ARISE IRELAND RÉABHLÓIDEACH UISCE

Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge. 
Mahatma Gandhi

Noam Chomsky | A Genuine Movement 

for Social Change

Tuesday, 02 December 2014 11:11By Noam Chomsky, Truthout | Op-Ed

•  

"To some extent, we can create the future rather than merely observing the flow of events," says Noam Chomsky. (Image via Shutterstock)"War is the health of the State," wrote social critic Randolph Bourne in a classic essay as America entered World War I:


"It automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense. ... Other values such as artistic creation, knowledge, reason, beauty, the enhancement of life, are instantly and almost unanimously sacrificed, and the significant classes who have constituted themselves the amateur agents of the State are engaged not only in sacrificing these values for themselves but in coercing all other persons into sacrificing them."


And at the service of society's "significant classes" were the intelligentsia, "trained up in the pragmatic dispensation, immensely ready for the executive ordering of events, pitifully unprepared for the intellectual interpretation or the idealistic focusing of ends."


They are "lined up in service of the war-technique. There seems to have been a peculiar congeniality between the war and these men. It is as if the war and they had been waiting for each other."


The role of the technical intelligentsia in decision-making is predominant in those parts of the economy that are "in the service of the war technique" and closely linked to the government, which underwrites their security and growth.


It is little wonder, then, that the technical intelligentsia is, typically, committed to what sociologist Barrington Moore in 1968 called "the predatory solution of token reform at home and counterrevolutionary imperialism abroad."


Moore offers the following summary of the "predominant voice of America at home and abroad" - an ideology that expresses the needs of the American socioeconomic elite, that is propounded with various gradations of subtlety by many American intellectuals, and that gains substantial adherence on the part of the majority that has obtained "some share in the affluent society":


"You may protest in words as much as you like. There is but one condition attached to the freedom we would very much like to encourage: Your protests may be as loud as possible as long as they remain ineffective. ... Any attempt by you to remove your oppressors by force is a threat to civilized society and the democratic process. ... As you resort to force, we will, if need be, wipe you from the face of the earth by the measured response that rains down flame from the skies."


A society in which this is the predominant voice can be maintained only through some form of national mobilization, which may range in its extent from, at the minimum, a commitment of substantial resources to a credible threat of force and violence.


Given the realities of international politics, this commitment can be maintained in the United States only by a form of national psychosis - a war against an enemy who appears in many guises: Kremlin bureaucrat, Asian peasant, Latin American student, and, no doubt, "urban guerrilla" at home.


The intellectual has, traditionally, been caught between the conflicting demands of truth and power. He would like to see himself as the man who seeks to discern the truth, to tell the truth as he sees it, to act - collectively where he can, alone where he must - to oppose injustice and oppression, to help bring a better social order into being.


If he chooses this path, he can expect to be a lonely creature, disregarded or reviled. If, on the other hand, he brings his talents to the service of power, he can achieve prestige and affluence.


He may also succeed in persuading himself - perhaps, on occasion, with justice - that he can humanize the exercise of power by the "significant classes." He may hope to join with them or even replace them in the role of social management, in the ultimate interest of efficiency and freedom.


The intellectual who aspires to this role may use the rhetoric of revolutionary socialism or of welfare-state social engineering in pursuit of his vision of a "meritocracy" in which knowledge and technical ability confer power.


He may represent himself as part of a "revolutionary vanguard" leading the way to a new society or as a technical expert applying "piecemeal technology" to the management of a society that can meet its problems without fundamental changes.


For some, the choice may depend on little more than an assessment of the relative strength of competing social forces. It comes as no surprise, then, that quite commonly the roles shift; the student radical becomes the counterinsurgency expert.


His claims must, in either case, be viewed with suspicion: He is propounding the self-serving ideology of a "meritocratic elite" that, in Karl Marx's phrase (applied, in this case, to the bourgeoisie), defines "the special conditions of its emancipation [as] the general conditions through which alone modern society can be saved."


The role of intellectuals and radical activists, then, must be to assess and evaluate, to attempt to persuade, to organize, but not to seize power and rule. In 1904, Rosa Luxemburg wrote, "Historically, the errors committed by a truly revolutionary movement are infinitely more fruitful than the infallibility of the cleverest Central Committee."


