ON THIS DATE (12TH AUGUST) 66 YEARS AGO ; SCOTLAND YARD MEN IN DUBLIN.
'Commander Len Burt, Special Branch Chief of Scotland Yard, and an Inspector Gale, also of Scotland Yard, visited Dublin on August 12th last where they met Chief Superintendent P. Carroll, head of the Special Branch, Dublin. The visit was described as "purely routine", whether that means there is a routine police inspection similar to the military inspection of General Woodall at the Curragh is not clear.
It is also said that the police in Northern Ireland (sic), in conjunction with Scotland Yard, had been taking extensive precautions against the possibility of hostile demonstrations on the occasion of the English Queen's visit to Belfast, and the visit of the Scotland Yard men may have been to gather information on the likelihood of protests organised from the 26 Counties.
It is interesting to note that Kevin McConnell, who was sentenced in Belfast for having copies of 'The United Irishman', was first arrested on Friday 13th August, taken to the barracks for questioning and then released. The following evening Special Branch men called to his home in Dublin and questioned his parents, at the request, as they admitted, of Belfast. About three hours later Kevin was again arrested in Belfast, and this time held for sentence.
Another interesting item is that since the Scotland Yard men's visit, the Dublin Special Branch have started a check-up on those men and women who had been deported from England during the Bombing Campaign in 1939-1940. A number of deportees have already been visited, questioned as to their own movements, whether they were going back to England, whether any of their comrades had already gone back, where they were and so on.
How's that for cooperation?' (From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, October 1954.)
'EDUCATION...'
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, June, 1955.
It would cost comparatively few shillings to hire a room for a few evenings per week. The whole trouble, however, is the curriculum. It could easily take us a whole year, or more, to compose a curriculum because it must be chosen wisely and with great care.
Sinn Féiners know well the original work of Padraig Pearse in this field but, as time passes, he is being put into a special class of his own and is in danger of losing his humanity and, on account of this, one unconsciously gives tacit consent to the idea that only a Pearse could found such a school. Pearse, however, being a most human man, would be the last to desire this attitude, as the main principle of his system was to develop individuality and, consequently, individuality of effort.
Now, as Pearse's school was suitable for his generation, so we feel the type of school which we have in mind may be more suitable for our times and for the present generation... (MORE LATER.)
ON THIS DATE (12TH AUGUST) 100 YEARS AGO : 'ARRESTED' BY BRITISH FORCES FOR POSSESSION OF "SEDITIOUS ARTICLES AND DOCUMENTS".
Terence MacSwiney, pictured, with his wife Muriel and their daughter, Máire, photographed in 1919.
"If I die I know the fruit will exceed the cost a thousand fold. The thought of it makes me happy. I thank God for it. Ah, Cathal, the pain of Easter week is properly dead at last..." - Terence MacSwiney wrote these words in a letter to Cathal Brugha on September 30th, 1920, the 39th day of his hunger strike. The pain he refers to is that caused by his failure to partake in the 1916 Easter Rising. Contradictory orders from Dublin and the failure of the arms ship, the Aud, to land arms in Tralee left the Volunteers in Cork unprepared for insurrection...' (from here.)
In his book 'History of the Irish Working Class', Peter Beresford Ellis wrote : "On October 25th, 1920, Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney - poet, dramatist and scholar - died on the 74th day of a hunger-strike while in Brixton Prison, London. A young Vietnamese dishwasher in the Carlton Hotel in London broke down and cried when he heard the news - "A Nation which has such citizens will never surrender". His name was Nguyen Ai Quoc who, in 1941, adopted the name Ho Chi Minh and took the lessons of the Irish anti-imperialist fight to his own country..."
On the 12th August, 1920 - 100 years ago on this date - Terence MacSwiney was 'arrested' in Cork by the Crown Forces for possession of “seditious articles (a cipher key) and documents". He was born on the 28th March 1879, was the Commandant of the 1st Cork Brigade of the IRA and was elected as the Lord Mayor of Cork. He died after 74 days on hunger strike (a botched effort to force feed him hastened his death) in Brixton Prison, England, on the 25th October, 1920, and his body lay in Southwark Cathedral in London where tens of thousands of people paid their respects.
