The Irish Republican

I grew up in a trailer park in Orange County, NC but moved to Durham, NC when I was little. Durham is a small southern city that is full of crime and is relatively segregated. Durham is a city that grew during the late 1800s and early 1900s largely because of tobacco. The tobacco industries left (mostly), it is now only holding on to its last thing, Duke University.

My mom made me go to mass every Sunday and hated it, I now like it. My dad wanted me and my brother to grow up protestant. Not because he did but because he grew up hating the Catholic Church. My grandmother was kicked out of it for marrying a protestant. I do not support the Catholic Church fully but I find that it helps me become closer to god.

So, I have been on this forum for almost a year now, and my political views have changed radically since then. Around this time last year I considered my self a conservative republican in America terms, although I didn’t care much for politics. I hated “commies” and supported the Iraq war and Bush. I was and am very interested in history and always did well in it in school. I was most interested in Scottish and confederate history and my heritage (Scottish, and Irish). I knew a little about Ireland but nothing about republicanism and the struggle. I hated “commies” and supported the Iraq war and Bush. I never knew until recently my dad used to consider himself socialist, he now is an independent.

My brother first introduced me to the IRA and the struggle one day while we were looking at YouTube. He showed me a video of a IRA gun battle and then another, and another, and another until we watched every one there was. He knew a lot more then me about the struggle and I wanted to impress him so I went on the internet and learned the most I could. At first I was hesitant, as I did not want to be labeled a terrorist and put on the “no fly list”. But grew some courage and typed the “IRA” into Google. I soon began to learn all I could. One day when I was watching a YouTube video about the struggle I saw that most of the videos were posted by Marky mark, so I viewed his profile and saw a link to irishrepublican.net. Hesitantly I clicked it and saw that it was a forum. I had been on forums before but no political ones. I clicked back, I would not dare join a forum about Irish republicanism, as I Thought it would be very suspicious of me and I would be put on the “no fly list”.

A couple weeks later I decided to go back and join, it was to tempting. I didn’t post at all for a couple of weeks and was horrified that they were people calling the US army and the Israeli army terrorists. And that there were socialists on the forum. On one thread I decided to post supporting the US army, I was quickly put into a debate. It went on for pages and I could never really come up with a good justification for us being in Iraq. So I didn’t post again for a little. I soaked up everything I learned about Irish Republicanism and learned all I could. I still hated “commies” but slowly began to doubt bush and the Iraq war.

After a couple months I completely decided that I did not like bush and did not like the Iraq war. But I wasn’t so sure about this socialism thing. One day I took a political compass survey, I tried to answer as honest as I could. When I got the results I was happy because I landed near Ghandi on the graph. But then I realized that I was on the economic left which meant my views were close to communism. I was confused but accepted it. I thought to my self I might be a communist, the thing I used to hate. I have looked up more about it and found out its not all that bad. Now days I’m still not sure what I am, for sure I know I am a Irish Republican and maybe a socialist. I want to either stay in NC, move out west or move to Ireland when I’m done with school. I hope to learn Gaelic, and all the history I can.

I’m still learning all I can, and I would like to thank the forum and all its members for challenging me. Thanks all who read and hope I didn’t bore ya to death.

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As stated previously, it is not expected the average reader will have a solid understanding of the conflict, or the complex history involved. It is not my intention to address the totality of that history, rather, to highlight one very significant element, that being, the British government’s policy of criminalization of Irish republican prisoners and the denial of political status for those prisoners. The interested reader is encouraged to explore the myriad books written on the subject of Irish political history.

Since 1976, the official policy of the British government, as it relates to republican activity in the North of Ireland, has been one of criminalization. Again, as previously stated, this policy is part of the strategy to change public perception of the nature of the conflict and to downplay the political dimensions by portraying the actions of those who oppose the state as terrorism or ordinary crime rather than part of a national liberation struggle. It offers an alternative interpretation of the nature of the conflict, the nature of the British presence in the North of Ireland and the nature of the state, itself. The label of terrorist or criminal, invites censure and prompts condemnation of those so labeled. Condemnation is easy, even comforting. It brings on an aura of moral righteousness; reality is best dealt with by denying it, for reality is uncomfortable.