These remarks are a useful guide for the radical intellectual. They also provide a refreshing antidote to the dogmatism so typical of discourse on the left, with its arid certainties and religious fervor regarding matters that are barely understood - the self-destructive left-wing counterpart to the smug superficiality of the defenders of the status quo who can perceive their own ideological commitments no more than a fish can perceive that it swims in the sea.


It has always been taken for granted by radical thinkers, and quite rightly so, that effective political action that threatens entrenched social interests will lead to "confrontation" and repression. It is, correspondingly, a sign of intellectual bankruptcy for the left to seek to construct "confrontations"; it is a clear indication that the efforts to organize significant social action have failed.


Particularly objectionable is the idea of designing confrontations so as to manipulate the unwitting participants into accepting a point of view that does not grow out of meaningful experience, out of real understanding. This is not only a testimony to political irrelevance, but also, precisely because it is manipulative and coercive, a proper tactic only for a movement that aims to maintain an elitist, authoritarian form of organization.


The opportunities for intellectuals to take part in a genuine movement for social change are many and varied, and I think that certain general principles are clear. Intellectuals must be willing to face facts and refrain from erecting convenient fantasies.


They must be willing to undertake the hard and serious intellectual work that is required for a real contribution to understanding. They must avoid the temptation to join a repressive elite and must help create the mass politics that will counteract - and ultimately control and replace - the strong tendencies toward centralization and authoritarianism that are deeply rooted but not inescapable.


They must be prepared to face repression and to act in defense of the values they profess. In an advanced industrial society, many possibilities exist for active popular participation in the control of major institutions and the reconstruction of social life.


To some extent, we can create the future rather than merely observing the flow of events. Given the stakes, it would be criminal to let real opportunities pass unexplored.


This article is adapted from the essay, "Knowledge and Power: Intellectuals and the Welfare-Warfare State," which appeared in the 1970 book The New Left, edited by Priscilla Long. The essay is reprinted in Masters of Mankind: Essays and Lectures, 1969-2013 by Noam Chomsky.

WE ARE UNITED IRELAND AGAINST FASCIST BLUESHIRTS

If history repeats itself and the unexpected always happens,how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time, wrote George Bernard Shaw, 26 July 1856 to November 1950, who was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Successful students of history, know the veracity of Shaw's statement,hopefully the Irish people and future leaders of Ireland, will bears this in mind over the immediate future. Below are two articles, which I believe are relevant, to what is currently happening in Ireland.Please pass it on for their attention.



In his book Surviving the Economic Collapse Fernando ‘Ferfal’ Aguirre says that because most people are used to peace and stability they often realize too late that they are in danger. Rather than taking up defensive positions when pushed or confronted by strangers people tend to default to traditional social guidelines so as not to appear inconsiderate or overly reactionary. “This is based on a natural tendency to please others,” says Aguirre.

But making this mistake could have serious adverse implications for you and your family, because acting just a split-second late could lead to serious injury or even death, an outcome Ferfal witnessed all too often during the disorderly collapse of Argentina in the early 2000′s.

“You have to re-program yourself to react violently when surprised or threatened in any way,” recommends Aguirre, who notes that it is necessary to modify your psychological and unconscious social behavior in environments where the potential for violence is high. Rather than expecting non-confrontation, a prepared individual should expect exactly the opposite.


The following video, taken on the Atlantic City Boardwalk shows how very quickly a simple disagreement can turn violent.

An unknown individual is seen arguing with a street vendor and pushing his street booth against the man in what can only be described as an act of thuggery. The vendor is seen trying to back away from the man, but the thug would have none of it.

As the vendor backs up, the thug keeps moving towards him, cutting off any escape route. Words turn to fists and the thug lunges forward with a pretty powerful punch.

The vendor, having anticipated the violent action, immediately moves off of the assailants attack line and out-of-the-way.

After that it’s lights out.

As you watch the video pay close attention to the street vendor’s right hand. While he attempted all methods of avoiding confrontation – stepping backwards from the fight, walking away, and even putting his hands up in a universal non-confrontational manner – it is clear that he went into the situation with the assumption that this individual might take it further than just a screaming match. As such, he concealed what seems to be some sort of metallic weapon in his right hand.

After the thug lunges towards the vendor, the subsequent counter-attack is swift and devastating.

The thug literally never knew what hit him.

