Today Pól Torbóid and I went to meet friends in Fear Manach and one asked if we'd been to a memorial erected at the spot where Seán South and Feraghal O'Hanlon died. We hadn't been there but we had read a lot about the attack on Brookeborough RUC barracks carried out by the IRA on 1st January 1957.
There are many articles written about that fateful night so I'm not going to write too much here. What surprised us was how far the IRA ASU got from that unionist village despite so many of the volunteers being wounded. The roads are very narrow and go up into the hills but the enemy didn't capture anyone although the two volunteers unfortunately died at the spot where we stood today. On that night there was a shed where the bodies were left.
As we stood looking around we spoke of the rest of the volunteers and what they must've gone through in their heads to evade capture, especially on a winters night. Our friends said they'll take us around other parts of the county where battles etc took place between Irish Republicans and the British.
Indeed there's history going back even further than before the concept of Republicanism was even written about.
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| Padraic Mac Coitir is a former republican prisoner and current political activist. |
Sean South was a fascist sympathiser, very antisemitic and member of ultra-Catholic organisations. What sort of "Republican" is that?
ReplyDeleteBarry,
Delete"What sort of "Republican" is that?"
One who wanted the British out of Ireland but who, like many IRA men, had differing views and opinions on other subjects. This perception of him being a kind of aberration from the Republican Movement probably only came about due to the IRA's deliberate move to the left whereas, traditionally, the movement had no problem accommodating the likes of him and Gerry McGeough as the IRA were a very deeply Catholic organisation whose members (certainly in Belfast) said the Rosary before embarking on an operation.
There's no doubt that Sean South held repugnant views but, let's face it, the reason this is brought up is because of the standing he has in Republican folklore.
People like South or even Pearse would not be the type I feel a strong affinity with. But they are stalwarts of a republican history and draw their respect from risking and losing their lives opposing British interference in Ireland.
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