STORMONT TALKS – Does Gregory Campbell speak for the DUP?
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December / Nollaig 2014
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2 December / Nollaig 2014
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IN PICTURES
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The January 2015 edition of An Phoblacht will be on the streets on January 7th. Deadline for receipt of Notices is December 19th.
anphoblacht WHAT'S INSIDE Editorial 4
Gregory Campbell and the Stormont talks
chartaigh 5
5 Members of the Mairéad Farrell Republican Youth Committee with Sinn Féin Assembly member Gerry Kelly at their AGM
Is Glas iad na Cnoic i bhfad Uainn
Building an Alternative 8
Sinn Féin and Government David Cullinane
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MLAs at the heart of hospitals campaign
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The Rising movie: Ireland’s revolutionary history on the big screen
14 & 15 5Chris Hazzard MLA at a white-line protest in support of the Downe Hospital
The killing of IRA Volunteer Hugh Coney at Long Kesh
5Sinn Féin Newry Mayor Dáire Hughes with members of Newry and Mourne Youth Council who completed the charity Santa Run - They demanded a selfie!
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Uncomfortable Conversations – Baroness May Blood on integrated education
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Dublin’s Israeli Embassy – ‘The last outpost’
5 Members of the UCC Europa Society meet Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald TD at Leinster House in Dublin
Sport 30 & 31
Gaelic football in loyalist east Belfast and the pointlessness of not winning
5 Sinn Féin's Martina Anderson MEP meets pupils and staff at Naíscoil an tS- 5 The families of Pa Toal and Pat Harte with members of the new Sinn Féin ratha Báin in Tyrone cumann in Killeavy, South Armagh, which has been named in the men's honour
December / Nollaig 2014
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Gregory Campbell’s ‘curry my yoghurt’ insults – the new language of the old DUP threatens all-party progress
Pro-Agreement parties must make a stand
BY JOHN HEDGES GREGORY CAMPBELL’S calculated insults to the Irish language in the Assembly and outright opposition at the Democratic Unionist Party’s annual conference to an Irish Language Act are symptomatic of the DUP’s current attitude to the Good Friday Agreement and the Peace Process. The East Derry MP’s ‘warm-up’ speech for party leader Peter Robinson at the DUP conference in November included the unambiguous declaration (to applause from activists and nods and smiles from the DUP leadership): “On behalf of our party let me say clearly – and slowly so that Caitríona Ruane and Gerry Adams understand – we will never agree to an Irish Language Act at Stormont and we will treat their entire wish list as no more than toilet paper. They better get used to it.” Despite holding the position of First Minister, DUP leader Peter Robinson brushed criticism aside, describing it as a bit of “comedy”. When BBC TV’s Mark Carruthers pressed him on how nationalists might view Gregory Campbell’s speech, the First Minister snapped on camera that he would walk out of the interview if this line was pursued any further. Commentator Jude Collins blogged afterwards: “Imagine if Sinn Féin’s annual conference had featured a speaker talking about using unionist concerns as toilet paper. “Imagine a Sinn Féin conference where a speaker mocked the Ulster-Scots dialect. “And then imagine Gerry Adams coming on and saying it was just a light-hearted speech, to loosen up or he was off? “I suggest the airwaves and the print columns would be bursting with indignation and anger at such a stance.” They were not. His senior MP’s comments were not disowned by First Minister Peter Robinson either. Alex Kane, former Director of Communications for the Ulster Unionist Party, wrote in the unionist News Letter under the headline: “Hardline Gregory Campbell is now the authentic voice of the DUP”:
5 First Minister Peter Robinson
“That’s the language of the old DUP. And we better get used to it.” Sinn Féin MLA John O’Dowd said Campbell is giving “two fingers” to people and the Assembly. “Gregory Campbell is clearly dismissing the hopes, aspirations and negotiating rights of almost one half of our people in these talks,” the Upper Bann MLA said. “DUP leader Peter Robinson needs to clarify was Gregory Campbell representing the DUP’s
‘Imagine if Sinn Féin’s annual conference had featured a speaker talking about using unionist concerns as toilet paper’ Jude Collins
position as a whole as that calls into question the integrity and commitment of the DUP’s approach to the all-party talks.” Gregory Campbell’s showboating reflects a worrying and dangerous attitude by mainstream unionism to parity of esteem, the Good Friday Agreement and all the other international agreements – agreements made by unionists with nationalists under the auspices of the British and Irish governments and the United States.
The intransigence of the DUP has been tacitly encouraged and nurtured by the Conservative-dominated government in London. As a consequence, republicans have no confidence in the commitment of the British Government to the political process. The DUP has been dictating the Secretary of State’s and the NIO’s approach. DUP leader Peter Robinson has set down preconditions in the form of welfare cuts, parades and the role of the Irish Government. The DUP has been emboldened by two elements: its new allies in the Ulster Unionist Party and the rejectionist Traditional Unionist Voice, UKIP, the unelected Orange Order and the paramilitary UDA and UVF (of which the UVF is acknowledged by the police to be particularly active); and by the patronage of the British Government despite unionists flouting the democratic and peace processes. The DUP’s endorsement of the Union flags protests that saw attacks on the police, Alliance Party offices and nationalist residents in Short Strand was no impediment to it being granted a special audience with British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street at an exclusive drinks party for its MPs in May on the night that Gerry Adams was arrested. East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson openly boasted to the media that his party was being “courted, tested and probed” on their attitude to supporting David Cameron’s Tories after next May’s general election or if the current coalition government collapsed before then. Secretary of State Villiers told the Ulster Unionist Party conference in October that the Irish Government will play little role in the political settlement of the North. Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy immediately corrected the Secretary of State, telling her that her statement “runs contrary to the Good Friday Agreement”. He added: “The Irish Government is a key player and signatory to the Agreement on a par with the British Government.” It is imperative that the Irish Government and the US administration don’t just stand by the international agreements such as the Good Friday Agreement and St Andrews but robustly speak up and defend them at every opportunity.
‘Hardline Gregory Campbell is now the authentic voice of the DUP’ NEWS LETTER HEADLINE
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4 December / Nollaig 2014
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anphoblacht Editorial
Gregory Campbell’s language insults talks GREGORY CAMPBELL’S scripted insults in the Assembly (intentionally repeated at the Democratic Unionist Party conference) to the Irish Language Act are a worrying reflection of the attitude of the leadership of the DUP to the all-party talks at Stormont and parity of esteem. DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson has made excuses for Gregory Campbell. This is not a time for making excuses. It is a time for leadership and taking action to ensure this never happens again.
The DUP’s collective stance sheds a negative message right to the heart of the talks the parties are engaged in at Stormont to find a resolution to the outstanding issues. Under no circumstances can Gregory Campbell’s unapologetic statements be passed off by the First Minister as comedy. There was absolutely nothing funny about it. It was calculated and insulting. Even when it was made clear that it was insulting, Gregory Campbell, one of Peter Robinson’s most experienced Westminster MPs, went out of his
way to repeat the offence at the DUP’s showcase annual conference. At a time when Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness are working to implement strategies for building an integrated community, it is disheartening to hear the language and tones employed by Gregory Campbell used to denigrate the Irish language and those thousands of people for whom it is an important part of their identity and culture. Gregory Campbell and the DUP must appreciate that this is not the language of progress.
All-island process on sexual abuse THE public debate around sexual abuse has brought very sharply into public focus the fact that in a society, and at a time in the North where large sections of the population did not trust or engage with the RUC, victims of abuse were failed. Sinn Féin has proposed the establishment, through the North/South Ministerial Council, of an all-island process to deal with the issue of support mechanisms for those who were victims of sexual abuse during the conflict. Such a process would empower all victims and
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survivors of abuse to fully avail of existing services to get the justice they need and deserve. Sinn Féin is committed to a process which will support all victims, regardless of whether they were failed by republicans, the RUC, the state or loyalists. No one should be living in fear and no child should be at risk. Anyone who has any information whatsoever about any child abuse should come forward to the authorities, North or South, and they will have the full support of Sinn Féin in doing so.
RELEVANT CONTACT DETAILS: www.tusla.ie – Tusla, the Child and Family Agency www.garda.ie – For your local Garda www.psni.police.uk – For your local PSNI Rape Crisis Network Ireland 24-Hour Helpline – 1800 77 88 88 Rape Crisis & Sexual Abuse Centre (Belfast) – 028 9032 9002
AN PHOBLACHT is published monthly by Sinn Féin. The views in An Phoblacht are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sinn Féin. We welcome articles, opinions and photographs from new contributors but contact the Editor first. An Phoblacht, Kevin Barry House, 44 Parnell Square, Dublin 1, Ireland Telephone: (+353 1) 872 6 100. Email: editor@anphoblacht.com
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Writing in the January issue…
DAVID BEGG
Irish Congress of Trade Unions General Secretary
NESSA CHILDERS MEP
The G20, the G5 and BRICS THE G20 SUMMIT of the world’s most advanced economies took place in Brisbane, Australia, in November. But the main significance of the G20 Summit wasn’t the ritualistic condemnations of Russia for refusing to bow to Western demands over Ukraine (as reported by RTÉ) but the most significant meeting of the leaders of the five BRICS states
– Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. These five states agreed to intensify their focus on creating an alternative global financial centre to the current domination of the dollar, thereby freeing developing countries from the death-grip control of Western capitalism. Already we can see that Western sanctions against Russia have merely
intensified the coming together of what is now being called the G5. This development has profound implications for Europe and the eurozone in particular, especially the choice of going down with the dollar and backing US foreign policy to the hilt, or crying stop and breaking free of global multinational corporation control of the world’s economies. True to form, RTÉ didn’t even
mention this development in its reports on the G20 Summit, but in the January 2015 edition of An Phoblacht, political commentator Eoin Ó Murchú will give a full analysis of the G5 and what it could mean for Ireland.
SEE ALSO IN THIS ISSUE A PREVIEW AS GAEILGE ON PAGE 11
December / Nollaig 2014
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Le Trevor Ó Clochartaigh Tábhacht níos mó ná ariamh teagmháil fónta a bheith againn leis an diaspóra
Is Glas iad na Cnoic i bhfad Uainn CEANN de na míreanna rialta ar an teilifís faoi Nollaig na na radharcanna ag an aerfort do na hÉireannaigh a thagann ar ais abhaile ar chuairt ag a muintir anseo. Agus arís san athbhliain agus imircigh ag filleadh ar thíortha coimhthíocha ar fud an domhan, mar gur ann atá siad ag cur futhú mar nach féidir leo maireachtáil sa mbaile. Is amhlaidh a bheidh i mbliana. Ach, níl aon dabht faoi ná go raibh cuid mhaith trácht aon treo amach as aerfoirt na hÉireann le roinnt blianta anuas agus go bhfuil cuid mhaith díbh nach mbeidh ar a gcumas teacht abhaile agus gur ar ‘skype’ a roinnfear beannachtaí na Nollaig seo lena gclann agus a gcáirde ar an seanfhód. Meastar go bhfuil suas le seachtó milliún duine ar fud na cruinne gur de shliocht Éireannach iad. Tá a rian le feiceáil ar chuile bhaile beag agus mór timpeall an domhan beagnach. Tá daoine a rugadh agus a tógadh anseo agus a sliocht sleachta siúd chomh maith. Tá an chaidreamh agus an gaol idir tír a muintire agus iad féin i gcéin ag fáil níos casta I gcónaí, ach níos tábhachtaí an t-am ar fad freisin. Tá cáil le fada an lá ar Shinn Féin mar gheall ar an dlúthchaidreamh a bhíonn againn leis na
Cúis iontach bróid dom gur ainmnigh an páirtí mé le déanaí mar urlabhraí Shinn Féin don Diaspóra gaeil i gcéin. Níl aon dabht ná go gcuireann muid níos mó béim ar an ngné seo d’ár teagmháil pholaitiúil leis an bpobal ná aon pháirtí eile sa tír. D’imir ár gaolta Gaelacha páirt an-tábhachtach i bhforbairt an phroiséas síochána agus seoltar urlabhraithe dár gcuid chuig imeachtaí agus comórthaí ar fud an domhan an t-am ar fad leis an teagmháil phearsanta a chothú, aitheantas a thabhairt do na pobail Éireannacha thar lear agus chun iad a thabhairt suas go dáta faoi chúrsaí sa mbaile. Cúis iontach bróid dom gur ainmnigh an páirtí mé le déanaí mar urlabhraí Shinn Féin don Diaspóra. Beidh mé ag tógáil na cúraimí seo ar lámh ó mo chomhleacaí Oireachtais, Seán Crowe, a bhfuil obair den scoth déanta aige sa réimse seo le cúpla bliain i gcomhpháírt lenár teagmhálaithe idirnáisiúnta. Beidh mé ag obair as lámh a chéile lenár rannóg idirnáisiúnta, lenár mbaill agus comrádaithe sa Bhreatain, i Meiriceá Thuaidh san Eoraip agus ar fud na cruinne, le leas na n-imirceach a chur chun cinn. Jab dúshlánach atá ann, ach is dóigh go bhfuil léargas faoi leith agam féin ar an ábhar mar gur rugadh de shliocht Éireannach i Sasana mé féín agus go dtagaim as ceantar
sa tír atá banaithe ag an imirce agus feicim ar bhonn laethúil an briseadh croí agus an scrios atá déanta le tamall de bhlianta de bharr an imirce. Ach, chomh maith leis sin, bhí baint agam le Gaeil thar lear go rialta i mo shaol oibre sular thug mé faoin tSeanad agus tuigim chomh maith agus atá cruthaithe ag daoine faoi leith, iad mar eiseamláir ina gcuid réimsí oibre féin agus iad ag cothú meas agus mórtas imeasc na nGaeil i ngar agus i gcéin. Ar na nithe is mó atá an páirtí dírithe ó thaobh cearta an diaspóra de tá cearta vótála i dtoghchán na hUachtaránachta do shaoránaithe Éireannacha thar lear. Bheadh muid ag iarraidh cearta vótála sna h-olltoghcháin a leathnú chuig chuile dhuine fásta ós cionn ocht mbliana déag atá ag cónaí sa tír ar feadh cúig bhliana nó níos mó. Tá muid ar son ionadaíocht Dála a thabhairt dár bpobal imirceach tré dháilcheantar teoranta a bhunú, le cearta vótála bunaithe ar phas bailí agus clárú rialta. Ba mhaith linn athchóiriú a fheiceáil ar chomhdhéanamh an tSeanaid le h-ionadaíocht don diaspóra mar chuid thábhachtach de. D’fháiltigh muid roimh ceapadh Aire Stáit le cúraimí an Diaspóra air le déanaí mar bhí muid dhá mholadh sin le tamall. Ba mhaith linn freisin go mbunófaí Tascfhórsa Rialtais faoi leith chun díriú ar an imirce. Dar le Sinn Féin freisin ba chóir ionadaíocht buan a thabhairt don diaspóra ar Chomhairle an Stáit. Gan amhras, dár ndóigh, is iad ár gcuid imircigh féin is fearr a inseoidh dúinn céard a theastaíonn uathu agus tá mé ag súil go mór an chaidreamh sin a fhorbairt níos mó agus a neartú sna míonna agus na blianta beaga atá romhainn. Agus, má tá comhairle ar bith agaibh dom ina leith sin, beidh míle fáílte agam roimhe!
6 December / Nollaig 2014
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Housing is a social right, not a market commodity BY EOIN Ó MURCHÚ THE 26-County state is being ravaged by a housing 4Every citizen is entitled to decent housing crisis, one of the most abhorrent consequences of the austerity policies pursued by the present and previous governments. This crisis has left many thousands languishing on local authority housing lists without any prospect of help in the near or medium-term future; thousands more are terrified at the prospect of losing their homes as they drown in arrears and negative equity. This is a crisis at least as serious as those of the 1930s and 1960s which sparked massive housing demonstrations at those times and which spurred governments to introduce emergency housing programmes, the products of which are still the bulk of social housing throughout the state. But this government – which has no problem in bailing out bankers and speculators – has offered no help to working people facing this crisis. Those who lose their homes, being unable to repay mortgages because they have lost their jobs or seen their incomes slashed, are hounded by the arrears and debts that condemn them to lifelong existences on the margins. Budget 2015 saw the unveiling, with much fanfare, of a “major housing initiative” – €1.5billion is being provided from Exchequer funds for social housing between 2015 and 2017, which is expected to deliver
The Budget 2015 ‘major housing initiative’ will barely scratch the surface of what is needed between 9,000 and 10,000 accommodation units within that period. Currently, of course, there are over 90,000 families on the local authority housing lists, and even if the Government achieves the targets it announced – a big ‘If’, according to celebrated social and housing campaigner Fr Peter McVerry – it will barely scratch the surface of what is needed. An economic system that cannot provide for citizens to get adequate accommodation within a reasonable pricing structure is a failed system; and that is the judgement that must be passed on the capitalist economics espoused by Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil.