Blueshirts

From Wikipedia, 

Eoin O'Duffy becomes leader

In January 1933, the Fianna Fáil government called a surprise election, which the government won comfortably. The election campaign saw a serious escalation of rioting between IRA and ACA supporters. In April 1933, the ACA began wearing the distinctive blue shirt uniform. Eoin O'Duffy was a guerrillaleader in the IRA during the Irish War of Independence, a National Army general during the Civil War, and the policecommissioner in the Irish Free State from 1922 to 1933. After de Valera's re-election in February 1933, Valera dismissed O'Duffy as commissioner, and in July of that year, O'Duffy was offered and accepted leadership of the ACA and renamed it the National Guard. He re-modelled the organisation, adopting elements of European fascism, such as the Roman straight-arm salute, uniforms and huge rallies. Membership of the new organisation became limited to people who were Irish or whose parents "profess the Christian faith". O'Duffy was an admirer ofBenito Mussolini, and the Blueshirts adopted corporatism as their chief political aim. According to the constitution he adopted, the organisation was to have the following objectives:^[7]

• To promote the reunification of Ireland.
• To oppose Communism and alien control and influence in national affairs and to uphold Christian principles in every sphere of public activity.
• To promote and maintain social order.
• To make organised and disciplined voluntary public service a permanent and accepted feature of our political life and to lead the youth of Ireland in a movement of constructive national action.
• To promote of co-ordinated national organisations of employers and employed, which with the aid of judicial tribunals, will effectively prevent strikes and lock-outs and harmoniously compose industrial influences.
• To cooperate with the official agencies of the state for the solution of such pressing social problems as the provision of useful and economic public employment for those whom private enterprise cannot absorb.
• To secure the creation of a representative national statutory organisation of farmers, with rights and status sufficient to secure the safeguarding of agricultural interests, in all revisions of agricultural and political policy.
• To expose and prevent corruption and victimisation in national and local administration.
• To awaken throughout the country a spirit of combination, discipline, zeal and patriotic realism which will put the state in a position to serve the people efficiently in the economic and social spheres.

Because of the later attraction of the group's leader Eoin O'Duffy to authoritarian nationalist movements on the European Continent, the Blueshirts are sometimes compared to the MVSN (Blackshirts) of Italy and to some extent performed a similar function.^[8][9] Some of the Blueshirts later went to fight for Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War and wereanti-communist in nature, however historian R.M. Douglas has stated that it is dubious to portray them as an "Irish manifestation of fascism".

March on Dublin

The National Guard planned to hold a parade in Dublin in August 1933. It was to proceed to Glasnevin Cemetery, stopping briefly on Leinster lawn in front of the Irish parliament, where speeches were to be held. The goal of the parade was to commemorate past leaders of Ireland, Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins. It is clear that the IRA and other fringe groups representing various socialists intended to confront the Blueshirts if they did march in Dublin. The government banned the parade, remembering Mussolini's March on Rome, and fearing a coup d'état. Decades later, de Valera told Fianna Fáil politicians that in late summer 1933, he was unsure whether the Irish Army would obey his orders to suppress the perceived threat, or whether the soldiers would support the Blueshirts (who included many ex-soldiers). O'Duffy accepted the ban and insisted that he was committed to upholding the law. Instead, several provincial parades took place to commemorate the deaths of Griffith, O'Higgins and Collins. De Valera saw this move as defying his ban, and the Blueshirts were declared an illegal organisation.

Fine Gael and the National Corporate Party

In response to the banning of the National Guard, Cumann na nGaedheal and the National Centre Party merged to form a new party, Fine Gael, on 3 September 1933. O'Duffy became its first president, with W. T. Cosgrave and James Dillon acting as vice-presidents. The National Guard changed into the Young Ireland Association, and became part of a youth wing of the party. The party's aim was to create a corporatist United Ireland within the British Commonwealth. The 1934 local elections were a trial of strength for the new Fine Gael and the Fianna Fáil government. When Fine Gael won only 6 out of 23 local elections, O’Duffy lost much of his authority and prestige.^[10] The Blueshirts began to disintegrate by mid-1934.^[11] The Blueshirts floundered also on the plight of farmers during the Economic War, as the Blueshirts failed to provide a solution. Following disagreements with his Fine Gael colleagues, O'Duffy left the party, although most of the Blueshirts stayed in Fine Gael. In December 1934, O'Duffy attended the Montreux Fascist conference in Switzerland. He then founded the National Corporate Party, and later raised an"Irish Brigade" that took General Francisco Franco's side in theSpanish Civil War.^[12]

