We are wise to the fact that British imperialism sought to systemically obliterate spoken Irish on the island as part of their brutal colonial agenda which necessitated the demise of our ancient language and culture in order to facilitate their political, economic, social and cultural subjugation of Ireland.
This brutal history cannot be rewritten or concealed by the patronising weasel ‘cupla focal’ from this indefensible relic of feudalism, whose merciless empire caused and causes persistent destruction across the world.
This disgracefully lavish ‘coronation’ will cost the taxpayer millions of pounds and act as a clever ruse to direct people’s attention away from the real crisis in capitalism which is preventing working class communities from heating their homes and putting food on the table.
In the context of the most recent savage economic onslaught against the poor in the form of vicious Tory attacks on public services and social welfare as well as the current rollback on fundamental human rights, it’s unlikely that there is has ever been worse time to welcome such a repulsive Royal coronation of this kind.
The Irish language was also used cynically during a Royal Visit to Ireland by a British Queen back in 1849. However, the words ‘Céad Míle Fáilte’ couldn’t conceal the fact that Ireland had been brought to its knees by one of the most brutal empires on the history of the European continent.
The Great Hunger, which was facilitated, aided and abetted by the ruthless colonial regimes in Ireland, had claimed the lives of a million and half Gaels and saw nearly 2 and half million more emigrate in poverty and destitution. The Ireland of the 1880’s was a place in the throes of a horrific population shift unparalleled in European history. The Irish language was on its last legs, as a demoralised people had been brainwashed through hundreds of years of British colonisation to blame their hardship on their own barbarism and backwardness.
Contempory activists in Gaeltacht communities like my own are still dealing with the legacy of this cruel onslaught as the Language is still starved of crucial resources by the neo-colonial Free State government.
The Irish language revival movement, embodied by Conradh na Gaeilge who were formed back in 1893, was the first step in a process of decolonisation; claiming back what was being lost, encouraging people to organise again and stand up on their own two feet, rebuilding the minds and bodies of a battered people.
People followed because they knew they weren’t barbarians turned loyal British subjects. People followed because they hoped to revive their own native culture and build a sense of identity and hope.
By 1900, Conradh na Gaeilge had become the fastest growing social movement in Western Europe with 800,000 members. This cultural movement for decolonisation inspired the movement for Irish independence from British Rule. It inspired The Rising in 1916 and was an engine upon which the revolutionary movement depended.
This legacy of resistance is what progressives should be celebrating rather than praising the cynical use of the Irish language in this obscene royal coronation. All of these cruelties of Imperialism, continue, especially for its many victims who have yet to receive the justice, truth and recognition to which they are entitled.
Lives, communities and cultures were destroyed under the dominance of this monarchy and it continues unabated. There was no transitional period when the horrors were recognised, with appropriate compensation, reparations or apologies. Slavery and colonialism have merely become neo-colonialism, neo-liberalism and neo-liberal globalisation.
All of these rapid forces are destroying our planet Republicans, socialists, activists and progressives of all kinds must stand together against every aspect of this coronation, including the cynical use of the Irish language in underhand attempt to defy the facts of history.
Contrary to the propaganda in the mainstream media, the use of Irish by a newly crowned British King does not bring history to an end and close the chapters of shame on British imperialism. History hasn’t ended. The newly unelected hereditary emperor’s use of Irish in fact a disparaging ploy by our native political elites to garner legitimacy for their selfish politico-economic agenda by using our native tongue to provide a cloak of integrity to their nefarious imperial aims.
Language activists recognise that An Ghaeilge is still endangered because of the power processes of cultural colonisation in Ireland and this obscene coronisation shouldn’t deflect us from the ongoing project of decolonisation which requires a complete break from British Imperialism and is feudalistic monarchy.
As Gaels, we must retain our integrity and independence rather than become willing pawns in a political agenda to rewrite our history, conceal current economic hardship and celebrate the very empire that continues to subjugate.
🖼 Micheál Choilm Mac Giolla Easbuig is an independent councillor on Donegal County Council.
Micheal, what is your opinion on the use of Irish language signage and other nomenclature in Northern Ireland plus funding of Irish language schools in the North as well. It is certainly true that Irish language speakers suffered under British rule (the language in many Western seaboard communities was wiped out along with their inhabitants during the Famine) but it also needs to be said that the Irish language was beaten into generations of Irish schoolchildren by Christian Brothers zealots. Would it not be better for the language to be the cultural inheritance of all who live on or hail from the island of Ireland rather than a weapon of political nationalism in a culture war? I am thinking of the work of Linda Ervine in promoting the language in Unionist areas of East Belfast.
ReplyDeleteCould the same tokenism not be said to apply to the use of Cymraeg and Scots Gaelic in Coronation ceremonies in that both nations have suffered from English imperialism? Suppose that ethnic minority languages such as Urdu and Hindi were used in a future ceremony would you make the same criticisms?
...and the language was weaponized by the shinners, at least that's the perception.
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