The last person of the 10 Republican prisoners to die in the 1981 Hunger strikes died on August 20th but hunger strikes continued for a while until relatives began instructing the doctors to give the strikers alimentation.
What can be said about those strikes? Clearly, a tremendous sacrifice requiring immense courage and determination in a non-violent protest by national liberation fighters in jail in a struggle against British colonialism.
Certainly we lost individuals of great worth in that struggle. It may be asked whether the gain was worth the sacrifice or whether the prison struggle might have been fought in some other way.
The medieval Irish society practice of fasting as a means of protest may or may not have been original but it was an important part of the people of India’s struggle against English colonial rule. Palestinian prisoners have used mass and individual hunger strikes on a number of occasions.
The effects of the Irish 1981 hunger strikes were many and wide, most probably far beyond the intentions or expectations of the prisoners. The news went around the world, bringing expressions of solidarity from many regions, including actions by parliaments of various states.
The Islamic Republic of Iran sent delegates to Bobby Sands’ funeral and renamed the street in which stood the British Embassy in Teheran ‘Bobby Sands Street’. The British Embassy to Iran had to give that as their address until they moved their main entrance around the corner.
Bobby Sands Street in Teheran, Islamic Republic of Iran (Photo sourced: Internet)
Hunger strikers stood in parliamentary elections in Ireland on both sides of the British Border, winning some seats and coming very close to winning some others. One result was that the British changed their electoral laws so that convicted prisoners could no longer stand in elections.
In the Irish state there has not been an outright majority government since that year – every single Irish government since then has been a coalition of one kind or another.
In Britain, the hunger strikes made a huge difference amongst the Irish community there. The 1974 Birmingham Pub Bombings massacre had been jumped on by the British Labour Government to pass the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974 (now the Terrorism Act 2000).
Probably already drafted, it was brought before Parliament and passed within days, giving the police power to hold suspects for seven days without charge, wide-scale powers of stop and search and interrogation, usually without legal representation for the victim.
Within the year a score of people from the community had been framed on serious charges, convicted and jailed: Birmingham Six, Guildford Four, Maguire Seven, Judith Ward. Subsequently many Irish people stayed away from Irish solidarity marches and meetings – just in case.
The hunger strikes of 1981 blew away much of that fear and the Irish community came out in their thousands in an attempt to save the lives of the hunger-strikers — and have never been cowed down to the previous degree since.
The Irish in Britain Representation Group was formed in 1981 after the refusal of the Federation of Irish Societies to even pass a motion of sympathy for the family of Bobby Sands, who had died only days earlier; the IBRG provided radical and resolute leadership for the next 20 years.
One of a number of songs arising from the 1981 hunger strikes was the Ballad of Joe McDonnell, by Derek Warfield. It is a good song in general but what is most excellent is its chorus, where it turns the accusation of terrorism away from the Resistance and back to British Imperialism.
And you dare to call me a terrorist, While you look down your guns! When I think of all the things that you have done: You have plundered many nations, Divided many lands, You terrorised their people, Ruled with an iron hand … And you brought the stain of terror to my land.
And it could just as well apply to US Imperialism, EU imperialism and their NATO military alliance.
I have sung the song many times over the years and did so again recently at the weekly Dubs For Palestine gathering outside Leinster House. And more recently still outside the British Embassy. I changed only a couple of words to provide a more optimistic line at the end.
End.
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It is well known that many Irish patriotic songs contain a figure metaphorically representing Ireland, usually a woman, very often young and beautiful though sometimes elderly.1 But unusually, in one such song the metaphor is a species of cow.
A woman is understandable, of course, after all the land and the nation are of feminine gender in Irish.2 But a cow? Well, perhaps, however strange, it reflects the values of a largely pastoral society as Ireland’s was during the early centuries of its invasion and gradual conquering by England?
Perhaps – but there is a strange modern story there too, of which more later.
Droimeann cattle, cow and probably calf (Source: Internet)
THE SONG
The song in question is An Droimeann Donn Dílis,3 thought to date from the early 1700s (i.e. early 18th Century). In the first of three short verses that have come down to us, the singer addresses the cow, asking where s/he goes at night and where remains during the day.
The Droimeann replies that s/he is in the woods with her/his boy (herder) but that he left her/him in tears. She seems to go on to speak in completely unbovine terms of lacking a domain, wines, music, educated company, drinking only water while her/his enemies enjoy whisky and wine.
The speaker has become a person. Were s/he free to do so and gain sight of the Crown, s/he says, s/he would thrash the English as one might an old shoe, through hill, through cliffs and dark foggy glens and that’s how s/he would woo or please his/her fair young Droimeann (i.e Ireland).
It is not difficult to decipher the meaning. The man4 has been deprived of his lifestyle and patrimony, physical and cultural, social interaction and is now living in primitive conditions, in hiding even in the woods. Who was he and what was his position? Who dislodged him?
The details of the song indicates he was victim of one of the English campaigns of occupation of Ireland and dispossession of the native Irish, while its assumed timing places it in the aftermath of the Williamite War (1689-1691) and the final defeat of the remains of the Gaelic Order.5
But it could just as easily refer to Oliver Cromwell’s military and land confiscation campaign of 1649-16536 for the English Parliament, or to English Queen Elizabeth I’s Plantation of Munster in 1586, confiscating roughly 300,000 to 500,000 acres of land to bring in English settlers.7
And in relation to the latter, there seems to be a Munster connection in the song also, of which more later also.
The Gaelic Order is often described as a ‘pre-feudal’ social and political organisation of Irish society, with a political and social elite in ownership of sections of land for their clan, along with the herds upon them, but an ownership that implied management, dispensation and allocation.8
The ‘freemen’9 were allocated cattle by the elite, to whom they were obliged to repay in kine and dairy products and to render military service when required. The ‘freemen’ in turn took on others to help manage the herds and milking, making cheeses etc.
Rule and social order was not arbitrary but was regulated not only by custom but by the codified Brehon Laws and in more ancient and pre-Christian times in Ireland interpreted by a branch of the Druidic Order.
The removal of the Gaelic Order elite by death, imprisonment, banishment or exile meant the removal of Irish society’s political and cultural leadership, for it was they who organised the economy, made alliances, gave leadership and also patronised poets, musicians and scholars.
The human narrator in An Droimeann Donn Dílis is well aware of the source of his ills (the English conquest) and of the need to defeat it in arms throughout Ireland.
A Dhruimfhionn Donn Dílis, a shíoda na mbó Cá ngabhann tú san oíche, is cá mbíonn tú sa ló? Ó bím-se ar na coillte is mo bhuachaill im’ chomhair Agus d’fhág sé siúd mise ag sileadh na ndeor.
Níl fearann, níl tígheas agam, níl fíonta na ceol; Níl flathaibh im’ choimhdeacht, níl saoithe ná sló; Ach ag síor-ól an uisce go minic sa ló, Agus beathuisce is fíonta ag mo naimhde ar bord.
Dá bhfaighinn-se cead aighnis nó radharc ar an gcoróin, Sasanaigh do leidhbfinn mar a leidhbfinn sean-bhróg Tré chnocaibh, tré fhaillte, tré ghleannta dubh-cheo, Agus siúd mar a bhréagfainn-se mo Dhroimfhionn Donn Óg.