The call for the re-institution of Political Status is not a call for empathy or solidarity with Irish republicanism and its goals. It is a call for recognition of the reality of British governmental policy in the North of Ireland, as it relates to Irish republicans.

The Myth of Criminalization

I realize there are a number of barriers, particularly in developed countries, to justifying and acquiring support for the re-institution of Political Status. Those barriers include:

· A limited knowledge of Britain’s history in the North of Ireland

· A belief the Northern Ireland Peace Accord (GFA) has dramatically improved daily life in the North of Ireland

· Post 9-11 fears, both real and manufactured.

I ask the reader to keep an open mind and I appeal to that sense of justice and equality which I believe to be innate in all human beings. Although not always readily evident, these days, I believe, at the core of all mankind, is a firmly rooted sense of each individual human being’s right to freedom and self-determination.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God entitle them, A decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separate. ( U. S. Declaration of Independence)

Most all of us recognize that bit of brilliance. Indeed, throughout the world, independence struggles have been based upon those words. We may not, however, be as familiar with the list of causes the American founding fathers gave as their justification for rebellion. Among them were:

· Denial of the right to representation within governing bodies

· Repeated dissolution of governing bodies and implementation of direct rule

Ireland has been subject to varying degrees of English, and later British, rule since the late twelfth century, up to the Act of Union in 1801, when direct rule from London began, and Ireland was governed by authorities appointed in Britain.

Following the Anglo-Irish war and partition, the North of Ireland was governed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland from 1921 to 1972. The Ulster Unionist Party held the majority and they were free to govern as they saw fit. All nationalist parties were excluded.

Catholics in the North of Ireland were subjected to serious discrimination in the areas of housing, employment, education and voting rights. This is not an opinion, this verifiable fact. The British government criticized the United States government for its discriminatory policies against people of colour in the American South, but allowed the very same discrimination to continue for years, without interference, on its own doorstep. Indeed, many would say, it continues to allow it, to this day.

The modern Northern Ireland Assembly was elected on 25 June 1998 but full powers were not devolved until 2 December 1999. Since that time, the assembly operated only intermittently, and was suspended on four separate occasions with the most recent suspension occurring 14 October 2002. The assembly did not begin operation again until 7 May 2007, a period of over four and a half years. In addition to the suspensions, the British government also cancelled elections scheduled in May 2003. Those elections were not held until November of that year.

The Declaration continues with its list of grievances. Among them:

· Maintaining standing armies in times of peace

· Protecting that army from punishment for crimes committed

http://www.armedforces.co.uk/ SOURCE

As can be seen from these deployment figures, there are more British Army troops stationed in the North of Ireland than in Afghanistan. As late as 2004 there were over 11,000 British Army troops in the North, more than Iraq and Afghanistan, combined. The British government has agreed to decrease the British Army presence in Northern Ireland as the security situation allows.

The incidence of death and injury attributable to members of the British Security Forces are legion. Since the early 1970’s they have been cited repeatedly by Amnesty International, the United Nations and other human rights organizations for a myriad of abuses and civil rights violations. Prosecution are rare, and indeed, even those military personnel convicted of crimes, up to and including murder, have been released and allowed to return to their positions in the Army.

The question is, of course, if there is no war, as has been so often stated by the British government, if the acts of resistance are nothing more than acts of criminality, why an army and why are the members of that army awarded medals for their service in the North of Ireland? Awarded the very same medals their comrades receive for service in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, etc. Why are these mere criminals not being handled as all other criminals throughout the western world are handled….by the police?

Remember this policy is part of the strategy to change public perception of the nature of the conflict and to downplay the political dimensions by portraying the actions of those who oppose the state as terrorism or ordinary crime rather than part of a national liberation struggle. It is an alternative interpretation, but it is not reality.

