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.