Facebook's press office and their PR company regarding the unwarranted removal of the L.A.D. Facebook page after mass reporting by so-called Loyalist Facebook users.

The email addresses we sent it to are:

Facebook: press@fb.com
Their PR firm is Blue Rubicon and the contact there is ronan.joyce@bluerubicon.com.

Why don't you do the same?
Simply cut and paste the text and send to the addresses above.

Thank you for your support.

Dear Facebook

I am writing to you regarding the group Loyalists Against Democracy who until recently had a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/loyalistsagainstdemokracy until it was 'unpublished' by Facebook. Subsequently two replacement L.A.D. pages have also been 'unpublished' by Facebook.

Some background:
L.A.D. is a cross-community, non-political group set up to combat the growing tide of sectarianism in Northern Ireland through the use of satire. L.A.D. use a combination of: original material (songs, artwork and videos) and screenshots to hammer home the point that sectarianism is wrong. The screenshots are taken from various public Facebook pages and show other Facebook users making vile hate filled statements that promote sectarianism and in many cases incite violence. Those responsible for these posts have been responsible for an ongoing and often violent campaign of civil disobedience 'protesting' at the democratic decision to fly the union flag on designated days only, as is the case in the rest of the United Kingdom. They have also been openly hostile and violent in their opposition to the decisions of a legally constituted body known as the Parades Commission who legislate on contentious parades in Northern Ireland.

L.A.D. is put together by a small team drawn from across the political and religious spectrum in Northern Ireland and enjoys huge support from both communities. When www.facebook.com/loyalistsagainstdemokracy was closed the page had nearly 9000 followers. The blogpage http://loyalistsagainstdemocracy.blogspot.co.uk has received over a quarter of a million hits since launching in June. The L.A.D. Twitter feed @LADFLEG has 4,606 likers (amongst them many local politicians including the Deputy First Minister and the Leaders of NI21 and the Green Party).

L.A.D. has been removed by Facebook purely as a result of an orchestrated campaign by certain right-wing ultra sectarian so-called loyalist groups in Northern Ireland. Their method is simple.They spread a message via their personal and group pages to report posts on L.A.D. as 'harassment' when this is clearly and demonstrably not the case.In certain cases they complain about various hate filled sectarian posts which they themselves have written. as we understand it when Facebook receives the requisite number of reports the pages are automatically 'unpublished'. Those responsible are effectively spamming Facebook's reporting system - which we understand is contrary to facebook's community standards.

Attached are many example of the campaign at work and also some examples of the hate filled sectarian bile that is allowed on the facebook system while a satirical page aimed at promoting peace and reconciliation is punished.

Recently L.A.D. teamed up with the Northern Ireland Children to Lapland Trust, a local cross-community charity raising funds for terminally ill, long term ill and deserving children  http://www.niclt.org/ . They have recorded a song and are in the process of shooting a video intended for the Christmas market.  L.A.D had hoped to use Facebook to market the song with all funds raised going to the charity. Sadly this marketing option is now closed to L.A.D.

I would like to know what Facebook intends to do about this and would respectfully request that www.facebook.com/loyalistsagainstdemokracy is reinstated immediately.

The offending screenshots detailing mass reporting can be found here:

http://imgur.com/a/1CISZ

Please reply as a matter of urgency,

kind regards,

xxx









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Enough is Enough

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In response to the rolling unrest in Northern Ireland I made a simple case: That modern Northern Ireland remonstrate and stand against the loyalists and other extremists who have been “chipping away” at our good name. PUP councillor John Kyle responded directly here, elsewhere Winston Ervine criticised me for my “invective” and others have chided me for my “rank snobbishness and arrogance.”
In a reply to this I have the following to say.

I can see how my last article could be read as conceited, supercilious, even arrogant. None were my intention. I can also see the hypocrisy in a well-fed moderate having a go at the unionist working classes. So I welcome the points.
But this is what I didn’t get.

Firstly, I’m astounded that those who have been associated with people who make violence, vandalism and intimidation the rules of the game start crying when I respond with heavy words.
Secondly, my opponents spoke of the hypocrisy of a middle-class person criticizing the working-class who contribute so many men and women to the armed forces. I’m reminded of Rudyard Kipling’s poem, Tommy: ‘Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep.’

I get it. But I respect the men and women who defend us while we sleep. But I wasn’t referring to working-class Protestants at large, for whom I have the greatest of sympathy. When I spoke against loyalism, I spoke of the violent, buckfast-in-hand, anarchic brand of loyalism; fully grown men dancing on police land rovers, teenagers attacking the police; the Orange Order striking the police.
This is the important distinction. The loyalists seen by the world aren’t men of the armed forces who defend us; these are men who attack the men and women who defend us day and night. It's a VERY VERY odd form of loyalism that attacks the Queen's forces. So I will not have it said that I took an impassioned swipe at disadvantaged unionists. I took a swipe at loyalists who engaged in a pre-meditated campaign of violence overseen by the Orange Order and various illegal organisations, and defended by unionist politicians.

