Ireland’s rising tide of colour seized temporary control of Trinity’s GMB debating hall for the inaugural Udoma subcommittee geared at incubating ‘POC’ debaters. Not knowing where else to spend a squally February evening, this at the time rather intoxicated Burkean writer stumbled into the GMB to watch proceedings.
Named after the first African president of the Phil and subsequent Chief Justice of Uganda Egbert Udo Udoma (the name of the first Catholic Phil president has presumably been lost to history) the committee is the product of two years of rancour and internal agitation for more diverse speakers on debating rosters.
Hardly a cauldron of white supremacy on even their best days, though the odd Burkean writer has taken the plinth before, Trinity debating societies have been front and centre in the restructuring of Irish institutions to placate the top down imposed American Zeitgeist afflicting our society since the martyrdom of St Floyd of Minneapolis.
In 2020 this power struggle manifested itself in a very public rupture when racial agitants tore into their white allies still humouring the notion of colour blind debating. For our efforts The Burkean earned itself a play written in our honour at the college theatre by a jilted POC playwright but that’s an article for another day….
Part scholastic witch doctor, part anti-racist televangelist none other than Ebun Joseph held the podium for the a large chunk of the event as chair. With backing vocals provided by that much marginalised woman of colour Hazel Chu, the evening played host to a dozen or so POC voices and allies whinging about bigotry from the perch of Ireland’s most elite university.
With all orations coming back to race and variations of ‘kill whitey’ 15 minutes in I was regretting my selection for the evening. Making awkward eye contact with portraits of Anglo-Irish aristocrats decking the debating hall, I endured speeches on structural racism in an institution that would have barred me as an Irish Catholic for most of its history.
As far as I’m aware the door of the debating hall must have been a teleporter to Los Angeles or Atlanta so Americanised was the tone and content of speeches given.
So lacking in historical perspective, our Nigerian guests and Irish allies mistook the land they inhabited for the antebellum American South judging by their droning magniloquence. You would think the Nigerian speakers grew up under the shadow of cross burnings rather than Celtic Tiger Ireland so forced and Americaned their recollections were.
Momentarily, the parable of the Emperor’s new clothes came to mind before glancing at Dr Ebun Joseph’s corpulent black frame resulting in some temporary gagging on my part.
Mentally unplugging from proceedings halfway in certain questions plagued my mind.
As an Irish Catholic in Trinity did I constitute the ‘I’in the BIPOC acronym?
Should I be cheeky enough to ask Dr Ebun a question about colonialism as Gaeilge or committee members about the potential for specific quotas for Trinity’s long suffering incel community?
If the alleged system of white supremacy enabled Joseph and co, to rake in six figure salaries surely it’s doing a piss poor job?
On balance I opted against having played the fool at such left wing events before and not fancying my chances of making out of the building before being pounced on by POC voices.
The hall where orange supremacists formerly put their keisters under the Ascendancy now finds the rump of Ebun Joseph happy to harangue poor paddy for the timerity of even thinking of running his nation in his interests and image.
Not wanting to chance my arm flirting with some of the genuinely fine looking female white allies for drinks after (stranger things have happened) I made my leave quietly uttering an underbreath prayer to the departed souls of John Mitchel and Denis Kearney after the spectacle I’d witnessed.
Leaving the hall I thought of the centuries of Catholics ground into the dust to facilitate Trinity’s emergence, or a particular relative of mine who to her dying day remembered the sectarian slights experienced when on faculty with scorn.
I pondered if even Archbishop McQuaid had been too lenient on Trinners or if Charlie Haughey could have torched more than just British flags for VE day to spare us the continued subversion of the university.
If what I saw on Thursday evening was our future elites in top rhetorical form then the process of dislodging them the next two decades should be child’s play.
A half century of marching through the institutions has led directly into a struggle session with Dr Ebun and bollocking from other uppity Igbos. Our elite institutions could at least produce functional progressive characters (Mary Robinson, David Norris, Ivana Bacik) in the decades before but now it is transparently obvious that in the under 25s especially they are running on intellectual empty.
