Gerry Adams's Blog, page 4

Martin Mc Guinness. A Reflection. | A Courageous Advocate for Palestinian | The only answer is Unity

 

Martin Mc Guinness. A Reflection.

Friday the 21 March was the eighth anniversary of the deathof our friend and leader Martin McGuinness. Like many others, I am sure, I wasperplexed as it dawned on me that eight years had passed since we lost him. Inmy head I thought it was five or six years ago. But as we people of acertain age should now know time waits for no one. I remember as if it wasyesterday dashing to the hospital. Even though we were anticipating his deaththere was nonetheless a numbness, a shock to be told that Martin was gone.

Of course the love of his life Bernie, and their childrenand grandchildren and his siblings were the ones most effected but yet in theirgrief they knew that Martin mattered to a lot of people, particularly from hisother family. His republican family. And they let us grieve with them. Grief isthe price we pay for love. There are layers of feelings, unpredictable andunique to each of us personally as we adjust to the absence of a loved one. Andit can affect each of us differently.

I miss Martin to this day. He and I had so many adventurestogether, funny episodes, fraught and turbulent and dangerous experiences. Itis still difficult to accept that all that is gone. But accept it I do. Infact, I am philosophical about death. I remember Martin remarking one day thathe didn’t expect to live beyond his mid-twenties

’Jeepers’ I exclaimed. ‘I was exactly like that too.’

So to have such an active and much longer life is ablessing. For me it is also a matter of wonderment. We have lost so manyfriends particularly during the conflict. Many never survived beyond theirmid-twenties. Some were even younger. They died suddenly, violently. That’s theway it was. And our enemies died the same way. So did many uninvolved people.Victims of all the combatant forces, including the IRA. I regret that verymuch. So did Martin.

Some like the H Block hunger strikers died in a publiccontest of will with a cruel establishment much more powerful than prisonerswith nothing in their arsenal but an unbreakable integrity . And yet theprisoners defeated that establishment by giving up their lives. They didn’twant to die but that was the risk they took. So they went bravely before us.They taught us how to die.

Those of us, like Martin or myself, who were privileged tohave such comrades and friends could only marvel at their bravery. We livedwith death for decades. And against all the odds we survived the conflict. Wehelped bring it to an end. For that we are thankful to and for MartinMcGuinness. We were lucky to have him. I have been blessed with my friendships,including some who have died recently. Colette’s two sisters Anne and Mena andsister-in-law Belle gone in the last few months. And Ted. And Bik.  

Life is like a lottery. Few of us can determine how it willend for us. Martin died bravely. He battled against his illness stubbornly andresolutely. His concern was for Bernie and the weans. The ancient Irishbelieved that the spirits of the dead live on in places which they loved. Inrocks. Trees. Rivers. I believe that friendship is one of the mostimportant gifts any of us can have. If a friend goes off to live inAustralia they don’t cease to be our friend. So too with our friends who die.They are still our friends. They are still part of our lives. That’s how it iswith Martin McGuinness and me. I remember him with great fondness and pride. Heis still my friend. So is Ted. And Bik. And many others who gifted me withtheir friendship. Including the ones who are still alive. Martin valued theirfriendship also. 

 

A Courageous Advocate for Palestinian

Ms. Francesca Albanese is the Special Rapporteur for theUnited Nations in the Palestinian territories. She is a remarkable champion forhuman rights and international law whose moral integrity and deep rootedhumanity are an inspiration. Her leadership on Palestinian rights, herunremitting and courageous criticism of Israel’s decades long illegaloccupation of the Palestinian territories, is an example for all of us who seeka just peace between the peoples of Palestine and of Israel.

Last week Ms. Albanese was in the South of Irelandaddressing Universities, giving interviews, attending the massivepro-Palestinian march in Dublin on Saturday and meeting a wide range ofindividuals and groups.

Do you know who refused to meet her? The Irish Government.Apparently all of its 15 Ministers and 23 Ministers of State were too busy.Shameful.

This is the same government that is stalling on the OccupiedTerritories Bill or on introducing decisive economic andpolitical sanctions against a rogue state engaged in genocide. Inaddition, if Micheál Martin has his way the Irish government intends acceptingthe International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition ofantisemitism. This conflates Judaism with Zionism. A criticism, anycriticism of the state of Israel will be defined as anti-semitic. This meansthat Ms. Albanese’s reports on Israel’s war crimes or this article or themarches in solidarity with the Palestinians, can all be defined asanti-Semitic.

Is our outrage at the bombing of hospitals and the killingof babies to be dismissed as anti-semitic?

The total now killed in Gaza is over 50,000. 18,000 arechildren. Netanyahu’s claim that his war is about defeating Hamas orsecuring the release of Israeli’s held by Hamas, is a lie. Hamas is strongernow than before. Israel’s murder campaign and demolition of Gaza hasradicalised a new generation of Hamas fighters. Moreover, Israeli hostages aremore likely to be killed by Israeli actions than by their captors.  

So, this is not about defeating Hamas. This is aboutNetanyahu’s determination to hold on to power. He does so with the support of aright wing Zionist cabal that intends forcing the Palestinian people out oftheir homes in Gaza, the west Bank and East Jerusalem. But he also does thiswith the active endorsement and through the provision of weapons and fundingfrom the United States, the British government and other western allies ofIsrael. President Biden boasted of being a Zionist while Trump describes himselfas Israel’s protector. The genocide in Gaza is as much the responsibility ofAmerica, of Britain, and the EU as it is Netanyahu’s.

Where are the voices of condemnation from these governmentsto Israel’s extermination strategy toward Palestinians. They are silent.

The Irish government must take a stand against the genocide.Francesca Albanese reminded it last week that international law, irrespectiveof the Occupied Territories Bill, requires the Irish government to ban goodsand services from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. Thisresponsibility derives from the finding by the International Court of Justicethat the occupation of Palestinian land is unlawful and trade should notcontinue. Is this the real reason why none of the 38 government Ministers inDublin could find the time to meet Ms Albanese? It wanted to avoid being toldface to face that it is failing in its human rights duty; that it is notfulfilling its moral and legal responsibilities under international law.

Francesca Albanese is an inspiration. I applaud her courageand her stand in defence of the human rights of the Palestinian people and ofinternational law.

 

The only answer is Unity

There are at least 50,000 people in Belfast reliant on PIP(Personal Independence Payment). Given that levels of disadvantage and poorhealth indicators are higher in west Belfast it is safe to assume that manythousands of families in that part of the city are especially vulnerable toBritish government cuts to the PIP system.

Over the years Labour governments have shown scant regardfor their socialist roots. Often they are just a pale imitation of the Torieswho care even less. They especially show no empathy when it comes to the North.Year after year the British block grant fails to meet our basic public servicerequirements whether in the provision of health, education, housing,agriculture or the environment. The Executive scrambles to stretch a finitebudget.

Five billion is to be cut from PIP. Billions will now bespent on armaments as Europe engages with Russia in a new arms race.

The reality is that English interests are not our interests.No London government gives a damn about the people of the North. Or any part ofIreland. There is only one long term solution – a new shared Ireland in whichwe have control over our own affairs and can manage our taxation and publicservice expenditure in our interests and not those of England. Free from Londonrule. 

 

 

Defend Neutrality | Support the Occupied Territories Bill | Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig

 

Defend Neutrality

If truth be told the long standing claim of neutrality bythe southern Irish state is not all its made out to be. It is a fact thatsuccessive Irish governments have turned a blind eye to American war planesusing Shannon as a stopping off point for attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, aswell as carrying munitions to Israel for its genocidal war against the peopleof Palestine.  US planes carrying political prisoners to interrogation anddetention sites, where they were tortured, stopped at Shannon to refuel. Abreach of international law. The government did nothing.

In recent months a significant and increasing number ofarticles have been published in the mainstream Dublin based media claiming thatneutrality was fine in the past but is not fit for purpose in the world today.It is ‘morally degenerate’ wrote one writer. Getting rid of neutrality wouldmake the Irish state appear more ‘grown-up’ said another. The language hasbecome increasingly belligerent as the demand is made for a substantialincrease in spending on weapons and for the Irish government to join the NATOalliance.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael representatives have especiallyechoed this demand and are content to become part of a system that would sendyoung Irish men and women go off to fight and die in wars far from their home.

