COMING SOON TO A TV SCREEN NEAR YOU....(if you're one of our many readers from America)!
I was going to mention this about six weeks ago when this blog was first contacted by QPTV in New York but, at that time, nothing concrete was agreed. Since then - many emails, five transatlantic phone calls and three actual meetings in Dublin later - I can confirm that a format, visual and speech, introduced and expanded on, on screen, by yours truly, once a week in an hour-long programme - has been agreed between ourselves here in '1169 Towers' and the Queens Public Television company!Yes indeed, readers - we are taking this thing straight to television, from a TV studio here in Dublin, first, but if it works as well as we have been assured it will, then I'll be doing the programme, live, from New York, once a week, with the first such programme to be filmed here within the next week or so. Sandra and Ruth from QPTV ("...QPTV is committed to providing a forum for the open exchange of ideas and opinions free from censorship regardless of race, creed, religion, country of origin, gender or sexual orientation.....QPTV has become the destination for journalists visiting from abroad, especially from those countries that are in a struggle for liberation.....we are committed to assisting everyone to exercise their First Amendment right to free expression....we’ve also covered other hard hitting and controversial issues like building a mosque near Ground Zero, the disturbing reality of illegal gun violence, and the death penalty......virtually every culture, religion, political point of view or opinion can be found on our four channels. QPTV is democracy in action......") [hello again, girls!] told us that they have long been admirers of our efforts on this blog and (as confirmed by our stats) we have a large, constant readership in the New York area, as well as in other parts of that great city and in other cities in the USA as well. I recently filmed a promo piece with the station and that is currently being aired, and the feedback from it is "highly encouraging" , I have been told, with three NYC radio stations picking up on it - two of those radio stations emailed this blog and I done a twenty-minute ("very well received") interview with both of them, which prompted two NYC-based newspapers to follow-up on the story. However : where exactly that leaves this blog - the 'printed' version as opposed to the up-coming 'sound and visual' version - will be decided in the next few days and we will definitely make an announcement here re same next Wednesday (8th April 2015) as the arrangements will have been finalised by then. As it's looking now, as I type this, we will be the first Irish republican blog to be broadcast from 'the Queen's TV', so to speak.....! (MORE LATER - ON WEDNESDAY 8TH APRIL 2015....).
RSF EASTER COMMEMORATIONS, DUBLIN, 2015.
On Easter Sunday next (5th April 2015) a commemoration will be held in Deansgrange Cemetery - those attending are requested to assemble at the gates at 12.45pm. On Easter Monday a commemoration will be held in Dublin city centre and those attending are requested to assemble at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square at 1.45pm, by which time representatives of Na Fianna Éireann will have laid a wreath (at 10.45am) in Phibsborough at the 'Irish Volunteer Monument' (near the Phibsborough Crossroads) where Fian Seán Healy was executed during the 1916 Rising. Also, a total of 1,500 republican leaflets will be assembled in 'packs' and distributed at the Dublin city centre commemoration on Easter Monday. Hope to see you at one, or another, or all three!
THE PRICE OF PEACE......
Last month, 28 women who protested peacefully in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, against US President Ronald Reagan's visit to Ireland received £1000 each arising from their action for wrongful arrest. Gene Kerrigan recalls the weekend when another State determined Irish security requirements and details the garda action which could cost tens of thousands of pounds. From 'Magill' magazine, May 1987.
The women decorated the trees, sang and talked, and in the mid-afternoon there was a discussion about 'doing an action'. For two hours they sat in a circle and tried to reach a consensus on some of the proposals - that they walk in a circle in front of the gate of the US Ambassador's residence, or coat the palms of their hands with red paint and make red handprints, symbolic of the blood of the oppressed, on the white wall around the Ambassador's residence, as a counterpoint to the official ceremony in Galway. Some women disagreed with the proposals and the discussion ended with everyone free to do what they wished.
The women crossed to the front of the residence and some put red handprints on the wall, others walked in a circle, some stood and watched. The gardai moved in and began hauling the women away from the wall, carrying them back to the field ; some women just lay on the ground, others walked away. It was a minor incident, the gardai preventing 'graffiti' being put on the wall. But suddenly a car appeared, driving in among the protestors, and plainclothes gardai jumped out and arrested one of the women, pulled her into the car and drove off. That women was Petra Breathnach, a supporter of the 'Release Nicky Kelly Committee' (Kelly was to be released six weeks later) , and she was arrested under 'Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act' and taken into custody in Cabra garda station.
The position on that Saturday evening was that one woman had been lifted under the catch-all of 'Section 30' , the others had been told of some "edict" forbidding their presence in the park and their legal representatives had been unable to elicit any further information from the gardai at the scene. Barrister Ruth-Anne FitzGerald contacted Cabra garda station and spoke to Detective Inspector Conroy, who said that in the absence of the Superintendent he was in charge and he was satisfied there had been a breach of the Commissioner's new order. He was unable or unwilling to give the barrister any information about the content of this new order. (MORE LATER).
THE IRA.THE NEW IRA IS YOUNGER, MORE RADICAL AND HAS SEEN LITTLE OF LIFE OTHER THAN VIOLENCE..... By Ed Moloney. From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.
The last two years have seen the severing of an important link with the PLO ; the British Army says that the Towerstream cargo, at least in part, came via the PLO. Now Yasser Arafat says the link has been formally ended in return for Dublin and EEC recognition of his cause. Some mystery, however, surrounds the link with Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, which most people thought had ended with the deportation of the last remaining Provo contact man, in early 1975. Now there is speculation that the link might have been re-established. When the IRA's Director of Operations, Brian Keenan, was arrested in March last year and sent to Britain for trial on offences related to the 1974/75 bombing campaign there, he had on him a torn half of a Libyan dinar bill; a recognition signal that was used a lot during the 1972/75 liaison between Gaddafi and the IRA.
Another curious piece of the Libyan jigsaw has also recently come to light. In August last year a shady arms dealer, called Sadiq Baahri , who operated his arms business from a legitimate export agency in Athens, disappeared while flying in his private jet on a flight from Cairo to Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. Reliable Arab sources in London now say that Baahri had incurred Gaddafi's displeasure for refusing to arrange an IRA arms shipment. The rumour in Libya, say the sources, is that Libyan jet fighters forced his plane down at Benghazi, where he now languishes in jail.
TACTICS.
In its campaign between 1977 and 1980, the Provisional IRA has demonstrated what for the RUC and British Army must be an irritating ability to switch tactics. Along the targets chosen for one to nine month campaigns have been businessmen, off duty UDR men, a sustained attack on the British Army and prison warders and the killing of prominent people like Lord Mountbatten. Bombing targets have switched from coordinated, six county wide attacks and smaller scale attacks on commercial premises, government buildings, hotels, banks and factories, to the blasting of town and village centres and methods of attack have also varied : blast incendiaries were introduced in 1977, until the holocaust of La Mon, when they were temporarily dropped. Car bombs have made a recent come back, but so far only in rural towns. Intruder detonated bombs and long delay fused bombs were introduced during that period but while these and other more well known devices like culvert bombs and land mines accounted for heavy British security forces' casualties, it was the introduction of the radio detonated bomb in 1978 but especially in 1979 that really re-imposed the IRA's threat. (MORE LATER).
ON THIS DATE (1ST APRIL) 49 YEARS AGO : PAISLEY ESTABLISHES THE UCDC/UPV.
'Loyalists and Protestants. Hit Eire and Lynch where they will feel it most. REFUSE Eire Money. BOYCOTT all her goods.To trade with Ulster’s enemies is Treachery. No Surrender.' - a 'UCDC' poster/leaflet from the early 1970's.
