ON THIS DATE (5TH AUGUST) 132 YEARS AGO : THE ONLY GOOD 'LITTLE PHIL' IS A DEAD ONE!
"The only good Indian is a dead one" - 'Supreme Commander' of the U.S. Army, Major Philip Henry Sheridan (pictured) who, despite being only five feet and five inches tall, made a 'big' (and bad) impression on the native American population.
He was born in Albany, New York, on the 6th of March 1831, the son of Irish immigrants from the parish of Killinkere in County Cavan who had to leave Ireland because of the attempted genocide of the Irish people by Westminster and its political and military agents. He 'made his name' by his evil treatment of the native American population, and was responsible for the slaughter of the Lakota Indians at Wounded Knee in 1890, where one-hundred victims, under Chief Big Foot, were massacred by the U. S. 7th Cavalry ; about half of the dead were women and children.
The slain body of Chief Big Foot (his Lakota name was Si Tanka, 'Spotted Elk'), propped up in the snow at Wounded Knee.
The Wounded Knee massacre was the last of the Indian uprisings, and prompted Sheridan to state that "The only good Indian I ever saw was dead." He knew he was in the wrong in what he was doing, as he said so himself : in 1878, he made a report to his Army superiors in which he stated - "We took away their country and their means of support, broke up their mode of living, their habits of life, introduced disease and decay among them, and it was for this and against this they made war. Could anyone expect less?"
He wouldn't argue against the fact that he and other armed 'Bluecoats' were 'occupiers/invaders' in a land where they were not welcome yet he had no hesitation in planning the 'best practical' methods of removing the natives from their lands and, indeed, with that objective in mind, he once stated that he had "...never once taken a command into battle and had the slightest desire to come out alive unless I won.."
He died, after suffering a series of massive heart attacks, on this date (5th August), at 57 years of age, in 1888, in Nonquitt, Bristol County, in Massachusetts - one battle he didn't win, and didn't deserve to win. The Irish and the Native Americans have a common enemy - imperialism. Phillip Sheridan was on the wrong side.
'EDUCATION.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
Recently, on looking through a short calendar of Irish Saints, we were amazed by the number who founded schools. And, of course, immediately ascribed it to the fact they were 'Saints'! It struck us then that if conditions were so primitive in those days it must not be really so hard to found a school at all, provided one knows exactly what is necessary remembering, too, that the best of schools are associated with sparse furnishings, and even hedges!
Sinn Féin has always been most aware of the crying need to change the educational system, but the job appears to be so great that few real attempts have been made. The main trouble is that we at once assume founding a large school is for the children or the very young alone but then, also, one asks how can a group of teachers give up their wages and live on thin air only, if finance is the main problem? When the 'Saints' founded their schools, did they found them for children or for the more mature? It is this question which provides a clue for Sinn Féin to make a start, and we propose to make the attempt now ; it is our idea to start with folk from adolescence upwards, not excluding ourselves, if necessary.
It must be emphasised that what we have in mind is not adult education classes of the usual school subjects on a higher level, but an education in the true values with respect to life... (MORE LATER.)
BUNDORAN HUNGER STRIKE COMMEMORATION, 2020.
On Saturday 29th August 2020, the Bundoran/Ballyshannon H-Block Committee will be holding a rally in Bundoran, Donegal, to commemorate the 39th Anniversary of the 1981 Hunger Strike and in memory of the 22 Irish Republicans that have died on hunger strike between 1917 and 1981 ; those participating have been asked to form-up at 2.30pm at the East End. All are welcome to attend!
UNSEEN SORROW. (By Bobby Sands)
Her tears fall in the darkness as the rain falls in the night,
Silvery tears like silvery rain, hidden out of sight,
The stars fall from her eyes like floating petals from the sky,
Is there no one in all this world who hears this woman cry?
A simple little floating dreamy thought has stirred this woman's heart,
The golden sleepy dream of yesterdays before they were apart,
What comfort can there be found for a petal so fair and slim
Alone in a forest dark of sorrow she weeps again for him?
Warm silver rolling tears blemish a once complexion fair,
That once shown in the fairest radiance midst a cloak of golden hair.
And the children whimper and cry for a father's care
and love they've never known,
Who sees their little tears of innocent years
as the winds of time are blown?
What sorrow will you know tonight when all the worlds asleep,
When through the darkness comes the wind
that cuts the heart so deep,
For there is no one there to dry your tears
or your childrens tears who cling around your frock,
When there has been another bloody slaughter
in the dungeons of H Block.
The 2019 Bundoran Commemoration can be viewed here. Hope to see you all there on the 29th August this year!
'FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OR FUMBLING OF INFORMATION...?'
By Paul O'Brien.
From 'The Magill Annual', 2002.
('1169' comment - Interesting article, considering the recent changes to this particular piece of State legislation.)
Honest mistakes, no doubt, but they stemmed from the fact that the various departments chose to interpret the FOI Act differently which, of course, has implications for how the Act is administered. Without a coherent understanding of the Act, who's to say that sensitive information won't be released again in the future, or that legitimate public information will be blocked?
A spokesperson for the FOI Central Policy Unit (based at the Department of Finance), which can issue shared advice to the departments through a system known as the 'Civil Service Users' Network', admitted that any FOI request is a matter for the individual department, and the officials within that department, to decide upon. But he stressed that there is an effort made to ensure constituency in approach when possible.
"Where a common request goes in, the 'Users' Network' would be used to exchange information to try and arrange a common approach", he said, "we do try to ensure consistency, and try to ensure openness." As part of that, the Central Policy Unit might get advice from the Attorney-General if deemed necessary, and then pass it on to the Network... (MORE LATER.)
'SINN FÉIN' and 'NATIONAL COLLECTION'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
SINN FÉIN ; With the prospect of the Westminster election coming ever nearer and the constant rumours that it may take place before the end of this year or in the early part of next year, Sinn Féin has decided to select their candidates to contest the twelve seats in the Six County area.
It was decided that constituency conventions would be held before the 30th November next at which the candidates would be selected and, at a meeting of the Northern Election Committee, the dates for these conventions have been arranged ; the first being that for the 'Mid-Ulster' constituency, held on Sunday, 24th October, at which Tom Mitchell *, one of the men arrested in connection with the Omagh Raid, has been the unanimous choice as candidate.
