Richard O'Rawe with a piece on the late Margaret Thatcher that initially featured on the Broken Elbow and which he kindly submitted to TPQ.
I never liked the tenor of Margaret
Thatcher’s voice. It was either too
raucous, or too fawning: too rehearsed for my liking. Image, presentation, a certain charisma: the
MP for Finchley, I’m convinced, would have made it on the silver screen (but
then all politicians are actors, aren’t they?)
I was fortunate in that my experience of the 1981 IRA/INLA hunger had taught me not to be fooled by her ‘Iron Lady’ image, that The Truculent One was rather more receptive to the sweet scent of common sense than she let on. Gerry Adams said as much in his 1996 book Before the Dawn when he wrote ‘Margaret Thatcher presented a public face as the Iron Lady who was “not for turning”, yet she was no stranger to expediency.’ Mr. Adams went on to refer to him seeing a draft of a speech that Mrs. Thatcher intended to make at imminent international conference in Ottawa, where she hoped to announce an end to the hunger strike. For that to happen though, she had to persuade Mr. Adams and his committee to accept a set of proposals that she had sent them on 4 July 1981 and which they had rejected. Mr. Adams and Co. once again rejected the British prime minister’s offer, the hunger strike continued, and accordingly another four hunger strikers lost their lives.
I was fortunate in that my experience of the 1981 IRA/INLA hunger had taught me not to be fooled by her ‘Iron Lady’ image, that The Truculent One was rather more receptive to the sweet scent of common sense than she let on. Gerry Adams said as much in his 1996 book Before the Dawn when he wrote ‘Margaret Thatcher presented a public face as the Iron Lady who was “not for turning”, yet she was no stranger to expediency.’ Mr. Adams went on to refer to him seeing a draft of a speech that Mrs. Thatcher intended to make at imminent international conference in Ottawa, where she hoped to announce an end to the hunger strike. For that to happen though, she had to persuade Mr. Adams and his committee to accept a set of proposals that she had sent them on 4 July 1981 and which they had rejected. Mr. Adams and Co. once again rejected the British prime minister’s offer, the hunger strike continued, and accordingly another four hunger strikers lost their lives.
It
is now eight years since my book Blanketmen
and three years since my second book, Afterlives
were published. For seven of those
eight years I have had the fight of my life with Gerry Adams and his
acolytes. I had to stand by the assertion
that the British government had made a substantial offer on 4 July 1981, which
was rejected by the committee – against the wishes of the prison leadership, of
which I was a part. Furthermore, I said
that the committee did not make the hunger strikers aware of the particulars of
the Brit offer. On both accounts the
hard evidence has shown that I was telling the truth. My vindication has come via a tortuous
process of British government Freedom of Information requests, the release of thirty-year
British government documents, the intermediary, Brendan Duddy’s verbal and written testimony, and the numerous contradictions and evasions from those who
tried, unsuccessfully, to cover for the committee.
All that remains to be settled is the motivation for the committee’s behaviour. Was it out of its depth in its attempts to outsmart the British? Or was it so intoxicated with the prospect of impending electoral success (in the by-election for first hunger striker, Bobby Sands’ seat) that they took a decision to ignore the offer and thence allow for hunger strikers to die?
When I sat down to quietly collect my thoughts before I started this article, I asked myself a series of questions: what do I want to say about Margaret Thatcher? That I despised the woman? Of course I did. She was no friend of the Irish – much less Irish republicans. She had it in her power to go the clichéd ‘extra mile’, but didn’t. But then: would the extra mile have mattered to Adams and Co?
Margaret Thatcher is dead. There’ll be no crocodile tears or sugar-coated
words from me about the life and times of the Iron Lady. She was our avowed enemy and we expected no
quarter from her. Still, we can’t blow
back the tide of history and we can’t resurrect our brave, brave hunger
strikers. We can, however, treat our own
with respect. We can be honest. Our hunger strikers deserve that. If that means Big Gerry and his
committee accepting culpability for the deaths of the last six hunger strikers,
then so be it.
It's been a bittersweet couple of days. I'm delighted she's finally not breathing the same air as me and I've celebrated her death.
ReplyDeleteAt the back of my mind though is the thought that she wasnt alone in allowing the hunger strikers to die.
I dont think Richard need worry about "fighting with Gerry Adams and his acolytes"his assertion that the committee of Adams and his cronies allowed those men to die needlessly is generally well accepted as the truthful account of that dark period in time,it is our thanks to Richard for speaking up and taking the grief heaped upon him by blinkered fools,that he should now be fighting of,hopefully with Thatchers passing and the interest shown in that period being revisited,someone else will come forward to tell the truth,as we now know the truth has had habit of coming to the surface eventually,would,nt it be a fitting tribute to those brave men that those who used their deaths for personal gain be pulled back down by the death of the bitch Thatcher
ReplyDeleteJust got my voice and legs back from an evening of dancing and singing the old wizard of Oz tune, "Ding, dong the witch is dead".
ReplyDeleteNow comes the pro right media spin/slant. I declared last night, I would have a media and TV black-out over the next few days, possibility weeks.
