Sheehan Selection

Pat Sheehan the former IRA prisoner and H-Block hunger striker has won the Sinn Fein nomination as the party’s replacement for Gerry Adams. Which really means he won the leadership’s approval. The vacuum he steps into was created by Adams’ announcement of his intention to ply his trade to Louth. Sheehan, who has accompanied Adams in public on some occasions including Roselawn for the cremation of the remains of the late Brendan Hughes, was always a serious contender for a MLA position. The only surprise is that he did not make it sooner, being much more talented and endowed with greater acuity than most of his party colleagues currently in Stormont.

His future as an MLA is certain to bring no radical change of direction. Strongly reformist in inclination, with little attachment to the strictures of ideology he will row the boat but not rock it. It is part of the quid pro quo: don’t speak ill of the leadership and it might promote rather than poison you. Sheehan has already made, as part of Sinn Fein’s lacklustre and unimaginative response, the obligatory leadership endorsed noises in relation to the narratives of Brendan Hughes and Richard O’Rawe.

In his defence, Pat Sheehan was articulating the need for some sort of peace strategy at a time when his less mentally agile colleagues in the H-Blocks were predicting a victory and castigating anyone with the savvy and prescience to forecast differently. On top of that he is no fool. One very likeable side of his character is that he is no bully either.

For a long time he and I were close friends, having first met during the blanket protest. He would visit me in prison after his release in 1987 and I would visit him after my own release in 1992. By that time he had found himself back on the wrong said of the wall. The friendship cooled after his release. He never rang or called to the house and that was long before the serious fall out between me and The Provisionals after they had killed Joe O’Connor. While I suspected that politics had intervened, that he had found my position awkward given the path he seemed set upon, he nevertheless was always sociable and friendly when we would bump into each other as we frequently did. He would never refrain from expressing his grave reservations about my take on events, but never sought to impose his view on me. Nor was he afraid to listen to my critique of his own perspective. Too intellectually capable to have to resort to ostracism of those who criticised whatever position he held, he brought a measure of civility and courtesy to the situation.

In the prison, well in advance of the nodding dogs, he knew the writing was on the wall for the IRA campaign and he was not behind the door in saying it. For his thought crime he was marginalised and made victim of a whispering campaign. On occasion some enterprising member of the republican jail staff would prevent me and him attending the prison’s central gym together. The gym was for the mindless pumping of iron, not the venting of sedition.

It was said by his critics he could not face the prospect of another long stretch in prison and for that reason wanted an end to the IRA’s campaign. Of course it was said by men who denounced him as wrong yet who can now be seen eagerly embracing everything they then despised. The innuendo against him was rubbish. Even before his arrest on the Grosvenor Road in April 1989 during an IRA operation against the RUC, he had expressed his views to me that the IRA would find the road increasingly difficult to travel. He didn’t say it outright but it seemed a serious compromise was what he saw on the strategic horizon. Yet he persevered with the IRA and paid the price. His views during his imprisonment were no different from those he expressed prior to coming into it. But there is always one muscle people with big muscles never seem to pump, so they couldn’t see that.

That independence of mind once displayed by Pat Sheehan cannot survive in a party like Sinn Fein where the dominant instinct is to hiss and spit at anyone not prostrating themselves at the leadership altar. Hopefully, his tolerance towards different strands of thought has not been abandoned along with his thinking autonomy.

While I can hardly say I cheered when I learned of his advance through the party, setting the politics aside, I felt a strong streak of admiration for an old friend and comrade who despite the death of his wife a few years ago, leaving him to bring up the son from their marriage, has managed to turn things around.
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24 comments:

  1. Is he a careerist or does he really believe he can further the republican cause by taking a seat in the assembly?

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  2. Graycrow,

    he didn't need the career. Could have done well enought outside of it. And his views do predate the emergence of all the nonsense. He would know there is no furthering of republicanism through the SF project but his politics are reformist and social democratic. I imagine he feels that within that framework he can push for political development. But that would not be the same as republican political development.