* '1169' comment : Tom Mitchell, who was born on the 29th July, 1931, died on Wednesday, 22nd July 2020, in his 89th year ; the big news of that 1955 election was Sinn Fein’s two seats and its 23.6% of the vote. Sinn Fein’s two successful candidates in Mid-Ulster and Fermanagh & South Tyrone had been imprisoned for their part in the raid on Omagh. Philip Clarke and Thomas Mitchell were the successful Sinn Fein candidates for Fermanagh & South Tyrone and Mid Ulster respectively.
Both men stood for election to re-establish the All-Ireland Dáil and were elected, in 1955, on that basis, as T.D's but, as they were both "convicted prisoners", their election was overturned by Westminster and they were 'officially unseated'. Tom Mitchell contested for the seat in the second election and won again, with an increased vote, only to be unseated a second time, for the same 'reason'. Philip (Christopher) Clarke was released from prison in 1958 and died, at 62 years of age, in 1995.
Statement on the death of Thomas Mitchell from the Republican Movement -
"Sinn Féin Poblachtach regret to hear of the death of Tom Mitchell. Tom was a faithful Irish Republican. As a member of the Irish Republican Army he was imprisoned for his part in the raid on Omagh British Army barracks in 1954, he was elected as Sinn Féin TD for Mid-Ulster in 1955.
The British government used the archaic Westminster Forfeiture Act of 1870 to subvert the democratic vote of the people of Mid-Ulster. On 18 July 1955 a resolution of the British House of Commons, passed by 197 votes to 63, formally declared that Tom Mitchell was covered by this provision, vacated his seat, and ordered that a by-election be held. In the subsequent by-election Tom won with an increased majority.
Following this, unionist Charles Beattie, whom Tom defeated in both elections lodged an election petition stating that the votes of those who voted for Tom Mitchell were invalid. Tom was not allowed to attend the election court. The court overturned the result of the election and declared Beattie the winner in defiance of the democratically expressed wishes of the people of Mid-Ulster. The Westminster Forfeiture Act used to unseat Tom Mitchell in 1955 had also been used to unseat John Mitchell in 1875.
Tom later served as Ard Runaí of Sinn Fêin. He remained a faithful Irish Republican and regularly attended the Sinn Féin Poblachtach Ard Fheis. Deepest sympathy to his family.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam." (From here.)
NATIONAL COLLECTION ; In South Armagh, some members of Sinn Féin had their names taken by the RUC for making the National Collection. One man, Frank McCann, has been served with a summons for collecting at Carrickcuppin Chapel ; the summons was signed by a 'Justice of the Peace' named King, a former 'B Special', who now carries on business as a traveller for a seed merchant in South Armagh and South Down.
(END of 'Sinn Féin' and 'National Collection' : NEXT - 'The Slave Mind', from the same source.)
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. Regarding our recent 'staycation' : can't say too much, as legal proceedings are still pending (!)...we got escorted by State militia in a six-vehicle convoy that stopped traffic, broke traffic lights, drove on footpaths in the wrong direction on one-way systems and, eventually, got thrown out of our still-moving armoured vehicle at a roundabout on a busy road. And that was only on our way there!
But, seriously, we 'vacated' (as posh people do!) our 'staycation' abode which was located in the sunny South-East (and very plush it was, too. Well...then, it was, but we soon fixed that..!) on fairly good terms (!) with the owners, their neighbours and the village who, for some reason, all lined the streets on the morning of our departure, waving something they held in their fists at us. Ah sure, we had the craic, and as soon as it's legal to publish our pics, we'll be doing that. Unanimously. On the 'Dark Web'...
ON THIS DATE (8TH JULY) 39 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF OUR 17TH HUNGER-STRIKER.
'The fourth IRA Volunteer to join the (1981) hunger-strike for political status was Joe McDonnell, a thirty-year-old married man with two children, from the Lenadoon housing estate in West Belfast. A well-known and very popular man in the greater Andersonstown area he grew up in, he had a reputation as a quiet and deep-thinking individual, with a gentle, happy go-lucky personality, who had, nevertheless, a great sense of humour, was always laughing and playing practical jokes, and who, although withdrawn at times, had the ability to make friends easily.
As an active republican before his capture in October 1976, Joe was regarded by his comrades as a cool and efficient Volunteer who did what he had to do and never talked about it afterwards. Something of a rarity within the Republican Movement, in that outside of military briefings and operational duty he was never seen around with other known or suspected Volunteers, he was nevertheless a good friend of the late Bobby Sands, with whom he was captured while on active service duty. Although he didn't volunteer for the earlier hunger strike in 1980, it was the intense disappointment brought about by British duplicity following the end of that hunger strike and the bitterness and anger that duplicity produced among all the blanket men that prompted Joe to put forward his name the next time round.
And it was predictable, as well as fitting, when his friend and comrade Bobby Sands met with death on the sixty-sixth day of his hunger strike, that Joe McDonnell should volunteer to take Bobby's place and continue that fight. His determination and resolve in that course of action can be gauged by the fact that never once, following his sentencing to fourteen years imprisonment in 1977, did he put on the prison uniform to take a visit, seeing his wife and family only after he commenced his hunger-strike. The story of Joe McDonnell is of a highly-aware republican soldier whose involvement stemmed initially from the personal repression and harassment he and his family suffered at the hands of the British occupation forces, but which then deepened - through continuing repression - to a mature commitment to oppose an occupation that denied his country freedom and attempted to criminalise its people. It was that commitment which he held more dear than his own life.
Joe McDonnell was born on September 14th 1951, the fifth of eight children, into the family home in Slate Street in Belfast's Lower Falls. His father, Robert, a steel erector, and his mother, Eileen (whose maiden name is Straney) , both came from the Lower Falls themselves, and they married in St. Peter's church there, in 1941, living first with Robert's sister and her husband in Colinward Street, off the Springfield Road, before moving into their own home in Slate Street, where the family were all born. A ninth child, Bernadette, was a particular favourite of Joe's, before her death from a kidney illness at the early age of three : "Joseph practically reared Bernadette", recalls his mother, "he was always with the child, carrying her around. He was about ten at the time. He even used to play marleys with her on his shoulders." Bernadette's death, a sad blow to the family, was deeply felt by her young brother Joe.