… AND THE COW
But what of the cow? It turns out that the adoption of an Droimeann as a metaphor for Ireland is much more appropriate than we might have imagined, for it is an ancient native Irish breed, though that was not formally recognised until 8 January 2020 following DNA profiling.
A Droimeann with men beside it to indicate its height. (Source: Irish Rare Breeds)
The tests showed that it was genetically distinct from other breeds, whether Irish or imported. “Animals may be black, red or roan, but most have a white stripe along the back. In 2020, there were 243 breeding females and 23 breeding males registered.”10
The ‘white stripe’ is indicated in its name, Droimeann, i.e Drom Fhionn: “Fair/ Light-coloured back.” And there are many references to the breed in surviving ancient literature. Today the pronunciation varies from ‘drimunn’ to ‘dromeen’ (approximately).
As for the Munster connection, the breed is particularly associated with the south-west of Ireland. It produces both meat and milk and, being a native breed, it is hardy and thrives on poor quality forage even in winter when most other breeds in Ireland require food brought to them.
Droimeann cattle are know for maturing early and being prolific breeders.
I do not know how the song survived the centuries unless it was orally, in the main, which testifies to the power of its imagery and the retention of the Irish language in the Irish population, the majority of which did not become English-speaking until some time between 1850 and 1870.11
And even then, persisted in being retained as a first language in the Gaeltacht12 areas (despite their continual shrinking) for the following two centuries and undergoing ‘revival’ at least three times during that period. We may be witnessing currently her fourth revival period.
End.
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Footnotes
1The use of young woman to represent Ireland could of course be used to disguise a patriotic song as one about romantic love but also meant that the latter could morph into patriotic song, with perhaps the addition of some lines or verses. We may consider however that there is more than convenience at play here in this interchangeability, some emotional attachment to the land in the poet and presumably among their supportive audience.
2And in a great many parts of the world represented by a goddess. The very name Éire (and Éire-land = Ireland) is thought to derive from a goddess Éiriú, while the goddess Banba (sometimes her sister) also represents Ireland, with her (sometimes sister) Fódla. In poetry and song Ireland has also been represented by female figures Róisín Dubh (in a love song), Caitlín Ní hUallacháin (in a patriotic play) and Gráinne (in myth, legend and song).
3Also spelled Druimfhionn in Irish – The Faithful Brown Droimeann.
5The Gaelic Order describes an Irish-speaking society of custom and law enduring centuries prior to the English invasion and also in consecutively smaller regions of Ireland for a little over five centuries afterwards.
6Though the native Irish could go ‘to Hell or to Connaught’ accurately reflects the policy it is uncertain whether Cromwell or his officers actually said those words.
8Clan leaders, petty kings and even ‘High Kings’ were elected, albeit from and by an elite group.
9‘Freemen’ is not a very accurate term, since women could own land under the Gaelic Order and, upon marriage, retained that ownership and, if divorcing, removed what they owned with them.
10The Droimeann Cattle Society was established on 11 September 2016 at a meeting of breeders and others interested in the preservation of the breed. A Droimeann Cattle Herdbook was launched on 22 August 2018. To be eligible for inclusion in the herdbook, all animals will have to be genetically tested, and newborn calves will need to be tested before being eligible for inclusion. By January 2020 there were 243 breeding females and 23 breeding males included in the herdbook.
11The Irish elite after a century of occupation were perforce English-speaking (but most bilingual with Irish too), since the legal system was in French first, then in English. In 1366 the ruling class of England, considering themselves English after three centuries of Norman conquest of Anglo-Saxon England, called their Norman-Irish relatives, ‘the degenerate English’ who had ‘become more Irish than the Irish themselves’ and enacted the Statutes of Kilkenny to halt and reverse their integration into Irish society. By comparison, the Norman English rulers and nobility considered themselves English by 1366, though their culture and language had evolved from a mix of French and Anglo-Saxon roots. King Edward III, who ruled in 1366, spoke English, promoted it in law courts, and identified fully as an English monarch engaged in the Hundred Years’ War against France. The Irish did not become mainly English-speaking until over two centuries of occupation and only then by the incremental use of wars and English-speaking plantations.
12Areas of Ireland where Irish is the first language of the home may be found in, Cos. Meath (Rath Chairn and Baile Ghib), Galway (Conemara), Mayo (various pockets), Donegal (various), Waterford (Rinn), Cork (various), Kerry (Dingle and Iveragh Peninsulas). In addition some families in other areas raise their children with Irish being the language between at least one parent and the children.
The international conflicts around the world are largely explained by imperialism versus liberation struggles or, occasionally, as in two world wars, struggles between the imperialists themselves, as entirely in WWI and very largely in WWII. But not all control is by invasion or occupation.
The idea of an imperial power invading other countries, occupying and dominating them is easy to grasp, it being similar to the behaviour of feudal empires. But even in ancient times, kingdoms could be controlled by a stronger power without occupying them – by intimidation and bribery.
That kind of collaboration is easier and cheaper for the dominant exploiting power to manage and certainly less risky. Conquered populations can remain resistant for generations and rebellions can break out again and again as has been the case par excellence in Ireland.
Also the taxes and rents extracted by feudal empires from subject kingdoms are largely replaced today by high profits on finance invested in the extraction of natural resources from client nations and often in exports to those very nations, often fabricated from their very plundered resources.
And that latter example is where from comes the word ‘comprador’, i.e ‘buyer’; the client economies exported raw resources, made little themselves but bought finished products from the dominant power. “Gombeens”1 is an Irish appellation for native foreign-dependent capitalists.
Gombeen Denis O’Brien, owner of many known companies including construction, telecommunication, water infrastructure, fuel and media.
Of course, in a later stage, the dominant power exported not only finance to invest but whole factories, with resulting production declining within the former industrial powers.
Analysing the imperialist capitalist system internally, it becomes less and less productive, increasingly parasitical and dominated by finance capital, whereas the colonies and client states may even become more productive but only in such ways as are required by the imperialists.
Production of their own necessities, even their very food may decline in client states and colonies as they are driven to concentrating on export-orientated cash crops and minerals instead. The ruling classes in such countries are merely economic/political managers for the imperial powers.
They are comprador capitalists, neo-colonials, typically orientated culturally towards the imperial power, often venal, contemptuous of their own nation’s people and their history, contemptuous enough often to flaunt their ill-gotten wealth.2
There are many examples of such people and behaviour around the world, some of the more famous being Lavalle (France), Vidkun Quisling (Norway), Mahmoud Abbas (Palestine), Daniel O’Connell and Michael Collins (Ireland); which last brings us nicely to the Gombeens ruling the Irish State.
Anti-Treaty cartoon, 1921, depicts Ireland being coerced by Michael Collins, representing the Free State Army, along with the Catholic Church, in the service of British Imperialism. (Sourced: Internet)
From right of image, Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority poses shaking hands with the representative of his US master, Antony Blinken. (Image sourced: Internet)
The Irish State came into existence after centuries of English occupation and resistance after which the colonial power offered more autonomy but partition. The Resistance refused acceptance and the new State defeated the national liberation forces in the ensuing Civil War (see History Appendix).