Political Status is Reality

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Republicanism now finds itself in the same situation it was in during the days the British Government was pushing ahead with it’s policy of Criminalisation, Ulsterisation and Normalisation in the 70s and 80s which was eventually smashed by the Courageous Sacrifice of the Hunger Strikers. Prior to this Republicans couldn’t even muster the support of more than a couple of hundred die-hard supporters and Families to come onto the streets in support of the Blanketmen and Women in Armagh. Those were black and lonely days for Republicanism.
Now almost 30 years later the Brits have relaunched their policy of Criminalisation, Ulsterisation and Normalisation only this time they are able to use that same Republican Movement they were unable to smash then to front that relaunch. Imagine the field day Thatcher would have had if she had Republicans to front her propaganda push against Republicans then.
Could you imagine the outcry if Hume had posed before an Image of Thomas Ashe or stood at Arbour Hill and used the words Criminal and bogus war to describe the Armed Struggle? Yet we have it today when members of SF use the Image of Bobby Sands and the Graves of our fallen dead to peddle this propaganda.
Whether we agree or not with the continuation of Armed Struggle and I have made it known that I don’t agree with it, Republicans who assist in reviving the failed tactic of Criminalisation to try and smash those Republicans opposed to the Ulsterisation and Normalisation of the occupied six Counties are no better than those who gave tacit support to Thatcher. In fact they go further than tacit support because they actively support this policy in as much as they seem to trip over themselves to front the media and play their part in the Criminalisation of Republicans opposed to Stormont, Ulsterisation and Normalisation.
In fact they are proving so good at it that Bush has employed the services of the person most vociferous in the Criminalisation of Republicans to assist in the Iraqisation of the War in that country.

By Patrick Henry.

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At the time of writing a young man, emmett shiels, is lying in a morgue with a bullet wound in his stomach because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Shot at point blank range because he dared to take on a group of local youths who proclaimed to be Republican and fighting for the betterment of their neighbourhood. A tragedy of this magnitude should encourage the Marxists and Republicans in Irish society to start asking themselves how and why something like this can occur. In a part of Ireland which finds itself at the other end of a lenghty and bloody national liberation struggle, this murder should not have happened and strikes deep and hard into the memory of the local masses.

There are two questions that need to be answered in relation to this. Firstly, why is it that a group of youths find it necessary to organise on military lines under the banner of republicanism to defend there neighbourhood? And secondly, why do these youths believe that militarism is the way to defend their neighbourhood?

Without considering the militarist aspect to the defending/organising of this group of youths lets firstly ask ourselves why they might feel the need to defend or organise at all?

These youths are between the ages of 17 and 23 so they don’t have the same memories of the struggle as older members of that community have, but yet they still seem to want to go back to what the provisional movement were doing 20 or so years ago. Why is this? It seems that the largest republican bloc (PSF) have let these youths down. The direction of PSF has not encouraged these youths to take on board their political persuasion, infact the only people seeming to go along with the direction of PSF are the older people of the community. Is this because there memories of armed resistence are different than those of the youths? The last thing these people want is a return to war, they have seen that it was a futile attempt at the time and it would be a futile attempt now. Any political strategy that wasnt fascism would be embraced by the people of the bogside just for the sake of peace. This surely isn’t the singular reason for the older generation in accepting the petty-bourgeoisie politics of the provisional movement, but it is a strong argument and one we cant ignore in relation to this tragedy.

The youth still find it nesecarry to be active in the national liberation struggle simply because that struggle has been left alone by PSF. The GFA is a defeat for PSf when it comes to the unification of Ireland, and the youth can see this. This is the failing of PSF, they have taken with them the battered and war weary of their own generation, but they have left the progressive youth behind. We can atleast take one fact from this, if the youth are still trying to organise-even in the wrong way- then the policy of PSF has failed. If there was even a possibility that the national liberation struggle could be tackled from within the framework of the GFA (good friday Aggreement) then the youth would not feel the need to organise in their communities under the banner of republicanism.

The militarist nature of this organisation on the other hand cannot be solely blamed on the provisional movement. The IRSM were also very active during the national liberation struggle so any problems we may have with the militarist nature of this group of youths has to be directed at the IRSP/INLA aswell. The national liberation struggle didnt have to be a militarist one, but the PIRA and INLA took on the idea that it had. Lets not assume it was the wrong decision or that the national liberation movement had much choice after the behaviour of the British establishment during the civil rights movement but if we can agree that it wasnt the only option available at the time it would be enough for this discussion.

