Category Archives: Stair (History)

Ireland’s British Troubles

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Joint footpatrol of British UDA terrorists and British Army soldiers

Joint footpatrol of British UDA terrorists and British Army soldiers, British Occupied North of Ireland, 1970s

Interesting revelation from court documents released in Belfast (via the Detail), where Ciarán Martin, the former Security and Intelligence adviser to British prime minister David Cameron, admits that British terrorist groupings operating in Ireland during the conflict in the north-east of the country did so with the backing and support of Britain, perhaps up to the highest levels of government. Writing in a redacted letter to PM Cameron, dated July 8th 2011, Martin admits in relation to the 1989 assassination in Belfast of the Irish human rights lawyer Pat Finucane that:

“Even by Northern Ireland standards the facts are grisly. Moreover, in terms of allegations of British state ‘collusion’ with Loyalist paramilitaries, this is the big one… whilst we know of no evidence of direction or advance knowledge of the murder by ministers, security chiefs or officials, exhaustive previous examinations have laid bare some uncomfortable truths.

Paid state agents were directly involved in the killing, including the only man ever convicted of involvement in it.

[official investigations paint]…a picture of a system of agent-running by the RUC’s Special Branch and the Army’s Force Research Unit that was out of control… There is plenty of material in the public domain to this effect. …the evidence available only internally could be read to suggest that within government at a high level this systematic problem with Loyalist agents was known, but nothing was done about it.

It’s also potentially the case that credible suspicions of agent involvement in Mr Finucane’s murder were made known at senior levels after it and that nothing was done; the agents remained in place. These two points essentially aren’t public.”

In a follow up letter, dated July 9th 2011, the special advisor and Cameron confidant states that the prime minister:

“… like virtually everyone else outside MoD [Ministry of Defence] shares the view that this was an awful case and as bad as it gets, and was far worse than any post 9/11 allegation.”

The issue of Pat Finucane’s murder by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a British terrorist organisation in Ireland long known to have been controlled by Britain’s Intelligence services, drew an official apology from the London government earlier this year, and was recently discussed again by the United States Congress and its Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Of special significance in all this is the UDA’s former status as the largest and most active British terrorist group on the island of Ireland while simultaneously being a legal paramilitary organisation under British law and jurisdiction. Despite its involvement in hundreds of gun and bomb attacks (and the demands of the International community that it be banned) the terror faction was able to openly organise, recruit and train in the north-east of Ireland and in Britain; frequently with the assistance of serving or former British paramilitary police officers or soldiers. Its notoriously public headquarters in the middle of Belfast city was a regular venue for interviews with gunmen and bombers by members of the International media, and its overall existence was based on a continuous supply of money, arms and intelligence data from the British military and security services.

Without the UDA, and the other British terror factions, Britain’s counter-insurgency war in Ireland would never have been possible. And that is why no one seriously doubts that support for these groups came from the highest levels of the British government and across all party political divides and ideologies.

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No Second Troy

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One of the last monolingual Irish-speakers in Ireland being interviewed by the British historian Michael Wood for his 1985 BBC documentary ”In Search of the Trojan War”. Does he look like a member of an “affluent, Mercedes-driving, latté-sipping, urban, Gaelic-speaking elite”? Or the last survivor of a people driven to the point of near-extinction? A point, perhaps, for the next Anglophone supremacist bigot you encounter.

Irish Pride! Where The NRA Goes Others Follow!

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Mayan temple, Belize. Don't tell the Irish - they'd bulldoze it to build a motorway. They're funny like that.

Mayan temple, Belize. Don’t tell the Irish – they’d bulldoze it to build a motorway. They’re funny like that.

Who knew that Ireland’s National Roads Authority and related construction industry was also employed in Latin America? From the Guardian newspaper: 

“A construction company has essentially destroyed one of Belize’s largest Mayan pyramids with diggers and bulldozers to extract crushed rock for a road-building project, authorities have announced. 

The head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, Jaime Awe, said on Tuesday that the destruction at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was detected late last week. The ceremonial centre dates back at least 2,300 years and is the most important site in northern Belize, near the border with Mexico. 

“It’s a feeling of incredible disbelief because of the ignorance and the insensitivity … they were using this for road fill,” Awe said. “It’s like being punched in the stomach, it’s just so horrendous.” 

Photos from the scene showed diggers clawing away at the pyramid’s sloping sides, leaving an isolated core of limestone cobbles at the centre, with what appears to be a narrow Mayan chamber dangling above one clawed-out section. 

It is not the first time this has happened in Belize, a country dotted with hundreds of Mayan ruins, though few as large as Nohmul.” 

Ah, just like home then. Though of course we still have Brí Mhór to destroy yet! Oh the pride…

Two Upcoming Events, Tolkien And The Irish Invincibles

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Quick post to promote two upcoming events I’ve been asked to highlight.

The Irish National Invincibles and Their Times: Perspectives on Late Victorian Irish Nationalism 130th Anniversary of the Execution of the Invincibles in Kilmainham Gaol Dublin

The first is a conference organised by Dr Shane Kenna titled “The Irish National Invincibles and Their Times: Perspectives on Late Victorian Irish Nationalism 130th Anniversary of the Execution of the Invincibles in Kilmainham Gaol Dublin“. It will be held in the historic Wynns Hotel, Abbey Street, Dublin on Saturday the 18th of May 2013, from 10.00 to 16.30. The event will be opened by the Irish artist Robert Ballagh and the Facebook Page is here. Reading the synopsis of the day it sounds very interesting and well worth attending.

J.R.R. Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien

Second, and slightly late, is the Burren Tolkien Society Festival being staged in An Boireann / the Burren, Co. Clare, from today Thursday the 9th until Thursday the 16th of May, 2013. Details are here, and you can read some more about JRR Tolkien and Ireland here. Lets hope they get the weather!

To promote your academic, cultural or political event please contact An Sionnach Fionn at the email address provided.