BEWARE OF THE RISING CELTIC PEOPLE

Ireland's Spirit, evolved from both Greek mythology of the Rising Phoenix on the ashes and the Easter Resurrection from the tomb, combined into our own. The words Rising and Phoenix, have highly significant Spiritual essence for the Irish, which can only be experienced, as once again it is happening in Ireland, at this present time. It is an experience, that is physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual among the developing relationships of insurrection and protest, which are currently part of the bigger picture, of defining Ireland's future relationships within itself, Europe and the World.

The cataclysmic experience of a sudden shift, from the illusory Celtic Tiger, to a mafianomic austerity, has sparked this insurrection. Through the ensuing process of awareness, the opportunity exists for Ireland to release old undigested experiences, traumas, personal beliefs, outdated habits and patterns, to move into a more whole and united entity in everyday life, with a new perspective and national efficacy.

The responsibility of the enlightened worldwide, is to support the Irish people in solidarity, while moving in the direction, of a life worth living on the island, to a purpose driven, meaningful life experience, with less poverty stress and anxiety, in fulfilling their work and relationships. Core issues, both private and public, that hinder a new progressive way of fulfilling Irish life, will have to be confronted and addressed, in what is hopefully, a peaceful, intelligent, way forward. Help to empower Ireland in this direction, is needed from the benign, rather than the centuries old, malign interference. The influence of the Irish diaspora abroad, is critical in all of this, as the New Ireland evolves, one protest at a time.

The article below from Wikipedia, on the work of WB Yeats, is a record of this critical influence from English literature, in what became known as the Celtic revival. However the writer and revolutionary Padraig Pearse was the Gaelic element, that recognized, the important Spiritual aspect of the Irish revival, in reawakening the Soul of the Island. This was best captured in his expression, “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language is a country without a soul.” Ireland's Soul certainly went to sleep around the tiger, it remains to be seen, just how far the "Risen People" will take it this time and how both reactionary domestic forces and foreign occupation forces, will mishandle it, this time.


Currently they are using their corporate media, to demonize the protest. Their history suggests, they will try to use provocateurs to create violence, with some sort of false flag operation, in places such as Limerick, to divide and discredit the protesters. They will attempt to introduce the terrorist narrative, to justify extra judicial activity. They will use tactics, similar to those used outside the British Embassy in Ballsbridge some years ago, during the Hunger Strike. Lessons from that experience and mistakes made, are important factors in being prepared to anticipate any state, counter attacks and to be organized.

September 1913


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



This article is about the poem by W. B. Yeats. For the month in 1913, see September_1913_(month).


"September 1913" is a poem by W. B. Yeats. Perhaps one of his greatest works, September 1913 was written midway through his life as a highly reflective poem which is rooted within the turbulent past. Most notably, the poem provides insight into Yeats' detestation of the middle classes whilst also glorifying figures such as John O'Leary.


What need you, being come to sense,
But fumble in a greasy till
And add the halfpence to the pence
And prayer to shivering prayer, until
You have dried the marrow from the bone;
For men were born to pray and save;
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Yet they were of a different kind,
The names that stilled your childish play,
They have gone about the world like wind,
But little time had they to pray
For whom the hangman's rope was spun,
And what, God help us, could they save?
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Was it for this the wild geese spread
The grey wing upon every tide;
For this that all that blood was shed,
For this Edward Fitzgerald died,
And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone,
All that delirium of the brave?
Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,
It's with O'Leary in the grave.

Yet could we turn the years again,
And call those exiles as they were
In all their loneliness and pain,
You'd cry `Some woman's yellow hair
Has maddened every mother's son':
They weighed so lightly what they gave.
But let them be, they're dead and gone,
They're with O'Leary in the grave.[1]


Contents

[hide]
1 Style
2 Key Themes and John O'Leary
3 The Hugh Lane Bequest
4 Dublin Lock-out
5 References

Style[edit]


Unlike some of his earlier work, this poem adopts a new tone and style which expresses a hatred for the CatholicBourgeoisie.[2] Yeats' new use of unpleasant adjectives such as 'greasy' is very much indicative of the tone, as he expresses that religion and the middle class are crafty and sly. Moreover, the use of the strong ABAB rhyme scheme maintains a spiteful and accusatory tone.
Key Themes and John O'Leary


