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Author Topic: Historic Day  (Read 19843 times)
Maggie
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« on: May 08, 2007, 06:15AM »

It is indeed a historic day.
After years of praying for Peace in Northern Ireland, and after the previous attempt at a Power-sharing Assembly fell apart in 2002, I never thought I would see Ian Paisley, Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams enter Stormont Castle together and sit down to discuss sharing responsibility and planning for a peaceful future.

I truly thank God this day has come.

I watched the BBC News at 6:00am and had tears in my eyes.
There is a feeling of apprehension too....these men have a lot to answer for in the past....and there is a long rocky road ahead of them.

Being realistic, there will be volatile moments and it could fall apart again, but there is more hope this time. Hope that they have all finally come to their senses.

On this first day, they were all on their best behaviour, being observed by Bertie Aherne, Tony Blair, and other world politicians, with Ted Kennedy leading the US delegation.

www.rte.ie/news/2007/0508/northpolitics.html

I will not stop praying for Peace, and a united Ireland.
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fireyred09
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« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2007, 06:34AM »

That's wonderful, Maggie!  Smiley

I'll join in your praying as well.....
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Celtic_Kit
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« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2007, 07:24AM »

Maggie,

I have watched and waited for this moment for years. I share your joy at the progress of man. It offers hope that someday all the world will live in peace. The Irish, all the Irish, deserve this. I am so happy that it looks like the end of a very long conflict.

Kit
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OldFatGuy
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« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2007, 07:46AM »

Maggie,
Paisley is in his 80s, isn't he?  He certainly seems to have mellowed with age.
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zankoku
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« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2007, 07:59AM »

I add my prayers for peace in Ireland. If the Irish can live in peace and acceptance of other's viewpoints, maybe some other people could quit being so blind.

I pray for a United Free Ireland.

Jim
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"Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another."

For those who fought for it, Freedom has a taste the protected will never know.

A Thiarna, déan trócaire
A Chríost, déan trócaire
A Thiarna, déan trócaire
Sassy
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« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2007, 09:05AM »

I add my prayers too, I hope this is the beginning of a very wonderful future for a united Ireland. *S*
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mainopsman
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« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2007, 11:57AM »

Maggie:

I will continue my prayers for peace in both Ireland and the Holy Land.   Peace is long over due for both of these blessed lands.  God Bless

JIM 
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Dedicate some of your life to others.  Your dedication will not be a sacrifice.  It will be an exhilarating experience because it is intense effort applied toward a meaningful end.   Dr. Thomas Dooley
Maggie
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« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2007, 01:26PM »

Thie Peace Movement in Northern Ireland was not started by Politicians or soldiers.
It was started by two women from Belfast, Betty Williams (protestant) and Máiréad Corrigan (catholic).

They were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976, and it has taken 31 years to come to fruition.

The sad catalyst was the deaths of three innocent little children.....the women decided "ENOUGH!"

I urge you to read this report to the end if you really want to learn what sparked the march towards Peace and how these two remarkable ladies risked their lives to bring it about.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1976/press.html

I like the last paragraph:

 "We admire Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan for tackling so fearlessly the perilous task of leading the way into no-man's land, in the cause of peace and reconciliation. It is for this deed that the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to honour them. What they have done is an example to the world. Their action harmonised with what is the very basis of our civilisation, and it sprang from a vision which shines like a bright torch into the future. What they have built - to quote once again Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson - is:

    "A rainbow bridge of prayer above earth's fretful air,
    a beacon light for man,
    ablaze with Christ's belief that love would conquer grief;
    for thus His promise ran."

« Last Edit: May 08, 2007, 01:27PM by Maggie » Logged
zankoku
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« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2007, 01:54PM »

Courageous women. I remember when Bernadette Devlin visited the State. Didn't these ladies visit also?

I know the mind is going but I thoought I heard that Bernadette was assasinated. Is taht correct?

Jim
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"Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another."

For those who fought for it, Freedom has a taste the protected will never know.

A Thiarna, déan trócaire
A Chríost, déan trócaire
A Thiarna, déan trócaire
Anderpaw
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« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2007, 02:32PM »

I'm adding my prayers too. Having watched numerous newscasts in the past about the IRA and bombings and everything else, a united and independent Ireland is way past due.
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Maggie
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« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2007, 02:41PM »

Courageous women. I remember when Bernadette Devlin visited the State. Didn't these ladies visit also?
I know the mind is going but I thoought I heard that Bernadette was assasinated. Is taht correct? Jim

Do you mean did the Peace ladies visit the USA?
I'm not sure, I imagine they were invited.
No, Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey was not assassinated, she is still alive.
I never cared much for her, too radical for me.

She became an activist while a student, and at 21 was the youngest member ever elected to the British Parliament, when she won the seat for Mid Ulster.

In 1981 she and her husband were seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in their remote farmhouse, even though the British Army were carrying out surveillance on it  at the time. (Suspicious? you bet!)

In 2003, she was refused entry into the USA and deported, because she "posed a serious threat to the security of the USA".

Actually what had happened was, after 9/11/01, the USA realized they couldn't condemn Islamic Terrorists yet turn a blind eye to supporters of terrorism in Northern Ireland.
It was well know that many misguided Americans of Irish descent were donating to and supporting political "Charities".
These so-called "Charities" had been buying arms and explosives, not supporting the families of political prisoners as they said.
So the "fund-raisers" were refused entry.