The spectacle of the Udoma committee heralds the point that we can at least stop treating a third level education in Ireland as denoting even marginal intelligence.
At the least the Prods in their day could string a few coherent sentences together.
“… could at least provide functional progressive characters (Mary Robinson, David Norris, Ivana Bacik) in the decades before….” I am now over twenty years out of the country and even with my memory fading due to old age I don’t remember anything functional about Norris or Robinson. Both were held up by the media as intellectuals without compare while the average man tuned out hoping they just go away. Needless to say Norris blotted his copy book but the Irish have always looked for a saint in each generation and eventually the droning voice of Robinson was deemed to be somehow that of a person we couldn’t understand but said nice things about us every now and again.
To say they were functional is a stretch. “Chancers” – now that’s more appropriate.
It’s time to get your voice back Irish Paddy. I do not need a degree or any so called recognition from a State or so called body of intellect to lecture me on what my eyes can see and my ears tuned in to today’s nightmare that is experienced by everyone on the street.I certainly do not need an overpaid foreigner to lecture me on Bolliky Bills so called white privileges.And I am Irish,period…not depending on any colored entity or identity.They can all return to where they came from and drivel away to the deaf dictators that gave them 3rd world status…and get paid peanuts for their efforts BUT at least try and improve their own people’s needs, NOT MAKE IRELAND THE SAME.
IRISH PEOPLE,TAXPAYERS, have paid everything for Their Free Living, and we all know that INCLUDES EVERYTHING…but Irish people are suffering and get NOTHING in comparison ,do I need to spell it out to all to you dumb parasites who have not learned yet,enough is enough. You are biting the hand that feeds you,Irish Taxpayers !while you take political advantage of a historical globalist fascist campaign by using TRAITORS in govt.to do your bidding…Stupid Selfish Greedy Parasites just like all of you. You will be despised,the day will come and all your own doing.
I will not stay silent,quiet or leave your cozy dribble debates, IN MY OWN COUNTRY. I will challenge you,debate you and Win, any neoliberal progressive globalist rant you try to force down the necks of the Mute Woke you so desperately need…even the dogs on the street know Bu..shite, it smells.
I am not sure if Trinity is relevant anymore, its been disgraced again and again as others mentioned, Mrs Robinson has been exposed as have others, I’m very disappointed in Norris. personally their others were obvious to me. It’s current role in the contemporary war methods, in form of Medical and Pharmacy weapons will be the final closing of this colonial hang on institution. No longer has any intellect standing post this won’t be fit to lecture on packing leaves into bags.
It is with regret that these global organisation members of people have escaped from oversight of their nations and are using their identity as stolen representation. Given these are exccolonial British colonies and many successful were educated by genuine Irish professional mainly religious, funded by the people these kind choose to denigrate . Don’t think I am being naive when I say the only identity they represent is the world Globalism. The group who are the funders organisers and financial beneficiaries of criminal human traffickers trade of citizenship and passports. Despite the whole communications we no nothing of the ethical thinkers opinion from these countries, convenient. When a Nigerian official and a Bishop spoke out and official toured Ireland, almost demanding they stop trafficking and using the hope that truth matters, told how they were taking in prisoners on the run and criminals and wanted to know why a country would do that. Times like that you know there is zero main stream media, all of it bar none are military propaganda operations nothing more.
So, when are we all meeting?
Name the venue. I’m over in Dublin next weekend.
Nice reference to Lothrop Stoddard in the first sentence.
At times a humorous article when poking the acutely unfunny Nigerian Joseph- described in Wikipedia as a ‘Nigerian-Irish lecturer, author and coordinator. Founder of the 1st black studies module at the Uni. Coll. of Dublin’.
In plain speak an anti-Irish, anti-white racist and grievance grifter who devious enough to exploit and guilt the gullible Irish fools – and Irish taxpayer/people who are never even acknowledged?!
The over-arching plan of the Nigerian Joseph is to establish a West African political presence in Ireland and with enough demographic critical mass to succeed. Demographic, politics, power, and wealth.
Ciaran, and all readers: waste not another day in your efforts in waking Ireland up to future dystopia of African politics.