The poem focuses on manifesting Yeats' new stance of belief exploring his new political mind and celebrating those, whom he believes worth of praise. Notably, in all four of the refrains, Yeats mentions John O'Leary, who was an Irish separatist 'of a different kind'. His political stance was much less self-interested, compared with many of Yeats' contemporaries, as he instead focused on getting the greatest good for Ireland. It is clear through the poem, Yeats admires this and wishes for a return to the less egotistical and self-driven politics of a bygone era. Yeats does, however, appear to question whether these great historical figures, whom he admired and previously emulated in the style of his earlier work, are comprehensive in their understanding of the world in which they lived.


"September 1913" functions also as an iconic example of Yeats's own fidelity to the literary tradition of the 19th British Romantic poets. A devoted reader of both William Blake andPercy Shelley, Yeats's repetition of the phrase "Romantic Ireland" connects the politically motivated ideals of the Romantics "to an Irish national landscape."[3] The fact that Yeats attaches a second repetition of "It's with O'Leary in the grave" indicates further the speaker's belief that John O'Learyembodied a nationalism in his political actions that now rests solely within the poem. Indeed, John O'Leary "directed Yeats not just to large-mindedness, but to a way of combining Romanticism with Irishness into an original synthesis."[4] In other words, O'Leary's influence on Yeats enables the poet to both inherit the literary legacy of the Romantics while carrying on the nationalistic vision of O'Leary. As a result, the romantic idealism found in Blake and Shelley is now transformed into a fundamentally Irish concept whereas Yeats's deep Irish heritage becomes Romantic in every sense of the word. "September 1913" thus illustrates that "Romantic Ireland is not dead after all; rather, it lives on in the remarkable voice uttering the poem, the voice of O'Leary's greatest disciple, fully of hybridity and passion at once."[5] In a matter of four stanzas, the poem's speaker manages to exist at the confluence of British Romanticism and Irish nationalism.


Ironically, Yeats's endorsement of the Romantic imagination in "September 1913" is also used to identify several of its flaws that are in need of his revision. Writing at the nexus of the Romantic and Irish traditions "enabled him to correct flaws not only of Shelley but also of Blake, who he thought should have been more rooted and less obscure."[6] Now that "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone," it can no longer express its will and thus requires Yeats poetic prowess to clarify Ireland's message. Speaking specifically about Irish leaders such as Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone, Yeats describes them as brave yet a bit delirious, a classification that treats the poet as far more grounded in his politics than the Irish nationalists who died. Yeats channels the fervor of their idealism and struggle through his words by insisting that his own poem continues the nationalist project initiated by those who came before him. The speaker's voice thus becomes "the characteristic note of Yeats's great mature poetry."[7]
The Hugh Lane Bequest


Hugh Lane offered his collection of paintings to the Dublin Municipal Corporation. Public reaction was mostly negative on economic and moral grounds. In the end, as Yeats said "the mob" prevailed. In a note to this poem Yeats wrote that the pictures "works by Corot, Degas and Renoir - were compared to the Trojan Horse 'which destroyed a city'. They were dubbed 'indecent' and those who admired the painting were called 'self-seekers, self-advertisers, picture dealers, log-rolling cranks, and faddists'..."[8]
Dublin Lock-out


Yeats wrote this poem following the Dublin Lock-Out and The Hugh Lane Bequest. Robert Emmet, mentioned in the poem, planned for a revolution several times, unsuccessfully. When he was finally successful, he was said to try and stop everything mid-rebellion, because he witnessed a man being pulled from his horse and killed. Considering that Emmet had spent months previously manufacturing explosives and weapons, this sudden drawback at the sight of violence, suggests that he did not fully understand the implications of a revolution. Perhaps Yeats is acknowledging the naivety of some Irish Republican figures like Robert Emmet, and himself, following public violence as a result of attempts at revolution.


see:[9]
References
Jump up^http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/September_1913_by_William_Butler_Yeats_analysis.php
Jump up^ http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-yeats-poem-september-1913-4534097.html
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," The Cambridge Companion to W.B. Yeats, 27. Edited by Marjorie Howes and John Kelly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 27.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 28.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 27.
Jump up^ George Bornstein, "Yeats and Romanticism," 28.
Jump up^ Adele M dalsimer, "By the Irish Political Ballad, Colby Library Quarterly, 12,1 March 1976, p38)http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/1479
Jump up^ Dublin Lock-out


This article incorporates text from September 1913, by W. B. Yeats, a publication from 1913 now in the public domain in the United States.