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  3. Congratulations to Pat Sheehan.I done a bit of time with Pat and always found him to be articulate and witty,and a we bit vain(pat would say hes plenty to be vain about)Anyhow you"re spot on about the "thought police"s"attitude towards Pat in jail.If these men had half of pats brains jail would"ve been a fair bit easier and agood bit funnier.I often saw Pat defend or advise some of the weaker or younger pows against these "thought bullies".Its good to see them now trailing behind him.He was never afraid to speak his mind inside and regardless of which side of the fence you sit(and broadly speaking i would sit on the same side as Pat)its refreshing to see a genuine good guy doing well.

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  4. Dia Duit Mackers

    "In his defence, Pat Sheehan was articulating the need for some sort of peace strategy at a time when his less mentally agile colleagues in the H-Blocks were predicting a victory and castigating anyone with the savvy and prescience to forecast differently."

    I honestly believe you are way off the mark here and giving this man too much credit. Something you may not know is that given the prison visits 'pillow talk' with his very smitten at that time penpal/girl friend Siobhán who as you know was Mr Adam's PA, SF's newest MLA without a doubt had the inside track on developments at the uppermost senior leadership level.

    Having spent numerous years on a wing with him up to the 1994 ceasefires and beyond, titbit's from Sheeky's visits with Siobhan; carefully regurgitated and repackaged and selectively drip fed to those around him and the wider Kesh rumour mill as intellect and astute political awareness were always one of the more interesting highlights of our week in the Kesh.

    That's not to say he isn't a bright boy, particularly with regard to jail politics. Careful never to overtly challenge the Jail structures and camp staff like many did, he has always known what side his bread was buttered on. In equal parts streetwise, pragmatic and somewhat self absorbed ... yet an intellectual, sharp political observer way ahead of his time?

    Nope definitely, definitely not ... just for fun next time you see him watch his face for a smirk when you ask him how he REALLY got that first class honours OU degree in politics and philosophy. In fact if he is reading this I'd bet you a pint in the Rock bar he's smirking right now ;-)

    In replacing Mr Adams as an MLA I figure Belfast Sinn Féin have merely appealed to his renowned vanity and often over-inflated ego. I suspect to them he is but another nodding poster boy and his appointment is merely for the optics. This is no radical reformer nor activist out to challenge the structures from within, this is Sheehan mirroring the very thing he seemingly abhorred in jail, the nodding apparatchik.

    Moreover on a personal level it sees Nodder Sheehan standing shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Flash, Bobby, Padraig and so on, some of the very same clique who made jail life and in numerous cases life on the outside, so challenging for so many 'off message' Republicans -Sheehan, yourself and more recently Whitey included ...

    Is that not the very definition of pragmatism, self promotion and astute 'gobeen' political maneuvering - attributes I'm told make for a very promising career up in the 'not a hybrid' British Stormont !!

    Ádh Mór

    Fuiseog

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  5. SINN FEINs PEARSE DOHERTY is sitting on 40% of 1st preference
    votes, i know iknow its only a red c poll
    come on next thursday
    come on donegal
    the ADAMS gamble- and its working.

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  6. What is the message being put across in every piece of print which I have read re Pat Sheehan and his love for cricket,

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  7. For what it's worth, he seemed the most genuine and pragmatic of the SF people I met with while in Belfast. I'd second AM's congratulations.

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  8. What has Pearse Doherty's by-election got to do with Adams' new vanity project?

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  9. Michael Henry,

    "SINN FEINs PEARSE DOHERTY is sitting on 40% of 1st preference
    votes, i know iknow its only a red c poll
    come on next thursday
    come on donegal
    the ADAMS gamble- and its working."

    I once asked if you were for real; now I'm certain you're not.

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  10. Fuiseog,

    It might boil down to nothing more than you don’t like him and I do.

    As for being way off the mark, he was making these observations long before his time in prison. It was myself he was making them to.

    Bacause of Siobhan O’Hanlon he ‘without a doubt had the inside track on developments at the uppermost senior leadership level.’