"The woman was evil" simple as that, someone said to me last night, "Now Thatcher is gone, How can we get rid of Thatcherism".?
It nearly brought a downer on the night, until someone stoked up Chris Rea "Lets Dance" and it was back to the yahooing, wriggling and shuffling all again. I accepted my hangover gladly this morning...I still thought about the media slant this morning.
Then I realised the potential of the questions it would ask of the SF Hunger strike unresolved issues presented by the written piece above. All the old political hands will be pulled out of their cosy little middle class gated homes to offer an insight into Thatcher from a Ireland perspective.
This is an opportunity to see how closely SF resemble these "yesterdays statesmen". It will also prove a fantastic opportunity to highlight the context of the books "blanketmen" and "afterlives". In which was a great read for me, with each page helped jig sawing the controversy surrounding the hunger strikes.
Touching stuff, powerful, WTF wouldn't be enough and that's from me with all the trimmings of a stick mind set and not supporting the provisional movement.
SF are bound to be ripping Thatcher died, they would have loved her to last another 1000 years known the can of worms it would open especially about the hunger strikes, lets face it they have worked bloody hard to whitewash out that part of history now they are political statesmen and all that. Whats the saying "All comes out in the wash".
ITV's documentary, Margaret Thatcher: The Woman Who Changed Britain,had a very apt interview with the former Admiral of the Royal Navy. Whilst he spoke about going to war with Argentina it gave a powerful insight into the British mind set. Prior to Las Maldives hostilities Thatcher asked the Admiral of the day for his advie on going to war. His emphatic response was 'Yes, Of course we should! and he underlined his argument to her by saying that by not seeing the decision to go to war through, it would make Britain look that it could not be trusted to follow through on their commitments on the world stage. The exact same attitude was adopted by Thatcher and her cohorts towards the 10 Irish Martyrs in '81. Faced with callous and brutal imperialist mind-set, their only option was to see their fight through to the very end by giving the ultimate sacrifice! Through their pure commitment, absolute faith and determination, and Irish patriotism towards their fellow comrades and Éire, they provided a unique platform for PSF to further the cause of Irish Unity. 32 years ago TODAY, Óglach Bobby Sands, was elected MP for F/ST as an "Anti H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner" candidate, commanding 51.2% of the vote. However, the jury is still out on what Sinn Féin have actually achieved!! Of course when questioned on their achievements their party faithful will automatically resort to type and highlight the relative electoral success they have achieved in each of the partitioned political entites..But does that constitute success with repsect to Irish Unity or does it actually underline the fact they have ACCEPTED Partition and it's trappings??? Personally, I believe the latter is the reality... Beir Bua!
ReplyDeleteEach time this comes up I dig out Bik's comm to Adams to remind myself that while men were dying on Hunger Strike both he and Adams (Brownie)were discussing contesting elections...
ReplyDelete"To Brownie from Bik Sun 26.7.81
The climate now is ripe to make significant progress and establish a firm base down there which is a necessity for future development and success in the final analysis.
To allow opportunities to slip by [opportunities which may not present themselves again] would be a grave mistake.
We are examining the possibility of contesting elections and actually making full use of seats gained-ie participating in Dail.
Such an idea presents problems within the Movement.
How great would the opposition be and what would be the consequences of pursuing a course which did not enjoy a sizeable degree of support?''
disgusting
ReplyDeleteMcGuinness tonight criticised people for celebrating Thatchers death.
ReplyDeleteAn old dear in England opened a bottle of champaigne she kept in her fridge for years when the news broke that the witch was dead. Former mining communities across Britain celebrated as well as communities in working class areas in many UK cities. McGuinness is against it.
FFS give that bollox his OBE now. The more he talks the more I like the English working class, they are much better people than SF leaders like McGuninness.
Dixie shows they knew what they were doing from day one. The concept might have been honourable enough had SF retained a backbone. But they are just brits. Arise Sir Martin (fit-the-brit) mi6 McGuinness.
I have no doubt in my own mind, after reading all the FOI docs that Richard is telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteDixie has posted a piece, which I was going to post, ie, "To Brownie from Bik Sun 26.7.81
The climate now is ripe to make significant progress and establish a firm base down there which is a necessity for future development and success in the final analysis.",
When Bik sent that to Adams , I thought to myself, FFS, Is Bik in with the big cover up of entering the Dail as well as Stormont.
I will let the readers of TPQ decide that.
I for one have no doubt , He was in it up to his neck , and that is why he has denied what Richard has stated, to be facts.
If anyone thinks I have taken that piece out of context , just read it all , The only thing mentioned in that Com is , "Standing In Elections" , Were is "Down There" , It can only be one place , The Dail , others I have spoken to think he means , "Tyrone" , I stand by what I have stated to Them, Its preparing for the Dail, and They got there own way, "By manipulation". They have a terrible lot to answer for, just as much, if not more Than maggie hatchet. May that woman burn in hell for eternity, and may Adams and Co join her.
I can state right now, after typing this piece out, and, letting my mind wander back to those dark, sad old days of the deaths of those ten brave men, I am fuming because those that caused it are still walking about thinking they are invincible , high and mighty in politics with a living well beyond there wildest dreams Then the Brits turned them around to what gains they would have!.