To achieve this the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael led government isproposing that it abandon the ‘triple lock’ system which up to now hasdetermined when and where Irish troops can be deployed overseas.  Thetriple lock came into effect in 2001, after the defeat of the Nice referendum.It was widely accepted that the loss of the first NICE Treaty referendum wasdue to public concern that the Treaty would subvert Irish neutrality and leadto Irish soldiers participating in a future European Army.

The other EU States accepted that Irish participation in anyEU military operation would require three authorisations. The first ofthe three - ‘triple lock’ requirements – involves the Government, throughthe Cabinet, giving its backing for troop deployment. The second step is asuccessful motion in the Dáil. And the third lock requires the backing of theUN Security Council for sending Irish troops overseas.

The second NICE Treaty referendum was subsequently passed.

In 2023 Micheál Martin indicated that the government wasexamining ways of amending the triple lock mechanism. At the beginning of thismonth the Fine Gael leader Simon Harris won Cabinet approval to ‘reform’ thetriple lock. The proposal is that the Cabinet and the Dáil would still have toagree to any military deployment but the third authorisation would now fall toa regional organisation, such as the EU.

Around 400 university and academic staff from across thestate immediately wrote to the Taoiseach warning that ending the current triplelock requirements “will significantly weaken its (Irish state)commitment to the UN system, UN Peacekeeping and multilateralism.” Theypointed to the fact that this comes at a time when the UN faces unprecedentedchallenges “particularly in the context of Israel’s genocidal war onPalestine … it is easy to be neutral in times of peace. The real test, andwhere it matters most, is being neutral in times of war and heightenedconflict.”

Two years ago an IrishTimes/Ipsos opinion poll  found that the overwhelming majority ofcitizens – 61% - wanted to retain the current model of neutrality. In anopinion poll in early February for Ireland Thinks “75% said ‘yes’ toIreland maintaining the current policy, 17% said 'no' and 7% were 'not sure'.” Thepopular mood is for neutrality but the actions of President Trump on theone hand and of President Putin on the other are creating uncertainty and fear.Add to this the decision by the EU to spend over €800 billion on armamentswhile allowing EU states to breach EU rules on spending, and we have a recipefor a growing crisis in which the only winners are the arms manufacturers.

I believe that a policy of positive neutrality and ofenshrining it within the constitution is the best way forward. That meansnot joining any military alliances. We should refuse to condone policies ormilitary groupings which maintain nuclear weapons and any weapons of massdestruction. And we should refuse to facilitate international conflict in anyway.

It means working for international cooperation and conflictnegotiation, democratic social change and respect for human rights.It means working for universal demilitarisation and nuclear disarmament.

The peace process has enhanced our international standing.Our role in the United Nations, our status as a small state and former colony,mean that we are widely respected, especially in the global south. That statuswas a key factor several years ago in persuading many former colonised nationsto support the Irish government’s place on the UN Security Council.

Spending billions on armaments, including fighter jets iswrong, especially at a time when there is a housing crisis and money isurgently needed for health and education and other public services. The Irishgovernment should be pursuing an independent foreign policy while promotingdialogue and negotiations as the way to resolve international disputes. Theworld does not need another overly armed European state joining the clamour forbigger and better weapons.

 

Support the Occupied Territories Bill

Last week An Taoiseach Micheál Martin is reported to havetold an Israeli lobby group in New York that the Occupied Territories Bill isnot on the legislative calendar. He is sticking rigidly to the line that thereare constitutional difficulties that require the Bill to be significantlyredrafted. The end result of this prevarication is that the OccupiedTerritories Bill remains in limbo.

While Micheál Martin stonewalls meaningful action againstIsrael that state’s genocide against the Palestinian people is unrelenting.Israel has clearly breached the January ceasefire multiple times. Since 15January Israeli forces have killed over 150 civilians in the Gaza Strip,including women and children, charity workers and journalists. For almost threeweeks now Israel has imposed a blockade on desperately needed aid from enteringthe devastated region. It has also turned off Gaza’s electricity preventing thedesalination plants from providing water for the besieged residents.

The extent of Israel’s genocidal strategy was furtherrevealed last week when the UN Independent International Commissionof Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory published a damning reportaccusing Israel of using sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-basedviolence against Palestinians. The Commission found that these acts “violatewomen’s and girls’ reproductive rights and autonomy, as well as their right tolife, health, founding a family, human dignity, physical and mental integrity,freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, and self-determinationand the principle of non-discrimination.” These amount to two categories ofgenocidal acts in the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention.

The Irish government has to stop pandering to the Netanyahugovernment and uphold international standards on human rights andself-determination. A start would include the passing into law of the OccupiedTerritories Bill.

The full report of the UN Commission can be foundhere. www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session58/a-hrc-58-crp-6.pdf

 

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig

St. Patrick’s Day is an opportunity for the Irish people anddiaspora to celebrate being Irish. In some parts of the world St. Patrick’s Daymorphs into a week of celebrations. I hope you enjoyed your St. Patrick’sDay/week wherever you are.

This year Friends of Sinn Féin published anadvertisement in several US based newspapers, including the New York Timesurging Irish America to speak out on the right of the diaspora to vote in IrishPresidential elections and called on the Irish government to prepare for IrishUnity.

In a message to government Ministers visiting the USA forSt. Patrick’s the FoSF advert said: “Irish America believes that theIrish Government has a constitutional obligation to plan for the unityreferendums promised in the Good Friday Agreement. It is failing to meet thatobligation… It is time to respect the rights of all Irish Citizens to elect theIrish President. It is time the Irish Government planned and prepared forUnity.” They are right.

 

Na Mná Abú | Let's Welcome the World | Opening the Gates of Hell

Na Mná Abú.

I have been a life-long supporter of Antrim’s footballersand hurlers. And the Camógs as well. Colette played county back in the day.Back in another day I had a dream that I too might make the grade.  Butwee boy dreams faded into reality and alas it was not to be.  I sometimesreflect on how different my Gaelic sporting life might have been in a differentpolitical dispensation.  If only?  

So, I have followed our county’s fortunes and misfortunesfrom the side-lines for over seventy years now. That’s a long time.  I amone among many. Not all of us can be county stars. But we kept the faith ontough days out as well as on heady days in Casement and other county groundsand occasionally in Croke. 

In recent years the totally unacceptable delays on buildingthe New Casement has infuriated us all. I am thinking especially of ageneration of young Gaels who have been robbed of the opportunity to play inour county ground. Some of the stalwarts on our Senior county teams may neverget that chance. That’s really not fair.

So I wish our county players the very best of good luck nomatter how much the odds are against us at times. A big thanks to ourmanagement teams, our sponsors, all the committee members and the legions ofvolunteers at every level. And especially the players. 

I keep an eye on the efforts of our Camógs and this columnsupports the footballers ‘Corrigan Or Nowhere’ decision about the UlsterCouncil’s totally unacceptable and stupid decision not to give Antrim ourentitlement to home advantage. I also support Davy Fitzs’s and the CountyBoards efforts to continue the revitalisation of the hurlers in the time ahead.Sunday’s decisive victory against Laois was brilliant. Lovely hurling. 

But enough of the men.

Let’s shine a light on Antrim’s most successful athletes inrecent times. The Ladies Gaelic Football Team.  They are brilliant. Sofar, under the management of Glenavy’s Chris Scullion and Michael Devlin, theyhave had an unbroken run of wins in Division Four.  No mean feat. Verywell done to all involved.

I watched them recently in Davitt Park against Wicklow. Whata great afternoon of Gaelic sport.  Davitts GAC – a great club doingmighty work especially down the Falls – rose to the occasion of hosting asenior game with style. The stewarding was exemplary. The welcoming set up inthe Davitt Park is a credit to the club and all its volunteers.

I lapped up the medal presentations for, and theperformances of the underage girl’s teams who graced the pitch at half time. Iknow similar events with underage teams happen in clubs across the city, countyand country and I know hosting big fixtures, not least in Corrigan Park, is toa very high standard and a great credit to all involved but there was somethingspecial about seeing dozens of wee girls in their club colours playing theirhearts out. And watching their role models in their county colours winning withsuch confidence. 

That’s what lifted us all. The players. Their team work,football skills and cohesion as well as individual displays by some outstandingfootballers. It was a joy to watch. Wicklow are a good team but Antrimoverpowered them and outplayed them in every part of the field.  They didthe same against Derry on Sunday.