    He would be the only one. Very few had any inkling of what was going on, Siobhan or others at that level.

    As for not challenging the camp staff, my experience of him was different. Both he and I jointly nominated a guy for camp O/C as far back as 1983 against the approved camp staff choice. He was critical from an early day. I think Joe Beak’s take on him is an experience different from your own.


    ‘next time you see him watch his face for a smirk when you ask him how he REALLY got that first class honours OU degree in politics and philosophy.’

    Maybe I am wrong but this sounds so envious. Moreover it is very Shinneresque in that it presents nothing evidential and relies exclusively on smear. Don’t tell me you don’t realise this. He without doubt in my mind had the ability to secure a first. On a visit I advised him to consider a PhD.

    As for his vanity and ego, everyone of us has his or her faults and foibles. To the extent that such attributes were part of his character they never put me off him. On top of that he had a lot of courage.

    ‘This is no radical reformer nor activist out to challenge the structures from within.’

    Nobody yet disputing that. You merely repeat what was said in the article.

    ‘this is Sheehan mirroring the very thing he seemingly abhorred in jail, the nodding apparatchik.’

    This would be a considerable downside if it goes that far?

    ‘Moreover on a personal level it sees Nodder Sheehan standing shoulder
    to shoulder with the likes of Flash, Bobby, Padraig and so on, some of
    the very same clique who made jail life and in numerous cases life on
    the outside, so challenging for so many 'off message' Republicans’

    An opinion but I have seen nothing to suggest that he is a bully or has set out to make the lives of those who dissent uncomfortable. Maybe there are those who disagree. They can make their own case.

    Joebeak,

    It matters not what side of the fence we sit on. Some things are stand alone issues and can be described accordingly. Your description of him would very much tally with my own.

    PJ,

    It wasn’t exactly congratulations but your point is well made.

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  11. Mackers, thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate the feedback as it has helped me see myself a little clearer.

    My overall point speaks to how gutted I still feel that some men in this case Sheehan whom I knew and served time with, protested alongside of, especially respected and even looked up to have morphed into social democratic reformists while cynically and conceitedly wrapping their political acrobating in Republican packaging.

    Re-your first line it'd be as incorrect to say I don't like Sheeky as someone wrongly suggesting I don't like you. On a personal level inside we had some good craic with the man, his side kick Morrison too in fact. Just as I occasionally enjoyed the banter with yourself and in fact I often recount the mocking yet wise impact of how your calling us 'processed peas' that time we as YP's (sort of) were isolated in H5 on account of our enthusiasm (devotion?)for the Marxist Leninist jail education process caused me to really think about what was going on and I hold that experience even today as a useful example of how genuine, naive people can get 'absorbed into the collective' and loose touch with reality, our confidence and our ability to think and act for ourselves to the detriment of ourselves and those around us.

    As I grasp tightly onto my Masters degree and refute your insinuation sir that I'm at all envious of a first :-) While it was the rare few like yourself inside that took the formal jail education seriously (wasn't that frowned upon too by the staff?) or thought for one second it'd be any use to them when they got out - sure weren't they all reporting back to the struggle when they got released ;-) I don't recall Sheehan taking it too seriously either for the most part it was just something to do yet in reply to your unnecessarily cutting 'sinnféinesque' jibe - do first hand eye witness accounts and people openly boasting after exams stand for anything regarding how actually he (and others) actually got their qualifications in jail? That is not to say there isn't a first, or a masters or a PHD in him - to read otherwise out of my post misses my point which was to illustrate the character of the man in question - a bluffer !!

    Yet admittedly while I am mildly surprised that Mr Adams et al haven't seen through him I know Flash and that clique had (have?) a very specific take on him inside just as they did you and so many other of the 'non-processed peas' variety. I can't see you being selected nor indeed WANTING to be selected by Belfast Sinn Féin for an MLA position any time soon.