He summed-up the Irish feeling at that time (a feeling and determination which is still prominent to this day) - "The contest on our side is not one of rivalry or vengeance but of endurance. It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can suffer the most who will conquer. Those whose faith is strong will endure to the end in triumph."
And our faith is strong.
ON THIS DATE (12TH AUGUST) 150 YEARS AGO : 'DIVISIVE' BRITISH ARMY GENERAL BORN.
British Army General 'Sir' Hubert Gough (pictured) was a contentious figure (a man of "extreme opinions") in the (on-going) history of British imperialism ('a key figure in the Curragh Mutiny..') and, occasionally, caused confusion in the posh halls of Westminster.
He was born in London on the 12th August, 1870 (150 years ago on this date) and apparently found it hard to 'play cricket' with those around him, both politically and militarily - 'Historians are divided in opinion about Gough ; some label him a callous "butcher among generals", whereas others judge him to have been unusually considerate towards his soldiers...in his retirement, he stewarded the Fifth Army Comrades Association and led the Chelsea Home Guard in the second World War. It was in this capacity that, ironically, Gough attacked Northern Ireland’s (sic) unionist government in August 1941. He co-authored a letter to Churchill and Canadian prime minister William Mackenzie King, criticising Stormont for organising a local defence force, analogous to Britain’s home guard, but "recruited along politico-sectarian lines". Gough, and other retired Anglo-Irish officers, castigated Craigavon for his policies...' (from here.)
'On the morning of Friday 20 March (1914?), Arthur Paget (Commander-in-Chief, Ireland) addressed senior officers at his headquarters in Dublin. By Gough's account (in his memoirs 'Soldiering On'), he said that "active operations were to commence against Ulster," that officers who lived in Ulster would be permitted to "disappear" for the duration, but that other officers who refused to serve against Ulster would be dismissed rather than being permitted to resign, and that Gough – who had a family connection with Ulster but did not live there – could expect no mercy from his "old friend at the War Office..." (from here.)
In 1921, British General Sir Hubert Gough stated - "Law and order (in Ireland) have given place to a bloody and brutal anarchy in which the armed agents of the Crown violate every law in aimless and vindictive and insolent savagery. England has departed further from her own standards, and further from the standards even of any nation in the world, not excepting the Turk and Zulu, than has ever been known in history before..".
However - he stood-by those "Crown standards" and died, as he had lived ie a member of the British 'establishment', at 92 years of age, in London, in 1963. The damage in Ireland done by that man and his type lives on.
'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.)
But, explaining the confusion over the 'Magill' request, the spokesman said - "Each body has their own decision-makers, and there's no obligation to take a common approach."
While they might later be reined in, as appeared to have happened with the 'Magill' request, the nature of the initial responses to that request would seem to indicate the departments not only take their own decisions but understand the Act differently. Is this really good enough when the importance of the Act is considered?
It must be said, in the departments' defence, that the FOI Act is still relatively new, and may take some time yet before the system is totally streamlined. And, no doubt, the vast majority of requests have been handed in the correct fashion. But there remains an issue at stake here.
The purpose of the FOI Act is explained by the Office of the Information Commissioner as follows - "An Act to enable members of the public to obtain access, to the greatest extent possible consistent with the public interest and the right to privacy, to information in the possession of public bodies and to enable persons to have personal information relating to them in the possession of such bodies corrected. Thus, the Act is designed to provide a right of access to information held by public bodies to the greatest extent possible."
Laudable indeed, but what's "the greatest extent possible" if the government departments interpret the Act as they see fit?
(END of 'Freedom Of Information Or Fumbling Of Information?' ; NEXT - 'Why are we Turning a blind eye to Psychiatric Patients who have a Propensity for Violence?', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (12TH AUGUST) 98 YEARS AGO : DEATH OF TREATY-SIGNING SINN FÉIN FOUNDER.
