ON THIS DATE (9TH NOVEMBER) 95 YEARS AGO : BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S 'SECRET CIRCULAR' RE EMPLOYING ARMED ANTI-IRISH MILITIA IN IRELAND.
birds feeding in the corner
of the yard each day.
The little sparrows
flee when the big crow arrives
to devour bread.
The wagtail is late
and I begin to wonder
will he ever show.
Maybe the hawk had
got him yesterday morning
as he hovered high.
I saw him last week
trying to kill a starling
feeding beside me.
Much to my delight
a blackbird landed today
beside the jackdaw.
He was a stranger
to these parts because he fed
very cautiously.
He would fly up to
the top of the wire fence
when the lads walk by
Another crow lands
and begins to muscle his way
into the group.
He is different
to the other crows
because of his white feather.
Growing among
the shiny black plumage
of his wing, transparently
The whistling of a
chaffinch perching upon the
fence delightfully
Attracts attention
of everybody today
as he sings his song.
The swifts display their
flying skills as they catch flies
swooping and swerving
While the pigeons rest
upon the chimney over
Beside the tower. (Next - 'Sweet Dreams', by Kevin Lynch.)
PAINTING (POLITICAL) STROKES...
'Martin McGuinness helps Her Majesty unveil a new painting to mark her role in Anglo-Irish peace deal...the Queen was joined by former IRA commander Martin McGuinness as she unveiled a new portrait of herself by a Belfast-born artist. Mr McGuinness, the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (sic), applauded as the monarch pulled the satin cover off the painting at a reception in London today. The Duke of Edinburgh and First Minister of Northern Ireland (sic) Arlene Foster also attended...' (from here.)
The British 'queen' gets a new portrait and her lackeys queue-up to congratulate her - including ex-PIRA new-money man and even 'newer' art connoisseur Martin McGuinness who, in actual fact, was present not only to show his admiration for his 'queen' but also to evaluate the finished product, as he is thinking of having a portrait of himself commissioned by the same artist.
But that will depend on whether he can squeeze the same deal for himself as he recently secured for his party colleagues in the Free State, who will probably settle for an oul photo with their benefactor, Enda Kenny (seen here, sizing-up his own portrait), rather than an audience with their 'queen'. Martin, on the other hand, gets to hobnob with both!
ON THIS DATE (9TH NOVEMBER) 225 YEARS AGO : DUBLIN REPUBLICANS ESTABLISH A BRANCH OF THE 'UNITED IRISHMEN'.
NORTHERN ARMY OF AVENGERS.
Head Quarters.
The first year of Irish Liberty.
GENERAL, JN TANDY,
to his COUNTRYMEN.
UNITED IRISHMEN,
What do I hear? The British Government are dared to speak of concessions! Would you accept of them?
Can you think of entering into a treaty with a British Minister? A Minister too, who has left you at the mercy of an English soldiery, who has laid your cities waste, and massacred inhumanely your best Citizens . . . a Minister, the bane of society, and the scourge of mankind . . . behold, Irishmen . . . he holds in his hand the olive of peace; be aware, his other hand lies concealed armed with a poniard. NO, IRISHMEN, no . . . you shall not be the dupes of his base intrigues. Unable to subdue your courage, he attempts to seduce you, let his efforts be vain.
Horrid crimes have been perpetuated in your country. Your friends have fallen a sacrifice to their devotion for your cause. Their shadows are around you and call aloud for Vengeance.
It is your duty to avenge their death. It is your duty to strike on their blood-cemented thrones the murderers of your friends.
Listen to no proposals, IRISHMEN, wage a war of extermination against your oppressors, the war of Liberty against tyranny, and Liberty shall Triumph.
JN TANDY.'
It was on this date (9th November) in 1791 that James Napper Tandy convened the inaugural meeting of the 'Dublin Society of United Irishmen'. The meeting took place in the Eagle Tavern (now known as the 'Quaker [Friends] Meeting House', where the wall plaque, pictured above, left, is located) in Eustace Street in Dublin city centre. The meeting was Chaired by Simon Butler (1757-1797, a barrister by profession, and brother of 'Lord' Mountgarret - family history here), with Tandy himself acting as Secretary, and the following resolutions were among those discussed and passed - 'That the weight of English influence in the government of this country is so great, as to require a cordial union among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our commerce...that the sole constitutional mode by which this influence can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the representation of the people in Parliament... and that no reform is just which does not include every Irishman of every religious persuasion.'
The 'Dublin Society' held meetings on alternative Fridays, usually at the Music Hall in Fishamble Street in the city centre, with the objective of working to obtain social democratic reforms and independence from England and developed a strategy of spreading its ideals by means of leaflets, newspapers, ballads, 'catechisms' and travelling emissaries. By 1797, the society as a whole had at least 100,000 members throughout Ireland whereas today, although smaller in number (!), the objective remains the same : 'independence from England'.
IF IT AIN'T WHITE...
The Far Right has been resurgent across continental Europe for several years. But only in the last 12 months has Ireland seen an emergence of openly neo-Nazi cells. By Alan Walsh. From 'Magill' magazine, May 2002.
In Ireland, the parliamentary left is grossly underdeveloped, while the traditional parties are tolerated for their corruption sagas and needlessly divisive referendums by virtue of what is still a relatively favourable economy.
With the 'Immigration Control' group leafleting Clonakilty on the AIDS dangers of immigrants, and the economy likely to get worse before it gets better, a traditionally inward-looking Ireland will do well to face what seems an ugly transition into multicultural nationhood (sic) while carefully avoiding the dangerous voices that influence the ballot boxes and criminal statistics of our continental neighbours.
(END of 'If it ain't white'. Next - 'Trade Unions and Capitalism in Ireland', from 1982).
NOT IN MY NAME (1).
The Poppy is sold (and worn) in 'honour' of all British military personnel, a fact acknowledged by the British Legion and echoed loudly (and often) in Westminster and Stormont. Members of that same blood-thirsty, drugged-up ragged bunch of world-wide mercenaries have caused havoc and spread destitution and moral syphilis in, amongst other global 'hot-spots', Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, Canada, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Islands, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Ireland, India and about 40 other countries, yet the 'Establishment' here in this farce of a Free State constantly attempt to 'sell' the Poppy as 'our way of remembering our Irish soldiers, tens-of-thousands of them, who died in WW1 (sic)...'
But no Irish soldiers died then : rather it was British soldiers, recruited in Ireland, who lost their young lives in that butchery. Irish soldiers also died in that period in Ireland, fighting the British Army, and they are honoured, properly, by the wearing of the Easter Lily, and they do not deserve to be 'lumped in' with those from the cesspit ie the Black and Tans, the executioners of the men and women who challenged 'The Empire' in 1916 and the BA Para Regiment, to name but some of those who swim in that swill. So don't wear your bloody poppy in my name.
NOT IN MY NAME (2).
"Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies" (Suzy Kassem).
And that's why I wouldn't have voted for either of them - Trump or Clinton were not candidates who would have 'invested in building bridges etc' and those of any intelligence that had a vote should have claimed it and then spoiled it in protest at being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Trump is an in-your-face nasty human being and Clinton is a behind-your-back nasty human being. A plague on both their houses, just as surely as either one of them, in office, will bring a plague on all our houses. Trump's actions in the White House will not be in my name.
GROWING UP IN LONG KESH...
SIN SCÉAL EILE.
By Jim McCann (Jean's son). For Alex Crowe, RIP - "No Probablum". Glandore Publishing, 1999.
Biographical Note : Jim McCann is a community worker from the Upper Springfield area in West Belfast. Although born in the Short Strand, he was reared in the Loney area of the Falls Road. He comes from a large family (average weight about 22 stone!). He works with Tús Nua (a support group for republican ex-prisoners in the Upper Springfield), part of the Upper Springfield Development Trust. He is also a committee member of the 'Frank Cahill Resource Centre', one of the founders of 'Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh', the local Irish language primary school and Naiscoil Bharr A'Chluanaí, one of the local Irish language nursery schools.
