As this is my own view, anyone else present won’t be mentioned or quotations/pictures of those attending. However, fret not. I have been informed that the Party intends on producing a proper telling of the events via social media and other sources. Anthony had asked me to draw up something, as he heard from an ex-member, who often writes for the Pensive Quill, in Caoimhin, that I would be there. Kevin was unable to attend due to ill health (he said he would be there in spirit, and I hope he has a good recovery ). Like others who sadly couldn’t attend due to health or other reasons, they were there in spirit.
After travelling up from Kerry via Dublin to Belfast by train I joined some younger/newer members who were excited for a good night of History, Commemoration, Music and Celebration. Upon settling into accommodation, all of us cleaned and sharpened up with the best threads on, taxis were ordered for the venue. On arrival, we found our tables to be seated at. All attended were greeted with a pamphlet outlining 50 years of History and Struggle. There was quite a large crowd in attendance, some 450 or so Comrades, past and present.
The core message is that after 50 Years of Struggle, Assassinations, Jail, Hunger Strikes, Supergrasses, State Harassment by MI5/6 – RUC – Free State Branch, Counter Revolutionary purges, the Movement was still here and still going strong. It was a message of sorrow, bravery, resilience and comradeship that has stood half a century.
After we settled in, food was served. The atmosphere was sombre but good natured at the same time. This isn’t a food review but on a side point, it was very tasty, and something akin to good wedding food. While the food was being eaten, banter, political topics, sport, old comradeships filled tables with chat.
After the food, the room was asked to maintain silence while a video outlining the history of the Movement was shown. This lasted 30 or so minutes. It was highly informative and well produced. Not only were historical topics discussed such as the foundation in 1974, 1979 Airy Neave spectacular bombing, 1981 Hunger Strikes, 1987 counterrevolutionary murders, the Tragic loss of Ta Power and Gino Gallagher, Loyalist Death Squad leader Billy Wright executed and the years following the ceasefires but also personal themes of devotion, love, sacrifice, education and pride.
After this excellent video followed a number of speeches given by past and present members. Again those were generational speakers. Some mentioned personal stories intertwined with historical events. This was a theme for the night in both experiences of those who spoke on the stage and the talk at many of the tables.
I have been a member for about 25 years, the guy sitting next to me was around since 1986. Others I spoke were around since the foundation or early years of the Movement. Each speaker told the room their stories, anecdotes and their love for the Movement, those who paid the ultimate price, those “lesser known” whose struggle - without them the Movement would probably not have survived. Many ended with Patsy O’Hara's quote, “Let the fight go on.”
The speeches made by a variety of people involved at various times in the Movement's history were all excellent and well received. Music followed on from this, which consisted of two separate bands. One was a young lady who was very good, a mixture of folk and rebel songs. The other were two lads, who sang a good mixture of IRSP songs and ballads. This rounded off an excellent evening of History, Education, Speeches, Songs and Stories, that reflected the struggle and survival of the IRSM. It was very well organised.
Like I explained this was my own personal thoughts on an event I was proud to be at. It is my belief the Party intends on a professional piece on this evening of the History of the IRSM 50 years.
Did you spare a thought for the victims of Darkley and the many other victims of sectarian murders committed by so-called "Republican Socialists"? Did you spare a thought for the family of Seamus Ruddy?
ReplyDeleteSeriously? Such a woefully cheap shot. Had the writer been commenting on the formation of the British Labour Party would you have asked him if he spared a thought for the victims of the war crimes against Gaza civilians that Starmer endorsed?
DeleteTPQ expects better from its contributors.
Barry, you have many skills & gifts but a cartographer you most certainly are not. As an educated man, PhD & qualified counsellor, one might hope you had a better grip on fundamentalist and existentialist realities. As adults, we ought to accept the more base instincts of the human-animal. Yes, we are social animals too but it's erroneous not to acknowledge the inherently hierarchical nature of the pack or heard itself and the conflict that arises between groups when competing needs clash.
DeleteThese hierarchical and competition drives are hardwired in. It's less than useful to ignore these truths. We have a few possible alternatives; frontal lobotomy, the bottle in front of me, or establishing and maintaining a rules-based order.
Viewed from this understanding I consider your comment as almost akin to victim shaming. The real shame of any conflict situation lies with those who fail to create and maintain a workable rules-based system.
A Limerick academic has asked me about Irish solidarity work and activists in Paris. Supervisor is Ruan O'Donnell. I can apss on any leads.