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v
t
e


W. B. Yeats



Poetry





Volumes

The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889)
The Countess Kathleen and Various Legends and Lyrics(1892)
In the Seven Woods (1903)
The Wild Swans at Coole (1919)
Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1921)
The Tower(1928)
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)




Poems

"Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven"
"An Irish Airman Foresees His Death"
"Adam's Curse"
"Blood and the Moon"
"The Circus Animals' Desertion"
"Down by the Salley Gardens"
"A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety"
"Easter, 1916"
"Ego Dominus Tuus"
"In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz"
"Lake Isle of Innisfree"
"On being asked for a War Poem"
"Politics"
"A Prayer for My Daughter"
"Remorse for Intemperate Speech"
"The Rose of Battle"
"The Rose-Tree"
"Sailing to Byzantium"
"September 1913
"Song of the Old Mother"
"The Scholars"
"The Second Coming"
"The Song of the Happy Shepherd"
"The Stolen Child"
"Swift's Epitaph"
"To the Rose upon the Rood of Time"
"The Tower"
"Under Ben Bulben
"The Wanderings of Oisin"
"The Wild Swans at Coole"




Plays

Mosada (1886)
The Land of Heart's Desire (1894)
Diarmuid and Grania (1901)
Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902)
The Countess Cathleen (1911)
At the Hawk's Well (1916)
The Resurrection (1927)
Purgatory (1938)



Other works

A Vision (1925)
The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows



People

John Butler Yeats (father)
Susan Pollexfen (mother)
Jack Butler Yeats (brother)
Elizabeth Yeats (sister)
Lily Yeats(sister)
Maud Gonne (lover)
Georgie Hyde-Lees (wife)
Anne Yeats (daughter)
Michael Yeats (son)



Related

W. B. Yeats bibliography
An Appointment with Mr Yeats
"Troy"
Thoor Ballylee
Samhain magazine




Categories:
Poetry by W. B. Yeats

DEMONIZING IRISH CHE & IRISH WATER PROTESTS

As a festival celebrating Cuban culture kicks off in Kilkee, Richard Fitzpatrick talks to artist Jim Fitzpatrick, who created the iconic image of Che Guevara, about his meeting with the revolutionary

Jim Fitzpatrick met Che Guevara in the Royal Marine Hotel bar in Kilkee, Co Clare, in the summer of 1961. Fitzpatrick was 16 years old at the time, and had travelled down to the seaside village to work in the hotel while on holidays from Gormanstown College, Co Meath. The hotel’s owners set up a mattress in a barn for him to sleep on for his first couple of nights’ stay. He was put working behind the bar.

“I was an instant barman — no experience whatsoever,” he says. “I wouldn’t mind, but I was a pioneer, totally opposed to drink and still am.” It was after Mass one morning, while Fitzpatrick was working in the bar, that the encounter happened.

“It was a beautiful sunny morning. I was working in the bar on my own. There was a guy there called Sam, who was in there every day, a lovely man. I was chatting away to him. There were two other people in the bar, regulars. And in walked these three, very interesting looking men. All that was needed was Clint Eastwood saloon doors because they came into the bar through swing doors at the side entrance to the hotel.

“They had green-coloured, London Fog raincoats with epaulettes. I recognised him immediately. Who the other two guys were was a mystery. One guy was very curly-haired. I said something like, ‘What brings you here?’ He laughed. And I said, ‘I recognise you. I follow the Cuban revolution.’

“The Cuban revolution was probably the most exciting thing that ever happened. For me, he was a world figure. We watched Pathé News and all the revolutionaries coming into Havana, sitting on top of tanks with their long hair and beards. He would have been as famous as Maradona today. People of my age idolised him.

“We talked for a few minutes once he realised that I knew who he was. His English was faltering, but he could make himself understood. The first thing he said was, ‘You know I’m Irish. My father was Guevara Lynch.’ I was taken aback by that because I didn’t know that at all.”

