Gerry Adams's Blog, page 21
September 1, 2021
Want a United Ireland? – Get on the register to vote!: The Lazy Gardener. : Frederick Douglass – I have a home in Belfast
August 23, 2021
An Féile Abú - Black Mountain - Afghanistan - The expulsion of Ken Loach
An Féile Abú
Well done Féile an Phobail and to all of the staff who plan and prepare Féile. Many thanks to all those volunteers who work around the clock every August to make it all come together. This was Féile’s 33rd year and despite the pandemic and all of the restrictions and understandable worries that people have at this time Féile an Phobail was another wonderful August extravaganza and community celebration.
The Fight Night was extraordinary and from earlier that day there was a buzz on the road. The 80s music night and the Wolfe Tone concert were amazing. Well done to the Wolfe Tones who gave a shout out to the efforts of the Moore Street Preservation Trust to preserve and protect the historic 1916 Battlefield site. This is a hugely important campaign that deserves the support of everyone. The free night for young people – The Féile Dance Night – was absolutely super. It is a successful alternative by Féile to the bonfires and riots of previous years.
Well done also to the all the smaller but no less important debates and discussions. The hybrid model of real gigs, limited quite rightly in size, being streamed or zoomed across social media is a mark of the ingenuity, creativity and sheer expertise of the Féile team. And of the living loving singing dancing acting the eejit generous outward looking artistic community which Féile represents.
Finally, as a lapsed Póc Fada champ, comhgairdheas to all of this year’s winners. Tá muid fior buioch daoibhse. An Féile Abú!
Black Mountain
Thanks also to Féile for hosting the launch of my latest book Black Mountain And Other Stories. Harry Connolly- Féile Chair- was very kind and Timothy O Grady travelled from Poland to be with us. He too was very kind. He also did the Foreword to Black Mountain. Thanks to them all, and to The Felons who hosted the event.
The following Saturday I was in Derry for another book launch in the Gas Yard Féile. Thanks for the invite and to all of those who came along to listen to me read extracts from my books and to answer some questions. Both launches were very enjoyable. So too was Scribes at the Rock where I joined Seamus Carabine and Tadhg Hickey. Their contributions were much funnier than mine. But I enjoyed reading again from my book. Thank you one and all.
Black Mountain is available from An Fhuiseog and wwwsinnfeinbookshop.com. Or from good book shops everywhere.
Afghanistan
Almost exactly 20 years ago the USA and Britain invaded Afghanistan. On Monday the Taliban returned to Kabul amid scenes of the chaos as thousands tried to flee. The British pulled their Army out of Afghanistan in 2014 after losing 457 soldiers and spending some £37 billion there. This week, like the fall of Saigon in another era, they are pulling out their citizens and Embassy staff.
The future for the people of Afghanistan is less certain. But a look at the Iraqi situation gives a sense of the stupidity of these adventures.
Like the decision to go to war in Iraq the human consequences of the political/military strategy of western states in that region has proven to be catastrophic. Hundreds of thousands have died, millions have been displaced, and the political and economic instability created by the western wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been disastrous.
Under the grand title of ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ British and US forces invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. Sinn Féin spoke out against the decision. While we opposed the policies of the Taliban government we were convinced that a military invasion would only make a bad situation worse.
The following year, in the course of Sinn Féin’s negotiations with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, both Martin McGuinness and I repeatedly raised with him the intense speculation then circulating about a possible invasion of Iraq by British forces. We reminded Mr. Blair that British military adventures overseas never end well, but especially for the people who have been the target of the invasion. Military occupation always leads to confrontation with local communities and the imposition of special powers to maintain control. We pointed to the decades of conflict in Ireland following British soldiers coming back onto our streets in 1969 as evidence of this.
During that first occasion in Blair’s office in Downing Street we very bluntly told Mr. Blair and Jonathon Powell, his Chief of Staff, that invading Iraq would be disastrous for Britain and especially for the people of Iraq. We put this to him again on a number of subsequent occasions. To be frank both Martin and I were convinced, even before a public decision to invade was announced, that Mr. Blair was already committed to invasion.
With military forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq the techniques of occupation, of interrogation and torture, of population control and manipulation of the media, which had been used extensively in the North of Ireland, all came to the fore. The handling of the media was particularly crucial in covering up or distracting from the killing of civilians and the many accusations of torture.
The publication by WikiLeaks of 90,000 US military files in July 2010 revealed the depth to which these techniques were used in Afghanistan between 2004 and 2009. The WikiLeaks documents provided evidence of previously unreported actions in which Afghan civilians were killed or wounded. In 144 incidents detailed almost 200 civilians were killed and hundreds more injured. This was almost certainly a serious underestimation of the true scale of civilian casualties.
Human Rights Watch, which reported on the war in the North of Ireland, said at that time: ‘These files bring to light what’s been a consistent trend by US and NATO forces: the concealment of civilian deaths.’ The files also revealed the existence of Taskforce 373 – a covert operations unit whose task is to ‘remove’ the enemy. All of this was evidence of another dirty war using old strategies and techniques, and once again failing.
When asked if the publication of the battlefield and intelligence documents by WikiLeaks would make a difference the British Foreign Secretary William Hague said; ‘None.’
Six years later in June 2016 the Chilcot Report into the Iraq War was published. Chilcot accused Tony Blair of invading Iraq before all ‘peaceful options for disarmament had been exhausted. Military action at that time was not a last resort.’ What also emerged from Chilcot’s two and a half million words is evidence of a British government that had not prepared its military for the invasion. It had no long term political strategy. It didn’t even have the right military equipment essential to an invasion.
Afghanistan and Iraq are examples of western powers thinking they still have the right to do what they like, when they like and against whomever they like. Their national interests, however short term, are all that matters. The end result is chaos and calamity for the peoples they invade.
The stupidity and incompetence of the British political, military and bureaucratic establishment, which fought a war in this part of Ireland for almost 30 years, is underlined by the nonsense claim of Colonel Richard Kemp in 2010. Kemp worked to the British Cabinet between 2001 and 2006 during which time he was a senior strategist and Commander in Afghanistan. In the summer of 2010 he claimed that the British Army won the war in Ireland. Writing in the Guardian newspaper in August 2010 I said: “If Kemp could get it so wrong in our country, why should anyone expect him to get it right in Afghanistan? And if he and William Hague are reflective of British thinking today, then the British are destined to make the same mistakes in that part of the world they made here.”
Almost exactly 20 years after the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and my prediction in 2010, it would appear that successive British governments opted to make the same mistakes. The thing about the lessons of history is that imperial governments rarely learn the lessons of history instead they ignore them.
The expulsion of Ken Loach
Two weeks ago my column focussed on the British Labour Party, and the approach of its current leader Keir Starmer toward Ireland. The internal decision making processes of that party and the leadership style of Mr. Starmer are obviously a matter for it and for him. My concern is for its Irish policy and in particular the Labour leader’s stated willingness to stand on the side of Unionists in any debate on Irish Unity. His stance is in direct contradiction to the principles of the Good Friday Agreement which state that it is for the people the island of Ireland alone to determine our own future.
Regrettably, the news that Ken Loach, film producer, director and writer has been expelled from the Labour Party has reinforced my concerns.
Ken Loach has long been a friend of Ireland. The 85-year-old is widely respected, with an impressive international reputation as a film maker. His style of filming making is described as “socially critical” and he makes no secret of his belief in socialism. His films have tackled issues of poverty, and homelessness (Kathy come home), of worker’s rights, the Spanish Civil War and the power of the state against the unemployed. The first episode of his powerful 1974 television series Days of Hope showed British soldiers in Ireland during the Tan War and in one memorable scene Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill sings The Bold Fenian Men to British soldiers who have taken over her family farm. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtJq5NLTQY8
Loach’s 1990 film Hidden Agenda tackled the issue of shoot-to-kill and Britain’s dirty war in Ireland and The Wind that Shakes the Barley, about the Irish Civil War, and I, Daniel Blake both won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, making him one of only nine filmmakers to win the award twice.
And now he has been expelled from the Labour Party. Loach has reportedly said that his expulsion is because he would “not disown those already expelled.” The move follows closely on reports that Keir Starmer is preparing a purge of members supportive of Jeremy Corbyn.
Whatever the truth of this Ken Loach is someone who has stood up for the downtrodden all of his life. His expulsion is a significant loss to the British Labour movement.
August 16, 2021
Internment: Alex and Liz Maskey: and The last cock a doodle doo
Internment
Imagine lying in your bed as the sun begins to rise above the horizon. You are awakened by loud banging on your front door. The sound of breaking glass and the splitting of wood as the door finally surrenders to the sledge hammer. Sitting up half asleep as the noise of booted feet come charging up your stairs and your bedroom door is kicked in. The screams of your children, or wife or partner or your parents as uniformed soldiers in blackened faces grab and drag you from your bed, demand your name, and haul you out of the bedroom. Baton blows rain down on you.
Heaved down the stairs to the street outside where you are roughly thrown into the back of an armoured vehicle and forced to lie on the floor. Shouted abuse and threats in English accents ringing in your ears. Fists and boots hammering against your head and body. Rifle butts and batons thumping into you. The noise and clatter of metal doors being opened and closed. The smell of diesel. Of people screaming in the street. Of not knowing what is happening, where you are going or what has happened to the family you have just been yanked from.
