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 to the integration of the
interstate transport system. So some courageous women and men, black and white
– Freedom Riders – took to the buses and trains to challenge segregation.
Many were beaten and hundreds were imprisoned.
Mise agus King Hollands
While in Nashville I visited the
Woolworths building where they did sit-ins, with Rip and King, and with
Judge Richard Dinkins, another veteran of those days. We sat at the lunch
counter where almost 60 years ago African American citizens were attacked. They
recounted their experiences of those days, including arrests and assaults,
before we sang ‘We shall overcome’ to our surprised guests.
The death of King
Hollands is a huge loss to his family and friends. And to the struggle for
rights. I enjoyed his company. And his singing. And celebrate his courage. Go
ndeanfaidh Dia trocaire air.
Kitson was amply rewarded for his foul deeds – in Ireland and elsewhere
Richard has insisted that I write a
little bit about the death of Frank Kitson. Kitson, British Army general and
leading advocate of counter-insurgency operations and collusion between state
forces and death squads died last week. I have written about him many times. I
am sure his death will be mourned by those within the British system whom he
served over many decades in defence of the Empire. He was rewarded with medals,
a knighthood, and military promotions. He was for a time Commander in Chief of
the UK Land Forces and from 1982 to 1985 he was Aide-de-Camp General to the British Queen.
Few if any of his many
victims who were tortured, imprisoned, killed by his counter-gangs and
collusion strategies, whether in the North or in Malaya, Kenya, Aden or Cyprus,
will shed tears at his passing.
After the Second World
War Britain fought over 50 colonial wars in defence of its Empire. Kitson
fought in some of these and his damaging influence was felt in others. He
fought in Malaya but it was in Kenya in the 1950s that he came to prominence.
The dehumanisation of the native Kenyan people reached new levels of racism and
barbarity at that time. They were labeled animals, barbarians and vermin. Tens
of thousands ended up in over 100 detention camps. Many of the men were
castrated using pliers. Men and women were raped, sometimes using blunt
instruments like bottles and rifle barrels. Others were mutilated by prison guards
and British Army officers. Some had fingers and ears sliced off. Others were
burned to death.
Kitson established counter-gangs.
The groups were made up of British soldiers, including Kitson on occasion, and
former members of those fighting against British rule. They travelled the
countryside killing, maiming, interrogating and torturing. One particular
technique Kitson introduced involved using ‘hooded’ agents/informers to
identify those who were then sent to the camps for torture.
The result of all this was
that 30,000 Kenyans were killed; one and a half million were interned;
torture was commonplace and 1090 were hanged using a portable gallows.
Kitson honed his skills in other
colonial conflicts including Aden and Cyprus and Oman. Consequently, when the
British Army were deployed in Derry and Belfast in August 1969 many within its
ranks had served in these conflict zones and brought with them the brutal
techniques they had learned.
Kitson joined them in 1970 as
Commander in Belfast of the 39th Brigade area. He immediately
began implementing his strategies. In the autumn of 1971 the British Army
created a new unionist paramilitary organisation – the Ulster Defence
Association – out of many small neighbourhood vigilante loyalist groups.
Kitson believed that to win
against a guerrilla enemy which had the support of its community or at the very
least a significant proportion of its community, the government, the law, the
judiciary and the media all had to be reshaped and moulded by government to
suit the aim of defeating the enemy.
It was about controlling
the population; using counter-gangs (death squads) to coerce it; establishing
special units and employing psyops (psychological operations) and media
manipulation. Kitson rationalised the use of death squads and the corruption of
justice: ‘Everything done by a government and its agents in combating
insurgency must be legitimate. But this does not mean that the government must
work within exactly the same set of laws during an emergency as existed
beforehand. The law should be used as just another weapon in the government’s
arsenal, in which case it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the
disposal of unwanted members of the public.’
While Kitson was based
in Belfast he was responsible for establishing the Military Reaction Force
(MRF). It sought to stoke sectarian conflict by killing Catholics. In addition
1 Para was also based in Palace Barracks in Holywood where Kitson also
resided. He encouraged the Paras to be violent and brutal in their actions. The
Paras were known as ‘Kitson’s private army.’
The Parachute Regiment
was responsible for the Ballymurphy Massacre and Bloody Sunday in
Derry. When the Paras killed 14 people in Derry the adjutant of 1 Para was
Michael Jackson. He subsequently produced in his own handwriting the ‘shot
list’ which claimed that all of the victims had guns or bombs. Like Kitson he
rose to the top of the British Army.
Later Jackson described
his admiration for Kitson: “he was the sun around which the planets revolved … and
very much set the tone for the operation style in Belfast.”
I know that those
who opposed British militarism by force in our own place, like the
freedom fighters in other parts of the globe, were also responsible for
inflicting hurt. I have never tried to disguise that and I regret the harm
done. Kitson was a failure. He never to my knowledge showed any concern for the
brutal policies he devised and implemented. His policies failed. They reflected
the will of the British establishment at that time. Kitson was their man.
You
cannot begin to understand the conflict in Ireland or Kitson’s role in it
without setting it in the context of the English colonization of Ireland. Nor
can you understand the brutality and depravity that accompanied it without recognising
that the British Empire was built on a deep rooted racism, arrogance, and
intolerance that saw other peoples as less than human. Today’s genocide in Gaza
has its roots in this history. Millions died across the world as British
colonialism exploited them in the interests of profit.
Kitson was the epitome
of this imperialist and colonial aggression and he was amply rewarded for his
ruthless and cruel defence of that imperialism by successive British
governments.
Nollaig na mBan
Nollaig na mBan - Women’s Christmas
or Little Christmas – was celebrated last Saturday. Traditionally, it’s
the last day of the Christmas period when the role of women who did all the
work preparing for and making Christmas a success for everyone else, was
celebrated. January the 6th was the day when they had the opportunity to
rest and celebrate.
It’s also the day when the
Christmas tree and decorations are supposed to come down. Until recently the
celebration of Nollaig na mBan had declined. Thankfully that is now changing
and this old custom is being revived.
Nowadays for many women
Nollaig na mBan has a much broader meaning. It is a celebration of the strength
of women. Of their right to equality and parity of esteem. Long may this
continue.
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