Joe and his then girlfriend, Goretti, who also comes from Andersonstown, married in St.Agnes' chapel in 1970, and moved in to live with Goretti's sister and her family in Horn Drive in Lower Lenadoon. At that time, however, they were one of only two nationalist households in what was then a predominantly loyalist street, and, after repeated instances of verbal intimidation, in the middle of the night, a loyalist mob - in full view of a nearby British Army post, and with the blessing of the raving Reverend Robert Bradford, who stood by - broke down the doors and wrecked the houses, forcing the two families to leave. The McDonnells went to live with Goretti's mother for a while, but eventually got the chance to squat in a house being vacated in Lenadoon Avenue. Internment had been introduced shortly before, and in 1972 the British army struck with a 4.00 a.m. raid ; Joe was dragged from the house, hit in the eye with a rifle butt and bundled into a British Army jeep. Their house was searched and wrecked. Joe was taken to the prison ship Maidstone and later on to Long Kesh internment camp where he was held for several months. Goretti recalls that early morning as a "horrific" experience which altered both their lives. One minute they had everything, the next minute nothing.
On his release Joe joined the IRA's Belfast Brigade, operating at first in the 1st Battalion's 'A' Company which covered the Rosnareen end of Andersonstown, and later being absorbed into the 'cell' structure increasingly adopted by the IRA. Both during his first period of internment, and his second, longer, internment in 1973, as well as the periods when he was free, the McDonnell's home in Lenadoon was a constant target for British army raids, during which the house would often be torn apart, photos torn up and confiscated and letters from Joe (previously read by the prison censor) re-read by infantile British soldiers, and Goretti herself arrested. In between periods of internment, and before his capture, Joe resumed his trade as an upholsterer which he had followed since leaving school at the age of fifteen. He loved the job, never missing a day through illness, and made both the furniture for his own home as well as for many of the bars and clubs in the surrounding area. His job enabled him to take the family for regular holidays - he took a strong interest in his children, Bernadette, aged ten and Joseph, aged nine, teaching them both to swim, and forever playing football with young Joseph on the small green outside their home - but Joe was a real 'homer' and always longed to be back in his native Belfast ; part of that attraction stemmed obviously from his responsibility to his republican involvement.
An active Volunteer throughout the Greater Andersonstown area, Joe was considered a first-class operator who didn't show much fear. Generally quiet and serious while on an operation, whether an ambush or a bombing mission, Joe's humour occasionally shone through. Driving one time to an intended target in the Lenadoon area with a carload of Volunteers, smoke began to appear in the car. Not realising that it was simply escaping exhaust fumes, and thinking it came from the bags containing a number of bombs, a degree of alarm began to break out in the car, but Joe only advised his comrades, drily, not to bother about it: "They'll go off soon enough."
Outside of active service, Joe mixed mostly with people he knew from work, never flaunting his republican beliefs or his involvement, to such an extent that it led some republicans to believe he had not reported back to the IRA on his second release from internment. The British, however, persecuted him and his family continually, with frequent house raids and street arrests. He could rarely leave the house without being stopped for P-checking, or held up for an hour at a roadblock if he had somewhere to go. A few months before his capture, irate British soldiers at a roadblock warned him that they would 'get' him, and they did - his capture took place in October 1976 following a firebomb attack on the Balmoral Furnishing Company in Upper Dunmurray Lane, near the Twinbrook estate in West Belfast.
ON THIS DATE (1ST JULY) 153 YEARS AGO - DEATH OF 'MEAGHER OF THE SWORD'."Abhor the sword - stigmatize the sword? No, for in the passes of the Tyrol it cut to pieces the banner of the Bavarian, and, through those cragged passes, struck a path to fame for the peasant insurrections of Innsbruck! Abhor the sword - stigmatize the sword? No, for at its blow a giant nation started from the waters of the Atlantic, and by its redeeming magic, and in the quiverings of its crimsoned light, the crippled colony sprang into the attitude of a proud Republic - prosperous, limitless, and invincible! Abhor the sword - stigmatize the sword? No, for it swept the Dutch marauders out of the fine old towns of Belgium - scourged them back to their own phlegmatic swamps - and knocked their flag and sceptre, their laws and bayonets, into the sluggish water of the Scheldt.." - Thomas Francis Meagher, pictured.
Born on the 3rd August 1823, died (in mysterious circumstances) on the 1st July, 1867 - 153 years ago, on this date - 'Does the world even have heroes like Ireland's Thomas Francis Meagher anymore? After fighting for Irish independence ("I know of no country that has won its independence by accident") ,then condemned to death, pardoned and exiled, Thomas Francis Meagher escaped to America, where he became a leader of the Irish community and commanded the Irish Brigade during the Civil War. General Meagher's men fought valiantly at some of the most famous battles of the Civil War, including Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. After the war, Meagher served as Acting Governor of the Montana Territory. In 1867, Meagher disappeared on the Missouri River ; his body was never found..' (from here.)
Thomas Francis Meagher was born in Waterford City (near the Commins/Granville Hotel) on August 3rd, 1823, into a financially-comfortable family ; his father was a wealthy merchant who, having made his money, entered politics, a route which the young Thomas was to follow. At 20 years young, he decided to challenge British misrule in Ireland and, at 23 years of age (in 1846), he became one of the leaders of the 'Young Ireland' Movement. He was only 25 years of age when he sat down with the Government of the Second French Republic to seek support for an uprising in Ireland. At 29 years of age, he wrote what is perhaps his best known work - 'Speeches on the Legislative Independence of Ireland', of which six editions were published.
