Springhill Heroes

When I was a wee buck growing up in Ballymurphy there was a river at the back of the houses across from our home place at the corner of Glenalina Road and Divismore Park. The river ran the length of our street and the length of Ballymurphy Road before exiting below the Whiterock Road and into the City Cemetery. From there it meanders down to and under the Falls Road beside the Bus Depot and onwards to the Bog Meadows. You can see it there to this day.  The stretch which used to border our street was long ago captured and incarcerated in a pipe below ground.

Before then it was one of our favourite places to play. The Ordinance Survey maps name this rivulet as the Ballymurphy Stream.  I can’t find its Irish name. It rises in the mountain and cuts under the Springfield Road beneath a very high arch just up from our street. It used to be at its widest at that point. Perfect for jumping. Swinging across on a rope. Falling in. Catching frogs. Plastic sandals were all the go. Perfect for walking on water. 

Tiocfaidh ár lá

It does not feel as if 45 years have passed since the death on 5 May 1981 of Bobby Sands on hunger strike. Bobby’s death and that of his nine comrades changed so much in our struggle and opened up so many new opportunities that it is rightly viewed as a tipping point in recent Irish history.

On Sunday former hunger striker Pat Sheehan MLA gave a wonderful speech at Bobby’s statue in Twinbrook. The courage and heroism of the ten men who died and those who took part in the hunger strike, and of Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg, are a huge part of our republican history. 

But we should never lose sight of the fact that Bobby and his comrades in the H-Blocks and in Armagh Women’s Prison were more than political prisoners. They were family members, friends, neighbours. Comrades. They were ordinary young men and women who enjoyed life. 

Free Marwan Bargouti

Freedom struggles across the globe have their heroes. Nelson Mandela, Che Guevara, Bobby Sands and in Palestine, Marwan Bargouti .

Last September a mural celebrating Marwan’s leadership and resistance to Israeli occupation and the oppression of the Palestinian people,was unveiled at the international wall on Bóthár na bhFál. Two weeks ago at the Ard Fheis I met with Marwan’s son Arab. Since then we have spoken by zoom. His family and those, like me, who believe he should be released are fearful for his life.