His first publication last year by Glandore was 'And the Gates Flew Open : the Burning of Long Kesh'. He hopes to retire on the profits of his books. Fat chance!
'Honky' Wilson and the rest of us pretended ignorance of the seagull episode and carried on to the canteen and, as we were doing so, the seagulls who survived the plan unscathed made their escape upwards, ever upwards.
We reached the door of the canteen and peered in - at first glance it looked like a butcher's shop but I'm happy to report that no seagulls were killed in the execution of the plan. I can't vouch for the seagulls' mental condition, but Eddie Brophy certainly went mental! (MORE LATER).
112 AND 8 TO GIVE AWAY ON THE 12TH AND 13TH..!
The '112' is the 112th (Republican) Sinn Féin Ard Fheis which is being held this coming weekend (12th and 13th November 2016) in a Dublin venue and the '8' is a reference to the number of prizes which will be won in the RSF raffle, which is being held on Sunday 13th November next, in a different Dublin venue and for which, as always, all 650 tickets have been distributed and sold- and myself (and others) will be working in, at and on both events. Indeed, work on the raffle began yesterday (Tuesday 8th) while work on the Ard Fheis began weeks ago, but intensifies now. One or other of the above events is more than enough in itself to be getting on with, but both together will be only nuclear and won't allow us the opportunity to post anything on this blog next Wednesday (the 16th November), meaning that it will be the following Wednesday, the 23rd, before we get the time to do so. And that date - the 23rd November - is an important one for a certain posh barrister who had his political bluff called by those he would have considered to be his 'friends' - more about that on the 23rd!
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
ON THIS DATE (2ND NOVEMBER) 30 YEARS AGO : SINN FÉIN REORGANISED.
'The story of how Gerry Adams tried to turn an eighty year old revolutionary movement into a British constitutional party. How he broke the Sinn Féin constitution, created fake cumainn to give him fake votes and barred life long republicans from voting. How he managed to expel himself and his supporters from Sinn Féin membership. And how a small band of republicans managed to keep the Sinn Féin constitution and traditional policy in tact...in 1986, Section 1b. of the Sinn Féin constitution read as follows : "No person who is a member of any political party, organisation, or who approves of or supports the candidature of persons who, if elected, intend taking part in the proceedings of the Westminster or partitionist 26-County or 6-County parliaments or who approves of or supports the candidature of persons who sign any form or give any kind of written or verbal undertaking of intention to take their seats in these institutions, shall be admitted to membership or allowed to retain membership...' The Adams leadership put forward a motion, titled 'Resolution 162', at the 1986 Ard Fheis, thus expelling themselves from membership - more here.
"Sitting in Leinster House is not a revolutionary activity. Once you go in there, once you sign the roll of the House and accept the institutions of the state, once you accept their rulings, you will not be able to do it according to your rules. You will have to go according to their rules and they can stand up and gang up on you and put you out on the street and keep you out on the street. And those in Leinster House, who have done everything; the firing-squads, the prison cells, the internment camps, the hunger strikes; the lot, and weren't able to break this movement, that they can come and say 'At last, we have them towing the line, it took us 65 years, but they have come in from the cold, they have come in from the wilderness and we have them now.' Never! That is what I say to you. Never!" - Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, Sinn Féin Ard Fheis, 2nd November 1986.
In an interview with 'The Irish News' newspaper on Thursday, July 17th, 1997, Gerry Adams stated that the aim of Provisional Sinn Féin (PSF) was to achieve "maximum constitutional change and a renegotiation of the union." And therein is the difference between Adams and his people and Irish republicans - the former will settle for 'a kind of peace' and financial security for themselves in a 'new' Westminster/Stormont-ordered Six-County 'state' while the latter continue to strive for real change outside of the present constitutional arrangements and an end - not a "renegotiation" - of "the union". It's a long and hard road, but one worth travelling!
ON THIS DATE (2ND NOVEMBER) 48 YEARS AGO : THOSE SEEKING CRUMBS WERE BATONED AWAY FROM THE BRITISH TABLE.
On the 2nd November 1968 (a Saturday) - 48 years ago on this date - the fifteen committee members of the 'Derry Citizen's Action Committee' (DCAC) (formed only a few months earlier), which included Ivan Cooper (chairman), John Hume (deputy chairman), James Doherty, Claude Wilton and Paddy Doherty, set-out on a 'civil rights' protest march on the same route that a previous protest march was to be held on (on the 5th October),but which had been banned by the British 'authorities' in Stormont. Thousands of people joined in on the 2nd November protest march even though it, too, had been 'banned by the authorities'.
Those that organised the 'civil rights' protests were no doubt well-meaning individuals but their actions were interpreted by the British as a sign of weakness, in that those that Westminster had 'conquered' had come to accept themselves as a conquered people that desired only to be treated better 'by those in charge', and even that was asking too much. That mistake (ie asking 'the boss' to treat you better!) has been repeated and amplified since those days but 'the boss' has since learned to 'box clever' - if you fight against 'the boss' him/herself you are seen as a threat but if you're only looking to be treated better by that 'boss' you will be accommodated to a certain extent and will sometimes be accepted in the bosses circle as a 'house negro' rather than a 'field negro'. The former will be granted a position in 'the big house' whereas the latter will be considered as trouble-making outcasts to be condemned by those in 'the big house' and by those who aspire to be accepted into the master's parlour. But we sleep easier for it!
PROSE AND CONS.
By prisoners from E1 Landing, Portlaoise Prison, 1999.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS :
Grateful thanks to the following for their help, support, assistance and encouragement, and all those who helped with the typing and word processing over the past few months. Many thanks to Cian Sharkhin, the editor of the book, Mr Bill Donoghue, Governor, Portlaoise, Mr Seán Wynne, supervising teacher, the education unit in Portlaoise Prison and the education staff, especially Zack, Helena and Jane. Education officers Bill Carroll and Dave McDonald, Rita Kelly, writer, print unit, Arbour Hill.
First Print : November 1999, reprinted March 2000, illustrations by D O'Hare, Zack and Natasha. Photograph selection : Eamonn Kelly and Harry Melia.
PADDY'S ANGEL. (By David Lynch.)
Tiring wings, exhausting will
you need rest,
in this race of a life-time
you need to be your best.
Sense of direction diminishing
darkness has descended,
you land outside my window
feeling as though condemned.
Looking up without hearing or seeing
I ponder on its uncertainty,
It is I tell myself
rushing to turn out the light.
Easy now, I say, don't frighten it
reaching for a bowl,
water for starters - it must be parched
have I anything it might eat?
Quietly I climb onto the bed
peering through the glassless square,
you're huddled into the corner
trembling from cold and fear.
I reach to touch you
your head raises, eyes flickering,
my warm embrace will protect
swooping into the darkness you fly away.
I lie down in sorrow
disappointed at my helplessness for you,
about you I wonder,
maybe you're safe and warm?
maybe not.
I wonder why you landed here?
lots of other places to go?
many questions, few answers.
Lying here wondering - I become you.
(Next - 'Bird Watching In The Bog' , by David Lynch.)
ON THIS DATE (2ND NOVEMBER) 66 YEARS AGO - DEATH OF A BRILLIANTLY CONFUSED IRISHMAN.
"Power does not corrupt men ; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power" - George Bernard Shaw, dramatist, critic and social reformer (pictured, left). An enigma, I think, is the best way to describe 'GBS', who was born in Dublin on the 26th of July 1856, and was known to be a 'problem child' - he grew into what many of his contemporaries and, indeed, society at large, considered to be a 'problem adult'!
In relation to Irish politics, he supported 'Home Rule' within the British 'empire' ("...socialism can be brought about in a perfectly constitutional manner by democratic institutions.." [which might indeed be possible elsewhere, but the Leinster House institution is not a "democratic institution", as far as Irish republicans are concerned]) and constantly voiced opinion against Irish separatism (yet, at 90 years of age [in 1946] he refused an award from Westminster of an 'Order of Merit Honour') ; in 1916, at 60 years of age, he condemned "militant Irish nationalism" and accused those attempting to overthrow British misrule in Ireland as having 'learned nothing and forgot nothing' and again voiced his opinion that independence from England 'was impractical', although he did object to the British executions of the rebels that followed.
