Venue: Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, Co Cork.
Time: 2000.
Live Music: Paddy Bhoys & Myles Gaffney.
Book Launch: No Greater Love by blanketman Seamus Kearney.
Guest Speaker: Seamus Kearney.
Showing posts with label Book Launch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Launch. Show all posts
Venue: Hibernian Hotel, Mallow, Co Cork.
Time: 2000.
Live Music: Paddy Bhoys & Myles Gaffney.
Book Launch: No Greater Love by blanketman Seamus Kearney.
Guest Speaker: Seamus Kearney.
With publication of the Kenova report – an investigation into the activities of notorious British agent Freddie Scappaticci - imminent, Richard O’Rawe’s book ‘Stakeknife’s Dirty War: The inside story of Scappaticci, the IRA’s nutting squad and the British spooks who ran the war’ is cogent, comprehensive and well-timed.
As illuminating as it is compelling, ‘Stakeknife’s Dirty War’ is a valuable addition to the literary canon of Irish and British political science - and maybe political psychology, too.
It was US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert Makros who described ‘clean war’ as “the unicorn of armed conflict”. Writing in 2017, Makros said there was “no such thing as a ‘clean war.’”
Nowhere is this analysis more accurate than when a methodical and even-handed O’Rawe interrogates the suggestion the British state acted as agent provocateur during the war in the North.
Speaking to this paper before the book’s Derry launch on Saturday, in the Ex-POP Centre in William Street, O’Rawe cited the case of Patsy Gillespie from the city.
Continue reading @ Derry Now.
How does an armed liberation movement like the Provisional IRA mutate from the greatest threat to British rule in Ireland into the gift that keeps on giving?
How does it transition from attacking British military personnel into laying wreaths at British war memorials while British troops remain garrisoned on Irish soil?
How can it have waged war on the symbols and forces of the Crown and then respectfully attend the coronation of the King who wears it while his government continues to claim jurisdiction in part of Ireland?
How do they evolve from denying the legitimacy of a Unionist veto they claimed must be challenged into re-christening it as a consent principle they now claim must be respected?
How do they segue from asserting the historic right to keep and bear arms in our national defence to decommissioning those arms and recognising the lawful authority of the British gun in the hands of the His Majesty’s constabulary?
How did the Provisional movement morph from supporting the principles of the United Irishmen of 1798, who sought national unity across the sectarian divide, to supporting the Counter-Republic of 1998, in which those differences are permanently embedded in our national fabric?
Well, for one thing, they had a lot of help from the Brits who are experts at guiding these transitions. Of approximately 200 countries in the world, the British have invaded or established a military presence at some point in all but 22 of them. They are masters of counter-insurgency and pioneers in developing a multi-agency approach to coordinate the State’s civil and military apparatus to defeat guerrillas and insurgents. In the words of Brigadier General Frank Kitson,:
Well, for one thing, they had a lot of help from the Brits who are experts at guiding these transitions. Of approximately 200 countries in the world, the British have invaded or established a military presence at some point in all but 22 of them. They are masters of counter-insurgency and pioneers in developing a multi-agency approach to coordinate the State’s civil and military apparatus to defeat guerrillas and insurgents. In the words of Brigadier General Frank Kitson,:
The law should be used as just another weapon in the Government’s arsenal, and in this case, it becomes little more than a propaganda cover for the disposal of unwanted members of the public.
The Brits know from long and bitter experiences throughout their Empire that the key to defeating any enemy in war is the availability of accurate, timely, and actionable intelligence.
England has a long history of using spies, informers, agents of influence, and an assortment of useful idiots to disrupt and destroy freedom struggles throughout history. Irishmen have often played a prominent role in many of these enterprises, helping the British to shape the strategic environment in their favour.
The first step in this long, complicated, and delicate process was undermining and sabotaging the IRA’s armed campaign so that those amenable to Pax Britannica could float to the top while those determined to pursue republican objectives could be killed, imprisoned, or otherwise marginalised.
