Léargas

Frederick Douglass Last week I attended the launch of Christine Kinealy’s authoritative and revealing two volumes on the life and times of Frederick Douglass , 'Frederick Douglass and Ireland: In his own words.' Douglass was born into slavery two hundred years ago this year in the United States. He escaped from slavery, wrote about his experiences and lectured widely, including here in Ireland.   Christine Kinealy is the Director of Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and has had a long association with Ireland writing on Daniel O’Connell, the Great Hunger and, of course Frederick Douglass. Quinnipiac’s Múseam An Ghorta Mór – Ireland’s Great hunger Museum, is a unique collection of art and research and resource materials on that period of Irish history. Christine’s newest book is drawn from over fifty speeches which Douglass gave in Ireland. They are a reminder of the evil and horror that was and is slavery and of the work of the a...

Mise agus Rita with John Samuelson and other Trade Union leaders Last Friday the Irish American James Connolly Labor Coalition (in the USA Labour is spelt without the u) organised a luncheon meeting of trade union leaders in Manhattan, mainly from New York, to introduce them to and seek their endorsement of the McGuinness Principles. There was a good crowd, good food and good craic. Additional tables were rolled out as more and more trade union delegations arrived. By the time John Samuelson, the International President of the Transport and General Workers Union called the meeting to order the room was packed. John said a few words of introduction and I spoke about the many connections between Ireland and the USA, the McGuinness Principles, and Sinn Féin’s campaign for a unity referendum and a united Ireland. Irish American Labor leaders played a positive role in the political momentum in the USA and in supporting the peace process. Many of the great trade union leaders in Amer...

Last weekend Channel 4 broadcast  ‘Massacre at Ballymurphy.’  This is an abridged version of the ‘ Ballymurphy Precedent’ . It is a documentary film for cinema that examines the circumstances which led to the killing of 11 civilians by the Parachute Regiment in Ballymurphy in the three days after the first internment raids occurred on the morning of 9th August 1971. The survivors and relatives of the victims give their first-hand accounts of the deaths of loved ones. Eleven people - ten men, including a local priest and a mother of eight children - were shot dead. 46 children were left without a parent. Their lives forever changed. It was a story of tragedy and loss, of heroism and leadership. It exposed the lengths to which the British government went to cover up the actions of its troops. The lies they told and the willingness of some in the media to publish unchallenged claims that those killed were gunmen and a gun woman. It was an emotional film in which the relat...

Irish govt refusing to oppose Collusion The arrest last Friday morning of two investigative journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey was a new low in the efforts of the British state to protect its own agencies and personnel from the legal consequences of state collusion during the decades of the conflict. It is also a consequence of the refusal of successive Irish governments to oppose collusion. The journalists arrested were part of the team that last year produced the acclaimed Alex Gibney documentary ‘No Stone Unturned’. Gibney is an internationally celebrated American documentary maker. Both Trevor and Barry are also well respected and award winning reporters. The documentary was widely praised for exposing the hidden secrets of the Loughinisland attack to wider public scrutiny for the first time, including naming one of those involved in the attack. ‘No Stone Unturned’ looked at the events which led to and followed on from the UVF attack on the Heights Bar in Loughin...