He unveiled an Irish flag, which was based on the French Tricolour, in his native city, Waterford, on the 7th March 1848, outside the Wolfe Tone Confederate Club. The French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alphonse de Lamartine, and a group of French women who supported the Irish cause, gave Meagher the new 'Flag of Ireland', a tricolour of green, white and orange - the difference between the 1848 flag and the present flag is that the orange was placed next to the staff and the red hand of Ulster adorned the white field on the original. On the 15th April that same year, on Abbey Street, in Dublin, he presented the flag to Irish citizens on behalf of himself and the 'Young Ireland' movement, with the following words : "I trust that the old country will not refuse this symbol of a new life from one of her youngest children. I need not explain its meaning. The quick and passionate intellect of the generation now springing into arms will catch it at a glance. The white in the centre signifies a lasting truce between the 'orange' and the 'green' and I trust that beneath its folds, the hands of the Irish protestant and the Irish catholic may be clasped in generous and heroic brotherhood.."
He was arrested by the British for his part in the 1848 Rising, accused of 'high treason' and sentenced to death ("to be hanged, drawn and disemboweled..") but, while he was awaiting execution in Richmond Jail, this was changed by 'Royal Command' to transportation for life. Before he was deported, he spoke in Slievenamon, Tipperary, to a crowd estimated at 50,000 strong, about the country and the flag he was leaving behind - "Daniel O'Connell preached a cause that we are bound to see out. He used to say 'I may not see what I have laboured for, I am an old man ,my arm is withered, no epitaph of victory may mark my grave, but I see a young generation with redder blood in their veins, and they will do the work.' Therefore it is that I ambition to decorate these hills with the flag of my country.."
In July 1849, at only 26 years of age, he was transported from Dun Laoghaire on the SS.Swift to Tasmania, where he was considered, and rightly so, to be a political prisoner (a 'Ticket of Leave' inmate) which meant he could build his own 'cell' on a designated piece of land that he could farm provided he donated an agreed number of hours each week for State use. In early 1852, Thomas Francis Meagher escaped and made his way to New Haven, in Connecticut, America, and travelled from there to a hero's welcome in New York. This fine orator, newspaper writer, lawyer, revolutionary, Irish POW, soldier in the American civil war and acting Governor of Montana died (in mysterious circumstances - he drowned after 'falling off' a Missouri River steamboat) on the 1st of July 1867 at 44 years of age. Once, when asked about his 'crimes', he replied - "Judged by the law of England, I know this 'crime' entails upon me the penalty of death ; but the history of Ireland explains that 'crime' and justifies it."
This brave man dedicated twenty-four of his forty-four years on this earth to challenging British misrule in Ireland and, while it can be said without doubt that Thomas Francis Meagher did his best, a 'crime' does remain to be resolved.
'THE CULT OF THE FALSE PROPHETS...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
The oldest of these newspapers, 'The Irish Press', still presents an appearance of representing republican ideals, but 'The Sunday Press' newspaper dilutes these with a big splash of the worst elements in Anglo-American culture.
'The Evening Press' newspaper, its latest publication, seems to say that republicanism and nationality are dead, and that Fianna Fail itself is in danger of death, and to avert the latter 'calamity' there is sought the votes of the degenerate, the method being to degenerate them still further, with disc-jockey and dance-hall 'culture'.
'The Irish Times' newspaper, to give it its due, stands for some kind of conception of Irish nationality. 'The Evening Press' falls short of the standards of the ex-unionist newspaper. Those three newspapers were founded at different periods in the life of Fianna Fail, with the earliest still retaining something of the true Republican Movement from which Fianna Fail seceded, but the latter illustrating the decline and fall of a movement which has severed its connection with the source of its strength... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (1ST JULY) 123 YEARS AGO : IRISH GUERRILLA LEADER BORN.
"On an extremely cold, wet night, the men began moving to Kilmichael to take on the dreaded Auxiliaries. All IRA positions were occupied at 9am. The hours passed slowly. Towards evening the gloom deepened over the bleak Kilmichael countryside. At 4.05 pm. an IRA scout signaled the enemy's approach.
The first lorry came round the bend into the ambush position. Tom Barry, dressed in military style uniform stepped onto the road with his hand up. The driver gradually slowed down. When it was 35 yards from the Volunteers command post a Mills’ bomb was thrown by Barry and simultaneously a whistle blew signalling the beginning of the ambush. The bomb landed in the driver’s seat of the uncovered lorry. As it exploded, rifle shots rang out. The lorry, its driver dead, moved forward until it stopped a few yards from the small stone wall in front of the command post. While some of the Auxiliaries were firing from the lorry, others were on the road and the fighting was hand-to-hand. Revolvers were used at point blank range, and at times, rifle butts replaced rifle shots. The Auxiliaries were cursing and yelling as they fought, but the IRA coldly outfought them. In less than five minutes nine Auxiliaries were dead or dying. Barry and the three men beside him at the Command Post, moved towards the second lorry..." (from here.)
"Many statements have been made by Ministers and Generals in various countries on the necessity for long periods of training before even an infantry soldier is ready for action. This is utter nonsense when applied to volunteers for guerilla warfare. After only one week of collective training, his Flying Column of intelligent and courageous fighters was fit to meet an equal number of soldiers from any regular army in the world, and hold its own in battle, if not in barrack-yard ceremonials". - Tom Barry, 'Guerilla Days in Ireland'.
"They said I was ruthless, daring, savage, blood thirsty, even heartless. The clergy called me and my comrades murderers ; but the British were met with their own weapons. They had gone in the mire to destroy us and our nation and down after them we had to go" - Tom Barry.
And, four months later, Tom Barry (pictured, in 1921) was again active in an equally successful engagement with British forces - in the early hours of Saturday, 19th March 1921, under the command of Tom Barry (the son of an RIC officer who had retired to become a shopkeeper) and Liam Deasy (who, within less than two years afterwards, signed a Free State 'pledge' in exchange for his life), the West Cork Flying Column of the IRA turned the tables on a British Army and RIC column at Crossbarry, situated about twelve miles south-west of Cork city, despite being outnumbered ten-to-one.
During the hour-long firefight, in which 104 IRA Volunteers (each carrying approximately 40 rounds of ammunition) successfully fought their way out of a 'pincer'-type movement by about 1,200 enemy troops, consisting of British soldiers from the Hampshire and Essex Regiments, Black and Tans and RIC men, three IRA men were killed in action (Peter Monahan, Jeremiah O'Leary and Con Daly) and three others were wounded. Reports varied in relation to British casualties but it seems certain that at least ten of their soldiers were killed and three wounded (more here).
