From Eire Nua essays first published in the 1980's
The conquest of Ireland was gradual, taking over 130 years to accomplish. In fact, the Norman invasion of eight hundred plus years ago was not a conquest in the true sense of the word, for it conquered only land. It failed miserably to pacify and conquer the people. After centuries of occupation and institutionalized pogroms including dispossession, famine, religious persecution, forced emigration and internment, England is still trying to pacify the Irish people and hold sway over their lives.
It appears that the liberation of Ireland is destined to be a slow process, as was its conquest. What started almost one hundred years ago with the 1916 Easter Rising is an ongoing process that will in time rid Ireland of the last vestiges of colonialism. Until this process runs its course, Ireland will remain a troubled land, divided, and possessed of a terrible beauty.
The
concerted
campaign
of
victimisation
by the
Northern
Ireland
Prison
Service
against
Martin
Corey
continues.
On
Monday
the 11th
of
February
2013,
Martin
and two
other
prisoners
submitted
completed
handcraft
projects
as St,
Valentine’s
Day
gifts
for
their
wives
and
partners.
The
other
two
prisoners
had
visits
on
Tuesday
the 12th
of
February;
their
loved
ones
went to
the
collection
point
and
received
their
items
that
were 24
hours
after
they
were
collected
from the
prisoners
in Roe
House 3.
Today,
Thursday
the 14th
of
February
2013,
Martin
had a
visit
from his
partner,
after
the
visit
she went
to the
collection
point as
requested
by
Martin.
She was
told by
prison
Staff
that
there
was no
items
for
collection,
and to
call
back
next
week.
Last
week,
Martin
completed
a
complaints
form on
the wing
to be
delivered
to the
Prison
Ombudsman
concerning
several
items
that
were
left in
for him
three
weeks
ago,
which he
never
received.
continue
30th Anniversary hunger strike
t-shirts for sale
click on graphic to enlarge
The 1798 Rising Monument in Waverly
Cemetery, Sydney, Australia
The monument is
placed over the grave of Michael Dwyer
(1772–1825) who was a Society of the United Irishmen leader in the
1798 Rising.
He later fought a guerilla
campaign against the British Army in the
In Bodenstown churchyard there is a green grave,
And wildly around it the winter winds rave;
Small shelter I ween are the ruined walls there
When the storm sweeps down on the plains of Kildare.
Once I lay on that sod it lies over Wolfe Tone
And thought how he perished in prison alone,
His friends unavenged and his country unfreed
"Oh, bitter," I said, "is the patriots meed.
I have a total irreverence for anything
connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the
beer stronger, the food cheaper, the old men and old women warmer in
the winter and happier in the summer. Brendan Behan Click here for
more quotations
Martin Corey related statement International Anti-imperialist Coordinating Committee
May 16, 2013
Ramsey Clark, President, International Anti-imperialist Coordinating Committee (IACC), and Founder, International Action Centre (IAC) has issued the following statement :
Martin Corey has been held in Maghaberry Prison illegally since April 2010 without any charge ever being placed against him. In fact no one knows why he is there, not even the judges who reviewed his case. Human Rights Judge Lord Justice Colman Treacy ordered in July 2012 his immediate release and placed no conditions upon him. With a blatant disregard of the judicial process the British Secretary of State overturned this order, and Martin remains detained in Maghaberry to this day. He is being victimized in prison in many ways and his basic rights are denied. I have long urged the release Martin Corey and once more reiterate that his detention is a violation of his fundamental human rights and he must be immediately released.
Ramsey Clark, President
Released by Manik Mukherjee, GeneralSecretary, IACC
I am writing in reference to your recent comment in Derry, in occupied Ireland, that there is no alternative to the peace process. By “peace process,” I assume you mean the 1998 Belfast Agreement, commonly known as “The Good Friday Agreement (GFA).”
Cumann na Saoirse Náisiúnta / the National Irish Freedom Committee (NIFC), of which I am an executive committee member and former chairperson, views the GFA as merely a restatement of previous British-imposed “agreements.” Specifically, it is but the latest fruit of the poison tree - the (British) Government of Ireland Act of 1920, for which no Irishman, “Green” or “Orange,” voted, and which established the so-called “Northern Ireland” statelet, a gerrymandered sub-set of the Irish Province of Ulster. This latest “agreement” allows the London government to retain sovereign control over a devolved six-county “Northern Ireland,” and required the Dublin government (and the twenty-six county Irish state), to relinquish its constitutional claim to these six Irish counties.
The NIFC promotes an alternative peace plan called “Éire Nua” (New Ireland) as a better way to achieve Irish national unity and justice within the framework of a sovereign, independent Irish Republic. It is intended that the Éire Nua plan be offered for consideration by an all Ireland constitutional convention, convened without foreign let or hindrance – analogous to the United States Constitutional Convention, convened in Philadelphia in 1787.
