Posted by Jim on June 3, 2016
Former head of NORAID Martin Galvin addressing a crowd at the republican monument in Creggan on Saturday at a commemoration for Vol George McBrearty who was killed by the SAS 35 years ago during the hunger strike on May 28, 1981. On his left is Hugh Brady who chaired the event.
by Eamon Sweeney
A crowd of up to 300 gathered at the republican monument in Creggan on Saturday for a commemoration for IRA volunteer George McBrearty who was shot dead by the SAS on May 28, 1981.
The main speaker at the event was the former head of NORAID, American Martin Galvin, who in the 1980s defied a British ban on entering Northern Ireland.
Mr Galvin told the crowd: “It is good to be an authentic commemoration, and I use the term authentic deliberately because we have seen too many commemorations lately where people are supposed to be honouring the legacy of patriots. They are supposed to be honouring the ideals for which those patriots stood. We have seen the Irish Government in Dublin where they have used the names of the men and women who in 1916 fought for the freedom of every Irish man and woman according to the Proclamation who were unafraid to take on the British Government to achieve it. But, today the Irish Government does not even mention your freedom in Derry or anywhere else in the Six Counties.”
Mr Galvin also said that what George McBrearty fought for was no different to the ideals of the men and women of 1916.
He continued: “That’s why I am so proud to be here today at an authentic, a true comemmoration of a true Irish patriot-to stand with the McBrearty family and be unafraid of what he stood for, be unafraid to speak of what he stood for and to demand that what he stood for and fought for will one day be true – your freedom in Derry and for all the North of Ireland.
“All of us are here to honour a patriot with pride. It is important to remember why George McBrearty took the steps that he did. He was born in a city that was three-quarters nationalist but entirely unionist controlled. Because of where his parents sent him to church and to school he would be viewed forever as an enemy of the state, a second class citizen in his own city. If he didn’t get the message that he was unwanted in this state , that he should emigrate or go south, the British Crown Forces were happy to remind him of it anytime they met him on the road.
That’s why I am so proud to be here today at an authentic, a true comemmoration of a true Irish patriot
“When he was 17 he took the fateful decision to join the Derry Brigade and he fought to get the British out of his city, out of the Six Counties and out of everywhere else in Ireland. Over the next seven years George would become the greatest soldier that Derry city ever had, and it would be said that he was to this city what Francis Hughes was to South Derry. I read these words because they are not mine. I didn’t write them for a speech here today. These were the words that IRA leaders at the time had published in An Phoblacht.
“I was sent a copy as editor of the ‘Irish People’ newspaper in New York and asked to cover it after his death in 1981. That was the way that other volunteers felt about him and it was the highest possible praise at that time. He was a true leader. He was somebody that everybody around him would have confidence in. No matter that the British had better equipment and bigger numbers. No matter the advantages they had.
“The people around him felt that they would succeed just because they were standing alongside George.”
Posted by Jim on June 2, 2016
MARTIN GALVIN
BRONX, NEW YORK,
MAY 12, 2016
EDITOR
IRISH ECHO
165 MADISON AVENUE
NEW YORK, NY 10016
McALLISTER AND DEPORTEES MUST GET JUSTICE
A chara
Signs proclaiming “Please don’t deport my daddy!”were once a common sight at Irish rallies. The words meant that the real victims of Irish political deportations would be American children and wives, forced to choose between fathers and husbands or their country. The IRISH ECHO editorial(Groundhog Year),about the close call for Malachy McAllister, and the petty hardships still visited on Irish deportees after a quarter century, remind us of what is at stake.
Malachy McAllister and all of the Irish political deportees are living examples of Britain’s willingness to make political points with Irish victims. Each of these men have multiple grounds which should entitle them or anyone else to fully legal permanent residence under American law. They are hardworking and respected members of the Irish-American community who should be allowed to work, raise their families and on occasion travel to Ireland to visit friends and relatives. They were political prisoners decades ago in a war that is long over.
Instead Malachy McAllister, who has lived in America for decades, is a father and successful businessman, remains under yearly threat of deportation. He narrowly escaped deportation on April 25th.He will have to fight all over next year and in years to come. To paraphrase an old IRA saying, Malachy only has to get unlucky once.
Malachy and all the Irish political deportees are pawns in an old British game of criminalization. Since the British think their right to rule is always legitimate, they think anyone who dares oppose them must be criminals. That was true of the patriots they shot in 1916. That was true of George Washington who himself said to the “Patriots of Ireland” in 1788 “had I failed the scaffold would have been my doom.”
As America celebrated its bicentennial in 1976,Britain renewed its policy of criminalization in the infamous H-Blocks of Long Kesh. Political prisoners, among them Bobby Sands, would be told they must dress up in criminal uniforms so that the crown could display them as criminals. They resisted despite Britain’s attempts to break them. British policy backfired. In America huge crowds rallied to back the Blanketmen, who would become the Hunger Strikers.
