Easter Rising, Partition of Ireland and the queen of Englands' birthday
(1) Irish Echo, (2) Irish Post, (3) Daily Ireland
(4) www.judecollins.net, (5) Irish Republican News, (6) Irish News
Wednesday-Tuesday 19-25 April, 2006
Sunday, 23 April, 2006
Friday, 21 April, 2006
Ignorance at BBC (3)
Thursday, 20 April, 2006
Friday-Monday, 14-17 April, 2006
Wednesday-Tuesday 19-25 April, 2006
An unqualified success
Irish Echo editorial
Perhaps our perspective from this side of the Atlantic Ocean gives Irish Americans an advantage; hardly anyone here was surprised by the spectacular success of the Irish state's commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising at the weekend.
The Irish army in dress uniform looked great, the politicians behaved in a dignified manner and refrained from scoring points off each other, the sun shone, and 120,000 people turned out to enjoy the event.
When Captain Tom Ryan read Ireland's declaration of independence, the 1916 Proclamation, there wasn't a dry eye on O'Connell Street. Irish Americans stood especially tall when he reached the second sentence: "Supported by her exiled children in America, [Ireland] strikes in full confidence of victory."
In the run-up to the commemoration, anyone reading the Irish newspapers would have imagined it was hugely controversial.
Anti-republican columnists said the event would give a morale boost to the IRA, would insult the British who regarded the 1916 rebels as terrorists, would be seen as a snub to those Irishmen who died fighting for Britain in World War I, and would glorify militarism.
In the end, not only did all the main parties, with the exception of the unionists, attend, but so did the British ambassador, Stewart Eldon, along with other dignitaries.
The president led the commemoration, laying the wreath for those who laid down their lives for Irish freedom. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern spoke eloquently. The crowd sang the Irish national anthem at full throat, and rounded it off with a huge cheer.
Afterwards, Ahern said the next big day would be the centenary of the Rising in 2016, adding that such an event will require much preparation.
This to be welcomed. But 1916 commemorates a bold strike for Irish freedom, something which has still not been completely achieved.
A more urgent task for Ahern and his government is to prepare for the re-unification of the country. To use a phrase from America's lexicon, he should keep his eyes on the prize.
this article available at : http://www.irishecho.com/search/searchstory.cfm?id=17889&issueid=463#
Copyright © 2006 Irish Echo Newspaper Corp.
The values of the Rising need to be renewed
By Paul Donovan, Irish Post
The 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising and 25th anniversary of the hunger strikes should be times of great celebration for the Irish. The actions of those who stood up and fought for independence in 1916 and the later hungers strikers of 1981 represent the best of Ireland. They typify a valiant spirit that has endured much suffering over the years.
The parallel between the two events is very real. The actions of those who fought in 1916 charted the path that led to independence, while the hunger strikes began the move within republicanism away from violence and toward a peaceful political settlement. The soldiers of the Easter Rising and the hunger strikers also shared the vision of an independent and united Ireland.
This spirit of the Easter Rising has over the years seen Ireland rapidly grow into one of the major states of Europe. If anyone on the island of Ireland needed convincing of the merits of independence the way in which the country has developed over the past 90 years should provide a positive answer.
Perhaps, those 'no surrender' unionists in the north should look at the way in which the Irish economy has advanced over recent years. From their perspective surely it would be better to be a central part of a united Ireland rather than an outlying region of the UK. The British government has already made it clear that it will not be subsidising the north of Ireland much longer.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has called for a public renewal of the ideals that led the men of 1916 to take the actions that they did. Looking forward there needs to be a debate about what it really does mean to be Irish. In many ways Ireland as a young country is at a crossroads. Economic prosperity has brought wealth to Ireland but this has also had a demeaning effect on many of the traditional Irish values.
This has seen some of the least edifying elements of British culture spreading across the Irish Sea. The Thatcherite born obsession with materialism. The birth of a belief that greed is good. An intolerance toward the stranger whether they be asylum seeker, traveller or migrant worker. A penny pinching attitude that treats elderly people and the more vulnerable in society as second class citizens of less value somehow because they do not produce. A reckless disregard for the environment. These are all unpleasant trends that have shown signs of taking root in Ireland recently.
