Since Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK government last month, more than seven hundred people have been arrested on suspicion of supporting the group. On Sunday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of Belfast City Hall to ‘Defend the Right to Protest’. At a previous protest in Belfast, on 9 August, 74-year-old Máire Mhic an Fhailí was arrested for wearing a Palestine Action T-shirt. She’d given the police her name and address in Irish and been told she had to give them in English (she didn’t). An attendee who’d given his details in English received a caution. The 2022 Language Act gives Irish theoretical parity with English in Northern Ireland; the Police Service of Northern Ireland is supposedly non-sectarian, unlike the Royal Ulster Constabulary it replaced in 2001. But Palestine solidarity is strong in Belfast in part because Catholics and Irish-speakers are still marginalised.
An Anglo-American audience is a mixed blessing for an Irish artist. Pro: you get their money. Con: their opinions, too. The Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap have exploded in popularity since last year’s film about them. They now have less time for Irish-language poetry events in Dublin. They have also attracted international controversy, which they say is a bad-faith reaction to the pro-Palestinian solidarity they have been expressing in Ireland for years without a problem.
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