Ireland is a partitioned nation: one-sixth of its territory (the Six Counties colony) is occupied by the UK, policed by a sectarian colonial police force and garrisoned by British armed forces and is part of the European imperialist military alliance of NATO.
Yet the invaders’ chiefs, including military and monarchy are welcomed by the leaders of the Irish State and the invader’s Royal Air Force patrols skies of the Irish state.3 The State’s police works in close cooperation with the sectarian police force of the colonial administration.4
The Irish economy is comprehensively penetrated by companies of foreign ownership: The State’s carrier Aer Lingus is owned by British Airways. The former state telecommunication networks is owned by Eircom, 64-65% owned by a French company and most of the rest by a US company.
Foreign-owned companies dominate the retail sector, accounting for roughly 30% of employment and over 50% of total turnover and retail gross value. It terms of food products retail the figures are the same with British and German monopolies dominating the rest.5
Most food consumed in Ireland is now imported, a country that two centuries ago could feed a larger population and yet still export some.
Retail banking is ‘highly internationalised’ i.e. dominated by foreign-owned institutions and has been so since the founding of the State, accounting for 24% of sector earnings. International financial services from Ireland is even more foreign-dominated, accounting for +90% of jobs.
Irish whisky production is divided between a US-based and a French company (which also owns Cork Dry Gin), while Irish beer, stout (including Guinness) and lager are produced by the British company Diageo. In addition, beers and spirits are imported large-scale from abroad.
Some of the money from roads collecting tolls goes to foreign companies, eg. French and Spanish. While the Irish State owns the infrastructure and collects the revenue of Dublin’s LUAS, the day-to-day operation and maintenance are contracted out to German and French companies.
Roughly 21% of hospital beds are in the private (non-state) sector and a significant portion of that private market—alongside specialized diagnostic and sports clinics—is foreign-owned or backed by international private equity and multinational healthcare groups.
According to AI, non-resident institutional and foreign-backed real estate companies buy a significantly higher share (over 50%) of newly built multi-unit apartment developments in urban centres like Dublin and Cork. 6
Approximately 60% to 70% of total assets in the Irish banking and financial system are linked to foreign-owned institutions or cross-border non-resident claims. However, the domestic retail banking market is heavily concentrated among a small number of groups with Irish headquarters.7
Following the exit of major foreign retail players like Ulster Bank and KBC which were active in banking with the Irish state, Irish-headquartered groups like AIB, Bank of Ireland, and PTSB came to take a large share of retail banking in Ireland but these too have foreign connections.8
The colonial history of Ireland and neo-colonial evolution of the Irish State has been deepened by its suppression of forces of national resistance9 and by opening its internal markets, national resources and State networks to foreign penetration.
It is hardly surprising that the national bourgeoisie of Ireland is incapable of asserting sovereignty and independence not only in relation to the UK and the USA but also in the face of the western imperialist alliances of the EU and NATO.
The images of four reformist Irish politicians which City Managers of Dublin City Council erected over the Bank of Ireland building (former Irish Parliament under British rule) in College Green as a riposte to the commemoration of the 1916 Rising. Not only were these politicians not revolutionary, each one failed completely to even win the limited autonomy he set out to win. From top left around the clock: Henry Grattan, Charles Parnell, John Redmondand Daniel O’Connell. (Image sourced: Irish Times)
Contemporary examples of this lack of sovereignty is permitting US military flights through Shannon Airport and, despite overwhelming popular support for Palestine and against ‘Israel’, the Irish state continuing to be the second-largest importer of ‘Israeli’ exports.
Describing the problem is useful to an extent but mainly if we then direct ourselves to resolving the issue. A Gombeen class will never deliver independence or sovereignty – it is incapable of doing so. But it is not incapable of repressing those who actively seek independence and sovereignty.
Perforce, the struggle against imperialism most also strike at neo-colonialism and conversely, the Gombeens must be exposed and overthrown in order to be free of imperialism and colonialism.
End.
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HISTORICAL APPENDIX (Reading time:2 mins.)
The foreign occupation of Ireland10 promoted the use of the English language and culture and from the reign of Henry VIII onwards this included religion, a branch of Christianity of which the Monarch of the realm was also the Head of the Church.
That was resisted not only by the indigenous Irish and descendants of Vikings but by most of the Anglo-Norman lords’ descendants in Ireland too. Their English-based contemporaries excoriated them for having become the ‘degenerate English’ and ‘more Irish than the Irish themselves’.11
The cultural-political struggle continued with the Irish and Gaelicised Normans being dispossessed and suppressed until a section of the occupying settlers sought to unite people of all cultural backgrounds in Ireland in order to establish an independent Irish Republic.
Following defeat and suppression of the United Irishmen, the native Catholic bourgeoisie began to slowly rise, their main efforts at first being to legalise the Catholic Church as an institution and to abolish the discriminatory Penal Laws against Catholics (i.e. the majority of the indigenous).
While O’Connell and his followers also sought the return of an Irish Parliament,12 they did so as part of the British Empire. Their Repeal Movement leadership totally eschewed the use of force and this led to the ‘Young Irelanders,’ their most progressive component, splitting from them.
Subsequently the native Irish bourgeoisie participated in pressurising the Occupation and the landed aristocracy into giving greater security to the peasantry renting agricultural land. However this struggle too was presented in non-revolutionary terms, as a resolution within the British Empire.
The Parnellites and their political heirs evolved over time into the Redmonites of the Irish Nationalist Party,13 still very much for remaining within the Empire. After the 1916 Rising these were all but wiped out as an electoral force in the 1918 UK General Election.
The party that won the vast majority of Irish seats in that election was a coalition of revolutionary and radical non-revolutionary nationalists of various types, calling itself ‘Sinn Féin’ although it differed from the original party of that name in being avowedly Irish Republican.14
Many of the party’s representatives in the Dáil, the Irish Parliament, strongly endorsed the armed struggle of the newly-created Irish Republican Army.15 But not all, although eight months into the 2nd year of the War of Independence the Dáil formally claimed the IRA as its military wing.16
When the British, in order to stop the armed and political struggle against them offered the new Sinn Féin Government leadership a deal with partial autonomy as one of the British Dominions but with the country partitioned, it split the movement and one part of it attacked the dissenting part.
During the ensuing Civil War, the State forces were armed, supplied and even clothed by the British and executed more Irish Republicans than the British forces had done during the War of Independence. Activists were interned without trial and a number of organisations banned.
In addition, the State police and Army kidnapped, tortured and murdered opponents.17 Although the Sinn Féin party that opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement split to form Fianna Fáil, the party longest in government, the Irish State that exists today is in an unbroken line of descent from that of 1922.
1From the Irish language Gaimbín, a pejorative description of Irish individuals who took advantage of the poverty and debts of Irish people during and after the Great Starvation of the mid-19th Century to acquire land cheaply.
2Some specific examples are Imelda Marcos’ shoes and Charles Haughey’s purchase of an island. Imelda Marcos, the former First Lady of the Philippines, became globally infamous for owning around 3,000 pairs of shoes, which symbolized lavish wealth and extreme government corruption during her husband’s rule. When protesters and officials raided the presidential palace in 1986, they found her massive collection alongside thousands of other expensive gowns and designer items. Charles Haughey held a number of Government portfolios but was Prime Minister of the Irish state Dec 1979 – Jun 1981; Mar 1982 – Dec 1982; Mar 1987 – Jun 1989; Jun 1989 – Feb 1992.