Thirdly, I was told that “Those of us who are established in our careers and positions of influence owe it to them to create employment opportunities, affirm their worth and provide role models and friendship.”
On creating jobs and role models – the flag and parades unrest and rolling uncertainty does nothing but destroy jobs and investment. And associated with this, as Newton Emerson said, “paramilitarism is the cause of social disadvantage.” These gangsters are the role models and they have a chokehold on the young people. The men in control don’t want outside role models. They covet the status quo. They don’t want their people to change.

As Christopher Hitchens said:

‘The power of this parasitic class was what protracted the fighting in Northern Ireland for years and years after it had become obvious to all that nobody (except the racketeers) could “win”. When it was over, far too many of the racketeers become profiteers of the “peace process” as well.”’
On affirming and working with them - how could anyone help them? I don’t know any well-off unionist, never mind nationalist, who could just walk into one of these areas and try and in any way mingle. It's not rude to say this. It's the reality.

Think of these bonfires, supposed towers of culture. If you’re not in that community and you wanted to take part and enjoy the culture before the 11th night, you’d get chinned. You’d have to speak to one of these self-appointed gatekeepers to get anywhere near the people.
I remember trying to speak with a mural artist. His response? A stone, Aztec face, empty eyes and a grunt that said ‘“f” away off’. These are closed people that resent the middle classes. The only way to unlock them is through the gatekeepers and paramilitaries. And so the circle goes on. (I should make it clear that I’ve also met and know some of the nicest, most genuine people I have ever come across who are from the loyalist community.)

Secondly, many in the loyalist community are already helped to no end. They’re an indulged class who’ve been handed tranche after tranche of money, habitually siphoned off and squandered by “gatekeepers”. It’s the same with the Orange Order. As Brian Feeney said, the Orange Order is showered with public money, yet they incite unrest and cost the public purse thousands.

Their indulgence is typified by the learnt helplessness and sense of victimhood – that it’s everyone else’s fault. Like Alex Kane said to the Orange Order, stop blaming everyone else and take some responsibility. We need to end this tremendous steam-bath of self-pity. It’s not about what Northern Ireland can do for you but what you can do for Northern Ireland.
Thirdly, I was criticized for my invective and heavy use of language. John Hewitt wrote, “Speak peace and toleration/ Moderate your tone of voice, and everywhere avoid what might provoke/ Good will must be deployed in efforts to restore our balanced state.”

This was written fictitiously. A jab at the cult of respectability adopted by the coasting middle-classes who decided it best to just shut-up and put-up with the Troubles. Well no, I won’t moderate my voice and I don’t think anyone else should do so for that matter. Softly, softly doesn’t work. I will speak truth to barbarism. I will not be a silent spectator of unfairness and mindlessness. So my use of words was quite right. You cannot pander or indulge such incivility.
As William Butler Yeats wrote, ‘Irish poets learn your trade, sing whatever is well made, scorn the sort growing up all out of shape from toe to top.’ I feel it only proper to scorn those who have gone unscorned, unchecked and unaccounted for, for far too long. As John Hewitt said, they’ve been ‘long nurtured, never checked, in ways of hate.’

The time has come to say, as Fintan O’Toole said to the people of Ireland: ‘Enough is Enough’, enough of the pandering and indulgence; and enough of the standing idly by, enough of the fatalism, enough of the cynical inaction, enough of the shutting-up and putting-up. As Fintan wrote:
“There is a fatalistic sense that nothing can change. The country needs to encourage participation in, and oversight and knowledge of politics, to make people feel that they have a right to challenge the old party machines and to make a difference. It is their country, after all.”

Yes, Northern Ireland is our country too. We have a culture too. We need to lose the fatalism, contest the lunacy and battle for tolerance. We cannot be held hostage and prisoner to events by a rogue community. Too long we’ve moderated our voice, spoken peace and toleration and everywhere did what would not provoke. Well, enough is enough.
And to those who say I have nothing positive to say or to contribute, here are some points for loyalism, unionism and the leadership to consider.

Firstly, it’s quite clear that the unrest is the expression of insecurity and uncertainty, and a deep fear that their culture is being “chipped away”. These are totally understandable concerns, but rioting is not the answer. How so? It’s suicide on a number of levels:
One, it’s an own goal against moderate unionism. As Alex Kane said:

"A final thought for now: has moderate unionism simply been replaced with opt -out-couldn’t-care-less-about-the-whole-thing-anymore unionism?"



Two, it’s an own goal against catholic unionists, who Gerry Moriarty spoke of in the Irish Times here.

Three, it’s an own goal against mainland Britain who will continue to tire of the living on of the religious wars of the 17th Century. Theresa Villiers rightly said:

“It’s hard to think of anything more unBritish than wrapping yourself in a union flag and attacking the police who are there to uphold the law."
Four, it's an own goal against tourism and the NI economy. As Theresa Villiers said:



“It’s hard to see how Northern Ireland can reach its full economic potential while sectarian division continues to spill out on the streets with disgraceful scenes of rioting and violence.”