In Stakeknife’s Dirty War, Richard O’Rawe has written a superb book that describes, in part, how this was achieved. It casts light in many dark corners and has uncovered darker ones that remain hidden.
Stakeknife was described as ‘the jewel in the crown’ of British intelligence. The ‘Golden Nugget.’ He may well have been as far as the British army was concerned, for he was an army agent reporting to the Force Research Unit. But he certainly wasn’t Britain’s top agent within the IRA. That accolade belongs to one or more traitors’ echelons beyond Scap’s pay grade. Scap had no say in the Provisional movement’s strategic direction although he could be used to kill people to help service that agenda without realising he was servicing it. Not that he would have cared one way or the other. Whatever motivated Scappaticci to betray our fight for freedom it certainly wasn’t some grand strategic vision. More senior agents recruited initially by MI6 and later by MI5 have yet to be revealed; described by the British intelligence and security services as ‘UK National Assets,’ these traitors remain anonymous. Undoubtedly, some have enjoyed lucrative careers on the back of their treachery.
George Orwell wrote,’ In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.’ Richard O’Rawe, a genuine patriot, knows it is never the wrong time to say the right thing. Richard has told the truth over many years and suffered an intense backlash from those for whom the truth is an appalling vista. There are activists for whom the attainment of the Republic is the primary motivation and the political ambitions of the Provisional movement a secondary consideration. For others, the political ambitions of the Provisional movement are the primary consideration, and the attainment of the Republic a secondary and increasingly irrelevant consideration. Richard O’Rawe falls firmly into the first category.
Stakeknife’s Dirty War is an outstanding book that will be read by most Republicans and many of their enemies. It is full of interesting and new information. New, at least to this reader.
When we are informed that Stakeknife and some of his deputies occasionally used torture, a shameful stain on our republican ideals, we must remember that Scap was acting as a paid employee of the British government and not with the official endorsement of the IRA. I was reassured to read in Richard’s book that court martial proceedings were taken against members of the Internal Security Unit who physically abused, humiliated, and tortured a prisoner under their control. These military court proceedings were organised by IRA volunteers, such as Dan McCann (later killed by the SAS in Gibraltar) and Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes. IRA Volunteers whom the tortured prisoner himself described as ‘men who had given their lives to the republican cause, who had principles.’ These torturers were found guilty and dismissed with ignominy. However, it is evidence of a rot and corruption that remained in high places within the Provisional movement that these thugs found themselves back in the IRA within months.
A key British objective has long been to engineer a situation in which all parties to the conflict agree, or are perceived to agree, with Britain’s analysis about the nature of the conflict and Britain’s strategy to resolve it. Far more important to the British than defeating republicans is to defeat the concept of republicanism as a political philosophy. The most effective way to do this is to encourage the demolishing of republican doctrine from within the movement itself. In a nutshell, how do you co-opt an insurgent movement that once proclaimed its republican principles to the world to internalise a blueprint for Irish constitutional arrangements in which the British government is the principal architect? If anyone fought the long war to achieve this outcome it was the Brits. Reading Richard O’Rawe’s excellent and well-researched book, one comes to the inescapable conclusion that it was traitors like Freddie Scappaticci who helped them get there.
England has a long history of using spies, informers, agents of influence, and an assortment of useful idiots to disrupt and destroy freedom struggles throughout history. Irishmen have often played a prominent role in many of these enterprises, helping the British to shape the strategic environment in their favour.
The first step in this long, complicated, and delicate process was undermining and sabotaging the IRA’s armed campaign so that those amenable to Pax Britannica could float to the top while those determined to pursue republican objectives could be killed, imprisoned, or otherwise marginalised.
In Stakeknife’s Dirty War, Richard O’Rawe has written a superb book that describes, in part, how this was achieved. It casts light in many dark corners and has uncovered darker ones that remain hidden.