Guevara’s Irish roots stretch back to the Lynchs of Galway, one of the county’s 14 tribes. He was a descendant of Patrick Lynch, who left Galway in the mid-1700s and became a substantial landowner in Argentina’s Rio de la Plata region.

Jon Lee Anderson, who spent five years writing Guevara’s biography, says: “He was first and foremost a Latin American but I think his Irish roots were important to him. His father was very much a Lynch of Galway and knew the family history. That part of the family had done extremely well in Latin America.

“On both sides of the family, he had pretty illustrious ancestors. Part of the family folklore is that a great great-aunt may have been Eliza Lynch, the mistress of Francisco Solano López in Paraguay who in the late 19th century declared war on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay and devastated the country, from which it never recovered.

“Che read his James Joyce. When he was a young lad he began keeping a philosophical dictionary. He didn’t write or speak much about the Irish rebellion, but it’s my understanding that he was certainly aware of it, and aware of the idea of the Irish rebel, which appealed to him very much.

“His father definitely had a little bit of the bard in him. He was a great spinner of tall tales. There was always a recognition in Che of that, and the difference between his mother and father — his mother being very much of Spanish blood, and of his father as a Lynch and the connection with the old country.”

Back in Kilkee, Guevara asked Fitzpatrick for a suggestion as to what to drink. “Obviously in Cuba, they drink rum, and I suggested rum. But he said, ‘No.’ He wanted an Irish drink. I recommended a whiskey. I said, ‘If you’re not used to it, I wouldn’t drink that quick. You need to put a mixer in it.’ He asked me what mixer and I said, ‘ginger ale or water.’ He took a glass of water, a glass of Power’s whiskey and he sipped it.

“I asked him what he was doing. He was on a Aeroflot flight — from Moscow to Havana or Havana to Moscow; I don’t think I was told — that got fogbound in Shannon. They wanted to see the coast. They hired a driver, and it was one of those old Ford Prefects — it wasn’t a flash car. They parked it outside. He said he was proud of his Irish ancestors; that the Irish brought down the British Empire. He sat down in a corner, chatting with his friends. They just had minerals.

“When it was announced he had been murdered in 1967, the next day his father was quoted in the Evening Press — I have the paper — as saying, ‘The blood of the Irish revolutionary ran in my sons’ veins’.”

-The annual Che do Bheatha Festival is taking place in Kilkee, Co Clare today and tomorrow.

Model of youthful defiance

Students and celebrities — such as Johnny Depp and Prince Harry — love to wear T-shirts adorned with Che Guevara’s image, while Mike Tyson and Diego Maradona have prominent tattoos of him on their bodies. He is a contentious figure, however.

When a Labour Party councillor, Billy Cameron, mooted the idea in 2012 of erecting a statue to the Marxist revolutionary in Galway, he was criticised by Declan Ganley, among others. The businessman and political activist described Guevara as a “mass murderer” and said the monument “would shame the people of Galway and Ireland”.

Jon Lee Anderson, Guevara’s biographer, disputes the charge that Guevara was a mass murderer, and explains his appeal: “Che’s face, extrapolated from that famous 1960 Alberto Korda photograph, which showed him at his height, his almost mystical anger and indignation. He had long hair, the very image of a rebel, angry, looking off to the far horizon. Already, he is a figure of legendary repute, as the guy who was backing the insurgencies that began to pop up everywhere. It became the defining image of an age.

He represents youthful rebellion and defiance of the status quo. That’s why it’s a universal image. By holding up his face, you’re sticking it to the man.

Story by Richard Fitzpatrick

IRISH WATER REVOLUTION

200,000 march across Ireland. If the Government doesn't abolish water charges - people power will abolish the Government!

