Gerry Adams's Blog, page 2

Our 1916

 Our 1916

The eight months of the 1981 hunger strike campaign changed the political landscape in Ireland. It was as Síle Darragh, former O.C. of the republican women prisoners in Armagh Women’s Prison, said recently, “our 1916.” It began on 1st March 1981. When it ended on 3rd October ten hungerstrikers were dead. Bobby Sands had been the first to die on May 5th. He was followed over the following four summer months up to August by Francis Hughes, Raymond McCreesh, Patsy O Hara, Joe McDonnell, Martin Hurson, Kevin Lynch, Kieran Doherty, Thomas McElwee, and Micky Devine.

On Sunday last people came in their thousands, from all parts of the island of Ireland, and from overseas, to participate in the annual August march and to honour and commemorate the ten who died forty-four years ago in the H blocks and others who starved to death decades before this including Frank Stagg and Michael Gaughan who died in the 1970s in prison in England. 

The stories of the ten hunger strikers and of their comrades in the H-Blocks and Armagh Women’s Prison, who spent five years on the protest for political status, are many. The brutal physical and mental abuse the women and men endured in defence of the struggle for freedom and in rejection of the label ‘criminal,’ has been articulated in a series of books, poems and articles. These include Ten Men Dead by David Beresford; Seachtain an an Bhlaincéad by Ruairí Ó Dónaill; The Crunch has come by Eoghan MacCormaic, written while he was in the H-Blocks and using the pen name Frankie O ‘Brien; Nor Meekly Serve my Time by some of the POWs; John Lennon is Dead by Síle Darragh; Time Shadows by Laurence McKeown; 6000 Days by Jim (Jaz) McCann: ; Pluid: Scéal na mBlocanna H, 1976-81 by Eoghan MacCormaic; Playing My Part by Gerry Kelly; and the many poems and articles written by Bobby Sands. And there are others including by this writer.

Speaking at the Republican Plot in Milltown Cemetery where Bobby Sands, Joe McDonnell and Ciaran Doherty are buried, Uachtarán Mary Lou McDonald caught the legacy and memory of that time when she described the hungerstrikers as: “Ten brave Irish men who laid down their lives on hunger strike for the freedom of their country. Starved and persecuted they lay in the H-Blocks and with every sinew of their being, they refused to be criminalised, refused to be broken, refused to be defeated.” 

She said: “For them, we will do the work, we will walk the extra yards, we will write our nation’s next chapter – Ireland, united and free… Joined by heroic women in Armagh Gaol, they hungered not only for political status, but for the Ireland envisaged by the proclamation – for the Republic… The legacy of the hunger strikers calls to us today.  To stay true to vision and the dream for which they gave everything. To never despair. Never lose hope. Never give up.”

Perhaps one of the most emotional moments of the day was as the huge march made its way along the Falls Road toward Milltown. A huge banner of Bik McFarlane was unfurled as the march rounded the bend on the Falls Road, just above Beechmount. The blanket men and women who were leading the commemoration stopped and for a minute lifted their clenched fists in silent salute to the friend and comrade who had led them through that terrible year.

In his contribution to Guthanna ’81, published last Saturday, Bik, who died earlier this year, wrote about that experience. His account provides an insight, into the pain and trauma, that went into the planning and preparing for the hunger strike and which included the reality of men dying.

Bik wrote:

Bobby, as OC, was to lead that hunger strike.

We developed a strategy that one man would go first, followed two weeks later by a second, followed a week or so later by two more.

So Bobby was to be followed by Francis Hughes, to be followed a week later by Patsy O’Hara and Raymond McCreesh, and it was staggered that way.

A lot of people thought, you know, looking back, people have asked us, have asked me and different people, that you were very clinical, hard-nosed in terms of your attitude to this. I would say, yes, but we also developed a replacement strategy in order to send a very, very clear signal to the Brits that if anybody died on hunger strike they would be replaced with another hunger striker, letting everybody know that we weren’t for lying down. Also, that the individual had the responsibility to terminate, or not, his hunger strike. So the total responsibility fell on the shoulders of the individual who was on hunger strike, which is harsh, which is hard, but unfortunately it was the nature of the circumstances.

That’s where we found ourselves.

Bobby had come back from a visit and at the time, if I’m not mistaken, I think Danny Morrison had had been on the visit—if it wasn’t prior to Danny being excluded from the prison. He’d come back from the visit, just given a bit of news on how things were going and in the midst of it, you know, he was talking and he says, ‘Oh yeah, and I told him [Danny] that you would be taking over.’

I said, ‘Taking over what?’

He says, ‘I told him to tell the lads outside that you’d be taking over as OC.’

I said, ‘I’m not—I’m not taking over as OC. I’m the PRO [press officer]. I’m the guy who organises the letter-writing campaigns. I’m the guy who writes the letters, does the PR, or gets guys to contact people.’

‘No, no, no, no. I’m not having it any other way. I’ve just told him that that’s the way it’s going to be.’

‘Well, I’m not doing that.’

He says, ‘Well you have to do it.’

‘I am not even up there on the list of the pecking order in terms of, you know, the “pay scale” because there’s an OC, a Vice OC. There’s an Adjutant. There’s an Education Officer . . . You have everything. I’m stuck down at the bottom of that list. There are other people more senior than me. For example, Séanna Walsh is the Vice OC. He’s been in the cages with you. He’s been out, he’s back in, and he knows the politics of this protest upside down and the inside out—possibly better than anybody else. And he’s next in line.’

And then Bobby said to me: ‘There’s only one thing you’re missing there.’

‘I’m not missing anything.’

‘Oh, you are. He’s my best mate.’

‘What has that got to do with anything?’

‘Well, quite frankly, if this hunger strike goes the distance and we reach a crisis period and the Brits just decide, they may decide at some stage to introduce negotiations. If I end up in a crisis period and this comes to negotiations and the package that they put on the table is not acceptable,’ he says, ‘Séanna will not let me die.’

‘So what you’re saying is that I would let you die?’

‘Yeah, that’s right.’

‘Well, thanks very much for that vote of confidence in my capabilities and my sensitives.’

‘No, no, no. I know the craic with you and that’s the way it has to be. So you need to do it.’

And there was no answer after that because, I mean, I just felt that the vote of confidence that he had in me, his faith and what I’d be able to do was far more than what I felt that I was able to do. So, very, very reluctantly then, at the end of that, I’m saying to myself, ‘Here’s a man putting himself on the line, putting his life on the line, to all intents and purposes, he knows the minute he steps onto this that he’s not coming out the other end of it, and he has the confidence in me to help him along that road. And if push comes to shove that I need to be able to say to the Brits, “That’s not what he asked for. That’s not what the hunger strikers want, so there’s no deal.”’

It takes courage to go on a hunger strike. It takes courage to plan how you will die and to ensure that others will follow. And it takes courage to be the leader who is expected to stick with the plan, no matter the consequences.

The hungerstrikers were extraordinary human beings. All these years later I remain in awe of their selflessness and their bravery. Tiocfaidh ár lá.

 

Hope should never Die’ – Bobby Sands | An Clogán

 Hope should never Die’ – Bobby Sands

Today, Wednesday 20th August marks the anniversary of the death on hunger strike in 1981 of Mickey Devine. Mickey was the last of the ten men to die and several weeks later the hunger strike end on 3 October. It was also the day the by-election was held in Fermanagh South Tyrone caused by the death in May of Bobby Sands. Owen Carron successfully held the seat as the ‘Anti-H-Block/Proxy Political Prisoner’ candidate.

This Sunday the annual National Hunger Strike March and Rally will take place in Belfast. Republicans and others remember with pride and sorrow those who died on hunger strike in 1981, as well as Michael Gaughan 1974 and Frank Stagg 1976, and others of earlier generations. The men of the H-Blocks and the women of Armagh Women’s Prison hold a special place in republican hearts and minds. We also remember all of those who died during that summer of 1981.

On Saturday 23rd, a new book, edited by Danny Morrison, entitled Guthanna ‘81 will be published. Guthanna means Voices and the book very appropriately contains the voices of some of us who were active during the blanket protest, the hunger strike campaign or in the prisons at the time. Brendan McFarlane, who replaced Bobby Sands as OC and died several months ago, wrote a piece about ‘My Comrades’; Joe Doherty writes about ‘The 1981 Escape’; Fr. Joe McVeigh writes about ‘The Role of the Catholic Church’; Laurence McKeown and Pat Sheehan who survived the hunger strike reflect on ‘The End; and there are many more, including mé féin and Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald.