4Even without being on British payroll: Former Garda Assistant Commissioner Edmund (Ned) Garvey was named as a British intelligence “asset” by British whistleblower and former soldier Fred Holroyd, who claimed he met Garvey at Garda Headquarters in Dublin during the 1970s. Garvey denied being a spy, though official investigations like the Barron Report confirmed a meeting took place without Garvey reporting it to his superiors.
The board features international leadership, including Chairman Akshaya Bhargava and non-executive directors like Pascal Boillat (who brings decades of global operational experience across institutions like Deutsche Bank and Citigroup), alongside international committee members.
Operates extensively across the UK and international markets.
AIB (Allied Irish Banks)
AIB operates subsidiary structures in the UK and maintains broad international institutional shareholding following full state exit.
Board members and corporate teams frequently hold background experience across major global financial hubs in London, New York, and Europe.
PTSB (Permanent TSB)
Following the €1.6 billion acquisition agreement by Austria’s BAWAG Group, continental European banking interests have direct representation and control over the institution’s trajectory.
The board includes directors with heavy international banking backgrounds, such as prior executive experience spanning EMEA, the US, and the UK.
9The Civil War/Counter-revolution 1922-’23 and repression until 1939, Fianna Fáil Government 1939-1945, Irish State repression campaigns mid-1960s, Section 31 Broadcasting Act 1971, re-establishment of the non-jury ‘sentencing tribunal’ of the Special Criminal (sic) Court 1972, use of the ‘Heavy Gang’ 1980s.
10Usually dated from the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169, although the British did not succeed in totally dominating all parts of Ireland until the beginning of 17th Century.
12 The Irish Parliament under British colonial rule was a thoroughly sectarian one, open only to members of the small minority Anglican community and the failed attempt to enlarge it to all religions in Irish was what had convinced Irish Republicans to form the revolutionary United Irishmen organisation. After the suppression of the latter’s uprising in 1798 the English administration had organised the Parliament abolishing itself and Ireland becoming part of the British Union in 1801.
13Charles Stewart Parnell formed most of the MPs elected in Ireland into a party to participate in the UK Parliament.
14Griffith, founder of the original Sinn Féin had argued for a dual-British-Irish monarchy but agreed to the change.
15Newly-created from former members of the Irish Volunteers of 1916 and Irish Citizen Army and with new recruits.
16August 1919 – the following month the British occupation banned the Dáil.
17In particular in and from Oriel House, located at the corner of Westland Row and Fenian Street.
An Irish Palestine solidarity activist momentarily blocked NATO ‘Supreme European Commander’ Alexus Grynkewich’s armed convoy as he left the Dublin US Embassy on Wednesday, escorted by his bodyguards.
The activist was bashed against a wall by Gardaí, arrested and taken to Irishtown Garda station, released on Garda bail to attend court 2nd September.
The protest action appears to have been unplanned and came at the end of a weekly event, an hour of displaying flags and singing songs of resistance in front of the US Embassy’s main entrance organised by singer-musician Jimi Cullen which moved from the Israeli Embassy over a year ago.
A recent one of the weekly Wednesday musical protests at the US Embassy organised by Jimi Cullen (on extreme left of photo), this one on 5th September 2025 (Wk 158)
The event began as usual with a handful of people gathering at their usual spot at the triangular junction of Pembroke Road and Elgin Road. It appears that an RTÉ (national broadcaster) team were noted entering the Embassy from the Elgin Road side which alerted the activists to some unusual Embassy activity.
The activists moved down to direct shouts at the Embassy staff and military, shouts such as “US military out of Shannon!”, “US military baby-killers!” and “Free Palestine!”. A car collecting a leaving official was momentarily blocked by an activist who was removed by Gardaí.
Some time later the event was coming to an end with the usual group singing of An Dord Féinne with the chorus “Óró sé do bheatha ‘bhaile” etc and some of the group dispersed. Those who had not yet left however noticed a convoy of Garda and unmarked vehicles arrive.
It was at that point that Alexus Grynkewich, the NATO supremo, emerged from the Embassy building, escorted by his bodyguards and entered one of the vehicles. Before the convoy could take off, the activist ran in front of it, waving a Palestine flag and was grabbed by Gardaí.
After the activist’s detention and removal to Irishtown Garda Station and other activists attended the station, the activist was charged and bailed in his own recognisance and another activist arrived to give him a lift back to where his car was parked near the US Embassy.
Cartoon on the incident by D.Breatnach
NATO & IRELAND
Alexus Grynkewich is no stranger to US Imperialism/ NATO’s wars in the Levant and in Ukraine and his role in Ireland is to push for Ireland to join NATO and continue facilitating US military flights through Shannon. As far as the Gombeen class is concerned he’s pushing an open door.
Not so with the general Irish population, however, who have made it clear on a number of occasions that they wish the Irish State not to be a part of any external military alliance. The campaign to retain the ‘Triple Lock’1to prevent the Government abandoning official neutrality is ongoing.
While the occupied colony of the Six Counties is part of NATO, the Irish State is not. However it was revealed not long ago that the State has given permission to the Royal Air Force to patrol Irish skies and for many years, US military plains have been observed refuelling at Shannon Airport.
General Alexis Grynkewich, Supreme European Commander NATO (US/EU imperialist military alliance). (Photo source: Wikipedia)
In addition, the Ditch online media has logged planes being permitted to fly towards ‘Israel’ through Irish airspace while carrying weapons-grade material. NATO warships dock at Irish harbours a number of times a year.
Ireland’s current Presidency of the EU seems to be accelerating the State’s slide towards foreign militarisation and has already seen restrictions on the right to protest, with Gardaí closing a part of Dame Street to protest one day and moving protesters from in front of Trinity on another day.
A number of organisations have stated an intention to increase their protests against NATO and US imperialism while some regular broad pro-Palestine groups have indicated they will move their regular protests to outside the US Embassy in solidarity with the arrested activist.
Resistance is often met with State repression but in turn that too often generates more resistance. Voices of broad support for the activist have called for assembly outside the US Embassy at 2pm Wednesday 19th proceeding thereafter to the British Embassy to at 3pm where Jimi Cullen has temporarily relocated.
End.
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FOOTNOTES
1Before more than 12 Irish military may be sent on an external mission, it has to be 1) a formal Government Cabinet decision, 2) with Irish Parliamentary approval and 3) on a UN mission.
Readers will, we’re sure, sympathise with Patrick Quinlan on his resignation from the leadership of the National Party, alleging undemocratic goings-on in the party’s ‘ard-chomhairle’. Undemocratic behaviour in a fascist party! Who’d have thought?
Apparently they voted him, their party leader, off their national committee for asking questions they found awkward and for making criticisms of some things they were doing and about things he thought they should do, which they weren’t.
Quinlan is the party’s only elected public representative, elected to Fingal County Council in 2024.1 Rather than targeting property speculators his election leaflet perpetuated the lie of ‘mass immigration’, that this was ‘fuelling inflation’ and ‘depriving our nation of affordable homes’.
