The Flickr account of the National Library of Ireland posts photographs daily from their ever-increasing archive. The Library asks the public for help identifying the subjects, place and dates of the photos and it is a veritable treasure chest for amateur historians, photography buffs and Hibernophiles. In this scene William III is seen mounted in College Green and through the work of the commenters we get a date and some … Read More
[Flash Fiction] Miley’s Purgatory
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. Miley from Glenroe dies and arrives at the Pearly Gates. He’s met by St Peter who offers him a fat bowl of DMT straight from the inside of Salvadore Dali’s skull. Intrigued? Read on gentle reader… Wasn’t it that Prince Valiant fellah that once said “To die would be a great adventure”? Well I can tell ya one thing, it was … Read More
rabble 5 – Take Five!
1. Dublin’s Little Feckers They come in all shapes and sizes. Big ones, little ones, snotty-nosed, lazy-eyed, gap-toothed or freckle speckled. Cheeky chungfellas and yobby young ones that shout after you as your dog drags you along the street. Halloween belongs to them, a festival of chaos punctuated with bangers, stolen pallets and a warm can of bulmers shared between five. On bicycles they come unlit whirling … Read More
Hollywood’s Fear of the Horde
David Johnson explores a creeping relabelling of the mob in some of Holywood’s latest offerings. One, Two, Many, Mob. Everything you need to know about the Hollywood blockbuster can be summed up in these four simple words. One is the hero, a lone rebel fighting against an unjust system. Two are the buddies, a mismatched but balanced yin and yang. The Many is the team, able to overcome all … Read More
Twenty years too late…
Savita may still have died even if the current draft legislation for X was in place. Last night the government published the Heads of Bills for legislation on X, twenty-one years and two referendums later. While the move is welcomed as a first step towards recognising a woman’s right to life, health and bodily autonomy it easily disappoints. A feeling you’ve became more than familiar with when you think of the current FG/Labour coalition. … Read More
The Thatcherite Wonk Fest
Adam Curtis has been on radio silence for a while. He’s been galavanting around with Massive Attack producing a live show. We likes. Last Friday, he responded to the Thatcherite love-in that happened across the pond by sticking one of his older films up. I’m putting it up as a bit of a corrective to the terrifying wonk-fest that took over after Mrs Thatcher died. A conveyor belt of Think … Read More
Lessons Drawn From Our History
We got mad excited when word got to us that Paddy Lynch and Rory McConville were scribbling away on a graphic novel about the Lock Out. The wait is over and it’s been launched in The Workman’s Club this Thursday. We caught up with the lads for some background on the comic. Oh and to get our Fund:it moving, they’ve thrown in two signed copies of Big Jim with two … Read More
Class Dismissed: Marking The Lock Out
Donal Fallon looks at how some plan to commemorate an event which pitted the forces of labour and capital against each other in an unprecedented and dramatic fashion. When the next issue of rabble returns from the printers, we will be well into 2013. While the country may be plastered with billboards encouraging you to bring your ‘Uncle Sam’ home for The Gathering next year, to many of us 2013 … Read More
A Gombeen-Nation once again
Above: Gombeen (gƊm ‘bi:n). Anglo-Irish. Usury. Chiefly attrib., as Gombeen-Man, a money-lender, usurer; so also gombeen-woman. Hence gom’beenism, the practice of borrowing or lending at usury. Mice provided the deadly ilo. The 19th-century term Gom’beenism, the practice of borrowing or lending at usury, is increasingly referenced in relation to Ireland’s domestic economic practices. Conor McCabe takes a look at the history of the Irish middleman and … Read More
It wasn’t all todgers and pints…
The ‘1913: Unfinished Business’ podcast series demonstrates that women were at the heart of the Dublin Lockout. With a lot of the commemoration of the 1913 Lockout dominated by the Unions and working-men it is too easy for the role of women to get written out of history. The latest edition of the 1913 podcast series sets about addressing this issue. Contributors look at the role women played in the labour … Read More