Kneecap | Maureen Wilson – a formidable woman | Gaza – Don’t Avert your eyes

- 12th August 2024

Kneecap

I’m a big fan of Kneecap. From the time they were called NÍ CEAPAINN – a clever use of the Irish phrase and a play on the English words Kneecapping. Ní Ceapainn means ‘I don’t reckon’ or ‘I don’t think so’. For example, in ‘An ceapainn tú go bhfuil seo ceart?’ – ‘Do  you reckon this is right? Ní ceapainn. ‘I don’t reckon’. Or ‘I don’t think so.’ Anyway it soon morphed into KNEECAP. As part of a clever and provocative name recognition ploy. That’s my recollection anyway of the origin of the name of this trio of Rappers and I’m sticking by this wee bit of musical history.

The Kneecap rappers are brilliant. Provocative. Clever. Funny. Satirical. Politically and lyrically in tune with their roots. And very, very talented. Which brings me to their film. Be warned. It too is provocative. From the start it's full of foul language. One f… word follows the other at breakneck speed. There is also sex in it. Well sex scenes. So if you are thinking of bringing your Granny for a movie, beware. Not that Grannies don’t use the F.. word. Some probably have sex as well, ach is é sin sceal eile.

Kneecap the movie is like Flann O’Brien on speed. It is outrageously funny and politically unapologetic. Oh and it’s also mostly in Irish. With subtitles in English. Or French. Or Spanish depending on where you get to watch it. Because Kneecap is a worldwide hit. And deservedly so!

I won’t outline the plot. Go and watch it yourself. Suffice to say that there isn’t a bad moment in it. It’s a story about us. About West Belfast. Especially young West Belfast Gaels. The cast are outstanding. Especially the women. All of them. And Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí. So is Michael Fassbender and everyone else. Stars galore. The cinematography is very high class. The music is ‘A’ one.  It is also in many ways a tribute and a loving vindication of the community that I am delighted to be part of. We are  so lucky to have such talent in our midst.

Kneecap has done us proud. Well done to Trevor Birney, Producer and Rich Peppiatt, Director, and everyone involved  with this classic award winning film. Who says Irish is a dead language? 

As Mo Chara would say ‘F… ing amadáns. Tá ar teanga f…ing beo’. And so it is. Kneecap Go Deo. 

Maureen Wilson – a formidable woman

Maureen Wilson was 93 when she died in July. She was one of those countless women and men who over seven decades was a stalwart supporter and activist of Irish republicanism. It was a part of her DNA. When she died Maureen was a member of the Andersonstown Martyrs Sinn Féin Cumann.

Maureen was born on 22 March 1931 in Cavendish St. just off the Falls Road. The family were called Woods and were originally from Newry. Her Aunt Bridget had been a member of the Cumann na mBan during the Tan War. She was involved in transporting weapons for the IRA. Maureen’s mother also provided parcels for republican prisoners, many of them from outside of Belfast, who were held in Crumlin Road prison during the 1940s

Maureen met her future husband Leo in November 1947 on a bus to Lurgan to support Antrim. Leo was in the IRA and was active in Conradh na Gaeilge and the Ard Scoil in Belfast. He had a great love for Irish history, language and culture. The two became inseparable and in April 1950 they were married. They had five children Gearoid, Cormac, Pól, Padraic and Fiona.

In 1964 when Sinn Féin was banned under the Special Powers Act, Leo was one of 12 republicans who stood as independent Republicans in the general election. Maureen was beside him every day.

Later in the 1960s, Maureen and Leo were active in the civil rights campaign and in 1970 following the violent response of the state and the August pogroms of 1969 a small group of dedicated activists came together to form one of the first human rights NGO’s in the North – the Association of Legal Justice (ALJ). It included Leo Wilson, Clara Reilly, Fr. Raymond Murray, Fr. Brian Brady, Anne Murray, and others. For years the ALJ worked tirelessly to help the families of citizens detained by British forces. Their homes were open at all hours of the day and night to those in need and Maureen played an invaluable role in collating statements from victims.

In the 1970s and 80s Maureen worked with Green Cross in support of prisoners' families and was active in the Relatives Action Committee during the H-Block/Armagh protest and the hunger strikes. Throughout this period the Wilson household suffered house raids, arrests, imprisonment and ongoing harassment by the British Crown Forces.

Maureen and Leo also enthusiastically supported the building of Sinn Féin as a radical political party. They were active in election campaigns and were strongly supportive of Sinn Féin’s efforts to build a peace process.

During the negotiations our team used houses for quiet meetings – Maureen’s egg and onion sandwiches were a favourite of Martin McGuinness. Consequently when arrangements for a meeting were being made on the phone for the Wilson’s home it  was always referred to as the ‘egg and onion’.

When Brendan Curran was shot and seriously injured in a gun and grenade attack on his home in Lurgan by a loyalist death squad in October 1989 he recuperated there with Maureen making sure he was well cared for.

Maureen was a strong woman. She was also very progressive. A strong Catholic she could be scathing about the failings of the church. She was also quietly feminist. She and I had many little chats on these and related issues. She always impressed me with her positivity and commonsense optimism. She will be deeply missed by her family, all of them,  but especially her grandchildren and by the wider republican family of whom she was an indispensable part for seven decades.

 

Gaza – Don’t Avert your eyes

As I write this week’s column the merciless Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian people of Gaza continues unabated. A new order from the Israeli military this Monday morning instructs thousands of Palestinians in the city of Hamad in West Khan Younis to evacuate. They have no food and no water and nowhere to go that is safe.

Uachtarán Michael D Higgins spoke for all of us at the weekend when he described the Israeli attack on the Al-Tibin school in Gaza as a “horrific violation of human rights”. As refugees attended morning prayers in the overcrowded refugee shelter on Saturday morning Israel forces fired three missiles killing scores of Palestinian civilians, mainly women and children. The loss of life brings the known death total close to 40,000 people.

Al-Tibin was the 10th school in the last couple of weeks in which massacres by Israeli forces have occurred. Israel’s genocide has destroyed most of Gaza’s neighbourhoods forcing families to repeatedly flee. Every hospital has been attacked, most destroyed, refugee camps have been destroyed and thousands of bodies remain buried under the rubble. 

President Higgins declared, “There is no room anymore for anyone to avert their gaze”. He is right. Israel’s genocidal war demands international intervention. The failure of the USA, the EU, France, Germany and the British and others to confront Israel is shameful.