No mention of big landlords. Or bankers. Though his voting record shows opposition to one rent rise plan he did vote in favour of ‘moderate rent increases’ and a time when the purchasing power of incomes is falling. Quinlan is clearly not a supporter of a program of universal rented housing,
But Quinlan, like his party, knows what’s important and will solve most of our problems, apparently and so he has participated in anti-migrant demonstrations and spoke at the pan-racist event in Dublin in April last year perversely linking their trajectory to that of the 1916 Rising.2
FOUNDING OF THE PARTY AND INTERNAL WORKINGS
Quinlan’s letter of resignation and the national committee’s response reveal interesting facets of the party’s internal workings: meetings are online, no minutes of meetings are kept but voting results noted on WhatsApp; the list of members (such as they may be) secret even from their leader.
The fascists who founded the NP did so in 2016, while other people were either preventing the fascist Pegida’s launch in Dublin,3 commemorating the centenary of the 1916 Rising or questioning why it and the subsequent War of Independence had failed to bring about the intended Republic.
Any notion that the racists and fascists might’ve shared those concerns can quickly be put to rest by examining the 1916 Proclamation of Independence, in particular the lines that “The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty and equal opportunities for all.”4
The NP has had more than its share of splits and internal struggles, from the missing gold bars to the reported value of €400,000 (£344,000) stolen from the party’s vault5 (!) in July 2023 by ‘rivals’ in the NP, to Nazi6 Justin Barrett’s dismissal as leader (denied by Barrett) two weeks later.
Barrett in faux-Nazi officer greatcoat, addressing a small rally of fascists and other racists in Dublin’s Molesworth Street in July 2025. (Photo sourced: Internet)
Despite Barrett’s denials, he was replaced by James Reynolds, a party co-founder with Barrett who apparently made homophobic remarks at the party’s founding conference, defended by Barrett who confirmed the party’s bias to a putative supporter who then walked out of the conference.
However, two years later Reynolds was replaced by Patrick Quinlan.
Homophobia is a frequently visible and audible aspect of fascists and the far-Right generally and in July 2020 the party organised a rally against the appointment of Roderic O’Gorman, an openly gay man, as Irish Minister for Children, pushing the line that gay men are paedophiles.7
EARLY CAMPAIGNING AND OPPOSITION
The NP supported and spoke at a number of protests against requirements to wear face masks during the Covid epidemic, at one of which they also organised an attack by supporters armed with clubs upon unarmed counter-protesters, in which they were assisted by the Garda POU.8
A few months later, a number of NP supporters confronted and jostled an LBGT activist, one of them clubbing her on the head with a wooden batten wrapped in a flag. Despite Gardaí claiming that nothing happened, many recordings on video camera forced an admission.
NP member Michael Quinn pleaded guilty in court and in October 2021 was sentenced to three years prison, the final year suspended.9
The main activity along with most of the far-Right in Ireland has been in opposing immigration to Ireland and in particular opposing Muslims. Immigrants are alleged to get preferential access to resources over Irish people – in particular housing — and of living off state social benefits.
The far-Right also accuse immigrants of attacking women and preying on children. Proving these to be lies through use of statistics does not work since the far-Right are only interested in quoting statistics that seem to prove their theories.
Antifascists have targeted the party’s events a number of times, notably in a charge against their rally outside Leinster House on 10th October 2020, when Barrett told the Gardaí that the NP was on their side10 and begged for a safe escort away from the area (which the Gardaí supplied).
The party’s annual conference in November 2022 in the expensive conference centre in Lough Erne Resort, County Fermanagh (inside the British-occupied colony) was attacked by antifascists resulting in a number of NP requiring hospital treatment.
Just your local friendly fascist leaders (l-r): James Reynolds, Justin Barrett and Patrick Quinlan in days before expulsions, splits and resignations. (Photo source: Internet)
While the fascist movement in Ireland remains tiny and riven by splits, often as a result of career ambition and always due to competing egos, they remain a danger to vulnerable groups and to the democratic forces of resistance, particularly with State support, as currently in the Six Counties.
End.
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FOOTNOTES
1The only one elected out of nine NP candidates in various areas.
2See reference later to the text of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence.
6Any doubts about the full accuracy of the appellation of ‘Nazi’ to Barrett can quickly be dispelled by reference to some of his utterances and to his dress sense on occasion.
7Fascists and other far-Right activists frequently throw that slur, not only at LBGT people but also in general at antifascists and anti-racists.
8Public Order Unit (what used to be called the ‘Riot Squad’). See also https://the-beacon.ie/2020/10/10/clashes-at-far-right-rally-as-national-party-leader-tells-gardai-you-are-of-us-and-we-are-of-you/ though clearly not a report of someone who was actually there. Witnesses will spot the inaccuracy of “Both groups could be seen attempting to push back the barriers separating them” which is what might have appeared from brief video clips; in fact the NP were pushing the barriers to block the antifascists while the latter were trying to remove or overcome the barriers to close with the NP supporters.
Reproduced with permission of the author; edited to format for Rebel Breeze.
Just 110 years ago on August 3rd 1916 the Irish revolutionary Roger Casement was executed at Pentonville Prison in England, hung by the neck till dead.
However, it was not the only execution of Roger Casement, he has been executed many, many times, by diverse types ranging from the British State to right wing sections of Irish society and the West Brits that populate the Irish media and Dublin’s chattering classes et al.
Of course when I say executed many times, I am not referring to his physical execution, that only happened once, though the British Empire was an expert in cruelty and came as close as you possibly can to multiple physical executions.
One of its favoured methods was for a long time the sentence of Hung, Drawn and Quartered which entailed being hung till nearly dead, brought down, disembowelled whilst still alive and then decapitated: the pinnacle of British civilisation up until 1870.
But I refer to the assassination of his character which still continues to this day.
Roger Casement portrait, hanged for his revolutionary work in Pentonville Prison, London, on 3rd August 1916. (Image sourced: Internet)
Casement was a British diplomat for much of his life but his activism in Ireland and his later role in the lead up to the 1916 Rising brought him to the attention of the British authorities that he worked for.
He was an internationally recognised figure praised by all and sundry for his work in Congo and also in Latin America for his work on abuses in the rubber industry.
Executing someone who was ostensibly one of their own was not as easy as executing the other leaders of the Rising and so the rumour mill of the Black Diaries was produced to denigrate his character at the time.
In the 1980s, some Republicans of the Sinn Féin variety reclaimed Casement as a gay icon.
Whether Casement was gay or not would be largely irrelevant to a modern Irish audience, but it was not so at the time. Gay sex was illegal and gays were pursued ruthlessly.
Even Alan Turing who played a key role in Britain’s war against the Nazis by cracking their codes was hounded and prosecuted. Were it not for Turing the course of WWII may well have been very different, but not even that could save him.
Casement who rose up against the British Empire could have expected nothing but the worst from the British. However, alongside the allegation based on the forged Black Diaries that he was gay is also the allegation that he was a pederast.
It is beyond the scope of this article to refute all the fabricated allegations against Casement of which there are many, though Angus Mitchell’s updated biography Casement is thorough in refuting the Black Diaries and the campaign against him.[1]
I was struck by the fact that Casement was under watch from German intelligence during his time there and yet they never recorded any of the behaviour Casement’s enemies ascribed to him, including during his period in Germany.