On the world stage, there is the relationship with America. What does it say about our own Irish identity when so many of Ireland's leading politicians spend St Patrick's Day in Washington? The links with America are strong, born of the high numbers among the diaspora that have finished up in that country. However, the love affair between the Irish and American governments has become too one sided. This is an element of Irish life that Bertie Ahern himself would do well to reflect upon. The support that the Irish Government has given to the US Government's illegal war in Iraq has undoubtedly brought the country into international disrepute. Thankfully, Ireland did not send troops to Iraq but it has aided the American Government by allowing war planes to use Shannon Airport. Perhaps even more seriously the Americans have been using Irish airports to run rendition flights taking prisoners to East European and Middle Eastern destinations for torture purposes. What would those who fought in 1916 have thought of such actions by an Irish state that many gave their lives to establish?
These are not the actions of a neutral Ireland that respects the spirit of international law. In looking to the future, the traditional Irish values of friendship and international solidarity need to be reasserted. The first 90 years should have given Ireland the experience and confidence to promote values of peace on the world stage. The vitality of the Celtic Tiger economy needs to be harnessed for the common good of all. The values of those who fought in the Easter Rising need to be renewed and very much built upon as the country moves toward unification and greater prosperity for all
Copyright © 2006 Irish Post
Ignorance at BBC
Daily Ireland Editorial
By Colin O'Carroll
The 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising was followed quickly this week by the 80th birthday of the queen of England. What was noticeable in yesterday's royal celebrations was the total absence of reflection and debate on the nature of monarchy or its relevance in the 21st century.
BBC Northern Ireland perhaps provided the best example of forelock-touching with a vacuously saccharine piece on its website about a couple of old dears from up the country who were brought to Buckingham Palace to have tea with the queen for no other reason than they share her birthday. There were the usual descriptions of who was wearing what and who sat where combined with desperate attempts to make the allotted five-second conversation into something meaningful and thrilling.
You might say that this is the British Broadcasting Corporation and that's to be expected. Well, yes, except if we cast our minds back to last week we recall that no telling of the story of 1916 by the BBC was complete without having some revisionist historian or some self-loathing Dublin 4 media type tell us how Easter 1916 had spawned a cult of blood sacrifice that 50 years later led us directly into the sectarian bloodbath in the North from which we are only just emerging.
Of course, sectarianism is something that the queen knows more about than the rest of us, being head of an institution that quite literally will not have a Catholic about the place. A direct line can be drawn between the poisonous and warped religious ethos that drove Protestant paramilitaries to butcher innocent Catholics and the rather more elegant and well-tailored contempt of the drawing rooms and palaces of London that decrees that Catholic blood can never be allowed to contaminate the royal line.
But let's not ever talk about that. Let's talk instead about what colour the queen's hat is and how everybody laughed when an awestruck lollipop lady said something common.
The fabulously wealthy members of the British royal family, who never worked a day in their lives, head up many of the regiments which, down through the years, have committed the most appalling atrocities in Ireland. Yet while it's perfectly permissible to describe as psychopaths and monsters the men and women of Easter 1916, who faced the might of an empire in order that unelected aristocrats might have no dominion over Irishmen and women, under no circumstances must we mention religion or bloodshed when we're called on to raise three cheers for the queen's 80th.
In seeking to peddle the myth that the North of Ireland is united in admiration for the queen of England, and by blatantly ignoring the reality that nationalists are, at best, sullenly indifferent to the celebrations and, at worst, deeply angered by them, the local BBC only adds to the problems and divisions that have beset us for so long. On anniversaries, the motives and mindset of the heroes of an age long past require robust and uncompromising debate, it seems, while the question of the place of the British monarchy in the 21st century world is best tackled by telling us who makes the dresses and the china.
Copyright © 2006 Daily Ireland
Partition - the elephant in the sitting room
By Jude Collins
You wouldn't have thought it possible: an animal that size, in a confined area like that, critics and commentators checking out the space in meticulous detail for days and weeks and months in advance. But there you are - the elephant in the Easter 1916 livingroom somehow managed to avoid being noticed.
Or maybe it was noticed, but those who noticed thought it would spoil the mood, be rude to mention this huge presence overflowing the hearth-rug.
Mind you, it's an elephant that's used to being not noticed. When John F Kennedy visited Ireland in 1963, he addressed the combined houses of the Oireachtas. Ireland, he reminded his listeners, was "the first of the small nations in the twentieth century to win its struggle for independence" and provided an example to other emerging nations. He quoted the words of Henry Grattan: "A country enlightened as Ireland, chartered as Ireland, armed as Ireland and injured as Ireland will be satisfied with nothing less than liberty." And he rounded off by congratulating Ireland on having achieved that liberty. "I am deeply honoured to be your guest in a Free Parliament in a free Ireland," he said.