He supported Mussolini ("...the right kind of tyrant.."),spoke of his admiration for Stalin and Karl Marx, condemned all sides in the 'First World War', flirted with 'Fabianism' and 'Eugenics' and flirted occasionally with 'Flat Earthism/Zeteticism'! 'GBS' departed this Earth (flat or not!) on the 2nd November 1950 - 66 years ago on this date - at the grand age of 94. "Dying is a troublesome business," the man himself opined, " there is pain to be suffered, and it wrings one's heart ; but death is a splendid thing - a warfare accomplished, a beginning all over again, a triumph. You can always see that in their faces." And, in the opinion of this blogger, this world needs more 'faces' (and free-thinking attitudes) like that of 'GBS' today, even if I wouldn't agree with all of his political positions.
IF IT AIN'T WHITE...
The Far Right has been resurgent across continental Europe for several years. But only in the last 12 months has Ireland seen an emergence of openly neo-Nazi cells. By Alan Walsh. From 'Magill' magazine, May 2002.
The 'Irish People's Party' identifies itself as new, and welcomes all donations. Rather than a simple manifesto, the 'IPP' has built an entire website of its own - www.irish peoplesparty.com (...that url won't now take you to the 'IPP' website, but that group are mentioned here) - largely composed of scans from tabloid newspapers concerning allegations of white slavery, refugee rape and bogus asylum claims. As of yet, they seem to have fallen short of the standard back-up rhetoric, or even any formal announcement of candidacy anywhere.
For the moment they merely state their aim as to stop what they identify as the immigration problem before it gets completely out of hand. At street level, a group called 'The Celtic Legion' holds regular meetings at venues around Dublin, as do the 'Dublin Hammer Skins' and 'Women For Aryan Unity' (WAU), the latter of which is a global organisation with branches throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. Currently, the Irish branch of 'WAU' , in Dublin, acts as the headquarters for all of Europe.
Information regarding these units is mainly anecdotal, but in an atmosphere which has seen racially motivated violence claim its first murder here and swell to a large enough degree for the Garda to dedicate a new sector of statistics entirely to it, it would seem a rich harvest is in prospect for recruiters from these groups. (MORE LATER).
ON THIS DATE (2ND NOVEMBER) 96 YEARS AGO : EXECUTED BY THE BRITISH FOR OBJECTING TO IMPERIALISM.
'On November 2nd, 1920 (96 years ago on this date) James Daly was killed by a British Army firing squad in India. He had been one of the leaders of the so-called 'India Mutiny', but had not been among its instigators. The mutiny began on May 28th, 1920, led by Joseph Hawes at Wellington barracks in Jullundar, India, when 350 Irish members of the famous Connaught Rangers regiment of the British Army laid down their arms and refused to keep soldiering as long as British troops remained in Ireland...as word of more and more British violence against the Irish people spread among the troops, they had begun to question the morality of wearing the uniforms of the same army that was terrorising families back home. The mutiny soon spread to Ranger detachments in Solon and Jutogh. Daly was stationed at Solon and helped lead the action of the mutineers there. Two would die in Solon during a brief confrontation. Eventually, 61 Rangers were convicted by courts martial and 14 sentenced to death. All but one of those condemned men had their sentences reduced. James Daly of Tyrellspass, County Westmeath, was the only one shot. The Connaught Rangers would not survive much longer than Daly ; in 1922 the regiment was disbanded after the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty that created the Irish Free State. In 1970, James Daly's body was brought home and buried at Tyrellspass. Among those in the guard of honor at the reinterment ceremony were five of his fellow mutineers: Joseph Hawes, James Gorman, Eugene Egan, Patrick Hynes, and William Coote...' (From here.)
"The moral courage and sacrifice shown by James Daly and his comrades shines like a beacon light years after those momentous events in Jullander and Solon in India in June and July of 1920. The leadership shown by James Daly and Joe Hawes galvanised their comrades into striking a blow for the freedom of their own land. We also remember with pride the sacrifices of Peter Sears and Patrick Smythe who died at the hands of the British army during the mutiny and who are interred in Glasnevin cemetery..." - RSF President Des Dalton, 2010 : more here.
At that time, in Ireland, the Black and Tan War was at its height. Irishmen serving with the British Army in India mutinied in protest at the atrocities being committed in Ireland by the British. On June 27th, 1920, 350 Irishmen gave in their arms and refused to soldier for England. The mutiny was confined chiefly to members of 'B' and 'C' Companies, 1st Battalion, Connaught Ranger Regiment, stationed at Wellington Barracks, Jullunder, Punjab, India. The men at Jullunder were led by Private Joseph Hawes and their protest was joined two days later by a detachment of 'C' Company at the hill-station in Solon, under Private James Daly, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. On June 30th, 1920, following the deaths of Privates Patrick Smythe and Peter Sears in an attempt to capture the magazine at Solon, the mutiny ended. Seventy-five of the mutineers were arrested and taken to Lucknow where they were held until September when they were moved to Dayshai Prison to stand trial.
While awaiting trial, the prisoners were subjected to such harsh treatment by the British that it resulted in the death of one of the men, Private John Miranda, a native of Liverpool. At the subsequent general court-martial , fourteen of the prisoners were sentenced to death and the remainder to terms of imprisonment varying from ten to twenty years. In mid-October 1920, 13 of the fourteen death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment - the exception was Jim Daly, a native of Tyrellspass, County Westmeath. After six months, the mutineers were transferred to Portland Convict Prison in England, where they suffered long periods of solitary confinement and ill-treatment during their fight for political status. They were later moved to Maidstone Prison and, on January 3rd, 1923, the remaining sixty mutineers were released and returned to Ireland.
In October 1970, the remains of Daly, Smythe and Sears were brought back to Ireland : Smythe, a native of Drogheda, Co. Louth and Sears, from Neale, Co. Mayo, were buried in the Republican Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin. James Daly, who was executed in Jullunder in India on November 2nd, 1920 - 96 years ago on this date - was re-interred in his native Tyrellspass. These men and those like them are remembered and cherished by Irish republicans, as they should be.
GROWING UP IN LONG KESH...
SIN SCÉAL EILE.
By Jim McCann (Jean's son). For Alex Crowe, RIP - "No Probablum". Glandore Publishing, 1999.
Biographical Note : Jim McCann is a community worker from the Upper Springfield area in West Belfast. Although born in the Short Strand, he was reared in the Loney area of the Falls Road. He comes from a large family (average weight about 22 stone!). He works with Tús Nua (a support group for republican ex-prisoners in the Upper Springfield), part of the Upper Springfield Development Trust. He is also a committee member of the 'Frank Cahill Resource Centre', one of the founders of 'Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh', the local Irish language primary school and Naiscoil Bharr A'Chluanaí, one of the local Irish language nursery schools.
His first publication last year by Glandore was 'And the Gates Flew Open : the Burning of Long Kesh'. He hopes to retire on the profits of his books. Fat chance!
On seeing no one around, Eddie Brophy inched his way to the canteen and went in. Immediately, we sprang into action ; four of us held the back door of the hut closed and fifteen of us came around to the front door. We opened it and fifteen seagulls were flung in and the door was held shut. Within seconds pandemonium broke out inside the place - between the seagulls squawking, the demented flapping of wings and poor Eddie screaming, the noise could have registered on the richter scale!
For five minutes all hell broke loose in the hut then, suddenly, an eerie silence descended. I myself was holding the door and couldn't see inside, but a couple of the boys were looking in the window and giving a commentary - "Jesus, look at the big one there. If it gets its beak into Brophy they're gonna have to shoot one of them..." "What's happening now?", asked one of the lads. "Broph has a chair and he's swinging it round his head," came the answer. "It's a murder picture in there. Dead seagulls all over the place.." "Let me out, ye bastards!" screamed Eddie at the front door.
