I was deeply saddened by the death
of Alice Toner. I knew Alice and her husband Fra all of my adult life. Like my
own family they moved into Ballymurphy shortly after it was built. She and Fra
were long standing republicans. Alice was born Alice Scullion in 1929 from
Varna Street in the Falls area. Varna Street is now gone – a victim of
redevelopment but it was situated around where Osman Street is now.
Alice was born eight years after
partition was imposed. Her family suffered under the apartheid system imposed
by the unionist regime at Stormont. Unemployment and poverty were widespread
along with the denial of the vote in local elections and the gerrymandering of
electoral boundaries. It was almost impossible to get a house if you were a Catholic.
In the late 1940s Alice met and
fell in love with Francie Toner. Through the first years of their marriage they
and their three children lived in one room in Alice’s family home in Varna
Street. In the early 1950s they were offered a house in Ballymurphy, on the
slopes of the Black Mountain. They moved into 24 Ballymurphy Drive.
Unfortunately there were steps up to the front door and Alice and Fra needed a ground
level home to address the needs of their daughter Theresa.
The family moved across the street
to no. 27 Ballymurphy Drive and remain there to this day. The three children
became 13 - Eilish, Kathleen, Carmel, Bernie, Roisin, Annemarie, Michael, Jim
and Gerard, with the late Philomena, Frankie and Theresa.
The war years were tough. The British
Army occupied the area. Internment saw the Ballymurphy Massacre in which 11
local people were killed. Others died during those harsh years including Alice
and Fra’s son Frankie. He was shot by the UVF on 12 May 1982 while working in
his brother-in-law’s fruit shop on the Antrim Road. Two other people were
wounded. Frankie was married with four children.
Despite this personal trauma Alice
and Fra continued to work for the Ballymurphy community and their door was
always open to those in need.
Alice was an extraordinary woman – immensely strong and
courageous - a mother, a grandmother, a great grandmother. She lived through
tumultuous and difficult times and faced danger head on and never flinched
whether it was raids on her home or on the streets of Ballymurphy.
For years Fra ran the Republican
Prisoners Transport. He organised the small fleet of around six dilapidated
minibuses that were used to bring families to visit loved ones in the various
prisons - Crumlin Road, Long Kesh, Armagh and Portlaoise. He also raised money to keep them on the road and drove
families to the prisons. The journeys to the prisons were dangerous and
hazardous for drivers and families. They suffered constant harassment by the
British Army, RUC and UDR. The buses and families would be stopped and
searched. Sometimes they would be held
for several hours. One comrade of Fra’s Thomas McGuigan remembers: “It was very
hard on the children. It was freezing in winter and too hot in summer."
Fra was himself targeted by loyalists. Thomas
McGuigan remembers: "It was just past the West Circular Road, outside the
Orange Hall. Fra always drove past around 2pm so he was an easy target. The
gunman opened fire and shot Fra several times at the wheel. He survived but one
bullet was lodged too close to his spine to be removed. He was always in pain
after then, never the same, and he died a few years later."
Fra died in 2002. Alice died at
home on 13 October. Local republican Liam Stone described them well – “Lovely
people” he said.
I want to extend my sincerest Eilish, Kathleen, Carmel, Bernie, Roisin, Annemarie, Michael, Jim,
Gerard and the late Philomena, Frankie and Theresa.
Colin Powell.
I was sorry to hear of the death
of Colin Powell .He was Secretary of State to President Bush from 2001 to 2005
so we met with him several times in those years. He was always courteous and
had a quiet sense of humour. He told us once that he got his name Colin from
his family connection to Ireland but that it was not a happy
connection.
He was a descendant of Sir Eyre
Coote , a scion of the Coote family, who were powerful landlords in Cavan and
Clare. Coote was Governor of Jamaica in the early 1800s and Powell's family
were slaves in the Governor's house. Eyre Coote made one of the slave girls
pregnant .She was Colin Powell's great, great, great grandmother.
I believe that Secretary
Powell regretted the position he took on Iraq and his support for the
invasion and a war on the basis of intelligence that was later shown to be
false. This was a monumental mistake.
He later moved away from the
Republican Party and publicly endorsed Barak Obama in his run for President.