Last Monday, exactly 50 years to the day – 9th August 1971 – hundreds of families in nationalist areas across the North suffered that terror. Thousands of British soldiers smashed their way into homes dragging men and boys, old and young, from their beds and their terrified families to holding centres where most were beaten. 14 men were hooded and subjected over a week to brutal in-depth interrogation techniques by the RUC and the British Ministry of Defence’s Joint Services Interrogation Wing (JSIW).
Internment or Operation Demetrius, as it was named by the Brits, was an act of mass political violence and intimidation directed by the Unionist regime and Downing Street, against its nationalist and civil rights activists. It led to fierce rioting with British forces and the erection of barricades around most nationalist areas of Belfast and Derry. 14 people were killed on that first day. Five of them were among the 10 who were to die over a 36 hour period when shot by the Paras during the Ballymurphy Massacre. It took 50 years for their families to break through the lies and propaganda and secure truth about the events of August 1971 through an inquest.
Thousands of families became refugees in their own country fleeing their homes from violence and intimidation. Most of those from Belfast ended up in a refugee camp in Gormanstown, Co Meath, run by the Irish Army. Refugees from Derry and Tyrone made their way to Finner camp in Donegal. Some of these eventually ended up in camps in Coolmoney, County Wicklow, Kilworth in Cork, and in Galway. Within a week the Irish Times was quoting An Taoiseach Jack Lynch warning that their reception centres for refugees had “almost reached saturation point.”
More than 5,000 refugees, mostly women and children, had fled the North and were now in camps in the South. According to a report by Freya McClements in the Irish Times last weekend there were 601 refugees “in the Garda training college at Templemore, Co Tipperary, Dublin Corporation housed 1,250 in hospitals, schools and convents, and about 100 refugees from Derry were sent to the Ursuline Convent in Sligo.”
The people who were lifted came from several different generations. Liam Mulholland was seventy-eight, one of about fifty older men like who were lifted simply because they had been interned before. Then there were young student members of People’s Democracy and a few members of the Civil Rights Association. Some people were perhaps picked up because they were related to political activists; others, completely uninvolved people, were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were local community and tenants’ association activists, and there were republicans, but despite the fact that the first killings had been carried out by loyalists, that the first explosions were the responsibility of the UVF, and the first RUC man had been killed by unionists, no unionists were interned.
Violence escalated. Scores more died. In December 1971 McGurks pub in North Belfast was bombed and 15 nationalists were killed. The RUC tried to blame the IRA but it was unionist paramilitaries acting in collusion with British forces. The Parachute Regiment, the shock troops of the British Army, who had killed so many in Ballymurphy were sent into Derry on 30 January 1972 and killed 14 civil rights marchers on Bloody Sunday. Weeks later the Stormont Parliament and Regime was gone – never to return.
But the street protests and marches against internment continued and eventually morphed into protests in support of the political prisoners in the H-Blocks and Armagh Women’s prison. Decades more conflict followed.
It is difficult for those who didn’t live through those times to appreciate at an emotional and human level the trauma that individual families and the nationalist community collectively experienced. But instead of coercing the nationalist republican people into acquiescing to Unionist/British rule internment galvanised resistance to the Unionist regime and the British state in Ireland. Internment cemented the nationalist community’s opposition to British rule.
One additional consequence out of the chaos and conflict in the aftermath of internment was the publication in November 1972 of an eight page local newspaper published by the Andersonstown Central Civil Resistance Committee. The new paper’s focus was on telling the truth and lifting the lid on the actions of the British state that were being largely ignored, censored or excused by most of the mainstream media. Andersontown News has played a central and continuing role ever since.
Thank you Alex and Liz.
Alex Maskey will not be running in the Assembly elections next May. It will be the first time since winning Sinn Féin’s first Belfast Council seat in 1983 that he will not be an elected representative. I have known Alex since the 1970s. He is first and foremost a Republican activist. He is committed to the goal of Irish Unity and of a Republic based on the 1916 Proclamation. I am confident that he will continue to be an activist and to work for the principles and objectives he has dedicated his life of activism to.
Of course, it is impossible to think of Alex and not think also of Liz. She has been by his side through all of these years. She is an activist in her own right. This week as we recall the introduction of internment 50 years ago it is important to remember that Liz was the first woman interned. Alex was also interned and they married after their release.
When Alex was first elected in June 1983 as a Belfast City Councillor the Unionists refused to talk to him. They tried to shout him down, sounded horns, blew rape whistles, and threatened him.
As an elected official Alex continued to be constantly stopped, delayed, detained, searched and verbally, and physically, abused. Sometimes the British Army was involved. Most times it was the old RUC. When the Stevens Inquiry into collusion concluded its findings, it found that Alex was targeted by the notorious Brian Nelson.
During their decades of activism the Maskey home was frequently the target of attacks by the RUC, British Army and Unionist death squads. Alex was grievously wounded in one such attack in 1987 and on another occasion, in May 1993, his friend Alan Lundy was shot dead in Alex’s living room by a UDA gang.
Undaunted by all of this Alex went on to become the first ever Sinn Féin Mayor and only the second Catholic at that time to hold that post in the entire history of our fair city. Perhaps it was his love of boxing and the 71 out of 75 fights he won as a school boy boxer that gave him the courage and tenacity to face up to the challenges of being a republican leader during desperately hard times. Most likely it’s because he is a natural a leader, who is prepared to stand up to injustice and oppression, regardless of the efforts of others to terrorise or intimidate or beat him into submission.
Alex demonstrated his strength of character in more recent times as the Ceann Comhairle – Speaker – of the Assembly. He was fair even when dealing with those who wanted to play the old sectarian politics.
So, Alex is standing down from elected office but I am sure he will continue to inspire and lead us as we continue to make progress toward achieving and winning the unity referendum. In the meantime we wish him and Liz good luck. And we thank them.
The last cock a doodle doo
Readers who have been following my struggle with Russell the renegade rooster will be pleased to know that that stressful period in my life has come to an end. Daddy Dognapper was no helpful whatsoever. After his initial burst of bravado he wilted in the face of Russell’s intimidating aggression. I can’t say I really blame him. Russell fowled him while he was using the outside toilet. I caught the end of that attack as Daddy Dognapper retreated backwards, hobbled by his trousers and under garments floundering around his ankles as he tried to protect his Henry Halls while Russell lunged at him, and them.
Russell fled when I arrived with my hurling stick. So did Daddy Dognapper. I haven’t seen him since. It was the day after that that I caught Russell. I am not going to give you all the details of that grisly last encounter. My Ballymurphy childhood and our big game hunting expeditions on the Black Mountain and Divis stood me in good stead along with my camouflaged poncho. His death was an accident but I won’t dwell on that.
Suffice to say Russell’s goose is cooked. Vegans among you may object. Vegetarians also. Even Pescetarians, including Free Pescetarians like RG. Though they have little room for complaint, given that they kill fish.
So Russell has cock a doodled for the last time. He was defiant to the end. How will I remember him?
He made the best Coq Au Vin I ever tasted. Slán Russell. Dont mess with the best because the best dont mess.
August 9, 2021
The cause of Ireland should be the cause of Labour: Cock A Doodle Doo - Part 3.
The cause of Ireland should be the cause of Labour
The internal machinations of the Labour Party in Britain are a matter for that party but the policies it adopts and advocates in relation to Ireland have for decades adversely impacted on the lives of citizens here. A month ago the current British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer visited the North and provided a valuable insight into the double-think that has long been at the core of the British Labour Party’s attitude to Ireland.
During his two day visit Starmer asserted his support for the Good Friday Agreement and the ‘principle that the decision, in the end, is for the people of the island of Ireland.’ On this he is absolutely right. The Agreement specifically states that: “it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given …”
But then in stark contradiction to this Starmer stated his willingness to stand “very much on the side of Unionists, arguing for Northern Ireland to remain in the UK”. Why? Because he says: “I believe in the United Kingdom”.
What part of; “it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone” and “without external impediment” does he not understand? Has Starmer no understanding of the divisive, negative, inept, condescending, violent contribution that successive British governments, including Labour governments, and successive British politicians, including Labour politicians, have had in Ireland for generations?
After partition Labour leaders adopted a policy of non-intervention in issues related to the North. For them, and the Tories, this convention meant that the governance of the North was the responsibility of the Unionist Regime. In the early 1960s the Campaign for Social Justice (CSJ) began exposing the extent of discrimination against Catholics and advocating for reform. In August 1964 the Labour opposition leader Harold Wilson wrote to the CSJ: “I can assure you that a Labour government would do everything in its power to see that infringements of justice are efficiently dealt with.”
Wilson became Prime Minister in October of that year. The convention did not change. Despite a significant lobby of Labour MPs who were members of the Westminster based Campaign for Democracy in Ulster (CDU), the Labour government failed to achieve any meaningful reform. Why? Because according to Wilson’s Home Secretary Jim Callaghan, they were determined “not to get sucked into the Irish bog.” Instead the Labour government looked to the Unionist Prime Minister Terence O’Neill to introduce reform.
That approach failed when the Stormont Unionist regime resorted to violence to oppose the civil rights campaign and its demands for civil rights.