Éire Nua is based on the concept of a unitary federation of the four historic provinces of Ireland that would include all of Ireland's 32 counties under the coordination of a national parliament. This construct would foster a true democracy and eliminate the causes for conflict, such as Ireland has experienced for the past eight hundred years. The Éire Nua constitution with its Charter of Rights would guarantee all of Ireland's people true freedom, a home for its children, and a new beginning.
I have enclosed a copy of the NIFC’s new book, Éire Nua: A New Beginning, that incorporates the NIFC's input to the original Éire Nua document authored by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Daithí Ó Conaill in 1972.
Sincerely, in the interest of a just and lasting peace,
John McDonagh
Members and supporters of Cumann na Saoirse Naisiunta visited with Ruiarí Ó Brádaigh,
U.S. members and supporters of Cumann na Saoirse Naisiunta visited with Ruiarí Ó Brádaigh, at his home in Ireland on April 8, 2013.
Ruiarí is the past President and Patron of Sinn Féin Poblachtach. He remains one of the very few people from around the world who is consistently denied a vistor’s visa to the United States.
The recently released Cumann na Saiorse/National Irish Freedom Committee book entitled: Éire Nua: A New Beginning' is based on the original Eire Nua documentauthored by Ruari O'Bradaigh and Daithi O'Connell in the 1960s.
Ruiarí sends his regards to all in the U.S. that he can not personally meet and talk with.
Click on image to enlarge
Photos of Bride and Maggie Trainor with Ruiari O Bradaigh
In this issue: 05/08/2013 1. Clarification of position of Continuity IRA POWs in Maghaberry
2. Support Bangladesh's workers rights
3. Easter commemoration in Liverpool
4. Easter Rising commemorated in Connecticut
5. NIFC replies to the Dalai Lama
6. Loyalists picket Holy Cross school again
7. Former DUP candidate jailed for sectarian bomb attack
8. Boston College tapes to be handed to RUC/PSNI
9. British army lobbied British Attorney-General not to prosecute soldiers
10. Judge to be given Finucane documents
11. Thatcher and the UVF
12. Thatcher on the Irish: ‘They’re all liars’
13. Campaigners criticise Shell for failing to make incident public
14. Property tax database to be used for new 180 levy
15. OAP behind anti-property tax letter
16. Welcome for all-Ireland study on smoky coal
17. Councillors urged to seek right to be consulted over British nuclear plant
18. Celtic chieftains graveyard discovered in France holds key to unanswered questions
19. Fight against strip-searches reaches France
20. We are fighting for all Palestinians’
Died in defense of the Irish Republic proclaimed in 1916
Bobby Sands Frankie Hughes Ray McCreesh Patsy O'Hara
700,000 people in poverty in the 26 Counties
OVER 700,000 people are in poverty across the 26-County State, according to figures published by the Central Statistic Office (CSO) on February 13.
The latest analysis of the poverty statistics published by the CSO shows that the number of people in poverty has now reached a record level of 733,000.
Social Justice Ireland challenged the 26-County Administration for failing to tackle what they describe as the “working poor” and those depending on social welfare payments.
“The increase in the proportion of Ireland’s population at risk of poverty, from 14.7 per cent to 16 per cent in one year, clearly identifies a major policy failure by Government which has imposed a disproportionate part of the ‘hit’ for current budgetary adjustments on Ireland’s poor and vulnerable people.
”The Government should give priority to ensuring that everyone in Ireland has the income and services to live life with basic dignity, which is not currently the case,” said director of Social Justice Ireland Fr Seán Healy,
The CSO figures show that more than 232,000 children are at risk of poverty, representing18.8 per cent of all children, compared to 18.4 per cent a year earlier.
One in seven (14.2 per cent) of all those at risk of poverty has a job, the figures show.
An Ghaeilge Is mise an Ghaeilge
Is mise do theanga
Is mise do chultúr
D'Úsáid na Filí mé
D'Úsáid na huaisle
D'Úsáid na daoine mé
is d'Úsáid na lenaí
Go bródúil a bhí siad
Agus mise faoi réim.
Ach tháinig an strainséir
Chuir sé faoi chois mé
Is rud ní ba mheasa
Nior mhaith le mo chlann mé
Anois t'acuteim lag
Anois t'acuteim tréith
Ach fós táim libh
Is beidh mé go beo.
Tóg suas mo cheann
Cuir áthas ar mo chroí
Labhraígí mé
Ó labhraígí mé!
The Irish Language
I am Irish
I am your language
I am your culture
The poets used me
The nobles used me
The people used me
and the children used me
Proud they were
And I flourished
But the stranger came
He suppressed me
Something worse than that was my own people rejected me
Now I am weak
Now I am feeble
But still I am with you
and I will be forever.
Raise up my head
Put joy in my heart
Speak me
Oh speak me!