Submitted by jotoole on November 1, 2014 - 17:57

Let the Irish Government be warned- if they do not abolish the water charges and scrap Irish Water- then the rising tide of people power will wash away this Government.200,000 people in total marched across Ireland on Saturday Nov 1st- protests on a scale not seen for a generation. A new mood of defiance and rebellion has infected the people of Ireland.Despite the rain people gathered in cities and towns across the country. On some protests people burned their Irish Water application packs. On others they ended with assemblies at major roundabouts and junctions.The Government was already on the ropes- their nervous spokespeople promising reductions in the bill for the less well off and claiming they were going to cap the charge. But we all know that once they got the charge out there in any form they would up the bills once protests dropped.That's why we have to escalate the movement now. December 10th gives us the opportunity to do just that. At 1pm on that day the Right2Water Campaign is calling on everyone to get to the Dail. Stay away from work, walk out of college. Get everyone to the protest.Never again will we allow any Government to shove cuts down our throats and punish our children for the crimes of bankers. The water charges movement can give birth to a whole new era in Irish politics- where instead of the brown envelopes and careerists making all the decisions and laughing all the way to the bank - the people are a factor to be reckoned with.November 1, 2014 - 17:31Topics: PoliticsTags: Right2waterIrish WaterIreland- See more at: http://www.swp.ie/content/200000-march-across-ireland-if-government-doesnt-abolish-water-charges-people-power-will#sthash.iIOoWbV9.dpuf

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IN PICTURES: Ireland’s Umbrella Movement takes to the streets against water charges

JAMMIN IRELAND Its an Irish Water REVOLUTION !

Paddy Marley
Were Jammin4 hours ago #

 46  498

Absolutely INCREDIBLE turnout around the country, especially given the atrocious weather (Still damp!). I’ve done a rough tot and when all of the numbers are in, we’re looking at around 170,000-200,000 people. Stunning!!

The writings on the wall tonight for this sham of a government.

Your attempts to divide us against one another has FAILED

Your attempts to control the narrative through the media has FAILED

Your attempts to convince us that we don’t already pay for our water has FAILED

Our water is not for sale, our people are not for turning.

GAME OVER.

Journal.ie

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Journal.ie

Why water, why now? Ireland takes to the streets - Eamonn McCann

Opinion: ‘The idea of having to pay for a substance so natural that it falls from the sky and without which we’d die sparks a particular anger’

‘Commentators who would never be seen dead at a demo came close to lamenting that the working class was letting the country down. Oh for the days of Jim Larkin, they sighed, relaxed that the preacher of discontent was safely entombed in Glasnevin.’ Above, an anti-water charges protest march, in O’Connell Street, Dublin, last month. Photograph: Eric Luke / The Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/why-water-why-now-ireland-takes-to-the-streets-1.1983983

Liveblog: Protests against water charges

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FLIUCH OFF IRISH WATER Jobs For the Blueshirt Boys

A Dirty fight of Sindymedia Disinformation and Bullying - AD in Indymedia Ireland



Date Listed 21/09/2014
Location
Dublin,
Advertised By Agency
Job Type Contract

Experienced Security Officers wanted for assignments within the greater Dublin area.

This role will involve the protection of Irish Water contractors as well as the safeguarding of Irish Water/GMC Sierra equipment and vehicles. The protection of Irish Water contractors and their equipment has now been safeguarded as a result of a recent High Court injunction.

This role involves security personnel adhering to/complying with this injunction in order to ensure that all Irish Water staff & contractors are allowed work in a safe and secure environment - free from violence, threats, hindrance and obstruction

This is a role which will involve much conflict and all applicants for this role must have completed formal and accredited training in conflict management and resolution.

He/she should be able to resolve conflicts in a passive manner using one's words and body language. When this option cannot be utilized; physical force may become necessary, therefore the ideal candidate must have completed accredited training in self defence and control & restraint.

All applicants must have at least 5 years of full-time experience in the Irish or British security industry and must be licensed by the Private Security Authority as both a Door Supervisor and Static Guard.

All applicants must have completed intermediate level (or higher) first aid training and must be prepared to undertake additional training in first aid as part of the 3.5 day induction training program for this position.

Individuals with prior police and/or military experience will be given primary consideration.

We currently require 28 personnel to provide a protection service for Irish Water contractors in areas of the country where there will be hostilities from organized protest groups.

All applicants must be physically fit and will have to undertake a medical examination by a doctor (this should only take an hour or so and will include blood samples)

Excellent communication skills (verbal, non verbal and written) are required for this specialist role.

Personnel will work in team of between 5 and 10 depending on the risk potential.

The hourly rate ranges from 15.50 to 21.50 euro (depending on experience and whether you will be working as a team leader) and this is in conjunction to additional pay for the surpassing of targets.

Please understand that this is a highly complex role and it is not for the faint-hearted.

Apply now with your CV & covering letter in the strictest confidence privacy is expected by both the applicant and the recruiter


News, FLIUCH OFf,  IRISH WATER, Jobs For the Boys, Blueshirt, #irishwater, Ireland,