The Unity Debate is growing: Ethnic Cleansing: Crann na Saoirse

 

The UnityDebate is growing

Seven keyIrish-American organisations have announced an ‘Irish Unity Summit – For a Newand United Ireland’ to be held in New York on 1st March nextyear. This major initiative – coming as it will just before St. Patrick’s Dayand the visit to the USA of political leaders from Ireland – is being organisedby the Ancient Order of Hibernians; the Brehon Law Societies of NYC and Nassau;the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Long Island; Friends of Sinn Féin; IrishAmerican Unity Conference; the James Connolly Irish American Labor Coalition,and the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians. More details on the format andspeakers will be announced by the organisers later. 

On June 15 nextyear Ireland’s Future will be holding a major conference – Pathway to Change -in the SSE Arena in Belfast. Professor Brendan O’Leary, Claire Mitchel, JarlathBurns, Mary Lou McDonald and Claire Hanna are among speakers already confirmed.

Last weekQueen’s Human Rights academic and Ireland’s Future member Professor ColinHarvey was the guest speaker at an event organised by the National Committee onAmerican Foreign Policy at Fordham University in New York. Speaking on thetheme, ‘A Pathway to a new Ireland’ Colin Harvey said: “In Ireland the evidenceof an increased focus on preparations for change is everywhere. Theconstitutional conversation is moving into a much more detailed planning phaseand it is therefore essential that local and global voices for a new and unitedIreland are heard and listened to.” Professor Harvey told his audience thatthere is a particular onus on the Irish government to facilitate thepreparations for unity. 

Later duringhis visit Professor Harvey met with the Brehon Law Society. He told them thathe believes that by the end of this decade there willbe a unity referendum. 

Last week also Ireland’s Future helda packed business lunch in the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Over 300 people heardformer BBC journalist Gavin Esler speak of the potential for change. The formereditor of the Irish News Noel Doran also addressed the gathering.

And finally, two weeks ago Trade Unionists for a New Ireland (TUNUI) held a two dayconference in Belfast. It heard a range of speakers from Ireland andinternationally talk about the importance of constitutional change and ofsocial justice to any new Ireland.

The two-day event brought togetherpeople from across the island and beyond with the aim of advancingconstitutional change. Among the speakers was SIPTU deputy general secretaryGerry McCormack and Frank Connolly, author of United Nation - The Casefor Integrating Ireland.

The Chair of TUNUI Seán McElhinneysaid: " We believe that some of the worst aspects of social inequality andsocio-economic disadvantage facing working people can only be addressedproperly by changing how Ireland is governed - north and south … Constitutionalchange gives us a unique opportunity to start building something better thanthis, and we want to promote the importance of social justice in everyconversation about our future."

 

EthnicCleansing

 By the time you read thiscolumn the numbers of people killed in Gaza will have exceeded 10,000. Almosthalf of these are children. Every minute, of every hour, of every day newand dreadful images emerge from Palestine that horrify and shock.

This is not the first time that thePalestinian people have faced ethnic cleansing.  In 1948 the Nakba orCatastrophe witnessed the ethnic cleansing of almost 80% of historic Palestineby the newly established Israeli state. In the decades since then an Israeliapartheid system has dehumanised and demonised the Palestinian people.

The Palestinian people of Gaza andthe west Bank are facing a second Nakba. The settler and Israeli Army violencein the west Bank, the deliberate attacks in Gaza on hospitals, schools, theUniversity, refugee camps, bakeries, ambulances and families and the cuttingoff of fuel and food and water, is about forcing Palestinians into abandoningGaza. A recent Israeli report and public commentary by Israeli leaders haveacknowledged that Israel seeks the expulsion of all Palestinians from Gaza. AnIsraeli Government  minister Amichai Eliyahu has said nuking Gaza ‘is oneof the possibilities’ and in a remark reminiscent of ‘To Hell or Connacht’ that the Palestinians ‘can go to Ireland or deserts’. 

Last week 200academics on the island of Ireland united in demanding that Irish universitiescut ties with Israeli institutions “untilthe occupation of Palestinian territory is ended, the Palestinian rights toequality and self-determination are vindicated, and the right of Palestinianrefugees to return is facilitated.” They are right.

Several days ago Mary Lou McDonald called on the Irish government andinternational community to take action to enforce international law. She alsocalled for the Israeli Ambassador to lose her diplomatic status. Other stateshave already broken diplomatic ties with Israel.

An immediate ceasefire and the infusion of substantial international aidis now essential but we should be under no illusions. There can be no victorsthrough war in the Middle East. If the international community fails to standup for international standards and international law then what we havewitnessed in the last month will only be repeated in the future. 

 

Crann Na Saoirse. 

This is tree planting time. Again.Any month with an ‘R’ will do but it’s usually best between October andMarch. But plant your wee baby trees well before or well afterthe frost kicks in. I always try to do my planting in the Autumn so the treewill have time to settle in before Spring. Container grown trees can be plantedat any time, though they too need protected from frost  but I mostlyuse bare root or wee slips grown from seed.

I collect the seeds, mainly chestnutsand acorns from the Falls Park along with Rowan, Hazel, Hawthorn andBirch. 

Back in the day when our lives wereconsumed with endless talks  I gathered up seed from the great housesof England, like  Chequers, the  back garden of 10 DowningStreet, Leeds Castle or back home at Hillsborough, Arbour Hill or theÁras.  

There are all kinds of littleprocesses and different soil, gravel or sand mixes which you can use forbringing on your seeds but I’m a lazy gardener. I just put the seeds intoa pot of whatever loam I have to hand and let nature do its work. 

When the seeds have sprouted thesaplings can be kept in pots for years before planting out. Apart from chestnutsI plant only native species. They are good for keeping the air clean. Good fornative insects. For native birds and other creatures.  Good for theclimate and nature. Trees are also great presents. They can mark thebirth of a new baby or immortalise the memory of a fallen friend. Trees aregood for remembering the living and the dead. They are about thefuture. 

That is why Freedom Trees areimportant. Crann Na Saoirse can be planted now in the knowledge that theywill grow tall in a free Ireland.   

So why not plant your own Crann NaSaoirse. Or if you have the space or access to public land or commonage, ahill or mountain side - with permission- why not plant A FreedomForest?   Even ten or twenty trees planted two metres apart willlook well once they get going. Is there space in your housing estate? Or yourfarm? Your garden?  Your sports ground. 

Native trees are are alsogood for biodiversity. No one could object to that. So get growing.