They do not work. The problem at its root is that the policy-makers – in the civil service, the media and the universities – regard housing as a commodity, something to be bought and sold on the market. For these people, buying a house (or an apartment) is “making an investment”. For the majority of people, however, getting a house or an apartment is simply getting somewhere decent to live (hopefully) without being ripped off. Because every citizen is entitled to decent accommodation, to decent housing. And if the market cannot meet this social need, then the role of the state is to intervene to provide for the citizen. Or have the Labour Party ministers and TDs forgotten even the smattering of social democracy their party once espoused? We have an optics-oriented scratching of the surface of housing need in Budget 2015 coupled with a massive drive to force people into private rented accommodation – for the benefit, naturally, of private landlords. (And which political parties do these worthies support?) Our media opinion formers constantly sneer at the ‘Irish people’s obsession with home ownership’ and contrast us unfavourably to our European counterparts. But what they ignore is that accommodation renters in continental Europe have much more extensive legal protections for their tenancies. The situation which occurred in Blanchardstown when an elderly couple who had always paid their rent on time and in full were evicted because their landlord went bust and the property was taken over by NAMA – that situation could not happen where tenants have renting rights. What must be faced up to is that housing is a social right for all citizens, married, single, with families and without, and Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan it is the state’s responsibility to
Housing campaigner Fr Peter McVerry
provide for that right – even if that means that European bankers must go short. We need an emergency crash-building programme from the local authorities to provide the 90,000 units currently needed as a minimum within a five-year period. That means investing €15billion instead of the paltry €1.5billion announced. And how to pay for it? Cut back on repayments to the European banks whose reckless lending spurred on
For the majority of people, getting a house or an apartment is simply getting somewhere decent to live (hopefully) without being ripped off the house price bubble which has played such a central role in the economic crisis. Secondly, we need a new tenants’ rights campaign to guarantee fixity of tenure and protection against arbitrary rent increases; and why not throw in the right to assign the tenancy to a family member? Weren’t these ‘Three Fs’ (Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free Sale) the basis of the Land League campaign which preluded revolution in Ireland. Such a campaign, in an urban setting, is what we need today.
December / Nollaig 2014
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COUNCILLOR
SAR A H H O LLAN D
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Therein lies the rub. Enda & Co have no idea of the effect their laissez faire attitude has on their own neighbours. Tax cuts for the rich stand side by side with extra bills for people who have next to nothing
Austerity still hitting people at home RATHFARNHAM is a leafy suburb in South Dublin, the ideal place to raise kids, with great schools, parks and museums right on our doorstep.
She walks the streets during the day while the girls are at school, pushing the baby around the park. She has nowhere else to go. Her place on the sofa is now gone too. We moved here five years ago. When I started Her friend is already living in overcrowded my advice clinics in Whitechurch Community conditions with her own kids and now Centre, my perception of has to accommodate a brother recently Rathfarnham as a cushy returned from abroad. middle-class suburb Denise has been calling into the changed completely homeless unit in South Dublin County when I saw the hidden Council daily. I call her every few days poverty that exists right to see if there is any news. Following on our doorstep. persistent calling, she was offered ‘Denise’ (not her a place in a B&B in Glasnevin, on real name) is a young the north side of the city. The mum with three kids. Her cost of getting her kids to school youngest is just 11 weeks every day and back across the city old. She has two other kids, again would have been too much happy bright kids like many for her. She has no disposable income others, at local schools. whatsoever. Her relationship with ‘Shona’ is another Rathfarnham mum their dad broke down with three kids. They all attend local whilst she was pregnant schools and are a handful. Her oldest and things became unbearable at little boy has been diagnosed with ADHD. home. Although he is a good dad, Shona’s partner, ‘David’, is a former heroin their relationship with each other had addict who is now on a methadone completely deteriorated and he became programme. He made a superhuman emotionally abusive and hostile. effort to get off drugs for his kids’ sake. She explained her desperate situaThey are a happy family who have tion. She was terrified of having been through their share of ups and to bring her newborn home from downs. Shona is articulate and bright, hospital to one of the shabby and as is David. Last year, their landlord had frightening hostels in Dublin city his assets seized and the house the centre. She could no longer call their couple were living in was repossessed rented accommodation in a nice by the bank and sent to a liquidator for estate ‘home’. She had to get out management. The liquidator promptly and needed somewhere to take sent them an eviction notice. Denise walks the streets her kids, a place where they could during the day as she has They came to Sinn Féin for help close the door in the evenings and nowhere else to go in desperation. Their local authorshut out the world, had a bed to call ity would not listen to them and their own, could cook a wee dinner treated them with contempt, they and watch telly. said, because of David’s addiction There were no houses at all availproblems. They felt utterly alone able; no apartments; nowhere for and completely at a loss what to do. her to go. The liquidator would not accept their I referred her to Threshold, who made calls; the letting agent would not return some representations on her behalf, to their calls. The liquidator stopped accepting rent, no avail. as this would make it easier to secure an eviction. Denise had been sleeping on her friend’s floor with the baby in a ‘Moses We managed to secure them a new lease for basket’ beside her and her two girls their home, which was subsequently bought on the sofa. over. Luckily, the new landlord let them stay on
5 Enda & Co have been celebrating an ‘end of austerity’
6 Unfinished houses stand idle while thousands are on social housing waiting lists
but the whole episode brought out the problems facing working-class families. They are subject to the whims of multinational corporations and greedy landlords who keep asking for more. They have no one to champion them, no one to fight their corner, no trust in the institutions which are supposedly there to serve the people. In stark contrast, rumours abound that some of their public representatives are organising parties to celebrate the end of austerity. They spend freely on shindigs whilst the people they represent don’t even have a table to put food on. The tax cut for top earners announced in Budget 2014 should cover the cost. Therein lies the rub. Enda & Co have no idea of the effect their laissez faire attitude has on their own neighbours. Tax cuts for the rich stand side by side with extra bills for people who have next to nothing. Austerity is over? Some people have never experienced it; for others, it will never end.
8 December / Nollaig 2014
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A government should not simply be about making up the numbers. It should be about vision, policies, goals and values
SENATOR
D AV I D C U LLI N A N E SINN FÉIN AND GOVERNMENT
IT’S THE REPUBLIC AS WE move towards 2016 and the next Dáil general election, the focus will switch to who will form the next government in the South. If previous debates on who might make up any government are a barometer, it will be all about the numbers – simple arithmetic. And while that is understandable and part of the picture, it dumbs down the debate. A government should not simply be about making up the numbers. It should be about vision, policies, goals and values. It should not simply be about the ‘who’ but also about the ‘what and how’. Who is in Government should be underpinned by what they will do and how they will do it. Sinn Féin should change the narrative and shift the debate. We must not present ourselves as hungry for power but rather hungry for change. Our participation in Government must be about maximum change – unity, a fair economy, citizens’ rights, equality, strong public services and active citizenship. The electorate in the South has had a bellyful of rhetoric and false promises. Those seeking change have been badly let down by Labour, the Greens, the Progressive Democrats and Independents who from time to time have propped up right-wing governments. The missing ingredient is trust from an austerity-battered electorate who have had enough. For Sinn Féin to win and keep the trust of the working class and the struggling middle classes our message must be clear and unambiguous. Slick or clever political manoeuvring or jargon will be found out. Mixed messages will get lost in translation. Ultimately, going into Government is a decision for our membership if and when the opportunity presents. And that is how it should be. We must, however, enter the next phase of electoral politics with a clear message, North and South. And as we prepare for Government in the South we must keep an obvious eye to the North. A crisis in unionism, a failure by others to keep commitments and the spectacle of savage Tory cuts has created instability and uncertainty. To view and discuss potential coalition Government in the South in isolation to the difficulties in the North would be a mistake. So we must think and act nationally. Sinn Féin is for the reconquest of Ireland for the people of Ireland.
5 Sinn Féin must enter the next phase of electoral politics with a clear message, North and South
and is part of rebuilding our tax base to one underpinned by progressive and direct taxation based on income. However, our participation in Government will penetrate deeper than those important changes. It will be about transforming politics, putting citizens front and centre and dismantling the unequal and unfair institutions and policies of two failed states.
Sinn Féin must not present ourselves as hungry for power but rather hungry for change
5 Sinn Féin says scrapping the water charges and Property Tax are 'red line issues'
We are about ending corruption, cronyism and jobs for the boys. We are for real political reform. Poverty, inequality, racism and sectarianism have no place in our Republic.
We are for a fair economy and for the vindication of social and economic rights. The party has already pointed to a number of ‘red line issues’, including the scrapping of the Property Tax and water charges. This is sensible
I have my own view on coalition and, like any other member, I will argue my case within the party. It’s simple – not as a junior partner and not as a crutch for Fine Gael or for Fianna Fáil. We should not be afraid of Government but nor should we act prematurely. It all comes back to that key ingredient – trust. Let’s win the trust of the electorate, keep it, cherish it and build the Republic on solid foundations. Exciting and challenging times ahead.
December / Nollaig 2014
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5 Sinn Féin MLA Daithí McKay with members of the 'Save the Dal' campaign group at Stormont
Sinn Féin MLAs at heart of hospitals campaign BY MICHAEL McMONAGLE
SINN FÉIN is at the heart of campaigns to save local and community hospitals earmarked for closure across the North. In Antrim, Tyrone and Down, communities have mobilised, with the full support of Sinn Féin, against proposals from DUP Health Minister Jim Wells to close hospital wards and care units. More than 1,000 people attended a protest meeting in Ballycastle against plans to close a Multiple Sclerosis (MS) respite unit at Dalriada hospital. Sinn Féin MLAs Daithí McKay and Oliver McMullan have been to the fore in the ‘Save the Dal’ campaign, which has been taken from Rathlin to Stormont. In Tyrone, West Tyrone MLA Barry McElduff and Fermanagh/South Tyrone MLA Bronwyn McGahan have led campaigns against proposals to close beds in community hospitals in Omagh and Dungannon. In Down, Chris Hazzard has been involved in community protests against plans to close beds in the Downe Hospital in Downpatrick. Daithí McKay said the entire community in north Antrim is united to oppose the Dalraida closure plans. “More than a thousand people from right across the community attended the public meeting in Skeskburn House, Ballycastle, against plans to close Dalriada Hospital and the MS respite unit. “This showed the sheer depth of feeling in the area against these unnecessary closures. “Dalriada Hospital is an essential part of the local community and has served people well for many years. “The local community has joined together to send a clear message that they will not accept the closure of Dalriada Hospital,” he said.
Daithí McKay and Oliver McMullan also met with representatives of the MS Society to discuss the implications of the proposed closure. They also hosted a group from the campaign, which included more than 100 people at Stormont and facilitated a meeting between representatives of group and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. While the group was at Stormont, Health Minister Jim Wells came out and addressed them through a megaphone, claiming he would consider their objections to the proposals, a statement he repeated in the Assembly. At the
While Health Minister Jim Wells was telling campaigners at Stormont he’d consider their objections, his department was contacting Dalriada Hospital to start closing the MS respite unit same time, however, officials from Jim Wells’s department was contacting Dalriada Hospital to make plans to start closing the MS respite unit. Daithí McKay accused the Health Minister of misleading the Assembly. “I regard that as being totally unacceptable. He should come to the floor of the Assembly and apologise for his remarks,” he said. In Dungannon, Bronwyn McGahan has been
centrally involved in the campaign against the proposed closure of Loane House. She collected more than 8,000 signatures in the local area against the planned closure and presented the petition to the Assembly. The Fermanagh/South Tyrone MLA also secured an adjournment debate in the Assembly on the issue. “The proposed closure of Loane House in Dungannon has caused significant concern and anger in the local community. “Loane House contains 45 non-acute hospital beds, eight of which are used for stroke patients. “It provides a vital service in the Dungannon area,” she said. In Omagh, Barry McElduff successfully challenged plans to merge palliative care and rehabilitation wards at the Tyrone County Hospital, forcing the Western Trust to abandon the proposals following a grassroots campaign. “This proposal was insensitive, inappropriate and unnecessary. It caused considerable anger in the local community and, thankfully, the Western Trust listened to the voice of the people and abandoned this plan.” The West Tyrone MLA vowed to continue the campaign to protect frontline health services in the Omagh area. “We are concerned about the retention of Acute Mental Health Services at the Tyrone County Hospital. And we are determined to make sure that the maximum range of services will be in the new local enhanced hospital, which is to open in 2016. “We do not want any diminution of services at the Tyrone County Hospital as a prelude to the new hospital opening.” Chris Hazzard said Jim Wells is failing the people of South Down with his plans to close Downe Hospital in Downpatrick “We know that a scandalous amount of money
(Clockwise) Sinn Féin MLAs Daithí McKay, Oliver McMullan, Barry McElduff, Bronwyn McGahan and Chris Hazzard
(more than £30million) has been paid out in bonuses to senior staff within the health system in recent years. Surely this is an area where the Health Minister could explore the potential for savings? “Instead, we have a local South Down minister who is not prepared to stand-up for local frontline services."
10 December / Nollaig 2014
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IRELAND’S REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY ON THE BIG SCREEN Hopes for first
feature-length film
1916 on the
RISING BY MARK MOLONEY BORN IN ENNISKILLEN, film-maker Kevin McCann grew up on the other side of the Irish Border. The Border is something which features heavily in his work. His production company is called Maccana Teoranta (‘Sons of the Border’) while his latest 30-minute drama Volkswagen Joe (which has won eight awards at international film festivals) deals with the division within a small Irish Border town during the 1981 Hunger Strikes. He’s currently in Boston, meeting members of the Irish Diaspora to secure support for his latest project The Rising, a full-length feature film on the 1916 Easter Rising which he hopes to release to coincide with the 100th anniversary in 2016. The film will focus on one of the lesser-known signatories as the main character. Kevin says the idea came about when he was filming the 2012 documentary Leitrim During
‘It’s classical hero ‘slave versus master’ material. A farmer’s son from Leitrim befriends a Quaker (Bulmer Hobson), becomes the disciple of an old fighter (Tom Clarke) and masterminds an uprising against the most powerful empire on earth’ the Troubles. “People kept referring to Seán Mac Diarmada,” Kevin tells me, “and to my shame I had never really heard of him.” He began to research the idea of a major feature on the Rising with Seán Mac Diarmada as the central character and was helped along the way by Leitrim County Council, who provided a grant. He moved to Belfast and worked closely with Dr Gerard MacAtasney, who has written biographies of Seán Mac Diarmada and Thomas Clarke. So why Mac Diarmada? “He’s a forgotten hero,” says Kevin. “He was the mastermind of the revolutionary movement that led to the Easter Rising. He was Michael Collins’s hero; he was Tom Clarke’s right-hand man. It was Seán, starting in Belfast, who was key to this huge revolutionary movement throughout Ireland that ended with his execution.” He says underdog stories of fighting for freedom from oppression resonate with people worldwide. “It’s classical hero ‘slave versus master’ material. A farmer’s son from Leitrim befriends a Quaker (Bulmer Hobson), becomes the disciple of an old fighter (Tom Clarke) and
5 Kevin McCann has been in the US for most of the last year to secure investment for the project
masterminds an uprising against the most powerful empire on earth.” He hits at those who criticise the Easter Rising of being political naive or a military failure. “It was a victory, not a failure. All war is regrettable but 1916 was an act of construction, not destruction. “These were men and women who influenced the Irish nation and made the stepping stone from a Famine Ireland to a free Ireland. “These people allowed us to lift our heads. They weren’t happy with the scraps from the Empire’s table.” While Leitrim and Cavan county councils, along with NI Screen, have backed the project, Kevin has spent most of the last year in the USA trying to raise some of the estimated €6million needed to produce the film. He says they
are relying on the Diaspora because in Ireland “it’s clear there is no interest from the state for remembering 1916”. He asks and answers the question that naturally follows: “Are we going to allow that to happen? We can’t.” "Any other country or culture would gladly embrace their history," Kevin says, pointing to our nearest neighbour for just one example. “Next year in Britain a film is being made about Admiral Nelson. They’ll have no problem getting backing to make a film on one of their heroes.” Commenting on the Irish Government’s launch of a video that was supposed to outline the Government’s plan for the centenary of the 1916 Rising yet managed to not even mention the rebellion, he said: “I’m completely disgusted by the Government’s video. “There is no plan from them to commemorate 1916 and ultimately I think anybody
Seán Mac Diarmada
with a conscience will see this as an abhorrence. The centenary is happening on our watch; we can’t push it down the road five years. It’s up to us to do what we came to study and educate ourselves about our history – and that’s what I want to do with this film. I don’t make ‘bubblegum’, I make films about who we are and I think a film on 1916 that properly explores the revolutionary
‘These people allowed us to lift our heads. They weren’t happy with the scraps from the Empire’s table’ movement will be of benefit to Ireland today.” While nobody has been confirmed for any roles yet, Kevin says his team have spoken to Irish actors Brendan Gleeson (Braveheart, The Guard), Fionnula Flanagan (Some Mother’s Son, The Others) and Colin Morgan (The Fall, Testament of Youth), all of whom have expressed interest in the project. He also says relatives of those who fought in 1916 have pledged their support. “It’s up to all of us to ensure that the men and women of 1916 are remembered. There’s going to be a tumbleweed in 1916 and we’re all going to hang our heads in shame but I’m saying ‘Not on my watch’. I’m pulling out every stop. All my other projects have been put to one side. I have to make this film.” To find out more about The Rising movie or support the project, visit: www.therising.ie
December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
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Sinn Féin gets ready for 1916 commemorations AFTER much huffing and puffing the Irish Government finally launched on 12 November its programme of events to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in the GPO in Dublin.