I remember watching that speech in 1963 and being swept up in the glorious flow of his words. But not so swept up I couldn't see and smell the backside of the elephant that JFK had somehow stepped around.
I got the same feeling last Sunday as Bertie Ahern stood in front of the GPO in O'Connell Street in Dublin and explained to us all what the parade and celebration was about. "Today is a day of remembrance, reconciliation and renewal. Today is about discharging one generation's debt of honour to another. Today, we will fittingly commemorate the patriotism and vision of those who set in train an unstoppable process which led to this country's political independence".
And when he had finished, no one booed or threw anything or shouted that he was a bloody liar. They clapped, they cheered, they waved their little tricolours. Just like JFK, Bertie's body-swerve took him past the elephant as if it wasn't there.
Except that the elephant Partition is still there. It would be nice if President Kennedy had visited a free parliament in a free Ireland back in 1963, but he didn't. And it would be nice if Bertie had got it right when he said that 1916 had led to Ireland's political independence, but it didn't. The actions of Pearse and others led to political independence for the south of Ireland but not the six northern counties. The American president addressed the free parliament of a southern state, not a free Ireland. And it's this awkward, inconvenient, party-spoiling elephant called Partition that politicians on this island keep trying to avoid.
To even mention its existence as a driving force in our past is frowned on in some quarters. In a recent radio discussion Garrett Fitzgerald got tetchy when it was suggested that the civil war which followed the signing of the Treaty might have had something to do with a desire for 32-county independence. "Learn your history," he declared in his best magisterial style.
Unionist politicians, who know full well that Easter 1916 was about breaking the British connection for all the people of Ireland, have no qualms about denouncing the events of the time. They were acts of treachery, acts of terrorism, and should never have happened. This sort of talk makes southern politicians uncomfortable. Normally sensitive to unionist needs, they can't very well join in this condemnation of violence because (i) it clashes with the free Ireland myth they have constructed, and (ii) the talk of terrorism and treachery sounds too similar to the way unionists talk about the activities of the IRA in the North over the last 30 years, and that's one parallel southern politicians are keen should be avoided.
But Bertie Ahern is nothing if not resourceful, and he found a way round that little awkwardness. Keep the commemoration of those who won Ireland her complete freedom, but add to it commemoration of another 1916 event which northern unionists like to mythologise: the Battle of the Somme.
On the face of it, Bertie's move makes sense. Many Irishmen, north and south, died in that battle. If a significant event occurred - whether the defeat of the insurgents in 1798 or the passing of the Act of Union in 1801 or the failure/success of Easter 1916 - it should, it must, be accepted and incorporated into our history. But for what it was, not for what we'd like to pretend it was. The First World War - supposedly the war to end wars - was a struggle between two imperial powers, Britain and Germany, and the millions on both sides who died in that war, including the many Irishmen, died futile, pointless deaths. We only add to the many lies on which that war was built when we say that their deaths were glorious.
A second feature of that war - one with which unionists are comfortable but not surely nationalists: the Irishmen who died at the Somme died in the uniform and service of the British army. That's the army whose presence on this island over centuries has had a single purpose, to suppress any moves towards Irish freedom.
If you hear a tearing sound, that's nationalist thinking trying to applaud at once those who fought for Irish freedom and those who donned British uniform and bought an old imperial lie.
But the contradictions don't end at the differences between those who fought in the GPO and those who died at the Somme. Cork TD Ned O'Keefe wants to honour all the combatants involved in Easter 1916. "I believe we should remember those who died on both sides of the figthting," he says.
A British Tory MP has built on this and called on the Taoiseach to visit the graves of three members of the Worcestershier and Sherwood Foresters Regiment in his constituency. That's the regiment that supplied the firing squads which executed Pearse, Connolly and the other leaders.
Dublin TD Sean Ardagh backs the idea. "I think it would be a suitable thing for the Taoiseach to do," he said. What an odd thought: in the name of Anglo-Irish friendship, the Taoiseach is being urged to honour those who died in the cause of Irish freedom and those who did their damnedest to suppress it.
