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Originally Posted by Mynydd
Let us hope that the intransigence of Nationalists throughout Europe make it impossible the dissolution of the ethnic identities of the European peoples.
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What you refer to here is out of context of the topic's discussion and quite beyond its scope.
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Originally Posted by Mynydd
In all fairness, you cannot speak of intransigence of a people who are fighting for their freedom and their identity.
No true Nationalist can ever deny the Irish their right to reunion and total freedom. Anyone who labels himself a Nationalist and who denies their right to the Irish deserves a more terrible fate for his own nation.
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Yes I can, in all fairness. Irish Nationalists are not denied their freedom or identity in Northern Ireland: they can vote, stand for elections, freely express their views and opinions in speech or writing, own property, earn a living, have freedom of movement, practise their religion, etc.; indeed they have the full civil rights of any UK citizen. They can also teach, learn, and speak the Irish language and practise other elements of Irish culture if they so chose. How are Irish Nationalists denied their rights or freedom or identity within Northern Ireland and the UK? In what are they denied their freedom, rights, or identity?
And if Irish Nationalists/Irish Republicans cannot be denied their right to reunion with the Irish Republic, so too Ulster Unionists/British Loyalists/British Nationalists cannot be denied their moral and legal right to remain in union with Great Britain and to remain loyal subjects of the British Crown, as is their given wish, as denizens of northeastern Ireland and those six counties of Ulster that comprise Northern Ireland. Irish Nationalism and Irish Nationalists are not inherently more right, morally or legally, than Ulster/Irish Unionism or Ulster/Irish Unionists. Hence, the intransigence of rights and the intractability of the situation.
(You may also note I am aware that historic Ulster is comprised of nine counties, three of which are in the Republic. I am also aware that Meath once comprised a separate Irish province that included contemporary Cos Meath and Westmeath and parts of several other counties, but was incorporated into Leinster. Matters change over time, including Irish provinces and their borders.)
A Few Acres of Snow: very interesting quote from Patrick Pearse.