Slán Irish Voice: Every Brilliant Thing: War Crimes in Jenin

 

Slán Irish Voice

Two weeks ago Niall O’Dowd, founder of the IrishAmerican newspaper The Irish Voice announced that it was to close after 36years. The New York based Irish Voice and the Irish Echo were the principlesources of news for decades of Irish Americans and new Irish immigrants movingto the USA. Now the Irish Voice is gone. But a far sighted Niall O’Dowdrealised some years ago the direction of travel for newspapers competingagainst the huge growth in online media services and founded the online IrishCentral. Today IrishCentral.com gets over two million visitors monthly.

I first met Niall in Belfast in1983. He was interviewing me for an Irish newspaper in San Francisco which hethen edited. I had been elected as the MP for west Belfast and Niall wasinterested in the political developments taking place in the aftermath of the1981 hunger strike. Sinn Féin had won five seats to the Assembly in 1982 andreceived over 100,000 votes in the June 1983 Westminster general election. Ihad only recently been unbanned from travelling to Britain – it was re-imposedsome years later – and Section 31 in the South, which prevented Sinn Féinrepresentatives from appearing on radio or television, was deeply embedded inthe political and media establishment. It still is in some quarters,particularly the old guard at RTE. 

Later when Sinn Féin establishedour peace strategy and my meetings with John Hume became public Niall was amongthe first to recognise their significance. He played a central role in creatingthe opportunity for Presidential hopeful Bill Clinton to state publicly hissupport for a visa for me and for a special envoy to be appointed and he waskey to the engagement with the group of Irish Americans – the Connolly HouseGroup – who helped create the conditions for the IRA cessation in 1994.

A measure of the importance of therole of Niall O’Dowd and of the Connolly House group was recalled later byConor O’Cleary, the Irish Times journalist based at that time in the USA. Heprovides a sense of the secret machinations that were part of the process:“One foggy summer evening in Dublin, around the middle of August 1994, aman stood waiting outside the Irish Independent office in Middle Abbey Street.Out of the mist, an attractive woman appeared and approached him. She asked,"Do you think Dublin will win on Sunday?" Recognising the code words,he handed her a document and they both walked off in different directions.

The woman was from Sinn Fein, andthe document she was given was one drafted by Niall O'Dowd … In the documentthe Irish-American "peacemakers" committed themselves to a campaignto achieve certain goals if an unarmed strategy was pursued by the republicanmovement. The list of attainable goals included: unrestricted access to the USfor Gerry Adams and other Sinn Fein members; parity of treatment with otherNorthern Ireland leaders in Washington; the opening of a nationalist office inWashington; US government support for the peace process with the aim of gettingWashington to act as a guarantor of any agreements in Northern Ireland; and thepromotion of Irish-American business and investment in the North of Ireland.”

As part of the follow-up the IrishAmerican group returned to Ireland on 25 August. The group included NiallO'Dowd, Bruce Morrison, Bill Flynn, Chuck Feeney, Joe Jamison and Bill Lenihan.They were a crucial part in creating the right atmosphere for the IRA cessationthat was announced on 31 August 1994.

My personal connection with theIrish Voice began in 1993 when I suggested to Niall that I write a column forthe Voice. He promptly agreed. It became an important means by which the SinnFéin analysis and political initiatives could be explained to Irish America.The weekly articles included comment on President Mary Robinson’s visit to westBelfast and the brouhaha that was created around us shaking hands; thecraziness of my 48 hour visa to New York; the IRA cessation; the joint meetingwith Albert Reynolds and John Hume; my regular visits to the USA; the visit byPresident Clinton to Belfast and the many ups and downs of the peaceprocess.  The columns and the two books that were published from them – AnIrish Voice; The Quest for Peace and An Irish Journal – are a diary of thosedays.

The articles were not all serious.Like this column they meandered all over the place – but always trying toprovide the reader with an insight into the political events of the time.

But one thing is clear throughoutit all and that is the power and the solidarity of Irish America with peace in Irelandand with the aim of Irish Unity. Niall O’Dowd made this latter objectiveabsolutely clear in his first editorial written in November 1987.

He made it clear again in his finaleditorial. He recalled that first issue; “We stated right away that a unitedIreland was the only long term solution to the failed partition of Ireland in1922 and our stance has not changed. In fact, there are very few impartialobservers who would quibble with the notion that in the intervening 36 years,prospects have never looked brighter than now for Ireland to finally unite.”

Niall O’Dowd and Voice editorDebbie McGoldrick built a crusading paper. “We are indeed an activist paper; wedon’t believe in journalism that uses phrases like, ‘On the one hand and theother.’ Have an opinion and defend it.”

And for almost four decades that’swhat the Irish Voice did.

So, go raibh maith agaibh to Niall,and Debbie and all of the staff of the Irish Voice for your powerfulcontribution to Irish America and the USA and to the Irish peace process andIreland. And thanks also for your support and forbearance through what wereoften difficult and challenging times. Adh mór. See you soon

 

Every Brilliant Thing

Listening, asI usually do on Sunday mornings, to Sunday with Miriam on RTE Radio  afterSunday Miscellany I really enjoyed Altan’s tunes and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’scraic. I was also very taken by the preview of Every Brilliant Thing which isbeing staged at The Galway Arts Festival.

TheatreDirector Andrew Flynn gave us an insight into this play by Duncan Macmillan.Essentially this is about a young man who starts, at the age of seven, tocompile a list of those things which make his life worth living. This is whilehe is battling with the challenges of the different stages of his life,including his mother’s attempt at suicide. 

Andrew Flynnthen went on to invite all of us to compile our own list of Every BrilliantThing in our lives. I think this is a very good idea. If you agree make outyour own list of the Ten Brilliant Things in your life. You can also email yourlist to everybrilliantthinggalway@gmail.com

You can dothis anonamionusly. Here’s my list. 

 Family. 

Friends.

GoodHealth. 

Peace.

Nature.

Books.

Music.  

Dogs.

The Gaeldom.

Féile AnPhobail. 

 

WarCrimes in Jenin

TheIsraeli Government’s assault on Jenin, the Palestinian refugee camp, in theoccupied west Bank left 12 people dead and scores more injured. Using bombs,Apache helicopters, drones, bulldozers and hundreds of troops Israel’sapartheid regime imposed a reign of terror on the 14,000 people who live inJenin. More than 3,000 civilians were displaced from their homes.

Humanrights organisations have described the attack as a war crime with Israeliforces deliberately attacking civilians and medical personnel. The UN specialrapporteur Francesca Albanese said that the Israeli actions “amount toegregious violations of international law and standards on the use of force …”

Shamefullythe international community refuses to challenge Israel in its abhorrenttreatment of the Palestinian people. Some are going out of their way to defendIsrael. Not surprisingly the British government is to the fore in this.Recently it introduced new legislation – the EconomicActivity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill.

Thestated objective of this legislation is “prevent public bodies from beinginfluenced by political or moral disapproval of foreign states when takingcertain economic decisions …". In other words the British government isoutlawing public bodies, including local authorities, pension funds anduniversities, from boycotting, refusing to invest in, or disinvesting from “(a)Israel, (b) the Occupied Palestinian Territories, or (c) the Occupied GolanHeights." No other state is mentioned in the legislation.

If you want to support the Palestinian people oneway is to endorse the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in itswork to “end international support for Israel's oppression of Palestinians andpressure Israel to comply with international law.”