What next: a memorial to the Parachute Regiment at Free Derry Corner? There has been much talk of the need to acknowledge the complexity of Irish history and not to simplify it into a clash between good guys and bad guys.
In the North, we're urged to acknowledge the variety of forms in which Irishness comes and to be open to such variety. Both constructive suggestions. But acknowledging complexity and variety is one thing; pretending a mammoth grey bum in the livingroom, which is pressing us all against the wall and making breathing difficult, doesn't exist - that's another entirely.
Copyright © 2006 www.judecollins.net
Friday-Monday, 14-17 April, 2006
Huge turnout for Rising events
By Irish Republican News
The Dublin establishment has joined in the commemorations held across Ireland this Easter weekend to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1916 Rising.
A military parade through Dublin attracted tens of thousands and was described as "a spectacular success" by the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell.
The march, the first major State commemoration for 40 years, marked an attempt by the Dublin government to affirm its nationalist identity in the wake of growing support for Sinn Fein.
Some 2,500 members of the Defence Forces, and veterans of peacekeeping missions, marched through Dublin. Gardai put the crowd that watched them at 100,000, while the Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, said some 120,000 spectators lined the route.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the 90th anniversary commemorations were "about discharging one generation's debt of honour to another".
Opposition Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny, said the parade was "a great showcase" for the 26-County Army, which was also described by Michael McDowell as "the real Oglaigh na hEireann [Irish Army]".
Mr McDowell said while there would be discussions on when to hold the next commemoration, "today's events will encourage the Irish State to be confident about celebrating 1916", he said.
Observers agreed the parade was a morale booster for the 26-County Army after declassified state papers revealed the government of thirty years ago believed it was too ineffective to provide security for the entire island.
In west Belfast Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams led a parade to the republican plot in Milltown Cemetery.
Relatives of people killed during the conflict carried portraits of their loved ones along the route.
Among those marching were a group of former republican prisoners. Pipe and drum bands, including one from Glasgow, played.
Thousands of spectators lined the route from Beechmount Avenue to the graveyard.
Speaking at the republican plot, Mr Adams said it was decision time for the Irish and British governments.
"Are they going to stand by the Good Friday Agreement or are they going to continue to pander to rejectionist unionism?" he asked.
"The governments have said that they will lift the suspension of the assembly on May 15.
"Sinn Fein will be in Stormont that day. We will be there for one reason and one reason only - the election of a government in line with the Good Friday Agreement."
Mr Adams also claimed DUP leader Ian Paisley had failed in his campaign to "smash Sinn Fein".
"The only way Ian Paisley will exercise political power is in an executive with Sinn Fein," he said.
There were speeches and wreath-laying ceremonies in counties Ty-rone, Derry, Donegal and Armagh.
In Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, Kerry county council chair Toireasa Ferris was the speaker.
In Coalisland, County Tyrone, Sinn Fein MEP Bairbre de Brun described 1916 as "a watershed in Irish history".
In Carrickmore Sinn Fein assembly member Gerry Kelly said he hoped that just like the 1916 rising the IRA statement of last July announcing an end to its armed campaign would be another significant event in Ireland's history.
At a ceremony in Cork Sinn Fein chief negotiator Martin McGuinness paid tribute to Thomas Kent, one of the 16 executed after the rising.
The Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Workers Party held separate parades in west Belfast on Sunday.
Republican Sinn Fein president Ruairi O Bradaigh speak at an unveiling ceremony in Bundoran, Co Donegal on Sunday, where four plaques were unveiled in a republican garden.
Meanwhile, in an Easter statement the breakway 'Real IRA' said it would continue to defend Irish sovereignty and the Irish nation.
"The Republican position is again under threat by revisionists within the Free State establishment," the statement read. "Their attempts to misrepresent the Republican position will be exposed by those who still hold true to Republican ideals.
"This Easter those who have usurped Irish sovereignty will parade past the GPO and attempt to reclaim the legacy of 1916. Republicans will again resist the attempts of constitutional nationalists to portray themselves as the legitimate successors of Pearse and Connolly.
"We remember with pride the ten Oglaigh na hEireann and INLA volunteers who died 25 years ago in the pursuit of political status and we reaffirm, in their memory, our commitment to the ending of British rule in Ireland and the restoration of national democracy and national sovereignty.