Bobby wrote:

All things must come to pass as one

So hope should never die.

There is no height or bloody might

That a freeman can’t defy.

There is no source or foreign force

can break one man who knows,

that his free will no thing can kill,

And from that freedom grows.

 

His words encapsulate the depth of conviction and strength that was evident in the H-Blocks and in Armagh Women’s Prison during the five years of prison protest and the hunger strikes of 1980 and ‘81.

They also capture at this time the indomitable spirit of the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The 1981 hunger strike was a political watershed in Irish politics. It changed the shape of Irish politics forever – a change that is still evolving. It was built on the selflessness and courage of the men and women political prisoners who refused to bend the knee and accept the Thatcher government’s propaganda description of them and of their struggle as ‘criminal.’

For years, day after day the comms would arrive from within the Blocks and Armagh to Taobh Amuigh telling us of the latest beatings, of the brutality of the wing shifts, of the forced washing with deck scrubbers, of the mirror searchers and ill-treatment. Bobby wrote regularly on scraps of paper, with bits of pens hidden inside his own body, of the appalling conditions on the wings and the cruelty of the prison regime.

Later when the hunger strike began on 1 March 1981 the comms carried the weight of the hunger strikers. Young men, who were already painfully thin and who were now defying the British government with the only weapon left to them – their lives.

The momentous election of Bobby Sands in Fermanagh South Tyrone in April was a huge boost to the campaign. I was travelling through the Cooley Mountains in Louth when the result was announced on the radio news. I had left Fermanagh that morning, after weeks of intense campaigning, convinced Bobby was going to win. I pounded the roof of the car as a response. Later I watched the result being announced on the television news. Danny Morrison was at the count. His very loud and enthusiastic yell - a screech almost- nearly drowned out the words of the election returning officer Alastair Patterson as he announced: “Sands, Bobby. Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner, 30,492,”.

The result gave the lie to the claims by the British and Irish governments that the prisoners were part of a criminal mafia-style conspiracy and not political prisoners who belonged to the centuries old struggle for Irish freedom and independence. Bobby got more votes than Thatcher. Several months later in June 1981 the criminalisation policy suffered another body blow with the election to the Dáil of Kieran Doherty in Cavan Monaghan and the election of Paddy Agnew in Louth. As well as the election of Kieran and Paddy, Joe McDonnell came close to taking a seat in Sligo and Mairead Farrell and others won credible votes.

Fianna Fáil and Charlie Haughey, who had thought they were on their way to another election victory, and who had treated the hunger strikers and their families so appallingly, were punished by the electorate. No party has been able to form a majority single government in the Oireachtas since then.

The prisoners’ election successes also accelerated the debate within Sinn Féin on electoralism.

Today Sinn Féin is the largest party on the island of Ireland. Mary Lou McDonald is the leader of the opposition in Leinster House and Michelle O’Neill is First Minister. All of these advances, and more, owe a huge debt to the steadfastness and bravery of those we will commemorate this weekend.

So, come along to the Falls Road on Sunday. The march will commence at 2.15pm in Dunville Park where the very first march in support of political status ended in August 1976. In that march Bobby Sands was in the Colour Party. On that occasion it was Leas Uachtarán Máire Drumm who addressed the crowd. Next Sunday it will be Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald who will be the main speaker when the march concludes at Milltown Cemetery where Bobby Sands, Kieran Doherty and Joe McDonnell are buried. 

 

An Clogán

Among the many excellent events at this year’s Féile an Phobail was the launch of a new journal called An Clogán (The Little Bell). It is an independent, politically unaligned magazine that takes its name, and I suspect its design as an A5 booklet, from The Bell. This was a left oriented magazine edited and published in the 1940’s and 50’s by Peadar O’Donnell, Roisin Walsh and Sean Ó Faoláin.

An Clogán, which is edited by Oisín Gilmore and Oisín Vince Coulter is an ambitious magazine containing 27 contributions from a wide range of writers, including Claire Mitchell, Robbie McVeigh, Phillip Pettit, Martina Anderson, Margaret Ward, and an interview with me.

The theme of this first edition - The Republic - explores how republicanism is rooted in the radical idea of self-rule. Claire Mitchell and Martina Anderson, who both spoke at the launch, share their transformative visions on what a new and inclusive united Ireland should look light. A New Republic worthy of its name.

The magazine pins its colours to the mast in quoting on its inside front cover the words of Fintan Lalor and Bobby Sands.

“Without agreement as to our objects we can not agree on the course we should follow … The principle I state, and mean to stand upon is this, that the entire ownership of Ireland, moral and material, up to the sun and down to the centre, is vested of right in the people of Ireland; that they, and none but they are the land-owners and law makers of this island.

Fintan Lalor, The Rights of Ireland 1848

I shall not settle until I achieve the liberation of my country, until Ireland becomes a sovereign, independent socialist republic.

Bobby Sands, The Birth of a Republican, 1978.

The publishers are still in the process of arranging wider distribution but copies are currently available in An Cultúrlann, McAdaimh, O Fiaich, 216 Bothar na bhFál, Belfast.

 

The photo is of Bobby Sands and Máire Drumm taking part in the first march in support of political status in August 1976

Up for the Match | Gaza – An Gorta Mór – The Starvation | Orangism in the New Ireland

 Up for the Match 

Off on Sunday morning to Croke Park. Dark skies. Lots of grey clouds. Our journey was delayed by Féile An Phobail’s 5km and 10km run. Diverted and distracted we eventually got out of West Belfast and on the road to Dublin. Enroute the dark skies lightened. The grey clouds gave way to blue heavens and gentle sunshine. We were off to watch Antrim’s Lady Footballers in our own All Ireland against Louth. As we crossed the Border KneeCap kept our spirits high. Their ceol blasted out and the car rocked as we hip hopped to the Capital. A morning after the night before follow-on from Saturday evening’s Falls Park Country frolicks.

The match in Croker started off positively with Antrim taking an early lead but Louth soon asserted themselves and Antrim was chasing the game from then until the last ten minutes. Some of the players may have been overwhelmed by the big occasion.  If so who could blame them? To play in Croke is mighty and Antrim supporters were out in strength. Everyone, including us, as proud as could be.  Family members, club mates. The number of Northern Gaels was swelled by Tyrone supporters who later went on to win their championship against Laois. Dublin went on to best Meath in the Seniors. A great day of Gaelic football.

In our game Antrim battled valiantly but in the middle section of the match Louth were in charge. But only just. Minutes towards the end it looked like we might claw back Louth’s lead after a flurry of Antrim points. A win looked doable. A goal was needed. But a goal was denied us just before the hooter sounded. Louth survived to emerge All Ireland Junior Champions once again.

Well done to all the Antrim Lady Footballers. You had a great championship campaign. There were lots of tears and loads of disappointment down on the pitch as family and friends comforted our warriors. Stick with it sisters. Your day will come. There were only two points in it. Well done to the management squad and everyone else involved. And well done the players.

Aontroim Abú.  

 

Gaza – An Gorta Mór – The Starvation

The scenes of desperation as starving people in Gaza try to get basins or pots filled with soup, are shocking images. It is a famine we are told. Last week the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a United Nations panel which had long warned of the threat of famine, concluded that it was now a reality.

The use of the word ‘famine’ and the images of starving children are a reminder for many in Ireland of what life must have been like during An Gorta Mór in the 1840s. But it is important to note that in a famine there is no food. In Ireland there was plenty of food. During those years the quaysides of ports along our coast were lined each day with abundant produce - all bound for export. It was a starvation.

The hunger in Gaza is an Israeli made starvation. Aid agencies and the UN have more than enough food and medical aid ready to enter Gaza. Israel prevents this. It is not a famine – it is a starvation.

At the weekend I discussed this issue and others relating to Israel’s genocide with Professor Avi Shlaim an Israeli historian who lectures at Oxford University. Professor Shlaim was in Belfast where he spoke to a packed hall in St. Mary’s University College as part of Féile an Phobail.

Professor Shlaim is one of the foremost historians writing on Zionism and Israel and he has just published a new collection of essays, ‘Genocide in Gaza – Israel’s long war on Palestine.’ It is an authoritative, powerful critique of Israel’s genocidal strategy in Gaza.