A small group of vocal water protesters drowned out the self-serving speeches of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste and the irony of the occasion of seeing a group of leaders under siege in the GPO and having to retreat through a side-door to escape was lost on many of those assembled. The centrepiece of the evening was the release of a centenary promotional video that, strangely, didn’t bother to mention the 1916 Rising or any of the signatories or executed leaders. (The only acknowledged IRA leader in the entire video was Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness!) The Taoiseach’s speech to launch the film
omitted any reference to it too, even though he was standing in the GPO itself, the crucible of the Rising. The video featured Irish-born explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, Bono, Bob Geldof, England’s Queen Elizabeth, David Cameron and Enda Kenny. It was savaged by the domestic and international press so much that all remnants of it have been scrubbed from the Internet.
Sinn Féin has plans for Ireland-wide broad-based commemorations which include the Diaspora, particularly in the USA, Canada, England and Scotland Sinn Féin released an alternative video as a response to the Government’s insult and to a much better public reception. Sinn Féin has plans in motion for Ireland-wide broad-based commemorations which include
the Diaspora, particularly in the USA, Canada, England and Scotland. Newly-appointed 1916/2016 National Programme Co-ordinator Bartle D’Arcy gave a presentation on the centenary proposals to a packed internal conference at the Red Cow Inn on 15 November. Sinn Féin-led 1916 Committees have already been and continue to be formed Ireland-wide, with legacy projects in the Six Counties involving James Connolly’s house in
Belfast, and in Dublin securing the 1916 Moore Street battlefield site as priorities. For 2015, Sinn Féin will be staging a re-enactment of the O’Donovan Rossa funeral in Dublin in co-operation with Glasnevin Cemetery to commemorate the original call to arms for 1916. A range of other headline events for 2016 will be released shortly, including major inclusive occasions over Easter weekend and around the anniversary dates.
To contact the 1916 committees or for other enquiries, email 1916@sinnfein.ie To view the Sinn Féin 1916 video, search YouTube for ‘1916 Inspires’
Dúshlán na mBRICS don Sean-Réimeas Airgeadais NÍORBH’E an rud ba shuntasaigh faoi teacht le chéile an G20 – na fiche tíortha is mó in eacnamaíocht an domhain – an cáineadh a rinneadh ar an Rúis i dtaobh na hÚcráíne, ach an teacht le chéile imeallach den chúig thír frith-impiriúlach, na BRICS mar a thugtar orthu. Tháinig an Bhrasaíl, an Rúis, an Ind, an tSín agus an Afraic Theas le cheile i 2006 le guth a thabhairt dona tíortha seo a riabh an fás eacnamaíocht ba mhó acu ach nach raibh aon tionchar acu da reir ar mhor-chinntí eacnamaíochta an domhain. I ndiaidh a cheil threisigh an Brics a ndearcadh ar an scéal mór, ach – go híorónta – spreag na smachtbhannaí in aghaidh na Rúise, mar gheall ar ghéarchéim na hÚcráíne, go lorgófaí fócas airgeadúil eile le dul i ngleic leis na Stáit Aontaithe. I mBrisbane na hAstráile i gcaitheamh na míosa seo caite, bhí cruinniú tábhachtach ag na cúig thír seo lena gcuid aontacht faoin eacnamaíocht domhanda a léiriú agus chun fócas as an nua a chur ar an riachtanas go aimseófaí lárionad domhanda nua airgeadais. Dá mbeadh duine ag brath ar RTE le haghaidh a chuid nuaíocht, ar ndóigh, ní bhéadh aon eolas aige faoin scéal seo mar níor thug an stáisiún “náisiúnta” sin aon tagairt dó. Ach tá impleachtai móra ag an scéal. Le fada an lá bhí na Stáit Aontaithe chun tosaigh ó thaobh tairgeadh is forbairt eanamaíocht dhe, ach faoi lár na seachtóidí bhí cuid mhaith den ghal ag imeacht ón eacnamaiocht sin.
EOIN Ó MURCHÚ Mar sin fhéin, d’éirigh leis na SAM a ngreim ar an eacnamaíocht dhomhanda a threisiú tre iachall a chur a lucht thairgeadh an ola a bpraghsanna a dhéanamh i ndollair. Bhí spéis ag gach aon tír dollair a fháil le pairt a ghlacadh san trádáil domhanda seo. Maidir le Meiriceá féin, ámh, lean siad leis an ard-chaighdeán maireachtála a bhíodh acu – i gcomparáid leis an gcuid eile den domhan – ach ní raibh an tairgeadh céanna acu. Cheannaigh said earraí isteach leis na dollair a hinfheistíodh i Meiriceá ag na tíortha ola ach go háirithe. Sa lá atá inniu ann, mar shampla, tá $1.27 trilliún de fhiacha ag an tSín ar na SAM – an creidiúnaí is mó, agus tá se ag éirí níos deacra i n-aghaidh an lae fónamh ar na fiacha sin agus fiacha an domhain eile. Dá n-éireódh an domhan as úsáid an dollair don trádáil dhomhanda bheadh sé ina thubaist dona Stáit Aontaithe. Tá baint mhor ag an bhfadh seo leis an ngéarchéim san Úcráín. Tá na Stáit Aontaithe ar a ndícheall ag iarraidh an Ghearmáin – príomh-thír an Aontais Eorpaigh – a choinneáil scartha ón Rúís. Sin atá taobh thiar dena smachtbhannaí. Ach ma éiríonn leis na BRICS fócas nua airgeadais a chruthú don domhan, beidh ceisteannaí móra ann don Eoraip ach go háirithe. Cá seasfadh muide sa domhan nua sin? Níl’s aghainn, agus is cosúil nach bhfuil’s ag RTÉ fiú go bhfuil an cheist ann? Tuilleadh faoi seo an mhí seo chugainn, i mBéarla, san Phoblacht.
12 December / Nollaig 2014
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ALL-ISLAND INITIATIVE BY MARTIN McGUINNESS AND GERRY ADAMS THROUGH NORTH/SOUTH MINISTERIAL COUNCIL
Abuse victims’ support sought by Sinn Féin from ministers MARTIN McGUINNESS, deputy First Minister, has asked for a meeting with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to discuss the Sinn Féin MLA’s proposal for an all-island process to deal with the issue of support mechanisms for those who were victims of sexual abuse during the conflict. Martin McGuinness has also raised the issue with First Minister Peter Robinson and he will be tabling it at the next meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council.
The initiative proposed by Martin McGuinness would ensure that victims and survivors have access to professional services, including counselling and therapy, and a channel through which complaints can be made to the appropriate statutory agency or police service. For it to work, it needs to be all-Ireland and to be fully resourced by the North’s Executive and the Irish Government. Supporting the proposal, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said there is an urgent need for such an
all-island, victim-centred process to ensure greater access to supports. There is also a need to facilitate victims and
be given to dedicated ‘hot lines’, North and South, to facilitate victims and survivors who wish to come forward. “Survivors must be empowered to access these services and all parties should do everything possible to ensure those survivors who want to come forward feel safe in doing so. “Any survivor who comes forward to Sinn Féin will be immediately supported in accessing appropriate support services and the authorities.
‘There is an urgent need for an all-island, victim-centred process to ensure greater access to counselling and other supports for those who were victims of sexual abuse who could not access justice during the conflict’ MARTIN McGUINNESS
survivors to access the justice system to make official complaints, he said. “I believe consideration should also
Survivors of abuse must get the support they need and the justice they deserve GERRY ADAMS, speaking on behalf of Sinn Féin during the five-hour Dáil debate in November regarding allegations made by Máiría Cahill, said the public discussion around her allegations have brought very sharply into public focus the fact that at a time in the North when large sections of the population did not trust or engage with the RUC, victims of abuse were failed. “In this climate of fear and alienation, many in the nationalist community turned to the IRA to enforce a policing role it was ill-equipped to perform,” Gerry Adams said. “IRA Volunteers were ordinary men and women. They had no training in dealing with criminality, no resources – legal or judicial or penal – to help respond to or investigate allegations of anti-social behaviour, car theft, robbery, death-riding, sexual abuse and rape, or any criminal actions that a GERRY normal police service deals with every day. “When other warnings or appeals or community interventions failed, the IRA punished offenders. Some criminals, including sex abusers, were shot or expelled. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some went to Britain.” The Sinn Féin leader pointed out that the NI Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NIACRO) – an organisation supported by the Probation Service and other statutory bodies, publicly funded and resourced, and which has given evidence to Westminster committees – helped in relocating alleged and convicted offenders. “And this continues to this day,” Gerry Adams said.
While members of the IRA may have been well-intentioned, he added, the IRA was “inadequate and inappropriate” in seeking to tackle criminality. “We cannot change that. I have acknowledged the failure of the IRA to deal properly with these difficult issues. And for that I have apologised.” He also said that some survivors of abuse were failed by the state, by the RUC, by Social Services and, in some cases, by republicans. “Victims and survivors include those who were subject to sexual abuse, threat and exploitation, whether by individuals who were members of state forces or of non-state combatant groups, including the IRA, or by other individuals. “Survivors of sexual abuse and rape deserve acknowledgement, support and ADAMS justice. Perpetrators of abuse need to be subject to the law and brought before the courts.” The Sinn Féin leader told the Dáil he had received information from a republican source anonymously which “while I cannot vouch for it” he believed to be authentic “However that is not a judgement for me. So I have passed this information to An Garda Siochána.” Gerry Adams wished Máiría Cahill well and expressed the hope that she gets justice.
‘Some survivors of abuse did not get the support they needed nor the justice they deserved. They were failed by the state, by the RUC, by Social Services and, in some cases, by republicans’
“I have called on former IRA Volunteers who have any information on the expulsion of abusers to bring that information forward to the appropriate authorities or agencies which deal with sexual abuse cases. We are calling for all those with information to come forward.” On 24 November, Gerry Adams expressed his disappointment that, despite two letters from Martin McGuinness to the Taoiseach over a number of weeks, the North’s deputy First Minister “has yet to receive a substantial reply”.
December / Nollaig 2014
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Liadh Ní Riada MEP hosts
LEADER delegation in Brussels proposed changes until September and consultation has been minimal yet we see that not only have local authority managers been kept informed throughout the process but Alan Kelly has changed the plan at their request. “We are being undermined by ministers who see LEADER as nothing more than a fund to dip in to, as opposed to our vision of a strategic development programme for rural areas. “Sinn Féin Cork County Councillor Rachel McCarthy raised the atmosphere of confusion and uncertainty that has marked the setting-up of the new local authority committees designed to oversee LEADER: “We have top-down instructions changing all the time, clear conflicts of interests, total confusion and I know that many of these committees have not even met yet. This isn’t only confined
BY CONOR McGUINNESS SINN FÉIN MEP Liadh Ní Riada hosted a delegation of key stakeholders in the rural and local development sector in Brussels on Tuesday 18 November. The delegation met with representatives of the European Commission, the Irish Government and the Stormont Executive. LEADER is a European-funded rural development programme that seeks to promote and support projects initiated at a local level to revitalise rural areas and promote sustainable job creation. Liadh Ní Riada said: “The LEADER programme in the 26 Counties is under attack from a Department of Environment power-grab begun by Phil Hogan and continued by his successor, Alan Kelly. Their plan seeks to take control of LEADER away from local devel-
‘The LEADER programme is under attack from a Department of Environment power-grab begun by Phil Hogan and continued by his successor, Alan Kelly’ opment companies and place it in the hands of local authority managers. This will be detrimental to the bottom-up approach that is such an important part of the LEADER programme.” The transfer of control from community-embedded companies to local authorities removes the crucial community control element from the programme. The European Commission has yet to adjudicate on whether the Irish Government’s plans are allowable under LEADER regulations. Liadh explained the peculiar situation that has arisen as a result of Phil Hogan’s appointment as Agriculture Commissioner: “The European Commission has rejected the Government’s changes twice already and
5 Discussion with representatives of the European Commission, Irish Government and Northern Executive
now we are in the incredible situation where Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh spoke of newly-appointed Agriculture Commissioner the loss of experience and critical expertise Phil Hogan has responsibility for if the local development compagiving the green light to his own nies are sidelined in favour of local plans.” authorities: Hogan and Kelly’s power-grab has “Before becoming a public reprethe potential to force many local sentative I worked as a Partnership development companies to close Manager. I know from experience and threatens hundreds of jobs as that local groups under local control LEADER funding underpins many are key to success. Local knowledge of the other programmes they run. and experience is vital, and subsidSIPTU Sectoral Organiser Eddie iarity is the key to rural development; Mullins spoke of the situation faced the alternative, unfortunately, is rural by many rural development workers regression.” who are on protective notice: Maura Walsh, CEO of IRD Duhal“The Department of the Environlow, pointed to a litany of errors, ment is making decisions that will contradictions and inconsistencies remove peoples’ employment in this in Phil Hogan’s and Alan Kelly’s sector but won’t enter into meaningplans: ful dialogue with us. Despite huge “As a sector we have been treated reductions in funding, rural and extremely badly by Government, local development workers have Phil Hogan and Alan Kelly despite huge public and private maintained a high level of service. sector support. We have been kept Environment needs to take responsibility and in the dark, misinformed, and subject to a dirty engage with workers.” tricks campaign. We didn’t have sight of the
The transfer of control from communityembedded companies to local authorities removes the crucial community control element from the programme to Cork but is happening in local authorities all over the country.” Summing up the day of meetings and hearings, Liadh Ní Riada said that the delegation marked neither the beginning nor the end of the campaign to keep LEADER in local control. She called on all Sinn Féin rural elected representatives and activists to contact their local development company and offer their support: “We didn’t find a solution in our meetings with the Commission and Irish Government representatives. However, in coming together and forming a broad group we managed to make our points clearly and in unison. “Sinn Féin has a strong team standing up for rural Ireland and I will continue to fight for local control of rural development programmes.”