Arthur Griffith was born on the 31st March, 1872, at 61 Upper Dominick Street, Dublin, and matured into a somewhat contradictory political life - '..a printer by trade, he developed a passionate interest in Irish history and culture and became active in the Gaelic League. A gifted and influential journalist, he was made editor of several radical newspapers. He had been an admirer of Parnell but after 1891 he developed a growing contempt for the Irish Parliamentary Party and sought to map out an alternative strategy for Ireland.
He rejected the use of force.
Influenced by the experience of dissidents in Hungary, he argued in 1904 that Irish MPs should withdraw from Westminster and set up an assembly at home. It was his belief that the Irish electorate would support this policy and in time the British government would be compelled to support it too. Ireland would thus become a self-governing state and equal partner with Britain under the Crown. Drawing on the German economist Friedrich List, Griffith also suggested that Ireland could develop a balanced national economy, mainly through imposing high tariffs on British industrial imports. These two elements were central to the programme of the Sinn Féin party which he helped set up in 1905. It attracted little popular support but had disproportionate influence largely because of Griffith's propaganda skills..' (from here.)
There are two schools of thought in relation to the 'Sinn Féin Republican/Sinn Féin Home Rule Party'-issue in relation to the political organisation that Griffith founded in 1905. Contrary to the perception which has been advanced by some that Sinn Féin in its first years was not Republican in character but rather sought a limited form of Home Rule on the dual monarchist model, Brian O'Higgins, a founding member of Sinn Féin, who took part in the 1916 Rising, and was a member of the First and Second Dáil, remaining a steadfast Republican up to his death in 1962, had this to say in his Wolfe Tone Annual of 1949 : "It is often sought to be shown that the organisation set up in 1905 was not Republican in form or spirit, that it only became so in 1917 ; but this is an erroneous idea, and is not borne out by the truths of history. Anyone who goes to the trouble of reading its brief constitution will see that its object was 'the re-establishment of the independence of Ireland.' The Constitution of Sinn Féin in 1905, and certainly the spirit of it, was at least as clearly separatist as was the constitution of Sinn Féin in and after 1917, no matter what private opinion regarding the British Crown may have been held by Arthur Griffith."
Arthur Griffith was one of those who were in a pivotal position during the talks on the 'Treaty of Surrender' in 1921 which he accepted and signed, stating, in a press release immediately after dipping his pen in the blood - "I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe that treaty will lay foundations of peace and friendship between the two Nations. What I have signed I shall stand by in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand." Yet historian Nicholas Mansergh noted that, at practically the same time as Griffith had penned the above, the British were talking between themselves of "..concessions (from the Irish) wrung by devices...some of which can be described at best as devious...every word used and every nuance was so important..."
The Treaty-signing Sinn Féin founder never did see "the end of the conflict of centuries" and was certainly never going to see it if he was depending on that Treaty to deliver it - for it was designed to make British misrule in Ireland easier for them to 'manage', rather than to bring to an end that misrule. Arthur Griffith died of a brain haemorrhage in Dublin on the 12th August, 1922, at only 51 years of age, and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
'THE SLAVE MIND'.
From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, November 1954.
The newly formed 'Waterford Cricket Club' invited the Duke of Edinburgh to become its honorary patron and president. The invitation was sent by Mr AJ Blyth, Organising Secretary to the Club.
Questioned about it, he said he did it in a burst of enthusiasm (loyality, we suppose). Even 'Duke' Philip realised what a blunder it was, and refused the 'honour'. It is an indication of the continued existence of active anti-Irish elements throughout the country. The well-organised 'RAF Association', the various British Army and Navy clubs, are all centres for British espionage and hostile fifth-column activity against the Irish nation. But they are not interfered with, certainly not by Leinster House.
(END of 'The Slave Mind'. NEXT - 'He Objects', from the same source.)
ON THIS DATE (12TH AUGUST) 29 YEARS AGO : JUDITH THERESA WARD WAS 'GRANTED A REVIEW' OF THE CASE AGAINST HER.