    Mackers unlike the pre- packaged processed peas as you mockingly and wittily labelled us - Sheehan as a clued in man in jail stood outside, apart from the structures but rarely overtly challenging (seconding a jail OC is hardly challenging in the jail history sense Mackers) the ugly excesses of the Republican jail system when with his abilities and charisma there were crucial times when he could have championed a complete regime change ... but didn't. Like Joebeak I too saw him stand up for others in jail but only up to that most cynical point where it didn't impinge on Pat doing hard time himself. Likewise with first hand eye witness account I saw him publicly present as an upstanding faithful family man up to the point where it did't impinge on him getting off with some unsuspecting Cailín somewhere !!!

    But on reflection maybe chastened by the stinging tone of your post Mackers which I now realise reflects a certain stinging tone of my own I find that its not surprising nor should I be so personally gutted by it because in essence Pat Sheehan's 'journey' mirrors exactly Sinn Féin's 'journey' and Pat Sheehan's ace card in playing the game is Sinn Féin's ace card in that in regard to many in the republican base the big bluff in the big game is still in play and amidst all that smoke and mirrors things are rarely what they seem.

    Ádh Mór, Fuiseog

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  12. Powerfull piece and well said Fuiseog

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  13. Fuiseog,

    I am disappointed with the choice Pat took. But to say he morphed into a social democrat, as if it was some recent event over which you should be gutted, is wide off the mark. He has been that way for a long time. I don’t think he ever believed in revolution. I think the thing that irks is that they have gone the way the Sticks went – and for which they labelled the Sticks everything demeaning under the sun - and still masquerade as republican. Being a social democrat per se causes me few problems.

    ‘Re-your first line it'd be as incorrect to say I don't like Sheeky as someone wrongly suggesting I don't like you.’

    I called it as it sounded but you dispute it so there is nothing else I wish to add to it.
    ‘As I grasp tightly onto my Masters degree and refute your insinuation sir that I'm at all envious of a first’

    Again, if it quacks it sounds like a duck. It might not be a duck but ... again I called it as it seemed to be.

    I don’t think the jail staff frowned upon the formal education system. Enough of them went through it. I think there was an attitude that it might lead to careerism but that probably existed throughout the camp and was not specific to the staff.
    I didn’t intend to be cutting in my comment that it was Shinneresque of you to proceed by innuendo. I hoped that you might think about it. It is the way they do business. Somebody else, totally at odds with the Shinners and no defender of Pat, said to me your comment in that regard was scurrilous even though he thought your post was on the money and he agreed with you rather than me.

    ‘do first hand eye witness accounts and people openly boasting after exams stand for anything regarding how actually he (and others) actually got their qualifications in jail?’

    But you never presented any. You alluded to something amorphous.

    I would not be selected by Belfast SF for anything other than the gallows. Pat got selected because he is capable, demonstrated sufficient loyalty, a willingness to be deferential to the line, and because he will row the boat rather than rock it. These are all aspects (the capability aside) that I find deeply unappealing. I just hope it doesn’t extend to becoming one of the purveyors of hate against those who disagree. He never ostracised me when it was popular to do so.

    I found him very different from you and quite willing to challenge the staff when it was needed. I think he challenged it at a time when it needed challenged and was not easy to challenge. Of course, he had his own way of doing things but I found him a reliable ally. But he would not have allied if he didn’t think I was right and was never slow in pointing out to me where he thought I was wrong.

    ‘ there were crucial times when he could have championed a complete regime change ... but didn't.’

    But he did. That was the whole purpose behind the nomination in 1983 – which, now that I reflect on it, never got through for reasons unrelated to either Pat or myself.

    As for his private life, it is precisely that, private. I have no interest in it and don’t think it has any relevance here.

    I don’t know why you should feel chastened by my ‘stinging tone’ – I didn’t send it as a barb. Probably because I know you I don’t bother walking on eggshells, in the full knowledge that you will give as good as you get. And it changes nothing between us. Nothing is soured, just business as normal.

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  14. Again thanks for another considered reply Mackers, to my mind such exchanges are valuable and thought provoking and please know from my perspective I concur that things between us are business as usual and are as respectful and comradely as they have been since we first met.

