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" Again and again, I find something eerie in many Irish occasions - the unrelenting whiteness, the emotional tribal attachments, the violent prejudices lurking beneath apparently pleasant social surfaces, the cosy smugness of belonging. "

Tom Paulin

Again

Irish

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" In my view the European culture carries a very heavy responsibility for the creation of Israel... it is a product of both British and Stalin's anti- Semitism, but the British never faced their own complicity in its construction. "

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" I think attacks on civilians in fact boost morale. "

" This sympathy is not translated into force against the British government because it is not like the anti- apartheid movement which had a high profile here and Mandela is a more engaging figure than Yasser Arafat. "

Tom Paulin

Sympathy

Movement

" Hitler bombed London into submission but in fact it created a sense of national solidarity. "

" I do most of the cooking. I'm kind of domestic, untidily so. "

" I'm kind of domestic, untidily so. "

Tom Paulin

Domestic

Kind

" Is the biographer an artist who can and should exist on equal terms with the dramatist, fiction writer and poet? The short and robust answer is, 'Certainly not.' "

" Look, you're either a Zionist or an anti-Zionist: there's no middle way. Everyone who supports the state of Israel is a Zionist. "

" A truly vibrant and creative culture depends on a system of education which is not divided along class and sectarian lines. "

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" Everyone who supports Israel is a Zionist. "

" My parents were Northern Ireland Labour party people. We read the 'Guardian' and the 'New Statesman,' listened to the BBC. The house was full of books. We didn't get a television until 'That Was The Week That Was' started. There was nothing to do but read. "

" I think protest and actions have to be organised against the Israelis and their backers. There needs to be a concerted high profile campaign to raise awareness of the people in this country. "

" 'Ulysses' is the greatest anti-racist text in the English language, and it challenges right from the beginning the vicious racism which lies near the foundations of the Irish Free State and of the Irish republic. "

" I don't think the British carry a historical consciousness either. "

" Unfortunately, in the north and the south of Ireland, intolerant habits are part of the fabric of emotion, part of the identity crisis which afflicts the population of the country. "

" All I do is read books, really. I worry about that sometimes. I don't seem to have a hobby or anything. "

" I am not very moved by historical apologies. "

Tom Paulin

Very

Moved

" Many black people I know are proud of the Irish part of their heritage - an Irish grandparent, say - but they recognise that many people believe in a form of racial purity. And it is from that belief that prejudice starts. "

" I never believed that Israel had the right to exist at all. "

" I always feel freelance writers are leading a heroic life. I think that is the real writer's life. On the other hand, it's good to have another job. It gives you something to do. "

" You are either a Zionist or an anti-Zionist. "

" One of the strongest features of Puritanism is its autobiographical tendency, its passionate self-regard. "

" It's ironic that early on in the war with Afghanistan, the Americans and the British were saying, 'We recognise there must be a Palestinian state,' then they rapidly forgot about it. I think history will show that that kind of amnesia will come back to haunt you. "