Tony Hamilton - Glasgow needs a Famine Memorial

http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory.php?item=2164

Seen this on Twitter, story will appear on the link above on the Celtic website later on.

Thought it was a good read, and a good idea from Tony.

It's a bit of an embarrassment that there isn't one already when you think about it, very very sad portrayal of Scot society.

A very apt video - [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OkIC1iN9fM"]A simple case of racism (celticunderground.net) - YouTube[/ame]

 

The great famine also devestated the highlands so any monument can emphasise that the populating of Glasgow from both Ireland and the highlands was down to the famine rather than just making it 'one for the tims' if you know what I mean.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Potato_Famine"]Highland Potato Famine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]


Scots who mock the tatty famine dont know their history. Likely some of their Scottish ancestors were effected by it. Nearly 2 million Scots emigrated due to the famine in Scotland.

 

I'm sure I've read about one in Motherwell?

I would rather there wasn't one tbh. The huns would vandalize it every weekend, sad but probably true.

Well wouldn't rather just think it would cause more trouble than it would solve.

 

How long would that last with the huns around?

Don't get me wrong, I would love one but it would just get destroyed sadly.

 

The potato famine is a scottish highland thing too though. 1.7 million highlanders left Scotland because of it and many also went to the Scottish industrial cities. The memorial doesnt have to be just Ireland focussed. The potato famine didnt know national bounds Huns who mock the famine are just pig ignorant of Scottish history

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highland_Potato_Famine"]Highland Potato Famine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

Seriously folks read this link. Its an eye opener and shows the unbelievable ignorance of people who mock the potato famine when it devastated the native highlanders as much as the Irish. Moving from the Gaelic speaking highlands to Glasgow etc was as big a culture shock as those who moved from Donegall etc. Its a universal human tragedy that should unite all Scots of both Irish, Highland or mixed ancestry.

 

I agree that there should be some form of memorial for the Famine in Glasgow, but we also need to remember who we share the city with. We all know how vile most Rangers supporters are and as someone already said above, they would do nothing but vandalize and wreak havoc on said memorial at any given opportunity.

It probably wouldn't be worth all of the time, effort and money in the end to construct it, especially when it would most probably all end in tears. If 40,000 of them feel that they are entitled to sing about it and rejoice in their sick, perverse ways at every Ibrox derby, then I'm sure nothing would stop them from going all out against this.

 

Yes mate in Carfin. Tim area.

The annual memorial mass for Scotland is there.

 

I wouldn't mind if it symbolized all of that.

The sad truth is, as much as it is needed, it's just not a good idea to have one in Glasgow.

The huns - pig ignorant? There's a shock..

 

That is why it should be a memorial to all the potato famine victims of the 1840s and not just the Irish one. When you consider the low population of the highlands 1.7 million people having to emigrate and probably a huge number driven into the industrial cities when they barely spoke English its something non-Irish Scots should have rememberance for too. It shouldnt be just seen as an Irish thing and the monument should be presented in such a way as it makes clear its both Irish and Scots highlanders who are being remembered. Not only would it be factual but it would maybe educate the morons who mock the famine.

 

Do you really think they morons would take that into consideration? I have no doubt that they would still attempt to destroy it, if it symbolised the Irish famine in any small way.

 

Thought so. What kind of damage is inflicted if any?

Also Gunt, the Huns would have absolutely no qualms in targeting a joint memorial. Scum will be scum and so on.

 

A memorial that pointed out that many of their own non-Irish ancestors suffered too might just lessen the ignorance. They need educated and the memorial should be educational as well as commemorative. I am all for one and it should be a really big one in an area where it wont be seen as something for Tims only like beside a chapel. I am a big ignorant of it but I would think a good location would be where people arrived from from Ireland or emigrated to America from scotland as a result of the famine in the 19th century. Maybe an old quayside or the like. I have seen those in Ireland in similar positions. Where would the main arrival of the steamers from Ireland and departure of emigration boats around Glasgow have been in the 19th century?