The British decided the American government must be brought on board. Dessie Mackin, a Belfast born Republican in New York to help Irish Northern Aid organize tours by released Blanketmen, was arrested. The British served an Extradition warrant demanding the American federal court hand him over as a criminal. Instead the great civil rights lawyer Frank Durkan put Britain on trial. He won a ruling that Irish Republicans were engaged in a legitimate fight against British rule. The British tried again and failed to extradite Joe Doherty.
They turned to federal deportation courts. A series of Deportation proceedings commenced against former Irish Republican prisoners settled in the United States with American wives and children. It led to years of campaigning, emotional legal fights in packed Immigration Courtrooms, a formal Congressional hearing and even a CBS television documentary.
There were unforgettable moments. Gerry Conlon of the ‘Guildford Four’ testified about being beaten in vivid terms that went beyond anything in the movie “In the Name of the Father,” revealing that if he had ever met Gabriel Megahey, the British would have framed him and made the case the ‘Guildford Five.’
Bernadette Devlin McAliskey testified calmly about being shot and severely wounded, but then broke down as she testified about the brutal murder of Kathleen O’Hagan.
Members of Congress and judges testified as well as experts from Ireland.
Almost a quarter-century ago, the Irish political deportee cases were settled by the Clinton administration, upon formal request by Secretary of State Albright to Attorney General Reno.
As the attorney for four of these men, I remember the understandings we were given. The nightmare restrictions and threats would be over. Deportations were halted. They were promised full work authorization, advanced parole for travel to Ireland. It was also thought to be the start of a process, where others including Malachy, would have the door opened for them.
Instead, as you reported, Matt Morrison is confined to two states, his work authorization is withheld and deportation threatened. He is not alone. Others have lost work authorization for months. Deportees have requested to go to Ireland to see gravely ill parents and not gotten travel permission until weeks after their burial. They get detained for hours after returning despite travel permission. Why?
Malachy McAllister, Matt Morrison and all the Irish political deportees were involved in a legitimate armed conflict which is long over. America must not continue to victimize them and their families at Britain’s behest!
Slan, MARTIN GALVIN
The writer is former National Publicity Director of Irish Northern Aid and President of AOH Division 5, Bronx and an attorney who represented four of the Irish political deportees.
Posted by Jim on June 1, 2016
Eamon Phoenix. Irish News, Tuesday, May 31, 1916
Irish News (Belfast).Tuesday, May 31, 2016
US Press on Executions
The New York Evening Mail commented: ‘From a legal point of view the penalty of death inflicted on the leaders of the Dublin revolt is justified. The successful rebel is a hero to succeeding generations. The unsuccessful rebel is a traitor and, according to the laws of all countries, his life is forfeit. Yet the feeling will be general that the British government has blundered once again in its handling of a phase of the Irish Question. Prevailing Irish opinion has apparently condemned the mad outbreak and its leaders. Now, the end that has come to them after the rising failed is likely to elevate them in Irish thought.’
The New York Times comments: ‘Sir Edward Carson, recently a member of the British Cabinet, is he who two years ago armed the people[the Protestans] of Ulster to declare war on England if she persisted in the attempt to thrust Home Rule upon Ireland. His position was that he and his followers were obliged to commit treason against England in order to remain loyal to her!’
From Canada the Ottawa Evening Journal comments: ‘If the mass of the Irish people were in any real doubt as to whether John Redmond and his colleagues were the wisest or safest leaders, the immediate ludicrous collapse of the attempt Rebellion would afford conclusive guidance. For crazy folly, nothing could surpass the Sinn Fein outbreak. Launched with an armament which seems to have consisted almost entirely of a pompous proclamation, the riot proved just powerful enough to capture a park and the Post Office and hold them for three or four days…’
The New York Evening Globe remarks: ‘Sir Edward Carson drilled a force in the North of Ireland whose declared purpose it was to resist the mandate of the British Parliament, yet Carson subsequently became a member of the Cabinet. If his offences could be overlooked, it should be possible to overlook in large degree the offences of the foolish Sinn Feiners who thought they were privileged to imitate an example so distinguished. The good men of Ireland and England have never had greater reason for forbearance than now…’
(What is surprising about the reaction of the US press to the Rising is the widespread criticism of the British government’s decision to execute the leaders, thus creating martyrs. Redmond retained his iconic status for now but within months the US Ambassador could inform London that anti-British feeling was growing rapidly. Support for the Irish Republican cause was, he wrote to the Prime Minister, Asquith, ‘like fizz in a soda bottle’.)
Posted by Jim on May 28, 2016
A bizarre intervention by the Canadian Ambassador to Ireland has drawn
international attention to a revisionist state event in Dublin which
honoured the British soldiers who died in 1916 fighting to maintain
British rule in Ireland.
As republican Brian Murphy mounted a lone peaceful protest at
Grangegorman Military Cemetery, ambassador Kevin Vickers suddenly set
upon him, grabbing and dragging Mr Murphy as he attempted to speak out
against the event.