Why so many attempts to assassinate his character? Well, they needed to do so to justify his execution and have stuck to their murderous guns ever since.
But also, there are many myths about the 1916 leaders that portray them as insular, reactionary irredentist nationalists when in fact they were very open to other cultures and had a broad international perspective not only on culture but also on politics.
Casement’s internationalism, his outward looking view is a matter of public record. His stature as one of the great humanitarians of the 19th and 20th centuries is almost unassailable.
That the rebellion against the British Empire in Dublin could be linked to Casement’s work exposing the atrocities of the Belgian state and royal family or his work in South America in also exposing the atrocities of rubber companies cannot be tolerated.
Not by those who believe in the civilising mission of the White Man’s Burden as the reactionary vile poet Rudyard Kipling put it.
Casement is the only leader of the Rising who is both known internationally, and whose writings are available in various languages. His writings about the Amazon rubber industry are rarely out of print in South America.
The attempts to smear him got more “sophisticated” over the years as concerns about him being gay no longer had the same force and so his work is attacked. He has been accused of racism, being in effect an imperialist, despite all evidence and even part of the problem in the rubber industry.
The Murdoch press in 2010 even stated he was no humanitarian, though that particular press group is given to lying as a matter of course, one of the most infamous cases being the accusations they levelled with gay abandon at the Liverpool fans during the Hillsborough disaster.
But the Murdoch press’ accusations are not any less “serious” than some of the “academic” tripe produced by others.[2]
Casement makes for uncomfortable reading for many. You cannot consider his life, his work and the 1916 Rising without taking into account the international context, international politics and empire in all its nauseous rotten elements.
He inspired other anti-colonial leaders and his speech from the dock was such that it was referenced by independence leaders around the world.[3]
“When languishing as a political prisoner in the 1930s, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, commented how ‘it seemed to point out exactly how a subject nation should feel.’”[4]
His base in La Chorrera, Putumayo in modern day Colombia[5] still recalls Casement and they refer to Ireland simply as Roger’s Country.[6]
The debates about Casement are not about Casement per se, but rather his politics and what he did and sought to do in relation to the British Empire’s occupation of his homeland. Some of those who denigrate him would be happy for all of Ireland to become part of the British state again.
Roger Casement statue on Dún Laoghaire waterfront, erected August 2021. (Photo sourced: Internet)
On one level it does not matter whether he was gay, in the modern Ireland it is hardly an issue, his alleged racism and paedophilia would still be an issue however.
All of these are attempts by a state that cannot come to terms with how one of their own (initially), a man of world renown stature could rise up against their putrid empire.
As we go forward, we have not seen the last of the attempted executions of a man whose fame outlives that of all those who opposed him, argued against him, executed him physically, intellectually and ideologically.
As Angus Mitchell has pointed out about forgeries that they need to be controlled as the British did to a point that we cannot be even sure that the partial release in the 1950s and the later releases are the same documents.
The Black Diaries display the same signature. A consensus that was genuinely secure would not need the regular re-litigation it receives, nor the marshalling of reviews to maintain that consensus.
It would also not require the assurance of the Guardian correspondent that the forgery theory has been discredited when he knows full well that is not the case…
A genuine source needs neither secrecy nor maintenance. The Black Diaries have acquired both – concealed in their handling and defended ever since by a consensus that must be continually reasserted. The endless fascination is not evidence that the mystery is deep.
It is evidence that someone, somewhere, is still doing the work of maintaining the mystery and claiming it as history.[7]
What we can be certain of is that Roger Casement stood up to the empire, he fought against it and that his work is as relevant to modern Ireland and indeed the world as it was then and that is the biggest crime that Casement committed.
One we should be proud of on the 110th anniversary of his execution by the British, that led to multiple executions of his legacy at the hands of the British Establishment, West Brits and other apologists for empire.
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NOTES
[1] Mitchell, A. (2026) Casement. Haus Publishing. UK.
[4] Mitchell, A. (1916) 16 Lives: Roger Casement. O Brien. Dublin para 21.108
[5] The Putumayo region in which Casement travelled straddled the borders of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Land borders have changed since then, particularly after the 1932-34 war. His base was then and still is now in Colombia, some of the other parts are in Ecuador and Peru and others have changed between the countries.
The death of Glen Hansard, Oscar-winning Irish musician in accident on his motorcycle in the early hours of Wednesday1 shocked and saddened many, not only in the Irish music community but among campaigners against Dublin homelessness too.
Hansard first gained fame playing Outspan Foster in The Commitments, the 1991 Alan Parker film based on Roddy Doyle’s first novel but developed his career in music, first with The Frames band, then as part of the duo The Swell Season and later as a solo artist.
Hansard, while often traveling to perform around the world, lived in both Kildare and Helsinki, home also of his wife, the poet Maire Saaritsa. Hansard won an Oscar in 2008 for the song Falling Slowly, written with musical partner Markéta Inglová2, featured in the John Carney film Once.
The musician was also one of a group of high-profile individuals who occupied the Apollo House building in a protest against homelessness and as a shelter for Dublin’s homeless in December 20163 (ironically the centenary year of the 1916 Rising against British occupation of Ireland).
In the decade since the Apollo House protest occupation, the number of homeless in Ireland has significantly more than doubled.4 Housing is of course part of the property sector in a capitalist society and the current situation benefits speculators, big landlords and financing banks.
January 2016 rally in support of Apollo House occupation in Poolbeg Street, Dublin. The large banner read ‘Homes Not Hostels.’ (Photo: D.Breatnach)
The Irish national ruling class serves those finance-capitalist interests and therefore successive governments have made no impact on the problem other than allowing it to grow. Some politicians are themselves landlords as are also a number of Gardaí and ex-Gardaí.
Clearly the Irish ruling class feels no incentive to end the homeless crisis, though it could do so, even without ending its capitalist system. Glen Hansard admitted in an interview with him I recall viewing that he had been somewhat naive in his hopes of the Apollo House occupation.
The obvious solution, restated many times, is to provide universal rented accommodation through the State and municipal authorities. The rents should be affordable, with the spread of the higher ones helping to maintain those lower income or on social welfare.
Rental income over time finances not only maintenance and repairs but also new building. Employment is provided in construction, maintenance and administration. Streets can become cleaner and safer and more attractive. Addiction problems become easier to address.
But that setup, though not destroying the capitalist system, would cut the swag-bag of the unproductive finance and property parasites so the crisis stays and grows. And the alternative Left movement is not threatening the Gombeens’ overthrow so they have no incentive to change.
Glen Hansard, Damien Dempsey and other musicians performing outside Apollo House. (Photo sourced: Internet)
Many years ago, home in Dublin on holiday from London, someone I was walking and talking with stopped a young red-haired man and they began to chat. I remarked that I had seen the man before — or had we met? Perhaps he thought I was kidding but admitted his role in The Commitments.
He mentioned The Frames also – he was Glen Hansard of course. Naturally I had seen the film in London but never heard of The Frames. As we parted company I felt a kind of disconnect from Dublin but also remarked that I hoped Hansard hadn’t thought I was ‘taking the piss.’
