
I Didn’t Hate the English – Until Now (2018) - Tomte
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/opinion/england-ireland-border-brexit.html#click=https://t.co/Elmh9EXqNc
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monk_e_boy
Her issues with the English are founded and interesting. But we all feel like
that. Our history is complex and bloody, you go to any part of the UK and the
people there feel the same way, why are we the butt of jokes? Why do they not
care about our history and oppression (the North, Scotland, Cornwall, Wales,
any rural part of the UK). While Londoners drone on about London.

Brexit and the Irish border is almost impossible to solve. The talk has been
endless, with what? An hour a day on Radio 4 for the past 3 or 4 years. It is
complex. It is miles and miles away in a land 99% of us have never been to and
can't help with a coherent answer. A hard border is madness. A soft border
leaves a gaping hole in the EUs borders. A backstop means Northern Ireland are
running a separate legal system to the rest of the UK, and we still have the
issue of some sort of border somewhere ... in the UK ports? How many harbours
and ports are there that are capable of getting a boat to Ireland? Hundreds?

~~~
DyslexicAtheist
> Brexit and the Irish border is almost impossible to solve.

the solution would be to kick the illegal English occupants off the island of
Ireland. also what gets labeled as _terrorist_ in one country is called a
freedom fighter in another. The Kurds are a great example of that too.

~~~
krona
What about those of Norwegian descent? Since they've only been there half as
long as the ones of Spanish descent, do you get to 'kick' those out too?

Also, have you read The Terrorism Act 2006, lately?

~~~
DyslexicAtheist
see my other comment. I'm speaking of English occupants who as a minority
identify as English and want NI to remain English (e.g. a divided Ireland).

Sorry I couldn't give a rats arse about hypocrite laws that the US enforces on
ther countries.

Unlike others here I've lived in conflict zones for 20+ years, and am not an
armchair philosopher like most of you who think just because they have an
Internet connection it makes them an authority on all sorts of subjects.

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kristianc
> Crucial questions about how to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland
> and the Republic — a border abolished in the Good Friday Agreement, the
> reintroduction of which would be inextricably associated with the preceding
> decades of violence and unrest — remain unresolved, months before Brexit is
> slated to become official.

It's interesting how this has taken hold and is not really questioned. There
has in fact never been (apart from a brief period in World War II) a border
requiring a passport between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Neither did the Good Friday agreement 'abolish' the customs border in any
meaningful way. The Good Friday argument has very little to say on the subject
of borders in fact - the customs barriers that there were on the island were
in fact abolished in 1993 as part of the common market reforms.

Given that all sides have committed not to re-establish a hard border even in
the event of a no deal, it's difficult to see how it would threaten the peace
process to the extent that is being made out.

~~~
switch007
> Given that all sides have committed not to re-establish a hard border even
> in the event of a no deal, it's difficult to see how it would threaten the
> peace process to the extent that is being made out.

I'm rather ignorant of the situation so I ask sincerely: Theresa May might
have made a "commitment" and stated that she's "determined" not to see a hard
border but how is she going to do it? I'm guessing the EU's & the UK's red
lines plus Parliament rejecting her deal are a bit of a spanner in the works?
If she doesn't have a credible plan, you'd forgive people for being worried
about a hard border, surely?

~~~
kristianc
The EU have committed to Ireland, and the Irish government themselves have
committed that there wouldn’t be a hard border. The U.K. government has also
committed not to build one. It’s not just the U.K. that has committed not to
build one - it’s all parties involved in this that have committed not to build
one.

In addition, there are other borders between EU and non-EU countries that
don’t require immigration controls. It’s hard to see why one is necessary -
other than if the EU was deliberately setting out to make leaving look as
difficult as possible.

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mjfl
As an American of Irish heritage - my family until very recently lived in an
Irish American community in South Boston for generations - I can't stress
enough how little I share these feelings. I know I'm not "Irish", but my life
is presumably a consequence of the same decisions that the author is upset
about. It seems that the author is using historical events to justify
political resentments that are very current and very local. To me that is
unhealthy.

~~~
kristianc
> It seems that the author is using historical events to justify political
> resentments that are very current and very local.

There have also been very real consequences of that lingering political
resentment. For years, Irish Americans from Boston and NY were the primary
source of funding for the Irish Republican bombing campaign in Britain.

[1] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2005/08...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2005/08/02/AR2005080201943.html)