Despite the provocation, Mr Murphy, who held a valid personal
invitation, remained peaceful. He was subsequently arrested by the
Gardai police for a general public order offense, while no action was
taken against Vickers.
The ambassador, a former Canadian policeman, was lauded as a “hero” in
Ireland’s pro-British establishment media, but questions have been
raised in his home country. Canada has strong protections for the right
to free speech, which is protected as a fundamental freedom under the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Speaking in Japan, Canadian prime minster Justin Trudeau was pressed to
respond to the incident of whether Mr Vickers, who can claim diplomatic
immunity against any charge of assault, should face disciplinary action.
“If it lands on my table, I’ll take a look at it”, he said.
Vickers, the former sergeant-at-arms at Canada’s Parliament, shot and
killed an an armed attacker inside the parliament buildings in 2014, and
was appointed Canada’s ambassador to Ireland by way of reward.
But David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said Vickers
was “not there as an honorary member of the Gardai”. And the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) suggested Vickers may have violated the
government’s code of conduct for diplomatic staff serving abroad.
Under the heading “Canada’s Reputation: Personal behaviour”, it notes:
“Regardless of any legal immunity conferred upon representatives abroad,
their conduct and actions will be subject to a greater degree of
scrutiny and public interest than they would be at home.”
In a comment piece, the CBC’s national affairs editor Chris Hall said Mr
Vickers was regarded as a man of “enormous personal integrity” and “of
even greater personal courage”.
“But Vickers is no longer a security officer,” he continued. “He is
Canada’s representative in Ireland. That role depends not on bravery but
discretion. Ambassadors are supposed to stay out of domestic issues in
their host country.”
“If he thought he was helping out by removing a protester, that’s not
his job and that injects him and Canada into a political discussion that
the Irish can and should manage for themselves.”
Mr Murphy, a father of three from Rathcoole, County Dublin, said he was
pleased with the media attention. “I stood up to make my protest,” he
said, and had described the event as a “shame” and an “insult”.
“I could see him (Vickers) standing up and heading straight for me and I
put my hands up to stop him getting too close. The publicity it’s got is
because of his actions, not mine,” he said.
Mr Murphy, who previously demonstrated at Glasnevin cemetery when the
names of British soldiers killed in the Rising were inscribed on a
commemorative wall, said there was a very large Garda presence.
He was wearing a shirt in support of the Irish Republican Prisoners
Welfare Association and also wanted to highlight the case of the
Craigavon Two, Brendan McConville and John Paul Wootton, jailed in 2012,
as a miscarriage of justice.
But his protest mainly drew international attention to the controversial
idea of a people commemorating their oppressors.
The Toronto Star described it as a “sensitive event given the deaths of
hundreds of Irish nationalists in 1916, the execution of leaders of the
uprising, and the subsequent declaration of martial law by the British
and the arrest of thousands of citizens.”
Mr Murphy said he also feared a trend which could see hundreds of
British war criminals being commemorated in future centenary events:
“Does it mean in two or three years’ time they’ll be commemorating the
Black and Tans, the Auxiliaries?”
Posted by Jim on May 27, 2016
If all republicans were to unite behind the Éire Nua policy it would give clear direction to both the broad republican family and the wider Irish people – which are badly needed at this time to escape the grip of censorship imposed on alternatives to the status quo.
If we’re honest we’ll admit that no-one else – at least not yet – has produced a template for Irish reunification other than vague talk of a ‘socialist republic’ or the idea the Six Counties would simply be bolted onto the existing Free State.
Éire Nua envisages a community of communities under a broader constitution that exists to uphold democratic standards and protections for the citizen. It represents a serious alternative to the centralised state, which upholds state power over the rights of the individual towards an authoritarian end – however light be that end.
Éire Nua then is not just about uniting Ireland but about breaking down the power of the state and subjecting it to far greater democratic pressure and accountability from below.
Unionists and the British though are shaping up for the argument that will come 10-15-20 years down the line, should the mechanisms set in place by the Good Friday Agreement run into difficulties (i.e. a Nationalist majority in the North which they can’t control).
If we look closely, they are lining up the position that there should be a Federal Ireland (more likely on a two-state model than the Provincial one set out in Eire Nua) within a wider Federal ‘British Isles’ entity. I engage with Unionists on other platforms and can see clearly that this is where their strategic thinking is at.
Many republicans believe that Irish Unity will follow a vote in the North once the numbers stack up in their favour but what they don’t realise is that Britain, through their tool the Unionists as always, are readying the ground for another settlement which allows them to remain in control on critical matters – those that count – while the Irish once again are given the illusion that they hold power in their own country – an illusion ongoing since the days of partition itself.
We need to be building our own argument and Eire Nua is the best that’s out there to fight this particular ideological battle, which is looming on the horizon even though we might not see it at this point