Then funds dried up for the PIRA, and Gaddafi had stopped his support after the USA spanked him.

Then certain European and US politicians hinted they would support the peace movement and any measures towards improving the economy.

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € € €

So both sides decided it might be time to sit down and talk.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2007, 02:57PM by Maggie » Logged
zankoku
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« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2007, 03:21PM »

Thanks for the info. I agree that Devlin was too radical. The last time she was in the US, she went to see Angela Davis who was in jail at the time. Maybe it was the attempt that I remember

Whatever it takes to get peace and you are right, money talks.

History lesson 101 question

I think too many of the radicals played on the American Irish pride. Curiosity was there ever any link between the IRA and the Molly Maguires?
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"Never again shall one generation of veterans abandon another."

For those who fought for it, Freedom has a taste the protected will never know.

A Thiarna, déan trócaire
A Chríost, déan trócaire
A Thiarna, déan trócaire
Maggie
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« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2007, 05:04AM »


Curiosity was there ever any link between the IRA and the Molly Maguires?

Short answer: No. The Irish Republican Army did not exist at that time.

The Fenian Brotherhood was formed in the USA but was not thought to be involved in the Molly Maguires.

There had been several unsuccessful uprisings in Ireland by various groups.
The United Irishmen in the 1790s were inspired by the American Revolution.
Most uprisings were quickly crushed by the heavily-armed British.
The rebellion of 1867 was likewise crushed and it was another 49 years before the next.
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was formed in Ireland in the 1850s and continued until the Easter Rising.
The Easter Rising of 1916, although it failed and the leaders were executed, gave birth to the IRA.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2007, 05:20AM by Maggie » Logged
Maggie
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« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2007, 05:19AM »

Most Irish children of my generation learned the history of their families and their native land from their parents, and from being present at family gatherings.
It was also learned from the songs, poems and recitations we heard.
Many of the songs were about sad partings from loved ones who had emigrated to America.

When I was a teenager in England, I became aware that my school history curriculum was devoid of any reference to Ireland or the Irish people, except for an occasional paragraph.
 When I saw that the Famine had been swept aside as an unfortunate but insignificant blot on the British landscape, I asked the Principal, Sister Sebastian, to send to the Mother house in Ireland for an Irish History course, which I eventually got.
I concentrated on Irish History,  I wasn't concerned about the Irish in America.

So the following is only my impression taken from what I have read since coming to the USA, and from seeing a play "The Molly Maguires" in which my brother played the lead.

As the emigrants of the 1800s left for the New World, their families held a Wake, just as if they had died, for they knew they would never see them again.
This was known as an "American Wake".
The Irish at home had enough to worry about, mainly survival.
The Irish who made it to the USA found they had exchanged one dangerous environment for another, but this time they did not have their family support system around them.
So they formed unions and societies to fight for better conditions.
One such organization was the "Molly Maguires" named after a group in Ireland whose purpose was to oppose ruthless landlords. They took their name from a widow in Ireland who had resisted eviction from her home, so her landlord burned the house down and Molly inside it. Whether she really existed I do not know, but she was symbolic of all those who were evicted or had their homes burned to the ground.

The immigrants who went to work as coal miners and steel workers found they were used as cheap labor in deplorable conditions. Quote:
"The mine owners without one single exception had refused over the years to install emergency exits, ventilating and pumping systems, or to make provision for sound scaffolding. In Schuylkill County alone 566 miners had been killed and 1,655 had been seriously injured over a seven year period".

Inevitably, in the struggle to survive there was violence and murder.
In the case of the Molly Maguires the man who was appointed to infiltrate and gather evidence against them was a protestant from County Armagh, whose hatred and prejudice now had an outlet. Many of the Mollys were hanged.
But historian Aleine Austin believes:
 "The facts show that there was much more terror waged against the Mollys than those illiterate Irishmen ever aroused".
America was thought of as the land of promise and opportunity, so the Immigrants who were struggling to survive in America rarely let their families know of the harsh conditions.
After all, the folks at home were in no position to help, so why worry them?
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mainopsman
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« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2007, 06:10AM »

Thank you Maggie.  Just reading your posts is an education into Irish History. That subject was also not covered well in our school systems.  The film "The Gangs of New York" although fiction has a lot of truth in its threads.   But like most of the people who came to the Americas, through hard work they did rise above the hardships.

I have long been involved in emergency services, and the history of that field in the US has been long colored by the Irish.   The Irish, became police officers, fire fighters, and ambulance workers. They became the innovative leaders. These were jobs that had a hard time finding workers, and still do.

If you look you will find most of the larger fire or police departments have pipe bands, or Emerald Society Clubs.  You will find the piper at almost all of the blue warrior funerals, be they Irish or not.  All of the older members of emergency services, myself included, Irish or not, when talking about our own final arrangements, ask for the piper to lead us to the grave.  We feel it is our due, it is part of our heritage, we earned it.  The Irish spirit has affected us all.

Again, thank you Maggie for sharing with us your knowledge.

Jim
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Dedicate some of your life to others.  Your dedication will not be a sacrifice.  It will be an exhilarating experience because it is intense effort applied toward a meaningful end.   Dr. Thomas Dooley
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