It was a British Labour Government which deployed the British Army on the streets of the North in August 1969. They should have faced down Ian Paisley and forced through civil rights reforms. Labour’s failure to do this marked the beginning of decades of conflict. In the summer of 1970 Labour was replaced by the Tory government of Ted Health. They continued to pander to unionist extremists and introduced internment. After Bloody Sunday they prorogued Stormont.
Four years later Labour was back in power and backing repression. Merlyn Rees was appointed Secretary of State. Under his control political status was ended, the H-Blocks were built, the criminalisation and Ulsterisation policies were ruthlessly pursued and the conveyor belt system of torture, special Diplock courts, and changes to the rules of evidence, all began to take shape.
In April 1976 Rees was replaced by Roy Mason. Working closely with the RUC and British Army Mason was determined to break the republican struggle. Harassment, brutal beatings in the interrogation centres, house raids, arbitrary arrests, plastic bullets, shoot-to-kill operations, state collusion with unionist death squads, all became commonplace under Mason. Infamously he claimed in 1978: “We are squeezing the terrorists like rolling up a toothpaste tube.”
Mason was wrong as the events of the following years were to prove. Labour, like the Tories failed to learn one of the many lessons of Irish history – repression leads to resistance. Historian and writer Dorothy McArdle remarked that after the Act of Union was passed in 1801 Ireland was governed almost exclusively throughout the 19th century by a succession of Coercion Acts, which “made every expression of national feeling a crime
Did these coercion laws pacify Ireland? Of course not. Not then. And not in our time.
And even after Labour was no longer in power and Thatcher entered Downing Street, its leaders continued to provide support to her and the Tories. Lest we forget on this year of the 40th anniversary of the 1981 hunger strike it was a British Labour representative Don Concannon who visited the hunger strikers on 1 May 1981, four days before Bobby Sands died. Concannon carried a message from the Labour leader Michael Foot telling the prisoners that Labour supported Thatcher’s intransigence and that the men should abandon the hunger strike. When he met Francie Hughes in his cell in the H-Blocks, Francie asked him did he support the prisoners’ five demands. When Concannon said ‘No’, Francie told him to ‘close the door after you.’ Francie died 11 days later.
Tony Blair brought a new style to Labour and to its Irish policy. He was still a British unionist but was prepared to take risks for a peace process that the Tories had squandered. Jeremy Corbyn was for a United Ireland. And he was prepared to state that.
The current Labour leader – Keir Starmer - has now stated his preference and his willingness to ignore the principles of the Good Friday Agreement and interfere in any referendum campaign. He has failed to raise any concerns around the many aspects of the Agreement that have still not been implemented almost a quarter of a century later. And worse he is choosing to ignore the growing and widespread democratic debate currently taking place around the unity referendum and the prospect of a united Ireland.
Is Starmer intending to imitate the Tories narrow brand of English nationalism by wrapping the Union flag around his party and adopting the same little Englander strategy of Johnson? Or is it a new version of Callaghan’s not wanting to the “sucked into the Irish bog”? Starmer’s opinion that a united Ireland “is not in sight” is not shared by many in Ireland. Moreover, the future of this island and of how we as an island people share it together in peace, equality and inclusivity in the future, is our decision not his.
That should also be the position of the British Labour Party.
Cock A Doodle Doo - Part 3.
I am sure you are tired of this elongated tale of my travails with our local rooster thug. I know I am. But you dear reader, at least you have a choice. You can skip over this sorrowful story, reflect instead on Squinter’s adventures or visit one of the other columnists. Me? I’ve no choice. I’m stuck with Russell the outlaw rooster.
It’s like being on the run again. Jooking around corners. Afraid to go out. I’ve taken to carrying a hurling stick. That causes consternation with the dogs. They presume that I’m going to póc the sliothar for them to fetch and when they discover that is not the game plan their disappointment is woeful to behold. And they are useless against the murderous rooster. Dogs are too shrewd to go up against Russell. Or at least our dogs are.
So I just try to stay in. Accept for this evening. John the Joiner had left me some of his wonderful home grown vegetables. Spuds, pods of peas, beetroot, early carrots. The carrots and beetroot were topped with luxuriant foliage. The beetroot leafs looked really nutritious and lush. Good enough to eat. So I consulted my River Cottage Cookbook. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall agreed. Cook it like spinach he advises. So I did. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was right. The beetroot greenery was scrumptious.
Afterwards, well fed and watered, I scooped all the remnants of pea pods, potato bits and assorted greenery on to a plate and ventured forth to give the two donkeys a treat.
The donkeys, Thelma and Louise, are related through marriage to The Dognappers but that’s another story.
In my desire to do good by the donkeys I forgot about Russell. Russell hadn’t forgotten about me. As I turned the corner he came at me like a feathered projectile. At head height and all beak and talons! A deadly feathered rocket. I clattered him with the plate. It shattered and crockery and bits of veg scattered everywhere. The air was thick with blood and snatters and feathers. No quarter asked for. None given. I don’t know who screeched the loudest. Russell or me?
I do know who retreated first. It was Thelma and Louise. Heehawing and braying loudly these two wise wee donkeys fled the ambush site. Russell retreated also after a few minutes and perched on the roof of our shed. He crowed in triumph
I realised then that’s what roosters do. Even when you think they’ve lost they think they’ve won. It’s like the struggle for big ideas. When you’re up against the system THEY want you to think you are a loser but you are a winner just by going up against THEM with your own ideas. That’s when the winning starts. That way you’re never a loser. You’re always a winner. Like Russell. That’s how losers become winners. That’s how struggles are won. Winning is never giving in to losing. Never giving up.
Daddy Dognapper confirmed all this for me when, alerted by the sounds of combat, he arrived soon after.
“You are never going to best that rooster,” he told me. “ Roosters are famous warriors. Top of the pecking order. Symbols-of war.Fighting cocks and all that. In Celtic culture they were fertility symbols on account of their sexual assertiveness.”
Russell crowed again.
“He will never give in. He would rather die,” Daddy Dognapper continued.
“That sounds like a good idea,” I said.
“Well if we can catch him I will give him away,” Daddy Dognapper offered plaintively. “Let’s put together a plan”.
“A cunning plan,” I retorted.
Russell looked down at us scornfully.
“Cock a doodle doo,” he trumpeted defiantly.
Daddy Dognapper and I retired to consider our next move.
Its big boys rules now.
Bas no Bua.
Russell is a dead duck walking.
August 2, 2021
West Belfast at the Olympics; The Olympic Spirit; Russell Crow- Part 2.
West Belfast at the Olympics
Well done to the Irish Olympic team. It’s been a long hard road for all of them in getting to these, the 32nd Olympics of modern times now taking place in Japan. The Covid pandemic, the postponements and the lack of competitions have all made the last year and a half a difficult time for them and for the thousands of other athletes from across the world who have been diligently preparing and honing their skills for the Games.
The big day finally arrived on Saturday. The Irish team, courtesy of the Japanese alphabet, was the fourth to enter the new national stadium in Tokyo. According to Google the translation for Ireland in Japanese is Airurando (アイルランド).
This year the International Olympic Committee ensured that each team was laid by a woman and a man. For Ireland that honour was given to boxer Kellie Harrington and her west Belfast colleague Brendan Irvine who side by side, and carrying our national flag, led the Irish team into the almost empty Tokyo stadium. It was a welcome change, enhanced by the Irish team ceremonially bowing to their Japanese hosts. A proud moment of solidarity and courtesy between the Irish athletes and the host nation.
This is Ireland’s largest ever Olympic team. In all they will be participating in 19 of the 33 sports events in the Games. I wish them all well. Whether they bring home a medal or not I believe they have already won through their participation and by their example.
The Olympic Games will run until 8 August.
The Olympic Spirit
The Olympic spirit of solidarity, humanity, equality and generosity comes through in other ways and others places also. Just ahead of the Irish Olympic team as it entered the Stadium was the Refugee Olympic Team. It was established in 2016 for the Rio de Janeiro Games by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees and the International Olympics Committee. Its purpose is to raise awareness of the plight of refugees and send a message of hope to the estimated 82 million displaced persons across the globe. In 2016 there were just 10 athletes in its ranks. This year there are 29 athletes representing 11 countries, including Syria, Afghanistan and South Sudan.
Meanwhile in Kells in County Meath the local community has opened its heart to helping refugees and is fundraising to bring a second Syrian refugee family to their community. Ahmed and his wife Fedaa, and their three children Maysa, 8, Kays, 5, and Tasnin, 3, moved to Kells in 2019. Another 20 communities in the South are also preparing to receive Syrian families in the autumn under the Community Sponsorship scheme.
Sadly that same Olympic Spirit was absent among those who chose last week to abuse a small number of asylum seekers staying at the Loughshore Hotel in Carrickfergus. The asylum seekers are being temporarily housed in the hotel. The vitriol that has been directed at them is in part the outworking of a Tory government policy that aims to criminalise asylum seekers and which finds legal expression in the Nationality and Borders Bill currently being pushed through the British Parliament.
In an act of compassion and solidarity an online petition - #RefugeesWelcome – was established which has attracted over a thousand signatures and the support of most political parties, human rights bodies, elected representatives and individuals. They are making a stand against racism and defending the right of migrants and ethnic minority communities to feel safe in their homes, workplaces and streets. As Caoimhe Archibald MLA said: “Tá fáilte roimh theifigh anseo.”