Scottish Mythology And Folklore

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Lia Fáil, Teamhair na Rí, An Mhí, Éire (Íomhá: Séamas Ó Sionnaigh, 2008)

Lia Fáil, Teamhair na Rí, An Mhí, Éire (Íomhá: Séamas Ó Sionnaigh, 2008)

Some of the most popular (and visited) pages on An Sionnach Fionn are dedicated to the core elements of the Seanchas or indigenous mythology and folklore of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. I have several lengthy articles discussing the likes of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Fomhóraigh (not to mention the Lucharacháin or Leprechauns). However a number of Scottish friends and readers have taken me to task for not examining in closer detail some of the more unique aspects of the Scottish tradition. They have also levelled (some gentle) criticism at me for not providing enough names and titles as Gàidhlig (in Scottish or Scottish Gaelic). In my defence the shortage of Scottish language names is largely due to the lack of an agreed spelling in Modern Scottish for many characters or groups from the indigenous literatures of the Gaelic peoples. So one naturally defaults to Modern Irish spelling, which I admit is somewhat unfair. I certainly hope to remedy this failing in the near future (time permitting).

However until then I can recommend no better place to start one’s study of Scottish mythology and folklore than Tairis, the website of Seren who describes herself as (in her own words) “…a Gaelic Reconstructionist Polytheist”. Okay. While that description might appeal to some of you to others it will be positively off-putting. It certainly was to me, hard-headed atheist that I am, when I first came across the site many years ago. However I – and you – could not be more wrong. Tairis is clearly based upon years of scholarly study into the known or surmised beliefs of the Celtic and Gaelic-speaking peoples. The academic foundations of the site are obvious and it contains some of the best (and most accessible) summaries of modern Celtic studies on the web. More importantly it does it all with a definite Scottish focus that should satisfy most of my Gaelic cousins o’er the sea. Related to the site is a regularly updated personal blog filled with lots of useful cultural notes and engaging speculations on all things historical from Scotland, Ireland and beyond.

Both come recommended.

Meanwhile I hope all of you are celebrating Lá Bealtaine (which of course began yesterday at sunset) in suitable fashion. For my sins I’m working, otherwise I would be joining you.

By the by, and related to this, is it not time that the four great festival days of the indigenous Irish calendar were designated national holidays in Ireland instead of the colonial hangover of the utterly meaningless bank holidays’ system?

Hmmm. I do believe I feel a campaign coming on…

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Some More WikiWar News

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Wikipedia

Wikipedia

As a keen observer of both politics and technology I have spent the last decade and more watching the rise of the internet proxy wars that have flared up across the world wide web and in particular on sites like Wikipedia. The collective online encyclopaedia has become something of a new “high ground” in the information wars for numerous national- and non-national players around the globe. So it is no surprise that representatives of both Irish and British Nationalism (and sympathetic allies or observers on both sides) have made the migration to this new battleground. However what makes the internet all the more interesting is the manner in which one person can actually make a difference (just Google the term “Anglophone supremacist” to see why). Information is power and to control the main sources of information is to wield that power. And Wikipedia is certainly an exemplar of that.

So I’d thought I’d feature the “Talk” page of the English language Wikipedia entry for the Irish village of An Mhagh or Muff/Eglinton in County Derry. It represents a fascinating online microcosm of the greater struggle for Irish freedom, even in the most seemingly innocuous of things. And the determination of individuals to compete for the control of the online sources of information.

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A Letter From Irish Ireland

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The beautiful writing of Dubhghlas de hÍde in traditional Irish script

The beautiful writing of Dubhghlas de hÍde in traditional Irish script

From the BBC a story that reminds us that many people on this island owe a loyalty to a nation whose roots run far deeper than any modern nation-state (or Occupied territories):

“It was a letter written in a shaky hand by an 85-year-old man and his kind words warmed the hearts of a fledgling Irish language community in east Belfast.

He had been born in Armagh 85 years ago and now lives in Derry, he wrote in fine Old Irish script.

He likes to keep up with home and he read in the Armagh Observer about how the loyalist community had connected with the Irish language. It heartened him.

It is “our lovely language” said the letter writer – and he included a cheque for £100 to help someone else learn Irish.

It was a gesture that touched Linda Ervine’s heart.

She started classes in September at the East Belfast Mission – from one class, the project has grown to five classes.

She takes her work out into the community telling them about the hidden history of Protestants and the Irish language.

Since Linda became Irish language development officer at the East Belfast Mission last September, interest has grown. Her classes include an inter-generational one where all ages can learn together.

Linda’s love affair with the language began after she discovered from censuses that not only did some of her own ancestors speak Irish but that it was also widely spoken in several of the streets in east Belfast.

In the same week that the Armagh man wrote to Linda, Gaelchultur in Dublin sent learning resources worth £100.

“Cluain Ard and the Ultach Trust have also been very good to us. People are so generous,” she said”

Looking at the image of the letter accompanying the BBC piece, penned in traditional Irish script, I am struck yet again by the grievous harm that was done to the continuity of the living Irish language when the Irish print and manuscript alphabets were forcefully abandoned alongside the civil service-driven spelling “reforms” of the 1940s and ’50s. Suddenly an entire generation of adult Irish-speaking men and women found themselves cut adrift from the familiar written form of their language. Likewise, looking back from the early 21st century, literally thousands of Irish books and manuscripts published in the 18th, 19th and early to mid-twentieth centuries have been rendered all but illegible to most contemporary Irish-speakers due to the artificial changes in the language. And all in the name of bureaucratic efficiency. Would the Greeks abandon their ancient alphabet in the name of illusionary cost-savings? A hoax story that recently ran wild on the internet proves that they most certainly would not. But then the Greeks have a pride in their language and culture, a sense of collective ownership that the Irish simply do not.

Related to the issue of allowing faceless bureaucrats to decide (and implement) state policy one is struck by the lack of support from the Government of Ireland for the language initiative in Protestant East Belfast. While this is a delicate matter surely some mechanism could have been created to facilitate direct funding by the Irish state of this most welcome of cultural developments? Perhaps a joint initiative with the British government or via the auspices of the Iomairt Cholm Cille (Columba Project), the body overseeing co-operation on Gaelic-related matters between the Irish and Scottish governments?

As we look for imaginative ways of fostering and growing Irish national identity in the north-east of Ireland can there be anything more genuinely Irish than our indigenous language? And if that can take root again amongst our fellow Irishmen and women, even those who have a sense of Irishness somewhat different from our own, is that not a venture worth supporting?