Militarism has turned into a cancer in Northern Ireland society. The tactics of the Republican movement have changed little since the days of the 1916 rising. The IRA’s support would rise and fall with the particular societal circumstances it found itself in but its tactics would never change. It has always been about trying to win the support of the masses for armed resistence and not about changing the tactics of republicanism to gain the support of the masses. This had not changed up untill the provisional leadership started to move away from militancy, through socialism and into neo-liberalism. The tag of socialism was only taken on board by the provisional movement because they needed a transition of radical ideology. They couldnt see the prospect of hopping from militarism to neo-liberalism so they fooled the membership into thinking they were radical by assuming a “socialist” position during the late 70’s. This enabled them to move towards neo-liberalism because the threat of having there own guns fired on them was dealt with and also because they failed,purposely, to instil a solid socialist theory into the grass roots during there “socialist” stage.If there “socialist” stage was honest then they would have found it impossible to move the grass roots in the direction they have taken.

This transition by PSF is an embarrasment to Republicanism but it is the first time the republican movement moved away from militarism. What we understand form this is what follows.MIlitarism is not radicalism. Adams knew this so he encouraged the idea that the party had a radical theoretical position to fool his party into being confident with the direction of the party. However when this is applied to the other militarists of the national liberation struggle,the IRSM, who already consider themselves not only socialist but marxist, you realise that this supposed radical position is not there because of their un-willingness to abandon militarism. Militarism represents radicalism for the vast majority of the grass roots membership of the IRSM and it is the nervousness of this membership to abandon it which highlights the lack of any real radicalism in the party. If the IRSM was ideologically sound they would see no need to continue on in the militaristic way that they do,because militarism is so out dated in relation to the Irish struggle that it is holding the IRSM back to the point of possible collapse. What is missing from the IRSM is a real radical position and theoretical base. If it had this it would disown militarism (even for now) and it would flourish.

So how does this all tie in to the tragedy of the murder of Emmett Shiels? Look at it logically. The youth still feel a need to organise towards a united Ireland so the GFA position of PSF has failed them. The militarist history of the PIRA and the current militarist position of the INLA,CIRA and RIRA are to blame for the structure of this organisation. If you let a mess like that to fester,and openly allow this organisation to arm itself in your community and swan around acting like its 1916 then this tragedy was bound to happen someday. Its a tragedy for republicanism aswell. Because of the failure of the republican movement to curb this cancer it could mean the rejection of the anti-GFA bloc of republicans in the city of Derry and the herding of the masses towards the politics of the neo-liberalist PSF. The politics of republicanism has let down Emmett Shiels, can that group of people now begin to put things right so it wont happen again?

I look forward to hearing your opinions.

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As the red, white and blue is waved today, and fireworks represent the rocket’s red glare this night, perhaps there should be a bit of waving of the tri-color as well!

Irish immigrants to the New World had a big part to play in the destiny of the colonies, whether the Irish came there by choice or were forced out by King George. They played a large part in shaping the American Revolution and framing the principles on which this country was built. Nine of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Irish. More than one-third of all the troops fighting for the colonies were Irish. Twenty generals were of Irish descent. George Washington was the first American president to declare St.Patrick’s Day a national holiday. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, over 34 million Americans identify themselves as being of Irish Ancestry.  This makes Irish Americans the second largest ancestry group behind German Americans.

Here’s only a few of the Irish heroes of the American Revolutionary War:

Commodore John Barry. He’s called the Father of the American Navy. In history books, he’s in the shadow of John Paul Jones, but in reality he arguably contributed more… Barry was born at Wexford. His father was a tenant farmer, evicted by a British landlord, forcing the family to relocate. Barry learned the sailor’s life from his uncle, Nicholas Barry. After traversing the globe by ship, he settled in Philadelphia because it had a large population of Irish Catholics.

Barry started his naval career humbly as a cabin boy, sweeping the decks of his uncles’ fishing ship. He eventually became senior commander of the whole revolutionary fleet. He was the first to capture a British war ship on the high seas and went on to capture a total of 20 British ships. He quieted three mutinies. He authored a book on signaling between ships. He was known as a humane leader to his sailors and to his prisoners of war. He also fought land battles at Trenton and Princeton.

Prior to the war, Barry was offered command of a ship for England. He refused and joined the patriot cause.

