Léargas

  100 Days of Hell:  Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the west Bank passed the 100 day mark last week.  By the time this column is published the number of dead at the hands of Israel’s war machine is likely to have passed 25,000, mostly women and children. That’s almost equivalent to the entire population of Newry wiped out. At the same time almost two million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced. That is comparable to the population of the North forced from their homes while every hospital, school, university and most homes is destroyed. Oxfam has concluded that the daily death toll of civilians in Gaza is greater than any other major conflict in the last quarter of a century. At the weekend and across the world, in more than 120 cities – including Belfast, Cork and Dublin - millions gathered in a global day of action to demand a ceasefire and an end to the Israeli genocide. The protests also criticised the military strikes by the B...

  Death of a Hero Just before Christmas my colleague   Greg O'Loughlin, the Executive Director of Friends of Sinn Féin in the USA , gave  me the sad news that  veteran American Civil Rights leader  King Hollands had died. I had the honour of meeting King and his fellow activists Rip Patton and Richard Dinkins during a visit to Nashville in November 2018. I was there to speak in the Civil Rights Room in the Nashville Public Library along with King on the connections between the Civil Rights Movement in the USA and the Civil Rights Association in Ireland in the 1960s. King and Rip had participated in the famous Woolworths Lunchtime sit-ins in 1960s. They were also Freedom Riders. At that time black citizens were banned by the draconian segregation laws from sitting at Whites Only lunch counters. They were also segregated on public transport - confined to the Back of The Bus. When this legislation ended there was violent opposition by white racists ...

  This Land Is Your Land.  I am a long time fan of Woody Guthrie. He is one of the worlds great song writers in the English language and many of his words  are as relevent today as they were when he wrote them. He was also an American activist who agitated and educated and sang for social equality,  immigration reform, peace and fairness. He stood against fascism, racism,  war, corruption and for a clean environment. He sang about love, for workers rights and a better life for all.  He also wrote a lot. I read his Bound For Glory book years ago as well as his novel House of Earth. And now I am delighted to have  a Christmas box of a magnificent publication of Woody’s  ‘ Songs and Art  *  Words and Wisdom ’  curated by his daughter Nora Guthrie and historian Robert Santelli.   This is a large handsome reproduction of some of Woodys drawings, doodles, scribbled thoughts, songs, poems and political o...

  A B oy named Jay I did a book signing for Christmas at An Fhuiseog’s stand in the Kennedy Centre. It was a pleasant hour of banter and craic, meeting old friends and making new ones. Gerry Kelly was there just before me but he escaped when I arrived. So it was just me and the punters. And RG and Maggie who was selling all matter of gifts for An Fhuiseog.  The book buyers were a mixed bunch. Grannies and Grandas as well as young couples or lone shoppers. Mostly locals with  a few stragglers from out of town. From Tyrone and Tandragee, Kilrea and Dublin, two sisters from Australia, relatives of the late Albert Fry, Gael and renowned singer í nGaeilge. Some Newry neuks and a family from Dundalk.  There were even folks from North Belfast.  Everyone was in good form, including the wheel chair warriors and walking stick users. There was an epidemic of young people. Selfie aficionados. The Tic  Toc generation. Full of craic. And there was a boy na...