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Ruairidh Arascain Is Mhàirr

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Ceartas Airson Na Gàidhlig - Justice For The Scottish Language

Ceartas Airson Na Gàidhlig – Justice For The Scottish Language

Good article by Patrick Witt on the Irish Story examining the late 19th and early 20th Scottish Gaelic Republican writer Ruairaidh Arascain (Ruairidh Erskine) and his links with the Irish Revolution:

“This essay aims to shed light on a thread of Scottish nationalism that found inspiration in the Irish Gaelic revival and, later, in the Irish Revolution. The primary subject of this study, Ruairaidh Erskine, did not convert a significant amount of Scots to his irregular orthodoxy. He did, however, form an impressive network of Scottish nationalists. Erskine represents a nexus between Irish separatists and Scottish politicians, labour leaders, and intellectuals. The purpose of this essay is to illuminate an under appreciated connection between Irish separatist thinking and Scottish political thought in the early twentieth century.

In Erskine’s journal, Guth na Bliadhna, (The Voice of the Years) subscribers read essays that communicated themes similar to agrarian activist John Murdoch’s newspaper Highlander, of 1870s and ’80s, namely, the glorification of Highland peasant culture. Yet Erskine also composed grander plans.  For example, in 1906 he provocatively suggested the formation of an Irish-Scottish “Gaelic Confederation.””

The website of the Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) carries a longer piece on the great man. And here is a link to some of his writing and the radical publication Guth na Bliadhna hosted by the Scottish language university Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.

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Margaret Thatcher And The “Valiant” UVF

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Joint footpatrol of British UDA terrorists and British Army soldiers

Joint footpatrol of British UDA terrorists and British Army soldiers, British Occupied North of Ireland, 1970s

Throughout the late 20th century and into the early 21st century the Ulster Volunteer Force or UVF was one of the largest British terrorist organisations on the island of Ireland. From its establishment in 1965 to its cessation of attacks in 2007 the grouping was responsible for thousands of acts of major and minor terrorism. Indeed the forty year war which blighted the north-east of Ireland under the euphemistic title of “the Troubles” began in 1966 with a series of gun and bomb attacks by the UVF that left several people dead, including a 74 year old grandmother and an 18 year old teenager.

Yet the organisation was intimately connected to the British military and paramilitary forces in Ireland, and beyond them the British government itself. Many members of the UVF were serving or former members of the British Army or of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the notorious paramilitary police in the Occupied North of Ireland. They served as soldiers and policemen by day – and gunmen and bombers by night.

Margaret Thatcher touring the British Occupied North of Ireland in 1981 wearing a beret of the UDR, an infamous British Army militia responsible for scores of terrorist attacks during the 1970s, '80s and '90s

Margaret Thatcher touring the British Occupied North of Ireland in 1981 wearing a beret of the UDR, an infamous British Army militia responsible for scores of terrorist attacks during the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s

From the early 1970s onwards the British military and intelligence services organised, trained, armed and financed all the main British terrorist factions in Ireland including the UVF. However, despite the fact that they supposedly fought as part of Britain’s counter-insurgency war against Irish Republicanism the British terror gangs rarely targeted other combatants. Tellingly some 86% of the UVF’s victims were members of the civilian population: Irish men, women and children.

This was not counter-insurgency. This was state-terrorism.

So much so that by the late 1970s even the British no longer could tell the difference between their military, paramilitary and terrorist arms in Ireland. From the Irish human rights organisation, the Pat Finucane Centre, come’s this revelation about Margaret Thatcher’s knowledge of the war against the “Irish liars“:

“As Margaret Thatcher is laid to rest we thought it appropriate to publish two documents we found in the British National Archives. Both have been published before in the chapter we contributed on Loyalist [British terrorist] infiltration of the UDR.

The first document contains the minutes of a meeting between the then head of the Conservative opposition in 1975 (Margaret Thatcher) and the then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, just weeks after the Miami Showband Massacre involving members of the UDR. At page 3 the following fascinating admission is made:

the Secretary of State said….

‘Unfortunately there were certain elements in the police who were very close to the UVF, and who were prepared to hand over information, for example, to Mr Paisley. The Army’s judgement was that the UDR was heavily infiltrated by extremist Protestants, and that in a crisis situation they could not be relied on to be loyal.’

Let no-one claim that the levels of collusion between the RUC, UDR and Loyalist paramilitaries was not known at the highest levels of the British Government and opposition.

The second document also concerns the UVF only by this stage, 1979, Thatcher is the Prime Minister. In a hand written note she urged mention of the‘Volunteer Ulster Defence Regiment (? Is that the name)’. Her officials clearly had difficulty reading her handwriting and the typed version of her comment reads.

(viii) The Prime Minister would also like to see some reference to the valiant work being carried by the Ulster Volunteer Force.

Apparently neither she not her officials were fully cognisant of the difference between the UDR, the largest regiment in the British Army, and the UVF, a Loyalist paramilitary group. On this point at least she found herself in agreement with the [Irish] Nationalist/ Republican community.”

Indeed.

The British government acknowledges the infiltration of the RUC and the UDR by the British terror factions in Ireland, London, 1975

The British government acknowledges the infiltration of the RUC and the UDR by the British terror factions in Ireland, London, 1975

British prime minister Margaret Thatcher confuses the UVF, a British terrorist group in Ireland, with the UDR, a British Army militia in Ireland, 1979

British prime minister Margaret Thatcher confuses the UVF, a British terrorist group in Ireland, with the UDR, a British Army militia in Ireland, 1979

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Irish Ireland Versus Colonial Ireland

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Saoirse

Saoirse

From the Irish Times:

“Campaigners have called on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to take urgent steps to save the buildings that housed the last headquarters of the Provisional Government established in the 1916 Rising.

Relatives of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Republic expressed their shock and anger today at the condition of the buildings on Dublin’s Moore Street following a visit to the site.

James Connolly-Heron, great grandson of Citizen Army leader James Connolly, Helen Litton, great niece of the Irish Republican Brotherhood’s Tom Clarke and Lucille Redmond, grand-daughter of The Irish Volunteer’s Thomas McDonough visited each of the buildings at 14-16 Moore Street this morning. It was the first time the campaigners were given permission to enter the buildings which have been closed to the public since 2008.

The buildings, which date back to 1763, were designated national monuments in 2007 but now face an uncertain future after development company Chartered Land, was granted permission for an 800,000sq ft development on the nearby 2.7-hectare site of the old Carlton Cinema on O’Connell Street in 2010.

