Who fears to speak of Easter Week?

Posted by Jim on May 30, 2015

New York Attorney and long-time republican activist Martin Galvin on the
recent arrest and internment-by-remand of Ardoyne republican Dee Fennell.

As we move towards the Centenary Commemorations of 1916, the British
moved against Easter Commemoration speaker Dee Fennell. My view is that
conditions do not exist to support a continuation of Armed Struggle at
this time but this view will become harder to defend if the British
begin a clampdown on Easter Week Commemoration speakers.

The Carrickmore Easter Commemoration was attended by relatives of
Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa. This Fenian patriot inspired the oft-quoted
words ‘Ireland unfree shall never be at peace’. With six counties
unfree, these words might be said to run afoul of British law. Should we
fear to speak these words and others including Maire Drumm’s, even as
Pearse’s oration is re-enacted in Centenary Commemorations elsewhere in
Ireland?

What of the 1916 Proclamation itself? It says the people of Ireland hold
the right to ‘national freedom and sovereignty’. It seems unlikely that
Tom Clarke put his name to something that did not count the people of
his home county Tyrone, and 5 others, amongst ‘the whole people of
Ireland’. It says this right is ‘indefeasible’, meaning something that
can never be bargained, sold, or bequeathed away (even by referendum).
It even makes reference to ‘standing on that fundamental right and again
asserting it in arms’. Surely these words suggest there have been
conditions where it was ‘legitimate’ to do so.

What of the Roll of Honour? British law today regards those that
resisted them during the Troubles as mere criminals. For example, Gerry
McGeough and Seamus Kearney were imprisoned for IRA actions that took
place in 1981. Ivor Bell faces accusations from 1972. How many
Republicans carry felon licenses, employment bars or travel
restrictions?

The Roll of Honour lists Republicans who were part of that same struggle
and died at the hands of British and pro-British forces. Their names on
a Roll of Honour say they were not criminals but patriots, whose deeds
were not alone legitimate but are remembered with respect and pride. The
Roll of Honour and Easter 1916 Proclamation are customarily read in
Republican commemorations, because we identify those on the Roll of
Honour with the same principles and struggle proclaimed in 1916. Must we
pretend otherwise?

There are no doubt readers and friends who will be at pains to argue
that Dee Fennell’s case will be the last of it. The British would never
clamp down on anyone else. They will make the same arguments they made
after Gerry McGeough’s arrest in 2007. Perhaps they can convince Ivor
Bell, Seamus Kearney or those holding OTR immunity certificates that the
re-elected David Cameron says need no longer be honoured.