This soft spoken historian, who will be 80 in October, gave me his assessment of the strategies behind the murderous policies of the Netanyahu government and of their intent to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip. The priority for the rest of us, he believes at this time, is to stop the genocide and provide food and water for the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Professor Shlaim describes the BBC coverage of events in Gaza as “unbalanced news coverage which consistently privileges the dishonest Israeli narrative and fails to do justice to the Palestinian narrative. In some cases, BBC News is difficult to distinguish from the propaganda of the victors.” A critique not out of place with our own experience.

‘Genocide in Gaza – Israel’s long war on Palestine’ is available at www.irishpages.org/ and at An Fhuiseog, 55 Falls Road, BT12 4PD

 

Orangism in the New Ireland

The northern statelet was built for unionism. It was constructed and then managed in a way to ensure that nationalists would never have a say in running the place.

We are less than three years off the 30th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Most citizens, and many within the broad unionist section of our people, have grown accustomed to the stability and peace it has brought but there are others who still hanker after the old days of supremacy. The DUP shares the office of the First Minister with Sinn Féin but their strategy is focused on the next Assembly election in two years’ time and their aim is to remove Michelle O’Neill as First Minister. That is why there is a battle a day over Irish language rights. That is why there has been no start on building the new Casement. That is why there is negative nonsense over bi-lingual signage in public places.

Additionally, a lot of political unionism’s strategies and tactics are aimed at minimising the potential for positive change that the Agreement makes possible. It’s about dilution and delay.

I believe that a successful unity referendum to end partition will help liberate those unionists who are captives of this history. There will still be some who for generations to come will reject the place that they live in. And that's not unusual. That's happened in other countries in the world.

But we have to make the new Ireland a place that accommodates unionists and republicans, loyalists and nationalists and those who are none of these. The Good Friday Agreement is an agreement to a journey without agreement on the destination. That is for the people to decide.

So our job is to engage with unionists. To listen to them honestly and to try to persuade them that the new Ireland will be better for all of the people who live here.

If in the New Ireland people want to have bonfires, that's okay. But it will be done in a way that is lawful and safe and not threatening to others. There will clearly be orange parades but these will not be triumphalistic marches. The sectarian elements have to be confronted and made unlawful. And this is the challenge for Orangism. They have to confront their own sectarian elements. Sectarianism has to be exorcised. That is the challenge for all of us.

There is clearly within loyalism, within Orangism, a love of marching bands, of fifes and drums and bagpipes and all of that. That’s fine.

I’m partial to good band music, to bagpipes and the like. I know quite a few orange songs, including The Sash. The Twelfth could be one of our national days. Ignored if need be but tolerated by those who dislike it and enjoyed by those who celebrate it. Orange after all is one of our national colours. But Orangism, like all the rest of us has to face up to its own failings.

The journey to the new Ireland is well advanced. But we have much work ahead. The more of us who engage in this work the sooner we will achieve it.

 

Planning for the Future | A Global Alliance for Palestine |Our Martin

 Planning for the Future

It was Charles Stewart Parnell who said: “No man has the right to say to his country. Thus far shalt thou go and no further.” This was in the 19th century. He also declared; “Let no one set a boundary to the march of a nation.”

Parnell was clearly setting out the right of the people of Ireland to self-determination. Interestingly he chose Cork to make this declaration.  That was the 21st January 1885. One of the current Cork TDs and the current Taoiseach Micheál Martin has a contrary view. Our right to self-determination is contained in the Good Friday Agreement so that right has been won. We now need to exercise it. There is an irony that An Taoiseach has set his face against this and that he refuses to plan for the certain day when the Good Friday Agreement referendums will be held.

Micheál Martin is out of step with nationalist opinion in the North as expressed by the SDLP and Sinn Féin. He is in contravention of Fianna Fáil’s policy and the policy of all other political parties in the South and with the Irish constitution, as well as the Good Friday Agreement. He is also at odds with many in the South who are for Irish Unity and see the merits of preparing for it.

Earlier this year, the Amárach Research poll for the European Movement Ireland, found that a majority of people in both parts of Ireland – 67% in the North and 62% in the South – now support a United Ireland within the EU. And we already know that with reunification the entire island of Ireland would automatically re-enter the European Union.

At the beginning of July a report published by Professor John Doyle, on behalf of the Ulster University and Dublin City University, confirmed that there are no economic barriers to Irish Unity.

Micheál Martin has no right to tell us not to talk about unity or plan for it. The Taoiseach should establish a Citizens’ Assembly or Assemblies on Irish Unity and to begin in earnest the detailed and painstaking planning that needs to happen to realise reunification. Constitutional change is the biggest challenge facing the people of Ireland at this time. That means we have to plan. It’s common sense.

 

A Global Alliance for Palestine

Saturday witnessed the launch of a new and unique international initiative in support of the Palestinian people and aimed at challenging Israel and its genocidal policies in Gaza. Over 70 solidarity organizations from 25 countries attended, including Sinn Féin Chief Whip Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD. The ‘Global Alliance for Palestine’ is based on a clear principle: "Solidarity with Palestine must be organized, unified, and effective."

Its focus is on creating a global network to coordinate Palestinian solidarity movements, while building a broad-based alliance that unites civil society, unions, student groups, cultural figures, and political actors across continents in defence of Palestinian self-determination. It will seek to achieve this by building an international organisation capable of confronting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, refuting misleading media narratives, and defending the right to solidarity.

Regrettably I was unable to attend but I contributed by video. I will also be a member of the advisory board of the initiative, alongside Jeremy Corbyn, Mustafa Barghouti, Yanis Varoufakis, South African activist Ronnie Kasrils and other international political leaders. 

This initiative comes at a critical point in the Israeli genocidal war in Gaza. The spectre of starvation, imposed as a deliberate policy by Israel, haunts the devastated landscape of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds, mostly children, their emaciated bodies clinging to crying mothers, have died from a starvation policy ruthlessly pursued by the Israeli state and supported by the USA and other governments. Tens of thousands more are slowly dying from lack of food and water. Day after day the reports from Gaza paint a horrendous picture of communities destroyed by bombings and robbed of basic medical provisions. And food. And water.

Palestinians face constant bombardment and death every day and night. A report in Middle East Eye this week described how hunger/ starvation is “no longer merely a sensation of deprivation; it manifests in the sight of people collapsing in the streets from sheer exhaustion. Children, women, the elderly - no one is spared. We have witnessed, with our own eyes, bodies slumping on the pavement and lives lost outside the ruins of bakeries or at aid distribution points that never deliver.”

Today, Zionism is attempting the total annihilation of the Palestinian people. UNICEF has accredited Gaza as “a graveyard for children”.

While Israel commits violation after violation, without any consequence, the international community watches from afar. The hypocrisy, double standards and complicity of the West has been laid bare. Its actions have left the future of international law at a tipping point.

In Ireland, we have lived and died under colonialism and occupation. We too have been starved. Our Great hunger – an Gorta Mór – means that we will not stay silent when the same is inflicted upon others. For that reason, Sinn Féin is pressing the Irish Government to enact the Occupied Territories Bill, and separately for Ireland to join The Hague Group. 

It is time that more states across Europe also recognise the state of Palestine, and impose economic, political sanctions and arms embargos against Israel.

None of us should doubt the important role of coordinated international solidarity. That is why the creation of the ‘Global Alliance for Palestine’ is so crucial.

In the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the global anti-apartheid campaign played a decisive role in ending that cruel regime. So, we must develop an organised, global movement to dismantle Israel’s systems of oppression, occupation and apartheid in Palestine. A global movement that challenges Israel’s manifest lies and denial of its actions against the Palestinians.

 

 

 

Our Martin

Last week, in the Guildhall in Derry, several hundred friends, comrades and family of Martin McGuinness came together for the launch of Jim McVeigh’s authoritative and compelling new book on Martin. Jim is a gifted writer.

‘Our Martin’ is a very personal, insightful account of Martin’s life in Derry and his love for his wife Bernie, and she for him, and for their children, Fionnuala, Emmet, Fiachra and Grainne.

Martin said: “What politicised me was the civil rights protest. It wasn’t anything I heard in the house, or even in my grandmother’s house in Donegal. There was no republicanism whatsoever in my background.”

