 Eoin Mac Lochlainn, visual artist Oct 19  “They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! – they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace” Patrick PearseSin mar a labhair an Piarsach tráth agus é ag tabhairt óráid ag adhlacadh Uí Dhonnabháin Rosa sa bhliain 1915. Nach bhféadfaí na focail céanna a rá inniu. Scríobh sé an óráid sin agus é ar saoire i Ros Muc, áit a bhí teach aige. Bhí pictiúr den teach sin ag crochadh inár seomra suí sa mbaile agus mé ag fás, pictiúr a dhath m’athair fadó. Thuig mé i gcónaí go raibh támhacht faoi leith ag baint leis an bpictiúr seo (thuas) agus leis an teachín sin i Ros Muc. Thaistil an Piarsach siar go Ros Muc go minic. Thuig sé an saibhreas a bhí ag baint leis an chultúr ann. “Éire Saor agus Éire Gaelach…” Yes, well somebody was saying that those who took part in the Easter Rising were ‘a minority within a minority’. This was intended to cast aspersions, I suppose, on the men and women who took a stand against the British Empire in 1916. That same somebody might also have asked: ‘Did they have a mandate to embark on such drastic violent action?’ To that person I would say: Did the British Empire ever seek a mandate to colonise or to plunder the resources of Ireland, or indeed, of half the world? So it appears that there are different standards depending on who makes the rules, who controls the narrative, who is in power. Of course, we’re not talking about the British Empire anymore. The actors have changed but, as somebody else said: “The root of violence is Oppression”https://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/ |
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Who Watches the Watchers? 