A short time ago women or girls didn’t play football in thisorganised way. The GAA was a male only playing zone. No women need apply. That is changing. There is a lot of progress yet to be made. Equality with themale players with support, logistics and resources on the basis of parity isessential. And publicity also.  The achievements of our Antrim footballingwomen Gaels need highlighting. Let’s give them and their mentors the credit andrecognition they deserve. Na mná abu!

 

Let’s welcome the World

It has been a very busy and eventful couple of weeks for allof those who speak and enjoy the Irish language and who have campaigned fordecades against government policies of institutionalised exclusion, inequalityand discrimination.

Two weeks ago, and after years of prevarication bysuccessive British governments, the British Secretary of State finallycommenced the legal process by which the last penal law – the Administrationof Justice (Language) Act (Ireland) 1737 - will finally be repealed.This is an important milestone in the long struggle to ensure equality oflanguage rights for gaeilgeoirí in the North. There is now an onus on theJustice Minister Naomi Long to bring forward effective guidelines in the courtsthat reflect the increasing numbers of citizens using Irish in their dailylives in our society.

Nationally we are also currently in the midst ofan extensive programme of events celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge.The 17 days of Seachtain are full of events including music and dance,poetry and plays, sport and much more.  Belfast has made a realeffort to participate fully in this programme.

Adding to this atmosphere of positivity the First MinisterMichelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly last weekannounced the launch of the appointments process for the Irish LanguageCommissioner and Ulster Scots Commissioner. This too is an historic, thoughlong overdue, step forward and is an integral part of establishing the newidentity and language bodies.

It was also revealed last week that Belfast will host Oireachtasna Samhna (The November Gathering), the oldest Irish language and artsfestival on the island of Ireland. The festival, which will run from 29 Octoberto 2 November, celebrates the Irish language, arts and traditions and eachyear is packed with events that include debates, films, workshops – all throughthe medium of the Irish language. Thousands of gaeilgeoirí from across theisland and beyond are expected to come to Belfast.

And finally, the icing on the cake was the formalannouncement last Saturday that the biggest celebration of traditional Irishmusic and culture in the world – An Fleadh Cheoil – is coming to Belfastbetween 2 August and 9 August 2026. Over the years I have had the great fortuneto attend the Fleadhs in towns and cities across the island. They areexuberant, hugely enjoyable sessions, with tens of thousands thronging pubs,hotels, community centres and streets to listen to wonderful music.

Next year will mark the Comhaltas’s 75th birthdayand plans are already well advanced for the hundreds of events rangingfrom major concerts to street performances, pop-up gigs and community céilís.There will be music, dance and singing competitions. In addition, Féile anPhobail will take place over the same period. So, Belfast will be alive withthe sound of music.

Well done to all of those who have played a part in thesedevelopments and in particular to the thousands of young people who through AnDream Dearg successfully put the issue of language rights on the public agenda.

John Finucane MP put it well when he welcomed the decisionby Comhaltas. He said: “This will be a game changer for our people andcommunities. Let’s get ready to welcome the world.”

And let’s have a great Saint Patricks Day. Lá Fhéile PadraigFaoi Mhaise Daoibhse.  

Opening the Gates of Hell

Late last week war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu announcedthat he was blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip. His FinanceMinister Bezalel Smotrich applauded this decision and called for the cutting off of electricity and water. Within hours this wasdone.  Smotrich went further and demanded the "openingthe gates of hell on Gaza with a powerful, deadly and quick attack.”

UN Human rights experts accused Israel of "weaponisedstarvation" after the decision to block humanitarian aid. They assertedthat Israel as the occupying power is obliged to ensure sufficient food,medical supplies and other relief services reached the people of Gaza and thewest Bank. They accused Israel of weaponising aid by deliberately cutting vitalsupplies.

None of this will come as a surprise to all of those whohave been appalled by Israel’s genocidal policies. But at a time when much ofthe world’s focus in on US foreign policy toward Ukraine there is a real dangerthat the plight of the people of Palestine will slip off the political agenda.We must not allow that to happen. 

  

Seachtain na Gaeilge | Death of Dafyyd Elis-Thomas

 

Seachtain naGaeilge

Seachtain na Gaeilgeused to run for one week but because it was so popular it was extended. It nowruns annually from 1 March to 17 March – St. Patrick’s Day. 

Is í Seachtain naGaeilge an ceiliúradh is mó den Ghaeilge agus Cultúr na hÉireann ar domhan. Bhían oiread sin ráchairt uirthi gur síneodh amach chuig coicís í. Bíonn sí arsiúl ó 1 Márta go dtí 17 Márta - Lá Fhéile Pádraig, achan bhliain.

Seachtain na Gaeilgewas founded in 1902 by Conradh na Gaeilge as part the Gaelic  revivalof that time. Initially Seachtain na Gaeilge was limited to theisland of Ireland but today it is now a global phenomenon and the largestcelebration of our language and culture here and overseas.

Seachtain is anopportunity to celebrate our native language and culture and to enjoy itall.  I was lucky to attend the Belfast launch in An Cultúrlann on theFalls Road last week. I certainly enjoyed it. It was a greatevent. Bia blasta agus ceol milis. You could tell a new generation is hereto take the language movement forward with confidence. 

Dearbháil Uí Biataigh,Awareness Campaign Executive with Seachtain na Gaeilge, was a great Bean ATígh. Newly elected President of Conradh na Gaeilge, Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéinwas there also.

Múlú & Catrionawere there from Huartan. They performed their new single - Uiseog. They areabsolutely brilliant. I couldn't wait to download this great recording thefollowing day. 

Ainle Ó Cairealláininspired and updated us on the work being done in Gaza and the West Bank insolidarity with the Palestinian people. 

Breandán Ó Fiaich, anold friend and a former teacher of mine and a great activist enthralled us withhis sense of the importance of our language. All and all a great night outwhich was brought to a singing close by Piaras Ó Lorcáin & Bláithín Mhic Cana.

As Minister AislingReilly MLA said at the launch it is a “celebration of our language, acelebration of our culture, a celebration of our history but - more importantly- a celebration of the future ahead of us.”

In Belfast Seachtainna Gaeilge is organised by Conradh na Gaeilge in a strong partnership withFéile an Phobail agus Féile an Earraigh.  From music to dance, from poetryto plays, to exhibitions, to arts and crafts, sport and much more. Whether youhave a cúpla focal, are fluent in the language or want to enjoy yourself andfind out more, there is an extensive programme of events taking place acrossBelfast and beyond for the next couple of weeks. Belfast City Council is one ofmany councils involved in sponsoring and/or running events as part of the17-day festival. 

Voluntary andcommunity groups, schools, libraries, and organisations linked to sport and thearts are all participating. And the opportunity is there for anyone who has abright idea to join with friends and neighbours and colleagues to organisetheir own event. 

To read what's on inthe festival, go to Seachtainna Gaelige le energia or cnag.ie 

I am particularlyproud of the fact that in Belfast, which has a Gaeltacht Quarter, Raidió Fáilte– a radio station - and several thousand children attending Bunscoil andNaiscoileanna, as well as Coláiste Feirste, it is possible for me to do all mylocal business through the medium of Irish, from buying papers, getting ahaircut, shopping, getting lunch, having a pint or buying a cup of coffee.

Language is not aspectator sport. Language requires learning, whether it is done as a child, inschool or as an adult. The key to growing the use of Irish is to use whateverGaeilge you have no matter how limited. All of us can say ‘Go raibh maith agat,le do thoil, fáilte romhat or Cáide mar atá tú.’ And numerous other littlephrases. Why would we ever say ‘Cheers’ or ‘Cheerio’ ever again when we can say‘Slán’ or ‘Sláinte’?

Meantime the DUP tryto hold back the tide. Irritating but futile. So let’s keep moving forward.Together. There is still a lot of work to be done. Seachtain na Gaeilge is apart of this. Well done to everyone organizing and participating. 

Irish is for everyone,Seachtain na Gaeilge le Energia is for everyone – Bain Triail Aisti –Surprise Yourself

 

Death of DafyydElis-Thomas

Next week the funeralwill take place in Cardiff of Dafyyd Elis-Thomas the former leader of PlaidCymru, the Welsh independence party, who died in February. Forty-four years agoDafyyd was an MP in the British Parliament where he played a pivotal role inthe 1981 hunger strike.