Bernie sets the context for the book. She writes: “Over the years, I have read many things about Martin. Few of them bore any resemblance to the man that I knew, to my Martin, the family man, the loving husband who always tried to make it home to me no matter where he was or how late it might have been, the kind, patient, loving father and doting grandfather.  

I loved the life I had with Martin, even through the struggles that came with it. We faced those challenges together and I would not change a single thing. The journey we shared was filled with love, and from it came our four beautiful children and grandchildren.

When Martin made friends, he made friends for life. He loved the community, the Bogside that he came from, and that is where his heart lay, with us his family and the community that he had fought for all his adult life.”

In the Guildhall, myself, Martina Anderson and Mitchel McLaughlin talked about the Martin we knew. I had the honour of presenting a copy of Martin’s book to Francie Molloy.

I want to thank the Martin McGuinness Peace Foundation and Beyond the Pale for an outstanding publication. Any money raised from the sale of the book will go to the Foundation.

‘Our Martin’ by James McVeigh will be launched in Belfast at 1pm on 2 August in St. Mary’s University College Belfast, as part of Féile an Phobail. It is available from An Fhuiseog, 55 Falls Road and from www.beyondthepalebooks.com

 

2005 – Twenty Years On | A Welcome Electoral Change

 2005 – Twenty Years On

Next Monday one of the most historic and transformative events in the Irish Peace Process took place. Twenty years ago on the 28 July 2005 the IRA issued a statement which ended its decades long armed struggle. In its statement the IRA said: "The leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. This will take effect from 4pm this afternoon.  All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.”

The IRA leadership also said that it had authorised its representative to engage with the IICD (Independent International Commission on Decommissioning) to “complete the process to verifiably put its arms beyond use in a way which will further enhance public confidence.” This was confirmed two months later on the 26 September by the Commission.

The IRA initiative opened up opportunities for progress.

Peace processes are by their very nature challenging and difficult. They frequently fail. Many of the wars of the 1960s and 70’s were a response to the colonial occupation and exploitation of native peoples by colonial powers.  Africa saw many examples of these. Some conflicts went on into the 1980s and 90s. Algeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), Angola, Mozambique, and others, including in Asia the Vietnam War and in the Middle East the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The South African peace process brought an end to apartheid and witnessed the election of Nelson Mandela as President of that country in 1994. In our own place our peace process brought an end to decades of conflict and heralded processes of change.

Today, in a world still bedevilled by wars, the Irish Peace Process is frequently held up internationally as an example of a peace process that is working.  The governments occasionally try to root it in the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. But the truth is that it started in the 1970s when Republicans began to claim back the word ‘Peace.’

The moves made by the British government, endorsed by the Irish government, from 1970 until the mid-1990s all failed because they were primarily about defending the status quo, placating political unionism and defeating the IRA. None of the serial ‘talks about talks’, or Conventions or Assemblies, or round table talks that ten different British Secretaries of State commenced between 1972 and 1996 made any meaningful progress. Why? Because they were partitionist at their core and they excluded elected republican representatives. They were aimed at defeating republicans. And, of course, republicans could not be defeated. But that was not sufficient. Not being defeated was not enough. We had to develop strategies aimed at winning.

This led to a dynamic shift when republicans developed a peace strategy and began to take independent political initiatives that opened up new possibilities. The most important was the IRA cessation in 1994 which Seamus Heaney described at that time; ‘it created a space in which hope can grow.’ He was right.

The 1994 cessation, like the July 2005 announcement, involved no deal or trade-off with the British government. It was the outworking of our efforts to build a viable alternative to conflict. It was a unilateral political initiative taken solely by republicans and involving others here in Ireland and abroad.

Of course, everyone wants peace. But on what terms? For Netanyahu peace in the Middle East means the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip and the creation of a single unified Israeli state, including all of the Palestinian territories. But of course that would not be peace. All sensible people know that.

For unionists and the British government, peace in Ireland meant peace on their terms. But that also is not feasible.

Most thinking unionists know that the game is up. That there is no going back to the old Orange state. There is evidence that some are even now coming around to the view that being part of the union with Britain, outside of the European Union and on a divided island, is not in their best interests. There are, of course some who refuse to acknowledge the political, electoral and demographic changes that have and are taking place every day. They continue to fight a rear guard action against the referendums provided for in the Good Friday Agreement but their political strength is much diminished.

However, they are assisted by the British government. And sadly also by the Irish government. But the electoral strength of Sinn Féin today is testimony to our determination and the good sense of our strategic goals.

Republicans long ago understood the need to see negotiations as an area of struggle and that our responsibility, along with others is to persuade as many people as possible that Irish Unity is the best outcome for all the people of our island. That means us reaching out to our unionist neighbours, especially those prepared to consider how life might be for them, and us, after the Union and after partition.

So, twenty years after the IRA initiative of 2005 the challenge for us is to advocate for the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, and to create the conditions for the holding of the unity referendums. That means pressing for the establishment of Citizens’ Assemblies or Forums in which people can come together in confidence to talk about a new Ireland; what it will look like and what are the governance and other options available to us.

It also means that we need a Plan for Unity. The Irish government in particular carries the greater responsibility for this but Micheál Martin refuses to develop one. We also need local plans. Wherever you live on the island of Ireland or within the diaspora if you are a United Irelander you need a unity plan.  Unity is not a job of work just for elected representatives. It is for all of us.

We now have the opportunity, not available to previous generations, to win national freedom through peaceful and democratic means. As Bobby Sands said, “If they aren’t able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won’t break you. They won’t break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then we’ll see the rising of the moon.”

That will take hard work by all of us, new phases of struggle, of activism and of active campaigning.

In 2004 the DUP walked away from a possible agreement and the peace process looked as if it was finished. Republicans stepped up to the mark and this Saturday at 2pm in the Balmoral Hotel a public meeting will be held to discuss the 2005 events and its implications, twenty years on, for a new Ireland.

 

 

A Welcome Electoral Change

The decision, announced last week by the British government, that it will be lowering the voting age to those aged 16 and 17, is a welcome move. There is already widespread support for a reduction in the voting age. Last September the Assembly backed a Sinn Féin motion calling for this change. In the South the policy has received widespread cross-party support from Sinn Féin, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, The Green Party, The Labour Party, Social Democrats, People Before Profit, and many Independents.

The London government is focussed on the 2029 Westminster election but the North will have local government and Assembly elections in 2027. The focus now must be on ensuring that the necessary legislative steps are taken to ensure that 16 and 17 year olds can vote in those elections.

Updating the electoral register and ensuring that this new tranche of young voters have suitable identification, will be a big job of work but with political will it can be done. It would also send entirely the wrong message to future voters if the 2027 deadline is missed.

Legislating for young people to have the right to vote is the right thing to do. All parties in the North, with the exception of the DUP, support changing the voting rules. Young people should have the right to vote on decisions that impact on their lives, including voting for a united Ireland.

 

 

Best International Documentary | Defend the GPO and Save Moore St. | A Week in the Life and Death of GAZA

 

Best International Documentary

I spent the weekend in Galway and Mayo. The weather wasamazing. The countryside with its miles of stone walls separating plots of landand the lush colours of green and rocky inclines was a joy to travel through.

I was in Galway on Saturday to attend the Galway FilmFestival/Fleadh where Trisha Ziff’s film – A Ballymurphy Man - was receivingits world premiere. The cinema in the old Town Hall where the Festival iscentred was packed to capacity for the screening. The audience was hugelyattentive and very welcoming when Trisha and I went on the stage at the end ofthe screening to talk about the making of the documentary.

The next day I was in Mayo when Trisha text me to say that‘A Ballymurphy Man’ had taken the Festival award for Best InternationalDocumentary. So well done Trisha and her team who worked hard over five years,with very limited funding to produce this film.

In Mayo I met Martin Neary, who has bequeathed his 40-acrehomestead to the local community. Martin, who is in his 80s, has spent yearsplanting native indigenous trees so that a woodland now stands where there wasonce a farm and bog land. His book – Madogue Memories – tells in his own wordsMartin’s love of land, his community and culture, his county and our countryand his republican and socialist ideals. It was an honour to meet such aninspiring leader and a great privilege to plant an oak tree - a Crann naSaoirse - in the Martin Neary Woodland Park.