At a given signal we all ran away from the doors of the hut, and the front door opened - Eddie emerged, covered with sweat, blood and feathers. "Yer all trying to fucking kill me," he screamed. "What happened, mate?", enquired Todler (the architect of the plan) - "Todler",Eddie replied, "them bastards have it in for me.."
"But why would the seagulls have it in for you, Eddie?", asked Todler... "Not the fucking seagulls, them bastards in that end hut.." shouted Eddie. The canteen staff came out of the end hut as if unaware of what had transpired in the canteen. "What happened to you, Broph?", asked Honky Wilson. "As if you didn't know", said Eddie... (MORE LATER).
ON THIS DATE (2ND NOVEMBER) 216 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A LEINSTER HOUSE-TYPE POLITICIAN WHO WOULDN'T 'BUCK' THE SYSTEM.
Thomas 'Buck' (or 'Jerusalem') Whaley (pictured, left) was born in Dublin in December 1766, son of a notorious 'landlord', law judge and British politician, and eventually grew-up (with an inherited fortune to his name), age-wise, at least, to become a man that others of his ilk, including his father, Richard 'Burn-Chapel' Whaley, would be proud of. His father earned that nick-name due to what was said to be a hobby of his - harassing local catholics. His son, 'Buck', had his own problems - he was feckless and reckless, a spoiled child who 'matured' into a spoiled adult, believing that he had a sense of entitlement to the good life, and not of the opinion that he should have to earn it.
He wrote in his memoirs about how the quiet life (!) "...did not suit my volatile disposition: in order therefore to vary the scene, I sent over to London for a female companion, with whom I had been intimate, and who immediately accepted the invitation. I had no motive whatever in giving her the preference but that she was an exotic. My inamorata was neither distinguished for wit or beauty; but I will do her the justice to say that she had none of that rapacity and extravagance so common of her profession. What I expended on her account was from my own free will and suggestion. I hired her a magnificent house, suitably furnished, and settled an allowance of five hundred a year on her; this was merely pro forma, for she cost me upwards of five thousand. At her house I kept my midnight orgies, and saw my friends, according to the fashionable acceptation of the word. But soon growing tired of this manner of living, I conceived the strange idea of performing, like Cook, a voyage around the world.." Well, to his credit, he seems to have realised that the world didn't actually 'voyage' around him.
He was elected as a member of the 'Irish House of Commons' for the Newcastle area of Dublin in 1785 (when he was only 19 years of age) but used his political position almost exclusively to promote himself within 'high society' and cared little for those he was supposed to be representing (carrying on in that same manner when, at 31 years of age, he bought his way in to politics again, this time as a 'representative' for Enniscorthy, Wexford) so much so that he was a 'guest' in a debtors' prison in London (from which he unsuccessfully attempted to escape!), claiming later that he had wasted a financial fortune of about £400,000 on 'the good life', stating that he never had "one hour's true happiness" during his spending spree!
During his second term as a political representative (!) he at first supported the then (1799) proposed 'Act of Union' and let it be known that he was amenable to vote against same if the price was right - and it was, apparently, as he voted against it in 1800! And someone, somewhere, 'voted' against him that same year (1800) - he died, on the 2nd of November, 216 years ago on this date, from rheumatic fever, t'was said, or then again, maybe, the rumour mill of the day got it right ; '...that he was stabbed in a fit of jealousy by two sisters to whom he was paying marked attentions at a time when each of them was in ignorance of his concealed attachment to the other. Sarah, or Sally Jenkinson, is stated to be the lady from whom he received his death wound..' That particular lady was said to have been won by 'The Buck' from the Prince of Wales in a wager!
Buck Whalley lacking much of cash
And being used to cut a dash
he wagered full ten thousand pound
He'd visit soon the Holy Ground
In Loftus's fine ship
He said he'd take a trip
And Costello so famed
The Captain then was named.'
He was buried in the Isle of Man and, having made a bet that he would be buried in Irish soil, he was determined to 'win' - he had imported enough Irish soil, and was buried in it, to ensure 'victory'! It would be nice to say that 'they don't make them like that anymore', but that's not the case - Leinster House is full of political chancers, for sale to the highest bidder.
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
112Ú ARD-FHEIS, SINN FÉIN POBLACHTACH, 12-13 SAMHAIN 2016.
The 112th Ard-Fheis of Republican Sinn Féin will be held in Dublin on Saturday and Sunday, 12th and 13th November 2016. The 40-page Clár contains a total of 106 motions under different headings such as political and electoral policy, prisoners, constitution and rules, social and economic, organisation/activities, education and culture, publicity and 'Saoirse' and international affairs.
The check-in of delegates is at 10am each day and delegate/visitor admission cards will be available at the door of the Conference Hall, provided RSF Head Office has been notified in advance of your request for same : all visitors must be vouched for by a member of Republican Sinn Féin. The Presidential Address will be delivered by An tUachtarán Des Dalton on Sunday at 12.15pm. It is intended that the Ard Fheis will end the Saturday session at 6.00pm and will wrap-up at 4.30pm on Sunday, in between which a ballad session will be held (9pm Saturday night) in the venue. Also, the annual RSF National Private Members Draw will be held at the venue over that weekend and Dublin RSF will also be holding a 650-ticket raffle that same weekend! Finally - Irish Republican Resistance Calendars for 2017 will be available at the Ard Fheis, priced at about a fiver each.
From our experience of this event in previous years we know that the RSF members, delegates and supporters will have a very busy, but necessary, weekend of political work, and we wish all concerned the very best. And if we don't win in at least one of the two raffles, there'll be no plug next year!
...AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT..
Our pic shows the Cabhair ('An Cumann Cabhrach', as it was then) Swim, from the 1970's : this fund-raising event will be forty years old on the 25th December next and definitely deserves a plug. Incidentally, the 'An Cumann Cabhrach' organisation was founded in 1953 by Rita McGlynn, Ella Woods, Donal O'Connor, Tom Gill, Nan Dillon and Tom Doyle, and now operates, as 'Cabhair', from 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1. Tom Doyle was a well-respected member of the republican movement and an IRA activist, and was actually employed as a Civil Servant, working in the Free State Department of Defence! When he was released from prison in December 1945, he had lost his job due to pressure exerted by the Free State administration ; however, he was already working with the 'Republican Prisoners Release Association' (RPRA) and, in 1947, he was elected Secretary of that organisation, a position he held until the organisation was disbanded in 1952 and its committee (Rita McGlynn, Ella Woods, Donal O'Connor, Tom Gill, Nan Dillon and Tom Doyle) founded 'An Cumann Cabhrach' (now 'Cabhair') in 1953. He was elected Secretary to the new organisation and held that position until his death in 1962.
He regularly wrote articles for the then newspaper of the Republican Movement, 'The United Irishman' (now 'Saoirse') which was first published in May 1948 ; in that same year he was elected as Secretary to the Sinn Féin Organising Committee and later became joint General Secretary (along with Jim Russell) of Sinn Féin proper. Also in 1948, he got a job on the staff of the 'Workers Union of Ireland'. At Sinn Féin's 1951 Ard Fheis, Tom Doyle was elected Vice-President of the organisation and, during the early 1950's, he served as President for two years and from 1956 to 1962 again held the position of Vice-President. As stated, he died in 1962 but is still remembered by those who took up the gauntlet after him.
Anyway - more info on the 40th successive Cabhair Christmas Swim can be read here and you might also be reading on this blog in the near future about a special presentation to be made to each of those who, on Christmas Day next, will be '40 years under water' - 'More Later', no doubt...!
PROSE AND CONS.