Five, the rioting and unrest play into the hands of Sinn Fein. Let it be said very plainly: the rioting, the fear, the insecurity, the paranoia, the unrest and the uncertainty are exactly what Sinn Fein want. The shouting and roaring is exactly what Sinn Fein want loyalism to do. Alex Kane recently quoted a Sinn Fein member who commented on the unrest. He said:




“We can always rely on unionist disarray or paranoia to help us out.”
We should also remember what Mitchell McLaughlin said in 2006 when asked to explain exactly what Sinn Féin had achieved for its supporters:



“The degree of uncertainty and the lack of confidence in the unionist community!”’
Secondly, as Alex Kane suggested, loyalists need to play Sinn Fein at their own game - slow-boil, strategic politics. PUL needs to think long term, educate the people, switch them on electorally, rid the communities of paramilitaries and enlighten loyalism and most importantly, explain to them that the changes aren’t the end of unionism. They ought to employ smarts and take confidence and advantage of the changing demographics and of identities (Life and Times Survey etc.). As Newton Emerson said:



“It falls to unionist leaders to explain that the world has changed but not ended.”
Thirdly, the electoral issue is very important. Alex Kane said that ‘the unionist/loyalist working classes represent a significant demographic—with probably enough votes to add a few seats to the unionist tally on Belfast City Council and maybe even an extra 1 or 2 MLAs.’
To carry on along the track of the status quo would be a suicide and a triumph for idiocy and blinkered radicalism.
Fourthly, let’s look to Rosa Luxemburg, a writer who possessed an internationalism so strong that she despised anything to do with lesser or sectarian “identities.” This internationalism led her to oppose the infantile and explosive nationalist claims of her fellow Poles and Jews. She said:



“I feel at home in the entire world, wherever there are clouds and birds and human tears.”
The Rosa Luxemburg way is the way of modern, normal Northern Ireland. Modern, youthful Northern Ireland can be Irish, Northern Irish and are happy to be with Britain for ever or for now. This mentality and tolerant thinking must be shared. This broadmindedness and internationalism are the way forward.
To conclude: Up until now normal, modern Northern Ireland has had no critical faculty. While the agents of intransigence and vandalism have had no faculty for self-criticism. This must change. The young and ambitious must learn to contest and question the endless rolling violence and mutual hatred. They must stand and express a sane voice of opposition that can be heard above the hubbub of tragedy, futility and riotous passions.
And if that means raising your voice and employing heavy language, let it be. It’s not rude, arrogant or snobbish. Let's end the cult and soft bigotry towards aspiration, moderation and being middle-class. It sickens me that being middle-class is a pjejorative term in Northern Ireland.
The old politicians are locked in the 70s and 80s. Their minds are locked in a world of green and orange. YOU need to change that. YOU young people need to stand up and make YOUR voice heard.

[Written by Brian John Spencer and originally published on Eamonnmallie.com]



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LAD is dead. Long live LAD.

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For the uninitiated our Facebook page has been removed by Facebook for the sixth time.

We and our 8,000 + likers are not amused.

A brief timeline:

December 2012

 - Loyalists Against Democracy 1 (LAD1) - launched in December as response to the fleg protests and 'loyalists' wrecking the place and ruining everyone's Christmas.

June 2013

 - We unpublished LAD 1 to concentrate on Flipside, our other satirical page, and go beyond the fleg with every intention of republishing LAD1 in July. We had an inkling that July would be eventful.

July 2013

 - LAD 1 republished on Facebook and unpublished by Facebook within days. Facebook's reason: 'sexual content' - there has never been any 'sexual content' on LAD unless you count some of the arseholes we take the piss out off. At this point LAD1 had nearly 6,000 'likes'

- LAD 2 immediately launched and gains  3,000 likes in just over a week
- LAD 2 unpublished by Facebook. No reason given, prompting a campaign by the Irish News
- LAD 3 launched and quickly unpublished by Facebook. No reason given. No warnings issued.
- LAD 3 reinstated by Facebook and removed again less than 24 hours later
- LAD 4 launched

October 2013

- LAD 4 unpublished by Facebook on 6th October after a mass reporting campaign by 'loyalists' who disapproved of their sectarian hate filled shite being shown to the wider community.



These idiots use any means necessary to register a complaint such as 'harassment'.

When Facebook's robots receive sufficient reports the page is closed. Cue 'loyalist' gloating.



- LAD 5 launched on 6th October and achieves 2,000 likes in less than 3 hours


- LAD 5 removed by Facebook on 7th October having achieved 3,000 likes in less than 12 hours

- Reluctantly LAD 6 published - it lasts less than 3 hours before being removed.No warnings issued. No content removed.

Loyalists Against Democracy is a non-political, non-sectarian group.

We exist to satirise the extremist dickheads within society who are intent on dragging Northern Ireland back to the bad old days.