 

Defend the GPO and Save Moore St.

There is widespread anger at the decision by the Irishgovernment to convert the historic GPO in Dublin into shops and offices. LastSaturday hundreds gathered in O’Connell St. to protest at the government’splans for the GPO and for the Moore St. Battlefield site. Their demand is forthe protection of the cultural and revolutionary heritage of this part ofDublin.

Every nation that fought for its freedom from colonial rule- often from the British - has hallowed ground, the place where patriots made astand against injustice and occupation. For the people of Ireland, the GPO isone such place.  It is the place where the revolutionary generation of theearly 1900s declared for a Republic and where the Pearse read the Proclamationof that republic.

Instead of imposing an ill-thought out plan that will ruinthe iconic nature of this site the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael government should holda public conversation to agree an imaginative and visionary plan which willreflect the importance of the GPO and Moore St. Properly managed this area canplay a vital part in the regeneration and revitalisation of Dublin City Centre.

Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald described Fianna Fáiland Fine Gael’s plan as ‘shameful.’ 

She told the Government: “The regeneration of Dublin must bedriven by the things that really matter to us.  Our history. Our heritage.Pride in those gallant patriots who came before us. This historic area must beredeveloped as a Cultural and Historical Quarter and in line with theMasterplan by the Moore Street Preservation Trust.”

Earlier last week a newly formed Moore St. Oireachtas Groupmade up of elected representatives from North Inner City Dublin, including fromSinn Féin, Fianna Fáil, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party, visitedthe Moore St. 1916 terrace. This is where the revolutionary leaders of 1916 mettogether for the last time before their executions.

The cross-party group recognises the responsibility ofelected representatives to safeguard and preserve, and to act as guardians ofthe National Monument at 14-17 Moore Street, and the streets and lanewaysaround it. The group’s aims are in keeping with the recommendationsof the Ministerial Advisory Group and the findings of the DublinInner City Task Force Report.

The visit was facilitated by the Office of Public Works, andit gave representatives an opportunity to inspect the historic terrace. Afterward Mary Lou McDonald TD said she was “pleased to be joined by myconstituency colleagues. We will work together on this issue. I am concerned atthe state of the buildings and there is an urgent need for remedial work to becarried out.”

 

A Week in the Life and Death of GAZA

I first met Mustafa Barghouti in the west Bank in 2014. TheGeneral Secretary of the Palestine National Initiative is a physician, anactivist, and is head of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society. He is also amember of the PLO and of the Palestinian Legislative Council. He advocates theuse of non-violence and civil disobedience.

In a few weeks’ time, I hope to have the opportunity tointerview Mustafa for a special podcast on the situation in Gaza and the WestBank.

Each day Mustafa sends out a WhatsApp update on news fromthe region. The following is an edited daily diary for the week beginningSunday 6 July to Sunday 13 July.

Sunday 6 July

The Israeli bombardment on Gaza killed 80 Palestinians,including many children, and injured 304 others in the past 24 hours. Among thevictims were 8 civilians who were targeted while trying to receive humanitarianaid. Since October 7, 2023, the total number of casualties has risen to 57,418killed and 136,261 injured.

Monday 7 July

According to Israeli tv channel 12: The Israeli primeminister Netanyahu is proceeding with his plan to evict the whole populationof Gaza Strip from their districts and to concentrate them in anarrow concentration camp between Moraj and Philadelphi/ Rafah corridors tofacilitate their ethnic cleansing.

The Israeli bombardment on Gaza killed 105 Palestinians and injured356 others in the past 24 hours. Among the victims were 7 civilians who weretargeted while trying to receive humanitarian aid.

Tuesday 8 July

The Israeli bombardment on Gaza killed 52Palestinian civilians and injured 262 others. Among the victims were 8civilians who were targeted while trying to receive humanitarian aid.

Wednesday 9 July

The Israeli army destroyed 5 Palestinian houses in Shuqbavillage in Ramallah in the West bank. In Gaza the Israeli bombardmentkilled 105 Palestinian civilians, including many children. Among the victimswere 7 civilians who were targeted while trying to receive humanitarian aid.

Thursday 10 July

A horrible Israeli massacre of Palestinian children andwomen in Deir Albalah in Gaza who were bombarded today while theywere trying to receive baby supplements. 16 civilians were killed including 10children. According to sources in the Palestinian village Rumaneh in Jenin theIsraeli soldiers shot Ahmad Umor injuring him and then ran their car over hisbody killing him. The Jadallah family in khan Younes mourns 5 of its membersincluding 4 children who were killed today by the Israeli bombardment.

Friday 11 July

Israeli terrorist settlers conducted several attacks withlive ammunition and stones on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. Theyinjured 10 Palestinians in Sinjel town in Ramallah and burned several cars.They also killed by beating and shooting two Palestinians in Sinjel.

Saturday 12 July

The Israeli army committed huge massacres today inGaza. It conducted 250 air strikes on the civilian population killing 120civilian Palestinians and injuring hundreds. According to the UNICEFrepresentative Israel kills 27 Palestinian children every day.

Update: The number of Palestinian civilians killed today byIsrael in Gaza is up to 145.

Sunday 13 July

The Israeli army bombarded this morning a group of civilianPalestinians in Nussairat while they were trying to get drinkingwater killing 10 including 6 children and injuring 20 others. TheIsraeli army bombarded during the last period 122 sources of water in Gazakilling 700 innocent Palestinians seeking water. The Israeli air strikeson Gaza killed the Surgical consultant at the Baptist Hospital Dr. AhmadQandil. More than 1588 medical doctors, nurses and other healthprofessionals were killed in Gaza by the Israeli bombardment since October 7th3023.

It is worth noting that since Israel ended the ceasefire inMarch twice as many Palestinians have been killed in the five months since thenthan in 30 years of conflict in the North.

Finally, according to the UN Human Rights Office 800Palestinians have been killed since the end of May attempting to receive aid atpoints controlled by the Israeli/US backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. Havingstripped UNWRA and others of this responsibility Israel is now using aid as afurther weapon in its genocidal slaughter of the Palestinian people of Gaza.

 

 

No Economic Block on Irish Unity | World Premier in Galway of ‘A Ballymurphy Man’ | The Future of the GPO

No Economic Block on Irish Unity

In recent years there have been encouraging signs of growingsupport for Irish unity in successive electoral results, demographic changes,contributions from civic society, in opinion polling and in public commentary.Unsurprisingly, any debate on unity quickly focuses on practical issues likethe economic viability of a united Ireland as well as on the future of a healthand care system, governance structures, education, the environment and othermatters.

Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland recentlyheld a successful conference examining the issue of health in a new Ireland andthe party produced a widely welcomed health and care document looking to afuture all-island model. It is available at  https://sinnfein.ie/the-case-for-an-irish-national-health-and-care-service/

And now we have the report by Professor John Doyle of DublinCity Univeristy – ‘The Projected Public Finances of the Early Years of aUnited Ireland, and the Northern Ireland Subvention.’ The report is the productof joint research by Dublin City University and Ulster University’s EconomicPolicy Centre. It succeeds in cutting through much of the jargonassociated with economics to present a cogent explanation of the economicbenefits of a united Ireland.

The report is the first peer reviewed study to calculate thecost of Irish Unity over the first ten years. It takes account of thesubvention as well as the expected economic benefits that would occur.Professor Doyle contends that when “pensions; national debt; defence spendingand central UK ‘non-identifiable expenditure’” costs are calculated they“suggest that the starting fiscal deficit for ‘Northern Ireland’ within aunited Ireland would be £1.5 billion per annum.”

The report concludes that: “The cost of a united Ireland hasbeen exaggerated partly because what is called the UK subvention has beenmisunderstood and misinterpreted. At the same time the potential for economicgrowth in an all-island economy, where Northern Ireland is once again insidethe European Union, has not received sufficient attention.”

The report also argues that by boosting public expenditureby one billion euro a year investment in health, education, infrastructure andwelfare the cost for a full one year would be €3 billion. This would declineyear on year as the economy grows. It will disappear within a decade. Theresult for people living in the North would be more jobs, better wages and moreefficient public services.

This is a detailed, well researched, peer reviewed reportwhich deserves more than An Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s sneering and scandalousrejection of it as ‘nonsense.’ The reality is that there is no economicobstacle to forging ahead with Irish Unity. The message for the Irishgovernment is clear – begin planning now – planning for the unity referendumand planning for unity.

