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Fra McCann with the family of Fr. Des below a mural of Fr. Des and Frank Cahill
Conway Mill – 40th birthday
Conway Mill has been at the heart of west Belfast for over almost 200 years.
First as a hard place of work for generations of local people, mainly women,
and then as a community hub providing education and employment opportunities.
Last week the Mill celebrated its 40th birthday promoting,
supporting and facilitating small indigenous economic enterprises, and
providing adult education facilities
Conway Mill was built in 1842, in the decade of
An Gorta Mór when thousands fled hunger across Ulster and the West, and came to
Belfast seeking work and shelter. Conway Street Mill was one of many flax
mills across Belfast. Living and working conditions were dreadful. Hours
were long and child labour was prevalent. Workers had no rights. They were
hired and fired at the whim of employers.
Following partition many of these hardships as
well as the use of sectarianism and segregation were reinforced by the Unionist
regime. Life was hard for working
people including working class Protestants. In the small back to back streets
around Conway Mill overcrowding and poverty were endemic and discrimination
against Catholics was widespread. The situation was made worse by the pogroms
of 1969 which saw some of the streets and Mills in and around Conway Mill
destroyed. By 1970 many of the Mills, including Conway Mill were lying
derelict.
In the early 1980s Tom Cahill came to me with an idea for a unique and innovative project
for west Belfast. Tom proposed that Conway Mill should be bought and turned
into a community enterprise project providing education, self-help and local
employment opportunities. Tom deserves great credit for his vision and
foresight. A small businessman himself he could legitimately have developed the
Mill in his own interests. I don’t think that even entered his head. Tom’s
interest was in this community and its citizens.
We organised a management committee which included many well known
local republican and community activists, like Frank Cahill, Fr. Des Wilson,
Liam Burke, Alfie Hannaway, Jimmy Drumm, Jean McStravick, Sean O’ Neill, Tom
Cahill & Colm Bradley.
In 1982 Springhill Community House opened the education floor in the
Mill. Noelle Ryan, Elsie Best and other amazing women played pivotal leadership
roles. Making it habitable and usable took a great deal of effort. Halla
na Saoirse (Freedom Hall) was frequently used for the staging of plays written
by local people, including Fr Des. It was also used for debates,
conferences, and occasionally for press conferences by Sinn Féin. Some of the
most important press conferences during the early days of the peace process
were held there.
A crèche was established and staffed by ACE (Action for Community
Employment) workers and teachers and tutors were provided by the Workers Educational
Association (W.E.A.) and the Ulster Peoples College.
Regrettably Conway Mill became a target for the British state. After
the Mill hosted a community led public enquiry into the killing of a young man,
John Downes, by a plastic bullet fired by the RUC in August 1984 the Mill was
targeted for political vetting and the crèche lost its funding and workers.
Businesses and community organisations were told that they would be refused
funding if they moved into the Mill.
However the management refused to be coerced or intimidated and
continued to fundraise and to develop the Mill. In this they were enormously
helped by friends in the USA.
Following the West Belfast and Greater Shankill Task Force report the
Mill received substantial funding for regeneration, including from the Office
of First and Deputy First Minister.
The official opening of the refurbished Conway Mill in November 2010
was a victory for the determination, vision and courage of that first
Management Committee in the difficult years of the 1980’s and all of those who
have taken up that task since then.
Along the way, we have lost some who were with us at the start. We are
deeply indebted to them all. The story of Conway Mill is the story of this
community and of the great sense of solidarity and never giving up that exists
in west Belfast. So, well done to all of you who are celebrating 40 years of
Conway Mill.
Famine
The history of An Gorta Mór – the Great Hunger –
runs deep in the Irish psyche. Few have not read of or heard about the unimaginable
horror that the people of Ireland faced during the 1840s. Some label it The
Famine although we know that there was sufficient food on the island to feed
the people. Political decisions allowed over a million to die and millions more
to take to coffin ships for other shores.
So, imagine if today your family, friends and
neighbours were facing a desperate struggle for survival with the likelihood
that many would be dead from famine by Christmas. That is the stark, brutal
reality facing over seven million men, women and children in Somalia.
A decade ago it is thought that more than a
quarter of a million Somalis died of hunger. Half were children under five.
UNICEF and the World Health Organisation have been warning for months that the
situation this time could be much worse.
Climate change has imposed four consecutive
years of drought and Somalia now faces a fifth season with no rain. The result
is that is in a country with little infrastructure and limited resources over a
million people, mainly women carrying young children, have been forced to leave
their homes to try to reach emergency centres. The photographs and film images
of desperate people and emaciated children and babies is shocking. The accounts
of mothers burying their children at the side of roads is deeply disturbing.
Food aid and medicines are an immediate priority
but longer term strategies and supports are needed, including rehabilitating water points. There
has also been a call for wealthy states to compensate Somalis and others for
the catastrophic impact of climate change on their lives. In the UN this is
known as “loss and damage financing” and it is on the agenda for the
international climate change summit COP27 that
is to take place next month in Egypt. In the meantime make your voice heard in
demanding greater aid for Somalia.
I don’t hate Bono
Bono - U2’s lead singer has written a book.
Surrender 40 Songs One Story. I’m looking forward to reading it.
I understand from press reports that he says his
wife Ali and he were targets for the IRA. That’s news to me and I’m sure to
anyone else close to republican thinking back in the day. Bono is
also quoted in some news reports claiming that I hate him. Nope Paul, not
me. You must be mixing me up with someone else. I don’t hate anyone. It’s a wasted
negative emotion. I do detest imperialism - a good old fashioned word. Greed.
Cruelty. Unbridled capitalism. War. Poverty. I believe in freedom. Solidarity.
Equality. Community. Socialism. The Arts.
I think you’re a very fine song writer. I like U2’s
music. Always have. And you do have a good voice. The focus you
brought to the awfulness inflicted on people in the developing world is
commendable. But some of your commentary on the conflict here was
shrill, ill informed and unhelpful. However you weren’t on your own. You
echoed the Irish establishment line. It was the wrong line for decades. A
failure of governance and the abandonment of responsibility to lead a process
of peace and justice. Thankfully that changed. But it took a long time.
Despite this some of us got through it all. With or without you. But no
hard feelings. Many didn’t. Including friends of mine and
family members. Now the conflict is finished. Thanks to all who
contributed to that. There is a lot still to be done to remove its causes and
to heal the hurt but we will get that done also and shape our own future. We
all have a positive role to play in that. By working together. So go well
chara. And good luck with the book.
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