Sadly, the same generosity of spirit cannot be said to exist within the Israeli Government’s apartheid policy toward the Palestinian people.
Last week saw the publication of the report by the Dáil’s Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence into “Demolitions and Displacements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
The report was undertaken in April of this year following reports of an increase in demolitions, “including buildings that had been constructed and renovated with financial assistance granted through EU funded multilateral aid and potentially with the assistance of monies allocated under the International Cooperation budget” of the Department of Foreign Affairs.”
The report looks at the current situation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and acknowledges that “Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian Territory are making the goal of peace and a viable two state solution harder to achieve.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has been recording every demolition of Palestinian property in the west Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Displacements & persons affected by demolitions 2017-June 2021
Year Demolitions Displaced Affected
2017 421 664 7,095
2018 468 472 7,023
2019 628 907 65,524
2020 854 1,001 5,394
2021 362 562 2,904
This means that almost 90,000 men, women and children have been affected by demolition and displacement. A result of this is that family unity and cohesion is shattered as the displaced families are forced to move in with relatives or neighbours.
Among its conclusions the Joint Oireachtas Committee accepts that the “pattern of evictions, demolition orders and displacements are not random but appear to be strategically focused on altering the demography of East Jerusalem … for the establishment of more illegal Israeli settlements in the area and physically segregating and fragmenting East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.”
It urges the government to use its seat and forthcoming Presidency of the UN Security Council to:
· address the root causes of the prolonged occupation of Palestine territory, the poverty, inequality and injustices.
· demands directly (and through international bodies) reparation from the Israeli Government, for the destruction of projects where Irish and EU funding was utilised.
· supports the setting of a clear timeframe towards the recognition of the State of Palestine.
These common sense objectives must be part of any genuine effort to achieve a permanent peace.
As a people that has suffered from colonialism these objectives also reflect the natural empathy that the Irish people have other colonised and oppressed people. As much of our world burns and communities are devastated by floods arising in large part from climate change, the disparity in the distribution of Covid vaccines exposes the deep inequalities in wealth that exist between developed and developing nations.
It is our duty, our responsibility, to confront these injustices, to be generous toward the victims of famine and conflict and the climate emergency, to oppose imperialist and adventurist wars, to be internationalist and fair, and to be champions of the cause of freedom in every land. Our objective must be to join with James Connolly and the United Irish Society as “part of the world-wide upward march of the human race”.
Russell Crow- Part 2.
I have learned a lot about roosters since I told the tale of my battle with Russell Crow last week.
Russell has been keeping a low profile since his savage cowardly assault on my goolies. Apparently I’m not the first victim of unprovoked rooster aggression. Roosters have a reputation for crabbid behaviour that makes Jim Allister seem placid. Apparently roosters are really Stormin Normans with fancy feathers.
Pity the poor hens having to put up with that all the time!
John the Joiner told me that a rooster on his granny’s farm landed on his head when he was a wee boy and proceeded to peck at his cranium. His granny swooped by. She deftly grabbed the rooster by the neck with one hand and karate chopped it with the other.
‘We had roast rooster that Sunday. Grannies rule the roost. Grannies don’t take prisoners.’ John said.
A South Armagh correspondent who signed in as P. O Neill, tells me they have a saying around her way.
“Every Rooster has it own dunkill”. Meaning every rooster has its own dunghill. Make of that what you will. In this case P.O Neill is a Pauline. Make of that what you will also.
A Leitrim songster reminded me of the immortal lines; ‘And every cock in the farmyard stock crows a triumph for the Gael and it wouldn’t be surprising if there was another Rising, says the man from the Daily Mail.’
The little people in my life are oblivious to all this. Russell is their hero. The Dognappers also seem to be quietly proud of their feathered thug. I associate his low profile with them. It is obvious they have him hidden away somewhere though I shudder to think how they keep him from crowing. I suppose if you can kidnap dogs you can silence a crowing cock. Some people are very creative.
The Daddy Dognapper didn’t take my complaint too seriously when I reported Russell’s assault on me to him.
“He has never attacked me” he said. And that was that.
Then later that night I heard a loud series of cackles, a string of curses and the noise of battle.That’s when Russell went undercover.
Later the little people in my life told me that Russell attacked the Daddy Dognapper. I was glad. Maybe now he will do something about Russell. It makes the devil laugh to see the biterbitten.
But it’s not over until it’s over. I will get my own back on that hallion of a rooster if its the last thing I do.
He can’t hide forever. He’s too proud for that. Some of these dawns his crowing will give him away. And then ……..
June 28, 2021
Frances
FRANCES.
My sister Frances died two weeks ago. She asked that I say a few words at her funeral. This is what I said:
Our mother had thirteen children. Three died shortly after they were born. They were our Seán’s twin Brendan; and Seamus and David the other twins. Sixty years later our brother Liam died in February 2019. On the day of his funeral big Eamonn, our Anne’s husband, also died. And now today we bury our wee sister Frances.
Death is part of the story of life. Is é seo ar sceal. Sibling grief is a very special grief. Brothers and sisters usually know each other for the whole of their lives. So during these sad days Margaret and Paddy and Anne and Seán and Maura and Deirdre and Dominic and me are reflecting no doubt, in our own ways, on childhood memories and all the good times and bad times of lives bound up together.
So too with brothers-in-law and sisters-in-laws. And Frances’ friends. Everyone will have special memories of her.
It’s also a time when our generation ponders on the reality of our own mortality. But this isn’t just about our generation. It’s especially about Frances’ own wee family. It’s about Patrick and Ciaran, Liam, Sinead, Maura and their spouses and children. It is about our Frances, their mammy and mamo.
Frances had a hard life. Let there be no doubt about that. Some girls and other young people, have injustice heaped upon them in their formative years. It is to their great credit that many of them, like Frances, survive to grow into strong, loving, caring independent women.
When the British Army brought their war to Ballymurphy our house in Divismore Park, opposite the military base at Henry Taggart, was a particular target for them. Following the internment swoops and at the time of the Ballymurphy Massacre, wee Maureen McGuinness and Colette helped our mother to evacuate the younger children from our home.
Frances was among them. She was sixteen. As they fled the British Paratroopers opened fire. When asked what she did Frances would smile and say; ‘I ran as fast as I could’.
Our family never returned to 11 Divismore Park again. The Paras took over the house and wrecked it.
This was Frances’ introduction to decades of war, of house raids and arrests, prison visits, protests in support of the prisoners, and political campaigning. She marched and demonstrated for a lifetime with the rest of the risen women of Ballymurphy and Belfast.
But she also found love. She and young Patrick Mulvenna were married on November 11 1972. She was widowed less than a year later. Patrick was an active IRA volunteer. Along with another freedom fighter, the legendary IRA warrior Jim Bryson, Patrick was killed when they were ambushed by Brits firing on them from a concealed position on 31 August 1973 in Ballymurphy.
Frances was pregnant. She gave birth to Patrick’s son, Patrick on what would have been their first wedding anniversary. As a young widow – a single parent with a baby son - Frances faced up to all the challenges life threw at her with fortitude and courage. I am sure she wasn’t always in a good place but she persisted. And she prevailed.
And she found love again. With another IRA volunteer Billy McAllister. From that union came Ciaran, Liam, Sinead and Maura. Patrick was outnumbered by McAllister’s but they all thrived together. Later Billy and she separated but they remained good friends. He used to bring Frances her dinner. She loved his cabbage.Billy died in March 2019.
Eventually through all the hard years of the conflict, a few house shifts and the ongoing arrivals of grandchildren Frances moved into 34 Springhill Avenue. She always described it as her favourite home.
Her children, adults now, have nothing but praise for her. I know all of us probably think our mammy is the best mammy we ever had. But Patrick, Ciaran, Liam, Sinead and Maura are certain about that. As long as you knew how far you could go. They all agreed that you couldn’t cross her. If you went too far the reprimand was accompanied with a stern reminder. ‘I’m your Mammy and don’t you forget it.’
She spoke her mind and tried to keep them on the straight and narrow. But if this wee woman - and she was tiny – all four foot and eight inches of her; if she was a good Mammy she was a Super Dooper Granny. It was as if she wanted to ensure that whatever she lost out on in her youth, her grandchildren would be cherished and nurtured so that they might reach their full potential, whatever that might be.
She told her daughters that her aunts – the generation before us - were the really strong women. She drummed into them that they were the best role models. I am glad my favourite aunts Síle and Brenda are still with us. And aul Paddy and Mrs Mulvenna.
Frances was a quiet republican. She told her children she wanted to see a United Ireland. When she was in hospital she said she wanted to go to the Conway Mill Republican Museum when she got out and the new one in the Roddy’s when it was finished.
She suffered from ill health for years. But she always said everything was okay, even when it wasn’t. She believed in prayer and Jesus and his mother.
She told me she didn’t want to die. Did she have a premonition that she would not grow to be too old? Who knows? She insisted on Patrick bringing her to Milltown Cemetery in March to pick a grave and she went to the Credit Union to pay for it. She was very fussy about her last resting place and rejected the overtures of the man from Milltown a few times before picking her spot.