In the short term this means the Taoiseach ending his blockon the establishment of a Citizen’s Assembly or Assemblies to plan for thefuture.

 

World Premier in Galway of ‘A Ballymurphy Man’

This weekend I will be in Galway for the 37th annualinternational Galway Film Fleadh/Festival. The Fleadh runs for a week everyJuly.  This year it’s between 8 July and 13 July. It was established in1989 as a place for Irish filmmakers to exhibit their work to their peers. 

This year it will host World, International and IrishPremieres in the Town Hall Theatre and Pálás Cinema. It will feature 31 World Premieres, 11International/European Premieres and 46 Irish Premieres from 44 countries,featuring 96 feature films in total. An impressive total. Among the worldPremiers will be Trisha Ziff’s – A Ballymurphy Man. This film – a work inprogress version of which was shown in Féile an Phobail last year – provides anaccount of my 60 years of activism as a republican, the influences in my lifeand our efforts to build the peace process.

At just over two hours long and with lots of archive footageit also tells the story through my experience and insights of the republicanstruggle.

The film will be shown at 4pm on Saturday 12 July and therewill be a post screening discussion with myself and Trisha Ziff. The film iscurrently being screened in central and south America, and in San Franciscoseveral weeks ago, and will have festival screenings in Australia. It can alsobe seen on 7 August in the Kennedy Centre Omni Plex cinema during the westBelfast Féile an Phobail,on the 13 August during the Derry Féile and later inthe year in Dublin.

The trailer for the film can be viewed here: https://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/project/gerry-adams-a-ballymurphy-man

 

The Future of the GPO

Micheál Martin’s ten-year plan for the GPO site in Dublin isshameful. His effort to sell the plan as a flagship project for Dublin CityCentre, that will protect the historic and cultural significance of the GPO,was described by the Irish Times as “vague and ill-defined.” Mary Lou McDonaldand others have been much more vocal and direct in their condemnation of thegovernment’s plans. Martin’s proposal, for example, that the upper floors ofthe GPO will be turned into office space, makes no sense when much of theavailable office space in central Dublin is currently unused and vacant.

The reality is that the GPO holds a special place in thenation’s soul. It may have been a Post Office for all of its two hundred yearsbut it is more than just another of those Dublin buildings that reflect thecapitals colonial past. It is acknowledged by generations of Irish people asthe birthplace of the Republic, as envisaged in the Proclamation. For over onehundred years it has symbolised the hopes, aspirations and vision of thathistoric document and of the courage of the men and women who risked everythingin April 1916.

Last week the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael coalition voted down aSinn Féin motion intended to protect this iconic building and the 1916 MooreSt. Battlefield site with which it is inextricably linked. The motionrecognised the:

·       “sacrifice ofthe men and women of 1916, who fought and died in the General Post Office(GPO), Moore Street, across Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland, so Ireland may befree;

·       “the status ofthe GPO as a national monument, the headquarters of the 1916 Easter Rising, andthe place where the Irish Republic was proclaimed on Easter Monday, 24th April,1916, and defended in arms in the following days;”

It also called on the government to ensure that “any plan involving the GPOmust include the entire 1916 battlefield site, of which it forms a part, andthat therefore, Ministerial consent must not be given to the current plan bythe private developer Hammerson…”

The motion was defeated by the government parties. Despitethis there remains solid opposition to the government’s plans and strongsupport for saving the GPO and the Moore St. Battlefield site.

The Moore St. Preservation Trust has produced an alternativeplan for the Moore St. Battlefield site that can be the basis on which the GPO,the Battlefield site and the North Inner City can be redeveloped andrevitalised. The area has been neglected by successive governments for years.With imagination and energy, we can respect and protect our history as well asimprove the local environment, while creating jobs and housing for citizens.

It’s not rocket science. It just needs the application ofcommon sense and a desire to honour the sacrifice of past generations whofought for our freedom.

Join the campaign to “Save the GPO”. Sign the petition whichcalls for the development of a 1916 Cultural Quarter in the area around theGPO, O’Connell Street and Moore Street and the implementation of the MooreStreet Preservation Trust plan. 

We must fight to save the GPO together.

Sign the petition here: outreach.sinnfein.ie/save-the-gpo

 

  

Defend the GPO | Kneecap Abú | Féile an Phobail – A festival extravaganza

 

Defend the GPO

The Dublin GPO and the streets and laneways around it areforever linked with the Easter Rising of 1916. This is a Battlefield site ofmajor historic and international significance which successive Irishgovernments have failed to develop properly. Successive promises of investmentand planning in Moore St have come to nothing. Succesive governments havereduced the National Monument to four houses leaving the rest of the historicarea to be destroyed by a London based developer.

In keeping with this shameful approach the Irish governmentlast week published a 10-year plan which will see the General Post Office (GPO)become a mixed-use development. The spin from Government is that the GPO willbecome a flagship project, including retail and office components with aDesignated Activity Company being established. The reality, as we have seenwith the Moore St. plan, is that time and time again governments haveturned their face against the preservation of our revolutionary past in favourof shopping centres and commercial developments. Private developers are givencarte blanche to maximise profit at the expense of our cultural and historicalheritage.

Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald TD described it wellwhen she said the government’s proposal as “another shameful betrayal ofIreland’s proud revolutionary history.”

At the weekend Mary Lou and Pearse Doherty TD launcheda public petition to “Save the GPO”. The petition calls for the development ofa 1916 Cultural Quarter in the area around the GPO, O’Connell Street and MooreStreet and the implementation of the Moore Street Preservation Trustplan.  Mary Lou said: “It is incredible that they want to turn one of themost iconic sites of Ireland’s struggle for freedom into shops and officespace. This is the building outside which Pádraig Pearse in Easter 1916 readthe Proclamatio of the Irish Republic. These streets in this area are thephysical environs of one of the seminal chapters in Ireland’s long fight forindependence.”

In the course of my travels I have visited many places ofhistoric importance to the people of South Africa, of the USA, of France andelsewhere. Can youimagine the demolition of Robben island prison where Nelson Mandela and thepolitical prisoners resisted the apartheid regime? Or Independence Hall inPhiladelphia where the Declaration of Independence and the United StatesConstitution were debated and adopted. Or the Tower of London? Of course not.Other states and other people take pride in their history. 

Theimportance of the site of the last battle of the 1916 Rising was  underlinedby the High Court in Dublin in 2016 which described Moore Street asunique. The Court described Moore Street as “the place to which the menand women of the GPO fled, where battle was done and surrender was negotiated,and a site where workers, civilian and combatant, lived and died in what was,to a large extent, a workers’ rising.”

In any other city in the world we would see visionary,ambitious plans to develop the site, preserving our history with a nationalmuseum, arts and culture, education, tourism and homes to make it a living,breathing area.

So, join the battle to Save the GPO and Moore St. Sign up tothe petition and support the campaign of the Moore St. Preservation Trust for amodern historical quarter – shaped around the GPO, Moore Street Battlefieldsite and O’Connell Street. The link is: https://outreach.sinnfein.ie/save-the-gpo/

Kneecap Abú

Well done to Kneecap and those other performers atGlastonbury who stood up to the British political and media establishment andcourageously spoke out against the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip and thewest Bank. Well done also to the tens of thousands who applauded and cheered asMo chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí, demanded ceasefires, an end to themass murder of Palestinian people and stood up to the censorship of the BritishBroadcasting Corporation.

The British political and media establishment, in particularthe BBC, like to promote an image to the world of being progressive,anti-racist, truthful and democratic. The experience of Ireland and of manystates that were once British colonies, is the opposite. British rule hasalways been bad for Ireland. Perfidious Albion’s intrusion into our affairs hasbeen a part of our historical and cultural narrative for almost 900 years.

Censorship and racism and the demonisation of those whoconfront British strategic interests have been a constant from the ape likecaricatures of the Irish in the 19th century to the control ofthe media as part of the state’s counter-insurgency strategies during therecent  years of conflict.

 So too with the  hypocrisy of the Starmersgovernment. He provides material and economic, military and political supportto Netanyahu’s fascist government. And he has the audacity to pick again onKneeCap and others after the success if their Glastonbury guy at theweekend. 