Bobby Sands commencedhis hunger strike on 1 March 1981. He was to be followed in the weeks andmonths that followed by other blanket men. Five days after Bobby first refusedfood Frank Maguire, the Independent Republican MP for Fermanagh South Tyrone suddenly diedof a heart attack. Following days of intense discussion, it wasdecided by Sinn Féin to stand Bobby Sands in the by-election. Harry West wasthe Unionist candidate.

When the result wasannounced on the 9 April in Enniskillen’s Technical College - “Sands,Bobby – Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner – 30,492; West, Harry – Unionist– 29,046” – history was made and the political landscape on the island of Irelandchanged forever. Bobby was elected with a majority of 1447 on an 87% turnout.

Having just suffered asignificant political defeat the British were in no rush suffer another byholding a second by-election. The law was changed to prevent another prisonercandidate from standing however the intention of the British Tory government andof the Parliament was to avoid a motion being introduced which would allow fora potentially embarrassing second by-election.

Two months afterBobby’s death Dafyyd Elis Thomas stepped forward and moved the motion in theHouse of Commons. Gerry Fitt the SDLP leader tried to have it blocked on atechnicality but it went through.

Own Carron who hadbeen Bobby’s election agent stood in the by-election as an Anti-H-Block ProxyPolitical Prisoner. Ken Maginnis was the Unionist Party candidate. The turnoutwas 88.6%. Owen Carron won with an increased majority of 2,230.

The lesson ofelectoral successes was not lost on republicans. In the South Kieran Dohertyand Paddy Agnew won Dáil seats in the June 1981 general election. The followingyear Sinn Féin won five seats in the 1982 Assembly election. And the year afterthat the party secured over 100,000 votes in the British general election ofJune 1983, including the west Belfast seat for the first time ousting GerryFitt.

They were tumultuoustimes – dangerous times – but they changed the face of Ireland – North andSouth. Dafyyd Elis Thomas played a key role and his courage in taking thatstand will always be appreciated. I want to extend my solidarity andcondolences his wife Mair Parry Jones, and to his three sons, Rolant,Meilyr and Cai, from his first marriage.

Brendan McFarlane | Taking A Stand. | Fáilte abhaile Leonard

 

Brendan McFarlane

On Tuesday we buried our friend and comrade BrendanMcFarlane. Bik texted me just over 2 weeks or so ago to say he was back inhospital. He had been battling cancer for some time. A few days later themedics stopped his treatment. There was nothing else they could do for him.Suddenly and unexpectedly he was gone. He died peacefully surrounded byhis loving family.

My solidarity and sympathy to Lene, a mighty woman, and totheir children Emma, Tomás and Tina, his brother Gerard and the wider familycircle. His loss for them is immeasurable. For his countless friendsand comrades his death is a deep blow.

Bik spent almost all of his adult life as a Republicanactivist - an Óglach, a political prisoner, a leader, a man of courage,fiercely proud of and loyal to his community, a resolute advocatefor Irish Unity, a Gaeilgeoir,  a friend and a comrade. 

A lot has been written about Brendan and his IRA activitiesand he surely was a very committed activist but my memories of him are of agood humoured, thoughtful and steadfast friend. We met in prison fifty years orso ago. He used to joke that he became the prisoners Press Officer when headmitted he could type. He was too modest. He could also write. We alwaysgot on well.

Years later Bik was OC of the Blanket Men during the 1981hunger strike. For almost a year he minded the hunger strikers in theBlocks. He stood by Bobby, Francis, Raymond, Patsy, Joe, Martin, Kevin, Kieran,Tom and Mickey and the others who survived it. He met them in the prisonhospital as their bodies slowly failed. He was their voice with the prisonadministration and with the visiting delegations whose principal purpose was topersuade the prisoners to unilaterally end their hunger strike.

Brendan was in daily contact with a small number of usduring that terrible but inspiring summer of 1981. He was the calm steadyleader. A bunch of us inside and outside the H-Blocks and Armagh Women’s Prisonbecame, and remain, remarkably close as we worked to try and prevent the deathsof Bobby Sands and his nine comrades.

I still have the tiny little ‘teach’ that Brendan wrote tome when Bobby died. A “teach” or teachtareacht or a comm was usually written intiny letters on cigarette paper and occasionally on pieces of paper from pagesof the Bible and smuggled out to taobh amuigh from the H-Blocks.

Others will remember Bik’s many other talents andadventures. He was a central figure in the Great Escape when 38 H-Blockprisoners busted their way out of H7 in 1983.  They alsorecall his time with Gerry Kelly on the run in Europe, back again in theH-Blocks and then his work following his release as a political and communityactivist. He was a singer of note and a writer of fine songs.

In his oration Gerry Kelly told the story of an inspiringrepublican – a united Irelander – who never gave up, never bowed the knee – whoremained unyielding and brave to the end. On occasion over these last few daysI have been asked to sum up Brendan; to define the kind of activist he was. Forme he was the man Bobby Sands and his comrades trusted.

Lene was the love of his life. He was a good family man. Agreat friend to those of us privileged to know him as well as we did. For thatI am forever grateful.

Taking A Stand.

The decision by Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald andLeas Uachtarán Michelle O’Neill not to attend the St. Patrick’s Day events inthe White House and the Speakers lunch on Capitol Hill, will undoubtedly upsetsome of our friends across Irish America. This is very understandable. Sinn Féin’s access to successive US administrations was won after decades ofvery hard work by many people across North America. Understandably they do notwant to jeopardise or lose that influence. It is worth noting that in the pastSinn Féin has always attended White House events when invited, including duringPresident Trump’s first term in office.

So the Sinn Féin decision was taken after muchdeliberation.  The catalyst for this was the recent statements fromPresident Trump in which he calls for the expulsion of over two millionPalestinian people from the Gaza Strip, his refusal to countenance their returnand his proposal that the United States of America will take over theregion. The decision would have been the same had a democratic Presidentcalled for the expulsion of two million Palestinians.

International law and successive United Nations resolutionsand international agreements have long accepted the need for a two statesolution and the right of the people of Palestine to self-determination.President Trump has torn these up in the interests of an Israeli apartheidstate engaged in genocide and of those multi-national company’s eager toexploit the billions available in the off-shore gas and oil fields off thecoast of Gaza.

The Irish peace process, the imperative of defending theGood Friday Agreement as well as the need for constitutional change andeconomic investment have always topped Sinn Féin’s political agenda in all ourvisits to the USA. Successive US administrations have played a positive andimportant role in building and sustaining the peace. The historic connectionsbetween Ireland and the USA are important to us.

We acknowledge this each time we visit America and Sinn Féinleaders who will be travelling again to the USA in March will do so again. Theywill actively and positively engage with political leaders, Irish America, thetrade union movement and US business. As Mary Lou McDonald says Irish Americaand the USA is an “important partner for peace” and “St.Patrick’s Day, each year, is an important moment to re-enforce all of thoseconnections.”

Irish republicans are also internationalists. We have aresponsibility to use the opportunities available to us to raise our concernsabout international issues where we believe the US administration is wrong. Wedo so with the Irish and British governments and in the EU and otherinternational forums.  We do so respectfully but firmly. Until now ourcriticisms have been ignored by former President Joe Biden and now PresidentTrump.

From the first time I met President Clinton thirty years agoand thereafter with subsequent US Presidents I always took the opportunity toraise my concerns about US foreign policy about the embargo on Cuba, the plightof the people of Palestine, the efforts to advance peace in the Basque country,freedom for Leonard Peltier and of other issues of concern for Irish people andothers. I travelled to Cuba and also Gaza. Undoubtedly this caused difficultiesat the time for some of our friends in the USA. But like us their commitment toIreland allowed us and them to overcome these differences of opinion. 

Sometimes a stand has to be taken and friends can agree todisagree because our main common ground is unity for Ireland as set out in theGood Friday Agreement.  What Mary Lou and Michelle are doing is taking astand against what President Trump is proposing for the people ofPalestine.  To be silent or to acquiesce to the expulsion of a people fromtheir homeland is be complicit in it. It demands, as Mary Lou says, “seriousdissent and objection.”