We are not fucking republicans despite what is said by some arseholes who don't get the joke. By it's very nature LAD  focuses on loyalist stupidity purely because they have been the ones wrecking the place for the past 10 months. Dissident republicans are equally dumb but not quite as funny.


The six people who put LAD together are from across the political/religious spectrum and we do this for no financial reward. We're just sick of dickheads wrecking the place, embarrassing us and making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

LAD shall continue as a blog, on Twitter  and You Tube.


We are now back on Facebook at www.facebook.com/LADBELFAST

How long we will last is anyone's guess. 










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True Radical or a Misguided Idiot?

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Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the biggest fool of all?
Sadly, we have become all too familiar with the names of William Frazer and Jamie Bryson over recent months.  While Frazer has been floating on the edges of obscure extremism for years, Bryson is a relatively new face who has at times, come close to making the step from ridiculous to vaguely sublime.  As rising stars go, it is likely that Bryson has already reached his zenith and will either continue to be an annoying figurehead for the lawless minority, or slip back into obscurity once 'his people' realise he isn't capable of leading them to the promised land, which would appear to be somewhere in the mid 70s - backs to the future lads!

While I would not offer an excuse for Frazer's often bizarre actions,  there are a number of documented tragic events that explain why he does what he does, and while MLAs are consistently unable to agree on the definition of what a victim is, all evidence clearly puts Mr Frazer in that category, regardless of political nit-picking.

Bryson is a more curious case.  He sometimes displays outward signs of being quite intelligent but more often than not, this is well hidden behind a constant stream of half-baked proclamations and quotes from others which indicate a failure to understand fully, what these quotes actually mean.

Author of the frankly appalling Four Men Had a Dream and The First Shades of God (part one of the planned trilogy 50 Shades of God which was deliberately named after the best-selling 50 Shades of Grey, no doubt in a cynical attempt to ride the wave of publicity) the latter is a book which Bryson claimed "may offend" the church, however on attempting to read the book, I'd suggest it was probably more offensive to grammar pedants than it was to any church.  To be honest, your money is better spent on a few issues of Commando comic.
Commando - Ulster Scots style
He was eight years old when the Good Friday Agreement was signed so probably remembers a little of the Troubles, albeit from the relative safety of Donaghadee.  Even at that point, violence was already far less than that witnessed during the 80s.  The question is, how has Bryson become so enamoured of loyalism and loyalist paramilitaries?  Bryson's social media output shows an unhealthy obsession with returning to what most of us see as the bad old days.  We often hear of the radicalisation of young Muslims and how this can be addressed, but can this also be said of young Protestants as they become embroiled in loyalism or similarly, young Catholics as they are tempted by dissident republican groups?  It's something neither our politicians, nor anyone else, seem to mention much, if at all.

Willie Frazer recently appeared outside court dressed as a mystical cleric, or pirate, or something, with Jamie Bryson standing alongside him in drag.  There was no real surprise with regards to Frazer, who is no stranger to making claims with only a slight connection to reality, but Bryson only made a fool of himself.

Young Jamie suffers from the same thoroughly misguided perception of what constitutes culture, being British, and human rights as many of his fellow loyalists.  Somehow he has managed to crawl from a sea of mediocrity (I'm being generous there) to become an unofficial spokesman for a tiny, lawless minority.

Anyway, how has Bryson acquired this penchant for loyalism?  Has he had his head filled with the so-called glories of the bad old days or is it a case that he sees the loyalist paramilitary as the local 'big man', an aspirational position?  Undoubtedly there was kudos attached to paramilitary membership whether that be republican or loyalist.  Is it this which Jamie craves?
A fireside fit for loyalism
Going back to his social media output, he bears a passing resemblance to fireside republicans who speak of their exploits during 'the war' which in reality meant something like giving The Brits a single finger salute from behind the net curtains and shouting at the TV.  Although Bryson is prepared to face arrest for his actions, they amount to little more than nuisance value.  Of more concern is is wish for a return to pre-GFA days or so it looks.

It's a pity that this is the focus of Bryson's attention and it's sadly all too easy to imagine him sitting in his living room getting all nostalgic over sepia photos of UVF members.
The original 1820s UVF

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When a Deliquent Minority Chip Away At Our Good Name, Shall We Not Remonstrate?

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From December 2012 until the end of summer 2013 Belfast was before the world. But it wasn’t good. As we’ve come to know, when news of Belfast runs on BBC Radio 4, you know things are bad. When the New York Times talks Belfast, you know things are really bad.

And by ‘bad’ I now mean towering levels of incivility, Buckfast-fuelled thuggery, recreational rioting and spill-open-your-stomach sectarianism. Once again Northern Ireland’s backward class has taken a chokehold grip on the running of the province.

How aptly the words of Alain Finkielkraut capture the state of affairs: “Barbarism is not the inheritance of our pre-history. It is the companion that dogs our every step”.