14 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
Long Kesh 1974
IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE BURNING OF THE PRISON CAMP
The killing of Hugh Coney insert new props and repair the damage. “He had amazing brute strength,” says Fra. Again the corrugated iron from the huts came in useful as hoardings or as flooring at “the bottleneck”, a part of the tunnel that flooded constantly. The longer the tunnel got, the more difficult it became for the tunnelers to see. The Cage OC told the screws that the prisoners needed electric cable and lighting to illuminate the Cage for reading. Amazingly, they gave it to him. One of the internees, an electrician, wired up a lighting system in the tunnel. After a lot of energy had been expended, the tunnelers realised they
BY PEADAR WHELAN IRA VOLUNTEER HUGH CONEY was shot dead by a British soldier after the republican POW had tunneled his way out of Long Kesh in 1974 and attempted to escape across fields. The circumstances of his killing can sometimes be overshadowed by what were truly exceptional events in the aftermath of the burning of the prison camp by the republican prisoners incarcerated there. This is partly due to the publicity surrounding ‘The Burning of the Camp’ itself and the excessive brutality meted out to the prisoners by the British Army and prison warders as they exacted revenge on the POWs. With the British authorities refusing to release information about the conditions of the prisoners, especially those injured and moved to hospital and isolated, the families of the POWs, sentenced and interned, and their representatives were struggling to get information. Added to this, rumours were starting to circulate, increasing the worries of people on the outside, that the British Army had deployed a deadly new gas,
Republican POWs in Armagh women’s prison captured the prison governor in an act of solidarity with their male comrades in Long Kesh
Coalisland man Hugh Coney was one of those handpicked IRA Volunteers to be given priority on the escape
5 The aftermath of the burning of Long Kesh
west Belfast, was first interned in February 1972 and spent the first 30 days of his incarceration on the prison ship Maidstone before being moved to Long Kesh. He was released in May, only to be re-arrested in November of that year. He was one of the last internees to be released when he was set free on 23 December 1975 when the British ended internment as a prelude to the implementation of it’s criminalisation policy. As the internees were being released, the British Government was building the now infamous H-Blocks. After the prisoners torched Long Kesh, destroying prison administration buildings as well all their own accommodation, they were left having to survive as best they could. Using the corrugated iron sheets
CR gas, as they pulled out all the stops to quell the mutiny. In Armagh women’s prison, republican POWs under the leadership of Eileen Hickey captured the prison governor prisoner in an act of solidarity with their male comrades. And republican remand prisoners took over ‘A’ Wing in Crumlin Road Jail while sentenced men in Magilligan in County Derry also torched their camp. Yet, 40 years after ‘The Burning of Long Kesh’, carried out over the night of 15 October, leading into 16 October (when the serious fighting between the captured IRA prisoners and the British Army took place) the details surrounding the killing of Hugh Coney, just weeks after the burning, reveal another chapter in a story of bravery and commitment involving Irish republican POWs. Sinn Féin MLA Fra McCann, who at that time was in his second spell of internment and who was part of an escape attempt that, had it gone to plan, would have seen hundreds of republicans break free “and rejoin the struggle” spoke to An Phoblacht about that life or death struggle in Long Kesh. McCann, from the Lower Falls in 5 The funeral of Volunteer Hugh Coney
The Cage OC told the guards that the prisoners needed electric cable and lighting to illuminate the Cage for reading – it was used to light the escape tunnel from their hut roofs. they built makeshift shelters. In time-honoured fashion, the situation gave rise to what Fra describes as “the best opportunity and conditions for digging an escape tunnel that we’d ever had”. The Officer Commanding (OC) of the internees at the time was Lower Falls
man George Gillen, and he sent the order out: “Prepare for escape.” As tunneling produced tons of soil, hiding it always proved a problem “but with the camp being like a moonscape we could get rid of the soil easily”. Nor could the ‘screws’ – the prison officers – keep track of the prisoners’ movements as the numbers in Cage 5, where the tunnel was being dug, had doubled. Working 24 hours a day, the POWs beavered away, moving tons of soil, mud and dirt out of a tunnel that was prone to flooding and collapse due to the conditions of the terrain at Long Kesh. Fra singled out ‘Big Ned’ Maguire for the colossal amount of work he carried out in the tunnel. After a cave-in on one occasion, Ned took the weight of the collapsed section on his back to give other prisoners the space and time to
were doubling back on themselves so, in an incredible feat of engineering and ingenuity, one of the prisoners ‘invented’ a makeshift device that enabled the teams to dig in the direction they needed to go in. As there was obvious communication with the republican leadership on the outside, keeping them informed of the situation in the camp and the progress of the tunnel, it was agreed that a number of handpicked IRA Volunteers were to be given priority on the escape. Coalisland man Hugh Coney was one of those Volunteers so he was moved into Cage 5 prior to the final push. Fra recalls: “There was a number of false starts but on the night of 5 November we got the go-ahead and the escapees went out in squads with the first squad made up of, among others, ‘Big Ned’ Maguire and Hugh Coney.” Fra McCann was in the second group to go and he recalls how the tunnel had come up just short of an internal
December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
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HUGH Gerard ‘George’ Coney (24), from outside Coalisland, County Tyrone, was first imprisoned in November 1970 and charged in connection with a bomb found at nearby Clonoe. After 11 months on remand he was acquitted when a jury found him not guilty. He was subsequently arrested in June 1973 and interned. After his arrest he was taken to Omagh RUC Barracks where he was subjected to intensive interrogation and ill-treatment. His RUC interrogators burnt him with cigarettes, beat him about the head and face, and clumps of his hair were pulled out of his head. On hearing news of the IRA Volunteer’s killing, over 3,000 people took to the streets of his native Coalisland in a candlelight vigil.
5 Fra McCann
‘patrol road’ used by British Army mobile patrols. “I made my way over the open ground and crossed the ‘patrol road’. There was an open ditch on the other side and I rolled into it. This was as far as the first squad had got due to obstacles and fences. They had to cut through on account of the tunnel stopping short of the main perimeter fence.
road’ they spotted one of the escapees. There was a shout of ‘There’s someone in the field’ and then I heard the two shots. “One of the rounds hit Brendan Shannon, grazing him on the side; the other hit High Coney, killing him more or less instantly.” In the immediate aftermath of the
shooting, the British soldiers ordered the prisoners to lie on the ground spreadeagled. As reinforcements arrived with dogs, they set about beating their captives and setting the guard dogs on them. The fatally-injured Hugh Coney was left lying there as the British soldiers refused to immediately summon medical assistance. They allowed their dogs to bite and snap at Hugh’s defenceless body. One British soldier asked: “Who certified that cunt dead?” Another responded: “Nobody, officially, but if we leave him for half an hour he’ll die with pneumonia anyway.” Of the 30 or so prisoners to make it out of the tunnel, all except three were recaptured straightaway and all were subjected to beatings by the captors as well as having dogs set on them. The three who made good their
escape – ‘Big Ned’ Maguire, Gerard Rice and Gerard Walsh – initially dug themselves into the bank of a stream where they hid for 24 hours before attempting to make their way back to Belfast. Amazingly, despite the huge security dragnet stretching almost ten miles, the trio got to the outskirts of west Belfast, getting to within a mile of Twinbrook before they were recaptured. The threat they were under was immense as, according to Fra McCann,
British soldiers allowed their guard dogs to bite and snap at Hugh’s defenceless body
‘There was a shout of ‘There’s someone in the field’ and then I heard the two shots’ “I was lying in the ditch as the men in the lead group cut the fence separating the British Ministry of Defence land and a farmer’s field. Once through that we were out.” It was at this point that Fra heard shouting. “As a Brit patrol drove along the ‘patrol
5 Protests following the death of Hugh Coney
5 Republican News in November 1974
the notorious SAS had been deployed to search for them. Loyalist gangs were also out ‘patrolling’ the area in the hunt for the three escapees. “This was a major operation,” McCann emphasizes. “This escape had the potential to get dozens, maybe hundreds, of experienced IRA Volunteers back onto the streets, especially at a time when the nature of the struggle was changing. “And after the burning of Long Kesh, for the republican people of the North to wake up to the news of a mass escape it would have a massive morale boost. Sadly, it wasn’t to be and not only did we have to wait for ‘The Great Escape’, instead we lost a dedicated and committed Volunteer in Hugh Coney.”
16 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
GERRY KELLY MLA
Former IRA Volunteer, prison escapee and hunger striker talks to An Phoblacht in the old unionist bastion of Stormont BY PEADAR WHELAN ARRIVING at Stormont to meet Gerry Kelly and with the car parks full, I have to park halfway down the long hill that leads to Parliament Buildings. As I struggle up the hill that stops below the figure of the unionist demigod Edward Carson, I text the North Belfast MLA. I borrow Barry McElduff’s soubriquet for the road that’s officially called Prince of Wales Avenue. “I’m on POW Avenue.” Carson’s figure towers over the Stormont estate in a domineering pose that once reflected the power of an unassailable, unionist ruling elite. It was symbolic of the Orange State. I’m transported back to the first time I struggled up this same hill. It was almost 20 years ago, shortly after the IRA’s 1994 announcement of its cessation of military operations. A Sinn Féin delegation travelled to this citadel of unionism to hold talks with representatives of the British Government. Gerry Kelly was a member of the delegation that included Martin McGuinness, Seán MacMa-
POW Avenue
“I was very disappointed with the response of SDLP leader Alasdair McDonnell to Martin’s call for co-operation, particularly in my own North Belfast constituency but also in Upper Bann and Fermanagh & South Tyrone. “To describe what Sinn Féin is proposing as a sectarian headcount is to completely ignore what Martin said. “We want progressive, pro-Agreement parties to stand together and defend the Good Friday Agreement in face of this anti-Agreement axis. “This anti-Agreement axis has really gelled together under the auspices of flag protesters and the Orange Order. They are trying to block progress in the talks until an Orange march is allowed to go through Ardoyne. Under pressure from the extremes in loyalism, they scuppered the Haass proposals.” The latest round of talks under the auspices of US Senator Gary Hart is underway at Stormont but with the schisms within unionism and the DUP clearly in election mode (looking over their shoulders at their ‘allies’ in Jim Allister’s hardline Traditional Unionist Voice, the Orange Order, UVF and UDA), progress is painstakingly slow. “The SDLP leader’s position is also short-
‘The feedback is good but we want the 5,000 to 6,000 people in nationalist areas who don’t vote to come out’
Nigel Dodds’s majority in the last election was just 2,246 nus from Sligo (Seán’s son, Joe, was killed on active service with the IRA in Fermanagh in 1992), Siobhán O’Hanlon (who died of cancer in 2006) and the Dublin-based Sinn Féin General Secretary, Lucilita Bhreatnach. Back to today. Gerry Kelly meets me in the Great Hall. He’s toing and froing between the all-party talks involving the two governments under the stewardship of US Senator Gary Hart. It adds to the buzz and frenetic activity all around us. As we walked towards the lift we meet MLAs Seán Lynch from Fermanagh, Daithí McKay from north Antrim, Cathal Boylan from Armagh, and Rosie McCorley from west Belfast. On the third floor, the ubiquitous Barry McElduff wanders out of his office, trying to pick his way through the crowd of secondary school students and their Sinn Féin chaperones, clearly on a trip to ‘the seat of power’. As I sit down in Gerry Kelly’s office, he says to me: “So, we’re here to talk about North Belfast? “Well, the seat is very winnable. The demographics have changed and it’s fair to say they have changed more than in other areas. “The census figures tell us that and also if you look at Belfast as a whole we can see that the nationalist population is increasing while the unionist population is decreasing. “Also,” Kelly continues, “the figures from the last election, when Nigel Dodds’s majority was
A path well-worn
just 2,246, is a clear indication that the seat is winnable.” Not someone to leave things to chance, the North Belfast representative raises the need for Sinn Féin’s election teams to focus on and prioritise the 5,000 to 6,000 non-voters in nationalist areas. “We are on the streets at the minute and have been for a while. We have rolling canvasses knocking doors across the constituency and the feedback is good, but we want the people who don’t vote to come out.” The big issue of a Sinn Féin/SDLP electoral agreement to maximise the pro-Agreement political representation is in the news.
“Martin McGuinness first raised the question of an electoral arrangement with, first and foremost, the SDLP on 13 November. “He was also appealing to pro-Agreement and progressive parties to discuss the possibility of arrangements that would thwart what he called the ‘anti-Agreement axis’ of the unionist parties backed by the Orange Order, the UVF, the UDA and UKIP. “Martin also focused on the fact that these anti-Agreement parties are also in favour of the welfare cuts being pushed by the Tories from Westminster so he was appealing to progressive parties as well.” The SDLP rejected it out of hand.
‘North Belfast is very winnable’
sighted,” Gerry Kelly sighs, “given that the unionists are talking of pacts and are targeting McDonnell’s own seat in South Belfast but their real target is to unseat Michelle Gildernew in Fermanagh & South Tyrone.” Gerry Kelly is adamant that Sinn Féin’s objective is aimed at “moving the Peace Process forward” and ensuring that the agreements (Good Friday, St Andrews, Leeds Castle, and Hillsborough) – “all of which the unionists signed up to” – are implemented in full. “Our objective is about making progress and, realistically, in North Belfast it is only Sinn Féin that can win the seat for the pro-Agreement side. “The SDLP’s vote over the years has been shrinking and [SDLP MLA] Alban Maginness gets a smaller vote than both Carál Ní Chuilín and I get in the Assembly elections. “In the 2010 Westminster election, the Sinn Féin vote was 12,588 or 34% of the poll, whereas the SDLP tally was 4,544, just 12.3%. “With the Ulster Unionist Party saying they want to prevent North Belfast falling into the hands of Sinn Féin it would seem logical that the SDLP should give us a clear run at it. “The North is changing and people want to see those changes having a positive effect on their lives. What we are challenging is a unionist, conservative philosophy that sees the DUP willing to implement Tory cuts to the detriment of the most vulnerable in society. “And these Tory cuts come from a right-wing ideology that has always attacked the welfare state and the working class (including the unionist working class), who need it most.” Just before the DUP party conference on 22 November, First Minister Peter Robinson and other DUP leaders spoke of how the DUP might hold the balance of power in Westminster after next May’s general election. To Gerry Kelly this is a case of the DUP letting the cat out of the bag.
December / Nollaig 2014
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We are challenging a unionist, conservative philosophy that sees the DUP willing to implement Tory cuts to the detriment of the most vulnerable in society, including the unionist working class
“
“
Our objective is about making progress and, realistically, in North Belfast it is only Sinn Féin that can win the seat for the pro-Agreement side
17
Danny Kennedy but not before he adds: “No section of our community should face discrimination. “Equality is our watchword so anybody who faces discrimination – whether as a consequence of their religion, the colour of their skin or race, their gender or their sexuality or if they are disabled – should know that Sinn Féin supports them.” As I make my way back to ‘POW Avenue’ it occurs to me that the North has changed from the time when both Belfast City Hall and Stormont were symbols of unionist omnipotence to now,
The proposal to the SDLP and progressive parties of a possible electoral pact was to thwart the ‘antiAgreement axis’ of the unionist parties backed by the Orange Order, the UVF, the UDA and UKIP 5 The DUP have been looking over their shoulder at Jim Allister's hardline TUV, the Orange Order, UVF and UDA
“Essentially, they are saying they are willing to put a Tory millionaire government back into power regardless of the impact of their policies on the people who are the worst off in society. And remember it is those in low-paid work who are the most affected as it is the tax credits which boost their wages that are being cut. “Taking this all into consideration it would be fair to say this coming election could also be seen as a referendum on the welfare cuts. “And working-class unionists who vote DUP are suffering as much as anyone.” Of course, Gerry Kelly is also standing on the party’s record of solid and committed constituency work and representation of the electorate. Over the years, Sinn Féin’s political opponents, particularly the SDLP, have raised the party’s refusal to swear the oath of allegiance and loyalty to the
5 The SDLP's Alasdair McDonnell
British monarch at the Westminster parliament as a sign that Sinn Féin doesn’t represent the electorate effectively. Laying that to rest, Gerry Kelly is emphatic when he declares, his eyes burning bright: “We deliver.” He continues: “Whether it’s at council level, at the Assembly or at Westminster, Sinn Féin provides a service that is second to none. “The other parties go to Westminster and sit in the middle of over 600 British MPs who, generally speaking, don’t care about what goes on over here. “Sinn Féin has offices there and we go there to represent our constituents. We work effectively but we don’t swear allegiance to the British crown.” As our interview closes, Kelly has to rush off to ask a question of Regional Development Minister
where nationalists are becoming more influential. If Gerry Kelly wins North Belfast and both Naomi Long and Alasdair McDonnell hold their seats with Paul Maskey returned in West Belfast, then none of the Belfast constituencies will have an MP from the main unionist parties. This will be a major blow to the old unionist psyche of domination, especially when the last Ulster Unionist MP for North Belfast was Cecil Walker who, in 1997, polled 21,478 votes with 51.8% of the vote compared to a combined nationalist vote of 16,829 (40.6%). More importantly, such a scenario will be a huge statement in favour of pro-Agreement politics and progress, against the negativity of the hardline unionism that belongs in the past. The potential for real change is there for pro-Agreement and progressive voters across the North. Let’s hope they make that choice.