A special advisory committee of Dublin City Council recommended recently that Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan withhold the ministerial consent required for development of the site.

Speaking after this morning’s extensive tour James Connolly-Heron expressed his outrage at the “shameful” and “shocking” condition of the buildings.

“I am staggered, I am shocked, I am appalled,” he said.

“These buildings have been abandoned. A cursory glance from the outside would tell you that. But if you walk through them they are in a shocking condition. It’s actually shameful at this stage how they have been allowed to deteriorate.”

Number 16, which he described as “the most important house in the terrace,” is in the “worst condition imaginable”.

Calling on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to intervene, Mr Connolly-Heron said securing the future of the historic buildings is now  “a political decision”.

“We’ve been now waiting for two years for a meeting with the taoiseach about this and that meeting is now imperative.”

“It’s imperative that we meet the taoiseach. It’s imperative that Minister Deenihan takes action. And that action needs to be immediate action. There can no longer be any delay in this – it’s too important.”

Proinsias Ó Rathaille, grandson of Michael Joseph O’Rahilly (The O’Rahilly) who died on a street adjacent Moore St after leading a sortie from the GPO in an attempt to break free said he was “horrified” at the condition of the buildings.”

Given the neo-colonial impulses of the Irish political establishment I fully expect ordinary Irish citizens to go on being “horrified” at the deliberate destruction of our non-British heritage. In fact those impulses are perfectly summed up by one of the Comments left beneath the article:

”Noel Walsh: The G.P.O. is memorial enough for any number of republican insurrections.

[a better memorial would be] … a pluralistic democracy with freedom and equality for all in accordance with the basis our Christian traditions and in peace with our siblings on these British Isles. Our culture would blend with our Anglo Irish heritage in the languages and traditions of Ireland augmented by the status of our Irish nationhood.

What did we get? Rome Rule, Irish Aristocracy (self appointed ones lacking the good manners of their colonial forebears), and random self appointed elites…”

As opposed to the old Anglo-Irish colonial elites chosen by bloodline and the barrel of a gun? Sometimes one wonders if this is 21st century Ireland or 19th century? Honestly, the twisted world-view of the British Apologists on this island-nation never cease to amaze. For more information on the campaign to save the 1916 Battlefield Quarter you can listen to some audio interviews by Newstalk radio.

Irish War Graves Desecrated In Cork

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Tomás Mac Curtain pictured with his wife and young family in March, 1920, just a few days before his murder by the RIC or British paramilitary police in Ireland

Tomás Mac Curtain pictured with his wife and young family in March, 1920, just a few days before his murder by the RIC or British paramilitary police in Ireland

In the wake of TV3′s much criticized drama-documentary “In the Name of the Republic”  I argued that the intent of the Neo-Unionist fringe in Ireland (and their apologists elsewhere) is to falsify and corrupt the Irish people’s understanding of their own history, in particular the period surrounding the War of Independence. This weekend that intent has been given physical form by the true-believers of the revisionist movement. On Saturday historic graves belonging to a number of prominent revolutionaries who fought or died during the 1916-1923 struggle for Irish freedom were desecrated at St Finbarr’s Cemetery in Cork. From the Irish Examiner newspaper:

“Graffiti was daubed on some of the headstones, with slogans including ‘IRA scumbags’ and ‘Fuck the IRA’ painted on others.

Local gardaí and members of the special branch are currently investigating.

Amongst those buried in the plot are former Lord Mayor Tomas MacCurtain, whose headstone was vandalised.

…Tom Barry’s headstone, which isn’t at the plot, was also vandalised – indicating that vandalism was deliberately carried out…”

For those who need reminding Tomás Mac Curtain was the elected Lord Mayor of Cork City who was assassinated in his home on the 20th March 1920 in front of his wife and son by members of the Royal Irish Constabulary. He was just 36 years of age.

So it begins…

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Calvert Watkins, 1933–2013

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Cover of "How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects o...

How To Kill A Dragon, Calvert Watkins

A quick post to note the passing of the great Indo-European historian and linguist Calvert Watkins who died on the 21st of this month at the age of 80. From the Harvard Gazette:

“Watkins’ research was focused on the linguistics and the poetics of all the earlier Indo-European languages and societies, particularly Greek, Latin and Italic, Celtic (especially Early Irish), Anatolian (especially Hittite and Luvian), Vedic Indic, and Old Iranian. Much of his work was also focused on historical linguistic theory and method and Indo-European genetic comparative literature.

Watkins was the author of several books, including, “How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics,” which was awarded the American Philological Association’s Goodwin Prize in 1998. Other books by Watkins include “Indo-European Origins of the Celtic Verb I,” “The Sigmatic Aorist,” and “Indogermanische Grammatik III/1.”

Watkins contributed to dozens of other publications, and authored more than 150 scholarly articles and reviews, more than 50 of which were published in three volumes as selected writings.  On a more popular level, he was the editor of the Indo-European root appendix to the “American Heritage Dictionary,” first published in 1969. Together with an accompanying essay, the appendix was later published in a separate edition and included in subsequent editions of the dictionary.  Accessibly written, it reached a large public and inspired an interest in linguistics and Indo-European in many casual readers, as well as in some who went on to enter the profession.

Watkins was also particularly active in the academic world, serving as president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1988, and was an honorary member of the Royal Irish Academy, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the American Philosophical Society, a corresponding fellow of the British Academy and of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, correspondant etranger, associé etranger, membre de l’Institut.

Watkins is survived by his wife and by four children, Cynthia Watkins, David Cushman, Catherine Cushman, and Nicholas Watkins, and by eight grandchildren.”

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Truth Is The First Casualty Of War

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Cecil O'Donovan, age 18, and his brother Aidan, age 14, murdered by the Royal Irish Constabulary, 20.02.1921

Cecil O’Donovan, age 18, and his brother Aidan, age 14, murdered by the Royal Irish Constabulary, 20.02.1921

Last Monday I watched the second part of TV3’s drama-documentary series, “In the Name of the Republic”, where once again Eunan O’Halpin claimed to offer an analysis of the alleged actions of the Irish Republican Army during the Revolution of 1916-1923. Despite a few days of thinking it over and trying to see some historical value in the whole exercise it is hard to escape the impression that the programme (like the one before it) was anything other than some weirdly anachronistic anti-Irish Republican propaganda film. If fact it could have come straight from the film archives of the British Imperial War Museum, stamped 1921.