Timothy Murphy, sniper. He didn’t have an armalite, but he made an impact, being able to hit a 7-inch target at 250 yards. Murphy was born in Delaware Gap, in what was the frontier, western Pennsylvania. His parents were Irish immigrants from County Donegal. In 1775, he and his brother joined a rifleman militia and fought at the battle of Boston and Long Island. By 1777, his marksman skills were well known and he was recruited for the “Sharpshooter Corps,” commanded by Daniel Morgan.

On Oct. 7, 1777, Murphy is credited with firing the shots that killed two important British commanders – Sir Francis Clerke and General Simon Fraser. When he returned to the main army at Valley Forge, he was sent out on guerilla missions. I’m sorry to say that after the war with Britain was won, Murphy went on to protect the western frontier from the Indians.

George Read, signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only man who actually signed the document twice! Delegate John Dickinson was too ill to be present at the signing, so Read penned his name for him. Read, an Episcopalian minister, was the son of wealthy Dublinites who immigrated to the colonies in 1726. George was born in Maryland in 1734.

Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Carroll was the only Roman Catholic signer. He also outlived all the other signers, living to age 95. He came from a wealthy, politically active family. He attended a Jesuit university in France before returning to the colonies and becoming involved in anti-British activities. He was well known for his essays and used the colonial newspapers to argue for independence.

Thomas McKean, signer of the Declaration of Independence. McKean was Irish through and through. His parents both immigrated to the colonies from Ireland. McKean was a scholar and expert in languages, the law, politics and business. He was a noted orator who used his gift of language to persuade men to sign the declaration of Independence. He is famous for using a one word phrase to back up his support for revolution: “Conscience.”

The country where I live really is a melting pot and one of the biggest ingredients in this multicultural soup is Irish blood, sweat and tears. As I listen to the neighbors shooting off fireworks, I wonder how many of them realize what this holiday is really about. It’s much more than a day for fireworks and picnics. I hope someday Americans can return the favor and help the Irish celebrate their own Independence Day, once and for all!

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Bíonn mé ag caint faoi Gaeilge gach lá, ach níor scríobh mé aon rud as gaeilge ar bhlag seo fós. Cén fath? Bhuel.. Ar dtús, níl mo Ghaeilge go maith agus tá sé deacair a scríobh as gaeilge nuair a bíonn gaeilge uafásach agat.

Ní raibh aon Gaeilge agam ar bith ar an bhliain seo caite. Chuala mé cúpla buchaillí ag caint as gaeilge sa halla snúcar.. agus bhí brón an domhain orm an lá sin mar ní raibh aon gaeilge agam agus níor thuig mé aon rud. Bhí mé ag smaoineamh - Cén fáth go raibh ár dteanga ag tréigint?

So… Féach mé ar-líne agus chonaic mé “Turas Teanga”. Is clár iontach é! Fuair mé cúpla dlúthdhioscaí sa “Irish Independant” as Liam Ó Maonlaí. Nuair a bhí mé sa charr, sheinn mé na dlúthdhioscaí.. Agus nuair a bhí muinín agam, tosaigh mé oíche gaeilge sa Phort Láirge.. Chuaigh mé féin agus cúpla daoine eile sa teach tabhairne agus bhí gach duine ag caint as Gaeilge an oíche ar fad. Bhí sé agus bíonn sé taithí foghlama..

Anois, tá mo ghaeilge níos fearr agus tá súil agam go mbeidh gaeilge líofa agam ar lá amháin agus ar lá amháin go luath. Gaeilge abú mo chairde. Labhair í, agus tiocfaidh sí!

B’fhéidir go mbeidh mo chéad bhlag eile as gaeilge spéisiúil! B’fhéidir..

Seán Ó

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Peter Robinson’s DUP continues to stall the Devolution of Policing and Justice to the Northern Ireland Assembly, why?, because the Unionists claim that their simply isn’t enough confidence in their community to have a Sinn Fein Minister for Justice in Stormont with control over the Police and Justice Laws.