ReplyDeleteI do not think it's a cheap shot to point out the atrocities of the INLA as well as their drug dealing. As for Starmer and Gaza, since coming into office he has halted the sales of any components of weapons that could be used in the bombardment of Gaza and supports the restoration of funding to UNWRA.
ReplyDeleteYou are quite free to call out the INLA for its actions. But to sneeringly attack the writer over a piece that TPQ asked him to write is very much a cheap shot. You could as easily have avoided the sneer and merely raised your difficulty with this type of commemorative event. And you could have demonstrated some consistency by acknowledging that Starmer is guilty of far worse than anything the INLA ever did. But off you went seeking to deny the obvious - that Starmer endorsed war crimes.
DeleteStarmer stopped 30 of 350 export licences. Just consider that as a defence against arming Hitler: 'M'Lud, we stopped 8 per cent of arms exports to Berlin even though the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for the country's leader.'
He has not once identified an Israeli war crime, not one.
Barry, that is a below the belt shot and less than impressive. While so called defenders of 'liberal democracy' around the globe are murdering civillians you come up with a less than worthy attack on the IRSM. Could it be you are pissed off that, after years of state(s) reppression the Republican Socialist Movement still exists?
ReplyDeleteCaoimhin O'Muraile
Caoimhin - it wasn't even a serious critique of the INLA but a sneering attempt to undermine the writer. Of course the INLA committed atrocities, much like the IRA did as well as the Repressive State Apparatuses. But if Barry was really concerned about atrocities he would never have resorted to covering up for the atrocities Starmer endorsed and pretend that what Starmer supported was not a war crime.
DeleteCaoimhin, I condemn all murders of civilians be it by Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries and state forces in NI, Israel and Hamas, Putin, Assad etc.
DeleteStarmer made an extremely ill advised statement on cutting off food and water to Gaza in the aftermath of 7 October which caused consternation among the PLP and caused some electoral harm. Nothing he has said and done amount to support of war crimes.
ReplyDeleteStarmer openly supported the war crime of denying electricity and water to a civilian population. Owen Jones nailed him on it:
DeleteAsked if Israel had the right to cut water and power supplies, he declared it had “that right”, after it stopped food, fuel and medicines entering Gaza in October.
He then went on to lie that he had not in fact said it - at which point the recording of him saying what he said he hadn't said was played for him.
The ICC prosecutor has outlined in his case against Israel how those war crimes Starmer supported - cutting off electric and water - were central components of the ICC case. And now you are trying to defend him - whatever the INLA has done it fades out of view when compared to the war crimes Starmer has supported.
This is the guy who prosecuted Serbia on behalf of Croatia for the crime of genocide. He knows exactly that the collective punishment of civilians is a clear breach of article 33 of the Geneva Convention,
The INLA and IRA were involved in a war. Wars change peoples attitudes, adimittedly not for the better most times, but the likes of Biden, Starmer, and numerous others are not involved in a war, they just fuel those who are, normally the side where most profit can be made.
ReplyDeleteDaithi's account of a good night out was, in my view, a grand account. As a former IRSP member the principles of republican socialism are relavent to the working-class.
As I said wars and conflicts changebpeople, sometimes in a possitive direction. I cite the Miners Strike 1984/85 the attitudes towards women changed forever. Please do not tell me that the struggle during the year long strike was not a 'class war'. Internationalism is the watchward.
Caoimhin O'Muraile
Just a question because none spring to mind, but am I right in thinking the INLA were never infiltrated by BritIntel or touts to the same extent the Provisionals were?
ReplyDeleteThat’s an interesting point Steve, but debatable. No doubt the likes of Harry Kirkpatrick being turned for example would have done serious damage. Sadly I think the seemingly never ending internal feuding and criminality within some elements of the INLA also done serious damage, as did the assassinations of Seamus Costello and Dominic McGlinchey. All that being said they INLA/IRSP had some fantastic Republican activists real deep rooted working class community people and still do today
DeleteSteve the IRPS were penetrated way deeper than the Provos. Have a read of 'INLA Deadly Divisions' by Holland and McDonald' for a useful insight.
ReplyDeleteThey lost their way after the murder of Seamus Costello
ReplyDeleteJohn Nixon, a former member of the Official IRA and founding member of the Irish National Liberation Army talks to The Good Listener....