Decades later, as I gathered at rallies outside Apollo House (and sang at one of them) that episode did not intrude on my memory – because it was the homelessness protest upon which I was concentrated and not the famous people fronting it – but it comes to me now.
One of my brothers, Cormac, had a connection with Hansard as in August 2023 the latter requested of Dónal Lunny to play at a friend’s wedding the air of his composition Across the Hill, aired in a Seán Ó Riada Retrospective in 1987. Lunny replied he couldn’t play it but recommended Cormac.
Cormac got a trio together to play the air at the wedding but mislaid his sunglasses when leaving so had to return another day for them and they spent a short time together.
Two years later, in October 2025, Cormac met Hansard again on the occasion of the funeral mass for Manchán Magan, a gathering of many in the fields of Irish language, writing and music.
Glen Hansard (Photo sourced: Wikipedia)
Back in 2023 when Cormac had returned to Hansard looking for his sunglasses, Hansard gave him a Songbird whistle in low D made by Phil Hardy as a present.‘I can’t play it’,said Glen Hansard.‘You might as well have it.’ Cormac demurred, Glen Hansard insisted.
‘I’ll accept it,’ said Cormac eventually, ‘on condition that I record something for you, gratis, or we get together some day and record playing some music together.’ Hansard laughed. ‘That could happen’, he replied.
But now it can’t. Not on this plane of existence, anyway.
End.
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4The number of homeless people in Ireland was approximately 6,900 in late 2016 (and around 6,189 in mid-2016), and has risen to a record high of 17,447 people in state-funded emergency accommodation as of May 2026. But there are also people ‘sofa-surfing’, facing eviction or in otherwise insecure accommodation or even sleeping on the street.
Racist Graham Carey, unfortunately familiar to many for his posted videos of himself in a vehicle or in his bedroom, ranting about various things, in particular during the Covid epidemic in Ireland, has ended up in court for his virulent racist posts.
In common with most racists, he posted lies that he invented himself or parroted those invented by others. He’d been doing that for a long time but what got him into trouble with the Law was his role in mobilising people for an attack on Finglas Garda Station back in January 2023.
A woman had reportedly been attacked in the area and the rumour quickly spread that a migrant had been responsible. Of course Irish people can and do attack women but that wouldn’t be reason for a riot – but a migrant suspected? Obviously Irish warrior Carey would have to do something!
And so did other ‘Irish Warriors’ who quickly gathered and threatened the Garda station because allegedly ‘they weren’t doing anything about it’. The Gardaí went so far as to state that the alleged assailant was Irish but of course, to Carey and Co., that was obviously a cover-up.
Carey first came to the attention of the suffering public on social media when he was screaming on his video about Covid conspiracies, ‘unreasonable’ mask-wearing requirements and travel restrictions of the time but he quickly enough progressed to rabid racism.
Carey tended to be a solo video warrior and on at least one occasion in a larger gathering, possibly with Irish Yellow Vests1 on Custom House Quay, could be seen on video making threatening moves towards a few counter-protesters but moved away when they stood their ground.
His public defiance melted quickly when arrested over the Finglas incident and social media posts, apologised to Gardaí for being in error and in his first court appearance meekly offered the judge to have his bail on condition imposed he refrain from posting any more rants on social media.
In court more recently, with a pack in the courtroom to give him immoral support, he’s got some of his spine back as one can tell from this unusually detailed report on his court hearing.2
Carey claimed he had been ‘tried by media’ and accused the Garda witness, Detective Inspector Gavin Ross of not doing his job and said “there was never a rape in Finglas, they set it up to get me” and claimed he was “a political prisoner”.
He’s also claimed in the past that MI5 were stirring up other well-known fascists and racists against him.
Antifascist counter protesters have observed on many occasions how lenient the Gardaí have been towards fascists and other racists in general but leading a mob invading a Garda station and threatening the Gardaí presumably tends to remove some of that tolerance.3
Charged with using words that were threatening, abusive or insulting and intended to or likely to stir up hatred and distribution of a recording of images or sound likely to stir up hatred, both charges which he denied, Carey was found guilty by a unanimous jury last April.
The quoted statements from a transcript of his livestream produced in court were typical Carey style: the Government is “rewarding evil” by allowing “rape-ugees” into the country “in order that they can rape our people” and this is “putting your daughters on the fucking menu for them”.
The virulent and lying content continued: “we’re here because women are being raped, Facebook want your children raped. If we don’t see this as a war, then we are going to lose the war.”
“Our own people are going to be raped by them. These are not refugees. We are going to get these fucking rapists out of here.”
“Get back to where yiz (sic) came from. Get the fuck out of here before you die on this island. If you refuse to get the fuck out of here you’re going to die on the island and we’ll fuck your bleeding corpse into the sea.”
“We are going back to the law of the land. We have enough local lads to do what has to be done.”
Carey certainly knows how to stir up some people’s fears though otherwise his level of intelligence may be in question .
When he claimed that he had not been in Finglas but rather in ‘Northern Ireland’ (sic) when he recorded his 30-minute ranting video, Carey might not have been aware that the lorry he was driving would prove he had been driving in the State jurisdiction, which it did.
More to the point, perhaps, it seems he was actually on video leading a mob into the Garda station.
The offences come with a maximum penalty of a fine of €10,000 or two years imprisonment. The court was told Carey has previous convictions for careless driving, driving while over the limit, intoxication in a public place and threatening and abusive behaviour and two speeding offences.
The intoxication while driving might well assist in producing the volume and vitriol of some of his driving cab videos.
Carey chose to defend himself but wanted legal representation when found guilty as he could be facing a prison sentence. Of course, solicitors currently are engaged in industrial action in protest at the recent flat-rate one-off payment to lawyers representing clients granted legal aid.
He has been granted three adjournments to facilitate finding legal representation but apparently continues to be unsuccessful.
It would be a pity were this rabid racist ranter able, whatever the sentence, to claim unfair treatment due to lack of legal representation. But what could a lawyer actually do to help him? Ask for mercy (in front of his support pack)? Claim a difficult childhood? Mental illness? Substance abuse?
1An Irish initiative piggy-backing on the French movement of the same name, it attracted a wide support until it became clear that the leadership were Islamophobic, homophobic and with racist threads within the movement.
As the Irish State holds the Presidency of the European Union now and for six months hence, ministers of EU governments met in Dublin yesterday and today, the latter giving rise to an anti-war and pro-neutrality picket near Dublin Castle.
Since the Irish State’s incumbency of the EU Presidency the Irish State has forbidden demonstrations from Dame Street/ Gt. George’s Street junction to Lord Edward1 Street, along with the display of flags along that stretch.
Demonstrators in favour of the retention of the Irish State’s formal neutrality took up position at the south end of Parliament Street, directly facing City Hall. The Gardaí closed most of the street entrance and had crowd barriers erected across it, which the protesters then lined with their banner.
View of some of the protesters and banner, also of the Starry Plough flag (centre photo) and pedestrianised Parliament Street leading to the river. City Hall is behind the photographer and Dublin Castle behind that again. (Photo: Rebel Breeze)
The letters on the Green, White and Orange banner read EU WAR MONGERS. NO MORE WAR. LEAVE OUR NEUTRALITY ALONE. Leaflets with the same colours on one side were distributed while the reverse expanded on the main slogan, in particular calling for retention of the Triple Lock.2
Some passing vehicles sounded their horns in solidarity.