    As for your post I've been sicken to the gut for a good few years now (at least since late 2001) as to how things have turned out.

    I think with regard to recent big picture developments and those at a local Belfast level its perfectly within anyone's right to hold whatever political view and be a member of any political party that works for them. However it galls and affects me when an obviously transformed political stance is dishonestly and often maliciously represented in the face of increasingly overwhelming evidence as something it clearly is not.

    Maybe thats why the Sheeky example felt so potent for me being as the immediate public representation of the man is clearly so unjustly askew from the reality ...

    You are of course correct in pointing out that this evolution of the former Republican movement into devolutionists has been going on for a long time. I'm surprised that I still occasionally find myself surprised at developments as there have been many events and incidents both personal and political that have reinforced and informed my particular world view. Including being entirely wrongly arrested and interrogated in Antrim for alleged militant republican activism several times in the last decade the most recent being this April past and as a result being vilified and lied about, marginalised and spurned by former friends and colleagues.

    Still it is what it is ... in some ways certainly the times we live in are akin to the late thirties and mid sixties where I'm told Republicans such as my grandfather and Martin Meehan respectively were spat at in the streets. I haven't been spat at personally though with the forces lined up against Republicans from without and from within I hold that its rarely been more challenging and therefore a more appropriate time to be an active Irish Republican and a dissenting voice in the face of both what has evolved into a neutered establishment or tamed Irish 'republicanism' and Irish society in general.

    I'd just like to sign off by saying thanks again for the exchange Mackers, to my mind any reasoned debate is healthy and I appreciate this platform to have a voice and share my opinions.

    Ádh Mór

    Fuiseog

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  15. http://www.u.tv/News/Leading-SF-post-for-former-bomber/85c824ef-7458-4505-9d49-d6237747cb78

    The 'Loathesome' Boatman

    Right on cue we have Pat Sheehan's cohort the newly appointed head of Sinn Féin in Belfast's City Council the afore mentioned Mr Jim 'Flash' McVeigh's contribution Belfast political life.

    Presenting as a reasoned, cool headed forward thinking politician right up until BR asks him about those Republicans who militarily disagree with Sinn Féin where upon strangely his desire to engage with and listen to and work for everyone across the political spectrum suddenly and very abruptly halts.

    Seemingly unable to help himself, this being his first public platform to illustrate and usher in Sinn Féin's new era in Belfast he dives right in there and unhesitantly vilifies and attempts to demonise militant Republicanism in a fashion worthy of any PSNI/MI5 public relations officer.

    All the while seemingly oblivious to the utter duplicity of his contribution particularily regarding agent provoctuteurs. To my mind thats just stupid if elsewhere SF are claiming to want to create a dialoge with such people but then Flash isn't much given to astute political awareness being as this is the former camp OC who on the very eve of the 1994 ceasefire publicly and loudly stated on the wing - "The IRA will never declare a ceasefire short of a declaration of intent to withdraw from this country." (smiles wryly)

    How could and why would any self respecting anti agreement Republican whether politically active or militarily active, actively or passively dissenting from the SF narrative engage in dialogue with Sinn Féin in Belfast given this wholy unnecessary self serving, vitriolic diatribe. A diatribe which by the way gave the very distinct impression that he personally knows the who, the wheres and the wherefores and indeed the motivation of present day Republican militants in Belfast at least.

    I'm pondering after this interview how far a pious self serving hypocrite such as this, in the context of repeated pleas from the Sinn Féin leadership to tout on Republicans and pass such information over to members of the in Flash's own words 'security forces' would go in order to ingratuate and enhance his standing politically ...

    Agent provocoteurs indeed Mr Mc Veigh, it'll be interesting to see how far his fellow 'boatman' also 'rows' the party line !!!

