It never became the Workers Republic that existed in full flower for a single week in Dublin in 1916, but that is not to say that it cannot be born again. What I saw at the GPO tonight only informed me of the urgency of the need for its rebirth.
Why Aren’t We Celebrating the Looters of 1916?
Discussing this less ideological aspect of the rising might be thought by some as a sort of treason; tarnishing the memory of the deeds many in Ireland consider martyrs. Personally, I refuse to believe that violence ever makes martyrs.
Whitewashing the Easter Rising
The policy, which is as clear as day to see, is one of co-opting the totality of the right to remember the Rising in order to do such an appalling job of it so that no one in Ireland will ever want to go through it again.
Why is Ireland so Ashamed of the Easter Rising?
Let’s cut to the chase; the 1916 Rising was never their history. It has always been the story of an incomplete revolution, a revolution that even today threatens to turn their incomplete and failed state upon its head.
Purging the Revolutionary Women of Ireland
A century later, in Austerity Ireland, the image of the surrender has been adopted as a symbol of the struggle against a new type of national oppression – corporate imperialism. At some point over the past week a piece of Banksy-'esque' street art tagged to suggest it was the work of Banksy (which the real Banksy has denied), featuring Pearse surrendering to property developers, appeared on Moore Street.
More of a Rebottling than a Rebellion
Rebellion is a symptom of something else that’s going on. As spectacle it is working hard to replicate the icon of Irish revolutionary memory, and the poor dialogue is not without its genius. Few of the conversations in the programme are geared towards deepening the viewer's understanding of the persons involved, but it is retelling (or revising) the history.
Our Children will Win it by a Better Deed
Frustratingly, with the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising approaching, I know myself too well to trust that my lips will stay sealed during the commemorations. So I have determined to lay my cards out on the table; partly to help me make sense of my own thinking on the events and their present significance, … Continue reading Our Children will Win it by a Better Deed