On the 1st April 1966, some of the pro-British minority in the six north-eastern counties of Ireland who deemed themselves to be 'loyal' to Westminster, led and supported by Ian Paisley, established two groups with the intention of preventing nationalists ("Catholics", as Paisley and his bigoted followers described them) from seeking, never mind obtaining, 'civil rights'. The so-called political front was named the 'Ulster (sic) Constitution Defence Committee'(UCDC) and it was guided by a body of 13 people, with Ian Paisley acting as its Chairperson (that 12-person leadership committee were known as Paisley's 'Twelve Apostles') and Hercules Mallon as its Secretary. Also, well known loyalist Noel Doherty, a printer by trade and one of many Orangemen who were members of the B-Specials, was a founding member of that group. The 'UCDC' was one of many Paisley-inspired groups which he established primarily to boost his own profile and secondary in an attempt to 'keep Catholics in their place' ie second-class citizens : on this occasion, he used the scare tactics of so-called 'political reforms' which the then 'Prime Minister of Northern Ireland' (sic) , Terence O'Neill, was allegedly considering (which loyalists were afraid would be of benefit to nationalists) and the then up-coming 50th Anniversary commemorations of the 1916 Rising.
Ironic : a 'UCDC' poster/leaflet promoting 'democratic rights'!
In order that the 'UCDC' should be able to enforce its 'recommendations', a paramilitary wing was established - the 'Ulster Protestant Volunteers' (UPV), a loyalist paramilitary grouping, which grew to be many thousands strong and armed itself courtesy of Noel Doherty's 'B Special' connections. The 'UPV', which 'unofficially' shared membership with the UVF, let it be known that it shared the objectives of its 'parent' group, the 'UCDC', and that it supported the Constitution of same - '...(We are) pledged by all lawful methods to uphold and maintain the Constitution of Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom as long as the United Kingdom maintains a Protestant Monarchy and maintains the terms of the Revolution Settlement...no one who has ever been a Roman Catholic is eligible for membership...only those who have been born Protestants are eligible for membership....no serving member of the RUC can join any UPV division...(we reserve the right) to use all means that may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy (and) take whatever steps we think fit (to maintain the present constitutional position...)'
This loyalist two-headed serpent was most active until the early 1970's, after which it started to fade as its members drifted into other loyalist groupings, both 'official' (B Specials, British Army, RUC, UDR) and 'unofficial' (UDA, UVF, UFF) but it served its purpose as its leader, Ian Paisley, gained a political platform which he would later use to obtain a political career for himself and his family, but the legacy of bigotry he maintained is still with us to this day, even though he himself is no longer here to fan those flames.
TAKE IT DOWN FROM THE MAST....
Michael Collins and his Free State Army colleagues, who borrowed military equipment from the British Army to use against those who stood by the Irish Tricolour.
Irony is lost on these shameless gombeens as they prepare to dress-up and parade from school to school to promote a flag they once fought against (excuse the terminology in this link, as it equates "the country" with "the State") : 'Every school in the country is to get an Irish flag in the run up to the 1916 centenary commemorations next year....a member of the Defence Forces will deliver a tricolour to the estimated 4,000 primary and post-primary schools in the State between now and the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising....'
The Free State Army and the political institution which financially, physically and morally supports it and all it stands for have long since more than just turned their back on that which the Irish Tricolour represents as they not only support but collude with the foreign institution and its military forces which continue to occupy, militarily and politically, six Irish counties. Indeed, one of their 'placed pets' in one of the British political houses in this country should be, by right, even more perplexed than his fellow ex-'rebel' colleagues at this 'flag parade' as he now supports the same Free State military which he and his colleagues once condemned as, at best, 'ineffectual'. 'Take it down from the mast...' indeed.
GERRY , EMMA AND TIM.
It seems to start off relatively harmless - perhaps as a means for someone to promote themselves as appearing to be a bit of a 'daft, unusual even, but sure if that's the worse they get up to...' -type, but can escalate into something way more serious. As far as is known (to the best of my knowledge, anyway!) 'Ash' Adams is still at 'the Druid stage' where he only wants to hug and cuddle them (....but, as anyone reading this that has an Irish Mammy will confirm, we all know what the Ma says about what a hug and cuddle could lead to...!)
And no doubt that's how it started out for Emma - harmless, doing it because she had heard that other people do it, so it probably only indicated to her that those others are 'in touch with nature' etc. So she tried it herself, as 'Ash' did, but.... "I love the feeling of skin-on-bark contact, which gives me a more pleasurable pain sensation, and the feel of his leaves against my skin makes me tingle....I look at other trees, but don't touch - I wouldn't cheat...I'd like to get married, but it would be a low-key ceremony with family..."(from here!)
But all is not lost for poor Emma - I've researched the young lady in question and can find no mention of whether she trampolines naked with a dog. Or with Tim. And no mention, either, of her wanting to marry the trampoline. I'll get my coat....!
..AND SPEAKING OF HUGGING/HUMPING INANIMATE OBJECTS...
Sinead O'Connor (left), in one of her many guises. Physical guises, that is...
And she's at it again : we recently wrote about Sinead's shenanigans with what she classed as Irish 'republicanism' - "...we need non-violent total civil disobedience. We have scaffolded and supported and continue to support a terrorist State which has never given a toss about children or women......we can't blame anyone but ourselves for this. We are cowards. Grateful for crumbs on tables and think we deserve nothing more. We are pathetic. An inexcusable disgrace to the courage of those who fought and died in 1916....ailing animals can have a compassionate death. People can't. What the fuck more evidence do you need? We are less than animals to the state and to the church who still run it.....I understand entirely why people would want to fight back. But I don't think it actually achieves anything. It doesn't bring back your lost people. I kind of like a peaceful life nowadays. I'd rather not get in trouble...frankly, I wish England had never left (sic) Ireland. I think we would be a lot better off...." And, in direct contradiction to her 'wish', above, is this - "I thought about it for a while and realised that actually 1916 isn't finished.....what was promised in that proclamation hasn't happened....(we should) get off our butts and take our country..."
Confused? This should fully convince you that she's firmly 'out there' with Gerry, Emma and Tim : "...(I am) three-quarters heterosexual, one-quarter gay (and) in fact 99.999% vaginally oriented but have experienced the odd shall we say 'bark up the wrong tree' and immensely enjoyed it.....I recently read of a woman in America who married and regularly humps her truck. I don't yet own a truck but I'm beginning to understand her head space...." (from here.)
But, like Emma, there's hope for her yet. No mention of trampolines. Now, where did I put my coat....
Thanks for reading : see you here again on Wednesday, 8th April 2015, for more on our foolishly long-overdue 'Queen's Broadcast....' Sharon.
ANNOUNCEMENT : CHANGE IMMINENT RE THE FORMAT OF THIS BLOG.....
It's only after taking us 13 years of blogging to get to this junction, but we will be arriving at a new destination shortly! We will still be 'on screen', but.... (MORE LATER - ALL WILL BE REVEALED ON WEDNESDAY 1ST APRIL 2015....)
Thanks for reading:check back with us on Wednesday 1st.
THE PRICE OF PEACE......
Last month, 28 women who protested peacefully in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, against US President Ronald Reagan's visit to Ireland received £1000 each arising from their action for wrongful arrest. Gene Kerrigan recalls the weekend when another State determined Irish security requirements and details the garda action which could cost tens of thousands of pounds. From 'Magill' magazine, May 1987.
Most of the women were from Dublin, some were from the North, a few from around the country. One was Italian, one American, one Scottish, and all of them had lived and worked in Dublin for some years. There were about three dozen women present. They were lifted into garda vans and driven out of the park and left outside the gates, where they regrouped and walked back into the park, being followed all the way by the gardai in cars and on motorbikes. A couple of hours later, at about 3am, the gardai again removed the women from the park, but this time they drove well away from the area, dumping the women in small groups in various parts of the city.
In the course of these 'evictions', the gardai made references to a "regulation" or "edict" signed by the Garda Commissioner which allowed the gardai to carry out the 'evictions'. The 'Women for Disarmament' group had already gone into the legalities of the garda action with solicitor Heather Celmalis, and they knew the law and were observing it - now the gardai were talking about some 'new law'. On Saturday morning the women sought through their legal representatives to find out what this "regulation/edict" was. Heather Celmalis retained Ruth-Anne FitzGerald BL , and the legal discussion revolved around whether it would be possible to obtain an injunction to prevent the gardai from evicting the women from the park. The women were back in the park at about noon on Saturday , 2nd June 1984.
