Protect the Assembly Rooms | Calls for Kurdish peace process welcomed | Time for Unity | Free Palestine
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The
North began, the North held on,
The
strife for native land;
When
Ireland rose to smite her foes
God
bless the Northern land
Thomas
Davis
In the
1790s Belfast was the centre of an Irish political movement which linked Antrim
and Down with the Republics of France and America, and Belfast citizens
celebrated the Fall of the Bastille, drank toasts to Mirabeau and Lafayette and
studied Payne’s great book, The Rights of Man. Presbyterians formed
the Society of United Irishmen and declared for Catholic emancipation, for the
abolition of church establishments and tithes, for resistance to rack rents and
for sweeping agrarian reforms. They gave a cordial welcome to Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication
of the Rights of Women and joined with their Catholic neigbours in the
struggle for national independence and political democracy.
It was a
time of change, of great ideas and of hope for a new future free from England’s
clutches. The French revolutionary demands for “Liberté, Égalité,
Fraternité" (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) struck a chord that galvanized
the 20,000 inhabitants of Belfast at that time. If the people of France could
overthrow the monarchy, the Ancien Regime, why couldn’t the people of Belfast
and beyond end the many abuses inflicted by an English government on the
Catholic and Dissenter (Presbyterian) people of Ireland.
The rising which the United Irish men organised was brutally
suppressed. Along with that savage coercion we also lost much of that
part of our history.
Few of the buildings of that period still stand. First
Presbyterian Church in Rosemary Street is one. Clifton House in North Queen St.
is another. So too in the Linen Hall Library.
Another is
the Assembly Rooms – previously known as The Exchange - on the corner of North
St. and Waring St. It was built as a market house in 1769 and seven years later
a second floor was added. It was at the centre of the economic and cultural
life of Belfast. For a time, the United Irish leader Henry Joy McCracken held a
Sunday school there for the children of the poor. It was in Assembly rooms in
1786 that Waddell Cunningham, a merchant proposed the establishment
of a Belfast based slave trading company. It was opposed by Mary Anne
McCracken, her brother and others who later established the United Irish
Society. The proposal was roundly defeated. Six years later the harpers of
Ireland held their last Assembly there.
In 1798
after the defeat of the 98 Rebellion Henry Joy and others were court martialed
in the Assembly Rooms They were then walked the short distance to High Street
where they were hanged.
In the two
hundred years after that The Assembly Rooms continued to play an important role
in the economic and cultural life of the city before eventually becoming a
bank. It closed in 2000 and the building has remained largely vacant since
then, slowly decaying. Currently, Belfast City Council and the Assembly Rooms
Alliance are involved in a process to try and save the building from
dereliction. If successful, The Assembly Rooms would be an important
historical, multi-cultural and heritage addition to Belfast. I support their
efforts. Its preservation would symbolize the determination of the City to
protect our history while looking to the future.
Calls
for Kurdish peace process welcomed
Following World War 1 the European colonial states divided
the Middle East into British and French zones of interest. An initial
commitment to a Kurdish state was ignored and the Kurdish people were forcibly
partitioned between Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Winston Churchill, who was
Colonial Secretary in 1920 and helped draw up the state boundaries of that
region, cleared the use of poison gas against the Kurdish people in Iraq. The
renowned writer and historian Noam Chomsky writes that Churchill favoured the
use of poison gas "against
recalcitrant Arabs as an experiment" and cleared their use on the basis
that; "I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised
tribes."
Since then
the region has been convulsed with conflict. Not least has been the
centuries long
struggle of the Kurdish people to self-determination.
In the last
week, Declan Kearney and I have signed a public statement, along with over
200 international political leaders, human rights campaigners, women’s
activists, artists, academics, journalists, jurists, and human rights and civil
society activists, urging all parties to the conflict between the Kurdish
people and Turkey to “take decisive steps towards a lasting peace.”
The public
letter follows the recent declaration by imprisoned Kurdish leader
Abdullah Öcalan calling for the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK) to disarm and dissolve. Öcalan’s statement received a positive
response from the PKK and has been widely welcomed by Kurdish leaders, creating
a new sense of hope that peace and a future away from a conflict can be
brought.
Öcalan, who
helped found the PKK, has been imprisoned for over 25 years by
Turkey where he has been held in solitary
confinement and denied visitation rights for much of that time.
Nevertheless, he has become a voice for peace, a leader willing to offer
the hand of friendship to
enemies. Despite his decades of incarceration, he has
forged a road map to peace that commits the Kurdish people to democracy and
freedom and tolerance, stating that it is time to “silence the weapons and
let the ideas and politics speak.” Öcalan’s call follows months of recent negotiations that have
revived regional peace talks.
In the
joint letter signed by international supporters, we describe Öcalan's statement as “a pivotal
moment for Türkiye and the Kurdish people, aiming to end decades of conflict and pave the
way for a democratic society. This call represents a vital opportunity to bring
stability to Turkey and the Middle East, protect human rights, and facilitate
reconciliation”; urging all sides to “seize this historic moment to work
together for peace and justice for all Turks and Kurds.”
This is a significant moment for the region. The Good Friday
Agreement (1998) negotiations underpins the importance of
all political representatives being involved the process and that
dialogue is essential.
As in our own situation and that of the Basque country,
South Africa and other conflicts, the international community can play
a very constructive role in supporting political agreement and a
peaceful outcome. I would urge the international community to grasp this
opportunity. A successful peace process would be a huge encouragement
to increase efforts in other parts of the region. I want
to commend Abdullah Öcalan for his leadership and vision
and urge the Turkish Government to release him.
Time for
Unity
The Spring budget statement from the British Chancellor last
week exemplifies much that is wrong in the current union between the North and
England. It was a statement that Margaret Thatcher would have approved of. It
directly attacks the most vulnerable in society and promises more cuts to
public services, including welfare provision. It commits Labour to the
implementation of policies that will cause significant difficulties for the
North. It will significantly increase poverty, particularly for
children and people with disabilities. At the same time Labour intends spending
more money on weapons for war.
We need to
step away from a union in which the North is an afterthought to London
governments and embrace a future based on Irish unity.
Reunification
would resolve the issue of national self-determination that has bedeviled
relationships on this island and between these islands for centuries. It would
end partition and the divisions arising from it that have stymied political and
economic growth for generations. It would provide a positive space in which the
rights of all sections of our people can be protected. The advances in the
all-island economy are already proving that our economic future is best served
in an all-Ireland context. The end of the duplication of services will benefit
everyone and ensure better public services.
The reality
is that the North is tied to a British economy that is in deep trouble. A
united Ireland and an all-island economy which we control promises a brighter
future.
Free Palestine
This column salutes Mothers Against Genocide for their
Protest on Mother’s Day against the genocidal war by the Zionists against the
people of Palestine. Mothers Against Genocide are an inspirational group
of women who campaign assertively and imaginatively for peace and
self-determination for the people of Palestine. Their overnight
vigil at the gates of Leinster House was forcibly cleared by An
Garda Síochána and eight protesters were arrested.
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