‘I don’t want to be looking at the motorway’ she told him. ‘I need to see the Mountain and the Republican Plot’.
Afterwards she told Patrick she was silly. The headstone would block her view. She also sorted out her funeral arrangements with Healy’s. When Patrick queried all this she dismissed his concerns. Everything was ok she told him.
Each of her clann will remember her many acts of kindness and giving. All her children benefitted from her love. But for me her presence at Maura and Michael’s wedding just a few short weeks ago - when she discharged herself from hospital in pain and under pressure - was an act of unconditional maternal love and of her desire for her whole family to have a good and joyful day out together. She wanted everyone to have a happy memory.
Patrick and Brídín, Ciaran and Mary, Liam, Sinead and Manuel, Maura and Michael. Maura you were right to bring your wedding forward. Your mammy wanted her family to be happy. All of us.
I always told Frances that she is my favourite sister. She knew I tell all my sisters that. But she knew I was telling her the truth. I tell all my sisters that as well.
She was a loyal friend to Colette and she had a special bond from childhood with our brother Liam. And now she is gone. Ar slí an fhirrine. So I want to finish by talking to Frances’ grandchildren and great grandchildren.
To Padráic, Cliodhná, Deirbhile, Mairtín, Seánna, Kevin, Orlaith, Ciara, Tiernán, Meghan, Cori, Liam, Caitlín, Miceal, Gerry Óg, Kyla, Caelán, Oisin, Barra, Conchúr, Olivia and Maebh. And her three great grandchildren; Freyah, Zara and Sieanna.
I want to ask the older ones who knew their granny better than anyone else to tell your stories of her to the younger ones. The wee ones missed the life you shared with Frances. Tell them about her.
Tá aithne an mhaith agaibhse ar bhur mamo. Níl cuimhneadh ag na daoine óga uirthi. Cathfidh sibhse a bheith ag caint faoi leo.
Caithfidh sibhse na scealtaí a rá. Agus na deanagaí dearmaid. Tá bhur saol nios fearr inniú mar throid Frances ar bhur son. So sin bhur obair a gar phaisti nios aoiste agus na sean daoine eile.
The young women here and the girls should know especially that the rights you enjoy today - your entitlements- came about because many, many working class women like Frances fought for you even before you were born by taking a stand in their own homes, on the streets, the prisons and the churches.
My daughters had daughters as brave as were their mothers. And my fourth green field will bloom once again said she.
All these extraordinary ordinary wee women standing up for us all and for your future.
Bhi fhios acu, agus ní chainteoir mór í Frances no a lan do na mná eile, níor thug sí nó siad óraidí de gnáth. Ach bhí fhios aice agus acu gan Saoirse na mBán ní bheidh Saoirse na hÉireann. Agus ní bheidh.
This is one of Frances’ big days. I can see her smile at me saying that. It is the day we tell her slán. Even though we did not want her to die we give thanks that she passed quickly eased by the wonderful nurses and carers and medical workers.
Let’s set aside the angry times. The sad times. The hard times. Let’s remember the good times. The funny times. We think of our lovely Frances. Let us give thanks for her life. Go raibh maith agat sister. All of us are privileged to have loved you and to be loved by you. Slán Francesco. x
210621: Boris is a Chancer: Nor Meekly Serve my time: The biggest Cuban Flag in the World
Boris is a Chancer
Last week was not a good week for Boris Johnson. Even before the weekend’s G7 summit began in Cornwall the news agenda was already dominated by reports that the US government had issued a démarche to the British in advance of President Biden’s arrival.
I must admit I had never heard of a démarche. During my years of negotiations with the Irish, British, US and other governments it was not a piece of diplomatic speak I had ever come across.
Apparently it is a formal diplomatic note or memo which expresses the grave concern of one side about the behaviour of the other. It’s not something that one ally normally issues to another. It’s certainly not something that usually finds its way into the media. There is no precedent for the stern message of concern delivered by the US government to the British government about Britain’s Brexit policy, and its threat to the Irish Protocol and to the Good Friday Agreement. And it did find its way into the media.
Some media reports after the summit reported that US President Joe Biden had a “candid” conversation with Johnson. Jake Sullivan who is President Biden’s National Security Adviser said: “All I’m going to say: they did discuss this issue... The president naturally, and with deep sincerity, encouraged the Prime Minister to protect the Good Friday Agreement and the progress made under it. The specific beyond that I’m not going to get into.”
The G7 is made up of the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The EU is invited to participate as a guest as are a number of other guest states. This year’s meeting which was hosted by Boris Johnson had a wide-ranging agenda which covered everything from the pandemic, including the distribution of vaccines, to the climate change crisis and the upcoming UN summit on climate to be held later this year in Glasgow.
The summit was intended by Boris Johnson to be a showcase for Britain as it seeks to reassert its leadership as a global economic power. Instead it turned into a PR debacle with a succession of G7 leaders privately, and some publicly, suggesting that the British government’s policy approach to Brexit and the Irish Protocol is dishonest and untrustworthy.
To the annoyance of the British the media spotlight, especially the international media, turned time and time again to the British attitude to Ireland and the Protocol. One after another state and EU leaders questioned British sincerity and good faith.
In a tweet Ursula von der Leyen the President of the EU Commission wrote: “The Good Friday Agreement and peace on the island of Ireland are paramount. We negotiated a Protocol that preserves this, signed and ratified by Britain and the EU. We want the best possible relations with the UK. Both sides must implement what was agreed on. There is complete EU unity on this.” Michel Barnier who negotiated the Withdrawal Agreement and the Protocol for the EU put it more succinctly: “I expect him (Johnson) to respect his own signature.”
British Ministers tried to shift the focus and to put the blame back onto the EU accusing it of being belligerent and inflexible.
However, Johnson was repeatedly reminded in media reports that he had lied when he claimed that the Protocol would require no checks in the Irish Sea. He was reminded also that his government tried to pass a law in the British Parliament last year that would have opened the way for his government to unilaterally tear up an international agreement.
Elements of the British media were especially critical. An editorial in the Observer said: “The prime minister’s dishonest diplomacy and willingness to jeopardise Northern Ireland’s stability for Brexit will greatly diminish Britain’s role in the world.”
The threat by the British to unilaterally extend the 30 June ‘grace periods’ that delay the introduction of some border checks has also angered the EU. The so-called ‘sausage war’ and the bizarre image of a stern faced Sammy Wilson defiantly standing in front of an ‘Ulster is British’ poster holding a handful of British sausages, was a surreal moment in the midst of the current crisis.
This reflects the failure of the British government to negotiate and agree a mechanism to allow for the shipment of chilled meats between Britain and the North. Some unionist politicians have been moved to make the bogus and outrageous claim that the EU is intent on starving the people of the North.
The fact is that Brexit, the Withdrawal Agreement and the Protocol were all negotiated by Boris Johnson and his government, supported by the DUP. They were warned repeatedly of the significant economic and political risks they were taking but chose to ignore these.
In a scathing criticism the Johnson government a former British Ambassador to the USA and the EU, Nigel Sheinwald, warned: “There is no point in writing new Atlantic charters which depend on mutual trust, mutual confidence and the rule of law, when you are operating as chancers.”
Instead of trying to calm the situation the British chose to up the ante. Dominic Raab the British Foreign Secretary accused the EU of being “bloody minded” and “purist.” Johnson threatened to suspend the Protocol and invoke Article 16 which allows for either side to take unilateral action in the event of “serious economic, societal or environmental difficulties”.
The British tried to drag the verbal row into an argument over sovereignty by wrongly claiming that French President Macron had suggested that the North is a different country. A claim he did not make.
Finally, the decision by Edwin Poots to send President Macron a copy of the Good Friday Agreement deserves a special mention. This is the same Poots who said: “The DUP campaigned against the GFA, it consistently opposed and never signed it or signed up for it.”
Nor Meekly Serve my time
“They were real, they were young, they were full of life. They were like anyone else. They were like you. The prison robbed them of their lives; we should never compound that by only recalling their deaths. The accounts from their friends and comrades that you are about to read, breathe life into them and make them real. You will enter their world and form an impression of them. You will get to know them a little.”
Those words, referring to the young men who died on hunger strike in 1981, were written by former IRA prisoner and hunger striker, Laurence McKeown, in his introduction to the recently reprinted 40th anniversary edition of the book he previously co-edited with Brian Campbell and Felim O’Hagan, Nor Meekly Serve My Time: The H-Block Struggle 1976-1981.
The book, containing accounts from 28 former blanketmen, was compiled clandestinely in the H-Blocks over 30 years ago to mark the approaching 10th anniversary of the hunger strike. It was written by prisoners whose memories of those protest years remained very fresh. Some were still in prison from the time of the protest; others had been released only to be re-imprisoned again at a later date. All of them could vividly recall their experiences of those years of protest, and for some, the last moments they spent with one or other of those who died on hunger strike. Sometimes it was a few words shared, a hug, or just a smile or a brief glance. No words necessary or no words adequate.
I recall reading the book when it was first published in 1994. On one page I found myself laughing out loud at some prank or other that a blanketman had played on a comrade, only to turn the next page and be openly moved to tears with some poignant recollection revealed – perhaps the death of a parent or sibling and being refused parole, or someone writing about those last moments shared with a hunger striker. And throughout the book the accounts of beatings; forced washes, mirror searches, wing shifts, and the casual daily brutality that went on day in day out, week in week out, for almost five years.