The Rain that Falls on Palestine
Davie Furey is a Laois man. He is a singer
songwriter and a fine musician. He
describes his influences as “Woody Guthrie, Luke Kelly, Tracy Chapman, Billy
Bragg, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and a whole host of other songwriters who, at
times, reflected on world events through their music.”
A wee while
ago he told me he had written a song about Palestine and asked if I would
listen to it. I thought it was excellent. It unashamedly supports the people of
Palestine and is opposed to the actions of the Israeli state. It is a personal
song about the experience of Palestinian families and especially of the children.
Davie says: “I believe that the Palestinian
people have been bullied, oppressed and abused for many years now. This song is
for those proud people of Palestine.”
“On the streets of Gaza City
On a warm Monday night
Shahid sits on his father’s lap
Shaking with the fright
It’s been another night of terror
Of bombs and shells and fear
The cries of his neighbours
Thunder in his ears.’
The song was released on ITunes last week. And Davie came to Belfast to play it publicly for the first time to people here. The top room in Áras Uí Chonghaile was the venue on Friday lunchtime. Pat Sheehan said a few words about his experience of travelling to the occupied territories and to the Gaza Strip and his shock at the conditions under which the Palestinian people are forced to live. He recalled a visit to Jerusalem and witnessing the expulsion of a Palestinian family from their home of over 40 years by Israeli settlers.
Pat said: “I was also in Gaza after one of the
bombardments and we stood on the rubble of the home of another Palestinian
family. Three generations, 13 people wiped out in an Israeli airstrike on their
home.
I know that when the conflict was at its height
here that international solidarity was very important. I hope that when the
Palestinian people hear this song they will understand that there is huge
solidarity for them here. We also hope that the song will raise awareness of
the plight of the Palestinian people and prick the conscience of the
international community that hasn’t done enough to defend the rights of the
Palestinian people.”
The
Palestinian Ambassador Dr. Jilan Abdalmajid thanked all of those who had come
in solidarity to the event and she especially thanked Davie presenting him with
a Certificate of Appreciation “in
grateful appreciation” of his “solidarity
with the people of Palestine.”
“Oh the rain it falls in Palestine
Is the kind that kills and maims
The kind that tears down buildings
Yet Israel shows no shame
Shahid and his father take shelter from the rain
But there is no shelter to be found
From the suffering and the pain.”
The song was
warmly welcomed by the audience and Davie was embraced and thanked for taking
this initiative.
The following day he was in the family home of the Pearse Family, on Pearse St in Dublin to launch the song there.
If you would
like to hear “The rain that falls on Palestine” visit Davie’s website https://www.daviefurey.com/
Or download
from ITunes. All money raised will go to Palestinian charities in Gaza and the
occupied territories.
Frederick Douglass honoured in Dublin
Last Thursday the Ardmhéara Bhaile
Átha Cliath Alison Gilliland unveiled a Dublin City Council plaque in memory of
the visit to that city in 1845 of the African-American anti-slavery leader
Frederick Douglass. The plaque is on the Irish Film Institute (IFI) building in
Eustace Street, Temple Bar which was formerly the meeting house
of the Society of Friends. It was also
formerly the Eagle Tavern where the Dublin United Irish Society met in the
1790s. The proposal for a plaque was the idea of Sinn Fein Councillor Mícheál
Mac Donncha, who is chair of the Dublin City Council Commemorations &
Naming Committee.
Micheál said: “This plaque to Frederick Douglass sees the great
African-American anti-slavery leader recognised by our City for his immense
contribution to human liberty and progress. It is appropriate that this site
links the United Irish Society which met here in the 1790s, the Society of
Friends which hosted Frederick Douglass and still meets on this street, and the
Irish Film Institute, a cultural hub of Dublin. Acts of commemoration such as
this serve to remind us that while slavery was abolished in the United States,
racism persists and needs to be opposed vigorously in all countries including
our own.”
Among those
who spoke at the event was historian
and author Cecelia Hartsell who spoke of Douglass’s life and his visit to
Ireland. Professor Margaret Kelleher, speaking for the IFI said:
“On 9th September 1845, in this building which is now home to the IFI,
Frederick Douglass delivered a stirring oration against slavery and in defence
of human liberty. We at the IFI are very proud to mark today not only such a
historic event but also his continuing legacy and inspiration.”
Well done
Micheál and all of those involved in telling the remarkable story of this
courageous and extraordinary human being.
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