Judith Ward (pictured), an 'IRA activist', was arraigned on the 3rd October 1974 at Wakefield Crown Court, West Yorkshire, England, on an indictment containing 15 counts : Count 1 - causing an explosion likely to endanger life or property on the 10th September 1973, at Euston Station, Count 2 - a similar count relating to the explosion on the motorcoach on the M62 on the 4th February 1974, Counts 3-14 - twelve counts of murder relating to each of the persons killed in the explosion on the motorcoach and Count 15: causing an explosion as before on February 12, 1974, at the National Defence College at Latimer. She pleaded "not guilty" to all counts but, on the 4th November 1974, she was convicted on all counts, by a majority of 10 to two on Count 1 and unanimously on all the others.
She was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on Count 1, 20 years' imprisonment concurrently on Count 2, life imprisonment for the murder Counts 3-14 and to 10 years on Count 15, to be served consecutively to the 20 years on Count 2, making a determinate sentence of 30 years.
On the 12th August, 1991 - 29 years ago on this date - Judith Ward was 'granted a review' of the case against her ; it took eighteen years of campaigning to have her conviction quashed, which it was on the 11th May 1992. It transpired that she had changed her 'confession' several times and that the police and the prosecution selected various parts of each 'confession' to assemble a version which they felt comfortable with!
One of the main pieces of forensic evidence against her was the alleged presence of traces of nitroglycerine on her hands, in her caravan and in her bag. 'Thin Layer Chromatography' and the 'Griess Test' were used to establish the presence of nitroglycerine but later evidence showed that positive results using these methods could be obtained with materials innocently picked up from, for instance, shoe polish, and that several of the forensic scientists involved had either withheld evidence or exaggerated its importance.
Her book, 'Ambushed - My Story' makes for interesting reading and allows the reader to draw comparisons with the injustices suffered by the Maguire Seven, the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four ; a total of 18 innocent people, including Judith Ward (13 men, 3 women and two children) who, between them, spent a total of 216 years in prison. Anne Maguire, a mother of 5 children, was menstruating heavily and denied all toiletries for a week and was beaten senseless. Carol Richardson, who didn't even know she was pregnant, miscarried in Brixton Prison days after her arrest.
Pat O'Neill, who had minutes before entered the Maguires house to arrange for a baby-sitter when the police arrived, was told by a cop to swear that he saw a big cardboard box on Maguires table or else he would be done, but he refused to lie - he served eleven years. On his release, he found his marriage was broken beyond repair and that his six children had left the family home.
How many more Irish children will have to 'leave the family home' before the British eventually give a date for their political and military withdrawal from Ireland, because the situation as it still exists here is that their very presence continues to be objected to by Irish republicans and continues to give rise to unrest. And, if our history is to be used as a yardstick, that will always be the case.
Thanks for reading - Sharon and the '1169' team. And here we go again ; we won't be here next Wednesday (19th August 2020) as we're still trying to deal with what this part of the world and its mother (!) are calling 'Staycationgate'. It seems we left a suitcase and at least one holiday-maker behind us, in our haste to depart from our posh holiday accommodation a few weeks ago...yes, I know it sounds careless, to put it mildly, but think 'Home Alone', only in reverse ; the '1169' team come from large families and...well, sometimes, after a certain number of days without sleep, a few flagons of cider, no phone signal or wi-fi and no change of clothes, you tend to forget your own name, never mind whatshisnames cousin or auntie or sister-in-law or whoever...anyway, long story short : we've been served legal paperwork by three sturdy bailiffs to call in person to 'collect our belongings'.
Apparently, all concerned are too afraid to actually open the suitcase, for some reason (!), and the cousin/auntie/sister-in-law/whoever has gone rabid and was 'speaking in tongues' and, we're told, 'reverted to something that must have existed in the Stone Age..'. Ah Jaysus, there's always somethin', isn't there..?!!
Anyway - we won't be here on the 19th, but should - all going well with the bailiffs, the medical people and the cops - be back on the blog on Wednesday, 26th August 2020. Unless we win the lotto in the meantime, thus enabling us to buy/build a Time Machine and go back to put a stop to this bleedin' nonsense. And ya can only imagine how far back we'll have to go and how long that would take us..!
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...!