‘This coming election could also be seen as a referendum on the welfare cuts’
18 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
Inspired by James Connolly Jamensolly Con in turbulent times SINN FÉIN ÁTHA SECOND ANNUAL
CLIATH
S c h o o l 2 0 14
BY MÍCHEÁL Mac DONNCHA
THE second annual James Connolly School, organised by Sinn Féin Átha Cliath, was held in the Unite trade union hall in November and proved to be a lively and inspiring gathering, giving a breathing space for political discussion and education in the midst of some of the most tempestuous and turbulent times in Irish politics for decades. The Unite hall is where the National Right2Water Committee meets so it was appropriate that the school met there this year. Sinn Féin Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan spoke of how the issue of water is not confined to Ireland and that across the EU people are resisting the drive by capitalism to privatise and profit from this most basic human necessity. Lynn gave us a sense that the struggle for the right to water in this country is far from isolated internation-
Daithí Doolan
James Connolly Heron
A breathing space for political discussion and education in the midst of some of the most tempestuous and turbulent times in Irish politics for decades ally, something that needs to be stressed more in the campaign. Dublin City Councillor Daithí Doolan, who represents Sinn Féin on the Right2Water National Committee, pressed the need to focus on the campaign in the vital weeks and months ahead as the Fine Gael/Labour Government tries desperately to roll back the tide of mass public resistance to water charges. The truly appalling consequences for families and individuals of the housing crisis, especially in Dublin, was made clear by Councillor Críona Ní Dhálaigh, Cathaoirleach of Dublin City Council’s Housing Committee. She said we need to build a campaign for housing and to help organise those affected, including the thousands on the local authority waiting lists, people being forced out of their homes by rent rises, as well as people at risk of homelessness due to mortgage debt. Journalist, An Phoblacht columnist and political activist Eoin Ó Murchú gave a fascinating insight into the Dublin Housing Action Committee of the 1960s, in which republicans such as himself were active. He pointed out that while the extremes of
Lynn Boylan
Barry Lyons
Aengus Ó Snodaigh
Eoin Ó Murchú
Seán Oliver
Críona Ní Dhálaigh
poverty may not be as great now, the current crisis is no less grave for families who are forced to live in emergency accommodation in hotel rooms and even in cars, compared to the army barracks used in the 1960s. James Connolly’s great grandson, James
Connolly Heron, spoke on the battle to save Moore Street and on the forthcoming centenary of the 1916 Rising. In a passionate address he compared the elite in Irish society in our time who “sacrificed their country for their lifestyles” to the men and
women of 1916 who “sacrificed their lives for their country”. Barry Lyons of the 1916 Relatives’ Association urged everyone to keep pressure on the Government on the issue of Moore Street. (A few days after the school we saw the Government unveil its insult to the men and women of 1916 with the so-called centenary video which does not even mention the Rising!) Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD gave an historic talk on James Connolly and the Irish Citizen Army. He spoke of its origins in the 1913 Lockout and the efforts to build it into what became a small but highly efficient and politicised force. The republished book which Aengus prepared for publication by Sinn Féin and An Phoblacht – The History of the Irish Citizen Army, by R. M. Fox – is available from the Sinn Féin bookshop and online. Seán Oliver from Belfast gave a fascinating presentation on the theme of ‘After Scotland – a Border Poll for Ireland’. He said that, despite the outcome, the Scottish referendum has weakened the ‘United Kingdom’ and should be used to press for a Border poll here. He emphasised the primacy of the economic arguments for Irish unity which should be advanced, something the Tory Westminster Government is well aware of as they continually refuse to reveal, for example, how much taxation is paid by people and companies in the Six Counties to the Treasury in London. South Dublin County Councillor Eoin Ó Broin concluded the school with a talk on the prospects and requirements for the formation of a Left Republican Government. He said that Sinn Féin needs to prepare well now, not just for holding government office at some stage in the not-too-distant future but to ensure that, if in government, we are equipped to bring about real and lasting change in Irish society. The James Connolly School saw the formal launch of the Dublin Sinn Féin 1916 Committee which can be contacted on Facebook.
December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
19
UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS
EDUCATING YOUNG PEOPLE TOGETHER BY BARONESS
MAY BLOOD
CAMPAIGN CHAIR OF THE INTEGRATED EDUCATION FUND AT THE SINN FÉIN Ard Fheis last year, Martin McGuinness said: “The challenge we as republicans face is to articulate a vision of a united Ireland which will accommodate, safeguard and cherish the British identity. In the meantime, the challenge for political unionism is to demonstrate to Irish citizens in the North how they intend to accommodate, safeguard and cherish our identity.” So why is there such reluctance by some republicans to support a model of education that works to address and meet these challenges? For more than 30 years integrated schools have been offering an education environment where Irish and British identities and those of other traditions are valued and maintained; where exploring cultural difference is commonplace and where disputes over traditions are tackled and divisions laid bare. If you want ‘uncomfortable conversations’, we’re open for business. Perhaps there is a fear that integrated schools present a neutral space where culture is suppressed and insidiously diluted for some ideological agenda. Integrated schools are shared spaces which dilute no one’s culture, tradition or faith. There is compelling evidence that cultural integration in schools promotes healthy outcomes, leading to a greater confidence in identity and culture. What better way to safeguard and cherish identity in a mixed community than by promoting mutual respect based on knowledge? For example, integrated schools may observe both Ash Wednesday and Armistice Day; certainly anyone wearing ashes or a poppy could go to school confident that they would not only be accepted but understood. Many integrated schools teach Irish alongside other languages. You’ll find Gaelic games played in integrated schools alongside soccer, netball and so on. Success at Irish dancing is celebrated (including an All-Ireland champion in one integrated college).
5 There is compelling evidence that cultural integration in schools promotes healthy outcomes
Just as no one is asked to leave their culture at the door of an integrated school, no one is expected to suppress their religion. Integrated primary schools prepare Catholic children for Holy Sacraments if they so wish. At the same time, Protestant children generally follow the Delving Deeper programme to develop their own faith knowledge. Over the years, integrated schools have worked hard to build good relationships with clergy representing all denominations. The ethos of an integrated school means every child’s talents and personal contribution to school life are valued. Integrated schools are all-ability and compare well with other non-selective schools in terms of results. This surely chimes with Sinn Féin’s
commitment to ending academic selection at P7 and to ending segregation of all kinds from our education system. Whilst social segregation is an issue which
the impending Budget cuts and this certainly is a threat to the quality of education we can provide. The concept of cutting back on public spending may be hard to take but it’s hard to justify spending on duplication rather than on quality of education and outcomes. We have tens of thousands of empty desks in schools and a dire need to find the money for maintenance and up-to-date equipment. It is time for a thorough examination of the costs incurred by duplication of provision in our schools system. Perhaps what makes some politicians unsure about integrated schools is the concept of parental choice – a concept often cited by those with a vested interest in the status quo of our education system. The current area-based planning process should offer the Education Minister the chance to ensure parental choice is at the very heart of education. We need to embed a planning mechanism which reflects real local demand and at the same time meets the need to rationalise education spending. That would be effective local democracy. I’m confident, on the basis of enrolments at integrated schools and responses to surveys over many years, that what families want in many areas could be provided whilst addressing financial pressures. So, instead of maintaining an education system to meet the demands of established sectors, let’s build a system for the major stakeholders – the children. I’ve seen how educating young people together, every day, across traditional divisions can work. Progress is possible, and it is a threat to no one.
‘Integrated schools are shared spaces which dilute no one’s culture, tradition or faith’ politicians have a duty to resolve, there is also currently a significant economic issue facing the Executive. Education spending will not escape
5 'Integrated schools are all-ability and compare well with non-selective schools in terms of results'
20 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
5 A recently painted mural by artists Danny Devenny and Marty Lyons at Derry’s Gartan Square celebrates the role of women in struggle
Unmanageable Revolutionaries: Women in Struggle – Past, Present and Future
Women taking their place in history BY PEADAR WHELAN AS the centenary year of the founding of the revolutionary women’s organisation Cumann na mBan draws to a close it is clear that women played a crucial role in the struggle for liberation yet their contribution remains largely hidden. Many events, nationally and in hundreds of areas locally throughout the country, have shone a spotlight on women whose doors were always open to the Army, who were on the streets when they needed to be defending prisoners’ rights or confronting British Army and RUC repression, and others like Mairéad Farrell joined the IRA and gave their lives on active service. Derry City has its own share of such women and in an event held on Sunday 16 November, in An Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin, the role of these ‘Unmanageable Revolutionaries’ was highlighted. The conference was held on what would have been the 62nd birthday of Ethel Lynch, the only woman Volunteer from Derry Brigade Óglaigh na hÉireann to die on active service. Born on 16 November 1952, Ethel was injured in an explosion on 3 December 1974 and died four days later in Altnagelvin Hospital. The IRA described her as a “brigade officer”, evidence of her commitment and competence as a Volunteer. News that she was active in the IRA shocked her family and friends, proving that security was uppermost in her mind.
Cumann na mBan
THROUGHOUT THE YEARS TAR ABHAILE, in co-operation with the Cumann na mBan Commemorative Committee, are hosting Cumann na mBan – Throughout the Years, on Sunday 7 December in the Bishop’s Field Sports Hall, Creggan, from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. The event falls on the 40th anniversary of the death of Ethel Lynch, Derry’s only woman IRA Volunteer to die on active service. Maeve McLaughlin MLA will chair the event, which will include: Screening of a DVD featuring
recollections of Óglaigh Ethel Lynch and John McDaid, who died on the same day in a separate incident Photographic exhibition of local women in struggle Historical exhibition featuring material on Cumann na mBan, Óglaigh Ethel Lynch and John McDaid, as well as Óglaigh William Fleming and Danny Doherty, whose 30th anniversary occurs on 6 December Film footage featuring women in conflict in Ireland compiled from a variety of sources
5 Members of the Cumann na mBan Commemoration Committee with the panel
The ‘Unmanageable Revolutionaries’ event was organised by Derry ex-prisoners’ group Tar Abhaile in conjunction with the Cumann na mBan Commemoration Committee and sponsored by Derry City Council’s Good Relations Team. It brought together speakers such as historian Dr Mary McAuliffe from University College Dublin, historian and author Liz Gillis, and Martina Anderson MEP. Mary McAuliffe explored the way in which women, from the revolutionary period, through 1916 until after the Civil War, were written out of history and focused in particular how Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell, who was at Pearse’s side as he negotiated the surrender with the British, was airbrushed out of the iconic photograph taken of Pearse and the British officer he was dealing with. The Trinity College graduate was president of the Women’s History Association of Ireland and still active with the association in encouraging research into the history of women in Ireland and promoting public engagement with women’s history in an Irish context. Historian Liz Gillis, whose recently-published book Women of the Irish Revolution explores the political and family intricacies of the time, highlighted how, in the aftermath of the Treaty, families split, fell out and later became reconciled. If the first two speakers unearthed for many people what would be a ‘Hidden
History’ (or ‘Herstory’, as Chair Daisy Mules dubbed it) then Martina Anderson MEP brought it up to date. She recounted growing up in a Bogside ravaged by conflict and how
she as a child was politicised by events such as the Battle of the Bogside, internment, Bloody Sunday and the brutality of the British state. Children such as Annette McGavigan and Manus Deery were shot dead by British soldiers yards from where Martina grew up. Her time in prison in the North and in England were also about struggle and on her release the politics of the day post-cessation saw her elected to Stormont as a member of the Assem-
Women played a crucial role in the struggle for liberation yet their contribution remains largely hidden
5 Addressing the panel, Mary Nelis with Maeve McLaughlin MLA
bly and then Brussels as a poll-topping Member of the European Parliament. Martina Anderson’s story, and that of Irish republican women, is, to quote English author and socialist Sheila Rowbotham in Hidden from History, about the complex relationship of women’s oppression and class exploitation. “Victory,” writes Rowbotham, depends on women’s “capacity to relate to the working class and the action of workingclass women in transforming women’s liberation according to their needs.”
December / Nollaig 2014
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The continued rise of Sinn Féin, Independents and smaller parties highlights a hunger for change and an openness to alternatives
EOIN Ó BROIN
21
Another
Next election could be a game changer THE NEXT general election in the South could be a game changer. It could be the most significant election in the history of the state since 1933. The shape of the Southern Irish party political system was well-established from 1923. Pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty factions of the independence movement dominated a two-and-a-half party system. But the 1933 election saw Fianna Fáil consolidate their hold on political power – a hold that would last for the next 60 years. Throughout almost all of that period, 80% of voters opted for Centre Right Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael governments. Catholic nationalism may have been supplanted by cosmopolitan liberalism during the 1990s but social and economic policy remained firmly within the Christian democratic tradition. Smaller left of centre parties – Labour, Clan na Poblachta or the Workers’ Party/ Democratic Left – were faced with a difficult choice. They could play the short game, trading limited policy influence for electoral decline as junior partners in a right-wing government, or they could play the long game, deferring participation in Government until their political and electoral strength was greater.
5 There has never been a better time to break the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael grip on power
In each case the Left played it short. The principal beneficiaries were Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael while the two-and-a-half party political system remained intact. Only twice in the history of the state did it look like this cosy state of affairs may be disrupted. In 1948, Clann na Poblachta emerged to challenge Fianna Fáil hegemony. In 2011, Labour looked set to break free of its half-party status. Yet both opportunities were lost as Seán
If Clann na Poblachta or Labour had made better choices they could have challenged the dominance of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They could have forced a realignment of Southern Irish party politics. They could have laid the ground for a Centre Left government. But instead they chose to play it short and our Centre Right party political system returned to business as usual. And so to the upcoming general election. The portents of change are everywhere. The slow electoral demise of the Centre Right that started in the early 1990s has accelerated since the financial collapse in 2008. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael now command less than 50% of the electorate. The continued rise of Sinn Féin, Independents and smaller parties highlights a hunger for change and an openness to alternatives. The mass mobilisations against the water charges show a new engagement with politics. The Centre Right policy consensus that has
The mass mobilisations against the water charges show a new engagement with politics MacBride and then Eamon Gilmore opted for the sprint rather than the marathon only to realise they didn’t have the strength to make it to the finish line.
5 Growing momentum for new politics: The SNP in Scotland, Syriza in Greece and Podemos (“We can”) in Spain
dominated the political mainstream for so long no longer has the confidence of the majority of the electorate. This is not just a Southern Irish phenomenon. The rise of the SNP in Scotland, Syriza in Greece and Podemos (“We can”) in Spain all point to a crisis of social and economic liberalism and a growing momentum for a new politics that places social justice at the heart of economic policy. Our party political system has run its course. It is ripe for change. There has never been a better time to force a realignment along Left/ Right lines. There has never been a better time to break the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael grip on power. A party that offers a real alternative to the corrupt and incompetent politics of the Centre Right may end up in power sooner than it thinks – if it convinces the voters that it means what it says, that it keeps its word, and that the alternative it offers is radical, credible and achievable. The next general election could indeed be a game changer – but that will depend in large part on the words and actions of those of us who believe we have something different to offer.