The majority people want peace, but each step in the process is dogged by the old engine of sectarianism, screaming and revving and kicking back. Like an on-the-loop re-enactment of the Protestant-Catholic religious wars of the 16th, 17th and 18th Century.
But the wretched sectarianism that the world has come to equate with the North of Ireland, is absolutely not Northern Ireland. To that I ask this simple question: When are Northern Ireland’s forces of modernity going to stand up and break the hold held by the fringe forces of reaction?

Northern Ireland is now an exciting cosmopolitan place, populated by an educated and ambitious class. Holding back the modern majority is a unionist and nationalist class, mutually antagonistic and individually polarised, but united as a whole: Both curdled by hate and messianic absolution.
I’ve written before that this is where the battle line will lie in the coming Century: Between the tolerant and plural people of modernity (Protestant and Catholic) and the thug-merchants of reaction and the past (Protestant and Catholic).

In fact, this is a trend we’re seeing around the world. Andrew Sullivan wrote a piece in the Sunday Times of July 14 2013 under the title ‘From Tehran, Turkey and Texas, the battle for tolerance is upon us.’
Andrew Sullivan explained it like this: The old world order has been forever dislocated by the spread of liberal market capitalism and a tech revolution. As a result, an exciting secular class (a global village) is taking root and flowering a new and tolerant world.

Though, as in Northern Ireland, the creation of this new and tolerant world is not coming without a fight. The old is fighting the modern. Andrew Sullivan said: “What we are now seeing are the forces of modernity and the reaction to them dividing societies across the globe… The conflict is close to ubiquitous.”
We’ve seen it in Egypt, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran, across the Maghreb, in Brazil, in Russia and all around the world. Young people are protesting against old order theocracy and authoritarian religiosity. They’re fighting for a new order of women’s rights, free speech, social liberalism and secularism. They want to be part of the new world of the 21st Century.

However in Northern Ireland our modern, outward looking class have rolled over and given the fight to the remarkable feudal, tribal and historical ananchronism that is dissident extremists on both sides, politically and on the streets. We sit back and we take it; we let them foul, shame and defame our good name.

As John Hewitt said fictitiously, ‘speak peace and toleration. Moderate your tone of voice and everywhere avoid what might provoke.’ But Northern Ireland’s modern class must give a voice of protest. As John Hewitt said, ‘this is my country… When it is fouled, shall I not remonstrate? My heritage is not their violence.’
Unfortunately we have a sterile step-in-line, know-your-place culture: a stifling mentality that hinders free agency, self-direction, free expression and individuality – typified so perfectly by the DUP veto of libel reform. The supposed people of modernity (characterised by young people like Hannah Nelson) have been kept down by autocratic politicians that have crafted a limp, servile, uncritical, unthinking mass.

But as Tom Hickey said in the wonderful book ‘Up the Republic’, young people need to develop ‘strong skills of contestation’. Our young people need the sort of agency, free thinking and speaking skills that will allow them to question the calamity of others who extort and exert arbitrary control over them.

Young people ‘must be equipped with the skills to contest the influence of a group of leaders over such matters as the interpretations of cultural traditions.’
When the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tried to implement laws restricting the sale of alcohol and limiting other rights, the young, secular and westernised population of urban cities protested loudly, forcefully, confidently.

When our politicians and jackboots on the street push back the clock, our middle and moderate classes just carry on with that old-time Irish, Northern Irish fatalism.
Where in Greece the young people protest against youth unemployment, our young people do nothing. Where in Russia Pussy Riot fight for women’s rights, our minorities and underrepresented do nothing. Where in England, secular groups counter-protest against their native outfit of violent thugs [the EDL and BNP], we do nothing about our local outfit of riotous violent thugs.

In Northern Ireland we have a political and street-thug class wedded to the past. Both live in a world where moderation is anathema; they’re a doctrinal people in which doctrine is eternally true and cannot be changed.

The majority of Northern Ireland has got past the messianic absolutism and the barbarism that comes with it – only a select and minority set on the street and in government haven’t.

Where are your priorities ladies and gentlemen? You’re giving away what is most cherished to Northern Ireland – your peace, your tolerance and your modernism - and you’re giving it up without a fight. This is serious. When are we going to stand up, say a clear and confident No! and make our hopelessly tribal politics and our barbaric inheritance history?
[Written by Brian John Spencer and originally published on Eamonnmallie.com]

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Frazer: Abu having a laugh?

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We all looked on horrified as this morning's events unfolded. We knew he was going to do it, he told as much beforehand. Yet still, deep down we didn't believe it. It took that first image on Twitter for us actually to believe that yes, Willie Frazer has indeed turned up to a British court of law dressed as Abu Hamza. The horror quickly turned to laughter as the news spread quickly on social media and the bizarre media circus was shared far and wide. The occasion was so bizarre that Willie achieved what we think he had hoped for. The spectacle has gone national, with Channel 4 news running the story. Yet again Northern Ireland has been thrust onto the national stage and yet again we are left looking like the sadly ridiculous drunk relative at a wedding who makes a total arse of themselves.


