BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE LONDON 'TIMES' .......From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
An article in 'The London Times'newspaper of December 9 , 1957 , entitled 'Actors In The Political Scene' , stated : " The country families of the North of Ireland , after surrendering control to the captains of industry for a long period , are well established in the present government."
There , perhaps , is the key to the whole situation : the 'lords of land' and the 'barons of industry' who together make up the Tory-Unionist Ascendancy , the 'master-minds' with Britain's Tories , of the anti-freedom struggle in Ireland. These are the 'gentry' who imposed their views on the Orange rank-and-file under the guise of religion - the ones who stand to lose most by separation from Britain .
It is those gentlemen who act as Britain's puppets in Ireland : even those who consider themselves as 'left-wingers' can be enticed to forget where they came from.......
(MORE LATER).
A PORTRAIT OF IRELAND , by Saoránach.......First published in the Republican Bulletin - Iris Na Poblachta , November 1986.
Dr Mary Kelly wrote : " The knowledge of the contribution of Republican violence to the establishment of the State , as well as the Republican definitions and ideology learned by many through both school and family , cannot be easily dismissed from consciousness as simply the emotional 'cult of 1916' (Conor Cruise O' Brien, quoted in 'The Irish Times' , November 1983) . Yet many are dependent for their knowledge of the situation in the North on the media - especially television which , owing to censorship , is extremely narrow and limited in its coverage .
This has the consequence of presenting the violence as unmotivated and irrational , a procession of inexplicable events led by a tiny minority of violent men . I would thus expect considerable confusion and lack of understanding in the South of the forces which contribute to the continuance of the violence . I would further argue that , in the long term , ignorance rarely contributes to the resolution of conflict. "
Another paper , called 'Class , Clientelism and the Political Process in the Republic of Ireland' (here,page 4) , by Ellen Hazelkorn of The Dublin Institute of Technology is an analysis of what passes for politics in the 26 Counties.......
(MORE LATER).
ROBERT EMMET - THE DARLING OF ERIN.......Margaret McKearney looks at the life and death of one of Ireland's most enduring heroes.
From 'Fourthwrite' magazine, Autumn 2003.
Events went dramatically wrong for Robert Emmet : on the appointed day his plans began to unravel - Michael Dwyer and his promised 300 men did not get the word until Sunday July 24 and , the previous day , an excess of men had moved in to Dublin from Kildare and could not be concealed in the existing depots so they spread out around the city pubs and some started drinking . Others , after inspecting the existing arsenal and finding many pikes but few muskets or blunderbusses , went home unimpressed .
Because he had alerted other countries and still had the element of surprise , Emmet decided not to postpone the Rising ; thus , shortly after seven o' clock on Saturday July 23rd , 1803 , Robert Emmet in his green and gold uniform stood in the Thomas Street , Dublin , depot and , to the assembled rebels , read out his proclamation , declaring that the Irish nation was about to assert itself in arms against foreign rule .
Again events conspired to thwart the rebels - coaches commissioned for the attack on Dublin Castle were lost and erroneous information supplied that encouraged pre-emptive strikes , meant that confusion reigned . Also , the novel rocket signals failed to detonate . Emmet's own forces , who were to have taken the Castle , dwindled away and , throughout the remainder of that evening , there were skirmishes at Thomas Street and the Coombe Barracks but he decided to terminate operations and leave the city.......
(MORE LATER).