22 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
MARTIN FERRIS TD
The Fine Gael/Labour Government is not prepared to take on the beef barons on behalf of the farmers who are on their knees this year
Sinn Féin Dáil Agriculture spokesperson Martin Ferris looks at the beef crisis and says the strength from unity of producers against the beef barons cannot be underestimated
THE BEEF CRISIS began earlier this year but has been building for years before that. The industry was being dominated by two main players and farmers began to realise that they had no guarantee that when they brought cattle to factories they could even recover their costs in finishing them.
5 Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney
Many farmers came to me or to other Sinn Féin elected representatives at agricultural shows over the summer, at meetings and anywhere that people gathered to tell me that beef farmers were in crisis. The amount of technicalities which were used to penalise farmers and reduce the prices offered for cattle was growing. Farmers were not only in dire financial straits but they were frustrated by the lack of Government action to defend them against disaster. In the summer, Sinn Féin took the initiative to meet the managers of the livestock marts to discuss the crisis caused by beef labelling with them. As a result of the meeting, Sinn Féin MLA Michelle O’Neill, who is Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the North, met with the Dublin Government Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to try to resolve the issue. Their difficulty in finding agreement can be traced to the beef processors’ cartel which will do everything to maintain the conditions that have seen the farmers getting lower prices. A side-effect of this policy is that the livestock marts all over the country
5 Farmers country-wide held a 48-hour protest outside meat factories
BEEF CARTEL IS CAUSING THE CRISIS
beef. The way the factories and retailers are making a distinction between cattle born in the South and slaughtered in the North and those born and slaughtered in the North is no more than an excuse to screw beef farmers. As one farmer said to me: “Do you see the difference between a calf born in Cavan and a calf born in Fermanagh? Do you see the beef they produce in different boxes, coming out of the factories? You do not.” He was right. The price differential between North and South is not justified by anything other than the beef barons’ greed and their ability to fix a price to suit them by imposing specifications and conditions which, in reality mean nothing in the finished product. The Fine Gael/Labour Government is not prepared to take on the beef barons on behalf of the farmers who are on their knees this year. Sinn Féin supported the action of the farm organisations in picketing the beef factories twice in the last month, but there is more than picketing needed. The concessions won during the negotiations in mid-November
Factories and retailers’ distinctions between cattle born in the South and slaughtered in the North and those born and slaughtered in the North are an excuse to screw beef farmers have seen a big drop in sales, with the cattle dealers from the North becoming cautious about buying in the South due to the factories’ attitude to so-called “nomad” cattle. However, work on the labelling issue is still going on and involves negotiations with the big supermarkets and the beef factories. Sinn Féin supports an all-Ireland label for Irish
5 Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill MLA
5 Martin Ferris at the EU
are welcome but they are short-term and not enough to reassure farmers that the crisis is over or that they have regained any real control of their industry. Minister Coveney has to use his influence to ensure that Irish farmers are treated like their counterparts in other parts of the European Union. We find that the Department of Agriculture bends over backwards to implement every single rule and regulation imposed by Brussels but when it comes to demanding the same price or conditions for Irish farmers, Minister Coveney will not stand up and fight. As Sinn Féin’s Agriculture spokesperson in the Dáil, I am concerned about the number of farmers who are getting out of beef altogether after their experience this year. A weakening of the beef sector is detrimental to Irish agriculture. Instead of letting the beef barons call the shots and drive more farmers out of beef, the minister should be nurturing beef farmers so that they are ready to sell the best-quality product in the world to the new markets opening up in Asia. It is not rocket science to recognise that Irish agricultural produce with its justified reputation for being clean, green and free of GMO has a huge potential for development into a thriving and profitable agri-food sector which will see not only prosperity for our people in rural Ireland but also preserve a way of life which is important to us as a nation.
December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
23
What Article 2 says . . . THE European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regards Article 2 as “one of the most fundamental provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights”. Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights states: Everyone’s right to life hall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of
a court following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law. Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this Article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary: (a) In defence of any person from unlawful violence;
(b) In order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained; (c) In action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection. According to the ECHR, the state’s obligation does not stop at protecting life; it also requires the state to carry out an effective official investigation.
European Human Rights Commissioner warns Britain that excuses about lack of money for legacy investigations are unacceptable
‘There can be no impunity’ BY PEADAR WHELAN WITHIN A WEEK of European Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks telling a Belfast conference that Britain cannot avoid its responsibility for legacy issues, the British Government circulated a paper complaining of the financial costs of dealing with the past. The NIO paper, ‘leaked’ on Wednesday 12 November, was given to the five Executive parties involved in the Stormont talks process and claims that it costs £50million annually to address legacy issues. Reacting to the paper, Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly, a delegate at the talks, dismissed the document: “The British Government has had no problem finding monies and extra resources to obstruct efforts to uncover the truth about state killings and collusion. “They have done this through injunctions and destroying documents and evidence. They have also refused to disclose information requested by the coroners’ courts and the Police Ombudsman’s office. “They have refused to hold an inquiry into the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane and continue to withhold information into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Most recently we have seen the shelving of the inquiry into the killing of 14 people in Derry on Bloody Sunday. “The European Commissioner for Human Rights has made it clear that the funding issue is the responsibility of the British Government,” stressed Kelly.
Kelly’s criticisms echo those of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, who told a Belfast conference on 6 November that Britain has obligations under the European Convention and “there can be no impunity”. The families of IRA Volunteers Gervaise McKerr, Patrick Kelly and Pearse Jordan and Sinn Féin activist Patrick Shanaghan won a landmark decision when, in May 2001, the European Court of Human Rights found Britain had violated the right to life guaranteed by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Rather than fulfill its obligations under Article 2, however, Britain refused to carry out “effective official investigations” and this refusal was the focus of 5 Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Martina Anderson MEP with relatives of nationalists shot dead by pro-state the conference in Belfast organised by forces: Maria McShane, mother of Gavin McShane shot dead by loyalists; Briege Voyle and John Taggert representing the the University of Ulster’s Transitional Ballymurphy Massacre families (below) Sinn Féin’s Jennifer McCann MLA, Bill Rolston, Nils Muiznieks, Martin McGuinness, Justice Institute. Professor Richard Barrett Vice Chancellor of Ulster University and Martina Anderson European Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks was the keynote speaker at the event, titled ‘Right to Life and Dealing with the Past in the Context of Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights’. The Human Rights Commissioner warned Britain that it cannot “devolve its responsibility to the Assembly” and that “the violations that took place during the ‘Troubles’ took place primarily during a period of direct rule”, adding that the Westminster Government cannot divest itself of “investigatory responsibility of funding responsibility” for investigations. To make it clear, he added: “Excuses about lack of money are unacceptable.”
Costing too much? BRITAIN’S claim that investigating the past would cost too much stands in stark contrast to the huge sums of money it paid out to its military forces over the years. Compared to the £340,000 needed to fund the Police Ombudman’s investigations into incidents such as the Loughinisland Killings, and the accusations of collusion between the UVF and RUC, the British Government has paid out:
£500million £250million £250million in hearing loss for Patten RUC retirement scheme
£20million for RUC Reserve
compensation for 10,000 RUC/PSNI personnel
pay-off for UDR/RIR soldiers
£100million
£70million
for retiring/rehiring scheme involving former RUC/PSNI members
pay-off for prison warders
24 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
I S R A E L’ S D U B L I N E M B A S S Y
The last outpost amongst the ‘brutish masses’ BY MARK MOLONEY A HUGE BANNER hangs from the second floor of Carrisbrook House on Pembroke Road in Dublin City. It’s been there so long that the lettering advertising office space for rent has largely faded. The prime location of these business units in the capital’s swish ‘D4’ district seems to be offset by the neighbours a potential tenant would be forced to endure. The eight-storey building hosts just one other occupant — the Israeli Embassy — and nobody seems to be jumping at the chance to share an address with those who spend their time attacking their host country and plotting to slur human rights activists, critics and commentators. When Israel launches its all-too-frequent attacks on Palestine, Carrisbrook House is usually surrounded by angry protesters and gardaí, nearby roads often impassable. Those who lead the propaganda campaign on behalf of the Israeli state in Ireland are Carrisbrook residents Ambassador Boaz Modai and his wife, Deputy Ambassador Nurit Tunari-Modai. Boaz Modai appears to have been dispatched to Israel’s embassy in Ireland after his glittering career at the Israeli Foreign Ministry came to a shuddering halt when he was slapped with a restraining order from a female co-worker he admitted harassing. He took over the reins at the Dublin Embassy in 2010, shortly after the Irish Government expelled another Israeli diplomat over the use of forged Irish passports in the Mossad death squad murder of Palestinian Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at a hotel in Dubai. Since then, the paranoid and deluded ramblings of Embassy officials on Twitter and Facebook have frequently made headlines across the globe. Examples included the Embassy’s official online accounts claim that “Hitler couldn’t have been made happier” by the United Nations condemnation of Israeli aggression towards defenceless Palestinians; or Christmas wishes posted to Facebook which claimed that if Mary and Joseph were around today they’d be “lynched in Bethlehem by hostile Palestinians”. In Israel, the Foreign Ministry has described Ireland as “the most hostile country in the EU”. The Embassy’s provocative output has even won it awards back in Israel from Haifa University.
The Israeli Ambassador to Ireland’s glittering career at the Israeli Foreign Ministry came to a shuddering halt when he was slapped with a restraining order from a female co-worker he admitted harassing
5 Ambassador Boaz Modai and his wife, Deputy Ambassador Nurit Tunari-Modai
Campaign noting that the Embassy’s output has been “routinely racist and anti-Palestinian”. Speaking on Israel’s Army Radio during the conflict, the Deputy Ambassador described pro-Palestinian activists in Ireland as “‘incited, anti-Semitic, brutish masses harbouring a profound, deep-rooted, rapacious hatred of Jews”. She continued in a frenzied diatribe: “Behind the mask of concern for the rights of Palestinians they blame Israel for crimes against humanity, for a holocaust [against Palestinians], and being the personification of evil. “They burn Israeli flags and vandalise stores selling Israeli products. They throw goods on the floor. It’s complete hysteria. “They protested here in every city last weekend. This is frustrating, it’s challenging, but we have
no other choice than to be victorious.” Slurring protesters — who believe bombing defenceless women and children hemmed into the world’s largest open-air prison camp is wrong — as ‘anti-Semitic’ has become the standard refrain of the Israeli Government. But what happens when those leading the pro-Palestinian campaign in Ireland are in fact Jewish or themselves Israeli citizens? According to the Deputy Ambassador, a plan should be hatched to smear them as having “sexual identity problems” and to “humiliate and shame them”. When this despicable scheme was exposed by Channel 10 News in Israel, the Israeli Foreign Ministry responded to the Deputy Ambassador’s proposal, describing her as “entirely confused” and her proposals as “deranged ideas”. She is
Molly Malone The recent Israeli onslaught against the defenceless and surrounded Gaza Strip sparked outrage across the world. The extremists of Pembroke Road went into over-drive in their upholding of their rogue state’s actions. One Facebook post showed the Molly Malone statue in Dublin covered in a traditional Muslim niqab with the slogan “Israel now, Dublin next” beside it. Others depicted Michalangelo’s famous ‘David’ sculpture in Rome wearing a suicide belt and the Mona Lisa portrait wearing a headscarf and carrying a rocket. The photos featured, apparently without irony, the caption: “Israel is the last frontier of the free world.” The Embassy removed the images after they sparked international uproar, with the Ireland Palestine Solidarity
5 Israel's Dublin Embassy is notorious for its online racist gaffes
still the Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Ambassador here, though. In recent months there have been consistent calls for the Israeli Ambassador to be expelled from Ireland. More than 33,000 people signed a petition calling on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to give Boaz Modai the boot. The Fine Gael leader didn’t listen, of course. When the Ambassador appeared before the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, he gloated that he was “sorry to disappoint” those TDs who had hoped he would be expelled. His rant then descended into endless “whataboutery”, deflection and finger-pointing. All that Israel’s most zealous defenders in Carrisbrook House have done is to expose the very worst qualities of this rogue state for many more to see.
December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
Another Europe is possible Treo eile don Eoraip
25
Funded by the European United Left/ Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL)
Aontas Clé na hEorpa/Na Glasaigh Chlé Nordacha Crúpa Paliminta – Parlaimimt na h Eorpa
TTIP
Liadh Ní Riada
TRANSATLANTIC TRADE AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP
TIPPING POINT FOR DEMOCRACY THE Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the controversial trade deal being negotiated behind closed doors by Brussels and Washington, is supposed to be aimed at boosting trade between the US and the EU through the reduction of regulations but it also threatens jobs, public services and the environment.
If TTIP is agreed, it will also be easier for global firms to sue governments for “interfering” with profits by, for example, passing safety regulations or other protections Public services could be forced to undergo privatisation through deregulation and the liberalisation of public procurement. TTIP will cost Europe 600,000 jobs, according to US academic researchers at Tufts University. The emphasis on regulation in this treaty poses challenges in areas such as food safety (US regulations regarding processed food are much more lax than those within the EU). TTIP could threaten the livelihood of farmers who adhere to higher EU standards regarding animal welfare, growth hormones and the ban on GM crops. Employment rights could also be affected. Reducing employment regulation in the EU could allow multinational firms to challenge collective bargaining rights as well as pay and conditions across all sectors within the EU. A most worrying clause of the proposed treaty is the proposal for an ‘Investor State Dispute Settlement’ mechanism (ISDS), which gives multinationals the ability to sue the government of a member state if the policies of that government are considered to have been detrimental to the corporation’s investment. The Slovakian Government was prosecuted through an ISDS for reversing a policy decision in 2004 which liberalised the health insurance market. This precedent raises significant concerns for the ability of governments across the EU to make policy decision in the best interests of their citizens. It additionally poses a direct threat to public services that have already been outsourced or privatised. Any attempt to bring these services back under public ownership could be prosecuted by any US investor with a financial interest. Much of what has been agreed so far by negotiators is not on the public record and
Italian MEP Eleonora Forenza said that TTIP represents the affirmation of the primacy of investors over “popular sovereignty”, in other words the rights of citizens and workers. Dutch MEP Anne-Marie Mineur said: “We should try to improve the domestic markets before international ones and we must fight the impunity of major multinational companies. It’s very important to think how the Left wants to develop a social economy and an alternative trade policy which will also safeguard the environment.” Irish MEP Martina Anderson said TTIP could be one of the biggest pieces of legis-
TTIP could see US companies sue European governments for legislating for their citizens in a way that reduces firms’ ability to make profits
there has been no scrutiny of the process by the European Parliament or any EU body with democratic legitimacy although GUE/NGL MEPs have been vociferous in challenging this secretive deal, including a protest in the European Parliament itself in October. In November, GUE/NGL MEP Helmut Scholz welcomed a move by nearly 300 civil society groups from all over Europe who have together filed a lawsuit against the European Commission regarding its refusal to register
the official European Citizens’ Initiative on TTIP and CETA, a similar deal with Canada. At a GUE/NGL study meeting on TTIP in Florence later in November, Helmut Scholz said: “TTIP is aiming to create a transatlantic common market by jeopardising the role of the state in guaranteeing the rights of citizens and taking away the ability for a government to stimulate local development through intelligent public procurement.” Access Denied MEPs (including GUE/NGL) stage TTIP demonstration
lation ever to come before the European Parliament. “TTIP could see major US companies and their subsidiaries sue European governments for legislating in a way that reduces their ability to make profits. “That is totally unacceptable as it would allow business interests to override democratically-elected institutions. “I and my colleagues – Lynn Boylan, Liadh Ní Riada and Matt Carthy – have already opposed TTIP in the European Parliament and will continue to do so. “Opposition to this proposed partnership is growing with trade unions, environmental groups and anti-poverty organisations voicing serious concerns about the impact this could have on Europe. “The discussions around TTIP need to reflect this impact, particularly on a government’s right to legislate for its own people. “The debate needs to be open and transparent so people can learn the truth about TTIP. “Those in favour of the legislation, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, have made claims about job which have been described by academics from across Europe as vastly overblown. “The reality is that TTIP, far from solving unemployment problems, could actually lead to the loss of one million jobs in the EU and USA.”