But this is not a book filled with despair; quite the opposite. What you are left with is a sense of camaraderie that is sometimes difficult to comprehend, so intense is it, and, throughout, a sense of hope. The human spirit rising above adversity.
It’s a story about young men. Like the story of their women comrades in Armagh jail they were determined that they would not be criminalised and nor would they allow the struggle they were involved in to be criminalised.
I’m delighted to see the book re-printed and I encourage everyone to take some time out during this, the 40th anniversary year, to read it. Its strength lies in its openness; its value rests in its humanity.
‘Nor Meekly Serve My Time’ – The H-Block Struggle 1976-1981 is published by Beyond the Pale Books
It is available also at https://www.sinnfeinbookshop.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AnFhuiseog/
The biggest Cuban Flag in the WorldWell done to Cuba Solidarity Forum Ireland, Gael Force Art, and others, including Chris Hazzard MP (who helped carry it up the mountain) - who last week erected the largest Cuban Flag in the world on the Black Mountain. The flag, which is 150 by 75 feet in size was accompanied by the hashtag #UnblockCuba. The initiative was taken as part of the campaign to win support at the United Nations for the lifting of the US led blockade which has been in place since 1962.Next week the UN General Assembly will vote on this important issue. In annual votes since 1992 the General Assembly has voted for an end to the blockade. In the last vote in November 2019 187 of the 192 member countries voted to end the blockade.So well done to all of those who took part in the Black Mountain initiative, #UnblockCuba
June 15, 2021
Dublin City Council vote to protect Moore St: A fine day, thank God: Frederick Douglass
Master Plan for Moore Street Unveiled
Most readers know that Moore Street in Dublin City Centre holds a special place in the history of Ireland. It was in Moore Street and the surrounding streets and laneways and at the nearby GPO that a fierce battle was fought between the 1916 republican forces and the British Army. Number 16 Moore Street was where five of the seven signatories of the Proclamation held their last meeting before the surrender. The National Museum of Ireland has described Moore Street as “the most important historic site in modern Irish history.”
Regrettably not everyone sees it that way. In the late 1990s the Moore Street terrace was scheduled for demolition. Later a developer Chartered Lands produced a plan that would have destroyed much of the site. An alliance of relatives of the signatories, of those who fought in 1916, republicans and a range of other groups and individuals commenced a campaign to save Moore St.
Their dedication to the development of the site as a cultural and historic quarter in which the 1916 buildings and streetscape would be preserved for future generations was matched by the determination of successive Irish governments to hand most of the land over to private developers for profit.
I have visited historic landmarks in other places. Robben Island in South Africa was an infamous prison where ANC and other political prisoners were held for decades under the most cruel regime. It is now a World Heritage Site. In Europe the battlegrounds of former wars are protected and the cemeteries of their dead protected and cared for. The same in the USA. I visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution where debated and adopted. The building is a UNESCO site and is cherished.
But in Dublin we have Irish governments with no sense of the history of their own land, no imagination, no sense of history and no vision for the future. Only four houses -14-17 Moore Street – were adopted by the Irish government in 2007 for preservation as a national monument. 14 years later and no work has been carried out. The buildings remain derelict and sealed off from the public.
In the meantime another developer – Hammerson – has been trying to achieve what Chartered Land failed at.
The public campaign to preserve Moore Street and the 1916 battlefield site entered a new phase last week with the publication by the Moore Street Preservation Trust and the Relatives of the 1916 Signatories of their preliminary plan for the area. The plan was published several days after the British-based property company Hammerson also announced that it had submitted the first three of six planning applications it intends lodging which cover the Dublin Central site.
In an initial response to the Hammerson plan James Connolly Heron, great-grandson of James Connolly, and spokesperson for the Moore Street Preservation Trust criticised the Hammerson plan has falling far short of what the site needs.
Connolly Heron was especially critical of the extraordinary intervention by An Taoiseach Mícheál Martin who provided an endorsement to Hammerson which they carried in the media announcement of their proposal.
Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald challenged the Taoiseach on this in the Dáil. She said: “We now have the disgraceful situation where we have a Government that ... supports a plan to turn one of the most significant sites in modern Irish history over to a private developer. Shame on the Government for taking that stance.”
Last Thursday the Moore Street Preservation Trust and the Relatives of the Signatories published a preliminary copy of their Moore Street Master plan. Commissioned by the Moore Street Preservation Trust and devised by leading architects Fuinneamh Workshop Cork and Kelly and Cogan Dublin.
The Master plan presents an imaginative and realistic way forward for an area neglected for generations. The 1916 terrace will be restored and the ground floor shops let with over shop living facilitated. Existing ancillary buildings at the rear of the terrace will be converted for retail, cafe/restaurant use. New builds within the block will provide 45 units in mews and loft style developments, a theatre space and public meeting hall. Incubator retail units and workshops will be woven into the ground floor of these developments.
The terrace gardens will be exposed and restored for public use and the centuries old street market trading tradition, long in decline will be retained and enhanced with the re-opening of all pitches and the provision of storage and wash room facilities for the traders.
The Moore Street Master plan conforms to the recommendations of the Ministers Advisory Group on Moore Street 2021 and the Lord Mayors Forum 2021. It also has the support of a wide range of individuals and groups including, The Easter 16 - Relatives of the 16 executed leaders; the GPO Garrison Relatives; Sinn Fein; People Before Profit; the Green Party, as well as well known writers, historians, artists and actors including Adrian Dunbar; Tim Pat Coogan; Damian Dempsey; Frances Black; Christy Moore; Ruan O Donnell; Paul Ronan; Saoirse Ronan; Fionnula Flanagan; Robert Ballagh and Jim Fitzpatrick.
So, if you want to preserve Moore Street and the laneways of history go to https://www.facebook.com/MooreStreetTrust/and join the battle to preserve Moore St.
Finally, a little postscript:
Dublin City Council passed an emergency motion on Monday evening this week adding the terrace (10-25 Moore Street) to the list of protected structures. These are the building occupied by the Volunteers who evacuated the GPO at the end of Easter Week 1916 and where the last meeting of the Leaders occurred.
The motion was proposed by Sinn Féin Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha and was supported unanimously at the Council’s June monthly meeting. This is a hugely significant decision by the Council at a time when some of the buildings are under threat of demolition in a development plan proposed by property developer Hammerson. This vote begins the process of assessment towards listing them and as such they are now legally protected.
A fine day, thank God.
This column is launching a Celebrate the Good Weather While it Lasts campaign. The CTGWWIL will endeavour to get people to express unconditional delight about whatever weather we have. Down with glumassessmentsabout our clime and that sort of thing.
Maybe its an Irish thing. Maybe not. Maybe otherpeopleare alsoobsessedby the weather. Or maybe not. We Irish all the time converse about what lies in store for us weatherwise, sometimesquothing TV weather forecasters as if theywereancientprophets.
And we are usually pessimestic. Why do we describe a rainy day as “a bad day?” Why when the day is sunny do we warn all and sundry that it won’t last?
Some will even remark; “Well that’s our summer over” after a few hours of sunshine.
When I say to anyone “Its a fine day” they invarabley respond with “Aye ..... butthere’srain on the way!”
Nine times out of ten that, or a variation of it, is the reaction. It’s like they are wishing the sunaway.
And it affects unionists as well as the rest of us. Darkclouds are non party political. Many a time even the mostsunnycheerful DUP representative has greeted my “Good morning. Isn’ttheweather great?” with a “Ayebutit’sgoing to break later this afternoon.”
That’s something else that we have in common.
I’ve got to thinking that maybe peopledon’t even reflect on what they are saying. It’s almost an automatic response. It doesn’t help that sunshinein Ireland seldomendures.Little wonder we have a lot of Irish words and phrases for rain. Butrememberwithout the rain our island would not be an Emerald Isle.But you wouldthink we shouldappreciatethe sunall the more whenit doesvisit us?
So let’s give thanks for the weather we have. Especially these days when the sun brightens up everything.
I remember talking to a friend of mine who did time in prison in France. He also did time in prison here. He was very unlucky.
“Whatwas the difference between doing time in Ireland and doing time in France?” I asked him one day.
He reflected for a wee while beforeanswering. Thenfinally and thoughtfully he said.
“ Nobody in jail in France talked about the weather. ”
I rest my case. Up The CTGWWIL!
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who travelled from the USA to Ireland in 1845. Douglass toured Ireland speaking about slavery and telling of his experience. Douglass gave his first Irish lecture in Dublin in September 1845. Over the following months he travelled to Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Belfast. He returned to Belfast another four times.
Ireland was in his own word “transformative” for Douglass. He said of his time here that he had become a man, rather than a chattel. He also came to see the issue of slavery not in isolation but as part of a wider campaign for equality and social justice.
Professor Christine Kinealy is the foremost expert on Douglass and especially on his time in Ireland. Professor Kinealy is the Director of Ireland's Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University and in 2018 produced the definitive account of Douglass’s time in Ireland taken from his own letters: Frederick Douglass and Ireland
In His Own Words.