FIRST ARREST , SECTION 30.
In Galway, some of the country's leading academics were queuing up to honour Ronald Reagan with a doctorate of law. A few others were protesting with a parallel 'de-conferring' exercise. Word had gone around about the eviction of the women and in the afternoon their ranks were swollen to about 80. Media representatives visited the site and there were many visitors wishing the women well. Plainclothes gardai were seen taking the registration numbers of visitors' cars. (MORE LATER).
THE IRA.THE NEW IRA IS YOUNGER, MORE RADICAL AND HAS SEEN LITTLE OF LIFE OTHER THAN VIOLENCE..... By Ed Moloney. From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.
An incidental factor resulting from re-organisation is that now less money strays into private pockets, or so it is claimed. In the past it was not unknown, and there are IRA men in jail to prove it, for O/C's and Adjutants in some areas of Belfast to send their men out unknowing, on 'unauthorised' robberies for their own enrichment. Equally, it was not unknown for those volunteers themselves to take a cut.
FOREIGN ADVENTURES.
Until 1978, the Provisional IRA had operated exclusively in Ireland and in Britain. But in that year there were bomb attacks at BAOR bases in Germany followed by more bombs the next year. In early 1979 the British ambassador to the Hague, Sir Richard Sykes, was shot dead and a Belgian bank official was also killed in mistake for the British ambassador to NATO.
This year, three British soldiers in Germany have been shot, one, a colonel, was killed by the same 9mm pistol used to kill Sykes. The bombings and shootings were the work of two separate IRA cells, who had travelled to the Continent in the guise of Irish building workers. Both have since returned to Ireland. Contrary to press speculation, the killings and bombings were not aided by the Baader-Leonhof gang, or other anarchist groupings, but a short term, and largely unsuccessful, attempt to arouse western European interest in the war in Ireland.
According to one British Army source, 'there are no operational links between the IRA and any of these groups'. By 'these groups', he meant not only the Baader-Meinhof group but also ETA, the Bretons and the Corsicans. The guns that come from those sources are few and far between. The IRA buys its weaponry in Europe and the Middle East from conventional black market sources who also supply training. (MORE LATER).
A 'NATION STATE' - 'WATER' MISNOMER.
Three of those pictured above have long let it be known that they consider the 'Northern issue' to have been 'settled' in 1998 (if, indeed, not in 1921!) and it is no surprise that they should equate the 26-county State as 'the nation', in poster (as above) and other formats, but one of them - ironically, on the far right in that pic - Dessie Ellis, a PSF member who sits in Leinster House, professes (as does the party he is a member of) to be still involved in seeking political reunification for this country. Yet he comfortably poses with a poster which seeks to present a 26-county-wide protest as a 'national demonstration' and sits with his PSF colleagues (and other Free Staters) in a State institution which classes itself as 'the parliament of Ireland', yet declares that it exercises jurisdiction over 26 counties only.
It seems that Dessie was fighting all along for an 'improved' Free State , so comfortable is he in operating, politically, within the confines of the Leinster House parameters, whereas Irish republicans still strive for a socialist and democratic 32-county Ireland (in which citizens won't be instructed to pay twice for any one service, and threatened for not doing so) . And when that objective is achieved, posters advertising a proper 'national demonstration' can then be held high instead of, as in that picture, at half mast.
ON THIS DATE (25TH MARCH) 95 YEARS AGO - MORE SCUM ARRIVES ON IRISH SHORES.
Two Black and Tans pose with their (uniformed) colleagues on an Irish street.
Ireland, 1920 : a report in the 'Daily News' newspaper in March 1920, which was penned by Erskine Childers, stated - "Take a typical night in Dublin. As the citizens go to bed, the barracks spring to life. Lorries, tanks and armoured search-light cars muster in fleets, lists of objectives are distributed and, when the midnight curfew order has emptied the streets - pitch dark streets - the weird cavalcades issue forth to the attack. A thunder of knocks ; no time to dress or the door will crash in. On opening, in charge the soldiers - literally charge - with fixed bayonets and in full war-kit..."
The 15th January 1920 municipal and urban elections not only saw an Irish Republican Lord Mayor elected in Cork - that same political office was also conferred on Michael O'Callaghan in Limerick and Tom Kelly in Dublin ; on 6th March, 1921, Michael O'Callaghan was shot dead in his house by the Black and Tans, in what became known as 'The Curfew Murders' - because, on that same night (6th March 1921) , the then serving Lord Mayor of Limerick, a Mr. George Clancy (and his wife) were also shot dead in their own house. Tom Kelly took the Free State side after the 1921 Treaty of Surrender, and died in April 1942. Westminster had hoped that, between the new voting system of proportional representation and their 'banning' of the Sinn Fein organisation, plus the introduction of martial law and the imprisonment and deportation of Irish Republican candidates, that Sinn Fein would do poorly at the 15th January 1920 Elections - but that was not how things turned out.
The Republican Administration had secured the allegiance of practically all the local councils since the elections (1918 and 1920) and the law courts, legal system and police force operated by the Irish Republican Administration had now virtually supplanted those of the British Crown and the IRA was also scoring notable successes in its guerrilla war against the British military. Westminster responded by recruiting mercenaries in England for use in Ireland ; the Black and Tans and The Auxiliaries, and the first batch of these British 'peace-keepers' landed in Ireland on the 25th March 1920. The 'Tan's' consisted of unemployed (and unemployable) ex-British servicemen and convicts, who were given guns and a 'uniform' of a Khaki outfit with a black RIC-type cap and belt, while the brutal and equally undisciplined actions of the other gang of rabble, the Auxiliaries, actually led to its Commanding Officer in Ireland, a Brigadier F. P. Crozier, resigning in protest at their conduct in this country! Both groups of these British thugs were in Ireland between 1920 and 1922 - more than seven-thousand Black and Tans and approximately one-thousand-five-hundred Auxiliaries, all of whom caused havoc in Ireland until the 18th of February 1922, when both outfits were disbanded and sent back home to the dole queue.
IRISH LITTLE BIGHORN 'HERO' BORN ON THIS DATE (25TH MARCH) 175 YEARS AGO.
The temporary marker (pictured,left) erected at the site of the battle of the Little Bighorn, in 1876, where Irishman Myles Keogh died.
Myles Walter Keogh was born in Orchard, Leighlinbridge, Carlow, on this date (25th March) in 1840, to parents that were not on the breadline. He was one of 13 children, being the youngest of five boys and seven sisters. As a 'soldier of fortune', he fought with Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (pictured, here - Keogh, in black, standing beside General George Custer) against the native American population and was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on the 25th June, 1876, in Montana, by those he sought to annihilate. He was known to be an excellent horseman and had an apparently deserved reputation as a brave soldier even if, in my opinion, he was fighting on the wrong side. However, he is regarded as a 'hero' by some (homage to the man, here, penned by an Irish 'comedian') while 'neutrals' might declare that 'one man's terrorist...' etc. The remains of Myles Keogh were disinterred from the Bighorn site in 1877 and he was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York.
Incidentally, the horse that Myles Keogh rode into battle on that fateful day, 'Comanche', was the only living survivor of the fight (other than the victorious native americans, obviously!) , having been found, barely alive, with bullet wounds and seven arrows in his body : four on the back of his shoulder, one on each of his back legs and one which pierced a hoof. The poor animal died on the 7th of November, 1891 - 15 years after 'Bighorn' - at Fort Riley, in Kansas, going into his 30th year in these pastures and is one of only two horses to be buried with full military honours. This horse was actually the subject of a 'HQ 7th US Calvary General Order' issued on the 10th of April, 1878 :
'(1.) The horse known as 'Comanche,' being the only living representative of the bloody tragedy of the Little Big Horn, June 25th, 1876, his kind treatment and comfort shall be a matter of special pride and solicitude on the part of every member of the Seventh Cavalry to the end that his life be preserved to the utmost limit. Wounded and scarred as he is, his very existence speaks in terms more eloquent than words, of the desperate struggle against overwhelming numbers of the hopeless conflict and the heroic manner in which all went down on that fatal day.