By prisoners from E1 Landing, Portlaoise Prison, 1999.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS :
Grateful thanks to the following for their help, support, assistance and encouragement, and all those who helped with the typing and word processing over the past few months. Many thanks to Cian Sharkhin, the editor of the book, Mr Bill Donoghue, Governor, Portlaoise, Mr Seán Wynne, supervising teacher, the education unit in Portlaoise Prison and the education staff, especially Zack, Helena and Jane. Education officers Bill Carroll and Dave McDonald, Rita Kelly, writer, print unit, Arbour Hill.
First Print : November 1999, reprinted March 2000, illustrations by D O'Hare, Zack and Natasha. Photograph selection : Eamonn Kelly and Harry Melia.
OCEAN OF DREAMS. (By David Lynch.)
Surrendering the refusal of acceptance
filling with relief,
swimming in the ocean of dreams
like a tadpole in a high mountain stream.
Released from bonds of ignorance
floating in a state of freedom,
its elixir rushing towards the waterfall
washing away the debris.
Flowing without physical domination
what is it life?
Its light ascending upon the darkness
like the dawn of an autumn day,
only I can love you.
What is it which doesn't die
in this ecstasy of oblivion?
Spilling over the waterfall's edge
not conscious of breath,
splashing into the surface below
like dewdrops off a tree-leaf onto the forest floor,
I am love, you are me.
Alone in the ocean of dreams,
eyes gazing into emptiness, naked...
Making love to the universe.
(Next - 'Paddy's Angel', by David Lynch.)
IF IT AIN'T WHITE...
The Far Right has been resurgent across continental Europe for several years. But only in the last 12 months has Ireland seen an emergence of openly neo-Nazi cells. By Alan Walsh. From 'Magill' magazine, May 2002.
The 'NSRUS' (Stormfront?) refuses to disclose exactly what its initials stand for, and defines itself as "a movement" as opposed to a group, with no members as such. It proposes itself as reflective of a pervasive opinion in the Limerick district, but as yet refuses to identify itself as based in the area. According to a spokesperson - "The possibility for national socialism in Ireland is limitless. The NSRUS and its adherents will continue to endorse any and all activities ordinary people feel are necessary to revert to and maintain a white Aryan Ireland."
It remains to be seen exactly how developed the 'movement' actually is, but some idea might be gained by an introduction to the 'Democratic People's Party' via its website. This party, which supplies a Limerick address, plans to campaign in the coming election, supplying an election leaflet for their candidate, Des Hayes ( link here). The 'DPP' manifesto is formed on a largely single-issue immigration platform ; it proposes the 'get-out' clause in the Geneva Convention regarding the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, as well as an education policy focusing on traditional Irish values and culture.
This will be familiar reading to anyone who has ever read anything of the 'BNP' literature, or even 'Front National' texts - harsh on crime, low on taxes, welfare reviews - and 'Ireland for the Irish'. It only takes a little more rummaging through the same areas to unearth a similiar , Dublin-based party... (MORE LATER).
GROWING UP IN LONG KESH...
SIN SCÉAL EILE.
By Jim McCann (Jean's son). For Alex Crowe, RIP - "No Probablum". Glandore Publishing, 1999.
Biographical Note : Jim McCann is a community worker from the Upper Springfield area in West Belfast. Although born in the Short Strand, he was reared in the Loney area of the Falls Road. He comes from a large family (average weight about 22 stone!). He works with Tús Nua (a support group for republican ex-prisoners in the Upper Springfield), part of the Upper Springfield Development Trust. He is also a committee member of the 'Frank Cahill Resource Centre', one of the founders of 'Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh', the local Irish language primary school and Naiscoil Bharr A'Chluanaí, one of the local Irish language nursery schools.
His first publication last year by Glandore was 'And the Gates Flew Open : the Burning of Long Kesh'. He hopes to retire on the profits of his books. Fat chance!
It was during that half hour that Eddie Brophy made his daily journey to the canteen to have a large helping of everything that remained on the trays. He was forced to sneak out and replenish his empty dinner tray, and we used to keep him going about not letting him have any extra dinner because of his condition ; "It's alright, boys, I think I can handle a few extra potatoes, maybe another bit of roast beef and some more dessert..." "Eddie, please don't ask us to give you this. After all, the doctor put you on the special diet - he knows what's good for you..." "I swear to God, lads, I feel right and good today. I think I'm getting my appetite back..." We pretended that the doctor and we knew better and that he would thank us in the end. The abuse he hurled at us is unprintable.
"Do you kiss your wife with that mouth, Eddie...?" was a question we levelled at him one day : he knew rightly we were just keeping him going but let on to be annoyed anyway. When we weren't around he would load up his tray and sneak back to his hut.
We found ourselves one day at a loose end with about 15 seagulls, and were stymied as to what to do with them. We remembered the old adage - 'it takes a thief to catch a thief (or, in this case, seagulls)' , and set the hastily invented plan in motion. We went about our duties as usual so as not to give the game away to our comrades - we finished giving out the dinner and as usual refused Eddie Brophy any extra food, and he left the hut, disgruntled, as usual. We took up our positions at the back of the hut out of sight of the rest of the huts and waited. Within minutes the door of the middle hut opened and Eddie looked out... (MORE LATER).
ON THIS DATE (26TH OCTOBER) 34 YEARS AGO : BRITISH HANDLERS ALLOW THEIR IRA INFORMER TO BREAK HIS 20-MONTH PERIOD OF INCOMMUNICADO HIDING.
One of the many so-called 'Irish republicans' that turned 'supergrass' on their one-time 'comrades' who were allegedly involved in militant republicanism was Tyrone man Patrick McGurk, who attempted to implicate nine men as being members of 'proscribed organisations'. On the 20th of September, 1982, the RUC, apparently doubtful that he would go through with his 'evidence' if produced in court, instead invoked the obsolete 'Bill of Indictment' to by-pass the preliminary enquiry stage of the case against the nine accused. This meant that, until his return to Dungannon on Wednesday 26th October - 34 years ago on this date - McGurk had been held incommunicado, without access to family or friends, throughout the 20-month period that the British kept him in a 'safe house', for his own protection.
It wasn't only in the republican community that the use by the British of so-called 'supergrasses' was questioned, as this exchange in Leinster House highlights : "I will take the case of Mr. X as a clear example of the injustice of trial by supergrass, of which the British Government approve. I hope the Minister and the Government will take a serious interest in the whole affair and request the British Government to take the necessary action immediately to resolve these injustices.
Mr. X was 24 years of age in February 1982. He had no history of involvement in guerrilla activities whatsoever. In 1979 he married his wife Kathleen and they have two children, a boy and a girl. His daughter was six months old when he was arrested at 4.30 a.m. and brought to Gough Barracks in Armagh. On Tuesday, 9 February 1982 an RUC man came to the room in the barracks and asked the interrogators "Who is this?" One of them answered "Mr. X." The RUC man turned back towards the other room and repeated the name, whereupon a man, unknown to Mr. X, appeared at the doorway. The interrogators asked the newcomer "Do you know this man?" The man at the door nodded. They asked "Have you made any statements against him?" Again the man nodded. They asked "Are you prepared to give evidence against this man?" Again the man nodded. The newcomer was then led away.
That man was Patrick McGurk, supergrass, newly recruited. Mr. X was not the first victim of the new tactics. Mr. X was charged with possession of land mines at Ballygawley Road near Dungannon between 1 January and 31 December 1978. He was also charged with an arson attack on the Ulsterbus depot in Dungannon in May 1978. Mr. X made no statement while in custody and the only evidence against him were alleged statements made by McGurk. He was transferred to Crumlin Road prison in Belfast in custody for the next 21 months. There is no precise location for the alleged incidents. Ballygawley Road is at least ten miles long. There was no precise date given for the alleged incidents. There were no explosions and no casualties. There was never any evidence of a bomb. Such a charge that cannot be pinned down make an alibi impossible. On 21 April 1982 Mr. X was brought up for bail. Under the Emergency Provisions Act, 1978, the conditions of bail are such that, instead of the prosecution having to prove that the prisoner would be a danger to society if released, the defence has to prove that he or she would not. As this is extremely difficult, very few prisoners are granted bail and it was not surprising that Mr. X was refused. He was returned to Crumlin Road prison and was remanded in custody again.
