Working within British 'law' with a vow NOT to use force against the British....... :
DANIEL O'CONNELL -1843 ;
THE PROVISIONALS -1994 TO DATE .
.......huge outdoor meetings , known as 'Monster Meetings' , were held throughout the country to promote Daniel O'Connell and the 'Loyal National Repeal Association' ; 150,000 people in Mullingar , County Westmeath , 400,000 people in Mallow in County Cork - the Brits were getting worried with the level of support .......
A third 'Monster Meeting' was held in Lismore , County Waterford - again , a crowd estimated at 400,000 people attended . At each meeting , the 'Young Irelanders' were recruiting , having made their position clear in the pages of their newspaper , 'The Nation' , in leaflets , and by word of mouth - ie ' we get back whatever we can by O'Connell's methods , but will not confine ourselves to those methods alone...'
The British were perplexed at what to do regarding the 'Monster Meetings' - were they a 'safety valve' at which the 'agitators/rebels' could let off steam in a more-or-less harmless fashion , or were they a possible recruiting exercise at which the more militant element could 'plot and plan' ?
However , after the 15th August 1843 , the Brits decided to take action ; for it was on that date that between 800,000 and one million people gathered on the Hill of Tara in County Meath for a 'Monster Meeting'.......
(MORE LATER).
WHERE MOUNTAINY MEN HAVE SOWN :
war and peace in rebel Cork ,
in the turbulent years 1916-21.
By Micheal O'Suilleabhain : published 1965.
BURNINGS.......
".......myself and Donal Og were trapped in the loft of the barn - the Brits did not know we were there , but they were determined to get in to search . We were armed , and watched from the inside as the door was viciously attacked by them ......."
"....the door was 'bending' in its middle , but there was much to spare . The torchlight supplied by the British troops on the other side of the door was obligingly being held for our benefit ; it showed us the distance the bolt travelled in the staple and this was the measure of our time and opportunity . Again the enemy changed method - this time there appeared to be no doubt about its ultimate success . The rifles were discarded and men's shoulders substituted ; under their timed impact the door warped about the middle and the bolt slid alarmingly near to the edge of the staple .
With each successive effort the distance lessened ; I believe that not one sixteenth of an inch was left between the end of the bolt and the edge of the staple . A sudden silence fell : the last blow did not come . We moved a little to the left behind the wall , expecting a shot through the lock to break it . The shot never came . Instead came the clatter of iron-shod boots on the stone steps of the stairs , as the British soldiers descended . We heard them pass through the gateway and with others assemble on the road .
As they marched off the rain stopped and the wind died down . I believe it was these elements saved us by hastening the enemy's departure from the exposed stair landing . We unlocked our good door and soon we were hastening to the hilltop . The grey of dawn had passed ; we saw the column of British soldiers returning to Macroom . What of our house , a short distance away .....? "
(MORE LATER).
THE CIA : REAGAN'S SECRET ARMY .......
Since 1947 , the CIA has been a powerful force in covertly executing American internal and foreign policy . A major book detailing the workings , methods and sometimes incompetence of the secret service - 'The Agency ; The Rise and Decline of The CIA ' , by John Ranelagh , has recently been published .
Gene Kerrigan examines the books findings and assesses the importance of 'The Agency' and the role it has played over the last 39 years .
First published in 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper , Dublin , 24th August 1986 , page 11.
Re-produced here in 21 parts .
(7 of 21).
Britain and France , in a last gasp of Empire , were conspiring with Israel to take Egypt's Suez Canal , which had been nationalised by Nasser , who was now being frowned on by the West because of his friendship with the Soviet Union . The nationalisation was legal under agreements made between Nasser , Britain , France and America in 1950 and 1954 .
The plan was that Israel would invade Egypt - and Britain and France would take military control of the Suez Canal in order to "protect" it . Israel attacked on 29 October ; the next day the British and the French bombed Egypt and took the Canal . The Americans were furious - they did'nt like Nasser but they believed they could handle him , and they did'nt want a resurgence of the old empires .
They froze oil supplies from Latin America and withdrew support from the British 'Pound' and the French 'Franc' ; the conspiracy collapsed .......
(MORE LATER).
