Prison Poems by Bobby Sands

In a recent interview Christy Moore remarked that the death of Bobby Sands robbed us of a great writing talent. Christy was praising the quality of the work Bobby created in the harsh conditions he endured. He was making the point that you can only imagine what Bobby might have gone on to produce in different circumstances where his creative imagination could have been nurtured and not repressed. But of course this was not to be. Bobby led the second hunger strike in the H-Blocks of Long Kesh and he was the first of the ten men who fasted to death in that awful summer of 1981.

Rally to Defend Moore St this weekend

The campaign to protect the 1916 Moore St Battlefield site from demolition is moving up a gear. As regular readers will know An Bord Pleanála  - the planning authority in the South – gave the go ahead recently for the Hammerson development plan which will see much of this historic site reduced to rubble.

Irish government fails Palestinians

More massacres. More children dead and maimed. More civilians killed by the Israeli government in a series of deadly assaults in Gaza and Lebanon. Health workers, journalists, and children continue to be the preferred targets for a right wing Israeli government that is being armed, funded and empowered by its western allies.

ON Saturday night I was privileged to attend the oíche mhór Ghlór na Móna in Belfast’s City Hall. The event was to celebrate twenty years of this amazing Irish language initiative made up mostly of and aimed at young people in the Upper Springfield area. It was a great night. Packed out with young Gaeilgeoirí. But there was also a good clatter of veteran campaigners. The pioneers who gave us the Shaws Road Gaeltacht, An Chultúrlann, Lá, Raidió Fáilte, An Meánscoil (now Coláiste Feirste), an Cheathrú Ghaeltachta and many other wonderful cultural and communal creations, including a thriving Irish medium education sector.Protest and book launch

Moore St 
THE threat by English developer Hammerson to demolish much of the 1916 Moore Street Battlefield site in Dublin was given the green light by An Bord Pleanála several weeks ago. The Moore Street Preservation Trust, which is led by the relatives of the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation, is currently discussing the legal options available to it to challenge this decision.Roy remained unbowed and unbroken

Roy Walsh
ROY Walsh was born on November 1, 1948. He died on October 16 after a long illness, which he faced with the same grit and humour that he had faced life. 

Ethel Kennedy

It was with sadness I heard last week of the death of Ethel Kennedy, the wife of assassinated US Senator Robert Kennedy. She was aged 96. Ethel Kennedy was with her husband in Los Angeles in 1968 when he was shot and killed. She was left to rear 11 children. It was a huge blow to her and to the family. Ethel’s response was to found the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights, along with her brother-in-law Sen. Teddy Kennedy. The Centre advocates for gun control and human rights. She was also active in the Special Olympics, and in her eighties she took part in 2016 in a demonstration in support of higher pay for farmworkers in Florida.

Irish America’s role in Irish Unity

Last week Friends of Sinn Féin in the USA organised the first of a planned series of public discussions on Irish Unity and the role of Irish America and the USA in achieving that objective. The American events – and those in Canada that will come later – are mirrored on the People’s Assemblies organised by Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland. They are intended to engage with the diaspora and others in North America and to help inform the work of the Commission and of Sinn Féin.

Leo’s unity words are welcome

Irish Unity is the big idea that will positively transform society on this island. Its popularity is growing and the economic, political, and social arguments in support of it are advancing each day. The recent interventions by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are an example of this. In June at the Ireland’s Future event in Belfast he said that the goal of a united Ireland had to be more than a “political aspiration.” It needed to become a “political objective.”

Seeds For The Future. 

This is the season for tree planting. That is for planting bare root trees. Any month with an ‘R’ in it is the general rule for tree planters, though there is always a debate on whether planting should happen before or after the risk of frost. As an ad hoc tree planter who struggles to get free time I think September or October are fairly safe even in these muddled climate changing times. I try to plant native broad leaf species though some like the Beech or Horse Chestnut are here for so long that they are probably naturalised by now.

 It didn’t begin a year ago

At the weekend millions of people across the world took to the streets in solidarity with the people of Palestine and those of Lebanon. The decision by the governments of the USA, Germany, Britain and the EU to back Israel has unleashed a vicious war on the Middle East. Monday marked one year since the 7 October attack by Hamas. The nature of that attack was and remains unacceptable. But the viciousness and brutality of the Israeli response has been unparalleled in modern times.

WIN. 

This year’s Sinn Féin Ard Fheis last weekend was full of enthusiasm and passion with great speeches covering every issue imaginable and the delegates voting through policy motions that will help shape Sinn Féin politics in the time ahead. The speeches, particularly from Michelle O’Neill and other national leaders demonstrated the strength and relevance of the party across our island. 