(2.) The commanding officer of Company I will see that a special and comfortable stable is fitted up for him, and he will not be ridden by any person whatsoever, under any circumstances, nor will he be put to any kind of work.
(3.) Hereafter, upon all occasions of ceremony of mounted regimental formation, 'Comanche,' saddled, bridled, and draped in mourning, and led by a mounted trooper of Company I, will be paraded with the regiment.
By command of Colonel Sturgis, E. A. Garlington, First Lieutenant and Adjutant, Seventh Cavalry.'
Shame that those people didn't show the same respect to their 'quarry'.
ON THIS DATE (25TH MARCH) 169 YEARS AGO - FOUNDER OF 'LAND LEAGUE' ORGANISATION BORN.
Michael Davitt (pictured, left), was born in Straide, Mayo, on the 25th of March, 1846.
Born into poverty at the time of An Gorta Mór, the second of five children, Michael was only four years of age when his family were evicted from their home over rent owed and his father, Martin, was left with no choice but to travel to England to look for a job. His wife, Sabina, and their five children were given temporary accommodation by the local priest in Straide. The family were eventually reunited, in England, where young Michael attended school for a few years. His family were struggling, financially, so he obtained work , aged 9, as a labourer (he told his boss he was 13 years old and got the job - working from 6am to 6pm, with a ninty-minute break and a wage of 2s.6d a week) but within weeks he had secured a 'better' job, operating a spinning machine but, at only 11 years of age, his right arm got entangled in the machinery and had to be amputated. There was no compensation offered, and no more work, either, for a one-armed machine operator, but he eventually managed to get a job helping the local postmaster. He was sixteen years young at that time, and was curious about his Irish roots and wanted to know more - he learned all he could about Irish history and joined the Fenian movement in England.
At 19 years of age he joined the IRB and about two years afterwards he became the organising secretary for northern England and Scotland for that organisation and, at 25 years of age, he was arrested in Paddington Station in London after the British had uncovered an IRB operation to import arms. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, on a 'hard labour' ticket, and served seven years in Dartmoor Prison in horrific conditions before being released in 1877, at the age of 31, on December 19th. Almost immediately, he took on the position as a member of the Supreme Council of the IRB and returned to Ireland in January 1878, to a hero's welcome. He founded the 'Irish Land League' in Dublin, in October 1879, with Charles Stewart Parnell as its President and Davitt himself acting as Secretary, with the intention of obtaining set entitlements for Irish tenant farmers who, at that time, effectively had no rights - '...to bring out a reduction of rack-rents; second, to facilitate the obtaining of the ownership of the soil by the occupiers. That the object of the League can be best attained by promoting organisation among the tenant-farmers; by defending those who may be threatened with eviction for refusing to pay unjust rents; by facilitating the working of the Bright clauses of the Irish Land Act during the winter; and by obtaining such reforms in the laws relating to land as will enable every tenant to become owner of his holding by paying a fair rent for a limited number of years...'
Under the slogan 'The Land for the People' , he toured America, being introduced in his activities there by John Devoy and, although he did not have official support from the Fenian leadership (some of whom were neutral towards him while others were suspicious and/or hostile of and to him) he obtained constant media attention and secured good support for the objectives of the Land League. Michael Davitt died at 60 years of age in Elphis Hospital in Dublin on the 30th of May 1906, from blood poisoning - he had a tooth extracted and contracted septicaemia from the operation. The British were represented at his funeral by the 'Lord Lieutenant of Ireland', an indication, no doubt, that they no longer viewed the man in the same light as they had when he was a young man. His body was taken to the Carmelite Friary in Clarendon Street, Dublin, then by train to Foxford in Mayo and he was buried in Straide Abbey, near where he was born.
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
THE PRICE OF PEACE......
Last month, 28 women who protested peacefully in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, against US President Ronald Reagan's visit to Ireland received £1000 each arising from their action for wrongful arrest. Gene Kerrigan recalls the weekend when another State determined Irish security requirements and details the garda action which could cost tens of thousands of pounds. From 'Magill' magazine, May 1987.
At the 'Bank of Ireland' building in Dublin city centre, the 'Fast for Life' group were having problems - they had set up their shanty-shack with a sign saying that for millions in the Third World this was home, but now the gardai had arrived. The shack was to be taken down, they were told, but the group replied that they had received permission from a garda inspector to stage their out-of-the-way protest but the gardai said it had to come down. The group asked for time to discuss what they would do and the gardai said they would be back at 9pm.
They returned at 8pm and said their superintendent wanted the shack taken down and the 'Fast for Life' group stated that they would not themselves dismantle it but they would not resist if the gardai did so. The group stood aside and watched the gardai take it down. At that same time, Ronald Reagan was being welcomed at Shannon Airport. Later the group arranged a number of display boards in a circle and continued their protest from inside that construction. They had a kind of 'exhibition' on the boards, photos of Third World conditions and also had some posters expressing criticism of Ronald Reagan's policies towards the Third World and nuclear militarism. A Dublin Corporation official instructed them to remove "those particular (Reagan) posters..." .
EVICTION. The gardai came for the women in the Phoenix Park that night, about an hour after midnight : the headlights of the gardai cars and motorbikes lit up the gathering of women under a tree, and a garda came forward and asked - "Nil aon mna Éireannach anseo?" ("Is there any Irish women here?") : it seems that the gardai assumed that the women were foreigners, outside agitators from Greenham Common or further afield. One of the women responded in Irish. (MORE LATER).
THE IRA.THE NEW IRA IS YOUNGER, MORE RADICAL AND HAS SEEN LITTLE OF LIFE OTHER THAN VIOLENCE..... By Ed Moloney. From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.
It's impossible to verify the British Army's claim that inflation has more than doubled the Provo's costs since 1978 ; one source says that one spin-off benefit from the slimmed down re-organisation was a saving of money. However, there are one or two errors in Glover's calculations which as a result seriously understate the amount the IRA has left for arms spending.
The first relates to income from theft. Since 1977, nearly £5 million has been stolen in the 26 Counties and nearly £1.5 million in the 6 Counties. According to reliable sources at least a third of the money goes in to Provisional IRA coffers, the rest to the INLA, freelance Provos and criminals. That would make the Provo's income on average during that period over £650,000 per annum. The second mistake relates to expenditure on newspapers and propaganda. According to a reliable Source, the Provo's newspaper, An Phoblacht/Republican News , which sells 34,000 copies each week and employs 12 full time staff, actually makes a profit. So the Provo's surplus for arms purchases could be as much as £300,000 more than Glover estimated.
This would accord with some quantifiable facts about arms shipments. The Towerstream consignment ('In December 1977, a massive consignment of arms sent by Palestinian sources was captured on the Towerstream ship in Antwerp....') , by General Glover's own reckoning, would have cost about £400,000, notwithstanding the cost of arranging it. The M60's, which came along with some 40 military Armalites stolen from the Danvers US armoury in Massachusetts in 1976, would have cost about £50,000. That's over £450,000 on arms spending in one year.
Other items in Glover's account, like money spent on pay, are confirmed by IRA sources, but others are impossible to check. The amount of money gained from 'racketeering' for instance, is an example. There's no doubt that numerous businesses, pubs, clubs, taxis, etc. in Republican districts do pay to the IRA. The money is collected by the 'IRA Civil and Military Administration' and can vary from £15,000 to £20,000 per annum, from a large club, to £2 per week form a corner shop. No one will say whether its 'protection' money or 'voluntary donations'. (MORE LATER).
ALREADY PAID FOR THROUGH GENERAL TAXATION - NOT PAYING TWICE FOR THE ONE SERVICE!
A protest against the unwarranted and unwanted double tax on tap water will be held in Dublin on Saturday next, 21st March 2015, at 1pm, and we can confidently declare that it will be supported by tens of thousands of people. There will be three separate marches which will all convene on O'Connell Street, with all of those marches having different assembly points - Connolly Station, Merrion Square and Heuston Station. 'Bills' from 'Irish Water' for between €160 and €260 will be desecrating hallways throughout this State in April and May but it has been made clear that those prices are 'introductory only' and cannot be guaranteed past 2019.