Stripped of the shallow pretence of balance it was obvious that the documentary makers had set out to “prove” that the men and women who fought to defend Irish democracy at the start of the 20th century were simply “terrorists” and “murderers” lacking in any sort of electoral mandate or support. In fact, going further, the programme all but justified British colonial rule in Ireland by taking the point of view of the country’s British paramilitary police force, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the British judicial system, the British Occupation Forces and individual members of the Irish population who actively supported or collaborated with British rule.

I suppose if the Revisionist fringe of academia in the southern United States can produce books and movies to “prove” that the Confederacy was actually a paragon of democracy and morality with hundreds of thousands of happy-go-lucky slaves then why not a “reform” of Colonial Ireland? What is it that the Neo-Confederates in the United States now demand as the proper title of the internecine conflict that scarred the nation during the mid-1800s? It’s no longer the American Civil War, it’s now the War Between the States. Or should that be the War of Northern Aggression? 

So what’s next for our own Irish Revisionist tendency? Will the Irish War of Independence become the War of Irish Aggression? Some Neo-Unionists in Ireland are already half-way there with their favoured meme of the moment: the Irish Terror. Not as in the Irish being terrorized by their then colonial rulers from Britain.  Oh no. It’s the other way around. The Irish terrorized the British – and the Irish terrorized the Irish. Or so they would have us believe. And sure, if the facts of history don’t fit that interpretation don’t worry, they will be ignored or replaced with some home-made ones of their own. It worked before. Just ask Peter Hart.

Perhaps I should leave it to others to offer a more studied opinion of the televised theatrics of the TV3 documentary? Professor John Borgonovo has his say in the Irish Examiner:

“In the first episode, viewers met an aged Co Laois man who related his boyhood encounter with a neighbouring farmer, who claimed he had dug up a body while ploughing his field, one of three corpses supposedly buried there by the IRA.

Series host Prof Eunan O’Halpin (of Trinity College Dublin) told the audience his research had uncovered two civilians abducted by the Tipperary IRA and “never seen again”. The rest of the episode attempted to prove his theory that they were interred in this Laois field.

At considerable expense, a team of forensic archaeologists dug up the fine pasture, before informing O’Halpin that no corpses could be located. Meanwhile, O’Halpin travelled to Dublin to request the release of Department of Justice files relating to his two missing men.

The episode concluded with O’Halpin opening the sealed files, only to learn that both had survived the conflict. They were never killed by the IRA, much less secretly buried in Laois. The obvious lesson here is: Finish your research before you rent the JCB.

Undeterred, in the second episode, O’Halpin moves to more fertile ground in Cork City and Knockraha, a village a few miles east of Cork. In recent years, the area has attracted considerable speculation about the killing of alleged informers, especially Protestants.

Much interest stems from Gerard Murphy’s 2011 book, The Year of Disappearances, which received overwhelmingly negative reviews from historians concerned by his over-reliance on folklore and supposition. Murphy’s unlikely theories of covert revolutionary activity in Cork included the IRA’s unrecorded killing of up to 30 Freemasons in the spring of 1922, and the drowning of Protestant schoolchildren by IRA intelligence agent Josephine Brown.

The absence of such dramatic events in contemporary and later records (civilian, military, governmental, and religious) leads me to conclude that they did not occur. I was surprised, therefore, by the sight of Murphy relating additional theories for In the Name of the Republic.”

Surprise is one way of putting it. But then birds of a feather an’ all that.

Meanwhile historian John Dorney, who’s truly excellent website The Irish Story has gone to great lengths to present a dispassionate and fair evaluation of the revolutionary period, examines the issue of the 200 “murders” Eunan O’Halpin alleges were carried out by the Irish Republican Army:

“Immediately this set alarm bells ringing. In 2012, O’Halpin published the first results of his and Daithí Ó Corráin’s research, which revealed that the IRA in the War of Independence, was responsible for 281 of the 898 civilian fatalities, with British forces being responsible for 381. A further 236 deaths could not be confidently attributed to any party (the IRA, loyalist, rioters, undercover Crown forces).

This brings up two questions – first of all, where did all the extra ‘disappeared’ victims come from? There was no effort made in the programme to verify this figure of 200 secret killings by the IRA. Secondly, given that state forces actually killed more civilians, why was this not given greater prominence in the programme?

Even worse was the programme quoting the Royal Irish Constabulary as an impartial witness to events. An RIC DI was quoted saying,  ‘People are afraid to be associated with the forces of the crown’, by an IRA – ‘system of universal terrorism’, and called for the ‘extermination of these bandits’. What else would a party to a counter insurgency campaign say?

In the second part, looking at County Cork, it was alleged that the IRA Cork Number 1 Brigade, which covered north Cork and the city, abducted and killed up to 90 victims and secretly buried them on the farm of one Martin Corry.

Corry claimed in his IRA pension that 27 bodies were buried on his farm and in a bog (now forest) called Knockraha. In recordings in the 1970s he claimed that there were ’60 even’. The problem with this testimony is that there does not seem to have been 60, 90 or even 30 victims missing that could fit into the alleged mass graves. Corry for instance told local historian Jim Fitzgerald that 17 ‘Camerons’ (of the Highland Cameron regiment) were buried there. In fact, John Borgonovo tells us, the regiment had only 3 men missing in its time in Cork.

I am informed that Jim Fitzgerald himself estimates that between Corry’s farm and Knockraha there may be 15 bodies buried. The figure of 90 secret deaths comes from Gerard Murphy, whose book, the Year of the Disappearances, was rightly savaged here on the Irish Story by Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc for presenting supposition as evidence.

But there was no evidence presented for scores of disappeared civilians. Nor for tendentious talk about the Cork IRA’s campaign of ‘extortion’ and ‘torture’. The casual viewer would never have guessed that the IRA represented a political movement with overwhelming electoral support in the elections of 1918 and 1920.

…this was a bafflingly biased programme. It presented and inflated all the bad things the IRA did, shorn of context while proposing a thesis of hundreds of disappeared which was never even remotely proved.

So why the sensational anti-republican tone of ‘In the Name of the Republic’?

There is nothing to be gained by treating nationalist history as a sacred cow but nothing either by making radical claims unsupported by evidence.”