Most recently she has finished work on a walking map – Frederick Douglass Way, Dublin 1845 – 1846. She is currently working on a Belfast walking map which identifies many of the locations where Douglass addressed Belfast citizens.
Among the places identified are:
· Grave of Mary Ann McCracken - Clifton Street Cemetery - abolitionist and humanitarian – founder of Belfast Auxiliary Female Anti-Slavery Society
· Lancasterian School Room, 42 Frederick St. Façade remains of Quaker house - Frederick lectured on temperance
· Cathedral Quarter: Independent Meeting House – Donegall Street – first and final (6 October 1846) lecture. Now Redeemer Central
· Victoria Hotel (formerly, Royal Temperance Hotel), 12 Waring Street – Frederick stayed here
· Rosemary Street – First Presbyterian Church – Frederick lectured to ‘a large audience’
Douglass’s close association with Belfast should be a matter of great public pride. This map will be an important addition to his story. Plans are also advancing to erect a statue to him.
STOP PRESS.
Dublin City Council Commemorations Committee has agreed to erect a plaque to Frederick Douglass. It will be on the Irish Film Institute, Eustace St, where Douglass spoke when it was the Society of Friends Meeting House.
It was chosen from the Dublin venues which he spoke in because of the central role the Friends played in his tour. The building next door - the current Friends meeting house - has a plaque to the Dublin United Irishmen who met there when it was the Eagle Tavern. The Douglass Plaque should be unveiled sometime this summer. The proposal to take this initiative was put by Sinn Féin Councillor Micheál MacDonncha. This column will share details as soon as they are available.
June 7, 2021
Preparing for Unity: Well done to loyalists trying to keep the peace:
Preparing for Unity
Hardly a week goes passed without some new aspect or commentary emerging on the issue of Irish Unity. When will the unity referendum by held? What criteria should the British Secretary of State apply when deciding on the date? What is the role of the Irish government? What will the question/s be that will be asked of citizens? How will the referendums be structured and what new laws might be needed to facilitate them. The fact is that there will be a unity referendum. When it comes it will be the most important constitutional debate about the future of the island of Ireland in 100 years. As we prepare for it, it is worthwhile reflecting on the recent role of referendums in encouraging greater public awareness of and an engagement in democratic decisions that achieved significant positive change. The referendums on marriage equality and the repeal of the 8th amendment are the most obvious. The Irish Government helped prepare for these by establishing citizen centred mechanisms – the Constitutional Convention and then the Citizen’s Assembly – to examine constitutional and societal change. This process of maximising democratic engagement in the process of change and in the referendum process was a success. 23 years ago the May 1998 referendums that were held north and south came at the end of an intense period of negotiation and a wide-ranging debate on the merits or otherwise of the Good Friday Agreement. Those referendums achieved a massive majority in favour of the Agreement. In stark contrast the failure of the Tory government of David Cameron to properly prepare for the Brexit referendum in 2016 resulted in an outcome that has sharply divided British society, encouraged the break-up of the British union and created economic turmoil. The consequences for the North have been especially difficult. The election last week of Edwin Poots as leader of the DUP saw him trot out the same nonsense of his predecessor – that the EU and the Irish government have flouted the will of the people of the North. Poots went so far as to claim that the Irish government is “going to starve Northern Ireland people of medicines no less, cancer drugs and other materials, such as the food that's on our table.” None of this is true of course. It’s a deliberate distortion to heighten fear around Brexit, the Irish Protocol and the growing interest in Irish Unity. The DUP is intent on whipping-up resentment to a Brexit crisis that it has been instrumental in creating. No mention of the DUP’s aggressive support for the Brexit referendum and for the vote to leave in 2016. No mention of the reality that the majority of citizens in the North voted to remain in the EU or that the DUP consistently refused to support any of the efforts by Theresa May to produce an agreement with the EU. Democracy DUP style, which has its roots in the partition of Ireland a century ago, is a limited philosophy that excludes the rights and votes of nationalists and republicans. It ignores the reality that political unionism is now an electoral minority and holds just 40 out of 90 seats in the Assembly. United Irelanders have to be inclusive of everyone. As we work to move the process of change ahead and seek to win the unity referendum we must include our neighbours and fellow citizens who identify as British. To do this effectively and democratically we must plan for the unity referendum and plan to win it. Last week the Irish Times concluded ...”If it is plausible to think referendums on Irish unity could happen this decade, it would be prudent to plan for that possibility.” Last week also saw the publication of the final report from the ‘Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland.’ The working group is based at the Constitution Unit of University College London. It too supports the imperative of preparing for the unity referendum. The Working Group is made up of 12 academic specialists in politics, law, sociology and history. They were brought together and have spent two years examining what the Good Friday Agreement provision for the referendum means in practice, what technical and procedural questions arise as a result and what steps are necessary to facilitate it and ensure that it fair and democratic. They have also received hundreds of submissions from individuals and organisations.The report, which will require careful consideration, runs to 260 pages. It suggests what criteria the British government should use to determine when the referendum is held. These are; election results, opinion polls, qualitative research, a vote in Stormont, seats won at elections and demographic data. It asks whether the Irish government should present a clear model of the kind of United Ireland on offer before the referendum or instead propose a constitutional process to determine that after the referendum takes place and if voters say Yes. It asserts that; “A referendum should be called if a vote for unification appears likely, even if by a slender margin.” And it accepts the Good Friday Agreement principle that a Yes vote requires a vote of 50%+1. The reports states: “It would breach the agreement to require a higher threshold than 50% + 1.”
It also looks at the kind of political structures that might emerge as a result of the referendum and constitutional change.
These are big issues for consideration. And there are many more questions and issues raised in this lesson that we can draw from this report is that there is a need to prepare for the unity referendum. The Micheál Martin approach is not good enough. Sticking your head in the sand and hoping that this debate will go away represents a lack of vision and of leadership. An Taoiseach’s starting point like ours has to be the Good Friday Agreement. He needs to read it again.
Well done to loyalists trying to keep the peace
Last week the 27 leaders of the European Union met in Brussels to discuss a range of issues, including Brexit and the Irish Protocol. Speaking afterward the European Commission President von der Leyen laid the blame for the current crisis at the door of the Brexiteers, including the DUP. She said: “There should be no doubt that there is no alternative to the full and correct implementation of the protocol ... it is important to reiterate that the protocol is the only possible solution to ensure peace and stability in Northern Ireland, while protecting the integrity of the European Union single market... If we see problems today we should not forget that they do not come from the protocol but result from Brexit, that is the reason why the problems are there.”
DUP spokespersons and the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) again claimed that the Irish Protocol – which Boris Johnson negotiated and agreed with the EU – will destabilise the political situation in the North and risks violence. It is “oppressive and undemocratic” said Jeffrey Donaldson.
Much of their ire has been directed at the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The LCC Chairperson David Campbell described Mrs Von Der Leyen as an "ostrich with her head in the sand” and he warned that the North is set to "descend into chaos this summer." Like so many others Campbell decided that the LCC could speak for all the people of the North and not just the loyalist paramilitaries he represents with the claim that “the protocol has to go and will go - the people of Northern Ireland will not accept this diktat from yet another unelected German."
It is also important to realise that within loyalism there exist different voices and different opinions on the way forward. There isn’t unanimity of approach around the possibility of “chaos” or violence. There are many within loyalism and the community sector working within loyalist working class areas who oppose unionist politicians using their community as a stick to threaten others with. They see “chaos” being to the detriment of their community.
They are also trying to deal with housing need; unemployment; drug gangs; health inequalities; poverty, deprivation and disadvantage. They are especially concerned at the emergence of an underclass of young people – no hopers – who refuse to listen to anyone. The recent street disturbances at some of the interfaces witnessed a section of unionist youth prepared to tell loyalist leaders who tried to stop the violence where to go.
Tackling these problems in a heightened atmosphere of fear and with unionist parties normally disinterested in addressing these issues, is hugely difficult. There is a commonality of challenges facing our society in both nationalist and unionist working class areas. We are best able to tackle these if we are able to do so together.
So well done to those from within loyalism who are doing their best to keep the peace and to tackle disadvantage.
June 1, 2021
Two Fearless Belfast Women; Remembering Rab McCullough; Féile na gCloigíní Gorma.
Winifred Carney
Two fearless Belfast Women
Two Belfast women, Mary Ann McCracken and Winifred Carney, will soon have statues commemorating their heroism, leadership and commitment to social justice and freedom erected in the grounds of Belfast City Hall. It was agreed at the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee last week that the Council will nowbegin the process of costing and designing the statues.
In 2012 an Equality Impact Assessment confirmed what anyone with eyes already knew – that the grounds of Belfast City Hall were overwhelmingly dominated by white, male, upper class and unionist images. The City Hall did not reflect the reality of life in Belfast and especially of a changing Belfast.
To address this imbalance Sinn Féin brought forward proposals four years ago to transform the City Hall and grounds. The process has been slow as some within the Council have sought to frustrate this new direction. However, last Friday’s Council meeting has now moved the proposal around the two Belfast women a decisive step forward.
Winifred Carney was born in Bangor but was reared at 5 Falls Road. She attended the Christian Brother’s School in Donegall Street where she worked for a time as a junior teacher. She qualified as one of the first lady secretaries and short hand typists in Belfast from Hughes Commercial Academy. Subsequently she worked for a time in a solicitor’s office in Dungannon.