In an interview he gave a number of years later, Tom Barry recalled how "..about two hours had elapsed since the opening of the fight. We were in possession of the countryside, no British were visible and our task was completed. The whole Column was drawn up in line of sections and told they had done well.." - and they had indeed 'done well', only to witness, within months, their efforts (ab)used by those who yearned for a political career, which they were given by Westminster in return for their surrender. But, thankfully, although still outnumbered, a republican force still exists to this day.
Tom Barry was born on this date (1st July, 1897) - 123 years ago. He died, at 83 years of age, on the 2nd July, 1980.
'FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OR FUMBLING OF INFORMATION?'
By Paul O'Brien.
From 'The Magill Annual', 2002.
('1169' comment - Interesting article, considering the recent changes to this particular piece of State legislation.)
An FOI ('Freedom Of Information') request, forwarded to each of the 15 government departments earlier this year, was simple - 'Magill wishes to apply, under the FOI Act 1997, for information relating to the following : statistics concerning sexual harassment and/or sexual discrimination claims by members of the department since the FOI Act came into effect.' The request asked for a break-down of complaints by gender, details of what (if any) investigations were undertaken and details of what (if any) disciplinary action was taken. It was done in the expectation that there is coherency in the Civil Service's approach to FOI requests.
But the responses to the FOI request were very different ; a number of departments responded simply by saying there were no such recorded cases since the FOI Act came into effect in 1997. One department said it would release the records considered appropriate, provided 'Magill' paid a fee of £33 for research and retrieval of records, but another department indicated it was only likely to charge if the fee exceeded £40! Then there were departments that refused information on existing cases for a number of reasons, including that - '...disclosure would prejudice the effectiveness of investigations or inquiries conducted by or on behalf of the department..'
'Magill' was also told that - '..disclosure would have a significant adverse effect on the performance of the department of its functions relating to management..' and - '..such information is confidential..', '..such information is personal information..'.
In contrast, other departments released details on the number of cases and brief outlines of them. One department, for example, said there had been two cases, that it had carried out formal investigations into both, that in one the complaint was upheld and in the other it was considered vexatious, that action was taken in both and that further legal action was anticipated... (MORE LATER.)
POLITICAL 'WINNERS' ARE/AND 'LOSERS' IN A CORRUPT STATE.
On Saturday last, the 27th June 2020, a 'new' political administration for this State took up Office in Leinster House, comprising the Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green parties. The Republican Movement issued the following statement in relation to same -
'NEW 26-COUNTY CABINET UNDERLINES MARGINALISATION OF WESTERN AND RURAL IRELAND :
The composition of the new 26-County cabinet underlines the highly centralised nature of the 26-County state and the ongoing marginalisation of western and rural Ireland. A whole swathe of the western seaboard from Donegal to Limerick will be without representation at the cabinet table, while six of the 15 ministers are Dublin based. Also in keeping with the long standing 26-County neglect of the Gaeltacht and failure to promote and develop the Irish language, ministerial responsibility for the Gaeltacht has been relegated to one of six areas of responsibility given to Green minister Catherine Martin.
All of this is in stark contrast to the very real democratic decentralisation of power and decision making that is set out in SInn Féin Poblachtach’s Éire Nua programme. Under Éire Nua’s proposals for a Federal Ireland each province would have its own administration with real power and responsibility for economic and social development, employment, health and education within the province. This would ensure two things. Firstly, that those making the decisions are directly accountable to the people affected by them and are based in the regions affected. Secondly, that ensures that those making the decisions are in tune with the needs of their particular province, region and community.
Currently rural Ireland is in fear and trepidation that largely urban based Green ministers with no feeling for, or understanding of rural Ireland are set to further compound the ongoing neglect of rural Ireland. For instance, under Éire Nua the people of rural Ireland including the Gaeltacht regions and the islands would be fully represented and involved in the making of, and implementation of the decisions that affect them. Likewise, urban areas affected by high unemployment, social exclusion and drug abuse would be involved directly in the rejuvenation and administration of their communities.
Unlike the present partitionist setup, Éire Nua is about real participatory democracy and not merely paying lip service to the needs and demands of the people every five years. A New Ireland would not be simply about jobs for the boys or girls, the dispensing of political favours by the local TD or minister like some feudal lord of old. Real democracy involves all the people including those currently marginalised from the centre of the economy and society both urban and rural. The incoming 26-County administration is simply the same stale old wine in new bottles. The type of radical, creative and innovative thinking and action that is required will never come from parties that are wedded to the status quo. The Ireland envisaged in the 1916 Proclamation and the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil will never emerge from Leinster House. Sinn Féin Poblachtach is proud to put Éire Nua forward as a credible alternative to a system that has delivered nothing but failure and betrayal to the Irish people for 100 years.'
Incidentally, the 8th February 2020 election was to elect members to the 31st Leinster House assembly and not, as declared by all and sundry, to "the 33rd Dáil Éireann". That latter term is a spoof, a spin, ignorant of the true position, deliberate misdirection and smoke and mirrors, like the outcome of the election itself, apparently - Mary Lou McDonald declared after the results were known that "Sinn Fein (sic) has won the election..." (from here) and "It's official. Sinn Fein (sic) won the election.." (from here).
Yet, as 'winners', they are unable to form an administration without the help of the 'losers'!
'UNION JACK TORN DOWN'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
During the 'World Ploughing Championship' at Killarney, the 'Esso Petrol Company' had the flags of the competing nations flying on separate poles at the Lake Hotel, including the 'Union Jack'. They were under strong CID protection day and night but, at 5.30pm on Sunday evening, October 10th, the 'Union Jack' was torn from its post just before a big dinner in honour of the ploughing teams. This incident was not published in any of the daily newspapers or the local press.
During August week the 'Union Jack' was flying from the Russell Court Hotel in Dublin, under police protection. At the Horse Show the same flag was carried in parade by a member of the Free State Army and - during the same week - cyclists taking part in a 'Round Ireland' race were stopped at the border and compelled by the RUC to remove small Tricolour pennants on their bikes! (END of 'Union Jack Torn Down'. NEXT - 'For Peace', from the same source. )
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. Stay safe, and 'play' safe ; even if that means keeping a sensible distance from yourself...!