So too does the use of USA armaments in Gaza and the WestBank and the White House endorsement of multiple breaches of International lawby the Government of Israel.

The stance taken by the Trump administration is tantamountto throwing petrol on a fire. It is storing up a depth of division and angerthat has never been witnessed before in the Middle East and it makes anyprospect for a peace process problematic for years to come.

 

Fáilte abhaile Leonard

Leonard Peltier was finally released from prison in Floridalast week. The 80-year-old political prisoner had spent almost the last 50years in prison protesting his innocence. Leonard is a member ofthe Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and he now on hisreservation in North Dakota. His family and friends gathered to welcome himhome. After his release he said: “They may have imprisoned me but they nevertook my spirit!” and he thanked “all my supporters throughout the world who foughtfor my freedom.” Fáilte abhaile Leonard.

 

 

The Re-interment of Frank Stagg | Pet Hates

 

The Re-interment of Frank Stagg. 

Last week we remembered Frank Stagg who died on hungerstrike in an English prison in February 1976. 

Frank began his fourth and final hunger strike in December1975. He died 62 days later. He last request was "to be buriednext to my republican colleagues and my comrade, Michael Gaughan" whodied on hunger strike two years earlier. Michael had been buried in Ballinawith republican honours.

Faced with the prospect of another high-profile funeral of arepublican hunger striker the plane carrying Frank Stagg’s coffin wasdiverted by the Irish Government from Dublin, where the Stagg family andfriends were waiting, to Shannon. Frank’s body was hijacked and taken byhelicopter to Ballina, where it was buried. A 24-hour guard was put in placeand concrete was poured over it to prevent the family from exhuming the coffin.

Frank’s brother George later described how, when  hetook his mother to visit the grave, Special Branch officers tookphotographs of her as she knelt and prayed. 

Recently George explained to me what happened afterwards fora new book I am working on. The caretaker of the cemetery was Gerry Ginty, whowas a Sinn Féin councillor. His mother, Jane, also worked there, selling lotsand burial plots. George asked her one day,

‘Who bought that grave that Frank is in, who paid for it?’

Gerry said, nobody. George asked if he could buy it. He took out his cheque book to pay three pounds.

‘How much are you going to give me?’ said Jane.  ‘Threepounds.’ George replied.

‘No,’ she said. ‘Give me a fiver. For a fiver you can get “adouble”. That grave and the one next to it.’

‘Why?’ George asked.

And she said, “In case you ever have to dig down’.

So George bought both graves.  He got a headstoneerected on the empty plot which read:

‘Here in a grave dug by government agents lies thebody of Vol. Proinsias Stagg. His will required that he be buried in theRepublican Plot alongside his comrade in the IRA Vol. M. Gaughan. Having diedon hunger strike in an English jail his body was stolen and defiled by the proBritish Dublin government of the day. The truth for which he lived will blossomwhen his remains are reburied with the Republicans of Mayo. Erected by hisComrades and family.’

The Special Branch maintained a round-the-clock watch onFrank’s grave. But after about a year they realised that it was a waste ofGarda time and resources.

That summer, 1977, George got a call from Gerry Ginty, whohad already been hatching a plan for the removal of Frank remains. 

He said, ‘We can do this!’

They didn’t know if the concrete went down the sides of thegrave also, entombing the coffin and making it virtually impossible to breakinto the grave from the side without using machinery, which would attractattention. They reckoned they needed six trustworthy people in total for theoperation.

Gerry and George made two. Gerry got one other, Con Ryan,and George got the other three – his brother-in-law Jimmy Doyle, Sean Comiskeyfrom Trim, and Paul Stanley from Kildare.

Gerry chose the night carefully, November 5th, anight when there was no moon. It was very dark and a bitterly cold night,with continuous driving rain. They had two lookouts – one up the town, and theother down at the gates of the graveyard.

Four of them would carry out the digging. Two on, twooff.  They made good progress but were soon soaked through to the skin.There was hardly anyone out and about but at one stage the blue light of aGarda patrol car was flashing down near the gates and they thought they hadbeen spotted. They later learned that the driver stopped to offer a lift to arain-drenched pedestrian. Once or twice headlights from cars leaving a nearbyhouse swept across the cemetery and forced them to duck.

George goes on to describe how when they had dug about fourfoot down they came upon a massive rock. It was about five foot in diameter. Itmust have weighed about a quarter of a ton, George thought. They wereperplexed: this is it, they not going to be able to get this huge boulder outGeorge explained. But Gerry told them to keep trying. They sent for the lookoutto give a hand.

Two men were down in the hole and they got a rope around thebig stone and rolled it up the bank, inch by inch. It was a miracle. After theyremoved it they stopped digging down and began to dig sidewise into Frank’sgrave. Then they discovered there was no concrete down the sides. 

It wasn’t long afterwards that they struck the wood of thecoffin. Thankfully it was in fairly good shape. They had quite a bit of troublegetting it to move because it was stuck there by suction. But, again, Georgeexplains, Gerry was very clever. He just dug little holes over the coffin andto the back of it, until they were able to put the ropes through and gentlymove it outwards.

George felt very proud. He was fulfilling a great sense ofduty. He was very mindful of the words he said to the Garda superintendent atShannon airport when Frank’s coffin was seized on behalf of the state

‘I’m telling you now, I promise you. A day will come andI’ll have him back.’

That day had come. When his friends and comrades easedFranks coffin out of its resting place and brought it to the surface Georgeplaced his hands on his brother’s coffin and he whispered, ‘For you, Frank.We’re doing this for you, Frank.’

They placed the coffin on a sheet of plywood, in case itwould disintegrate while being moved. They carried it down to the RepublicanPlot and within a short time they had Frank’s remains reinterred beside hiscomrade Michael Gaughan. They said a prayer. Then standing beside the grave ofthe two republican heroes they saluted.  It was not yet dawn. They leftthe graveyard and each went his own way. George got in this car and headed backhome.

Later, he rang his mother to tell her it was done. He askedher to listen out for the news. She cried. And she thanked him. 

 

Pet Hates

It’s funny the things that annoy me. With everything elsethat’s happening in the world I do consider myself very lucky. So I try to putwee things which irritate me into perspective. All things are relative Itell myself. As you might expect, and as regular readers will know, I getreally annoyed, like many other people, at the way the people of Palestine aretreated. Or Donald Trump’s utterances – and actions. Other global issues upsetme. For example, human indifference to climate change – especially among thosewho cause the dangers to the environment. Litter annoys me. But a few Sundaysago when I tuned into RTE to watch the Rugby match I was reminded of one of mypet hates. The RTE notice which advises viewers who live in the North that ThisProgramme Is Not Available.

I usually came across it when I was trying to tune in forGaelic games coverage. That seems to have improved following a vigorous FairPlay For Gaels campaign. It’s still not as good as it should be but well doneto all involved.

However, when I turned to RTE for the rugby and  to getthe benefit of Irish commentators there was no fair play for Ireland rugby fansin our house. Just the Verbotten graphic. Why?  Why did I have to turn toBBC to watch us beating Scotland.

Funny enough someone told me that The Young Offenders wasalso out of bounds for Nordies. So I checked that out. And yes its true. ThisProgramme – about Cork langers- Is Not Available either. And don’t get mestarted about the weather maps, RTE Radio’s  Morning Ireland  trafficupdates or Late Late Show competitions. All cut off  at the border. Inthis era of global communications its long past the time that RTE dropped itspartitionist broadcasting.

 

The World Stands at a Tipping Point | My Internment by Roseleen Walsh | Climate Crisis

 

The World Stands at a Tipping Point

In themonths leading up to the invasion of Iraq by American and British forces andothers in March 2003 Martin McGuinness and I warned Tony Blair and PresidentBush not to invade. We pointed out that it would be a breach of internationallaw. At one particular meeting in Mr. Blair’s office in Downing Street Martinand I urged the British PM to learn the lessons of British involvement inIreland and in other conflicts. We told him and his officials they were livingin cloud cuckoo land; “if you go into Iraq it will be another Vietnamand it will be a huge mistake.”

One Britishofficial told us that it would all be over in a matter of months. Martin toldhim “... given the previous history of successive British militaryexpeditions to Ireland, that certainly would not be my view of how thesituation in Iraq is going to move in the next short while." 