Matt Carthy
Martina Anderson
Lynn Boylan
are MEPs and members of the GUE/NGL Group in the European Parliament
26 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.co
‘DOMINATION IS SERIOUS AND BORING – REVOLT HAS TO BE FUN’
Art
and struggling to be creative in the modern world Bad Luck to This Marching, an anti-war song set at a time when it wasn’t good luck to be born poor, becomes an anthem. Dan O’Hara – landlordism, The Ghost of Billy Mulvihill, drink, The Lights of Little Christmas, loss, Message of Peace – obvious. Tyrrell’s entire canon of songs reveal these truths. Does this mean that Benigni, Seymour and Tyrrell are radicals? Or are they artists who understand the role of allegory and comedy in a world where the corporate-controlled multimedia, in the words of Mayo writer John Healy, “sledge-hammers its cultural values” into the minds of our young? John Zerzan, the Eugene-based anarchist whose writings are said to have inspired the anti-globalisation protests in Seattle in 1999, would probably say: ‘No, definitely not, they use symbolism, one of the harbingers of civilisation.’ If Benigni, in particular, felt a need to debate such an argument he might counter using Zerzan’s own words: “The magnitude of symbolisation testifies to how much has been repressed; buried, but possibly still recoverable.” This is not a new argument. Understanding what the artist means, when the artist’s work is not easy to understand, is why we need art to interpret the world. Art without creative, emotional or political input is art for art’s sake. It reduces and debases the role of the imagination.
BY ROBERT ALLEN ALLEGORY, COMEDY and symbolism play a huge part in how we see our world. When Roberto Benigni, the Italian comedy writer, wrote his Oscar-winning film La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful) – taking the title from a comment made by Leon Troksky (when the Russian realised that Stalin’s assassins were coming for him in Mexico) – he inverted the horrors of the Holocaust to create a story of love and joy for life. He took very seriously the words of the film’s title song: Smile without a reason why Love as if you were a child Smile no matter what they tell you, Don’t listen to a word they tell you ’cause life is beautiful that way. The Nazis played classical music to drown out the screams of their victims. Benigni turned this into a symbolic retort by broadcasting Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann: Barcarolle in a gesture designed to engender hope. Benigni was severely criticised for this film. It is a film that is not easy to understand. This is not because of its comical approach to the Holocaust but because Benigni introduces the audience to an allegorical journey that embraces the political art of Dante Alighieri, Arthur Schopenhauer and Leon Troksky, among many other artistic references. The film is a rich tapestry of human culture and only those who understand what art can achieve are able to see what lies behind the obvious. Painters like the Belfast-born artist Dermot Seymour satirise the politics of power. When asked why he painted cows all the time he said: “There are eight million cattle in Ireland. Bewildering, isn’t it? It is often obvious to work with the obvious.” But when the blatantly obvious is shown, as he did with a painting of an Orangeman, a crumbled harp can and a cow, he drew criticism from unionists because they claimed he was “taking the piss” out of them. Dermot was simply painting an obvious scene, yet taking the piss is an old artistic tradition. In
Can art heal?
medieval Europe, particularly in southern Europe, street theatre artists deliberately took the piss out of the ruling elites while mocking the poor for taking nothing back.
Accidental Death of an Anarchist These artists were called the giullari and they were the beginnings of the street theatre we now know as Punch and Judy and Zanni the clown. Giullari were wandering performers, actors and comics who travelled from place to place, poking fun at church authority and rich people. Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo continued this tradition, particularly with his play, Accidental Death of an
Anarchist, which tells the story of an anarchist called Giuseppe Pinelli who police said fell out of an open window. Fo wrote his farce to show people this was a lie and that the police had pushed him to his death. But stating the obvious can get you labelled. Seán Tyrrell, a Galway-born interpreter of lyrical Irish poetry, has apparently never been forgiven for his ironic approach to traditional music and using the words of people who saw the world as it is. When Tyrrell sings these lyrics, the sentiments of these dreamers and idealists come alive.
In his 1926 novel Steppenwolf, Hermann Hesse, the German author, discussed the soul of the artist. When asked to summarise the meaning of his book, Hesse said: “The story of the Steppenwolf pictures a disease and crisis but not one leading to death and destruction, on the contrary: to healing.” Can art heal? Many artists would argue that it can, if the art under scrutiny is art that moves the senses. So what are the implications for creative artists tackling themes that are not part of the mainstream? Does art have a future in a world where all media is controlled by giant corporations, where the voices and actions of creative and imaginative artists are oppressed because their work cannot be homogenised into a commercialised entity that supports the dominant paradigm? Has the expression of creative art become another aspect of the social struggle against globalisation? Why is it that the art we see around us is not a reflection of what is really happening in the world? Is it because these images, stories, songs and artistry are the product of the corporate world, the commercial world, the world of profit and gain? We do not live in a world of warp-drive spaceships but we do live in a world where disaffected
December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
27
5 The role of the artist has always been crucial during conflict against oppression
teenagers mow down their schoolmates. We do not live in a world that shows the bloody aftermath of a ‘smart bomb’ strike but we do live in a world that shows a Hollywood hero escape unscathed from a cartoon-like hail of hi-tech bullets. We do not live in the cinematic world of constant competitive conflict but we do live in a world where mutual aid defines the lives of millions. The reality of the real world is apparently boring by comparison with the images we see everyday from multimedia yet real life is much tougher and much harder to endure than any contrived mediafest and, despite this, one element of human life shines through – our ability to be creative. All over the world, imaginative communities are building new futures through mutual aid, co-operation, sharing, self-respect, dignity and especially through their art in the face of oppression and injustice.
5 Belfast-born artist Dermot Seymour
Success of the Zapatistas The secret to the success of the Zapatistas in the Chiapas is the way they use their imaginations. In much the same way that it was language and our ability to imagine that created civilisation, the Zapatistas changed the symbols that defined their lives. “The Zapatistas have tried to move away from what they see as the tired language of revolution and to develop a new language of revolt,” says John Holloway, the Dublin-born lecturer in sociology at Puebla University in Mexico, who studied the Zapatista revolution. “The role of imagination, storytelling and so on is very important: not so much as a way of getting a serious message across in popular form but above all because the language of revolt is basically different from the language of domination. Domination is serious and boring; revolt has to be fun.” The role of the artist, the storyteller, the poet,
5 Zapatista art
5 Mayo writer John Healy
the balladeer, the musician, the puppeteer, the sculptor has always been crucial during conflict against oppression. In our automised, electronic age we seem to have forgotten the inspiration that singers and songwriters, for example, give us, making it easier to get up in the morning and continue the struggle. A primary reason for this is that we have become polarised into fiercely competing and mutually intolerant ideologies. This has not led to communication and understanding; it has, instead, resulted in a paralysing gridlock. Creative people provide the means to break that gridlock. We need creative people to present us with new visions for living, with new visions for the
5 Singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore
future, with alternatives to the models that have repeatedly lead to failure and misery. We also live in a world of competing lies. The old virtues of honour and honesty have tragically been lost and forgotten. Whenever we hear a statement coming from a politician, a corporation CEO, or a news reporter, we can have good faith that what they are saying is very likely to be partially or completely false. The absence of honour and honesty leads to the decay and collapse of nations, communities, families, and individual lives. So, who will tell the truth? Throughout human history, creative people have been truth-tellers. They have played important roles in countless dramas of social change. Today, it is no different. “Humans became powerful because of our mastery of language – the power of our stories,” wrote Michigan poet Rick Reese. “We studied nature intensively, learned a great deal about the ways of plants and animals, and built stories around this knowledge. We learned the finest magic of all beings and enriched our stories with it. Stories are our software. Stories are the heart and soul of every culture. Stories define who we are, what we believe, and how we behave. Stories are our most important and powerful possessions.” Storytelling has been replaced in the modern world by novels, which in turn have been replaced by packets of pages containing words written to a specific formula about the same subjects we see on cinema and television screens – conflict, murder and war. Today the images, stories, songs and artistry of the corporate world are manufactured items that serve a function for commerce; they do not and never will be mistaken for creative art. Thea Gilmore, a second-generation Irish, English-born singer-songwriter, hit this particular nail bang into the corporate drum with a line from her song, Mainstream. “If we grow up, we’re all going to be famous.”
28 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
Lost leaders Book review By Mícheál Mac Donncha
16 LIVES SERIES Éamonn Ceannt By Mary Gallagher
Thomas MacDonagh By Shane Kenna
O’Brien Press, €12.99 each
THE LATEST in the 16 Lives series are biographies of Thomas MacDonagh and Éamonn Ceannt, both signatories of the Proclamation and both commandants of republican garrisons during Easter Week. Ceannt commanded in the South Dublin Union where some
ʻʻ
In the years to come, Ireland will honour those who risked all for her honour at Easter in 1916 Éamonn Ceannt
of the fiercest fighting took place while Thomas MacDonagh commanded in Jacob’s biscuit factory, where there was relatively little action. They were quite different men. MacDonagh was an intellectual; Ceannt a man of action. MacDonagh was a lecturer in University College Dublin and in Pearse’s school, St Enda’s; Ceannt worked in the City Treasurer’s Office of Dublin Corporation. (This was located beside City Hall where a plaque honours him today.) Ceannt formed his republican beliefs and joined the IRB early on and was, in his own words, never a
A teen's 'Troubles' Book review
By Michael Mannion
Belfast Days: A 1972 Teenage Diary By Eimear O’Callaghan Merrion, €16.95
BELFAST DAYS is a book about ‘The Troubles’ in 1972 but one in which the events themselves are not the main narrative. Rather they are the stage on which other characters act, or the canvas on which Eimear O’Callaghan paints the picture of her life. The core of the book is a diary kept by a 16-year-old Belfast schoolgirl, Eimear O’Callaghan, in 1972. The diary lay forgotten for 40 years and re-read now provides a unique view of those days. Perhaps because it was written contemporaneously, it seems both an historical record and a chronicle of comparatively recent events.
Officers’ Association for clerks in the Corporation and supported the workers in the 1913 Lockout, as did MacDonagh. For both men the founding of the Irish Volunteers was the critical political event. They immersed themselves in its organisation and were central in the whirlwind of activities from November 1913 to Easter Week 1916. Like their executed comrades, they truly were lost leaders whose deaths deprived Ireland of men of great talent and commitment. The contrast between them and the members of the political class who have ruled the roost in the 26 Counties for decades is enormous. No wonder Taoiseach Enda Kenny & Co fear to speak of Easter Week. Once again, the O’Brien Press and the series editors and authors are to be commended for this great series of biographies of the 16 executed leaders.
Home Ruler; MacDonagh, like Pearse, came relatively late to republicanism, being more interested in the cultural aspects of the struggle and assumed that Home Rule would be granted and would open the way for political progress. Yet MacDonagh and Ceannt had much in common also. They both made significant contributions to Irish culture. Ceannt was a committed Conradh na Gaeilge activist and he founded the Pipers’ Club, himself playing both the uilleann pipes and the war pipes. MacDonagh was a talented poet and co-operated with Joseph Plunkett in fostering Irish drama and producing the Irish Review, a cultural and political journal. Ceannt and MacDonagh were progressive on social issues also. Ceannt helped to found the Dublin Municipal
There does seem to be something intrinsically wrong about reading the private diary of a teenage schoolgirl. It’s an almost voyeuristic intrusion into the thoughts, hopes and fears of the author. There is, however, nothing prurient about this volume. They may have been more violent times but
The diary conveys a strong sense of being part of a community at least under siege if not actually at war there was also a charming innocence that I am not sure would be so readily shown today. One of the most striking things about the entries in the diary is the accommodation, if not acceptance, of fear and dread as being the norm. It is not until she goes to France on a student
trip that Eimear realises the differences between her everyday life and that enjoyed by people living in less-turbulent surroundings. Eimear did not come from a republican background, although it was a politically aware family. Both her parents were in the SDLP and her father was a member of the Citizens’ Defence Committee (CDC). The diary entries convey a strong sense of being part of a community at least under siege if not actually at war. The sense of the British Army as an inimical force, alien and controlling, is portrayed unconsciously without ever being overtly stated. The 1972 entries are accompanied by a commentary from the adult author providing insights and explanations of her 40-year-old observations. This is a highly engaging book which will appeal to all readers but of particular interest to the generation for whom it is history and not reminiscence.
December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.com
I nDíl Chuimhne 1 December 1975: Volunteer Laura CRAWFORD, Cumann na mBan, Belfast; Volunteer Paul FOX, Belfast Brigade, 2nd Battalion. 2 December 1984: Volunteer Antoine Mac GIOLLA BHRIGHDE, County Derry Brigade; Volunteer Ciarán FLEMING, Derry Brigade. 3 December1973: Volunteer Joe WALKER, Derry Brigade. 4 December 1972: Fian Bernard FOX, Fian Seán HUGHES, Fianna Éireann. 4 December 1983: Volunteer Brian CAMPBELL, Volunteer Colm McGIRR, Tyrone Brigade. 5 December 1975: Volunteer Terry BRADY, North Armagh Brigade. 6 December 1975: Volunteer James
29
All notices and obituaries should be sent to notices@anphoblacht.com by Friday 19 December 2014 LOCHRIE, Volunteer Seán CAMPBELL,
South Armagh Brigade. 6 December 1984: Volunteer Danny DOHERTY, Volunteer Willie FLEMING, Derry Brigade. 7 December 1974 Volunteer Ethel LYNCH, Volunteer John McDAID, Derry Brigade. 7 December 1987: Volunteer Peter RODDEN, North Antrim Brigade. 8 December 1971: Volunteer Tony NOLAN, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion. 10 December 1975: Volunteer David KENNEDY, North Armagh Brigade. 15 December 1972: Volunteer Louis LEONARD, South Fermanagh Brigade. 15 December 1973: Volunteer Jim McGINN, Tyrone Brigade.
Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations Pádraig Pearse 17 December 1971: Volunteer Charles AGNEW, North Armagh Brigade. 17 December 1984: Volunteer Seán McILVENNA, North Armagh Brigade. 18 December 1971: Volunteer James SHERIDAN, Volunteer John BATESON,
Volunteer Martin LEE, County Derry Brigade. 21 December 1971: Volunteer Gerald McDADE, Belfast Brigade, 3rd Battalion. 21 December 1974: Volunteer Brian FOX, England. 24 December 1973: Volunteer Brendan QUINN, Newry Brigade. 24 December 1973: Volunteer Edward GRANT, Newry Brigade. 24 December 1982: Volunteer Phil O’DONNELL, Derry Brigade. 27 December 1971: Volunteer Jack McCABE, GHQ Staff. 27 December 1972: Volunteer Eugene DEVLIN, Tyrone Brigade. 29 December 1972: Volunteer James
FÓGRAÍ BHÁIS
Mícheál Ó Loingsigh Tralee, Kerry MÍCHEÁL S. Ó LOINGSIGH, who died on 6 November, was apprenticed at The Kerryman newspaper as a teenager. He became a master printer following his studies at the London College of Printing. He helped establish Drogheda Printers, of which he was Managing Director for much of his working life and which printed An Phoblacht/Republican News for many years during the conflict. He came from a Kerry republican background, had family members in the Tan War and was a strong democrat and internationalist. St John’s Church, Tralee, was crowded for his funeral Mass on the Saturday morning, following which he was buried in Old Rath Cemetery. During the 1960s, Mícheál Ó Loingsigh was a member of the Wolfe Tone Society which had been established in 1963 to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Tone and which played an influential role in the formation of the NI Civil Rights Association (NICRA). The Northern Civil Rights Movement, which NICRA initially led, helped destabilise unionist hegemony after
a half-century of one-sided Stormont rule. Mícheál Ó Loingsigh walked in the first NICRA-sponsored civil rights march from Coalisland to Dungannon in August 1968 and was also on the follow-up march in Armagh. When Ireland’s membership of the EEC became a live issue in 1969, he became chair of the Common Market Defence Campaign, the non-party group that campaigned against Ireland’s accession treaty to the EEC in the May 1972 Constitutional referendum. His firm printed many of the pamphlets which put forward the arguments of the ‘No’ side on that occasion, which included the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, the Labour Party and the two elements of the recently-divided Sinn Féin. Following that he helped to establish the Irish Sovereignty Movement (of which he was also chair) and he continued to campaign against European integration and in defence of Irish neutrality during the 1970s and 1980s. Mícheál Ó Loingsigh was a committed Irish-language supporter and a member
of Conradh na Gaeilge. In the 1970s he served some days in Mountjoy Prison for his part in the TV licence campaign against the Government’s failure to establish an Irish-language TV channel. He was also active in the Gaelscoil movement and helped establish Scoil Naithi in Ballinteer, Dublin. He was a friend of labour historian and Northern civil rights activist C. Desmond Greaves (1913-1988) and was one of the founders of the annual Desmond Greaves School, of which he was director for some years. Mícheál passed away peacefully at Tralee General Hospital, surrounded by his wife and children. He was a beloved husband of Eibhlín (nee Casey) and much loved father of Siobhán, Pádraig, Niall, Saibh, Muireann and Áine. He is sadly missed by his sister Helen (New York), brothers Pat and Jack (New York) and Fred (Tralee), sons-in-law Frank, Harry and Chris, daughters-in-law Suzanne and Isabel, and his grandchildren, as well as by neighbours, friends, admirers and old political colleagues across the country.