The next development was in September 1982, five months after the bail refusal, when the preliminary inquiry should have taken place. This is when the accused are faced by the accusers who have to give evidence against them in an open court, so that the court can decide whether or not there is sufficient evidence to merit a continuation of the proceedings. The surprise was that there was to be no preliminary inquiry as Lord Chief Justice Lowry had granted a bill of indictment to the Director of Public Prosecutions the night before. This dispensed with the preliminary inquiry. Mr. X and others who stood in the courtroom that morning were returned to Crumlin Road prison and so rests the future of Mr. X. This is one of the many examples of the injustice of the supergrass trial system in Northern Ireland of which the British Government approve..." (From here.)
Incidentally, one of those named by McGurk was Patrick Joseph Kelly, who was arrested by the British in February 1982 but released in October 1983 due to lack of evidence after a trial that lasted fifteen minutes. Today, British 'supergrasses' in that part of Ireland are dressed in suits, given jobs, a salary, expenses, office staff and a position and title with which to implement British rule in their own country and are cheered-on in doing so by the same political establishment they once fought against. And they relish it.
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
ON THIS DATE (19TH OCTOBER) 96 YEARS AGO - BRITISH 'HAMAR' MISSES ITS TARGET.
British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', Lieutenant-Colonel 'Sir' Hamar Greenwood (pictured, left, and short video here showing 'the Hamar' rewarding his troops in this country for the destruction they wrought while maintaining 'law and order') promised to put an end to republican "outrages" but that was just another outrageous false promise by the British!
In May 1920 the British Foreign Secretary, 'Lord' Curzon, proposed vigorous 'Indian measures' to suppress the rebellion in Ireland and he and other British imperialist 'gentlemen' formulated a policy with that objective in mind. On the 9th August 1920, the British 'Lords Commissioners' announced that 'Royal Assent' had been granted for the following 14 items -
1. Overseas Trade (Credit and Insurance) Act, 1920.
2. Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920.
3. Restoration of Order in Ireland Act, 1920.*
4. Aberdeen Corporation Order Confirmation Act, 1920.
5. Pilotage Orders Confirmation (No. 3) Act, 1920.
6. Local Government Board (Ireland) Provisional Orders Confirmation (No. 3) Act, 1920.
7. Ministry of Health Provisional Order Confirmation (Chesterfield Extension) Act, 1920.
8. Mid-Glamorgan Water Act, 1920.
9. Wallasey Corporation Act, 1920.
10. Life Association of Scotland Act, 1920.
11. Uxbridge and Wycombe District Gas Act, 1920.
12. Exmouth Urban District Council Act, 1920.
13. North British and Mercantile Insurance Company's Act, 1920.
14. Lever Brothers, Limited (Wharves and Railway) Act, 1920.
On the 19th October 1920 - 96 years ago on this date - the British 'Chief Secretary for Ireland', Lieutenant-Colonel 'Sir' Hamar Greenwood (who later threatened to resign his position if Westminster agreed to a ceasefire with Irish republicans before they had surrendered their weapons!) stated, re the British 'law and order' campaign in Ireland - "The outrages against the police and military forces since the 1st January last, which I regret to say include the loss of no less than 118 lives, are as follows: police killed -100, military killed -18, police wounded -160, military wounded -66. There have been 667 attacks on police barracks, resulting in most cases in their complete destruction. There has been an organised attempt to boycott and intimidate the police, their wives and relations. The hon. Member will realise that I cannot publish the steps that are being taken to cope with the campaign of murder, outrage and intimidation, but I can assure him that the means available to the Government for protecting all servants of the Crown in the discharge of their duties, and for bringing to justice those who commit or connive at outrages, are steadily improving. The Royal Irish Constabulary is rapidly increasing in numbers owing mainly to the flow of recruits from ex-officers and ex-service men who served in the Army or Navy during the War. The effective strength of the Force is now higher than it has been for the last 15 years. In the last three weeks alone there have been 194 trials by Court Martial under the 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920', and 159 convictions. The Forces of the Crown are now effectively grappling with the organised, paid and brutal campaign of murder in Ireland.." (*The 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act' was a 'legal' item through which the British could authorise, in Ireland, 'the issue of Regulations under the Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act, 1914, for effecting the restoration and maintenance of order in Ireland where it appears to His Majesty in Council that, owing to the existence of a state of disorder, the ordinary law is inadequate for the prevention and punishment of crime, or the maintenance of order..')
The British claimed that the 'legal' changes had been rendered necessary by the abnormal conditions which at that time prevailed in certain parts of Ireland, where 'an organised campaign of violence and intimidation has resulted in the partial breakdown of the machinery of the ordinary law and in the non-performance by public bodies and officials of their statuary obligations...in particular it has been found that criminals (sic) are protected from arrest, that trial by jury cannot be obtained because of the intimidation of witnesses and jurors, and the local authorities and their officers stand in fear of injury to their persons or property if they carry out their statuary duties...'
The 'Order in Council' provided, among other things, for the putting into operation of many of the existing 'Defence of the Realm Regulations' for the purpose of 'the restoration or maintenance of order, for the trial of crimes by Courts Martial or by specially constituted Civil Courts, and for the investment of those Courts with the necessary powers'. Also, it was now to be allowed for 'financial punishments' to be implemented - the withholding from local authorities who refuse to discharge the obligations imposed upon them by Statute, financial grants which otherwise would be payable to them from public funds and for the application of the grants so withheld to the discharge of the obligations which the local authority has failed to fulfill, for the holding of sittings of courts elsewhere than in ordinary courthouses, where these courthouses have been destroyed or otherwise made unavailable and 'although the Regulations are not, in terms, restricted to any particular part or parts of Ireland, it is the Government's intention that they shall not be applied in substitution for the provisions of the ordinary law in places where the judicial and administrative machinery of the ordinary law are available, and are not obstructed in their operations by the methods of violence and intimidation above mentioned...for instance, under the Regulations an ordinary crime can only be tried by a Courts Martial or by a specially constituted Civil Court, if the case is referred to the Competent Naval or Military Authority. Instructions will be issued by the Irish Executive to ensure that such cases will not be referred to the Competent Naval or Military Authority except where the prevalence of actual threatened violence or intimidation has produced conditions rendering it impracticable for them to be dealt with by due process of ordinary law...'
Greenwood stated the above, as mentioned, on Tuesday, 19th October 1920 - 96 years ago on this date - and, the following day, a young (19 years old) IRA Volunteer, from Fleet Street in Dublin, Kevin Barry, became the first person to be tried by court martial under the new 'Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920' which,among its other trappings, allowed for the suspension of the courts system in Ireland (bad and all as that system was) and the establishment of military courts with powers to enforce the death penalty and internment without trial. On the 10th December 1920 martial law was proclaimed in counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary and, in January 1921, this order was extended to include Clare and Waterford. The 'ROIA' was widely used by the British against Irish republicans and, indeed, was used as a 'tool' to impose censorship on the media of the day, an imposition which was challenged, sometimes succesfully so - in 1921, a ROIA court-martial convicted the proprietors and editor of a Dublin newspaper for violating ROIA press regulations. At the end of the trial, a military detachment acting without a written order from the military court arrested the defendants and conveyed them to a civil prison. The prisoners petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that a transfer from military to civil custody based merely on oral statements of anonymous soldiers was unlawful. The Crown argued that since the defendants were subject to military law, they could be moved from military to civil confinement without a written order. Finding this contention to be "quite untenable," the King’s Bench put on record its desire "in the clearest way possible to repudiate" the doctrine that a civil prison could detain a king's subject without proper written authority: "To sanction such a course would be to strike a deadly blow at the doctrine of personal liberty, which is part of the first rudiments of the constitution." Moreover, the court-martial's failure to issue an order left the civil jailer "without the protection of any written mandate" and therefore exposed to the risk of a lawsuit.