IN THIS MONTH (JUNE) 143 YEARS AGO : "YOU'LL NEVER SEE THE LIKES OF THEM AGAIN.."
The graphic shows alleged members of the 'Molly Maguires' being led to their death.
'On 21st June 1877, in the anthracite-mining county of Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, ten Irish immigrant men alleged to have been members of an oath-bound secret sect of vigilantes called the 'Molly Maguires' were hanged in what came to be known as 'The Day of the Rope'. Twenty members of the group in all would be executed, following a kangaroo court that American historian John Elliot called "one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of the bench and bar in the United States." Oppression, exploitation, racial and ethnic bigotry, strikes and union-busting are common enough themes in the American labour movement, but the story of the 'Molly Maguires' and the ruling class's attempts to destroy these Irish workers is so especially contemptible it has achieved legendary status..' (from here.)
On what became known as 'Black Thursday' (21st June, 1877), ten coal miners were hanged until dead in eastern Pennsylvania ; all ten had been born in Ireland but were forced to leave because of the attempted genocide known as 'An Gorta Mór'. It was claimed that they, and others, were involved in 'organised retributions' against corrupt and unfair employers and other members of the establishment, and operated as such under the name 'Molly Maguires' ('Molly Maguire' had become famous in Ireland [or 'infamous', as the 'landlord' class described her] for refusing to bow down or bend the knee to the monied 'gentry').
The workers had been arrested for their alleged part in several killings and, despite much doubt cast over the 'evidence' used against them, they were convicted and sentenced to death. The court case was widely seen as employers drawing 'a line in the sand' in regards to what they considered to be 'uppity' workers looking for better wages and conditions, and an excuse for the establishment to vent its anti-labour and anti-Irish prejudice - the first trials began in January 1876. They involved 10 men accused of murder and were held in 'Mauch Chunk' (an Indian name meaning 'Bear Mountain') and Pottsville.
A vast army of media descended on the small towns where they wrote dispatches that were uniformly pro-prosecution. The key witness for the prosecution was yet another Irishman, James McParlan : back in the early 1870's, when bosses had hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to spy on workers, McParlan had gone under cover to infiltrate the 'Mollies' and gather evidence. And gather he did — or at least he claimed he did during the trials. On the stand he painted a vivid picture of 'Molly Maguire' secrecy, conspiracy and murder. With Irish Catholics and miners excluded from the juries, the verdicts were a foregone conclusion.
All 10 were convicted and sentenced to hang. No doubt seeking to send the most powerful message to the region's mining communities, authorities arranged to stage the executions on the same day — June 21st, 1877 – in two locations. Alexander Campbell, Michael Doyle, Edward Kelly, and John Donahue were hanged in 'Mauch Chuck' (where the four men "all swung together"), while James Boyle, Hugh McGehan, James Carroll, James Roarity, Thomas Duffy, and Thomas Munley met a similar fate in Pottsville (where all six "swung two-by-two"). Although the hangings took place behind prison walls, they were nonetheless major spectacles that drew huge crowds and generated international news coverage. It was reported that there was "..screams and sobbing as husbands and fathers were bid goodbye.." and that "..James Boyle carried a blood-red rose and Hugh McGehan wore two roses in his lapel (as) James Carroll and James Roarity declared their innocence from the scaffold.."
Over the following two years, ten more alleged members of the 'Molly Maguires' were hanged, including Thomas P. Fisher (on the 28th March 1878) and James McDonnell and Charlie Sharp (on the 14th January 1879). In 1979 - 101 years after the cruel deed - the state of Pennsylvania pardoned one of the men, John 'Black Jack' Kehoe, after an investigation by its 'Board of Pardons' at the behest of one of his descendants. John Kehoe was led to the gallows on the 18th December, 1878 - 141 years ago on this date (incidentally, Seán Connery played the part of John Kehoe in the film 'The Molly Maguires') ; on the 5th December 2005, the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives passed a resolution recognising the lack of due process for several of the men :
'The basic facts of the case are clear. As the 'Death Warrant' indicates, Governor John F. Hartranft ordered the execution of John Kehoe. In l877, he had been tried by the 'Court of Oyer and Terminer', a 'court of criminal jurisdiction', and was found guilty of the murder of Frank W.S. Langdon, a mine foreman, fifteen years earlier. He was sentenced to death by hanging. Kehoe's attorney appealed the decision to the State Supreme Court, which supported the lower court. Governor Hartranft signed Kehoe's death warrant in February 1878. As a last resort Kehoe's attorney issued three pleas for clemency to the Pardon Board, which also denied his appeals. The Governor eventually signed a second death warrant on November 18, 1878. Kehoe was executed before a large crowd in Pottsville on December l8, l878..' (from here.)
Make way for the Molly Maguires,
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men.
Make way for the Molly Maguires,
You'll never see the likes of them again.
Down the mines no sunlight shines,
Those pits they're black as hell,
In modest style they do their time,
It's Paddy's prison cell.
And they curse the day they've travelled far,
Then drown their tears with a jar.
Backs will break and muscles ache,
Down there there's no time to dream
of fields and farms, of woman's arms,
"Just dig that bloody seam".
Though they drain their bodies underground,
Who'll dare to push them around.
So make way for the Molly Maguires,
They're drinkers, they're liars but they're men ;
Make way for the Molly Maguires -
You'll never see the likes of them again.
The 'Molly Maguires' were an organised labour group that had allegedly been responsible for some incidences of vigilante justice in the coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania, defending their actions as attempts to protect exploited Irish-American workers. We badly need the 'likes of them' again.
'THE CULT OF THE FALSE PROPHETS...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
The 'Gaelic League' and early Sinn Féin were autogenous movements which not only drew strength from the force of Irish tradition, but added to it. The ensuing military movement, being built upon solid foundations, enjoyed a partial success, but a complete success might have been achieved had our people, in 1921, known their full strength, which was moral as well as military, passive as well as active.