This pic (right) shows a 'warning notice' displayed on footpaths, driveways etc by those hoping to fit water meters outside a dwelling in a vain attempt to keep objectors away - the fact that proper utility suppliers (electricity, gas, TV cable company etc) have no need for 'warning signs' of that type (because those suppliers do not charge twice for their service) should tell you all you need to know about the scab-laden 'Irish Water' company and why it is that most of us object to its presence. And I, for one, will once again be objecting to that company and the product it wants to foister on us on Saturday 21st March 2015 in Dublin : if you can make it, please do, as together we can snap this thin edge of the wedge before it's used to hold open the door for more charges.
PDNUA : WHEN SOUNDBITES ARE JUST NOT ENOUGH!
Lucinda Creighton, pictured with her then Fine Gael hero, Enda Kenny, and a list of some of the broken political promises that they secured office with.
'Reboot' becomes 'Renua' - "...a political party designed for a new age....a modern, collaborative party, engaging the nation in a new conversation...." , according to its 'Twitter' account, that is, the author of which is confused re the difference between the 26 County State (which 'Renua' has confined itself to) and "the (Irish) nation".
The mentally of the Free State 'twit' behind this groups website also leaves a lot to be desired : 'RENUA is a political party designed for a new age....a modern, collaborative party, engaging the nation in a new conversation....RENUA is travelling around the country, hosting public meetings.....RENUA believes the primary role of the state is to keep the citizen safe. A state that fails to meet this criterion fails its people. Ireland must recognize self-reliance is a virtue rather than a necessity.....' - "the nation...the country.." equals the 26 County State, according to Creighton's Crew, who also declare that this State is in itself 'Ireland' and ironically talk in favour of "self-reliance" while at the same time ignoring the fact that a foreign country claims jurisdictional control over six Irish counties!
Ex-Fine Gael Leinster House member, Terence 'Cut the Dole' Flanagan, now a leading light in 'Renua', should be put in charge of both of the above-mentioned social media outlets as his media skills are outstanding, as can be verified here, in this clip from RTE Radio, if you have three minutes and forty seconds to spare. And we suspect he is already in charge of their 'Facebook' page, as it, too, is a car-crash of a job. Or, at least, based on Terence's proven public relations efforts, we presume that's the 'Renua' Facebook page. But whether Terence wrote it himself or not is another question - in 2008, when he was the Fine Gael Deputy spokesperson for the Environment and Housing, he delivered a political speech which was said to be similar to a speech which had already been given by Labour's Joan Burton. He at first denied that he copied the speech but after more enquiries by those who noticed the similarities he finally admitted plagiarism and apologised for his actions. Maybe he's at it again, this time making similar noises (!) to Simon & Garfunkel!
This group of right-wing political zealots remind me of the episode of 'The Simpsons' in which Homer decides he wants to make a living without having to work and decides that counterfeiting jeans is the easiest way to do it : "We've all thought about counterfeiting jeans at one time or another...these are the people who saw an overcrowded marketplace and said 'Me too!' " And that's what this 'Renua' outfit are - just another Leinster House-based gang of political counterfeiters who see the possibility of cushy political careers and have loudly declared 'Me too!'.
NOTHING COMPARES TO YOU. EXCEPT YOU! (Or 'Nothing Compares To UK'!)
"Oops! Did I say that....?" - Sinead O'Connor (pictured, left), who has said many a thing. And then contradicted herself.
"We need non-violent total civil disobedience. We have scaffolded and supported and continue to support a terrorist State which has never given a toss about children or women......we can't blame anyone but ourselves for this. We are cowards. Grateful for crumbs on tables and think we deserve nothing more. We are pathetic. An inexcusable disgrace to the courage of those who fought and died in 1916....ailing animals can have a compassionate death. People can't. What the fuck more evidence do you need? We are less than animals to the state and to the church who still run it....." (...from here)."...I understand entirely why people would want to fight back. But I don't think it actually achieves anything. It doesn't bring back your lost people. I kind of like a peaceful life nowadays. I'd rather not get in trouble..." (...from here).
And now this : "Frankly, I wish England had never left (sic) Ireland. I think we would be a lot better off...." (...from here) , which perhaps helps to explain her recent application to join Provisional Sinn Féin - she, too, wants to work with (and for) the British in maintaining their military and political presence in this country. Incidentally, in relation to her 'Me, too!' application to Provisional Sinn Féin, she stated the following - "Extraordinarily supportive e mail from Gerry Adams yesterday. Saying far from it being the case he might be upset by conversations I have been instigating, Sinn Féin is a party which welcomes new ideas and that it is great to have members who wish to create debate as to how we might go forward as one country and that artists have an important role to play in such debates. He said someone will be in touch shortly in order to process my application to join...." (...from here.)
When/if Gerry sends someone around to your place to 'process' you, Sinead, you might be as well telling them that you 'went to the doctor...' and asking them to 'guess what he told you, guess what he told you'. At the very least, Gerry might arrange for a second opinion with his doctor or, recognising a kindred spirit, he might just invite you to go trampolining with him....
WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION, 2015 : SUNDAY 14TH JUNE.
This annual RSF-organised commemoration will be held as stated, on Sunday 14th June 2015, at 2.30pm, in Sallins, County Kildare, and I hope that either the chairperson or the main speaker will highlight some of the lesser-known facts in relation to what myself and others consider to be the propaganda theory that 'Tone committed suicide', an issue we wrote about on this blog in the past. A lecture delivered to Dublin republicans by Joe Egan in November 1989 (who was a member of the RSF Education Department at the time) addressed that very issue :
'Theobald Wolfe Tone was born on June 20, 1763 - the exact time and date of his death are unknown. Wolfe Tone was sentenced to death on November 10th, 1798 ; on November 11th he was informed by his gaolers that he would be publicly hanged on the following day, Monday, at one o'clock. It is generally accepted that Wolfe Tone died on November 19, 1798 ; in fact, he could have been murdered at any time during the previous week, and there is no doubt, and none of us should be in any doubt, of his murder by British Crown agents. It is time now, once and for all, to bury the lie that Wolfe Tone took his own life. These false stories were put out at the time not just to cover up the murder but also as black propaganda to denigrate Tone and the Cause he cherished with all his being. The proof of their successes in trying to destroy Wolfe Tone's character is still evident today nearly 200 years later.
Yes, the British establishment was expert at that time at covering up their crimes, even more successful than they are today. Many historians to this day trot out the same British lies, as if they were gospel, that Tone committed suicide ; they quote all sorts of stories to 'back-up' their claims. They use the most abominable argument that especially as Wolfe Tone was of the Protestant faith it would not be repugnant for him to take his own life : I say here and now that this was and is the most objectionable of arguments. It was against everything Tone dedicated and gave his life for, namely, to substitute the common name of Irishman for the religious denominations. To spread the lie and imply that somehow being a Protestant made it acceptable to commit suicide is to be against all Wolfe Tone stood for. The argument is still going on with new books being written about Tone and praised and published by the present establishment who are as much against what Tone stood for as were the British establishment of the time. Why do the establishment, British and Irish, make such a case for Wolfe Tone's suicide? Because to face the truth might make people today see the light and not just follow Tone's teachings but practice them. It is often quoted also that Tone's son accepted his father's suicide ; even if this were true it is of no consequence as what he thought one way or the other has no bearing on the facts. How did Tone's son know how long his father lay dying? There was no way he could know, no more than anyone else - at no time were any visitors allowed into see Wolfe Tone. His father tried every possible move through the courts to get his son free. His lawyer applied for and was immediately granted a writ of Habeas Corpus by Chief Justice Lord Kilwarden. Major Sandy, in charge of the barracks, was recognised generally as being a man with scant regard for justice or truth. It has been stated as proof of Tone's suicide that a man of Sandy's calibre and his hirelings would'nt do such a botched murder that would take eight days for the victim to die.