Despite this claim, a Devolved Justice Administration would probably benefit the Unionists more than any other group in both the Executive and the Assembly. Unionists would be able to effectively veto legislation such as the recent Draft Sexual Offences Order which was passed in the House of Lords. The order lowers the age of Sexual Consent in Northern Ireland from 17 to 16, bringing it inline with the rest of the UK. Ulster Unionist, Lord Morrow tabled an amendment to delete the change in the age from the Order, however the Labour Controlled Lords voted against Morrow’s amendment. If Policing and Justice powers were devolved, the Unionists could veto the extension of the Order to Northern Ireland by putting it to the Assembly. As this is the case, the Unionists are losing out to Direct Rule and the further liberalisation of Laws through votes taken at Westminster which no doubt will not sit well with their electorate and if Jim Allister is as savvy as suggested, he will surely pick up on this at the next Assembly Election

What the DUP’s position however highlights is Sinn Fein’s poor negotiating skills. Despite the fact that the Devolution of Policing and Justice was agreed to in St. Andrews, Martin McGuinness has had to run back and forth to Dour Downing Street to try and get first Paisley and now Robinson to budge on Policing and Justice. This needless mothering by Gordon Brown of Sinn Fein has proved that despite all their posturing on how supposedly great their negotiators are, Sinn Fein can’t seem to find a means to get their hands on the keys to the Department of Policing and Justice.

Despite all of this, there’s still one person happy with the situation, Paul Goggins MP still gets to keep his Ministerial Position!

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I’m not your traditional Nationalist or Republican, and for that reason I think its important that people of a like mind to myself have a platform on a web-blog like this to express our opinion, and that’s why I’m here. I’m a 16yo former Labour Party Member, soon to be SDLP Member, I’m also not the traditional Socialist and thats also important to note. My input to this blog, I believe will help the wide range of Republicans realise that there’s no real right way for achieving a United Ireland but that continued combined efforts will help to achieve that one all important goal. Anyway I hope that gives you a good idea as to what opinion i’ll be presenting on the Blog. If you want to contact me, drop me a line at seamasdefaoite@yahoo.ie

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Do you think its going to take a majority vote in the north and south to get a United Ireland? Recent polls showed only 60% of nationalist catholics are in favor of unification. Or will it take SF and Nationalist parties like FF, SDLP and FG to team up politically to deliver a UI? Or is it going to take economic, social, environmental ventures to diminish the border? What do you think?

Some say The Free State and British economies will collapse when Western imperialism collapses along with its network of cheap Third World labor which brings us all of our everyday goods.   Some say that the American Government will pour money into the north in attempt to “Americanize” all of Ireland.

Even with the “evil” threat of capitalism, don’t you still see the chance of socialistic services staying in the mainstream to balance out the community services and healthcare?

Anti-GFA Republicans will say that Stormont and the GFA are facades put up to give people the illusion that all is well in the north.  But don’t you think having the Agreement is better than no agreement, and continuing the peace process is better than war? Even with the EU elections in place.

So you believe the GFA is not the answer, working class interests are lost, sectarian attacks will continue, that decommissioning was a mistake and the solution is going back to war?

I don’t know……The way ahead looks difficult, but to look back is worse in my opinion.

Why can’t we, as a society, have both?  In order to have a purely socialistic democracy, a lot of coordinating effort is going to have to happen. Not only by the community activists and politicians, but the catholic and protestant working class, as well as the trade unions and government agencies who will have to work together at a local level in solving these problems in a peaceful agenda.  Which to be honest, I don’t see happening.

Why can’t the working class have the social services its needs and still have the opportunity for capitalist ideas for growth in the communities and working with investment opportunities that will breath new life into these depressed areas.  Why are we afraid of prosperity?  Economic conditions have improved…..I feel there is a certain prosperity taking hold there now, am I wrong?  Along with this comes peace.  The two come hand in hand and are necessary ingredients for success.

That brings us to the huge debate of another ‘armed struggle’.  It is a relevant question coming out of the anti-GFA Republicans and they mostly feel the time is now, and the republican communities feel they’ve waited 800 years, and they don’t want to wait any longer. But don’t you think we should be patient and give the peace process a little longer than two years to see if it will work?

For those of you who are not in agreement with the status quo now, then what is the alternative? A resolution needs to be reached where the majority of the people will be happy, which doesn’t lead to conflict and puts the six on the road to a prosperous and peaceful future. Why not offer a solution instead of pointing fingers at each other for not doing enough, or not being socialistic enough, or making a bid for devolution, or making the PSNI accountable, or not going back to war, or blaming it on all this imperialist, multi-national garbage?