Aelish Morrison Derry City and Shannon AELISH MORRISON, aged 76, died recently after a long illness bravely borne. The news of her death was received with great sadness in the town of Shannon and in her native Derry City. Aelish was one of six daughters of James and Annie Brown and she grew up in Malin Gardens in the Creggan area of Derry. Aelish and Charlie, her devoted husband, were married for 57 years and reared a loving family: Jean-Marie, Anita, Siobhán, Carmel, Aelish, Sharon, Caitríona, Patrick, Charles (Chuck) and Seona. Aelish’s mother, Annie Fox, came from a long-standing and renowned republican family in Derry which has been involved in every phase of republican struggle since 1916. Aelish and Charlie were lifelong republicans who contributed in their own quiet and unassuming fashion to the remarkable progress of Irish republicanism in recent times, not only in their adopted County Clare but throughout the country.
Many a republican and supporter of Irish freedom who needed a billet found true friendship and support from Aelish, Charlie and their family.
Heartfelt sympathy and solidarity is extended to Aelish’s family from all her friends and comrades in the republican family.
McDAID, Derry Brigade.
30 December 1990: Volunteer Ferghal CARAHER, South Armagh Brigade. 30 December 1991: Volunteer Damien BROLLY, Donegal Brigade. Always remembered by the Republican Movement
McCANN, Noel. In proud and loving memory
of Volunteer Noel Peter McCann, whose 14th anniversary occurred on 10 November. Gone from our side and sight, never from our minds and hearts. So acutely missed and loved by his friends in Clonmel, and his friends and family in the US, especially his devoted and still grieving partner, Barbara.
Comhbhrón FITZGERALD. Sincere and deepest
sympathy is extended to Peter, Paul and all the Fitzgerald family on the
recent death of their father and grandfather. From all your friends in Cabra Sinn Féin, Dublin.
» Notices All notices should be sent to: notices@anphoblacht. com at least 14 days in advance of publication date. There is no charge for I nDíl Chuimhne, Comhbhrón etc. » Imeachtaí There is a charge of €10 for inserts printed in our Imeachtaí/Events column. You can also get a small or large box advert. Contact: sales@anphoblacht.com for details.
Acclaim for Cavan’s Charlie Boylan
LONG-SERVING Cavan County Councillor Charlie Boylan was the recipient of high praise and good wishes at a packed function in Donohoe’s of Ballyhaise on 11 October. Charlie was first elected to the county authority in 1974. With the reconfiguration of the County Cavan electoral boundaries prior to the May local elections, Charlie lost out, while assisting his party running mate, Paddy McDonald, across the line. The function’s official proceedings were chaired by former Cavan County Councillor Pauline McCauley. Fermanagh Assembly member Seán Lynch paid tribute to Charlie’s long service and commitment and the positive influence that he has had not only across his native Cavan but also in Fermanagh, Monaghan, Leitrim and Longford and further afield. “That influence is continuing as Charlie remains a committed republican and is to this day giving service
to the building of Sinn Féin across these counties,” said Seán Lynch. Dáil Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin recalled that Charlie was the election agent for H-Blocks Hunger Striker TD Kieran Doherty during a period when they forged an enduring friendship. “I very much welcome that Charlie Boylan will be continuing to give service to our cause. We could not afford to lose his knowledge, skills and wise counsel,” Caoimhghín said. A presentation was made to Charlie by Brian McKeown, former Cavan Town Council member, on behalf of Sinn Féin throughout the county to applause from a packed audience that included newlyelected MEP Matt Carthy, Cavan Senator Kathryn Reilly, Sinn Féin county councillors from Cavan and Monaghan, and representatives from the newly-established Fermanagh/ Omagh District Council, among others from across the public spectrum.
30 December / Nollaig 2014
www.anphoblacht.co
BETWEEN THE POSTS
BY CIARÁN KEARNEY
EMBARKING on our quest one night in late November, inspiration wasn’t the objective at all. Our mission was enjoyment. My nephew from Tyrone had just turned 18. He’s my sister’s son and something of a heretic, for he’s a hurler in a county renowned for Gaelic football. But I enjoy the company of heretics, especially if they’re also hurlers. So off we ventured to mark his 18th birthday, leaving Andersonstown, circling Belfast, onto the Cregagh Road and into the Cregagh estate, where we parked. For those not familiar with the geography of Ireland’s second city, the Cregagh Road is in the heart of east Belfast. It’s currently part of Castlereagh Council, a borough which gives its name to a police station of some notoriety. Ladas Drive, another police station of dubious repute in previous years, is also close by. During the conflict, Catholics or nationalists who once lived in the Cregagh estate itself were hunted out. The district still struggles to eschew the influence of unionist paramilitary groups who were supposed
Between us was a series of darkened streets with dozens of people milling around under lampposts draped in loyalist flags or British Union Jacks to have been ‘stood down’. Yet the name of the area derives from the townland of An Chreagaigh, which dates back to medieval times when it was part of the territory held by a branch of the legendary O’Neill clan. It is from the O’Neills that Ulster inherits its provincial emblem: the Red Hand. That said, none of us who alighted from the car had any illusions that the Red Hand visible on some of our Gaelic tops would be construed by local residents as an homage to the O’Neill clann. We were still about 800m from our destination. Between us was a series of
OUT OF THE DARKNESS
Rugby, especially Chief Executive Shane Logan, that Ravenhill was made available for this special charity event ‘Game for Anto’. The proud home of Ulster rugby was specially reconditioned to host Gaelic games, first played on the same ground a century ago when local nuns practised camogie. Seeing Gaelic goalposts on the rugby pitch below us was a sight to behold. A challenge match commenced between an Ulster select and Dublin senior Gaelic football side. In the crowds, here and there, there were flags for Dublin, Donegal, Antrim and Ulster. At half-time, young Gaelic footballers and young rugby players entertained the fans at either end of the pitch before coming together in the centre. It was quietly profound that two different sporting codes, both of which cherish the Red Hand of Ulster, shared a field within sight of the O’Neills’ townland of An Chreagaigh. Behind this ambitious enterprise was Anto Finnegan, his wife and
Seeing Gaelic goalposts on the rugby pitch below us was a sight to behold
darkened streets with dozens of people milling around under the lampposts, some of which were draped in loyalist flags or British Union Jacks. There was no time to debate the wisdom of the driver’s chosen parking spot. But to understand what goes through your mind at moments like this, you really have to have lived in the Six Counties – especially when you know that leaflets had been distributed in the Cregagh estate the previous night to encourage loyalist protesters out onto the streets. What happened next was an experience to confound cynics everywhere. Without hindrance, we reached the Ravenhill stadium, the home of
Anto Finnegan
Ulster rugby. A low-key police presence outside helped facilitate safe passage of spectators. We were greeted and assisted by stewards at the ground. We
took our seats with more than 6,000 other supporters in the spectacular new rugby stadium which the Minister for Sport, Sinn Féin MLA Carál Ní Chuilin, helped to sponsor. Ravenhill is surely one of the most iconic examples of how the power-sharing Executive has delivered on some of its potential. Those Gaels around us who openly lamented the dormant, undeveloped state of Casement Park coveted the brightly-lit amphitheatre and lush green surface of the Ravenhill stadium and imagined how great Casement could be. It is testament to the generosity and farsightedness of the board of Ulster
family, and a small organising committee. No one tells Anto’s story better than Anto himself. That’s something you’ll read in this column in the new year. For now, it’s enough to say that being diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease has sparked a fightback by Anto Finnegan which is impassioned and purposeful. The event that Anto, his family and friends organised was the sporting spectacle of 2014. In doing so they, wittingly or otherwise, offered a glimpse of what the future could be for those from different sporting and cultural traditions in the province of Ulster and on the island of Ireland. Walking back later that same night to our car parked in the Cregagh estate, the words of civil rights leader Martin Luther King came to mind: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”
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31
The pointless game with no winners I RECALL one time collecting our Ciara from school. Normally she would be bubbly and effusive – black cat, black kitten – but this day she was less than gruntled. The cause, it transpired, was the soccer match ‘Teacher’ had organised in the yard. Don’t fret, Ciara’s displeasure was not based on cultural disdain. Rather, she was peeved over the fact that Teacher had introduced them to the concept of games in which no one wins and nobody loses. Seemingly, some regard this as a grounding for a fair society in which everyone gets to feel good about themselves and all outcomes are the same, no matter what we do. Ants and termites thrive under such a dispensation. The kidgers were mortified and engineered a demarche by abandoning the match when one team went a goal up! It’s difficult to see such a concept catching on in the GAA, unless one happens to be from Fermanagh. Christopher Lasch, the American philosopher, disliked people who sought to use sport for ulterior motives, for: “Games quickly lose their charm when forced into the service of education, character development, or social improvement.” While Ciara’s teacher was no doubt attempting in good faith to transform the Hobbesian world of the playground into a prelapsarian Utopia, she was acting in the manner referred to by Lasch. So too, on a vaster scale, were the totalitarians who sought to use sport to prove that the master race or party had created a new type of human. Thankfully, people have little time for that and appreciate what Lasch describes as sport’s “gloriously pointless” nature. Sport is pointless but it also provides an outlet for aspects of human nature such as creativity, competitiveness and aggression that are not a daily part of most people’s lives. Indeed, they are positively discouraged. Try skipping the queue in the supermarket to test that hypothesis. And most people do not actively participate in sport so its emotional content is transferred onto mainly professional sportspersons. According to Johan Huizinga in Homo Ludens that
MATT TREACY
5 South Africa Gael’s Mayo captain Steven Malinga lifts the cup after being presented with it by President Michael D. Higgins in Pretoria
encourages the spectator’s craving for “trivial recreation and crude sensationalism”. While Huizinga may be correct with regard to televised sport (the only medium through which most people have contact with ‘live’ sport), his strictures can hardly be applied to those who watch sport in the flesh. Those who travel to Tbilisi or Tórshavn or teetotal Tehran to support the Irish soccer team, or the four mad people who travel the country with the Carlow hurlers, can hardly be depicted as mindless sensation seekers. There is a stronger argument perhaps to be
made about televised sport lowering standards, just as in popular music where what appeals most is the predictably bland. Thus, aficionados of the classic era of baseball, of the Ruths and Mantles and Jackie Robinsons, rue the advent of the designated hitter rule in 1973. Teams no longer need all-rounders, pitchers who can bat, as top cricketers can bat and bowl. Likewise, I have heard George Hook lament the passing of the old trench warfare of rugby for what he admits may be a more attractive spectator event.
It’s difficult to see such a concept catching on in the GAA, unless one happens to be from Fermanagh
Seán McIlvenna Commemoration
REPUBLICANS from across Ireland will gather on Saturday 13 December to mark the 30th anniversary of the death on active service of Volunteer Seán McIlvenna. Seán, who was born in north Belfast, was killed by the RUC in Blackwatertown, a few miles outside Armagh City, on the morning of Monday 17 December 1984 following an IRA operation targeting members of the Ulster Defence Regiment. At 33 years old, Seán was Officer Commanding of the Armagh City IRA unit and had been elevated to the Army’s Northern Command prior to his death. To add to these particularly tragic circumstances, Seán was the father of seven children and his wife Pat had just given birth to twins less than two weeks before he met his death on the Armagh/Tyrone border. 5 The funeral of Volunteer Seán McIlvenna making it's way through Belfast To commemorate Seán’s anniversary, a parade and commemoration is being former comrades. Both publications will tell Dundalk, Seán later rejoined the Movement held in Blackwatertown which will be the story about the boy from Fortwilliam and quickly earned a reputation as a addressed by Seán’s friend and comrade, who was born in 1951 and who later played committed and dedicated IRA Volunteer a part in defending interface areas of north operating along the Border and further Martina Anderson MEP. A specially-commissioned DVD and Belfast from loyalist attack before eventually afield. Copies of the commemorative booklet commemorative booklet will also be joining the Republican Movement in 1971. Following his marriage to Pat in 1970, and DVD will be available from Armagh launched documenting Seán’s life and involvement in the republican struggle, with Seán was forced to go ‘on the run’ to Sinn Féin via armaghsinnfein@gmail.com contributions from his family, friends and Monaghan in 1972. Eventually settling in after the launch on Saturday 13 December.
I suspect, however, that, like those who miss old-style Gaelic football, Hook’s recall of the endless scrummaging and two penalties to one victories is on a par with the alleged glories of catch and kick football. That was blown out of the water in 1967 when the Aussie Rules tourists made All-Ireland champions Meath look like Sunday morning joggers thrown in against El Guerrouj. Which brings me via a circuitous route to the Compromise Rules series. Gaelic football has long since compensated for the humiliation of 1967. Players are as fit and as physically conditioned as their professional opponents. In its classic era, people rose early on weekday mornings to pack taverns to watch what were often savage encounters. Crude sensationalism, if you will. Now, neither side really takes it seriously, and the machismo and brutality have been censored. Neither side sends their best players and it is a minor event played in smaller arenas. So perhaps it is time to admit that the series is a beaten docket and to concentrate, as Mickey Harte has urged, on the promotion of the proper game which now prospers in many parts of globe?
anphoblacht
CHRISTMAS ARRANGEMENTS The January 2015 edition of An Phoblacht will be on the streets on January 7th.
FIGHTING TORY AUSTERITY
32
STORMONT BUDGET
AGENDA
BY ALEX MASKEY
or would happen if direct rule ministers were making Budget decisions. We would see welfare cuts implemented with devastating effects on many families, the introduction of water charges, prescription charges, rising student fees and a host of other cuts which would have most impact on the already disadvantaged.
MLA
Sinn Féin’s aim is protecting core services and the most vulnerable in our society
REPUBLICANS are very clear in our view that we must have political and economic sovereignty. So long as we are controlled from Westminster then we will be at the mercy of policy makers in London who have no love for or understanding of the Irish people. The current austerity-led policy agenda of protecting the rich and attacking the poor is a clear indication of that. The Tories have been cutting the Executive’s block grant year on year since they came to power in 2010, threatening public services. The recent Budget allocation to the North should be seen in that light. We have called on the other Executive parties to join with us in a united voice to protect the
block grant and challenge the Westminster Government. We must ensure – in the absence of full political and economic sovereignty – that there is a proper allocation of resources for frontline public services. Our aim during the Budget negotiations was to ensure we were in a position to protect core services such as health and education and to ensure that the most vulnerable, people on dependent on welfare payments, were protected.
It’s for this reason that an extra £200million was allocated to health. There is an ongoing piece of work to be done and it is important that people, groups and communities respond to the Budget consultation. The British Government needs to hear a clear and consistent message that their austerity agenda of attacking the most vulnerable in our society will not be tolerated. Republicans are quite clear as to what could
So long as we are in a position to offer protection to the most vulnerable then we have a duty to do so. Agreeing a draft Budget at this stage ensures that elected representatives and not civil servants are in a position to influence the final outcome of Budget allocations. While some parties may feel that grandstanding offers them good political imagery, the reality is that it offers nothing by way of protecting core services to the most vulnerable in our society.