Declaring that there was "no vinculum or bond of union between the military and the civil custody," the King's Bench issued the writ of habeas corpus. Ostensibly protecting the liberty of civilians against overreaching by the British Army, the court equally protected a civil institution from subordination to military command.
Today, the British and their political colleagues in Stormont and Leinster House are still attempting to use 'laws' of that nature, and media censorship, to destroy Irish republicanism. But it didn't work then and won't work for them today, either - we are in this for the long haul!
PROSE AND CONS.
By prisoners from E1 Landing, Portlaoise Prison, 1999.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS :
Grateful thanks to the following for their help, support, assistance and encouragement, and all those who helped with the typing and word processing over the past few months. Many thanks to Cian Sharkhin, the editor of the book, Mr Bill Donoghue, Governor, Portlaoise, Mr Seán Wynne, supervising teacher, the education unit in Portlaoise Prison and the education staff, especially Zack, Helena and Jane. Education officers Bill Carroll and Dave McDonald, Rita Kelly, writer, print unit, Arbour Hill.
First Print : November 1999, reprinted March 2000, illustrations by D O'Hare, Zack and Natasha. Photograph selection : Eamonn Kelly and Harry Melia.
NATURE OF THE CAT. (By David Lynch.)
Sitting on the soft cushion
purring in peaceful silence,
content in the nature of its being
nothing existing but the moment.
Urban domestic and wild
poised in noble posture by the fireside.
Moving with gracious flair,
manoeuvring as if on air
never before seeing a mouse,
instinctively preparing to kill it.
The goldfish swimming in the bowl upon the shelf,
the tropical fish in the aquarium of dreams,
soothing perverse pleasures of domination.
Poised for deadly attack.
The goldfinch singing in the cage above the door,
imprisoned in man's tiny world
whistling nature, echoing life.
Nails ripping through flesh first strike.
The dying squeal fills the room...
Streams of pain flowing down a mother's face
half carried behind small white coffins
carrying little children to eternal grace.
Sitting content, urban domestic and wild
poised in noble posture by the fireside.
(Next - 'Ocean of Dreams ' , by David Lynch.)
IF IT AIN'T WHITE...
The Far Right has been resurgent across continental Europe for several years. But only in the last 12 months has Ireland seen an emergence of openly neo-Nazi cells. By Alan Walsh. From 'Magill' magazine, May 2002.
Naturally enough, more than one Blueshirt journal proposed communism as a Semitic invention - Marx, Engels and Ricardo all being Jewish. And the Blueshirts were to the apparently communist IRA what Mussolini's Blackshirts were to communist anarchy in Italy. Indeed, O'Duffy saw his Blueshirts as a viable extension of European fascism and, aside altogether from raising a force for the defence of Franco in Spain, offered assistance to Hitler on the Russian front.
His short-lived tenure at the initial helm of Fine Gael might not reflect at all on the present position of the party, but his place in Irish history has not been overlooked by those who would today seek to emulate him - and it would appear that there are more than a few.
O'Duffy is today quoted on a website (http://www.nsrus.com ie 'National Socialists R Us') ('Stormfront', apparently?) which has, of late, gained notoriety. He is quoted as follows - "Party politics has served its period of usefulness and the sooner change is effected the better." The website, avowedly national socialist in content, came to the attention of Limerick residents recently when overt fascist slogans surrounded by swastikas appeared daubed on the local Guinness Bridge, alongside its address.
(MORE LATER).
GROWING UP IN LONG KESH...
SIN SCÉAL EILE.
By Jim McCann (Jean's son). For Alex Crowe, RIP - "No Probablum". Glandore Publishing, 1999.
Biographical Note : Jim McCann is a community worker from the Upper Springfield area in West Belfast. Although born in the Short Strand, he was reared in the Loney area of the Falls Road. He comes from a large family (average weight about 22 stone!). He works with Tús Nua (a support group for republican ex-prisoners in the Upper Springfield), part of the Upper Springfield Development Trust. He is also a committee member of the 'Frank Cahill Resource Centre', one of the founders of 'Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh', the local Irish language primary school and Naiscoil Bharr A'Chluanaí, one of the local Irish language nursery schools.
His first publication last year by Glandore was 'And the Gates Flew Open : the Burning of Long Kesh'. He hopes to retire on the profits of his books. Fat chance!
Eddie Brophy was a character. Universally loved. No task in Long Kesh was so great that Eddie couldn't avoid it. It wasn't that he was lazy (although in the absence of action it would be hard to say whether he was or not) - he was just 'Broph' , and had a story to tell about any given situation, always plausible, never believable. Eddie died recently (in 1997 - Sharon) and is sadly missed by all who knew him.
The 'Study Hut' of Cage 22 was used as the canteen and the canteen proper itself was used as a five-a-side indoor football pitch. The canteen staff at the time, unlike all the other ancillary workers in the cage who were rotated weekly, were permanent, mainly because they got the ice cream first on the rare occasions it appeared on what was laughingly called 'the prison menu'. It was also the easiest detail and the canteen staff were basically six lazy bastards! I know this to be true as I was on the canteen staff at the time.
The dinner arrived at the gate of Cage 22 at 12.30pm ; seventy-one dinners and one 'special diet', which was for Eddie Brophy. Eddie was a very warm-hearted person but, unfortunately, he had a bad heart, which exempted him from doing work in the cage and entailed him eating 'special diet' food which was all steamed and absolutely atrocious to eat. Every day, when everyone got their dinner, the canteen staff would take theirs into the hut and eat it, before cleaning all the utensils, dinner containers and serving tables etc. What remained of the dinner would sit unattended for about half an hour in the Hut until the canteen staff put the containers on the trolley and wheeled it over to the gate for collection. It was during that half hour that Eddie would always make his move... (MORE LATER).
ON THIS DATE (19TH OCTOBER) 271 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF THE MAN WHO URGED THE IRISH "TO BURN EVERYTHING ENGLISH EXCEPT THEIR COAL".
"Burn everything English but their coal" - the 'Hibernian Patriot' [from the 'Drapier's Letters' collection], Jonathan Swift (pictured, left), an Irish author and satirist (perhaps best known for 'Gulliver's Travels' and for his position as dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin) was born in Dublin on the 30th November 1667 ; his father (from whom the 'Patriot' got his first name) was an attorney, but he died before the birth of his son. As if that wasn't misfortune enough, young Jonathan suffered from Meniere's Disease and, between the bill's mounting up and her sickly son, his mother, Abigail, found that she was unable to cope and the young boy was put in the charge of her late husband's brother, Godwin, a wealthy member of the 'Gray's Inn' legal society.
His position in St. Patrick's Cathedral ensured that he had a 'pulpit' and a ready-made audience to listen to him, an opportunity he readily availed of to question English misrule in Ireland - he spoke against 'Wood's Halfpence' and in favour of 'burning everything English except their coal' and, satirically, wrote a 'modest proposal' in which he suggested that poor children should be fed to the rich ('a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled..')!
In 1742, at 75 years of age, Jonathan Swift suffered a stroke, severely affecting his ability to speak, and he died three years later, on the 19th October, 1745 - 271 years ago on this date. He was buried next to the love of his life, Esther Johnson, in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin. "It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death, should ever have been designed by providence as an evil to mankind" - Jonathan Swift.
ON THIS DATE (19TH OCTOBER) 103 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF A GREEN-HEARTED LOYALIST.
Emily Lawless, pictured, left (aka 'Emily Lytton'), the writer and poet, was born on the 17th of June, 1845, in Ardclough, County Kildare and was educated privately.
War battered dogs are we
Fighters in every clime;
Fillers of trench and of grave,
Mockers bemocked by time.
War dogs hungry and grey,
Gnawing a naked bone,
Fighters in every clime -
Every cause but our own. (Emily Lawless, 1902 ; "With the Wild Geese".)