    Ádh Mór, Fuiseog

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  16. Fuiseog,
    Really enjoyed the debate between yourself and Mackers. How did many of them get their degrees? that would be something well worth knowing.
    Thought the (Flash) interview quite funny, especially the part where he stops and gazes quite poignantly at the potrait of Maskey.
    'None of the people he knows who disagree with the Sinn Fein agenda would entertain joining any of these organisations.' (paraphrasing)
    How does he know? Are the cops naming names? Would not surprise me if that was the case.
    Who in their right mind would tell a member of Sinn Fein that the had joined anything other than their hands? (And even that could prove dodgy)
    Once again, thanks Fuiseog it was very entertaining.

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  17. Fuiseog I to would like to say how much I enjoyed your posts I watched that interview on the utv site with Mc Veigh and my opinion is that for all the grand talk of reaching out to the loyalist communities,he should sart by trying to put the republican house back in order,but I fear that may be a bridge to far when people like him and Mc Guinness maintain their present attitude, if you watch the clip where BR and Mc Donald are walking down the street look carefully at Mc Donalds right side trouser pocket and tell me if you think it reminds you of Mae Wests famous saying

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  18. Fuiseog,
    Good to see you are not thin skinned!
    I know you are sick. It is very disheartening to see the way things turned out. But we have to move on and get over it. There is no reversing it. That doesn’t mean because you can’t beat them you join them. I think a lot of people who have left in the past few years have a greater sense of loss than we who left earlier. Leaving earlier gives you the edge in that you feel you didn’t get completely defrauded out of everything you had.
    ‘its perfectly within anyone's right to hold whatever political view and be a member of any political party that works for them.’
    That is fine up to a point – and the point is when you disagree with SF. They simply cannot stand an alternative view.
    ‘However it galls and affects me when an obviously transformed political stance is dishonestly and often maliciously represented in the face of increasingly overwhelming evidence as something it clearly is not.’
    I have come to expect it from them and am no longer galled by it. Neither galled nor fooled is how I would sum it up.
    Pat probably just personified the political catastrophe for you. And it is not for me to tell you it is wrong to feel as you do towards him. It would be wrong for me to say I feel that way because I don’t. When I saw that televised recording you linked to I admit to having a feeling that I was watching somebody who had squeaky booted and was standing with the screws laughing and smiling. His views were well advanced long before that crowd but they helped make his time hard and they persecuted others. That rather than the shared politics I found acrid.

    ‘ being vilified and lied about, marginalised and spurned by former friends and colleagues’
    It is par for the course. Being absolutely immovable in the face of it is a great antidote.

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  19. Fuiseog,

    ‘The 'Loathesome' Boatman’

    Nice quip.

    The Flash interview was just the regurgitation of the line that we have come to expect.

    ‘Flash isn't much given to astute political awareness’

    But he is consistent for it as you point out - making that statement about no chance of a ceasefire in 1994. He was parroting the official position of the day even though it wasn’t really because almost everyone knew what was coming. The script had just not been changed so the imprimatur of the great leader was absent. And he is just parroting the official position today.

    That he might oppose armed republicans does not annoy me. That is a right of all. But like yourself I find it odd to hear the Brit line echoed. The term ‘mimic man’ comes to mind and it was one devised to describe those former revolutionaries who ended up mimicking the people they claimed to want to replace.

    His dead hand on top of the councillors will mean nothing progressive emerging from Belfast City Council for the next lot of years. Granted, he is much brighter than Marie Cush but then it isn’t that hard. That can be managed by the age of five. All we will see is bureaucratic stifling.

    At the end of it all Fusieog, never be surprised how former republicans can fall prey to the Stick virus. The Sticks started out as republicans and despite many of them being seriously good guys they failed to produce seriously good politics.

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  20. Yeah Anthony and if you slightly alter the term "mimic man" to mimic men and you can then say psf are morphing into the new sticks

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  21. Aye Marty, read that book by Brian Hanley on the sticks to see how history is repeating

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  22. Marty down under read that book when it came out mo cara

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  23. Marty, the book is out, do you want me to give it to Marie on Saturday night?

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  24. Marty,

    I think ‘mimic men’ is the original term. It was devised by an African anti-colonial writer

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