IS BALROG GASKIN REALLY FROM MARS

I feel a responsibility to warn about the reactionary nature of the republican Balrog website.

The founder Chris Gaskin is a real loud-mouth who Mick Fealty of the parochial SluggerOtoole calls a breath of fresh air in the Irish blog scene. Well that is his opinion. I see Gaskin’s site as one of the main Israel-hating sites in Ireland.

Gaskin has just turned his column to two issues which show there is no end to the opportunism and crass politics of the man.

Listen to this:

“Today in my Gender and the Law class the case of Natallie Evans came up for discussion. It is a harrowing case of a woman who had her ovaries removed in October 2001 because of pre-cancerous tumours.Due to this fact she and her former partner created frozen embryos for them to use when they wanted children.They separated before she could implant the embryos. As a consequence of the Human Fertility and Embryology Act 1990 the permission of the father is needed at every stage of the process.Her former partner revoked his consent and as a consequence she brought her case to the courts and was defeated at every stage. She then went to the European Court yesterday and lost on a split 5-2 decision.I really feel for this woman, this is her only chance at having any children of her own and if the embryos are not implanted by October then they have to be destroyed. This man is despicable in my opinion. He can have kids at any time he wants but he is denying her this chance at a family.The judge should have supported the use of the embryos as the father gave his consent at the time and that should be enough.”

Gaskin is in the lawyer business. I know nothing about the law but this after all is a political issue.

But note how Gaskin describes this man (this man is despicable) who seems to me to have a full right as to what happens to his and hers embryo.

I cannot help but think Gaskin uses this hateful language towards this man in order to curry
favour with some reactionary women in the Feminist Movement.

And indeed he has reason to. Because Gaskin goes on to show that he is an out and out Catholic reactionary on the issue of the womans rights to choose. Listen to how he continues:

“What I did extrapolate from this case is the barefaced hypocrisy of the British judicial system when it comes to the issue of reproductive rights. They are basically saying that for life to begin it requires the permission of both partners that however is in stark contrast to the issue of abortion where the permission of the man is not sought when it comes to murdering life.This case has huge Gender consequences and I would like to see the pro-life lobby place as much pressure on this man as they do on pregnant women who opt to kill their children (sorry have to call a spade a spade here)They won't however because he is a man!”

What an utter reactionary! And note how on the one hand he is opposing the rights of women to abortion and on the other “because he is a man” he offers himself as anti-man.

What a weird mixed-up character is Gaskin.

Is there a womans movement now in Sinn Fein or is there not? Or perhaps Sinn Fein Feminism was a different variety of Feminism and took the Catholic and Papal view on the right to choose. I am not sure of this.

In another article at the same time Gaskin almost explodes when it comes to the issue of child abuse and rape.

Here Gaskin declares from on high that people with this tendency cannot ever be reformed or learn from their experiences or therapy (therapy for Gaskin is out) and must spend the rest of their natural lives in jail.

“The problem however is that the current sentencing policy is somewhat muddled. A person on a life sentence can sometimes be rehabilitated through incarceration. There are some however who can't be rehabilitated like sociopaths or child abusers.In my opinion anyone who commits rape or anyone who abuses a child should spend the rest of their natural life in prison. I would prefer that they were hanged but as the current tide of social trend seems to pour scorn on that notion then incarceration for life is the next best option.”

That is from an Irish Republican. I wonder what the Fenian Movement of the mid 19th century would have thought of Gaskin. Probably thought they had been transported not to Australia but to another planet.

In these articles (Gaskin ranges far and wide) I am reminded of that crowd of English lumpen proletarians who hailed from Portsmouth. One fine day they raised their mob and marched up the road the intention being to burn down the home of somebody they thought of as a paedophile. You know after they were finished they would hand him over to Gaskin who would then stick him on a gibbet and hang him.

In any case the police managed to stop the mob. Just as well because the man turned out to be a woman. She was not a pedophile but a doctor. She worked with children in the field of pediatrician. She was a children’s doctor.

With the beloved for Gaskin Palestine having transformed into Hamastan and into Fascistan Gaskin has shut up for a few weeks now from his usual penchant for attacking Israel. But not for long I suspect! Gaskin will be back on that front in time. And in any case his silence now shows his real politics.