But that begs the question, is there nothing to be gained by the falsification of Irish history as it relates to the War of Independence? Or are there in fact real political gains to be made by inflicting untold damage on the Irish people’s understanding of their own history? Are we seeing in Ireland a larger “culture war”, as has been witnessed in the United States, over the nation’s past, present and future? A war played out in the pages of our national newspapers every week, and on our radios and TVs? The United States has Glenn Beck or Fox News. We have Kevin Myers or the Sunday Independent. In the struggle between Progressives and Regressives in Ireland the Irish Revolution represents the greatest loss of status and influence for the latter. Is it any wonder that they wish to contest it, even in retrospect?

And what about Ireland’s British-owned television channel TV3? Some more analysis and dramatic re-enactments of supposed events from world history in a series of exciting new TV programmes? Perhaps the “truth” about Anne Frank? Or a sympathetic examination of the Lost Cause? But after the farce of the last two weeks will anyone be watching?

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The United States And It’s Irish Revolutionaries

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John Boyle O'Reilly Irish revolutionary and Fenian prisoner in Australia

John Boyle O’Reilly, Irish revolutionary and Fenian prisoner in British Australia, 1866

Two articles from the United States exploring the Irish Republican heritage of Ireland and the US. First up is the Past Imperfect history blog of the Smithsonian Museum examining one of the most famous prison escapes in history: the Catalpa Rescue of 1876. Carried out by the American-based Clann na nGael (CnanG) and its counterpart in Ireland, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), the operation freed six Fenian revolutionaries from British captivity in Australia and galvanised world opinion in favour of the cause of Irish freedom.

“The plot they hatched was as audacious as it was impossible—a 19th-century raid as elaborate and preposterous as any Ocean’s Eleven script. It was driven by two men—a guilt-ridden Irish Catholic nationalist, who’d been convicted and jailed for treason in England before being exiled to America, and a Yankee whaling captain—a Protestant from New Bedford, Massachusetts—with no attachment to the former’s cause, but a firm belief that it was “the right thing to do.”  Along with a third man—an Irish secret agent posing as an American millionaire—they devised a plan to sail halfway around the world to Fremantle, Australia, with a heavily armed crew to rescue a half-dozen condemned Irishmen from one of the most remote and impregnable prison fortresses ever built.

To succeed, the plan required precision timing, a months-long con and more than a little luck of the Irish. The slightest slip-up, they knew, could be catastrophic for all involved. By the time the Fremantle Six sailed into New York Harbor in August, 1876, more than a year had passed since the plot had been put into action. Their mythic escape resonated around the world and emboldened the Irish Republican Brotherhood for decades in its struggle for independence from the British Empire.”

From the mid-1800s onwards several Irish-American revolutionary organisations operating in the United States and Ireland (as well as globally) were referred to as Fenians, an umbrella title used both by supporters and opponents. These were the Fenian Brotherhood (the FB and the original Fenian organisation), the Clann na nGael (the CnanG which has survived in various forms into the 21st century), the United Irishmen, the Irish National Brotherhood and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (the original and long-lasting sister-organisation of the Fenian Brotherhood).

Meanwhile the Huffington Post carries a story on New York’s Irish revolutionary links examining the American-related lives of James Connolly, Jim Larkin and Éamon de Valera.

The Battle of Eccles Hill a young soldier of the Irish Republican Army military wing of the Fenian Brotherhood

The Battle of Eccles Hill – a young soldier of the Irish Republican Army, the military wing of the Fenian Brotherhood (FB), lies slain on a roadway during the 1870 invasion of Canada

Out of interest, below is a casualty list of the first known soldiers of a military force styling itself the Irish Republican Army or IRA to die on active service. The thirteen men were slain or mortally wounded while fighting in Canada during the Fenian Invasion of June, 1866, and all were members of the military wing of the Fenian Brotherhood; known variously as the Irish Republican Army, the Army of the Irish Republic, the Irish Army, the Army of Ireland or the IRA.

“Thomas Rafferty, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Patrick Buckley, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Major John C. Canty [Caunty], 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Colour-Sergeant Michael Cochrane, James Hugh Haggerty’s Company, Terre Haute, Indiana, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

James John Geraghty [Gerrahty], 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Captain Donohoe [Donoghue], 19th Regiment “Irish Republic Volunteers”, Cincinnati,  Ohio, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Lieutenant Edward R. Lonergran, 7th Regiment “The Irish Army of Liberation”,  Buffalo, New York, United States. Died on active service 02-06-1866.

Edward [Richard] Scully, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 09-06-1866.

Private John Lynch, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Died on active service 11-06-1866.

Sergeant John Lynch, 18th Regiment “The Cleveland Rangers”, Cleveland, Ohio, United States.  Died of wounds received while on active service 27-07-1866.

Lt. Colonel Michael Bailey, 7th Regiment “The Irish Army of Liberation”, Buffalo, New York, United States. Died of wounds received while on active service 18-01-1868.

S. Thompson, 13th Regiment Memphis Company, Tennessee, United States. Died of wounds received while on active service ?-?-?”

During the Easter Rising of 1916 and the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic, several existing Irish revolutionary groups came together to form a new Army of the Irish Republic or Irish Republican Army. These were principally the Irish Volunteers (Óglaigh na hÉireann or ÓnahÉ) and the Irish Citizen Army (Arm Cathartha na hÉireann). This is why the IV/ÓnahÉ is commonly known in the English language as the Irish Republican Army or IRA.

Below is the RTÉ drama-documentary, “The Catalpa Rescue”.

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Anne Frank – The Teenage Girl Who Terrifies The Neo-Nazi Right

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The Diary Of Anne Frank - real history versus Neo-Nazi history

The Diary Of Anne Frank – real history versus Neo-Nazi history

There is a sickeningly offensive pseudo-factual claim being passed around by closet Neo-Nazis, anti-Semites and Far Right racists on various social media at the moment, with Facebook in particular serving as the main medium of exchange. The posting alleges that the world-famous historical diary of Anne Frank, which recounts two years of her life and that of her family in the German Occupied Netherlands during World War II, is a fake. A work of fiction, in fact, dating from the 1950s. This, of course, is utterly untrue and flies in the face of decades of historical studies of the Frank family and the terrible times they lived in.