How do we know how long Wolfe Tone took to die? It could very well have been eight minutes, not eight days. The only evidence ever produced to support the suicide verdict is an account from a French royalist, a Doctor Lentaigne, of whom little is known. This same doctor was by his being a royalist first, and working for the British Army, doubly opposed to all Wolfe Tone would stand for. How anyone with the remotest feeling for justice or truth could accept the word of such a man under the circumstances at the time is an insult to ordinary intelligence. But then as the old cliche says - "where ignorance is bliss it's folly to be wise." The secrets of a state prison at that period in history are seldom penetrated and even today would be virtually impossible. Abundant proof is available even today if a thorough search was to take place but we who wish to know the truth have only to know the man : he had dedicated himself to his principles and had seen his friends and compatriots, including his brother, hanged, and he would not let them or his country down by taking his own life.
Without knowing the man, even reading his last letters is enough to disprove the abominable lie that he committed suicide. Did he not write to his wife - "My mind is as tranquil this moment as at any period in my life." One only has to read his last speech from the dock at his trial to see and understand the character of the man. Just to quote a few lines is enough to convince any fair mind of the impossibility of Wolfe Tone committing suicide ; only the avowed enemies of truth and justice could dare say otherwise -
"Mr. President and gentlemen of the Court Martial : I mean not to give you the trouble of bringing judicial proof to convict me legally to having acted in hostility to the government of his Britannic Majesty in Ireland. I admit the fact from my earliest youth, I have regarded the connection between Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation and felt convinced that, whilst it lasted, this country could never be free nor happy."
Regarding the French, Wolfe Tone said - "Attached to no party in the French Republic, without interest, without money, without intrigue, the openness and integrity of my views raised me to a high and confidential rank in its armies ; under the flag of the French Republic, I originally engaged with a view to save and liberate my own country. For that purpose, I have encountered the chances of war, amongst strangers. For that purpose, I have repeatedly braved the terrors of the ocean, covered as I knew it to be, with the triumphant fleets of that power, which it was my glory and my duty to oppose. I have sacrificed all my views in life ; I have courted poverty, I have left a beloved wife, unprotected children I adored, fatherless. After such sacrifices, in a cause which I have always conscientiously considered as the cause of justice and freedom - it is no great effort, at this day, to add the sacrifice of my life. To the eternal disgrace of those who gave the order, I was brought hither in irons, like a felon...."
During his last speech from the dock, Wolfe Tone stated - "I mention this for the sake of others, for me I am indifferent to it. I am aware of the fate which awaits me, and scorn equally the tone of complaint and that of supplication. Whatever be the sentence of this court, I am prepared for it. Its members will surely discharge their duty ; I shall take care not to be wanting in mine." Tone's use of the word 'eternal' and 'his duty' are obvious references to God and posterity and he would have been fully aware and very careful about their use. Any study of the man and any understanding of him as a person to those who wish to see the truth can only draw the one conclusion. To quote just a line or two from his last letters to his wife : "...be assured I will die as I have lived, and that you will have no cause to blush for me. Adieu, dearest love, keep your courage as I have kept mine. My mind is as tranquil this moment as at any period of my life."
Are these the words of a man contemplating suicide? No! Wolfe Tone knew that suicide would have damned his reputation irreparably and consequently the cause he dedicated his life to. There is only one conclusion to be drawn knowing the man - murder by a person or persons unknown.'
This brave man will be suitably honoured by Irish republicans on Sunday, 14th June 2015 - all genuine republicans welcome!
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
LÁ FHÉILE PÁDRAIG SONA DAOIBH! ('Happy St. Patricks Day!')
Enjoy your day - ye are all Irish for this day, but some of us are blessed and will still be Irish tomorrow!
Happy Tuesday, folks - if we get home in one piece tomorrow (some time!) we'll post our usual offering. Thanks for dropping in, have a ball. We intend to!
Sharon.
KEEPIN' HER LIT!
This is an
'inbetweenie' post to keep y'all occupied (!) until we get back to normal next Wednesday (18th March) with our usual offering but, 'inbetweenie' or not, it's an important announcement , concerning next month's Easter commemorations in Dublin.
On Easter Sunday (5th April 2015), a commemoration will be held in Deansgrange Cemetery and those attending are requested to assemble at the cemetery gates at 12.45pm. On Easter Monday, republicans will be assembling at the Garden of Remembrance in Parnell Square and will parade from there, at 1.45pm, to the GPO where the main Dublin commemoration will be held. And, as we're on the subject of Easter, a cautionary note - beware of whom you obtain an Easter Lily from, as there are charlatans....
...attempting to distribute same with permission of the Free State -
- that is, they actually see nothing wrong in applying for a permit/licence to distribute Easter Lily's from the same political institution that the men and women of 1916 fought against! Honestly - they take being ludicrous to new heights....
See you all next Wednesday!
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
THE PRICE OF PEACE......
Last month, 28 women who protested peacefully in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, against US President Ronald Reagan's visit to Ireland received £1000 each arising from their action for wrongful arrest. Gene Kerrigan recalls the weekend when another State determined Irish security requirements and details the garda action which could cost tens of thousands of pounds. From 'Magill' magazine, May 1987.
2. LOW LEVEL INTELLIGENCE.
The arrangement was to meet near the Papal Cross in the Phoenix Park , then find a space within sight of Deerfield, the residence of the United States ambassador, to set up the 'Women for Disarmament' protest. It started on a Wednesday with a few women, all very light, no hassle. The next day, Thursday - the day before Reagan arrived - four women who had been up to the Park to look around were heading back into town in a van, going to a base provided by the 'Sisters for Justice', a group of nuns. At Dean Street, the van was pulled over by the Special Branch - the women had been followed from the Park - and asked the Branch men why they had been stopped. They were told they had been acting suspiciously and, after taking their names, they were let go.
The Special Branch has two functions : to gather low level intelligence, picking up scraps of information about who is in what group, where they live, their habits and beliefs etc, and the second function of the Special Branch is to intimidate - they regularly watch and beset 'dissident' groups, setting up their surveillance quite openly. They let the 'dissidents' know they are being watched.
In the Phoenix Park that Thursday, a couple of dozen members of the 'Women for Disarmament' group had gathered in a field about lunchtime, sitting in a circle and, as they sat there talking, an unmarked police car drove to within a few feet of them and stopped, maintaining a presence. Ronald Reagan wasn't even in the country yet. On Friday June 1st, at about 8.20am, Ronald Reagan arrived at Shannon Airport and, from the beginning, the US Secret Service agents set the pattern for the next three days. They took over security and publicity and unashamedly put the Garda Siochana in a subordinate position. On that Friday afternoon, the 'Women for Disarmament' were enjoying the third day of their protest in the Park, and there were a lot of children with them. It was a fine day and everyone was having great fun keeping the children entertained, singing songs, making decorations etc.... (MORE LATER).
THE IRA.THE NEW IRA IS YOUNGER, MORE RADICAL AND HAS SEEN LITTLE OF LIFE OTHER THAN VIOLENCE..... By Ed Moloney. From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.
Once a recruit is accepted by the IRA, he or she is taken along with three or four other recruits for training across the Border in the 'specialism', e.g. assassination, sniping, bombing, etc. that that cell will later employ. In contrast to the past when whole companies could be trained without firing a shot, all recruits are now trained using live ammunition. This has enabled IRA men to 'sight' sniping weapons more accurately, it is claimed, and this sort of practice accounts for the success of the M60 machine gun ambushes in Belfast. When the M60 appeared on the scene in 1978, it was considered a propaganda weapon and too cumbersome and inaccurate for urban use; in fact the M60 has been responsible for 8 'security forces'' deaths since then.
Recruits are also given anti-interrogation training on a scientific basis. Simulation is never employed, but IRA leaders have isolated a dozen CID interrogation techniques which they instill into their recruits. Cell members are also encouraged to adopt false identities and discouraged from habituating known Republican haunts.
BANKROLLING THE IRA.