We raised our concerns regularly with Tony Blair in the runinto the Anglo-American attacks on the people of Iraq. It became obvious to methat Mr Blair was not listening to what we had to say. He was set on joiningGeorge Bush in his ill-considered offensive. If anything Mr Blair was morehawkish than Mr Bush. 

Martin andI were right. They were wrong. The consequences for the people of Iraq wereenormous. The estimates of those killed vary from several hundred thousand toover one million. The political and environmental infrastructure of the countrywas devastated. The political ramifications in terms of global instability arestill playing out today.

The Israeligenocide in the Gaza Strip and the pogroms against Palestinian towns andvillages in the west Bank strike a similar note today and a lesson for theinternational community. The support of the British Government and the WhiteHouse for the Zionist assaults on the Palestinian people is shameful. It isalso, like the war in Iraq, short sighted and counter-productive. 

Over 60,000Gazans have been killed – mostly women and children and 80% of theinfrastructure of Gaza has been destroyed; a thousand are dead in the westBank; south Lebanon is ablaze; Israeli forces have moved deeper into Syria, andthe US President is seeking to expel the Palestinian people of Gaza from theirhomeland. The world stands at a tipping point amid the real risk of a possiblewider conflagration. 

The westernstates who were part of the Iraqi War have failed to learn the lessons of thoseevents. Instead of upholding international law and supporting the InternationalCriminal Court and Court of Justice they have grievously damaged and underminedthese legal institutions. As a result, almost two million people – thepopulation of the six counties – have been forcibly displaced in Gaza and mosthave lost everything.

The history of the last forty years or so reflects a litanyof these militaristic adventures by the larger Western powers. Who hasbenefitted from this? Not the people of the countries or regions on thereceiving end of this aggression. Thankfully saner voices have been raised insupport of peace, human rights and international law.  Unfortunately,the Irish government has not always been as principled as it should be.Uachtarán Micheál D. Ó hUigínn has been much more consistent. 

The Irish government is currently watering down the OccupiedTerritories Bill which would block the import of goods and services into theIrish state from Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land. Thegovernment should be honouring the aims and objectives of the Bill and thefinding by the International Court of Justice that all states must abstainfrom economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the occupied Palestinianterritory. 

They must also support the right of the people of Gaza toremain in their homeland and for international law to be defended. Interferencein the affairs of other countries rarely work out well for the people of thesecountries. Ask the people of Iraq. Or Afganistan. Or Libya. Or Lebanon. If 77years of Israeli occupation and apartheid have taught us anything it is thatthe Palestinian people will defend their right to national self-determinationwhatever the cost.

 

My Internment by Roseleen Walsh

Roseleen Walsh is one of 36 women who were interned in theearly 1970s. Her latest book – My Internment – tells the very personal story ofher life as a young woman in west Belfast in the late 60s and early 70s. Of theconstant pressure and danger of living under British occupation and of her timeas an internee in Armagh Women’s Prison.

Roseleen has been writing for many years, including duringher time in Armagh Prison. She is a writer of great skill including of poetry,plays and books. She is also a very determined individual as her account of herfirst days in Armagh makes clear. When her cell door was opened for the firsttime she remembers that “there before me was, not a mess, but a blankcanvass. Immediately I knew white walls would suit me best for I intendedmaking those walls a work of art! I would surround myself within the comfort ofmy own words.  Since I was young, I had found it hard to express myself toothers until I discovered that poetry was a wonderful way to articulate what Imeant… The walls were to become like pages of a diary.”

Of course this was Armagh Prison and writing on the wallswas not acceptable to the prison authorities who told her that this was “considereda form of vandalism and I would be obliged to remove everything I had writtenon them, presumably with another coat of paint.”

Later a senior prison officer arrived to read thepoems. “After studying some of the poems, she sighed deeply then walkedout without speaking… After that there was no mention of vandalism or having toremove my poetry from the walls! I was to enjoy and develop the creativefreedom I had in my cell.”

My Internment also tells of the hard times. Of the disputeswith the prison system. Of coping with the news of a comrade’s death in theconflict outside the prison walls. Of facing her accusers in one of the corruptso-called courts set up to determine whether an internee could be released. Italso explores the comradeship that has always a hugely important part of theprison experience for republican political prisoners and political prisoners inother struggles around the world.

Roseleen’s website reflects her remarkable creative output.Take the time to visit. You will enjoy the experience: https://roseleenwalsh.org/

 

Climate Crisis

January was a month of climate opposites. Storm Éowyn is nowbelieved to have been one of the worst to ever hit the island of Ireland. Itbroke wind-speed records; forced the cancellation of flights andferries; and within hours had cut power supplies to over one millionhouseholds and businesses north and south.  Tens of thousands were alsoleft without water as treatment plants lost power.

Although last month Ireland was colder thanusual January was still the hottest month ever recorded across the world.More worrying it is the 18th month out of the last 19 when the averageglobal temperature was greater than that set by the world’s governments.  

In the last decade governments have pledged to keep anyincrease in the world temperature to 1.5C is above the average conditions thatprevailed before the industrial revolution. However, Copernicus which isthe EU programme that monitors our planet’s changing environment and climate,has just reported that 2024 was the warmest year on record. It was alsothe first to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for the annualglobal average temperature.

To add to this growing crisis President Trump has pulled theUSA out of the Paris Accords on climate and most world governments, whowere due to submit new plans this month for a major conference later this year(COP30) will fail to meet this deadline.

The result of climate warming is more extreme weatherevents, heatwaves, storms, droughts, melting glaciers and changing rainfallpatterns. For humanity it means millions facing serious water and foodshortages and significant political instability.

All governments must play their part in tackling the climatecrisis. The COP30 conference in November is an opportunity to prioritise afairer approach to funding global climate change efforts, particularly those oflow-income countries. They need financial support by the wealthier states todecarbonise. Greater investment is required in renewable energy and thetransition away from fossil fuels. There is not a lot of time left.

 

Partitionism Rules. | International support grows for Palestinian Struggle | OFF LINE.

 

Partitionism Rules. 

Simon Harris has said that Irish unity is not a priority forhim.  That is self-evident. But for him to say so is at odds with thestated position of most senior Irish politicians including An Taoiseach MicheálMartin. Their position is one of verbalised adherence to the constitutionalobjective of unity. In other words, they are verbalised republicans. RhetoricalUnited Irelanders. Mr Harris doesn't even pay lip service to this. Some maythink this clarity from him is good for the unity debate. And they have apoint.

Simon Harris words reflect the reality of the positionof successive governments. Thus far no Irish government has a strategy or aplan for unity. So unity is not only not a priority for Simon Harris. It isclearly not a government priority either.  

 

The truth is he reflects a deep-rooted view within thesouthern establishment which sees partition as acceptable. For 100 years FiannaFáil and Fine Gael have run the southern state – in their own interests. Oneled the government. The other led the opposition. And every so often they wouldwalk across the floor of Leinster House, play musical chairs and change places.Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Now they are Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dum. 

 

But their position on unity remained unchanged. They knew itwas popular with the electorate. Consequently, sometimes it was important toplay along with the public mood. So Yes, to the rhetoric. No to doing anythingabout it. But as the debate about unity continues and unity becomes a doableproject these positions are coming into sharp relief. 

To this end Harris and Martin will continue to distort thepolitical reality as its suits their aims. On the same day that Harrisdismissed unity, “That’s not where my priority is today” he waffledon how about what he described as the core fundamentals of the Good FridayAgreement. 

For his information the first part of the Agreement, afterthe Declaration of Support, is Constitutional Issues. It’s aboutconstitutional change – and creating the means by which voters here,  asequals can determine the future of this island democratically and freely.

So constitutional arrangements are a core part of theGood Friday Agreement which Mr Harris praises and which The Irish Government isa co-guarantor of. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Implementation of TheGood Friday Agreement acknowledges this in its recent report and calls on theIrish government to plan for Irish unity.

For Simon Harris and Micheál Martin to turn their backs onthis and on the fundamental issue of constitutional change and of the needto plan for it is partitionist short termism. 

 

Harris and Martin should be leading on constitutionalchange. They are obliged to do so in accordance with their respective partypolicies and objectives, as well as the Irish Constitution. Do I expect theywill? Only if public opinion North and South makes the political price too highfor them to ignore. 