ReplyDeletePart 1...."John speaks about growing up in Armagh City, his teen years taking part in riots and the time that he was shot and wounded by the same bullet that killed his friend beside him, his first prison term for firearms possession, the formation of the INLA while he was inside, the effect that his prison time had on his politics and level of commitment "
Part 2....John talks about his second prison term in Long Kesh where he took part in the blanket protest and the no-wash protest in an attempt to win back POW status, the no-wash protest and how these brutal years have affected John’s life forever....the beatings and torture that prisoners were subjected to in Long Kesh and what atmosphere in the jail was like following one of the many assassinations of guards by republicans outside the prison walls.
John Nixon INSIDE THE 1980 IRA/INLA HUNGER STRIKE....
From 'The Troubles Podcast'....
ReplyDeleteThe Old Guard Versus The Revolutionary Young Guns: Seamus Costello and his INLA.....This episode focuses on the socialist Republican group, the INLA and how their formation deeply angered some members of the Official IRA. Seamus Costello was the man who founded the INLA, but he soon found it very difficult to give orders to men in Northern Ireland, while he himself was living in the Republic and once all hell broke loose, he knew the crosshair would rest firmly on him.
The Darkley Church Killings .....It was a Sunday evening in November, 1983 and 65 people were attending service at the Mountain Lodge Pentecostal Church Service. The church was a small wooden building on the outskirts of the Northern Irish village of Darkley, in the county of Armagh, which was close to the border with the Republic of Ireland. The popular hymn, 'Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb' was playing, and pastor Bobby Bain was leading the singing.
It was at this time, three masked gunmen arrived at the church.
As the congregation started singing the final verse ‘Lay aside the garments that are stained by sin’, the shooting began. What ensued has gone on to be known as the Darkley Killings and in this episode we will learn about what happened and who was responsible.
When the Hammer Turns Against the Sickle': The INLA vs The IPLO........The two socialist Republican paramilitary groups were the INLA, Irish National Liberation Army and the IPLO, the Irish People's Liberation Organization. These were two organisations who sought to fight against the colonial occupation of British Rule and free the working class of capitalistic dominance.
However, instead of romantic struggle they would instead set their sights on each other. Former friends would become submerged in a murky world of criminality, revenge, sectarianism and cold-blooded murder. By the end of this feud, many would be dead and both organisations would be shadows of their former strength. So what led to such a bloody and violent feud?
Thanks everyone I'll have a read through the recommendations cheers
ReplyDeleteHenry Joy, do you accept that human beings have agency? While always cognisant of the abnormal state of NI at the time, people did join paramilitary groups of their own volition as did recruits to the Army, RUC and UDR. Bit they didn't deserve to die for their choices
ReplyDeleteBarry, by posing a non-sequitur question, are you being deliberately obtuse, or are you so stressed out of your tree that you have limited access to your higher faculties?
DeleteCould you please take a few breaths, come down off your moral perch, and then apply some structural analysis to the nature of conflict?
1 - Good piece. In recent years the IRSP has become much more active in the Lower Falls area so let's hope this community activism grows into something that can legitimately challenge Sinn Fein.
ReplyDelete2 - Barry's had some spectacularly bad, contradictory takes as of late (laughing at a journalist being investigated by police for a deleted, year old tweet and then getting offended whenever a uni cancels a speaker) but that was nothing more than a self-righteous cheap shot especially considering Darkley wasn't even brought up.
The pages views suggest the piece is very popular. Barry, I think, lost the run of himself, with his inane playing of the man rather than the ball.
DeleteThe IRSP has produced some dedicated activists over the years and often had to operate in difficult circumstances with the added danger of feuding. I was in the blocks with so many of them, and to see them get out and dying for opposites camps seemed such a terrible waste. Sending sympathy cards to families first of one camp, then the other, tended to underscore the futility of it all. Then, on paroles visiting their loved ones, made it seem even more absurd.
Christopher,
DeleteWhen do Sinn Fein tolerate challenges?
I do apologise for the tone of my initial post and for any offence caused. I do not regret calling out INLA atrocities but I accept that many have seen my comment as a personal attack on the author.
ReplyDeletegood call - we don't expect sackcloth and ashes as everybody makes mistakes so best left there.
DeleteBarry,
ReplyDeleteI do apologise for the tone of my initial post and for any offence caused. I do not regret calling out INLA atrocities
That sounds exactly like politicians sound and it's not that you called out INLA atrocities but in the maner you did......
but I accept that many have seen my comment as a personal attack on the author.
I thought it came across as very anti republican, be it Irish, Trumpian or Chinese Republicanism...
So what is Trumpian or Chinese Republicanism, Frankie ?
Delete