South Africa Supports Irish Unity.

Irish Republicans have had a long and enduring relationship with the African National Congress. In 1995 I travelled to South Africa to meet its senior team of negotiators who successfully achieved an end to apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela as President. In the midst of the negotiations around the Good Friday Agreement some of those senior figures travelled to Ireland to hold public meetings and go into the prisons to talk about their experience of negotiations. That relationship has remained strong over the years thanks in part to the hard work of Declan Kearney, Sinn Fein Party Chairperson

.Irish government must take a stand against Israel

Last week most of the governments of the world turned their back on Israel as Benjamin Netanyahu took to the rostrum at the 79th United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York. Netanyahu claimed that “no army has done what Israel is doing to minimise civilian casualties” and as he described the United Nations as an “anti-semitic swamp” and an “anti-Israel Flat Earth Society,” scores of UN delegates got up and walked out. Regrettably, the Irish government representatives stayed.

Moore St. Demolition Gets Green Light

The battle to save the iconic 1916 Moore Street Battlefield site has been ongoing for over 20 years. During that time there have been a series of plans by developers, appeals against those plans, court cases, protests and sit-ins. Last week, in an appalling decision An Bord Pleanála (ABP) – the Planning Authority in the Irish State – ruled on the remaining appeals and published its recommendations on the future development of the site.

Máire Ferguson

Every week seems to bring the death of the last of that generation who kept freedoms flame lit in the twilight decades of the republican struggle from the 1950s on. Emmett O Connell from the South Bronx was one of these. Tá sé ar slí an fhirrne anios. So was Máire Ferguson.

Casement Must Be Built Now. 

British government policy toward Ireland has long been dictated by Britain’s strategic self-interests. From the conquest of Ireland nine centuries ago to partition the needs of the people of Ireland have played no meaningful part in the decision making processes of a British state that focusses primarily on the interests of England and the English economy. Consequently, Labour and Tory governments have each ensured that funding from Westminster has never been adequate to deal with the many social and economic demands of society here. The North – denied our right to our own fiscal powers - is a partitioned backwater that has consistently been at the bottom of London’s agenda.

Sean Brown

The refusal of the British to hold a public Inquiry into the killing of Sean Brown is also particularly reprehensible. At the inquest it was revealed that 25 people, including state agents, had been linked to Mr Brown's murder and that surveillance on a key suspect – Mark Fulton - was suspended the night before the murder and reinstated the following day.

Prepare for Unity

This column makes no apology for believing the people of the island of Ireland have the right to self-determination. But there is now a growing body of public opinion beyond Irish republicans who believe that the current constitutional arrangements are not working. On the contrary it is self-evident – as evidenced by the recent decisions - that the union with Britain works to our disadvantage. We therefore need to honestly, respectfully, and publicly encourage a conversation that looks beyond the current deeply flawed constitutional arrangements and examine the enormous potential that Irish Unity offers.

The Far Right and Social Media

There has been a significant increase in recent times in far right racist, islamophobic and hate attacks on social media. The purpose of these has been to promote a climate of fear through a range of conspiracy theories from climate change, to migration and asylum seekers, to direct interference in elections. Sinn Féin and Friends of Sinn Féin (FoSF) in the USA have become a particular target for these social media accounts. The most consistent themes are that ‘Ireland is full’, ‘Sinn Féin are traitors’, ‘Sinn Féin favours immigrants over the Irish’, and a wide variety of islamophobic and racist comments.

DeJa Vous

‘As soon as the kids go back to school the sun comes out’ your man mused.

‘It’s always the same,’ he continued, ‘Rain during the holidays and they are cooped up inside playing their devices and all the rest of it. Then school starts again and the sun is splitting the trees and the poor children can’t get out to enjoy it. Stuck in the classroom looking out at the sun.’

Champion Palestinian Self-determination

In less than five weeks the genocidal war by the Israel government against the Palestinian people will enter his second year. Having ruthlessly and cruelly waged war against the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip for 11 months Israel’s war machine has now shifted to a full blown pogrom against the Palestinian people in the occupied territory of the west Bank. Violence from the Israeli military, and from settlers eager to steal Palestinian land and water, had already seen over 600 Palestinians killed in the west Bank since last October. Six hostages died also executed, it appears, in Gaza hours before Israeli forces reached them. All this must be brought to an end. That means dialogue.

 Two Good Women Gone

The recent deaths of Nell McCafferty and Edna O’Brien sparked a period of deserved and fulsome praise across the media for these two outstanding Irish women. I am sure this was a consolation for their families and friends and I extend my condolences and sympathy to them all.