Let me be quite clear in my view on this. Those who promote this Nazi propaganda are themselves Nazi-sympathisers. They are ignorant, uneducated, hate-filled bigots hiding behind supposed concerns about historical accuracy or truth. I’m asking anyone who encounters this counter-factual nonsense to report it – and those who post, Share, Tweet or Like it.

Ireland – Poster Child Of The Stockholm Syndrome

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Patty Hearst in front of the insignia of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)

Patty Hearst in front of the insignia of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)

Andrew S. Loveland has an interesting post over on The Frumious Bandersnatch examining the famous (if exceptional) psychological condition known as the Stockholm Syndrome:

“In 1973, Jan-Erik Olsson and Clark Olofsson entered the Kreditbanken premises in Stockholm fully intending to relieve the bank of it’s coffers. The heist failed miserably and the men subsequently took three females and one male employee hostage. The Swedish clerks were kept for six days in a vault during which time they were frequently held at gunpoint and on several occasions were asked to place nooses about their necks and strap bombs to their bodies.

Despite the trauma of such events, when the attempt to free them came, the four hostages fought with their captors against the police. Upon their release one of the hostages even went so far as to set up a fund for the hostage takers’ legal fees.

The rather bewildering response to this incident from the victims led to the term ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ being coined by the Swedish criminologist and psychiatrist, Nils Bejerot during a news broadcast following the events as a nation sought to come to terms with what they had witnessed.

Despite the number of high profile cases however, there remains to be found a coherent and consensus agreement on precisely what criteria needs be met before Stockholm Syndrome can emerge. Several traits ought to be present in any case,

- a severely uneven power relationship whereby the captor dictates what can/cannot be done by the victim

- a perceived threat, either real or imagined, at the hands of the captor

- occasional kindnesses shown by the captors toward the victim

- isolation of perspectives other than that of the captor

- a perceived inability, either real or imagined, to escape

Reviewing the list above however, I am more than content to posit the idea that Scotland presently is experiencing something of a societal Stockholm Syndrome, a creeping sentiment that has gradually but inexorably stolen into our nation’s psyche.”

The full article is well worth reading as Loveland uses this paradigm to explore the current state of Nationalist and Unionist politics in contemporary Scotland. However the concept of a “national” Stockhom Syndrome also has some applicability for us here in Ireland, not least in describing the obsessional relationship many Irish people have with our nearest neighbour – and former colonial masters – in Britain. And latterly, of course, the EU. For one of the characteristics of the syndrome is the fanatical need of the victim to be accepted by the victimiser as an equal. To be like them. Indeed, to be one of them. In the process the captive abandons their own identity and adopts that of the captive-taker.

Sound familiar?

The Blether Region

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Sign in County Down, Ireland, with English, Irish and Irish-Scots text

Sign in County Down, Ireland, with English, Irish and Irish-Scots text

A quick post to highlight one of the best language and culture blogs in Ireland. Since 2009 the Blether Region has been posting forthright views on the languages of the north of Ireland and their complex interactions with history, society, technology and politics in that part of the country. Some of the most interesting (and well written) articles on Irish, English and Irish-Scots that I have read have been posted by the Scots Anorak and the site certainly deserves more exposure. So here it is!

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More Accounts Of Death Squad Britain

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General Sir Frank Kitson, the British Army's death squad supremo in Ireland during the 1970s

General Sir Frank Kitson, the British Army’s death squad supremo in Ireland during the 1970s

Veteran Irish journalist and author Ed Moloney and his colleague Bob Mitchell continue their investigations into the Military Reaction Force (MRF), a British Army death squad that operated in the north-east of Ireland during the early 1970s. Its notoriety and reckless nature (with carloads of heavily armed undercover soldiers carrying out random drive-by shootings of the civilian populace in the city of Belfast) eventually led to its replacement with a number of other covert groups including the infamous Force Research Unit or FRU. By examining the 1972 attempted assassination of Brendan Hughes, Officer Commanding D Company, 2nd Battalion, Belfast Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (and widely regarded as one of the most effective and thoughtful field commanders of his generation), Moloney and Mitchell have uncovered new evidence of the British Army’s modus operandi during the early years of the war in the North of Ireland. Evidence which corroborates Brendan Hughes own testimony of events from that time.

The military mastermind behind the introduction of the MRF and other covert units was the British death squad supremo, General Sir Frank Kitson GBE, KCB, MC & Bar, DL. On the basis of his “successes” in Ireland he rose to become Commander-in-Chief of the British Land Forces and Aide-de-Camp to the British head of state in the 1980s. In this BBC news-documentary from 1975 examining “war gaming” exercises Kitson can be viewed in action. The nature of the exercise, as described by the BBC Panorama programme, show that the concerns and ambitions of the British Army leadership in the 1970s ran far beyond the conflict in Ireland:

“Filmed at the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland, this programme offers a fascinating insight into officer training. Six years in Northern Ireland have given the British Army unique experience in counter insurgency and internal security techniques. Sandhurst recognises that the Army’s Ulster experience could – one day – have to be used in Britain, and there is a need to train officers for that possibility. So imagine a world where Scotland has left the United Kingdom, where some English cities are thinking of following suit and where law and order is breaking down in our towns. It may seem far fetched, but the recruits of Sandhurst are presented with just such a scenario.”

If you have difficulty viewing the documentary due to your location try installing Tor on your device (video guide here). The new investigation by Ed Moloney and Bob Mitchell, using redacted British military records, can be read in full here.

UPDATE: Here is the BBC 1975 Panorama documentary featuring Kitson, via YouTube (indirect link I’m afraid).

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How Can The Irish State Ignore The Wishes Of 41% Of Its Citizens?

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Tiocfaidh Ár Phéig

Tiocfaidh Ár Phéig

An article in the Irish Times by Seán Tadgh Ó Gairbhí examining the reaction of people in Ireland to the texting in the Irish language by the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is well worth reading. As are the many Comments underneath. Some are positive. Some are simply depressing.

“On Monday night, Chris Hadfield became the nation’s favourite Canadian astronaut when he tweeted a picture of Ireland from space accompanied by a message in Irish – “Tá Éire fíorálainn!”

In charming us with a few judiciously chosen words of our native tongue, the commander was following the recent example of two more illustrious foreigners.