Marty:
She is having a privatized funeral, Its being paid for by private tax payers money, her pension stopped on monday. lol.
Richard,
ReplyDeleteInteresting and disturbing. A sad reminder of time when we all thought Republicanism had turned a corner. Now it is becoming increasingly apparent that political opportunism was more Important than men's lives.
Thatcher was well schooled In that raspy religious/ horror voice. I remember her reciting the Francis of Assisi prayer. It was like listening to Satan reciting the hail Mary
adams has three conflicting accounts of the hunger strike period:
ReplyDelete1. Writing about the Mountain Climber initiative in his blog in January 2012, Gerry Adams wrote:
” The line of communication was very straight forward, although cumbersome. The prisoners communicated with the Committee I chaired on the outside. I then dealt with Martin McGuinness who met ‘Soon’ in Derry. No one else was involved in the meetings with the back-channel.”
2.On an RTE documentary for the 25th anniversary of the Hunger Strike in 2006 Gerry Adams said of the Mountain Climber initiative to end the hunger strike:
'There had been a contact which the British had activated. It became known as the Mountain Climber. Basically, I didn't learn of this until after the hunger strike.’
3. In his book Before The Dawn, pg 299,:
“Very early one morning I and another member of our committee were in mid-discussion with the British in a living room in a house in Andersonstown when, all of a sudden, they cut the conversation, which we thought was quite strange. Then, later, when we turned on the first news broadcast of the morning, we heard that Joe McDonnell was dead. Obviously they had cut the conversation when they got the word. They had misjudged the timing of their negotiations, and Joe had died much earlier than they had anticipated.”
from messenger chairman to knew nothing until after the hunger strike was over to secrect back channel himself ....... Richard is at least consistent while Gerry has three conflicting versions of reality to dip in and out off.
Gerard:
ReplyDeleteNice to see you have got your facts right.
He still is to this very day a scheming , lying, manipulative piece of treachery.
He knew it was time to get to the 26 counties. He is nothing but a laughing stock, anything to sell a book or get interviewed on TV, he adores the limelight.
The sad fact of life is, he Forgets he came from The Murph.
Itsjustmacker
ReplyDeleteThey are getting plenty of limelight at the moment. We were discussing SF at university yesterday (over a bevy-as-you-do)and how one half of the leadership, McGuinness, was on tv telling people it was bad craic celebrating Thatchers demise. Whilst at the same time Liam Adams was appearing in court accused of child rape. That's the leadership!!
Anyone wanting to fall-in behind that must be desperate for a political home. Though no doubt the SF faithful don't think like that. Coz they don't think period!!
New book hitting the shelves next week...a must for all Politics and history students. It's called
'My 40 yr long-march from butcher's assistant to English establishment door-mat'
Author...Martin McGuinness
order a copy today at the comedy section of your local Easons.
No matter what Richard O'Rawe says
ReplyDeletenow about the Hunger-strike of 81 when he left the H-Blocks he went straight to work at a Sinn Fein office-a strange decision by O'Rawe
given the accusations he is now making about the party and some of its leaders about what was supposed to have went on when he was inside- strange but true-
Michaelhenry,
ReplyDeletethere is really very little room to dispute the O'Rawe account. It is like arguing against evolution. Too much evidence supporting him. The issue would have been laid to rest shortly after O'Rawe's first book came out had Morrison the acumen to handle it smartly. He probably persuaded people more than O'Rawe ever managed that O'Rawe's account was the accurate one.
AM-
ReplyDeleteHave read both sides of this argument till the cows have come home-
No matter about anyones opinion on this matter-including mine- no one can explain why Richard O'Rawe choose to work for Sinn Fein when he got out if he knew what he did about the Hunger-Strike-
Said michaelhenry...
ReplyDelete" what was supposed to have went on when he was inside."
When he was inside is correct michaelhenry. When he was inside and on the Blanket he was Bik's adviser...That is he advised Bik who was OC during the Hunger Strikes.
So Michaelhenry he wasn't just anybody he knew what Bik knew and assisted Bik in what he was doing.
Whereas you only know what someone else - who knows fuck all - told you...
No offence like.
Michaelhenry,
ReplyDeleteyou are still in the party even though you must know by now the boys were led into a trap by some in leadership.
People remain in organisations for a variety of reasons. They often feel the organisation and its objectives are wider than the machinations of the ambitious careerists. Lots of people remain in the Church despite known of the clerical rape and cover ups. Then when the do leave they wish they had never been there. Everybody who leaves always feels they should have left earlier.
michaelhenry.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone explain how you can remain a Sinn Fein councillor while the whole world...(wide web) knows that you spend your time on the internet talking nonsense?
There's somebody's hand up at the back.
Yes.
It's cause nowadays they have no one else mister.
There you have it michaelhenry, once upon a time Republicans with brains like Ricky would have been members of Sinn Fein. Then cause they had brains they saw what was happening and said 'we're being sold out here, I'm off!'
Until only those with brains but no morals were left to enrich themselves and while they were doing so they got anyone with the brains of sheep to fill the gaps.
Dixie
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen the SF personel situation described more perfectly.