Formal and informal political censorship often creates aclimate of fear in which many good people turn away from the truth.Fortunately, there are always those who will dare to speak out. People likethe late Mary Holland who interviewed me in April 1990 when the voices ofSinn Féin activists were banned. Mary so perfectly lip-synched my words usingOscar winning actor Stephen Rea that the British demanded that lip-synchingitself be banned. Or Helen from Wales, a vegan chef and yoga teacher, whoon Saturday live streamed Kneecap’s set on Tik Tok while the BBC banned them.Or those who use their social media platforms to expose the lies, inhumanityand excesses of states, even at the risk of their own lives.

Censorship is the enemy of truth. It reinforces theconditions for division and conflict. It is an obstacle to dialogue. Dialogueis essential for understanding and agreement and reconciliation.

 

Féile an Phobail – A festival extravaganza

This week I was given a copy of the minutes of a meetingheld on the 22nd June 1902 in the Catholic Boys Hall on theFalls Road to establish a league for junior hurlers. The venue was the CatholicBoys Hall. So far I have three locations for this hall. One is off DunleweyStreet not far from the Sinn Féin office and the Bobby Sands mural. The otheris in Cavendish Square and the last one is up one of the Rock Streets. My guessis that all these venues were used at different times. The Clubs involved inthe 1902 meeting were Michael Dwyer; Geraldines; Éire Óg; Sarsfield; Brian Boru;Oissin; Fianna Éireann; and Red Branch.  Bulmer Hobson was electedChairman of the League. Hobson was a well-known republican figure. Two yearsafter this meeting he was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood and alongwith CountessConstance Markievicz, he founded Na Fianna Éireann in Belfast in 1909. 

The minute records that following his election Bulmer Hobsongave a “neat little speech bringing before their minds the necessity offorming such a league and that it will bind them closer together and be a meansof spreading the game and doing a little towards the revival of this old Irishsport.”

One hundred and twenty-three years Hobson’s vision of arevival “of this old Irish sport” means that An Chumann Lúthchleas Gael (CLG)in Belfast will play a prominent role during this year’s Féile an Phobail. Itspresence permeates the programme for 2025 which was launched last week. Onceagain Féile has surpassed itself with over 600 events at over 50 venues. Thesewill cover everything from the visual arts, culture, discussions anddebates, exhibitions, tours, films, ceol and sports. 

On Monday 28 July Naomh Eoin CLG will host an eventorganised by Gaels le Chéile. Jane Adams, one of its founding members willprovide an update on the work of the campaign. It will be followed by aconversation with sports journalist Brendan Crossan and Tyrone football legendPeter Canavan.

On Thursday 31 July in the Ulster Museum the influentialrole of the GAA will be evoked through objects: medals passed down fromgeneration to generation. Siobhan Doyle who wrote A History of the GAA in 100Objects will be on hand to talk about the exhibition.

On 2 August there will be the annual Joe Cahill Gaelic U12.

On the same day at Corrigan Park there will be twofriendship matches between Ireland and Scotland using composite Shinty &Hurling/Camogie rules.

In his book Lost Gaels, Peadar Thompson provides acomprehensive account of the lives of ninety-two of the estimated 150women, men and children who had connections to the GAA and who were killedduring the years of conflict. His talk will be on 4 August in St. Mary’sUniversity College.

On Saturday the 9 August at 9am the famous Féile an PhobailPoc Fada will take place n the Divis and Black Mountain. I retired recently asthe undefeated Féile Póc Fada champion beating Brian McFaul in theprocess. 

Also on that same day a half pace social hurlingfestival will take place on Rossa and Sarsfield’s pitches with 16 teams fromall over Ireland playing in a blitz. And the Naomh Gall Siobhan O’Hanlon Gaelicfor Mothers and Others blitz will also take place in De La Salle Park,Milltown. The blitz is named in honour of our friend and founding member ofFéile – Siobhán O’Hanlon. 

Those who gathered in June 1902 would be pleased. 

Check the Féile clár. If you haven’t got a hard copy thenyou can access it at https://feilebelfast.com

Ceasefires Now | Mol an Óige | Family Album

 

Ceasefires Now

Should we have been surprised by the decision of the USPresident Donald Trump to attack Iran? No. Shocked maybe but not surprised. Theweapons of mass destruction spin, that was used to justify the invasion of Iraqtwo decades ago, was already in wide usage by some western governments andsections of the media before B 2’s dropped so-called ‘bunker buster’ bombs onIran. And we all remember what a disaster the Iraq war was for the people ofthat nation and for world politics. An estimated million Iraqi citizens died.

The attack on Iran was an act of aggression against a statethat had not attacked the USA. It was in clear breach of international law andit almost certainly broke US domestic and constitutional law. Moreover, twonuclear powers – Israel and the USA – have attacked a nation that does not havenuclear weapons. And applauding in the wings are Britain, France and Germanyand others who are colluding in the genocide of the Palestinian people.

Presidents Trump and Netanyahu have embarked on a course ofmilitary belligerence that has significantly raised the likelihood of a widerconflict and potentially worse. In the meantime, the slaughter of Palestinianscontinues. Now moved down the headlines by other imperial actions. This is thetime when nothing else seems to matter to stick by our principles. Let’s keepdemanding an end to this war. Let’s keep demanding freedom for Palestine andpeace for everyone. 

 

Mol an Óige

The boys and girls of Rang A Seacht graduated from Bunscoilan tSléibhe Dhuibh last Friday. I was there in my capacity as a Daideo to oneof the scholars. Our oldest lad’s oldest lad. It was a wonderfulevent. The Assembly Hall was filled with parents and grandparents,brothers and sisters, teachers and classroom assistants. Pilib said a few wordsas a céad míle fáilte.

He reminded us all that we are Gaels. Part of Gaelic societyin Belfast. Part of the Irish language community here and across Ireland.Living our lives through Irish. Bringing our language with us wherever we go.

This was a big day for him and Niamh Nic Ionnrachtaigh andthe other teachers. A big day for the school. This was the last day in SléibheDhuibh for Rang A Seacht. Seven years of schooling through the medium of Irish.The line of gangly boys and girls was escorted into the Assembly Hall by thisyear’s Naíscoil pupils. The great wheel of school life slowly turning.

I remember well the oldest lad’s oldest lad’s first day. Theday he started. He was following his three sisters. Now he is a big boy. Moving on. Then he was a new boy.  Now the new boys and girls are seeinghim off with the rest of the older ones. They did so with a song. A cheekydefiant Slán, Slán, Slán song.

Pilib was as pleased as Punch.

Ann Kavanagh speaking on behalf of the parents criedthe whole way through her remarks. Tears of pride and gratitude. Then each ofour young group of pupils were presented with their Rang a Seacht 2025 geansaíbefore going over to Niamh who then spoke directly to each of them as theystood beside her. She was amazing. She retraced their individual schooljourney. Reminded each of them of how their involvement in hurling or camogieor football or handball or music or drama or art took them out of themselves.How their confidence grew. How they cared for their classmates. How they becameleaders. How all the pupils of Rang A Seacht grew individually andcollectively during their seven years together. All through the medium ofIrish.

And then Rang A Seacht gave us two songs before exiting tothunderous applause.

The future is bright. These young citizens are a credit tothe visionaries from Ballymurphy who founded their school in an old chaletbehind Whiterock Leisure Centre. They are a credit to their families and ourcommunity. And their teachers and their school. They are a credit to Ireland.But most of all they are a credit to themselves.  Well done. And mílebuíochas daoibhse.

 

Family Album

When Frankie Quinn was sixteen his father gave him a camera and sent him along to the newly formed Camera Club in the McAirtCommunity Centre. The club was focussed on recording life locally in the ShortStrand/Ballymacarrett district which was being redeveloped.

It was 1982. Large parts of the area had already beendemolished when Frankie set to work. All of us who are interested in our localhistory have benefitted from this initiative by his father and from Frankie’swork. Over the decades he has produced photographic treasures for us tocontemplate and remember how things once were particularly in working classBelfast communities two generations ago.

Frankie has won many awards and produced fine exhibitions ofhis work along with a number of publications. Family Album is the latest ofthese. It is about his home place. The tiny nationalist district of ShortStrand and Ballymacarrett in East Belfast.