After 1921 we lost our unity and our self-confidence, and entered that wilderness in which we have remained to this day ; it is the duty of the Republican Movement to be to Ireland's people as Moses was to the children of Israel, and lead them to the 'Promised Land'. To start again that pilgrimage through the centuries which began before Rome and ends with the second coming of Christ. The fetters of partition ('1169' comment - such as this political institution) prevent the forward march of our nation at present.
The breaking of these is a means to the end of fulfilling our destiny, the necessary preliminary to further advances. Partition aside, there is one other factor which impedes our progress - the 'Cult of the False Prophets'. Let the 'Legion of the Rearguard' ('1169' comment - ie that which Fianna Fáil consider themselves to be!) first stand the examination of its fruits, and this by the convenient yardstick of its own publications, the 'Press' newspapers... (MORE LATER.)
KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS...
The heavy-handed official response to a number of Irish publications and websites has drawn attention to this country's growing satirical network. Which can only be a good thing. By Noel Baker.
From 'Magill' magazine, July 2002.
'Alan' from the 'Evil Gerard' website said - "I don't think there's anything we wouldn't touch. I mean, we had an 'Abortion Referendum Special' and a 'September 11th' issue, so I don't think there's anything we wouldn't write about - not that we're fearless or anything."
But the 'Gerard' man admits, a la Portadown's 'Newt', that Irish politics' mixture of the banal and the ridiculous is a confused blessing. "There's only so many jokes you can make up about brown envelopes, or whatever, before people start going 'Oh God please stop!' he says. "Sometimes you think 'Yeah, it's about time we did another bribe story', but we don't force ourselves into doing it."
'Everything's Just Fine!' screams the most current headline on 'The Portadown News' - and thankfully for those charged with kicking against the prick's, it's not. And in case you're thinking that these cerebral, irascible/pissed-off people, who have offered assurances that they bear no resemblance to the comic-book store guy in 'The Simpsons, have lost their sense of humour and perspective while discussing satire in 'A Serious Manner', Portadown's 'Newt' makes a few pertinent points -
"Portadown News is a bad ecstasy comedown in the back of a Vauxhall Corsa. Sometimes I think I've created something really cool, at other times I think I'm the biggest teenager this side of Newry. And journalists who write about journalism are like big stadium rock bands who sing about the loneliness of touring."
(END of 'Kicking Against The Pricks'. NEXT - 'Freedom of Information Or Fumbling Of Information?', from the 'Magill Annual', 2002.)
'IN MEMORIAM' AND 'BARNES AND McCORMACK MEMORIAL'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
'IN MEMORIAM' -
Maurice O'Neill (Kerry), executed in Mountjoy Jail, 12-11-1942..
Jack Gaffney (Belfast), died on the prison ship 'Al Rawdah', 18-11-1940. John J. Kelly (Donegal), John J. Reynolds (Leitrim), Charles McCafferty (Tyrone), killed in accidental bomb explosion 28-11-1938.
'BARNES AND McCORMACK MEMORIAL' -
The Offaly County Executive Committee, Chaired by Tom Kenna, met at Tullamore on Sunday, 24th October last. Every town and village are getting organised to help the Memorial Fund. Mr. P. McLogan attended from Portlaoighse and received a warm reception and assured the committee of all the help possible from the Republican Movement.
A ceili has been arranged for the County Ballroom, Tullamore, on Wednesday 8th December next ; the 'Gallowglass Ceili Band' will attend and it is expected that the function will be a great success.
(END of 'In Memoriam' and 'Barnes and McCormack Memorial'. NEXT - 'UNION JACK TORN DOWN', from the same source. )
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. Stay safe, and 'play' safe.
ON THIS DATE (17TH JUNE) 46 YEARS AGO : IRA BOMB WESTMINSTER.
On Monday, 17th June 1974, the then IRA decided to make it's presence felt, once again, in 'the Belly of the Beast' - a 20lb device exploded at the British Parliament, causing widespread damage and injuring 11 people. Six months before that attack, the IRA had exploded two bombs in London - one at Madame Tussauds and one at a boat show which was taking place at Earls Court Exhibition Centre and, one month after the 17th June attack, two bombs also exploded in London - British government buildings in Balham, South London, were damaged in the first explosion that day and the Tower of London was the target for the second bomb. This is a BBC report of the 17th June 1974 IRA attack -
'A bomb has exploded at the Houses of Parliament, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people.
The IRA said it planted the 20lb (9.1 kg) device which exploded at about 0828 BST in a corner of Westminster Hall.
The explosion is suspected to have fractured a gas main and a fierce fire spread quickly through the centuries-old hall in one of Britain's most closely-guarded buildings. Scotland Yard detectives have said they fear this attack could herald the start of a new summer offensive by the dissident Irish group on government buildings. No one expected in those days the House of Commons would be a target - security was extremely casual.'
Former Labour MP Tam Dalyell ('Sir Thomas Dalyell of the Binns, 11th Baronet) gave this account - "A man with an Irish accent telephoned the Press Association with a warning only six minutes before the explosion. Police said a recognised IRA codeword was given. Although officers were not able to completely clear the palace before the bomb went off, most of the injured were only slightly hurt" and Edward Short, the Leader of the British 'Commons', announced that a review of security procedures would begin immediately, but he said the attack would not disrupt parliamentary business or intimidate MPs. Liberal Chief Whip David Steel was in the building when the device detonated and told the BBC the damage looked considerable - "I looked through Westminster Hall and the whole hall was filled with dust. A few minutes later it was possible to see flames shooting up through the windows..."
Today, the group that carried out that attack are only a short step away from again entering that bastion of British misrule but, this time, to assist their new objective of administering the British writ in Ireland. Shame on them.
'THE CULT OF THE FALSE PROPHETS.'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
That Ireland was once the cultural centre of Europe is general knowledge, as also the fact that she retained her nationality throughout centuries of oppression. The latter implies the survival of learning, literacy and language ; the survival of those forces which, with organised religion, are the marks of a civilised nation.
It was the wonder of Elizabeth's conquistadores, themselves with but a generation of renaissance learning behind them, to observe that Ireland had retained also something of the long-forgotten legacy of classical Europe ; but the Elizabethans and their successors were more adept masters in the perverted art of applying fruits of knowledge to the business of conquest. They appreciated the power of the pen and they formulated the dual policy of exterminating Ireland's culture along with her people.