She was born into a politically mixed background, the eldest daughter and one of eight children ('Sir' Horace Plunkett was her cousin). Her father was 'Titled' by Westminster (he was a 'Baron') even though his father (Emily's grandfather) was a member of the 'United Irishmen'. Her brother, Edward, seems to have taken his direction from his father rather than his grandfather - he held and voiced strong unionist opinions, wouldn't have a catholic about the place and was in a leadership position within the anti-Irish so-called 'Property Defence Association'. Perhaps this 'in-house' political confusion, mixed between staunch unionism and unionism with sympathies for Irish nationalism/republicanism, coupled with the 'whisperings of shame' that Emily was a lesbian and was having an affair with one of the 'titled' Spencer women, was the reason why her father and two of his daughters committed suicide.
She wrote a full range of books, from fiction to history to poetry, and is best remembered for her 'Wild Geese' works, although some of her writings were criticised by journalists for its 'grossly exaggerated violence, its embarrassing dialect and staid characters..' - 'The Nation' newspaper stated that 'she looked down on peasantry from the pinnacle of her three-generation nobility..' and none other than William Butler Yeats declared that she had "an imperfect sympathy with the Celtic nature.." and that she favoured "theory invented by political journalists and forensic historians." But she had a great talent :
After Aughrim :
She said, "They gave me of their best,
They lived, they gave their lives for me ;
I tossed them to the howling waste
And flung them to the foaming sea."
She said, "I never gave them aught,
Not mine the power, if mine the will ;
I let them starve, I let them bleed,
they bled and starved, and loved me still."
She said, "Ten times they fought for me,
Ten times they strove with might and main,
Ten times I saw them beaten down,
Ten times they rose, and fought again."
She said, "I stayed alone at home,
A dreary woman, grey and cold ;
I never asked them how they fared,
Yet still they loved me as of old."
She said, "I never called them sons,
I almost ceased to breathe their name,
then caught it echoing down the wind
blown backwards, from the lips of fame."
She said, "Not mine, not mine that fame ;
Far over sea, far over land,
cast forth like rubbish from my shores
they won it yonder, sword in hand."
She said, "God knows they owe me nought,
I tossed them to the foaming sea,
I tossed them to the howling waste,
Yet still their love comes home to me."
She considered herself to be a Unionist although, unlike her brother, she appreciated and acknowledged Irish culture (or, in her own words - "I am not anti-Gaelic at all, as long as it is only Gaelic enthuse and does not include politics..") and, despite being 'entitled' to call herself 'The Honourable Emily Lawless', it was a 'title' she only used occasionally. She spent a lot of her younger days in Galway, with her mother's family, but it is thought that family tragedies drove her to live in England, where she died, on the 19th of October 1913 - 103 years ago on this date - at the age of 68, having become addicted to heroin. She was buried in Surrey. Emily Lawless, 1845-1913.
ON THIS DATE (19TH OCTOBER) 27 YEARS AGO : BRITISH ESTABLISHMENT AGREE THAT 'THE CONVICTIONS ARE UNSAFE AND UNSATISFACTORY...OUR POLICE OFFICERS MUST HAVE LIED...' (Page 22, here.)
On the 19th October 1989 - 27 years ago on this date (after serving 15 years in prison)- the 'Guildford Four' - Gerard Conlon, Patrick Armstrong, Carole Richardson and Paul Hill - are released from prison in what is considered to be one of the biggest-ever miscarriages of justice in Britain. Their convictions in 1974 for the Guildford pub bombings of that year were quashed at the Old Bailey in London on the 19th October 1989. All four had been falsey accused of the attacks on two pubs in which five people died and more than sixty people were injured. 'Confessions' were obtained by the use of torture and attempts to appeal the convictions were unsuccessful - the British establishment and its police force wanted 'those responsible' (and/or those whom it could somewhat plausibly present as being responsible) caught and for 'justice' to be done.
'After the incredulity and then the euphoria of release from jail, the four people who had served 15 years for the Guildford pub bombings in 1974 had to find a life. Three are now married with families but the years of adjustment have been painful...the only thing that mattered was when Lord Lane, the lord chief justice, pronounced those magic words: the convictions of Gerry Conlon, Carole Richardson, Paul Hill and Paddy Armstrong were unsafe and unsatisfactory..."Gerry Conlon punched the air in defiance and ran the wrong way down the street. Just like a confused animal, his lawyer thought. Conlon was then 35...Richardson, 17 at the time of her arrest, was shocked and weak at the knees. She and her former boyfriend, Armstrong, disappeared separately out the back. She just wanted to hide. Hill was taken to Crumlin Road prison in Belfast and bailed two days later...theirs was the first of the momentous Irish miscarriage of justice cases which convulsed the criminal justice system and led to a rare royal commission. The crisis of confidence was encapsulated in one of Lord Lane's concluding remarks: "The officers must have lied..." (From here.)
"Officers" of that same calibre (albeit in a different uniform), answerable to a similar political establishment as mentioned above, are still in a powerful position in the north-east of this country (and, indeed, are not confined to that area) and are still willing and able to frame innocent people for their objective of securing the British military and political presence in Ireland. The only long term solution is to end that presence and flush out the contaminants left behind.
ON THIS DATE (19TH OCTOBER) 15 YEARS AGO : FINAL ARRANGEMENTS MADE FOR FREE STATERS TO 'HONOUR' IRISH REPUBLICAN.
"Fight on, struggle on, for the honour, glory and freedom of dear old Ireland. Our hearts go out to all our dear old friends. Our souls go to God at 7 o'clock in the morning and our bodies, when Ireland is free, shall go to Galbally. Our blood shall not be shed in vain for Ireland, and we have a strong presentiment, going to our God, that Ireland will soon be free and we gladly give our lives that a smile may brighten the face of 'Dear Dark Rosaleen'. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!" - the last words of Limerick (Ballylanders) IRA man Patrick Maher, 32 years of age (pictured, left), to his comrades. He was hanged by the Free State administration on the 7th June 1921 for his alleged involvement in the rescue of Tipperary IRA man Seán Hogan, even though he was not involved in that operation. Thousands of people (including his mother and sister) had gathered outside Mountjoy Jail in Dublin in protest against his execution, but to no avail (it should be noted that at the time, Munster and a small part of Leinster were under British 'martial law' and those executed there were shot as soldiers, but Dublin was under civilian law and that is why those executed in Mountjoy were hanged).
Patrick Maher and his comrade Edmond Foley were executed in Mountjoy jail, Dublin, on the 7th of June 1921, after being charged with 'the murder' of two RIC men (Peter Wallace and Michael Enright) - he strongly protested his innocence but, even though two juries failed to reach a verdict, he was convicted (by a military court martial) and sentenced to death. He was one of 'The Forgotten Ten' IRA Volunteers (Kevin Barry, Patrick Moran, Frank Flood, Thomas Whelan, Thomas Traynor, Patrick Doyle, Thomas Bryan, Bernard Ryan, Edmond Foley, and Patrick Maher) - Kevin Barry was executed in 1920 by the British and the other nine men were put to death in 1921. All ten were buried in the grounds of Mountjoy Jail in Dublin, where six of them were placed in the same grave.
On Sunday, 14th October 2001, nine of those men were reinterred in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin by representatives of a 26-county state in an 'official' ceremony and, on Friday, 19th October 2001 - 15 years ago on this date - this state made the final arrangements to do the same for the tenth man, Patrick Maher, who was reburied in his home parish of Glenbrohane in Limerick (at the request of his family) on Saturday, 20th October 2001. Both reinterments were carried out by a state which none of the ten men were fighting for - a 26-county free state - as the objective of the republican campaign - then (1920/1921) and now (2016)- was and is for a free Ireland, not a partially-free Ireland. And, to add insult to injury, the then Free State 'minister for justice', John O'Donoghue, was the 'official figurehead' present, on both occasions, during which he delivered the graveside orations. Irish republicans are looking forward to the day when those moral and political misappropriations can be corrected.
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
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