We need more alternatives than just taking up arms and continuing the bloodshed.  We need to give peace a chance.  We need to lobby for the social services that our communities are in desperate need of, and the human right to have.  We need to demand that the PSNI become accountable and be pro-active instead of re-active.  But it all starts with yourself.  If you don’t get out there and do something, nothing will get done.  There is a United Ireland on our horizon.  There is a peaceful solution in getting there.

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Being an American, without a drop of Irish blood in me, I invariably get asked, “Why are you here.” Or, ‘what is your interest in Irish Republicanism.’

Well, how far back do you want to go? I guess it started when I was a kid and read “Trinity” by Leon Uris, about Conor, a young Catholic rebel, and the Protestant girl who switched sides to be with him. It documented the class struggle, the religious prejudices, and the history from the 19th century onward. It was 800 pages. I was just a kid about 12 years old, and once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. I was weird like that, reading books by Uris and Tolstoy at a young age.

That was my introduction to the IRA, Irish history, and Republicanism. And that has never left me. I wanted to leave home right then, take up arms and be part of the struggle.

As all lives do, mine took a lot of zigs and zags. In the 1970s, when the Irish troubles were really heating up again, I was living the back-to-the-land life in northern Wisconsin. A hippie girl and her hippie husband and two sons in a part of America that is breathtakingly beautiful, but Appalachia poor. We pretty much lived off the land, with few amenities. I couldn’t go to Ireland and help, but I could be part of a similar issue where I was.

Through my work in environmental issues, I became involved with American Indian Rights activists. 1973 happened. The Wounded Knee uprising in South Dakota. The rise of AIM. Not long after Wounded Knee, the Ojibwe people (Chippewa Indians) in Wisconsin faced serious challenges of their inherent treaty and tribal rights. I met some Indian leaders who would be very influential in my life and helped shape my world politically and spiritually.

At the same time, I was encouraged me to go back to school. I had dropped out of college years before. There was a small liberal arts college nearby that had an American Indian studies program. I was the only white person to complete the whole degree program there, along with degrees in ecology and English. It was also the time of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. I was getting Sandanista coffee from a nearby convent… Catholic clergy involved in another human rights struggle….

As I read and studied about American Indian culture, history, myths, legends, “Trinity” kept coming back to my mind, and the similarities in the oppression of native cultures in their own lands. The parallels were uncanny, spooky. And I knew somehow these worlds would meet in my life.

For two decades, my life was environmental and Indian rights activism, but I kept an eye and ear toward Ireland. And I hung on every piece of information I could get about the struggles and the hunger strikes and when Bobby was the first to die, I cried. When Reagan’s henchmen overthrew the Sandinistas, I was angry. Then the Queen, via British Petroleum’s subsidiary, Rio Tinto Zinc, got approval to place an open pit copper mine on the banks of the most pristine river in Wisconsin. Throw in John Lennon’s death and it was more than this hippie girl could take.

Are you with me so far? Told you there’s zigs and zags.

Fast forward. My marriage fell apart and I moved myself and horses and sons back to Kansas, the land of e pluribus unum, the sunflower state, to be closer to my family. And I drifted away from Indian issues, environmental work and left of center politics. They were still in my heart, but not on the front burner as they say. Being surrounded by USA Republicans, it was just better for me to keep my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself.

One day on an internet site, not related to Republicanism or anything Irish, a man from Ireland said hi. One thing led to another over a year’s time. He taught me more about the struggles and I taught him more about American Indian issues. He gave me a link to a thread on irishrepublican.net he wanted me to read. It was an exchange with Hildy and the editor of the Irish News regarding the 32 CSM. I started reading other threads. Then I found the forum on learning Gaeilge and I was hooked.

And it’s all coming back…. The environmental work, Indian issues and now Republicanism.. it all is so connected. Thank you for letting me ramble…. And thank you for letting me be part of this. Someday my feet will walk on Irish soil.

Tiochfaidh Ar La! An Phobal Abu!

Forze Che, Forze Bobby, Forze Leonard.

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