Now the dust has settled and the laughter has (partially) abated, the initial horror has returned. Just why would Willie Frazer and his cohorts wish to cause such a scene? Willie explained things in his own unique manner outside the court today. "The law that they are trying to charge me with was brought out to deal with extreme Muslims", Willie claimed. "Who do they charge? The first man charged in the United Kingdom is a protestant from Northern Ireland"[1], he boldly asserted. These are very serious and daring claims to make. They are also untrue, and have been fabricated for no other reason than to enable Willie to create a media circus.

 Let's take a look at Willie's claims in a little more depth:
"The law that they are trying to charge me with was brought out to deal with extreme Muslims"

 The Facts:
The offences to which Willie refers are those covered by the Serious Crime Act 2007. Sections 44-46 of this act deal with encouraging or assisting an offence[2]. These sections have slight differences from one another but together they replaced the more commonly known offence of incitement in England, Wales and Northern Ireland[3]. These sections were not introduced specifically to deal with Muslim extremists. The truth is that these offences were already partially covered in some form by prior incitement law.
"The first man charged in the United Kingdom is a protestant from Northern Ireland"

 The Facts:
Willie Frazer is not the first man to be charged under these offences in the United Kingdom. Sections 44-46 of the Serious Crime Act have been applied in a number of different cases. There are too many to fully research and list here, however we have included a few below to highlight the absurdity of Willie's claims.

 Amed Pelle was jailed for 33 months after pleading guilty to a breach of section 44. Pelle had used Facebook to encourage other to commit offences during riots in Nottingham. [4][5][6]

 Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan were jailed for offences under sections 44 and 46 of the Serious Crime Act at Chester Crown Court. These offences were linked to encouraging offences during rioting. [7]

 Jake Davis from Shetland, and Ryan Cleary from Essex were both charged with offences under sections 45 and 46 of the Serious Crime Act. Their charges were related to computer hacking. [8][9]

Omar Sadique was convicted at Maidstone Crown Court of assisting in the supply of controlled drugs contrary to section 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007. [10]

David Wain was jailed for offences under sections 44-46 of the Serious Crime Act in relation to the supply of chemicals and drugs. [11]
In Summary

 The cases listed above show that Willie Frazer was lying about his motivation in dressing as a Muslim cleric today. What was his real motivation? If we were to hazard a guess it would be that Willie wanted to create a media frenzy to attract attention and to keep himself where he feels he belongs, in the spotlight. One thing is certain, his actions were decidedly racist and contrary to his vocal demands for civil and human rights. Surely the time has come for this man to fade into obscurity?
References

 1. http://www.u.tv/News/Frazer-appears-at-court-as-Abu-Hamza/c5e6e96c-9959-4fbf-b43f-8f01f2fab11e 
2. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/27/part/2/crossheading/inchoate-offences
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Crime_Act_2007#Encouraging_or_assisting_crime
4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2029920/UK-riots-Teenager-urged-Facebook-friends-kill-million-police-jailed.html
5. http://www.nottinghampost.com/Riot-teen-locked/story-13209179-detail/story.html
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-14508966
7. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14557772
8. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9354188/LulzSecs-Ryan-Cleary-admits-hacking-into-CIA-and-the-Pentagon.html
9. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2164504/LulzSecs-Ryan-Cleary-Jake-Davies-admit-hacking-CIA-UK-s-Serious-Crime-Agency-websites.html
10. http://cases.iclr.co.uk/nxt/gateway.dll/WLR%20Dailies/WLRD%202011/wlrd2013-269?f=templates&fn=document-frame.htm&vid=PoC:Sum
11. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11972945

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They're Not British, They're Brutish

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On December 3 2012, vulgar and violent forces appropriated the Union flag and turned it from an icon of Britishness, into a symbol of illiterate, drink-sodden brutishness. 