The British Army reckons that the Provisional IRA campaign and related political activity now costs the organisation some £2 million a year. In 1978, General Glover estimated that it cost £780,000 and that income exceeded that amount by £170,000, which was all spent on arms and explosives. He drew the Provisionals 'profit and loss account' as follows : INCOME... theft in Ireland - £550,000 , racketeering - £250,000 , overseas contributors - £120,000 and Green Cross - £30,000 // EXPENDITURE....Pay (£7,500 pw) - £400,000, travel and transport - £50,000, newspapers and propaganda - £150,000 and prisoners welfare - £180,000 , leaving a surplus of £170,000. (MORE LATER).
"I'M THE PRESIDENT.....
...OF THE NI ASSEMBLY BRANCH OF THE COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION!"
"I look forward to hosting next week's event to mark Commonwealth Day and its theme of encouraging youth participation in our democratic system..." , announced Provisional Sinn Féin's Mitchel McLaughlin (pictured, left) , in a recent newspaper interview confirming that he will take up the position of President of the NI (sic) Assembly Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). This unashamedly pro-British Union 'establishment' organisation claims that - 'Commonwealth Heads of Government have recognised the Parliaments and Legislatures of the Commonwealth as essential elements in the exercise of democratic governance....(our) activities focus on the Commonwealth's commitment to its fundamental political values, including: just and honest government, the alleviation of poverty, fundamental human rights, international peace and order, global economic development, the rule of law, equal rights and representation for all citizens....' (...from here.)
Going from the above, it appears that Mitchel McLaughlin is of the opinion that "democratic governance" can exist in an area occupied militarily and politically by a foreign power and, again going from the above, it also appears that that foreign power, Britain, believes it offers those countries it 'keeps the peace in' '...democratic governance..fundamental political values..just and honest government..fundamental human rights..peace and order..(and) the rule of law..'. It is to be expected that Westminster will 'spin' its interference in other countries in the above fashion, but it is particularly pathetic to observe 'Commonwealth' natives, despite first hand experience to the contrary, allow themselves (for financial reward, in this case) to be used as 'propaganda pawns' to 'substantiate' those false claims. 'Pathetic' , but not really surprising : in a book entitled 'Provisional Irish Republicans-An Oral and Interpretive History', by Robert W.White, Mitchel McLaughlin, PSF Chairperson at the time, stated - " I wouldn't say never even in respect to Westminster...."
In accepting the 'CPA' offer, McLaughlin (and his Party) are sending out yet another signal to the cleaning staff in Westminster to get ready for some overtime....
BORN ON THIS DATE (4TH MARCH) THE SAME DATE THAT HE DIED, AND NAMED AFTER AN IRISH HERO WHO WAS BORN ON THAT SAME DATE 120 YEARS BEFORE HIM!
Emmet Dalton (pictured, left) , Irish rebel-turned-Free Stater, was born in America on March 4th 1898 and died in Dublin on March 4th 1978 - his 80th birthday, and also the bicentenary of the birth of the man he was named after - Robert Emmet.
Dalton was educated at the O'Connell School in Drumcondra, Dublin, and as a young adult became interested in the political teachings of John Redmond , so much so that he joined the British Army, serving as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 7th Battalion of the Dublin Fusiliers. He would have been present at the Somme in September 1916 when over 4,000 Irish soldiers died (including his friend, Tom Kettle) and, indeed, won a 'Military Cross' for leading "...forward to their final objective companies which had lost their officers. Later, whilst consolidating his position, he found himself with one sergeant, confronted by 21 of the enemy, including an officer, who surrendered when he attacked them...." He further served the British 'war effort' in Palestine, where he trained a sniper patrol and also served as a British Army staff officer in France. He was demobilised (in Germany) in 1919, at the age of 21, and returned to Dublin, becoming the 'Director of Training' for the Irish Republican Army, but he sold out in favour of the 'Treaty of Surrender' in 1921 and made a (Free State) name for himself by attacking republican positions from the sea, actions that his British paymasters considered as having 'turned the tide' against the Irish republican resistance, and also led the Free State attack on the Four Courts in Dublin on the 28th June 1922.
Dalton was with Michael Collins on the 22nd of August 1922 when the latter was shot dead by republican forces in West Cork (Béal na mBláth) and is said to have propped up a dying Collins to place dressings on his wound. He resigned from the Free State Army shortly after Collins was killed, and was appointed as the clerk of the Free State Senate, but resigned from that, too, three years later, and opened a film production company, Ardmore Studios, near Bray , in Wicklow. He died, aged 80, on the 4th of March 1978, the same date and month that he had been born on, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
ON THIS DATE (4TH MARCH) 127 YEARS AGO : "GRACE UNKNOWN...."
Grace Gifford Plunkett (pictured, left) was born on this date (4th March) in 1888, in Dublin. She attended art school here and in London and, in 1915, at the age of 27, she 'stepped out' with the then editor of 'The Irish Review' magazine, Joseph Plunkett , one of the founders of the 'Irish Volunteer' organisation. He was imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail in Dublin for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising and was condemned to death by firing squad : he asked Grace to marry him and, on the 3rd of May 1916, at 6pm, in Kilmainham Jail, Grace Gifford and Joseph Plunkett were married, with two prison officers as witnesses and fifteen British soldiers 'keeping guard' in the same cell. The couple were allowed ten minutes together, before Grace was removed from her husband. He was executed by the British hours later, on the 4th May, 1916.
Grace Gifford Plunkett was at that time on the Executive of the then Sinn Féin organisation, and spoke out against the Treaty of Surrender. Like all anti-treaty activists (then as now) she was constantly harassed by Free State forces and was no stranger to the inside of prison cells, and was on a 'watch list' by the Leinster House administration. She had no home, little money and was despised by the State 'authorities' - selling her drawings and illustrations gave her a small irregular income, as she moved from rented flat to rented flat and ate in the cheapest restaurants she could find. She died suddenly, and alone, on the 13th of December 1955, aged 67, in a flat in South Richmond Street in Portobello, Dublin, and was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.
Rougher than Death the road I choose
Yet shall my feet not walk astray,
Though dark, my way I shall not lose
For this way is the darkest way.
Now I have chosen in the dark
The desolate way to walk alone
Yet strive to keep alive one spark
Of your known grace and grace unknown.....(...from here.)
ON THIS DATE (4TH MARCH) 211 YEARS AGO - 'CONVICTS' REVOLT : 'VINEGAR HILL' NSW UPRISING.
Major Johnston on arriving at Toongabbee, received information that a considerable Body were on their way to the Hawkesbury: Notwithstanding the fatigue of his small Detachment in marching up from Sydney and the distance they had gone since, they immediately ran in good Order, with their followers, and after a pursuit of Seven Miles farther, Major Johnston and a Trooper, who had preceded the Detachment came up with the rear of the Insurgents at 11 o'clock, whose number have since been ascertained to be 233 men, armed with Musquets, Pistols, Swords etc., and a number of followers which they had taken from the Settlers.
After calling to them repeatedly they halted, and formed on the rise of a Hill: The Major and Trooper advanced within pistol shot, and endeavoured to persuade them to submit to the Mercy that was offered them by the Proclamation, which they refused. The Major required to see their Chiefs, who after some deliberation met them half way, between the Detachment and Insurgents, when by a great presence of mind and address the Major presented his pistol at the head of the Principal leader (Phillip Cunningham), and the Trooper following his motions, presented his Pistol also to the other leader's head, (Wm Johnston) and drove them into the Detachment without the least opposition from the body of the Insurgents....' (...more here.)
That rebellion may very well have been shortlived and its leader, Peter Cunningham, almost forgotten in our history, but it, and he, live on in the memory of every Irish republican to this day. As it should be.
ON THIS DATE (4TH MARCH) 237 YEARS AGO : 'DARLING OF ERIN' BORN.