 

You have to stand up to ignorance. Make it our of iron. Iron cast statue of figures of ragged people of the time with iron case historical info plates. A clever design could make vandalism difficult. No way ignorance should prevent such a statue. They need stood up to.

 

No doubt there would be some idiots out there who would try and vandalise this monument, were it ever to be constructed. That in itself is no reason not to construct it though. We must not bow down to the idiotic minority. If we do that then the lunatics are running the asylum.

Tony Hamilton is right. Glasgow SHOULD have a memorial to the potato famine. The famine, and the displacement of the Irish population that ensued from it, has indeed shaped Glasgow's past and consequently it's present. It helped to make Glasgow the city it is today.

Perhaps one solution to the problem of desecration of the memorial would be to place a few CCTV cameras around the memorial site. That way if some idiot(s) decide to desecrate it then they will be caught in the act and can be dealt with by the full force of the law. A simple but effective solution.

I hope this memorial will become a reality.

 

isnt the greatest memorial to the famine the creation and existance of Celticfootballclub.

 

Agree with EVERYTHING here but just one thing - would the law even do anything even if the * were caught vandalising it? Look what happened with John Wilson - he was only charged with only breach of the peace and that was an attack on Lennon himself. This was seen by thousands of people inside the stadium and the * STILL practically got let off with it.

I totally agree though - there should be a memorial for it.

 

Great idea and hopefully the Celtic Family can make this happen, whether through lobbying the government or by raising the funds ourselves.

And it should be for just the Irish diaspora, I'm all for one for the Highland clearances as well but it should be a separate monument.

 

Aye there should be some sort of monument for all Irish in Scotland, not just do dedicate the famine/ones who came across because of it. I'm sure there's some sort of memento in Glasgow for Scots-Italians, but I've a suspicion that is for just the west of Scotland and not all over. Edinburgh may have one not sure

 

I never mentioned the highland clearances. That was about landlords preferring sheep to people and was earlier (c. 1750-1840s) and came to an end about the famine time. The potato famine was also in the highlands and caused huge migration (you should read the wiki link on the highland famine). The massive impact of the potato blight of the 1840s was shared by Ireland and the highlands of Scotland.

The famine in Ireland and Scotland was the same in that it was basically the potato failure that made people have to migrate. A bit of agricultural knowledge is needed to understand things like this. Beef cattle for instance could only provide nourishment for a fifth of the people that the same acreage of land can with dairy cattle. Potatoes trumps either by many multiples and a tiny plot of land can support far more people than anything else. The crux of it was the you cant yield anywhere near as much nutrition from boggy land by anything as you can from potatoes. Potatos allowed the population of places like western Ireland and the highlands of Scotland to get to levels that only the potato could support on the tiny farms and crofts of the time. When the potato failed no replacement could support a population of that size on such small farms. Undoubtedly a lot more should have been done in the years of crisis to feed the effected people but long term until the potato could return a population of that size would never been able to support itself by agriculture.

In the highlands there was mass evacuation of the area abroad and also to the British industrial cities, very much as what happened with the Irish. The main difference was that less died in the highland famine because places like Glasgow were close at hand and because a lot of highlanders were protestants the * they got from the local Glaswegians was short lived as they blended in with them after a generation or so.

The potato famine should unite Ireland and Scotland. Its a good thing in my book to show people common ground like that rather than take an us and them approach. A statue to the potato famine in Glasgow could not ignore the highland part of the potato famine as it probably brought s many highlanders into Glasgow as it did Irish. Remembrance of it should unite everyone in Scotland because virtually everyone had ancestors who fled from their farms to places like Glasgow and that includes both the Irish and many native Scots from the highlands. I dont think tims should be helping the nasties to look at the potato blight and famines of the 1840s as something only relevant to one group within Scotland. That would be historically nonsense and also play into the hands of those who mock it. I would bet my bottom dollar that a vast amount of Glasgow protestant's ancestors fled to Glasgow in the famine from the highlands. They have simply forgotten their history.