This March marked the one hundred year anniversary of one of the few historic achievements of the Irish Free State, which prioritised family and subsidiarity for generations.
Used to work in this area of Dublin. So much history. There are Monto Tours run by a lad who collected loads of stories, furniture and artefacts from the tumbledown tenements :
Monto walking tour on, this Saturday, 21st June. Time: 2 PM.
Meet outside the Spar Shop at the very end of Talbot Street, right facing Connolly Train Station on Amiens Street, D 1.
The tour 2 hours. Costs €10 per/person. (No booking is required.)
What a phrase "parasitical gombeenism". Brilliant writing. Clear from any reading of the Famine period that a certain section of the Irish did very well out of things. Middlemen, grabbers, parasites.
Parasitical gombeenism is a perfect description of our rent seeking society, you don't have to charge a young family market rent, you know. Usury and grabbing is where it's at now.
100%. Funny that only Catholic social thought can really answer the crisis of usury. It's a spiritual as well as economic parasite on economic life. We need a metaphysical rejection of it in all it's forms (debt slavery for instance - described well by David Graeber and Michael Hudson).
This is fascinating, while the view that Ireland was a theocracy after independence only ‘liberated’ in the 1990s is a widespread one, the reality of pre independence sexual exploitation is rarely discussed.
I have also heard similar stories about garrison towns like Fermoy.
Interesting, do you have a source on Fermoy, or is it personal / anecdotal (which of course is no less true)?
The worst I've read of what actually outside of Monto, in Swift's Hell outside Christchurch in the late 17th century. Some very grizzly activities there.
Sorry it’s a personal anecdote from someone who used to teach in the town and he remarked that even nearly a hundred years after independence various families were still tarnished by the shadow of shame associated with it.
Today though you could argue that the pornification of culture has meant that the Monto is now everywhere.
I am a big fan of Frantz Fanon and his insights into how colonisation works on the psyche of a people and his comments about the hijab as a way of pushing back against the commodification of female sexuality. (It reminds of the late great Sinead O Connor and her searing letter to Miley Cyrus.)
That's fascinating about the hijab. Would love to read an essay on that subject. I find it funny many "conservatives" and "traditionalists" in the West criticise the hijab on the grounds that it protects femininity and shows reverence towards chastity.
Used to work in this area of Dublin. So much history. There are Monto Tours run by a lad who collected loads of stories, furniture and artefacts from the tumbledown tenements :
Monto walking tour on, this Saturday, 21st June. Time: 2 PM.
Meet outside the Spar Shop at the very end of Talbot Street, right facing Connolly Train Station on Amiens Street, D 1.
The tour 2 hours. Costs €10 per/person. (No booking is required.)
Sounds amazing. I've always meant to visit the Sacred Heart of the Monto in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes on McDermott St. https://unpackingmybottomdrawer.com/2022-grateful-2-marys-dream/
Also, are the tours every Saturday? I'd love to go (even more so if there was one as Gaeilge!).
Maybe every second Sat? See @tenementlife on x
What a phrase "parasitical gombeenism". Brilliant writing. Clear from any reading of the Famine period that a certain section of the Irish did very well out of things. Middlemen, grabbers, parasites.
Parasitical gombeenism is a perfect description of our rent seeking society, you don't have to charge a young family market rent, you know. Usury and grabbing is where it's at now.
100%. Funny that only Catholic social thought can really answer the crisis of usury. It's a spiritual as well as economic parasite on economic life. We need a metaphysical rejection of it in all it's forms (debt slavery for instance - described well by David Graeber and Michael Hudson).
This is fascinating, while the view that Ireland was a theocracy after independence only ‘liberated’ in the 1990s is a widespread one, the reality of pre independence sexual exploitation is rarely discussed.
I have also heard similar stories about garrison towns like Fermoy.
Found this…
https://www.amaliah.com/post/61394/ibrahim-frantz-fanon-french-muslim-women-colonial-reign
Interesting, do you have a source on Fermoy, or is it personal / anecdotal (which of course is no less true)?
The worst I've read of what actually outside of Monto, in Swift's Hell outside Christchurch in the late 17th century. Some very grizzly activities there.
Sorry it’s a personal anecdote from someone who used to teach in the town and he remarked that even nearly a hundred years after independence various families were still tarnished by the shadow of shame associated with it.
Today though you could argue that the pornification of culture has meant that the Monto is now everywhere.
I am a big fan of Frantz Fanon and his insights into how colonisation works on the psyche of a people and his comments about the hijab as a way of pushing back against the commodification of female sexuality. (It reminds of the late great Sinead O Connor and her searing letter to Miley Cyrus.)
That's fascinating about the hijab. Would love to read an essay on that subject. I find it funny many "conservatives" and "traditionalists" in the West criticise the hijab on the grounds that it protects femininity and shows reverence towards chastity.
The problem with hijab discourse is that it's dominated by men , on one side or the other.
Sadly our godless Ireland is enslaved in a much worse way now😭
The illusion of freedom has evaporated and we now face total collapse if economy & culture.
We have fallen for all the lies of Satan and to witness the near nakedness of our young people on the streets of our cities would make you cry😭
This is my booklet on some of this history
www.manhasforgottengod.com
I can't seem to open this though I really want to read. Is it paywalled?
I accidentally made it pay only so I reuploaded it (and improved typos!). I think the substack app is still showing the old pay-walled version.
If you go through this on desktop it should work!
https://1741.substack.com/p/up-to-monto-a-centenary-of-the-legions?r=1quxce
Thank you! I'll try that. SUCH an interesting topic 👌