Dónal Hassett
@donalh
Colonial Historian, Interested in colonial veterans and all things Algeria. Proud Dub .
Cool to stumble across this police report from 1920 about a young Vietnamese activists who was going by the name Nguyên Ái Quôc (Nguyen the Patriot) and later known as Ho Chi Minh. It mentions his association with other radicals in Paris, including Irish nationalists.
They don't make newspaper ads like they used to. We could all do with a good scrubbing of the kidneys.
Nice dip though it was not the same without my Marseille swimming buddy @vbivar.bsky.social. all the rings on the ladder for getting are gone so I had to haul myself over like a seal 😂
Interesting to see this quote from Christopher Ewart Biggs in Stephen Collins' (profoundly ahistorical) article in the Irish Times today. French colonial rule in Algeria was a system rooted in violence to political ends. It was not the FLN who brought violence or terror into Algerian politics...
Knocked off early today to do a tour of the Maison Radieuse in Rezé, a suburb of Nantes. This was the second unité d'habitation built. It's smaller than the Marseille one but is perhaps the one that has endured best in that it remains majority social housing. The nursery on the roof is still open.
🇸🇳 à Nantes. Cool to see the works of photographer Omar Victor Diop in the Musée de l'histoire se la ville as part of the expression(s) décoloniales series. I loved his portrayals of famous figures such as Jean-Baptitse Bellay and Juan de Pareja and event like Thiaroye and the Dakar-Niger strike.
Had a lovely Bank Holiday cycling around the Île de Noirmoutier. The water, the wine and the oysters were all wonderful. Major Vendée Vibes but thankfully no sighting of either Bruno Reteilleau or Philippe de Villiers.
Very cool statue in Nantes by artist Philippe Ramette paying tribute to the sidestep as an act of courage.
On a lighter note, there was a fun Cats and Dogs exhibition beside it that even I, not an animal person, enjoyed. There was Dog and Cat Guess Who? And you could time yourself on a dog obstacle course.
Very good exhibition on borders and border regimes at the Cité des sciences in Paris. Fascinating to learn about Border Forensics, a group that investigates border violence, and about the sand walls and policing or borders between the Maghreb and the Sahel.
The two archives I wanted to visit entered into the August spirit a day early and were randomly closed but at least this meant I got to do one of my favourite things, wander around the banlieue Est.
Looking at something else in the archives but came across this map documenting the revolt against conscription and French rule in the Aurès région of Algeria in late 1916. It was brutally repressed by the French, mainly using West African troops.
Loving all the Mayo celebrations coverage. Out of respect for Mayo as an actual footballing force, I will resume normal service and hate them bitterly at the end of this week. They deserve our hate and fear, not our pity. But for now, Maigh Eo Abú!
I think the vast majority of people understand that you can be married to a woman and be a misogynist (so many men are) so why don't people acknowledge that you can be racist and marry someone who is not white?
Find myself yet again returning to this book, truly a must read for any scholar interested in the Global Greater War. www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-coo...
Swang by Duckett's Grove on my way home from Killkenny. The IRA used it as a base in the revolutionary period and escaped prisoners including Eithne Coyle hid out there. Also stopped off at the very impressive Moone High Cross.
The random use and misuse of the síneadh fada and Gaeilge gobbledegook in corporate names should be illegal. Tír gan síneadh fada, tír gan anam.
Stopped off in Clonmel. Interesting to see the Irish language version offers a more detailed and more nationalist narrative. Also stopped by the courthouse where the Young Irelanders were tried.