Stakeknife was described as ‘the jewel in the crown’ of British intelligence. The ‘Golden Nugget.’ He may well have been as far as the British army was concerned, for he was an army agent reporting to the Force Research Unit. But he certainly wasn’t Britain’s top agent within the IRA. That accolade belongs to one or more traitors’ echelons beyond Scap’s pay grade. Scap had no say in the Provisional movement’s strategic direction although he could be used to kill people to help service that agenda without realising he was servicing it. Not that he would have cared one way or the other. Whatever motivated Scappaticci to betray our fight for freedom it certainly wasn’t some grand strategic vision. More senior agents recruited initially by MI6 and later by MI5 have yet to be revealed; described by the British intelligence and security services as ‘UK National Assets,’ these traitors remain anonymous. Undoubtedly, some have enjoyed lucrative careers on the back of their treachery.
George Orwell wrote,’ In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.’ Richard O’Rawe, a genuine patriot, knows it is never the wrong time to say the right thing. Richard has told the truth over many years and suffered an intense backlash from those for whom the truth is an appalling vista. There are activists for whom the attainment of the Republic is the primary motivation and the political ambitions of the Provisional movement a secondary consideration. For others, the political ambitions of the Provisional movement are the primary consideration, and the attainment of the Republic a secondary and increasingly irrelevant consideration. Richard O’Rawe falls firmly into the first category.
Stakeknife’s Dirty War is an outstanding book that will be read by most Republicans and many of their enemies. It is full of interesting and new information. New, at least to this reader.
When we are informed that Stakeknife and some of his deputies occasionally used torture, a shameful stain on our republican ideals, we must remember that Scap was acting as a paid employee of the British government and not with the official endorsement of the IRA. I was reassured to read in Richard’s book that court martial proceedings were taken against members of the Internal Security Unit who physically abused, humiliated, and tortured a prisoner under their control. These military court proceedings were organised by IRA volunteers, such as Dan McCann (later killed by the SAS in Gibraltar) and Brendan ‘The Dark’ Hughes. IRA Volunteers whom the tortured prisoner himself described as ‘men who had given their lives to the republican cause, who had principles.’ These torturers were found guilty and dismissed with ignominy. However, it is evidence of a rot and corruption that remained in high places within the Provisional movement that these thugs found themselves back in the IRA within months.
A key British objective has long been to engineer a situation in which all parties to the conflict agree, or are perceived to agree, with Britain’s analysis about the nature of the conflict and Britain’s strategy to resolve it. Far more important to the British than defeating republicans is to defeat the concept of republicanism as a political philosophy. The most effective way to do this is to encourage the demolishing of republican doctrine from within the movement itself. In a nutshell, how do you co-opt an insurgent movement that once proclaimed its republican principles to the world to internalise a blueprint for Irish constitutional arrangements in which the British government is the principal architect? If anyone fought the long war to achieve this outcome it was the Brits. Reading Richard O’Rawe’s excellent and well-researched book, one comes to the inescapable conclusion that it was traitors like Freddie Scappaticci who helped them get there.
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| John Crawley is a former IRA volunteer and author of The Yank. |
Merrion Press 🔖is launching a new book by Aaron Edwards.
BOOK LAUNCH
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People Under Siege
The Unionists of Northern Ireland, from Partition to Brexit and Beyond
Aaron Edwards
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Merrion Press 🔖is launching a new book by Trevor Birnie.
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The book is being launched by Seamus Dooley, Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, with poetry readings by Gerard Smyth and music by Jerry O’Reilly.
MairÃn Johnston, social activist, has said of We Dare to Dream:
MairÃn Johnston, social activist, has said of We Dare to Dream:
For anyone interested in Irish history, politics, trades unionism, music, poetry and storytelling, this is a must-have book. Keep it to hand, preferably on a bedside table, to consult, to browse and to enjoy. Written by the well-known author and traditional musician Des Geraghty, it gives us an insight into the birth of our nation and the part his family played in bringing this about. It covers a wide canvas and is written in a very personal tone. There is something in it to inform and amuse all tastes.
Gabriel Rosenstock, leading Irish poet, playwright and author, has said:
Moving effortlessly from the intimate to the rollicking, from the historical to the anecdotal, this is a panorama of Dublin life like none other, seen with a “pityin’ scornin’ eye”, as Yeats has it in a ballad, a portrait gallery of known and unknown characters, their antics, friendships, conflicts and dreams.