So, United Irelanders, whoever you are, from whatever partyor none, Mr Harris has pointed the way forward. Let’s make unity a priority.That means you need to plan and organise to get the Irish government to planfor unity. Only in that way can we consolidate the substantial momentum thathas already developed in recent years and build the new, united Ireland that isso desperately needed for the future. 

International support grows for Palestinian Struggle

As the Israeli state’s brutal assault on the rights of thePalestinian people continues in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank ninecountries came together last Friday at The Hague, in the Netherlands, toinaugurate a new international alliance in support of Palestinians.

‘The Hague Group’ supports South Africa’s genocide caseagainst the Israeli state at the International Court of Justice, and also seeksto maximise international diplomatic and legal action in support of Palestiniannational and human rights. 

The establishment of The Hague Group came one year to theday last year when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisionalmeasures deeming a “plausible case of genocide” by Israel inGaza, following South Africa’s legal action under the GenocideConvention. 

Declan Kearney MLA, Sinn Féin’s National Party Chairperson,who is playing a leadership role in supporting the Palestinian cause, wasinvited to attend and address the event. The nine states making up thisnew international alliance includes South Africa, Malaysia, Namibia, Colombia,Chile, Honduras, Bolivia, Senegal and Belizes. 

 

Declan told me on Monday that Cuba has now joined theGroup. Critically he said; “I think one of the most important aspectsof this initiative is that for the first time an international alliance ofstates from the global south is telling states in the global north that theirposition on Palestine is not good enough.”

 

Declan described the establishment of The Hague Groupas “a pivotal moment for the Palestinian struggle for justice.” Hewas especially grateful for the role played by the Republic of South Africa.The ending of apartheid in South Africa and the creation of a new democraticSouth Africa owed much to the solidarity of the international community. So toowith our own peace process. The international community, governments andindividuals played an important part in achieving the Good Friday Agreement andsustaining the peace. International initiatives and solidarity with the peopleof Palestine are vital to their winning their freedom and independence.

A joint statement by the group declared thatthey  were; “Determined to uphold our obligations to end theIsraeli occupation of the State of Palestine and support the realization of theinalienable right of the Palestinian People to self-determination, includingthe right to their independent State of Palestine.”

Yvonne Dausab, Namibia’s Minister of Justice urged othergovernments to follow the lead of The Hague Group. She said: “Whenfuture generations inquire our contribution to Palestine’s right toself-determination, our response must be that we took concrete measures, or wewill be remembered as leaders who watched and did nothing.”

This is especially pertinent for the Irish government whichrecently adopted the pro-Israeli definition of Anti-Semitism and whose negativeapproach to the Occupied Territories Bill is causing grave disquiet.

 

 

OFF LINE.

I ordered a pair of jeans on line recently. Why, by the way,do we say a pair of jeans? It’s the same with trousers. A pair of trousers iswhat we say. That means literally two trousers. Or does it?  Maybe it’s agenerational thing. Do younger people just say jeans? Or trousers? And why isit plural? Maybe because most jeans and trousers have two legs? A pair of them.So maybe that’s the answer to my question.

Anyway however you describe it or them I recently orderedjeans on line. Waist 36 and leg 32. It all seemed very simple and straightforward. However, when the aforementioned jeans arrived one leg was 38 incheslong. The other one was 34 inches.  Maybe the vendor sent me someoneelse’s jeans. Maybe some person with a 38 inch leg and a 34 inch leg is waitingfor their purchase. Incidentally the 38 inch one is for the right leg. Theother one is for the left leg.

Now I know I can just send them back though that may be toocomplicated a process for me at this stage of my online apprenticeship. Itcertainly makes the process more convoluted and less simple orstraightforward. Hence the reason for this mention in my column.

If you ordered jeans with a 38 inch right leg and a 34 inchleft leg I have them. If you have the ones I ordered we could do a swap. Or forthe right price you can have yours. Otherwise next week sometime I’m gettingout my needle and thread. That’s one of the benefits of being a formerprisoner. I am very handy at sewing. Sewing is much easier than themachinations of on line purchasing. So there you have it. No more online jeansfor me.

Stramer Waiving Rules | Leonard Peltier - Going Home

 

Starmer Waiving The Rules. 

Accordingto the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer his government is looking at"every conceivable way" to prevent me and at least 300 other peoplefrom receiving compensation for wrongful arrest and imprisonment in the 1970s.This issue of compensation arises from the decision by the British SupremeCourt in May 2020 that the Interim Custody Order (ICO) or internment orderissued against me was unlawful. 

Internment was demanded by the Unionist government in 1971and imposed by the British on 9 August that year. It had been used in everydecade since partition in 1920. Internment saw thousands of armed troops smashtheir way into nationalist homes to arrest 342 men and boys. They were draggedfrom their beds and many were beaten. Fourteen – the Hooded Men - weresubjected to days of sustained torture. 25 people were killed in thefollowing four days. In Ballymurphy in west Belfast eleven local citizens, includinga priest and mother of eight, were killed by the Paras in the BallymurphyMassacre.  Five months later the Paras attacked an anti-internment marchin Derry and killed 14 people. Bloody Sunday was another of many dark days inthe conflict. In July 1972 another five citizens, this time in Springhill, werekilled by the British Army. They included another priest and athirteen-year-old girl.

I was interned in 1972. Released and re-interned in July1973. On Christmas Eve 1973 four of us made a failed attempt to escape. Thefollowing July I tried again and failed. Again. For these twoescape attempts I was sentenced by a Diplock non-jury court to five yearsfor attempting to escape from ‘lawful custody’.

Fast forward 32 years to 2009 and a researcher workingfor the Pat Finucane Centre in Derry uncovered a memorandum, dated 8 July 1974,from the Director of Public Prosecutions to the British Attorney General. In itthe DPP warned the Attorney General that before they decided to go ahead withthe escape charges they should understand that there was the possibility thatthe would-be escapers and “many other detainees held under the Orders whichhave not been signed by the Secretary of State himself may be unlawfullydetained.”

It took ten years of diligent work on the part of my lawyersbut eventually the British Supreme Court in 2020 ruled that I had beenunlawfully detained. 

The Supreme Court quashed my two convictions. But theDepartment of Justice in the North decided in 2021 that I was ineligiblefor compensation. I challenged this decision. In April 2023 Justice Coltonconcluded that it was “beyond reasonable doubt that there has been amiscarriage of justice, that is, the applicant is innocent of the crime forwhich he was convicted.” He added that: “I am satisfied thatthe applicant meets the test for compensation under the Criminal Justice Act1988.”

Almost immediately Conservative politicians and unionistscondemned the decision. Several British Tory Lords brought in a rushed legalamendment that would deny compensation to any internee whose interim custodyorder had not been personally considered by the Secretary of State.  Theywere persuaded to drop this in favour of a formal British government amendmentwhich is now part of the Legacy Act. I challenged the Dept. of Justice decisionbut the Appeal Court in Belfast decided that they could not arrive at adecision because of the new law. 

The Act states that no one can take a civil actionor continue with one already in place if the person bringing the action claimsthat their imprisonment occurred because an interim custody order wasunlawfully signed. Most of the major parties on the island, along with theIrish government, victims groups and human rights organizations, have opposedthe law. Many correctly saw it as an effort by the British government toprotect its forces and agents and politicians

While in Opposition the British Labour Party committed togetting rid of the Legacy Act. It is obvious now they will not dothis. 

British Secretary of State Hilary Benn’s treatment of thefamily of the GAA’s Seán Brown is an example of that. Mr Brown was killed byloyalists who included many British government agents. Mr Benn is blocking theBrown family from getting the public inquiry they are entitled to. Hilary Bennshould know better. He should stand up for the Brown family instead of lettingthe securocrats run him. His father, the late Tony Benn used to say, ‘Neverwrestle with a chimney sweep. You will get very dirty’.’ He was talking abouthow to keep high standards. A very wise piece of advice which his son shouldemulate.

Mr Starmer clearly doesn't mind getting dirty. It will beinteresting to see what ‘conceivable way’ he will invent to prevent me, and theother unlawfully detained former prisoners from getting compensation. 

Mr Starmer’s arrogance is in keeping with the imperialmindset that survives yet in the heart of the British establishment. Britanniaused to rule the waves. That leads to strange notions of superiority and thelack of self-awareness so ably demonstrated by Mr Starmer. His remarksare another example of Britannia waiving the rules.