The city was busy with pedestrian tourists and others enjoying the sun. The heat bore down on the demonstrators facing into the sun and on the backs of the Gardaí facing them and the demonstrators (some of whom had already picketed the Hatch St. EU office), packed up after an hour.
One flag alone flew over the protesters, the Starry Plough, flag of the Irish Citizen Army, the workers’ militia formed to defend the strikers and locked out workers in Dublin in 1913 and which later took part in the 1916 Rising, their leader, James Connolly,3 being overall Commander.
View of some of the protesters and banner, also of the Starry Plough flag (centre photo) and pedestrianised Parliament Street. City Hall is behind the photographer and Dublin Castle behind that again. (Photo: Rebel Breeze)
Coincidentally perhaps, City Hall was garrisoned by the Irish Citizen Army during the Rising and a steel plaque on its wall records the names of the Volunteers who fought there and in nearby buildings – half of which are women’s names (the ICA recruited women as well as men).
End.
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FOOTNOTES
1Named after Edward Fitzgerald (1763-4 May 1798), one of the leaders of the United Irishmen, the revolutionary Irish Republican organisation. Often incorrectly referred to as ‘Lord Edward’, he had renounced his title, his sister later saying of him that the only title he aspired to was that of ‘Paddy’. Edward Fitzgerald went into hiding from British occupation forces but remained in the Liberties area, where his hiding place was discovered and he was wounded and arrested, having killed one of his would-be captors and injuring another. He died in jail reportedly of neglect by the authorities of his wounds.
2A provision that no more than 12 Irish State armed forces personnel may be sent on active service anywhere outside the State unless on UN mandate, a decision of the Government and a majority decision of the Irish Parliament. The suspicion is widespread in Irish society that the Irish ruling class wishes to dispense with the ‘Triple Lock’ or even to ignore it in order to commit the Irish State to NATO (or an EU armed force).
3Trade union leader, historian, journalist, revolutionary socialist, one of seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence. Born Edinburgh (1868), executed by British firing squad on 12 May 1916.
If it turns out that the fire destruction of homes in Greenisland, Carrigfergus was caused by Loyalist bonfire embers,1 there may be renewed calls to ban the construction of such bonfires in the cause of safety.
Or even to prevent the deaths of people from Loyalist bonfire tower construction.2
If so, such calls will miss the main point, which is that Ulster Loyalist bonfires are an expression of sectarianism and racism. It is Ulster Loyalism itself which is toxic and more lethal than any mismanaged fire. That is what is expressed in burning Irish Tricolours, Palestinian flags, images of Irish individuals, representations of migrants and of Islam.
A Loyalist bonfire with Irish Tricolour and Palestinian flags to be burned along with images of the popular rap group Kneecap and an attempt at some message aimed at them in Irish. The rejection of SDLP and Alliance colonial political parties is clear, while that of Sinn Féin is taken for granted. (Photo: Niall Carson/ PA Wire).
The record of Ulster Loyalism is as the communal enforcers of settler colonialism upon the indigenous Irish. When the United Irishmen, mostly led by Protestants, were organising in unity with Irish Catholics for Irish independence, the Orange Order was founded in 1795.
At that time it was not controlling the indigenous Irish that was of greatest concern to the British ruling class as much as the Republican Protestants, in particular the Republicans among the Presbyterians and the Orange Order targeted them too with propaganda and intimidation.
Once the threat of Protestant Republican rebellion was contained through intimidation, repression and emigration, the Orange Order concentrated on the majority mostly Catholic indigenous Irish, with general repression and periodic pogroms, continuing after Partition of Ireland in 1922.
The colonial Statelet institutionalised in law and practice discrimination against Catholics, enlisting the help and support of the majority of the Protestant working class, with the result of the worst housing and generally lowest wages in the UK – for workers of both communities.
The Loyalists mobilised against the Civil Rights campaign in the Six Counties, a campaign led by liberal Protestants as well as Catholics. During three decades of war that followed, Loyalist militias with British colonial army and police help, carried out bombings and sectarian murders.3
At this time of year people concerned for their safety or just peace of mind temporarily leave areas near to those under Loyalist control and not only in the Six Counties colony but in parts of Scotland too.
A REACTIONARY FESTIVAL
Unionist and liberal propaganda tell us that some of the bonfires are just good community fun, without flags, politician faces, migrant boat or mosque replicas on top. But the historical excuse for the marking of the 12th of July is the victory of William of Orange’s forces at the Boyne in 1690.
The Unionists celebrate this chiefly because they perceive it as a victory of Protestant forces over Catholic but also because it facilitated the destruction of the remnants of the Gaelic Order, breaking the power of Irish resistance in Ulster and completed the British conquest of Ireland.
Even without a single representation of person, country or religion on top of the bonfires, their very nature and what they intend to celebrate is reactionary, sectarian and colonial.
Most Ulster Protestants are probably unaware that although William was a Protestant and James II a Catholic, from whom Irish Catholics hoped to gain relief from repression, the Battle of the Boyne was actually part of the Nine Years War with William fighting for the League of Augsburg.
And one of the supporters of that League was none other than Pope Innocent XI because of what he and the League saw as the threat of King Luis XIV of France. The News of William’s victory at the Boyne was celebrated with high mass in a number of Catholic countries.
This year’s Loyalist Bonfire in Moygashel, Co. Armagh, with a representation of a Mosque to be burned on top and a placard calling for ‘secure borders’ against emigration. (Photo sourced: Sky News)
Loyalism has gone on to extend its hatred of Catholicism to Islam, of indigenous Irish to migrants from other lands, for example in the recent riots in Belfast.4
‘ONE MILLION PROTESTANTS IN A UNITED IRELAND’
We are frequently counselled to tolerate Ulster Loyalism, told that we must make Loyalists welcome into a united Ireland, that we need to accept their culture on equal level with others and are also subtly threatened with the potential violence of ‘One million Protestants’ if not accommodated.
The culture of Loyalism is toxic. It is intolerant, racist, homophobic, sectarian and violent. Might as well ask black people or native Americans to accept the Ku Klux Klan – after all, the KKK too have a community culture and they live in the USA along with everyone else.
A united 32-County Ireland should of course accept everyone as citizens. That is not at all to say that it should tolerate religious sectarianism, racism or homophobia. On the contrary it should oppose those evils through education and if necessary through application of the law.5
As for the implied threat of “one million Protestants”, that is to assume that all are sectarian Loyalists or at least that such are in leadership over the rest. Not all those reared in Six Counties Protestantism are Loyalists nor in fact even necessarily Unionists.
Removing the military, ideological and structural support for Unionism and Loyalism and also the control exercised by Loyalists on sections of communities will reduce Unionism and its most virulent expression, Loyalism, to a much smaller core who will have to make their choice.
Adjust to get on with your fellow citizens, or leave.
End.
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3According to Wikipedia, Loyalist paramilitaries killed 1,027 people during the 30 Years War, approximately 30% of all conflict-related deaths. 911 according to https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/violence/sutton.htm (a biased source) including 33 in the no-warning Dublin and Monaghan Bombings of 1974.
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