TERENCE MACSWINEY SAID. From 'The United Irishman' newspaper, January 1958 .
" England's chief weapon in her long struggle with Ireland is the English lie . Every Irish Nationalist knows this . Every Irish Nationalist ought to know it is a weapon for use , unscrupulous , treacherous , far-reaching and deadly . Most of us thought we had comprehended the English lie , and some of us prided ourselves on not under-estimating it .
But till Rossa died , not one of us had the exact measure of its possibilities ; and now we can only know that , as there are infamies in Hell which we cannot fathom , we henceforth must be ready against every surprise of Hell . For Hell is the source of the lie .
From the agony of his prison , Rossa cried out - 'They can lie like Hell...' . And even then with all the revelations that revolted the world we did not realise that this was literally and exactly true , that black and infamous as the pit from which their inspiration comes , they can lie like Hell . "
[END of ' TERENCE MACSWINEY SAID']
(Next : 'Street Talk' - from 1989)
A QUESTION OF LIBERATION .Feminists and anti-imperialists in Ireland have often regarded each other's struggles with misunderstanding , mutual suspicion , and sometimes outright rejection . What then is the relationship between them ? Eibhlin Ni Gabhann surveys the emergence of women's liberation groups in Belfast and Dublin over the past decade or so , and some of the questions they have faced .
From 'IRIS' magazine , November 1983.
The issue of women's liberation was slow to come to Ireland . By comparison , in America and England , the women's movement grew in strength during the early 1960's , raising the question of women's oppression on many fronts and challenging the male dominance of politics nationally and internationally .
In America , women activists in the Civil Rights Movement found that their fight for equal rights for black Americans did not expand to include equal rights for American women - white or black . Parallel to that , those women involved in the campaign against the war in Vietnam found that their male comrades were hostile to their emerging consciousness of women's oppression in the United States .
In England , women workers active in the trade unions began to organise themselves as women to fight for equal pay and equal employment opportunities . In 1970 , the first Women's Conference was held and four demands were agreed - free 24-hour nurseries , free contraception and abortion on demand , equal pay and equal education and employment opportunities . Also in 1970 , English feminists demonstrated at the 'Miss World'contest against the exploitation of women , resulting in six arrests and maximum publicity.......
(MORE LATER).
KERRY DEATH MYSTERY.From 'The Phoenix' magazine , January 2003.
(Note:as a result of our recent posts on this subject , a reader asked us to locate and publish this 'Phoenix' article . We are pleased to be able to do so.)
Mystery surrounds the death of Kerry Republican , John O' Shea , found unconscious outside his parents' house near Castlemaine around midnight on the October Bank Holiday weekend in 2001 .
The fact that State Pathologist , Professor John Harbison, changed his initial verdict as to the cause of death when he gave evidence at the inquest last month (ie December 2002) has only added to the mystery .
John O' Shea had been drinking in Tralee on the October Bank Holiday Monday , 2001 , and was arrested by gardai for questioning about a road traffic accident . After his release from Tralee Garda Station , he returned to Castlemaine , had a few more drinks and got a taxi home . Shortly after midnight , his parents found him outside the house , slumped on the ground . They dragged him inside but he was later pronounced dead.......
(MORE LATER).