Please find attached a press release with some further information about the book, and a cover image. See below a copy of the invitation. We would be delighted if you could join us at the launch on 2 December.
Des is available now for interview. If you would like a copy of the book for review or to arrange an interview, please contact us by reply.
John Crawley will be signing the book as well as doing a Q & A session.
The event will be chaired by another former IRA volunteer and no stranger to prisons, Pádraic Mac Coitir,
Guest speaker will be Dr Ruán O'Donnell author of the critically acclaimed Special Category: The IRA in English Prisons
John Crawley, 2022, The Yank: My Life as a Former US Marine in the IRA. Merrion Press. ISBN-13: 978-1785374234
No Greater Love - An epic story of the triumph of the human spirit will be launched in both Dungiven and Derry City this Saturday the 4th December 2021.
The Dungiven venue is the Arcade Bar: 1200-1400. The book will be launched by Gerald Lynch, the brother of the deceased hunger striker Kevin Lynch.
The Derry City venue is William Street Ex Prisoners Centre: 1500-1700. The book will be launched by former blanketman, Patrick "Stumpy" McCourt.
The Dungiven venue is the Arcade Bar: 1200-1400. The book will be launched by Gerald Lynch, the brother of the deceased hunger striker Kevin Lynch.
The Derry City venue is William Street Ex Prisoners Centre: 1500-1700. The book will be launched by former blanketman, Patrick "Stumpy" McCourt.
⏩ Seamus Kearney is a former Blanketman.
No Greater Love - An epic story of the triumph of the human spirit will be launched by another former blanketman, Jake Mac Siacais in Belfast this Saturday.
I am deeply honoured to have been asked to launch this memoir by my comrade Seamus Kearney. His powerful and moving book charts the years of turbulence caused by Britain's vain attempts at criminalising the Republican struggle in Ireland , which culminated in the deaths of ten republican prisoners. This is a journey into the depths of oppression and the soaring heights of human resistance and resilience. Anyone wishing to gain an insight into the epic struggle of the Blanket Protest and Hunger Strike of 1981 needs this book on their shelf.
The book will be officially launched at Aras na bhFal in Belfast's Gaeltacht Quarter, 300 metres from An Culturlann, on Saturday 27th November 2021 - 1.00pm til 3.00pm.
All welcome.
Jake Mac Siacais (Jake Jackson).
I am deeply honoured to have been asked to launch this memoir by my comrade Seamus Kearney. His powerful and moving book charts the years of turbulence caused by Britain's vain attempts at criminalising the Republican struggle in Ireland , which culminated in the deaths of ten republican prisoners. This is a journey into the depths of oppression and the soaring heights of human resistance and resilience. Anyone wishing to gain an insight into the epic struggle of the Blanket Protest and Hunger Strike of 1981 needs this book on their shelf.
The book will be officially launched at Aras na bhFal in Belfast's Gaeltacht Quarter, 300 metres from An Culturlann, on Saturday 27th November 2021 - 1.00pm til 3.00pm.
All welcome.
Jake Mac Siacais (Jake Jackson).
⏩ Seamus Kearney is a former Blanketman.
Maryam Namazie 🔖 Announcing The First Publication From Humanist Canada Press: This World First By Marc Schaus.
In his latest book, research specialist Marc Schaus charts the progress of secular values occurring around the world.
Schaus interviews over 25 prominent voices of international secular issues to discuss these questions.
Among them, sociologist of secularism Phil Zuckerman, spokesperson for One Law for All, Fitnah (Movement for Women’s Liberation) and former host of acclaimed television program Bread and Roses Maryam Namazie, co-founder of Ex-Muslims of North America Sarah Haider, co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation Dan Barker, former Chief Executive of Humanists UK and President of Humanists International Andrew Copson – and many more.
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| Maryam Namazie is an Iranian-born activist and Spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and One Law for All. |
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