Writing in her regular column in the Irish Times Miriam Lord launched a withering tirade against Martin Ferris, the Sinn Fein deputy for Kerry North. In Saturday’s edition (24/10/09) Lord derided Ferris as ‘Thoroughly Modern’ after he wrote to Minister of Defence Willie O’Dea requesting an official report from the Department of Defence into the Ballyseedy Massacre of 1923.

Ballyseedy was just one in a series war crimes perpetrated by Free State forces in county Kerry during the Civil War. As a reprisal for a previous Republican action, in early March 1923 Free State commander Paddy O’Daly authorised the use of prisoners to clear mined roads. Nine Republican prisoners were taken from Tralee to Ballyseedy, which is just outside the town. There they were tied to a landmine, which was detonated. Free State soldiers then opened fire on the sorry remains of the prisoners’ bodies.

This barbaric act may have remained absent from the history books had not one of the men, Stephen Fuller, been blown into a ditch (and to safety) by the blast of the explosion. Fuller later became a Fianna Fail TD. Today a monument, depicting a fearsome looking tall man, fists clenched rising up, every sinew of his body suggesting righteous indignation, commemorates the slaughtered men.  

I am sure Lord found Ferris an easy target to poke fun at – in her view he is an unreconstructed man of the gun from the nation’s western peripheries. But why not ask the Department for further details into an act as despicable as the massacre of players and spectators by British troops at Croke Park on Bloody Sunday 1920? It is about time our civil war faced the agonising reappraisal that the civil war in Spain has been subject to. And why shouldn’t a modern politician, representing his constituency, seek information on an act that still scars the collective memory of that period in the local area?

Details of the Ballyseedy massacre can be viewed at the Military Archives, Rathmines, Dublin (by appointment). They are held at CW/OPS/12/C.

Manuel Zelaya

Recently Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras, took a symbolic step over the border. Unusually, this step took him back in to Honduras from Nicaragua for but a few fleeting moments. 

Zelaya was deposed in an army coup on June 28th and forced into exile in a fundamentally anti-democratic move by the Honduran military. The armed forces have now imposed a curfew across the south of the country and killed a supporter of Zelaya who was attempting to make it to the border, along with a mass of demonstrators, to welcome the rightful president home.  

In some ways this story conforms to the romantic narrative of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s flight from Scotland, and Zelaya certainly is a colourful figure. Pictured in the press in cowboy hat and leather waistcoat, Zelaya looked more like a member of the Village People than an ousted president. In the past he has been pictured biting into a melon to draw attention to the US ban on Honduran melon imports. But Zelaya possesses a more legitimate mandate than the Young Pretender did.

Ostensibly, his enforced exile is the result of a constitutional crisis. In reality, it has more to do with Zelaya’s moves to take Honduras to the left and away from dependence on the USA, which have greatly alarmed reactionary elements within Honduran society. Zelaya endorsed Petrocaribe, a Venezuelan scheme to sell oil to poorer countries in the region; he also strengthened diplomatic ties with the leftist regimes of Venezuela and Bolivia.

Little wonder, then, that Hilary Clinton has described his latest move as ‘reckless’. Reckless? Perhaps, given the tense national situation. However, it seems to me that as the democratically elected leader of Honduras, illegally deposed no matter what political angle you look at it from, he could be forgiven for crossing over the border to tred foot on the auld sod.

I wish to thank my campaign team and all my supporters over the last couple of months. In the count at the RDS on Saturday I polled 639 first preference votes. This was the strongest ever showing for a socialist candidate in the constituency. On the first count we blew out of the water the two independents (Sweeney and Eblana) and the Sinn Fein candidate. This was no mean feat considering Sweeney had spent a considerable sum on promoting himself (he had also ran for the European elections as an independent) and Eblana had received a lot of media attention in his desperate attempts to promote himself variously as a poet, a jobseeker, a retired entrepreneur and the only gay in the village. The victory over Sinn Fein also demonstrated the strength of our campaign as O’Dubhlain’s candidacy gained much momentum from the Mary Lou MacDonald juggernaut.

The Evans campaign ran on a tiny budget of around 2,000 euro. The upper limit for spending was 15,000 euro – an amount evidently reached and exceeded by both the FG Murphy and FF Tubridy campaigns. Our strong  tally of first preference votes saw us survive late in to the night at the RDS. The icing on the cake of what was a very successful building of People Before Profit in Ireland’s most affluent constituency came at the 4th count. We received enough transfers to surge ahead of Tubridy to 875 votes. Tubridy’s elimination was particularly sweet for all involved in the campaign. The Tubridy machine had pumped tens of thousands into the campaign in plastering his face all over the web, the print media and the wider area; according to the Irish Times Tubridy was a favourite for election due to the name recognition factor. What’s more, on the eve of the election the Tubridy team erected dozens of mini Tubridy signs around every polling station in the constituency. Unsurprisingly, Tubridy’s transfers to PBP did not amount to enough to catch the Green candidate Robbins. Fortunately, many of the Evans transfers went to help Labour retain three seats in the constituency. Finally, FG’s Murphy and Wyne were joined FF’s O’Callaghan, who sneaked in at the expense of FG’s MacCartan.