Since then, civilised Northern Ireland has stood back in a state of silent bewilderment. The swamp of suspicion, superstition, non-think and non-speak has been breath-taking; The Niagara of sentimentality, solipsism and self-pity mind-boggling. 
In the face of the barbarism and nonsense-speak, civil society dare not criticise. The cult of respectability abides. "The brave [not so] new orthodoxy of whatever you say, say nothing" as Brian Walker called it, must be held. But civilised Northern Ireland needs to wake up and push back against the cult of violence and misinformation. And below is an outline of why you should and why you'd be right to do so. 
Firstly, for those soft-bellied multiculturalists scared to say anything, here's why the Twaddle camp and associated protests are a nonsense. The political philosopher Edmund Burke was a pointed critic of the French Revolution, an event he characterised as mindless anarchy. For him, legitimate freedom was the freedom to do positive practical acts in society. It was not the liberty to enjoy freedom abstractly, obstructively or destructively. For Edmund Burke, the doctrine of abstract rights as advocated by French revolutionaries was folly. 
Is marching and protesting wherever you want, whenever you want, for whatever reason you want constructive? Is the associated and farcical civil rights movement fighting for a non-cause, costing thousands of pounds a day to police, constructive? 
Secondly, for the ever-indulgent middle-highbrows scared of expressing an opinion, here's why the marching debate is a farce. The freedom of association and of public procession is not an absolute right. Those who want to enjoy civil rights must discharge certain responsibilities. Elementary duties like civil behaviour, respect and inclusivity. The enjoyment of the right to procession also requires people to meet and accommodate the rights of other peoples.  
As Ian Coulter of the CBI asked, "Where are the rights for the people trying to trade and build businesses?" 
But evidently these people claim a special, exclusive and absolute right, and they claim it at the point of force and by violence. It's very much like hardline Muslims; think of the Muhammed cartoon, offend them and feel their wrath. This is exceptionally solipsistic and must be resisted. 
Thirdly, to those who think the 12th of July has degenerated into a festival of drink-yer-f**king brains out, you'd be right. I'm saying the unsaid and so it needs said. So here it is: much of the parading isn't culture, for it’s neither open or tolerant, nor is it inclusive - not even for tourists and moderate unionists. This demands a serious critique. And here's the third party authority for my offensive observations.
The Belfast City Centre Management Report made a number of striking, but hardly surprising, observations on the state of the 12th:
One: "Visit Belfast received complaints from tourists who talked of "an intimidatory atmosphere" and "louts roaming around drunk"."
Two: "The condition of the public realm after the parades also remains a key issue."
Three: "50% of businesses reported an unfriendly family atmosphere and several cited rising tensions as being a turnoff for some consumers."
Four, a non-native resident commented on these findings:
"As someone who has lived here for quite a long time now, I can confirm that 12th July is absent a positive atmosphere. It's militaristic, nasty, sometimes vulgar, and not much fun." 
In The Irish Times, Eamon McCann recalled the anecdote of the Protestant who called the Orange Order a "bunch of bigots quite undeserving of respect."
Fourthly, for those who think that loyalists represent everything that Britain stands against, you'd be right. For those who think that the dysfunction reaches top office, you'd also be right. Newton Emerson said that "it falls to unionist leaders to explain that the world has changed but not ended." But where Martin McGuinness calls out dissident republicans as "traitors to Ireland", people like deputy Lord Mayor Christopher Stalford and Junior Minister Jonathan bell prop up the brutality.
Unionism needs to do a McGuinness and reproach the boondocks and call them out for what they are: traitors to Britain. But if they cant do it they must take responsibility for not calling to book the jackboots on the ground. Otherwise political unionism will stand as apologists for thuggery and the real traitors to Britain. 
Fifthly, if people think the campaign of self-pity, misinformation and exaggeration is sickening you'd be right. If we look at the facts, the situation and events have been grossly pulled and stretched out of proportions. 
As Newton Emerson recently noted in The Sunday Times, unionist parades outnumber republican parades by fifteen to one. We also know that 550 parades were held on the 12th. Of those, only minor restrictions were made. To then say that civil rights have been curtailed is both grotesque and absurd.  
To conclude. When you try to run communities on isolation, suspicion and a rejection of modernity, everything grinds to a halt.
When that happens, the failed community isn't going to blame the failure on itself. No. They'll say it's the neglect of others and a conspiracy against their culture. Then they’ll want to project violence and brutalism outward. But we can't be indifferent about that. We can't be indifferent about rogue communities and rogue ideas and rogue concepts. 
All the burbling and babbling of police brutality and civil rights oppression is abject nonsense and an offence to modernity and the people who've brought us here. Loyalism is not the product of unemployment, but the creators of it. Loyalists are not the suppressed but the suppressors of modernity. 
They hold us, the whole of normal Northern Ireland, hostage. Yet we don't say anything. We are in a fight with fanatics and you had better get used to it. As Alex Kane said, Northern Ireland is in big trouble. Our collective welfare is being attacked and undermined by a fanatical movement. You either stand up and show the nonsense for what it is, or you capitulate to the enemies of modernity and let all the good that has come to the north of Ireland unravel. 

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Deal or no deal?

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With all their antics over the years, it's hard to feel sorry for loyal loyalists. But in this case, LAD does feel a pang of sympathy.

Once again they have been lied to by their so-called leaders. Most jarringly of all, those lies were designed to trick their loyal brethren into breaking the law, in a pathetic attempt to undermine the authority of the Parades Commission (PC). The PC had ruled to allow the loyalist "civil rights" march on Saturday September 21st but, presumably to appease exasperated city centre traders, had ordered the fleggers to begin their journey at 12.30, not 2pm as they had demanded. Cue ridiculous calls of "12.30 is too early" (12th of July Parades normally set off before 9am) and disparate flegger groups saying that they'd protest til 2pm before setting off. 