Winifred had a keen interest in the Irish language and culture and joined the Gaelic League. She was a strong advocate for the rights of women and was a committed socialist. She was very close to Marie Johnson who worked as secretary for the Irish Textile Workers’ Union. The union had been established by James Connolly in 1911.
When Marie became ill she asked Winifred to take over the responsibility. Two years later Connolly, along with Winifred Carney, published the Manifesto of Irish Textile Workers’ Union – To the Linen Slaves of Belfast.
Carney was also a member of the Cumann na mBan which she joined with Connolly’s two daughters Nora and Ina Connolly. She was also in the Irish Citizen Army. In 1916 she was the first women to enter the GPO during the Rising. She worked closely with Connolly in preparing dispatches.
When the GPO was evacuated after five days of fierce fighting Carney was with the wounded Connolly as he was carried to number 16 Moore Street. There five of the signatories to the Proclamation held their last meeting as the Provisional Government. Julia Grenan, Winifred Carney and Elizabeth O’Farrell were present and when Tom Clarke broke down at the prospect of surrender Last Words tell us; “Miss Grenan and Miss Carney went across to him to try and consol him but instead they themselves dissolved into tears and Clarke comforted them.”
Following the surrender Winifred Carney was imprisoned in England. She stood unsuccessfully for East Belfast in the 1918 election and continued to work for the Transport Union. In 1920-22 she was secretary of the Irish Republican Prisoners’ Dependents Fund 1920-22. In 1922 she was imprisoned in Armagh jail.
In 1928 she married George McBride. He had fought in the First World War and was from the Shankill Road. They were both committed socialists although differed on the national issue and the Rising. Winifred Carney died on 21 November 1943 and was buried in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. Belfast Graves erected a headstone on her grave in 1985.
Mary Ann McCracken was the sister of Henry Joy McCracken, executed for his part in the 1798 Rebellion. She was a radical thinker, social reformer, who was implacably opposed to slavery and poverty, was a friend of the disadvantaged, and an advocate for the rights of women.
She was born in Belfast in July 1870 to a wealthy Presbyterian family. Her Uncle Henry Joy raised the funding for the construction of the Poor House by the Belfast Charitable Society – now Clifton House – in 1774. Mary Ann McCracken was a member of the Board of the Society and retained a close personal and working relationship with it until her death in 1866.
In July 1798 her brother Henry Joy McCracken was sentenced to be hanged for his part in the United Irish Rising. In a letter she later described the events:
“I took his arm, and we walked together to the place of execution where I was told it was the General’s orders that I should leave him, which I peremptorily refused. Harry begged I would go. Clasping my hands around him, (I did not weep til then) I said I could bear anything but leaving him. Three times he kissed me and entreated I would go; and, looking round to recognise some friend to put me in charge of he beckoned to a Mr. Boyd, and said ‘He will take charge of you.’ ... and fearing that any further refusal would disturbed the last moments of my dearest brother, I suffered myself to be led away.”
After the failure of the rebellion Mary Ann dedicated her life to many causes. The breadth of her interests and activism is remarkable. She helped provide education and apprenticeships for children through the Poor House Ladies Committee. In 1847 at the age of 77 she was one of those who established the “Ladies Industrial School for the Relief of Destitution” with the aim of helping those suffering as a result of An Gorta Mór.
Mary Ann was one of the first to support the “Belfast Ladies Clothing Society” and raised money for the “Society for the Relief of the Destitute Sick”. She was a member of the committee that lobbied for a change in the law to end the practice of ‘climbing boys.’ Their work involved scrambling up the chimney’s of the wealthy to clean them. The risk of falling and the impact on the health of the boys as they cleared away soot was significant.
Her opposition to slavery was relentless and total. When Waddell Cunningham, a merchant, proposed in 1786 that the Belfast Slave Ship Company be established the scheme was vehemently opposed by those who later established the United Irish Society. This and the publication of Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man and the French and American revolutions hugely influenced Mary Ann her brother Henry Joy and all of those who came to found the United Irish Society in Belfast in October 1791.
In a letter written in 1859 Mary Ann recalls how deeply Thomas Russell despised slavery. He was one of those: “ ... who in the days of Wilberforce (campaigned against Slavery in England) abstained from the use of slave labour produce until slavery in the west Indies was abolished, and at the dinner parties to which he was so often invited and when confectionary was so much used he would not taste anything with sugar in it ...”
Her opposition was such that as a small frail woman she would hand out leaflets opposing slavery to those boarding vessels to sail to the USA. In a letter written in 1859 – a year before the American Civil War began, she describes America: “...considered the land of the great. The brave, may more properly be styled the land of the tyrant and the Slave ... Belfast, once so celebrated for its love of liberty is now so sunk in the love of filthy lucre (money earned dishonourably) that there are but 16 or 17 female anti-slavery advocates, for the good cause paying 2/6 yearly – not one man, tho’ several Quakers in Belfast and none to distribute papers to American Emigrants but an old woman within 17 days of 89.”
Frail in body she might have been but strong in heart and spirit she remained all of her days. Mary Ann McCracken died on the 26 July 1866 aged 96.
Rab McCullough.
My condolencesto Marian and the family of Rab McCullough. Rabdied suddenly last week. He was one of Irelandsleading blues musicans. He played with AC/DC, Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher, Jimmy Hendrix and other global rock stars. He alsotaught Bobby Sands toplay the guitar when they were imprisoned in the 1970s.
I wrote a little piece about this recentlyafter Danny Devenneypublished hisiconic print - The Session- featuringBobby, John Lennon, Che, Woody Gutherie and othershaving a music session. Rabgave me some details of Bobby’s early efforts to learn how to play the guitar and of hismusical influences. He, Tomboy Loudan and Bobby used to jam together faoi glas na gallaimh.
Recently I askedRab if he would join Tomboy, BikMcFarlane and otherexprisoner musicans, post the covid restrictions, in a session of musicfrom the 60s and 70s that they played togetherwith Bobby in the Crum and Long Kesh. Rabwas delighted to be asked. He rhymed of a list of potential numbers from Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan,John Lennon and others. Tomboy also signed up. Bik agreed to ramrod that gig and we spokeabout it only last week. Unfortunately it won’t happen now. Not with Rab anyway. But his music will live on. Belfast Blues is a classic.
Go deanfaidh Dia trocairear Rab. Mo comhbhrón le Marian agus a chlann.
Féile na gCloigíní Gorma.
Last week it was an honour for me to be on a panel discussion about the Belfast Hills. This discussion- on zoom- waspart of Féile na gCloigíní and includedLynda Sullivan, Friends of the Earth, Jim Bradley, Belfast Hills Partnership, Maria Morgan, Ligoneil Improvement Association, and Melina Quinn, National Trust.
I recalledthe role the local community played in gettingquarrying on the mountain stopped and how the campaign for the conservation of the Bog Meadows and Divis and Black Mountain developed. I made the point that none of this would have happened witout local activism and the efforts of Terry EnwrighSnr, Adrian Crean, Terry Goldsmith and others. Colin Glen has a similar history. Empowered communities can make a differance.
Getting my notes together for this event started me thinking of the time when my familygot a house in the late 1950s in Ballymurphy. At that time the Murph was surrounded by green fields. A river, nowmostly underground, ran parralell with Ballymurphy. That was one of our favouriteplaces to play when we weren’t on the mountain. Springhill was yet to be built. It was a great green space - Husky’s Field- with a big red bricked house used as a clinic, at itscentre. We went there for codliver oil and orangejuice. What is now Springhill Avenue was a long tree lined avenue. The powers that be destroyed all that. Theyeradicated every blade of grass and built Springhill, agrey brick and black taramacked estate with all greeneryerased.
Thankfully that too now is gone, following sustainedhousing campaigns, from Divis to Moyard, Turf Lodge, the Shankilland other remenants of disasterous housing developments from the 1960s.
Therewere very old houses - The YellowHouses- at the corner of what is now Springfield Park. They were a reminder that this was a rural area. There were a number of workingfarms. One opposite Springhill. Another beside Corrigan Park. Yet another at the Top of the Rock at the lefthand junction of the Whiterock and Springfield Roads. We usually went up the mountain via the mountain loney.
Therewas an old tin church enroute, opposite Dermot Hill,smallerbut not dissimiliar to Saint Matthias’on the Glen Road.Above and behind that therewere two flax dams with swans and an epidemic of frogspawnin the earlyspring. At the top of the loneythere was a spring of freshmountainwater, now piped off. Behind it was a track – now blocked- up to the Hatchet Field. We spentchildhoodsummers on the mountain.Thattrack to the HatchetField was our main route upwards towards the acres of buebellswhich give Féile na gCloigíní Gorma its name.
We alsoused to walk up to Torneroy - close to Lamh Dearg and listen to the Corncrakesabove Turf Lodge.
It is good that Féile celebrates all this. But more importantly it alsolooks with hope to the future. A future in whichhumans can live in harmony with nature. In our case as Belfast people in harmony with our Belfast Hills. My thanks to everyone who has made this possible. Many thanks also to all who organise the many events ofFéile na gCloigíní Gorma. It is based on the princilples of Community, Solidarity and Wellbeing. Great work and very enjoyable also.
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