The strong showing for PBP in Pembroke-Rathmines was significant because the demographic of the area make it ostensibly very hostile territory for a left-wing candidate. However, our campaign focused on the basic needs of people and community – adequate public transport, health and education provision. These priorities obviously registered with the electorate and as all observers at the count acknowledged, we polled very strongly indeed. The day was completed by news of the election of PBP candidates Hugh Lewis, Joan Collins, Richard Boyd Barrett, Brid Smith and – at the eleventh hour – Gino Kenny. A big thank you to all campaigners, voters and well-wishers, who contributed towards a very respectable showing.

Although the sentiment for change politically has become almost hackneyed at this stage, it is crucial to remember that Friday’s election marks a genuinely historic stage in the politicl development of the Irish nation. FF are at an historic low in the polls and the Irish left currently enjoys such urban support that the political establishment is becoming almost paroxysmic in its reactionism.

A vote for Bryce Evans represents a vote for a youthful, conscientious voice at city councl level. These days councillors are frequently overrun by the dictates of city managers, their capacity to speak out stymied by the need to conform to the party line. Bryce Evans has been campaigning longer and harder than any other candidate for the protection of frontline public services in the Pembroke-Rathmines area. The political game can be exhilarating and it can be exhausting. What really matters, however, are priorities like access to public transport, cancer treatment services and the provision of  education.

Evans is an honest and independent left wing voice for environment and ordinary working people. Other independent options in the area represent a peculiar blend of southside chauvinism and charlatanism. Only a number 1 vote for Bryce Evans will propel a radical young voice on to Dublin city council.

If you want to help with the campaign’s final push this week, please show up at the Swan Centre Rathmines at 5.30pm Monday-Friday. Alternatively, please call me on 085-7751426 for alternative canvassing options.

‘ DUBLIN ’S BANKSY’ JOINS LOCAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN

Dublin based graffiti artist Maser has pledged his support to local election candidate Bryce Evans.  Evans is a first time candidate under the People before Profit Alliance and is running in the Pembroke-Rathmines ward.  Maser – famed as ‘ Dublin ’s Banksy’- is working on a piece of street art to encourage locals to vote for Evans on June 5^th.  In a statement Evans said ‘I am a fan of Maser’s artwork; he provides Dublin with a youthful aesthetic and I am delighted to have him on board’.  Maser said he was backing Evans because he was ‘an honest and genuine guy’.  The artist added that he had never voted before, but was a resident of Rathmines and after reading Evans’ leaflet decided to throw his weight behind the campaign. The artwork will occupy an unspecified, prominent location on Dublin ’s southside and is expected to be completed soon.

We are meeting for canvassing at 5.30pm and 7pm (you choose the time you can make) outside the Swan Centre, Rathmines every day this week. Please support!

A friend of mine is embroiled in some controversy over his exposure of the sometimes-lazy research techniques of newspaper obituary writers. Don’t believe everything you read on wikipedia!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/04/journalism-obituaries-shane-fitzgerald

NATIONAL LESBIAN & GAY FEDERATION

Marriage Still a Burning Issue for Lesbian and Gay People – National Symposium

Marriage Matters for Lesbian and Gay People will be the burning issue of a national symposium to be held on Thursday, 7th May at The Westbury Hotel, Grafton Street, Dublin 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The symposium, which is being hosted by the National Lesbian and Gay Federation (NLFG), will explore the best route for change on lesbian and gay marriage, subsequent to the introduction of civil partnership legislation.

The symposium will hear from Professor Sheila Greene, co-founder and current director of the Children’s Research Unit, Trinity College, who will ask “Do Children Need Parents of Both Sexes?” (10 a.m.)

The upcoming civil partnership bill is welcome – it will grant gay and lesbian couples legal recognition in many key areas. But why stop there? Last month hundreds of activists protested in Dublin to call for marriage rights.

The government claims that gay marriage is unconstitutional, but let’s not forget that our founding document of independence – the Declaration of Independence issued in 1916. I don’t think that anyone could read the Declaration and not take from it the fundamental that all people living in Ireland should receive equal treatment from the state.

This should be regardless of their sexual orientation. In Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, civil partnerships have been legal since 2005. They provide same-sex couples with the same rights and obligations as those attaching to an opposite sex couple, particularly in relation to the care and welfare of children.

We need similar legislation here. Some of my gay friends reject marriage or even civil partnership because they claim it contains within it an aspiration to an outdated and institutionalised form of heterosexual coupling. Fair enough. But the option should be there so that those who wish to avail of it have the choice – the same as heterosexual couples do.