Mr Starmer’s stated intention to subvert the laws he issupposed to uphold will come as no surprise to those in Ireland and incountless other states around the world who have experienced British coloniallaw. The self-proclaimed leading British counter-insurgency expert Frank Kitsondescribed it well in his 1971 manual, Low-Intensity Operations:Subversion, Insurgency & Peacekeeping:

“The law should be used as just another weapon in theGovernment’s arsenal, and in this case it becomes little more than a propagandacover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.”

So I will continue to pursue this case. I have no personalinterest in compensation for myself. If any comes to me at the end of thisprocess, I will donate it to good causes. 

 

 Leonard Peltier - Going Home

Leonard Peltier is a native American activist. He has spentalmost 50 years in prison in the USA for a crime he has always denied and whichmany, including some involved in jailing him, have long believed he wasinnocent of.  A short time before he left office US President Joe Bidencommuted Leonard’s life sentence to one of home confinement in his tribalhomeland in North Dakota. Leonard is due to be released on 18 February.

While this is welcome it is not a pardon and Leonard remainsconvicted of the killing of two FBI agents in 1975. 

In a short comment Leonard said: “It’s finally over – I’mgoing home. I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. Iwant to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.”

This week a new documentary about his life – FreeLeonard Peltier – is due to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival.I’m sure the film makers have been working hard to update the documentary whichwill tell the story of the “longest-held Indigenous political prisoner in theUnited States.” The scheduled performances of the film are already sold out andthe film makers are hoping to secure more from the festival organisers. 

Like many others I have publicly and privately raisedLeonard Peltier’s case many times, including many years ago with PresidentClinton and subsequently with other US Presidents since then includingPresident Biden. Leonard has served more time than the presumptive maximumfederal sentence. 

Others have supported the campaign to have Leonard released.They include Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu, Mary Robinson, Robert Redfordand James H. Reynolds the former US Attorney General whose office handledthe prosecution and appeal in the Leonard Peltier case appealed for hissentence to be commuted. In a letter to President Biden he wrote: “Withtime, and the benefit of hindsight, I have realized that the prosecution andcontinued incarceration of Mr. Peltier was and is unjust.”

 

At 80 years old and in failing health Leonard will now havetime with his family and friends. I wish him well. Fáilte abhaile. 

 

Dublin Lacks Ambition | Presidential Vote | Solidarity with the people of Palestine

Dublin Lacks Ambition

Last week Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, supported by theregional independents, published their Programme for Government 2025. Thiscontains the objectives set by the government parties for the next five years.In my ten years in the Oireachtas as the TD for Louth and East Meath I workedthrough two such Programmes. First in 2011 and then again in 2016. NeitherProgramme for Government matched the rhetoric or the commitments containedwithin them.

The Programme for Government 2025 is no different. It is asPearse Doherty aptly described it “a copy and paste job from five yearsago … a tired and stale document that is completely devoid of the ambitionand big ideas our people need and deserve.”

Nowhere is this more evident than in its abject failure toaddress the major issue of constitutional change and a united Ireland. TheProgramme claims that the “Government of Ireland is committed to theunity of the Irish people and believes that this can only be achieved through asustained focus on and investment in reconciliation and we remain steadfast inimplementing the Good Friday Agreement in full.”

However, the Programme produces no meaningful commitments toachieving “unity of the Irish people.” There is no plan forunity. No step by step programme to advance the conversation around the issueof unity. No effort to reach out to those of a different view on unity. Thereare no new or substantive policy proposals to engage with those from theunionist/Protestant section of northern opinion. Moreover, the claim that theFFFGers “remain steadfast in implementing the Good Friday Agreement in full” ismeaningless in the absence of any proposals to bring this about.

The Good Friday Agreement provides for referendums North andSouth to facilitate constitutional change. The Programme for Government makesno reference to this. Nor does it state how it would facilitate this. Howeveruseful the Shared Island initiative is - and additional funding for it iswelcome- it is not an alternative to the establishment of a Citizen’s Assemblyor Assemblies where representatives of the people of this island can cometogether to discuss all of the issues that are pertinent to achieving Irishreunification. The Programme for Government is noticeably weaker that theFianna Fail or Fine Gael Election Manifestos. Our task is to change that. 

Presidential Vote

A further example of the lack of ambition by Fianna Fáil andFine Gael can be found in their refusal to honour the commitment both made in2020’s Programme for Government to hold a referendum on the extension ofPresidential voting rights to Irish citizens living in the North and outsidethe island of Ireland.  

Non-resident citizens in over 120 countries around theworld, including many of our partners in the EU, have the right to vote inelections. This is seen as an issue of equality and inclusivity which benefitsthe state.

In 2013, the Constitutional Convention established by thegovernment agreed that Irish citizens in the North and the diaspora should havethe right to vote in presidential elections. In November 2015 the JointOireachtas Committee on European Affairs recommended extending the votingrights. In October 2018 An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced that areferendum would be held in May 2019. The following month the government saidthe referendum would take place in October 2019. None of this happened. 

One of the most basic rights and entitlements of any citizenis the right to vote.
The President is not the president of a land mass; he is President of the Irishpeople. It is only right that all Irish people have the entitlement to vote forour President. 

 

Solidarity with the people of Palestine

As I write this column the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip isless than 24 hours old. Already thousands of displaced Palestinians driven fromtheir homes by Israel’s genocidal war are starting to slowly make their wayback into Gaza City and northern Gaza. Most carry on their backs the entiretyof their possessions. Their very few clothes and personal belongs and for somethe tents that will provide them with shelter among the rubble that was oncetheir homes. Some have donkeys to help while a few of the more fortunate havemotor vehicles.

Fifteen years ago when I was in Gaza City it was anovercrowded open air prison under economic and military siege by Israel.Despite that there were functioning hospitals and schools, universities andfactories and shops. It was a vibrant society where young people were workinghard to secure an education to help build a better future of themselves, theirfamilies and their society. Today all of that is gone and below the shatteredremains of apartment blocks and houses lie the remains of countless thousandsburied by Israeli bombs.

The official statistics of death total almost 50,000 deadand over 100,000 wounded. Somewhere between 15-20,000 are children and Gaza nowhas an enormous number of children with missing limps and no parents. Orphansof a war that was encouraged and facilitated by the western states who haveabandoned international law and supplied the armaments to facilitate thisgenocide.

Israel is an apartheid state. It engages in collectivepunishment, the use of pogroms against the Palestinian people of the west Bank,the construction of illegal settlements on occupied lands, the wide-spread useof internment, the cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners, and thetargeting of innocent civilians. All of these and much more is a breach ofinternational law.

It is also widely acknowledged that the ceasefire agreementnow in place hasn’t change much from the first draft produced last March.The broad outline is contained in the UN Security Council Resolution 2735 thatwas Adopted by the Security Council on 10 June 2024. That it took so longto reach this point is the result of a ruthless Israeli regime determined tobreak the Palestinian people.

For over 70 years, Israel has never faced meaningfulconsequences for its actions. Instead it has been protected by the UnitedStates, Britain, Germany, the European Union leaderships and others for theseviolations. This has to change.

The immediate priority must be to provide the humanitarianaid which Israel has blocked.

The incoming Irish government has an opportunity todemonstrate real international leadership by taking the steps needed to holdIsrael to account for its actions. 

Regrettably, Micheál Martin announced on the day of theceasefire that the new Irish government will introduce a different piece oflegislation to replace the Occupied Territories Bill. His announcement raisesreal concerns that the government is planning to introduce legislation thatwill fall far short of the proposals contained in the Occupied TerritoriesBill. Any effort to dilute that Bill must be vigorously challenged.

Last July the judgement by the International Court ofJustice that Israel's continued presence in the Occupied PalestinianTerritories is 'unlawful' intensifies the legal and moral responsibility of theinternational community to help bring the occupation to an end. There isan opportunity for the international community to end its shameful response tothis genocide and do the right thing by the Palestinian people and upholdinternational law.  

The aim must be to secure a viable and free Palestine and alasting and just peace based on equality between the people of Palestine and ofIsrael. At this juncture that demands that a peace process is established. Thecease fire is welcome. But it is not enough. It will be challenging but shapinga real peace process is the only way forward. The cessation is the firsttentative step in that process. Let’s build on it.