move

Haha Chomsky is very left. Wouldn't call him objective on any matter. He makes for a good read and has solid arguments though.

Fly 2 flags would be just as controversial! Truth is mate, times are changing and the people protest about the Union Jack are stuck in the past! As there is on both sides, the city centre should be 50/50 neutral as its only fair both flags or none!
Why you feel sorry for? You said it like it was voted for an Ireland or something, a flag is not being flown all year round???

thanks for the nice words, gonzoking! unfortunately i don't have a huge amount of time for chomsky, and i wouldn't really consider him very objective or necessarily well respected on EITHER side of any spectrum. if you read a lot of chomsky's work he's very much an isolationist by another name, even if he wouldn't admit it. chomsky has a narrative he sticks to, much like norman finkelstein etc. he raises necessary points (and does it well) but it's a shame they're almost always in amongst attitude and agenda. the situation in gaza is abhorrent and his article does well to highlight the dreadful conditions civilians live under. calling it on open air prison really isn't far off the mark. but he seems unable, and not only in that article, to admit that some portions of palestinian society should shoulder part of the blame (if you want to call it that). nowhere in that piece does he talk about how hamas have behaved in gaza, which you would think would be a glaringly obvious factor to include.

i have to take issue with the idea that if something similar was happening elsewhere, the civilised world (who is this anyway?) would act to stop it quickly. the israeli palestine conflict isn't the only conflict involving self determination, refugees and indiscriminate killing, and history is littered with examples of genocide, ethnic cleansing, killing, and the displacement of people that have been ignored because they simply aren't in anyone's interest to stop, let alone get involved. sudan, chad, uganda, the caucasus, sri lanka, portions of china etc. if anything i think sections of the 'international community' are coming down quite hard on israel in relation to gaza, especially in the west.

I disagree, with some trepidation as your knowledge of these world affairs is clearly profound (you remind me of a lawyer friend who prosecutes war criminals on behalf of the UN), but I can only call it as I see it. No where else in the world is there an area solely controlled by one group of people around 1.5 million different people with such a strangle hold on every single thing they need to live. I hear you about African conflict zones but those types of conflict are porous and complex, Israel has a ring of steel around Gaza ( apart from the Egyptian crossing but Egypt are letting fuck all through atm) Call me a conspiracist but I'm willing to believe that Israeli scientists have carefully worked out the exact amount of food to let into Gaza so the people are kept just above starving. I'm with Edward Said on this (rip) the abused have become the abuser, and the world is a much darker place for this, I could say this has to stop now but that is pointless as I think Israel will never stop until it gets what its hawkish politicians want, and it scares me to imagine how far they would go if the world merely stands by and acquiesces.

City Centre is seen to be a neutral space so no flags should be flown, flying both would further highlight the divisive nature of our society at present. I think the reaction over the past week shows how so little has changed in the past twenty years, the tensions have always been there they're just normally bubbling under and only flair up once a year.

I think the real point is why the fuck did the council bother changing things. They must surely have had a small idea that it might have agravated the situation?

Inverse??? There was no situation to begin with, not sure what your knowledge is on this, so basically the Union Jack flew all year round previously "a flag which which has a very different meaning to other half of community"
This was voted against for the first time, the city centre should be neutral no flags, represent everyone Irish, British, so on. There is no sensible argument against this! Other than the rants of bigots living in the past! It would be different if they took Union Jack down and started flying the tricolour just instead but this isn't happening.

Gonzo spot on!

Playing devil's advocate, a cynic might say Sinn Fein's agenda is to destroy Protestant working class confidence in a time when the union is looking weak, and to that community, flying the union jack at city hall symbolically links them to the rest of the UK. Doesn't make someone a bigot for wanting to fly the union flag, MTP. Or is anyone who wants a tricolour to be flown instead also a bigot?

Taking lives what you about? You clearly have not read my post! I clearly state it would be different if they were flying the tricolour only and not the Union Jack, which is not the case. Yes anyone protesting this is fucking in the wrong and majority of cunts doing this are bigots!

No idea what that shit bout Sinn Fein is who "as a Fenian I could give a fuck about" this was voted by the alliance party a predominately Protestant party!

The argument is no flags! Tricolour is not flown and that is not even in the equation