In 1997 Frankie sent a selection of his images to his friendGilles Peres in New York with a request for him to write a few words. They formthe Foreword of this book. Gilles is also an award winning internationalphotographer. He too has contributed to the photographic history of the decadesof conflict here. His Foreword is worth quoting. He praises Frankie’sphotographic skills and writes warmly of the people of The Strand.

He remembers the fancy dress party in the LESA social clubas “the best party in Europe.” He describes the people as having a “serioustendency to accept with an open heart anyone who is not trying to harm them. Awarm love comes from the knowledge of this womb which is the Short Strand.”

Well said Gilles. Well done Frankie. That’s what your photosin Family Album capture. The womb which is your home place and the people whomake it what it is. 

Family Album is available from info@belfastarchiveproject.com;An Culturlann, 216 Bóthar na bhFál, BT12 6AH; ; An Fhuisseog, 55 Bóthar nabhFál, BT12 4PD; and Wards shop The Short Strand.

 

Stand-Up to Racism | Defending Neutrality | Pat Finucane - End the Delay

 

Stand-Up to Racism

In 1972 Catholic families – who had endured three years ofsustained sectarian attacks on their homes – fled Annalee St in North Belfast.Last month - fifty-three years later - Catholic homes in Annalee St.were again the target of sectarian attack and families were forced to flee. Inthe last fortnight we have also witnessed the firebombing of homes inBallymena, the Larne Leisure Centre and racist attacks in other parts ofthe North.

The images of homes in flames in Ballymena reminded me ofsimilar scenes I first witnessed in Belfast in August 1969. The film footage ofthat period is of streets ablaze, frightened families hurriedly stackingfurniture on lorries or carrying their most precious possessions on theirbacks. Then it was the racism and sectarianism of the apartheid unionist stateattacking nationalist and republican families, killing residents, destroyinghundreds of homes and forcing thousands to become refugees in our own city.

Regrettably, the same sectarian and racist fundamentalismthat motivated those attacks still exists today among some in our society whocampaign against housing for Catholics, hang effigies of political leaders onbonfires and use violent rhetoric to promote hate crime against immigrantsand those they define as ‘others’. That is those who are of adifferent religion or colour, or sexual orientation. 

Racism and sectarianism manifest themselves in differentways. Sometimes it is official discrimination through public policy or thepresentation of offensive stereotypes against those being targeted, includingminority ethnic groups, like travellers and non-nationals,like migrant workers,refugees and asylum seekers. Hate crime also manifests itself in racial abuse,threatening behaviour, incitement to hatred, attacks on family homes and onbusinesses.

Hate crime cannot be tolerated. It must beopposed without hesitation. As a society we have to take a determinedstand against racism, hate crime and sectarianism. Some people sufferingas a result of government policies are open to manipulation by right wingelements. They themselves may not be ideologically racist or right wing but bynow all of us must know how dangerous it is to acquiesce to those who are.We must take a stand against the policies which create inequality. That meansfacing down the governments in London or Dublin. Or others in the Assembly inBelfast. We must face down the racists. 

That requires community solidarity. People of good willstanding together and embracing those who are being attacked. It also needs thepolice and the courts responding quickly and resolutely to hate crime. Thatmeans arresting those responsible and bringing them speedily before the courts.

Diversity is a strength not a weakness.Republicans reject bias and discrimination and racism. We reject bigotryand cultural supremacy. If the decades of one party rule and of conflictin the North have taught anything it must be that there can be no second classcitizens in our society.

The island of Ireland is no longer just a place of Catholic,Protestant and Dissenter; of traveller and settled people. Ireland is now hometo people from every region of the world. We have become a place to whichpeople immigrate. This new cultural diversification has the potential to enrichthe cultural life of our nation and to become part of the economic engine forgrowth.

In front of Belfast City Hall there is a statue to agreat Belfast woman – Mary Ann McCracken. She and others stopped slave shipsfrom doing business in Belfast in the 18th and 19th centuries.They said NO to inequality and YES to equality and enlightenment. That is thereal Belfast and we need to live by those principles today.

 

Defending Neutrality

The Israeli rogue state has set the world on a dangerouscourse. Its deadly assault on Iran, allied to its violent actions in Lebanonand Syria and its genocidal war on the Palestinian people, has cast a hugeshadow over the Middle East. As its military forces continue to kill scores ofPalestinians daily in Gaza and its war planes attack Iran the Israeli militaryimposed a complete siege on the west Bank. Over a thousand military checkpointswhich provide Israel with absolute control over the occupied west Bank, werecompletely closed imposing a siege on the Palestinian towns, villages andisolated farms of that region.

As the world focusses on the exchanges between Israel andIran the Zionists’ genocidal and ethnic cleansing strategy against thePalestinian people is escalating. Those western states that have refused tochallenge Israel’s murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians or stand-byinternational law, are now defending Israel’s attack on Iran using the sameunacceptable excuse that Israel has the right to defend itself.

It is in this heightened political and humanitarian crisis,with the real likelihood of an intensifying war in the Middle East, that theIrish government want to end Ireland’s long standing policy of neutrality. TheFF/FG government want Irish men and women to be placed under the control ofthose same international governments that are currently aiding Israel and/ordefending its actions. This is not acceptable.

Under the government’s proposed new legislation - theGeneral Scheme of the Defence (Amendment) Bill 2025 – the Triple Lock will beremoved. Under existing law Irish troops cannot be sent overseas without theagreement of the Dáil, the government and the United Nations. The governmentwants to remove the UN requirement.

At the weekend several thousand people took to the streetsof Dublin to oppose the scrapping of the Triple Lock. As Mary Lou McDonaldsaid: “No way. Not on your life. We will fight this tooth and nail.”

If the Irish government is convinced that it has the supportof the Irish people to make this fundamental change then they should put it tothe people in a referendum. Let the people have their say.

I am confident that the majority of the people of Irelandvalue neutrality. It reflects our history and our own struggle againstcolonisation and oppression, and for freedom. Neutrality has ensured that theIrish state is widely respected as a defender and proponent of peace, humanrights, and international justice. Paraphrasing James Connolly Uachtarán ShinnFéin Mary Lou told the crowd on Saturday: “In Ireland, we don’t bow tokings, we don’t bow to Kaisers, and we certainly won’t bow to a dangerousmilitarisation agenda driven by power, greed and war.”

 

Pat Finucane - End the Delay

It has been ten months since the BritishSecretary of State Hilary Benn first announced that he was settingup an independent inquiry into the killing of Pat Finucane under the 2005Inquiries Act. Last week he appointed Sir Gary Hickinbottom as the Chairof the Inquiry. Hickinbottom has been given responsibility for investigatingone of the most high profile examples of state collusion between loyalist deathsquads and British state agents and agencies during the decades of conflict.

As well as Hickinbottom, former Police Ombudsman NualaO’Loan and international human rights lawyer Francesca Del Mese have beenappointed as assessors to the inquiry. Their role is to advise the Chair butthey will not be involved in any final report.

It has been a long difficult road for Geraldine Finucane andher family to secure this Inquiry. Twenty-four years ago the British and Irishgovernments agreed at Weston Park to establish public inquiries into anumber of troubles-related cases. Canadian Judge Peter Cory recommendedinquiries into the deaths of: Rosemary Nelson, Robert Hamill, Billy Wright, andPatrick Finucane and also into the deaths of RUC officers Bob Buchanan andHarry Breen.

All of these inquiries took place except that of PatFinucane. In the years since successive British governments have used a varietyof legal devices to avoid holding a public Inquiry, including the establishmentin 2011 of a review of what had happened – led by Sir Desmond de Silva QC. Heconcluded that he was “in no doubt that agents of the State wereinvolved in carrying out serious violations of human rights up to and includingmurder.”

But still the British government prevaricated. The Finucanefamily was forced to take their case to the British Supreme Court which foundthat all the previous investigations had been insufficient. In 2022 the HighCourt in Belfast quashed a decision by the then British Secretary of State thathe would not hold an inquiry pending the outcome of continuing investigations.

So, the Inquiry has now been announced. The Chair andassessors have been named. But we still do not know when or where the inquirywill take place. This foot dragging is not acceptable. It is now vitalthat the inquiry begins its work quickly. The time for delay is over. And lestwe forget the family of Sean Brown continue to be denied their right to anenquiry by the same Government which now appears reluctantly and belatedly tobe giving the Finucane family what they had to campaign decades for.