A century of lost opportunities
In 1900, after eight hundred of subjugation and struggle, Ireland still remained under British control. It was a treated as an integral part of the British Empire, was subject to Queen Victoria and was ruled from the British Parliament in London. To all intent and purposes Ireland was a subject nation that could not exercise any degree of political or economic self determination.
In spite of all of that, as well as the savagery endured at the hands of the oppressor, Irish men and women remained defiant and continued to struggle for freedom and independence.
In 1902, Arthur Griffith, Editor of the United Irishman, presented to the third annual convention of Cumann na nGaedheal the most revolutionary political idea since the fall of Parnell; it
was that the elected Irish Members of Parliament should refuse to sit in Westminster, demand reinstitution of the Irish Parliament of 1782, and pledge allegiance only to a king of Ireland, not to the King of England. While the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell, had once considered such unilateral action, he had not forced the issue. Griffith provided a strategy of passive resistance by turning an assembly of Irish MPs into a de facto constitutional convention. Modeled on Frank Deak's policy, which resulted in the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, Griffith serialized his abstentionist program in the United Irishman as the Resurrection of Hungary, and then published it as a pamphlet and distributed it widely in 1904. The direct result of this idea was the formation of Sinn Féin on 28th November 1905, as an abstentionist political party, with internal self-reliance as its principal plank, pledging never to recognize or use the services or forces of the enemy.
The founders of Sinn Féin were Arthur Griffith, Seán T. O'Kelly, Bulmer Hobson, Countess Markiewicz and Seán Mac Diarmada. In addition to contesting a Parliamentary election in North Leitrim in 1907, Sinn Féin was also active locally, electing a number of men to county councils and other local bodies. --- continue
On Mat 2 thru 4, The Irish
Brigade under the command of General
Thomas F. Meagher was
so decimated in the battle that he resigned from command.
However, by December of 1863 he was back in a command
position under General William T. Sherman and ultimately won
a gold medal, for leadership of his Irish Brigade, from the
state of New York.
Leaders of the 1916 Rising executed
On May 3, 1916 - Leaders of the Easter RisingPadraig Pearse, Thomas McDonagh and Thomas Clarke were executed by the British in Kilmainham jail in Dublin.
More leaders of the 1916 Rising executed
On May 4, 1916 - Willie Pearse, Joseph Plunkett, Edward Daly and Michael O'Halloran were executed for their leadership roles the Easter Rising.
Bobby Sands
On May 5, 1981 - Bobby Sands died on hunger strike in Long Kesh.
Easter Rising Executions
On May 8, 1916 - Con Colbert, Eamonn Cannt, Michael Mallon, Sean Heuston and Thomas Kent were executed by the British for their role in the Easter Rising.
Frankie Hughes
On May 12, 1981 - Frankie Hughes dies on hunger strike in Long Kesh.
Raymond McCreesh and Patsy O Hara
On May 21, 1981 - Ray McCreesh and Patsy O'Hara died on hunger strike in Long Kesh.
John Kenny was born in
Branganstown, Co. Kildare in
1847. After spending a few
years in Australia, he arrived
in New York around 1870, where
he joined Clan-na-Gael, the
secretive Irish-American
organization associated with the
Irish Republican Brotherhood. He
rose quickly through the ranks
and by the early 1880s was the
president of the New York
Clan-na-Gael. John Devoy (whom
Pearse called “the greatest of
the Fenians) and Thomas Clarke,
later arrested and imprisoned on
an attempted bombing mission in
London, were among the members.
In 1885, John left a very
successful business in New York
to bring his family back to
Ireland, renting The Mount, a
horse farm in Kilcock, Co.
Kildare. There, while playing
the part of a gentleman farmer,
he ran high-level meetings and
laundered funds coming in from
America. His young daughter
Margaret would be sent through
town carrying a cake to a
neighbor’s house as a signal
that a meeting was to be held
that night. The children were
strictly warned never to speak
of anything or anyone they saw
at The Mount. John and his wife
Annie worried they may have
carried things too far when
their youngest daughter
Josephine, asked by a kindly
neighbor “And how old are you?”
answered “I really don’t think
that’s any of your business.”
The "SS Cuba" was a passenger steam
ship that sailed the Atlantic from 1864 to 1873. In 1871 five
Fenians released from British prisons came to the United States
aboard the SS Cuba. The five, collectively referred
to as the 'Cuba Five", included John Devoy,Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa,Charles Underwood O'Connell, Henry
Mulleda, and John McClure arrived in New York to a rapturous welcome
from their fellow country men and women.
The United States
congress passed a resolution welcoming the 'Cuba Five' and their fellow Fenian prisoners to the nations capital. They were also received at the White House by President Ulysses S. Grant in a gesture of gratitude for the many Irish, including senior Fenians, who had served in his victorious Union Army.
Devoy and O'Donovan Rossa went on to become
two of the most outstanding members of the Fenian movement in the USA in
the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