Rumours began circulating from a few key fleggers of a secret deal between parade organisers and cops who saw the early parade time as "unworkable", and this was quickly followed by a widely-shared Facebook post, apparently originating from Christine Lewis, naming the cops involved and confirming the original start time still stood. 
Then up-stepped the Protestant Coalition, gallant leaders of the disaffected PUL community. Chairman Sam  (So it is) McCrory informed followers on their Facebook page that he had spoken an unnamed source who confirmed the deal with the police. When pushed to identify his source he said it didn't matter. Er, yes it fucking does. Either you're deliberately lying to people or you've struck an illegal deal with Police in direct contravention of a PC ruling. At this, Sam cried havoc and let slip the lapdogs of wah. Funnily enough all these threads have been removed from the Protestant Coalition Facebook page.
Protestant Coalition - shit stirring
Off went little minions like Jack Ross and Christine Lewis, shamelessly telling anyone who'd listen that the original parade time had been reinstated, and that everyone should meet at City Hall for 1pm with the procession setting off at 2. 




We know the rest. 

Sam parted the sea of bemused onlookers and led his folk to the promised land of Twaddell, pumping out The Famine Song on Royal Avenue for good measure.

If LAD were a cop investigating this further breach of a PC ruling, we're pretty sure we'd know whose door to knock first.

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#GivePootsTheBoot

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So Poots, eh?
#GivePootsTheBoot


Let's examine the evidence that led him to spunk one hundred thousand pounds of our money in a bid to make us healthier.

Background: In 1983, fear of a full-blown AIDS epidemic resulted in a panicked UK health authority banning all MSM (men who have sex with men) blood donations. This ban lasted almost 30 years, and was finally lifted in 2011 following detailed and exhaustive scientific studies into the risk posed by MSM blood donations. England, Scotland, and Wales all accept MSM blood donations following a 12 month deferral after the initial consultation. This 12 month period is a built-in safeguard to ensure that any early-stage blood-borne viruses not initially detected are picked up on screening one year later. HIV, for instance, has a seroconversion time of 2 to 12 weeks, therefore a 12 month deferral is a more than adequate buffer zone 
(1). 

Were a 12 month deferral to be introduced here, theoretical models from the UK (2), USA (3) and Canada (4) estimate that there would be a very slight increase in the risk of transmitting a blood-borne infection through transfusion of donated blood. For instance, the UK study calculates the risk to increase from 1 in 4,410,000 to 1 in 4,380,000 following introduction of the 12 month deferral of MSM.

So there's an (albeit tiny, not statistically significant) increase in risk?

Well, no. 

Two further things must be considered.

Firstly, blood screening technology has improved exponentially in the past few years, and new techniques should reduce the risk levels, and may also negate any difference in risk levels between the pre- and post-deferral groups.

Secondly, a clinical study in Australia (4) has contradicted the findings of the UK, USA, and Canadian theoretical models. Blood donation data taken in Australia (a country with similar HIV infection rates to the UK) 5 years before and after the implementation of a 12 month deferral by the Australian government, showed that despite a 20% increase in donations following the introduction of deferral legislation, the total HIV detections were exactly the same (and in real terms, a rate reduction).

So what's Poots' problem? 

Maybe it's that Northern Ireland doesn't need any more blood? 

He certainly seemed to think so in October 2011 when he told a Commons health committee meeting (5) 

"...Northern Ireland is largely self sufficient in blood. It is exceptional for us to receive blood from outside sources”

Either Poots was wilfully misleading Parliament, or he was unaware what was going on within his own department. For instance, only three months before his committee appearance Poots was urging people to give blood.

 “In Northern Ireland, around 500 patients need life saving blood each week. To ensure an adequate supply to our hospitals, we need 300 people to give blood every day. The demand for blood is increasing all the time and currently only 6% of Northern Ireland’s eligible population gives blood. That means 94% of the population do not donate. I would urge everyone eligible across the province to consider becoming a donor." 

 "Ensuring there are sufficient levels of blood at all times is key to the safety of patients in Northern Ireland" as long as it fits within my personal prejudices, he didn't add.(6)
Edwin Poots
 By June 2012 Northern Ireland's "self-sufficiency" myth was completely shattered when Sue Ramsey, the Stormont Health Committee chairwoman, told the assembly "We are crying out for blood donation... we have had to bring in blood from England, Scotland and Wales because we need it" (7) What makes things even more interesting is that this imported blood is now the very same MSM blood that Poots is spending several nurses' salaries in an attempt to avoid accepting from Northern Irish gay men. 

So in summary.

1) Despite overwhelming scientific evidence of its safety, Poots refuses to accept Northern Irish MSM blood donations. 
2) In a time of austerity and NHS cutbacks, he is spending thousands of pounds of tax-payers' money to fight blood donation legislation implemented by the British government. 
3) Despite telling parliament that Northern Ireland is "largely self sufficient in blood", his department is importing blood, ironically including that of MSM donors, from the rest of the UK.

In light of the scientific evidence we have just one question for Poots: Are you ignoring the advice of experts simply because you're a homophobe?

Please sign the online petition here.




Sources:
1 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/216109/dh_129909.pdf 
2 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1423-0410.2011.01491.x/abstract 
3 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2009.02124.x/full 
4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12519427?dopt=Abstract 
5 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2010.02793.x/abstract 
6 Hansard of the DHSSPS Committee meeting (26/10/11) 
7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-18476313


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