Even if the wearing of poppies and laying wreaths at their monuments was only about remembering WW1 and WW2 it wouldn't interest me in the least.
It must be remembered that the majority of Irishmen who fought for Britain in those wars done so willingly and only a very small number left in disgust when they saw what was going on not only here in Ireland but also countries like India. Look at the history of the 'Irish regiments' involved in massacres like Amritsar.
I went to Milltown cemetery this morning to visit Republican graves like my mother and father's and as I walked around the different plots I couldn't help thinking what they would make of Sinn Féin members paying homage to the British armed forces. My mother, Máire, died aged forty when I was only fifteen and although I knew she was a Republican I didn't talk too much about politics because I wasn't too clued in.
Our parents encouraged us to read books but at that time the only ones that appealed to me were about Tom Barry, Dan Breen and one or two others. On the other hand I was able to speak more politics with my father, Pat. I first went to prison when I was eighteen and my two eldest sisters were also in gaol so it was obviously hard for my father raising seven other kids. When I was released three years later my da would've given me his opinion on the politics of the day. His old comrades from prison in the 1930s and 40s would regularly call to the house and occasionally I'd sit in on their conversations. I was back inside during the 1981 hunger strike and whenever my da visited me in the Crum and whilst on remand in the H-Blocks I got to know his politics better. He died shortly after I was released in 1982 so I can't speak for him and my mother about what they would think of the path Sinn Féin is taking now.
Unfortunately we hear many Sinn Féin people use the names of our dead comrades to justify their dealings with the British, Free Staters and yanks. How can anyone say such and such would be standing with them? As we watch Sinn Féin people do all that is anathema to what Irish Republicanism is about it is disgusting.
I went to Milltown cemetery this morning to visit Republican graves like my mother and father's and as I walked around the different plots I couldn't help thinking what they would make of Sinn Féin members paying homage to the British armed forces. My mother, Máire, died aged forty when I was only fifteen and although I knew she was a Republican I didn't talk too much about politics because I wasn't too clued in.
Our parents encouraged us to read books but at that time the only ones that appealed to me were about Tom Barry, Dan Breen and one or two others. On the other hand I was able to speak more politics with my father, Pat. I first went to prison when I was eighteen and my two eldest sisters were also in gaol so it was obviously hard for my father raising seven other kids. When I was released three years later my da would've given me his opinion on the politics of the day. His old comrades from prison in the 1930s and 40s would regularly call to the house and occasionally I'd sit in on their conversations. I was back inside during the 1981 hunger strike and whenever my da visited me in the Crum and whilst on remand in the H-Blocks I got to know his politics better. He died shortly after I was released in 1982 so I can't speak for him and my mother about what they would think of the path Sinn Féin is taking now.
Unfortunately we hear many Sinn Féin people use the names of our dead comrades to justify their dealings with the British, Free Staters and yanks. How can anyone say such and such would be standing with them? As we watch Sinn Féin people do all that is anathema to what Irish Republicanism is about it is disgusting.
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| Padraic Mac Coitir is a former republican prisoner and current political activist. |