Robert Emmet was born on the 4th March, 1778, a son of Dr Robert Emmet and Elizabeth Mason. His father served as state physician to the vice-regal household but was a social reformer who believed that in order to achieve the emancipation of the Irish people it was first necessary to break the link with England. Robert Emmet (Jnr) was baptised on March 10th in St Peter's Church of Ireland in Aungier Street, Dublin, and attended Oswald's School in Dropping Court, off Golden Lane, Dublin. From there he went to Samuel Whytes School in Grafton Street, quite near his home, and later to the school of the Reverend Mr Lewis in Camden Street. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, in October 1793 at the age of fifteen and a half where he practiced his oratorical skills in the Historical and Debating Societies. One of his friends at TCD was the poet Thomas Moore.
There were four branches of the 'United Irishmen' in TCD and Robert Emmet was secretary of one of them but, after an inquisition, presided over by Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, Emmet became one of nineteen students who were expelled for United Irishmen activity. Although not active in the 1798 Rising, Robert Emmet was well known to the British authorities and by April 1799, when Habeas Corpus had been suspended, there was a warrant issued for his arrest, which he managed to evade and, early in 1801, accompanied by a Mr Malachy Delany of Cork, he travelled throughout Europe, and made Paris his headquarters - it was there that he replaced Edward Lewis as the liaison officer between Irish and French Republicans.
While in Paris , Emmet learned about rockets and weapons , and studied a two-volume treatise by a Colonel Tempelhoff which can be examined in the Royal Irish Academy, with the marginal notes given the reader some insight into Emmet's thinking. Following the signing of the 'Peace of Amiens' by France and England in March 1802 the United Irishmen that were being held as prisoners in Fort George were released and many such as Thomas Russell and Thomas Addis Emmet made there way to Paris. Emmet returned to Ireland in October 1802 and began to plan for a rising and in March 1803, at a meeting in Corbet's Hotel, 105 Capel Street, Dublin, Emmet briefed his key organisers. In April 1803 Emmet rented an isolated house in Butterfield Lane in Rathfarnham as a new base of operations and Michael Dwyer, a 1798 veteran, suggested his young niece as a suitable candidate to play the role of the 'housekeeper'. Born in or around the year 1778, Ann Devlin soon became Robert Emmet's trusted helper and served him loyally in the months ahead. Shortly afterwards he leased a premises at Marshalsea Lane, off Thomas Street, Dublin, and set up an arms depot there.
Arms depots were established in Dublin for the manufacture and storage of weapons for the incipient rising. Former soldiers mixed their practical skills with the scientific knowledge that Robert Emmet had acquired on the continent, and an innovative rocket device was produced. Elaborate plans were drawn up to take the city and in particular Dublin Castle: supporters from the surrounding counties of Kildare, Wicklow and even Wexford were pledged to assist. Emmet bided his time waiting for an opportune moment when English troops would be withdrawn to serve in the renewed war in France, but his hand was forced when a premature explosion on the evening of July 16, 1803, at the Patrick Street depot, caused the death of John Keenan. Though there was no obvious wide scale search or arrest operation by the British following the explosion, the leadership of the movement decided to set July 23, 1803 (the following Saturday) as the date for the rising. Emmet hoped that success in Dublin would inspire other counties to follow suit. Patrick M. Geoghegan, in a recent publication, says that "...the plan for taking Dublin was breathtaking in its precision and audacity. It was nothing less that a blueprint for a dramatic coup d'état. Indeed, over a century later, Pearse and Clarke would also refer to the plan for their own rising..."
Emmet's plan depended on two factors - arms and men and, as Geoghegan states, when the time came, Robert Emmet had not enough of either - events went dramatically wrong for him. On the appointed day his plans began to unravel ; Michael Dwyer and his promised 300 men did not get the word until Sunday July 24th 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. But 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. For the English Army, which included Daniel O' Connell, it was then merely a mopping-up operation : in the aftermath, the English arrested and tortured Anne Devlin, even offering her the enormous sum of £500 to betray Robert Emmet - she refused.
Emmet himself took refuge in the Harold's Cross area of Dublin, during which he met with his mother and Sarah Curran but, on Thursday August 25th, 1803, he was finally arrested. It has been stated by others that a £1000 reward was paid by Dublin Castle to an informer, for supplying the information which led to his capture. Robert Emmet's misfortunes did not stop on his arrest : he had the misfortune to be defended by one Leonard McNally who was trusted by the United Irishmen. However, after McNally's death in 1820 it transpired that he was a highly paid government agent and, in his role as an informer, that he had encouraged young men to join the rebels, betrayed them to Dublin Castle and would then collect fees from the United Irishmen to 'defend' those same rebels in court! Emmet was tried before a 'Special Commission' in Green Street Court House in Dublin on September 19th, 1803. The 'trial' lasted all day and by 9.30pm he was pronounced guilty ; asked for his reaction, he delivered a speech which still inspires today. He closed by saying that he cared not for the opinion of the court but for the opinion of the future - "...when other times and other men can do justice to my character..." Robert Emmet was publicly executed on Tuesday September 20th outside St Catherine's Church in Dublin's Thomas Street. The final comment on the value of Robert Emmet's Rising must go to Séan Ó Brádaigh who states** that to speak of Emmet in terms of failure alone is to do him a grave injustice. He and the men and women of 1798 and 1803 and, indeed, those that went before them, set a course for the Irish nation, with their appeal to Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of 'Irishman', which profoundly affected Irish life for more than two centuries and which will, we trust, eventually bear abundant fruit. (The above, in the main,is from a piece we first posted in 2007. The full text of Séan Ó Brádaigh's **speech can be read here.)
Finally, it was not only college-educated men and women like Robert Emmet (ie those who might be perceived as being 'upper class') who decided to challenge Westminster's interference in Irish affairs in 1803 : so-called 'working class' men and women also acknowledged the need for such resistance - Edward Kearney, carpenter, hanged, Thomas St / Owen Kirwin, tailor, hanged, Thomas St, September 1st 1803 / Maxwell Roche, slator, hanged, Thomas St, September 2nd 1803 / Denis Lambert Redmond, coal facer, hanged, Coalquay (Woodquay) Dublin, / John Killeen, carpenter, hanged, Thomas St, September 10th 1803 / John McCann, shoemaker, hanged at his own doorstep, Thomas St, September 10th 1803 / Felix Rourke, farm labourer, hanged, Rathcoole, Dublin, September 10th 1803 / Thomas Keenan, carpenter, hanged, Thomas St, September 11th 1803 / John Hayes, carpenter, hanged, Thomas St, September 17th 1803 /
Michael Kelly, carpenter, hanged, Thomas St, September 17th 1803 / James Byrne, baker, hanged, Townsend St, Dublin, September 17th 1803 / John Begg, tailor, hanged, Palmerstown, Dublin, September 17th 1803 / Nicholas Tyrrell, factory worker, hanged, Palmerstown, Dublin, September 17th 1803 / Henry Howley, carpenter, hanged, Kilmainham Jail, Dublin, September 20th 1803 / John McIntoch, carpenter, hanged, Patrick St, Dublin, October 3rd 1803
- there are dozens more we could list here, but suffice to say that 'class' alone was not then, nor is it now, a deciding factor in challenging British military and political interference in this country. 'Justice' is the deciding factor in that equation.
SOMETIMES 'MULTITASKING' IS JUST ONE TASK.....
...TOO MUCH!
And it will be, for me, over the next week or so - this Sunday coming (the 8th March) will find me and the raffle team in our usual monthly venue on the Dublin/Kildare border, running a 650-ticket raffle for the Dublin Executive of Sinn Féin Poblachtach ; the work for this event began yesterday, Tuesday 3rd March, when the five of us started to track down the ticket sellers and arrange for the delivery/collection of their ticket stubs and cash and, even though the raffle itself is, as stated, held on Sunday 8th March, the 'job' is not complete until the following night, when the usual 'raffle autopsy' is held. The time constraints imposed by same will mean that our normal Wednesday post will more than likely not be collated in time for next week (11th March) and it's looking like it will be between that date and the Wednesday following same before we get the time to put a post together. But check back here anyway - sure you never know what might catch our fancy between this and then!
Thanks for reading, Sharon.