"Former comrades have usurped the constitution of Oglaigh na hEireann and have accepted Britain's right to interfere in our affairs. This is an intolerable situation and the leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann pledge to remain true to our constitution and its aims and objectives.
"Irish sovereignty is being undermined on a daily basis, not only by the British Army in the north, but also by the American warplanes which land illegally in Shannon. Our national resources are being stolen by multinational capitalists and their Free State allies. Republicans stand for the complete ownership of Irish national territory and its resources for the benefit of the Irish people in accordance with the proclamation of the Republic.
"The causes of the conflict in Ireland remain unchanged. Britain refuses to declare its intent to withdraw and the so called government of the Irish people refuses to demand their withdrawal. While this remains the case Oglaigh na hEireann will continue to exist to defend Irish sovereignty and the Irish nation."
Friday-Monday, 14-17 April, 2006
Analysis: Rising played pivotal part in Irish history
By Jim Gibney for the Irish News
Ninety years ago the British Empire held sway over a considerable part of the globe.
Shortly before 1pm on Easter Monday 1916, outside Dublin's GPO, that empire started to crumble.
It did so in the face of a democratic Proclamation, backed by a small armed force of men and women.
It would take another 50 years before most of Britain's colonies secured their independence.
The first step towards that freedom was taken by Patrick Pearse when he stepped from the GPO onto Dublin's O'Connell Street and declared an Irish Republic.
His and the actions of those who followed him were inspirational here and abroad.
The rising was a daring enterprise. As a military venture unlikely to succeed, as a political gesture for a nation in waiting, it was unsurpassed.
Those who led the rising and signed the Proclamation were teachers, poets, trade unionists, dramatists, writers and workers.
They were nationalists, republicans, socialists, feminists and Gaelic speakers, united with a common purpose - Irish independence.
Patrick Pearse and James Connolly led the rising. They were two of the foremost thinkers and writers of their day; intellectuals and activists they knew well the power of the written word.
They were publicists and propagandists; produced their own newspapers, Pearse, An Claidheamh Soluis, to promote the Irish language and Connolly, The Worker's Republic, to promote workers' rights and socialism.
At a time when the people of Ireland were encouraged to fight an imperialist war the rising offered an alternative - a national democratic revolution.
A revolution which served the interests of the powerless, the marginalised - the majority of the Irish people.
The rising was anchored in the Irish people's historical claim to nationhood. It provided certainty of political thought and direction.
Its architects were on the side of progressive forces across Europe who were challenging imperialism and capitalism and its class-ridden society. On the side of organisations in embryonic form like the trades unions, labour parties and women's groups.
The bulk of those who fought in the rising came from the poorest classes. They had much to gain from a successful revolt.
There was another Ireland which existed alongside the future Republic declared in the 1916 Proclamation.
It was the Ireland run by a British administration. They recruited tens of thousands of young Irish men to fight in the First World War. Many thousands of them died in the belief they were helping to free small nations like Ireland. Others from Ireland died loyally serving an English king.
The British army ruthlessly suppressed the rising. Much of Dublin's city centre was destroyed.
The insurgents valiantly fought. They held out for six days.
Initially public opinion was divided over supporting the rebels but quickly turned and rallied behind them when the British army began executing the 1916 leaders.
The rising was a pivotal point in 20th century Ireland. It shaped and continues to shape Irish politics.
Pearse and Connolly spent many years in the cultural and socialist movements of their time.
The Proclamation, the rising's manifesto, reflected their seasoned political beliefs.
Therein you will find the republican vision for an independent Ireland.
The Proclamation declared the ownership of Ireland for its people; it guaranteed women and men voting rights, religious and civil liberty, equal rights and opportunities to all. It pledged to cherish the children of the nation equally.
The execution of the leaders of the rising robbed the independence movement of key radical thinkers; visionaries with high ideals.
Immediately after the rising a tidal wave of support for independence took all before it except for unionists.
The war of independence followed.
The national movement so carefully built fractured in the face of the Treaty and the disastrous civil war.
When it was over the Republic lay in the ruins of a partitioned Ireland.
The best of a generation were dead.
Their dreams of freedom buried with them, so hoped the new class which emerged to run a partitioned Ireland.
But the spirit of the rising echoed beyond its time. Others rallied, to this day, to fulfil the aspirations of the men and women of Easter week who will be honoured all over Ireland this weekend.
That is the enduring nature of the 1916 rising.
Copyright © 2006 Irish News