This fear, on the enemy's part, of language, literacy and learning, served to enhance their value for Ireland's people. Though the latter many times surrendered their swords, they never completely surrendered their native culture. Many apostatised during the 19th century, but the perfidy of some was a stimulus to others to provide the cultural reaction and national revival necessary for successful revolution... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (17TH JUNE) 175 YEARS AGO : BIRTH OF A GREEN-HEARTED LOYALIST.
Emily Lawless, pictured, left (aka 'Emily Lytton'), the writer and poet, was born on the 17th of June, 1845, in Ardclough, County Kildare and was educated privately.
War battered dogs are we
Fighters in every clime;
Fillers of trench and of grave,
Mockers bemocked by time.
War dogs hungry and grey,
Gnawing a naked bone,
Fighters in every clime -
Every cause but our own.
- Emily Lawless, 1902 ; "With the Wild Geese".
She was born into a politically mixed background, the eldest daughter and one of eight children ('Sir' Horace Plunkett was her cousin) . Her father was 'Titled' by Westminster (he was a 'Baron') even though his father (Emily's grandfather) was a member of the 'United Irishmen'. Her brother, Edward, seems to have taken his direction from his father rather than his grandfather - he held and voiced strong unionist opinions, wouldn't have a Catholic about the place and was in a leadership position within the (anti-Irish) so-called 'Property Defence Association'. Perhaps this 'in-house' political confusion (mixed between stauch unionism and unionism with sympathies for Irish nationalism/republicanism, coupled with the 'whisperings of shame' that Emily was a lesbian and was having an affair with one of the 'titled' Spencer women) was the reason why her father and two of his daughters committed suicide.
She considered herself to be a Unionist although, unlike her brother, she appreciated and acknowledged Irish culture (...or, in her own words - "I am not anti-Gaelic at all, as long as it is only Gaelic enthuse and does not include politics...") and, despite being 'entitled' to call herself 'The Honourable Emily Lawless', it was a 'title' she only used occasionally. She spent a lot of her younger days in Galway, with her mother's family, but it is thought that family tragedies drove her to live in England, where she died, on the 19th of October 1913, at the age of 68, having become addicted to heroin. She was buried in Surrey. She wrote a full range of books, from fiction to history to poetry, and is best remembered for her 'Wild Geese' works, although some of her writings were criticised by journalists for its 'grossly exaggerated violence, its embarrassing dialect and staid characters...'.
'The Nation' newspaper stated that 'she looked down on peasantry from the pinnacle of her three-generation nobility...' and none other than William Butler Yeats declared that she had "an imperfect sympathy with the Celtic nature..." and that she favoured "theory invented by political journalists and forensic historians." But she had a great talent :
After Aughrim
She said, "They gave me of their best,
They lived, they gave their lives for me ;
I tossed them to the howling waste
And flung them to the foaming sea."
She said, "I never gave them aught,
Not mine the power, if mine the will ;
I let them starve, I let them bleed,
they bled and starved, and loved me still."
She said, "Ten times they fought for me,
Ten times they strove with might and main,
Ten times I saw them beaten down,
Ten times they rose, and fought again."
She said, "I stayed alone at home,
A dreary woman, grey and cold ;
I never asked them how they fared,
Yet still they loved me as of old."
She said, "I never called them sons,
I almost ceased to breathe their name,
then caught it echoing down the wind
blown backwards, from the lips of fame."
She said, "Not mine, not mine that fame ;
Far over sea, far over land,
cast forth like rubbish from my shores
they won it yonder, sword in hand."
She said, "God knows they owe me nought,
I tossed them to the foaming sea,
I tossed them to the howling waste,
Yet still their love comes home to me."
Emily Lawless, 1845-1913.
KICKING AGAINST THE PRICKS...
The heavy-handed official response to a number of Irish publications and websites has drawn attention to this country's growing satirical network. Which can only be a good thing. By Noel Baker.
From 'Magill' magazine, July 2002.
'Alan' of the 'Evil Gerard' website opines - "With a newspaper, you print it, it's bought, it's read, it's thrown out and then two days later you're asking 'Oh, has anyone seen that paper?' It would seem that these things should be printed, but then you might end up over-stretching yourself and it gets a bit tired. 'The Slate' is great," he continues, adding that it would be harder for a website to transfer itself to print than vice-versa.
"Their features are very funny, such as 'Blacks in the Jacks' - I just think it shows that asylum seekers should be allowed work instead of being put in this horrible situation." As for the suggestion that a country of cronies such as ours deserves a 'Private Eye'-like publication, 'Alan' demurs. "I think then it could be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. You could have people saying 'write about this' and that would be a problem. I don't think simply having a bigger audience would make it any better than it is." Yet it says much that the most recognisable champions of satire in this country at present are the 'Apres Match' team - and they don't make the screen unless a football match is on.
And with other websites such as the excellent 'Salon.Com' charging for laughs, it could be argued that Irish websites such as 'Evil Gerard' and 'Waffle-Iron' (this month's headline - '02 planning to flood country. And they mean literally') are part of a shrinking majority. But as 'Alan' maintains - "People say we're copying 'The Onion.Com', which we are, but with a different style, and they were copying someone else anyway." And 'The Onion', the seminal site which is required reading for sub-editors everywhere, is still a free service... (MORE LATER.)
'LEINSTER HOUSE DEBATE : A TERRIBLE MESSAGE FOR THE NORTH..'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
Recognising the 800-year-old historical fact of British occupation, republicans are facing the task in the only way that it can be faced and anyone who ignores the fact of the British occupation by throwing the onus on to either majority or minority groups is either ignorant of the true position or deliberately falsifying the facts.
The denunciation of force, based on the misrepresentation of the republican activity, as being directed against the minority group rather than against the army of occupation, was most effectively answered by one voice in Leinster House, that of ex-Fianna Fail deputy M. Maguire, when he said - "This is a terrible message for the people of the North."
(END of 'Leinster House Debate : A Terrible Message For The North' ; NEXT - 'In Memoriam' and 'Barnes and McCormack Memorial'.)
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. Stay safe, and 'play' safe!