In May 2011, the Queen of England left our then president Mary McAleese open-mouthed in disbelief with a majestically delivered “Go raibh maith agat” and, just a few days later, Barack Obama had a crowded College Green in raptures with that riff on his can-do battle cry for the ages, “Is féidir linn”.

It appears that the sound of a stranger speaking Irish gives us a fuzzy feeling of self-worth, a feeling not to be had from, say, speaking Irish ourselves.

“Wow, I can feel the warmth of the Irish all the way up here. . .” Hadfield later tweeted, adding a “go raibh maith agaibh!” that ensured there was more Irish used in the International Space Station this week than most Irish people would use in a year.

Still, there was something genuine about the affection for the language evident in the response to Hadfield. Maybe this was because the commander’s tweet, for all its otherworldliness, was more authentic than either Obama’s or the banríon’s cúpla focal.

Meanwhile, in a galaxy not so far away called the Gaeltacht, Irish is dying as the language of the home and community. It is dying because that is what usually happens to languages like Irish, but it is also dying because of official neglect and a failure to take the measures needed to save it.

The most recent study in this area suggested that unless radical action was taken, Irish had only 15 to 20 years left as the primary community language in even the strongest Gaeltacht areas.

That was in 2007.

In response, three years later, in 2010, the last government published a 20-year strategy for the language. Three years on and the present Government has been slow in implementing that strategy. Instead, it has diluted what was already an overly aspirational plan by making several decisions that undermine it.

It is difficult to ascertain how many people really care about the preservation of Irish as no government has been willing to take a political gamble that the type of affection provoked by Hadfield’s tweet might be sincere.

This is despite the existence of plenty of earthly evidence that proves a considerable majority of us have a favourable attitude to Irish.

Would the public support a radical, well-resourced plan to save the Irish language? Would such a plan work? We might never know. Because it seems that, to adapt the tagline from the movie Alien, in the Gaeltacht, nobody can hear you scream.”

Exactly that sort of “gamble” was taken in Québec thirty-six years ago when the Parti Québécois provincial government introduced the Charter of the French Language (La charte de la langue française) in August of 1977. At the time of its introduction it was widely accepted in Québec and Canada that French would soon be a minority language, a language that would almost certainly disappear from the North American continent within the next 50 years. However the Charter and the positive attitudes engendered by its application reversed that situation. By 2011 the number of French-speaking citizens had soared to 80% of the population of Québec with a further 14% reporting various degrees of fluency as non-native speakers.

In Ireland the Irish language has the unique legal position under Article 8.1 of the Constitution of being both the national and first official language of the state. In contrast under Article 8.2 the English language is accorded the lesser status of being simply a second official language. However the primary position of Irish is undermined by the anomalous Article 8.3 which permits the state to conduct any and all official business through either of the two official languages. Which is why we currently have a de facto English state in Ireland rather than an Irish one since the English language has always been the default option preferred by the political establishment.

One way we could change this situation is through an amendment of Article 8.3 of the Constitution, as I argued here. A carefully worded and thought-out amendment making Irish the default language of the state (which is clearly the intent behind Article 8.1) would transform the rights of Irish-speaking citizens and communities in this country.

As things stand over 41% of the population of Ireland declared themselves to have an ability to speak Irish in the 2011 Census of Ireland. That is 1.77 million people, a rise from 1.66 million in the previous census of 2006. Another rise was the number of daily and weekly speakers of Irish, 4.4% of the population or 187,827 people (making Irish the second most-spoken language). On top of this was the 613,236 who claimed to speak Irish less than weekly. Using these and other statistics from the 2011 census we can calculate that out of a total population of 4,588,252 people some 801,063 are speakers of Irish: that is people who speak Irish daily, weekly or less than weekly. That is the number, as unwilling as some Anglophone fundamentalists are to accept it, who speak Irish in Ireland. 801,063 people or some 17% of the total population.

In addition to that number there is another 24% of the population who either have some degree or knowledge of Irish or else wish to express their identification with it. To mark the language as their own. This is what happened in the 2011 Census and this is the 41% of the nation’s population that supports, wholeheartedly, the Irish language and the rights of Irish-speaking citizens.

As much as the militant extreme of English-speakers would wish it otherwise, with their knowingly untrue claims that Irish-speakers represent 1% of the population or statistical falsehoods about Polish being the second most spoken language in Ireland (2.6% of the total population, in fact), this is the unpalatable truth they fear so much. Irish-speaking citizens are not a majority, or even a particularly sizeable minority. But they are 17% of the population of Ireland. And together with English-speaking peers they make up the 41% of the population which supports our indigenous language and culture.

And it is time that they made their voices heard.

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Brothers In Arms? Ireland And Israel

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Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog - the Sinn Fein Rabbi

Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog – the Sinn Féin Rabbi

The excellent history site, The Irish Story, has recently posted two articles examining the ideological similarities between Irish and Israeli nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries and the fraternal links between the Republican and Zionist revolutionary movements in Ireland, Europe and North America. Its fascinating stuff and something I’ve developed an interest in over the last decade and more thanks to my frankly envious admiration for the revival of the Hebrew language (as noted here several times).

And before anyone starts leaving Comments attacking my expressions of admiration for Israel I shall note my critical stand on Israel’s deviation away from the left-of-centre principals of many of its founders and the appalling treatment of the Palestinian people that I highlighted here. Many forget that once upon a time Israel was the darling of the radical Left in Europe and beyond. Every good Trot wanted to sojourn on a kibbutz in the 1950s and ’60s.

As for the insidious canard spread by the fundamentalist Protestant Right in the United States that Ireland is anti-Semitic. Well much of it is patently racist in tone, that old strain of anti-Irish bigotry disguised as something new, with a typically swivel-eyed example here for you to read (if you have the stomach for it). I have had my own clashes with the crazies of the American Far Right, self-informed demagogues who rapidly crumble when challenged over their laughably false accusations of historic anti-Jewish sentiment in Ireland.

I wonder, now, does anyone remember Sarah Medali, a Russian-born Jewish mother of three children, murdered by the British Occupation Forces on Friday the 10th of December 1920 in a raid that heralded a pogrom in the City of Cork by the British Forces that left 17 dead and wounded (including a Catholic priest, Thomas Magnier) and culminated in the burning of the city? Certainly not the opportunistic militant Christian defenders of Israel pursuing their own death-craving vision of a new Jerusalem.