“Last December (2004), individuals claiming to be "anti-fascist" deliberately damaged the Republican monument to Sean Russell in Dublin's Fairview Park. Russell was a former IRA Chief of Staff who died aboard a German U-boat in 1940, and was buried at sea. Russell, according to those who knew him, had no hard-line ideological world view apart from a firm commitment to ending British rule in Ireland. Yet today in Ireland he is being branded a Nazi sympathiser; an anti-Semite, and a murderous fanatic with the blood of the innocents of the Holocaust on his hands. Russell's legacy is being subjected to a Big Lie technique worthy of Dr. Goebbels.
For some time now there has been an orchestrated campaign aimed at getting Dublin City Council to remove Russell's statue. If this attempt were to succeed anti-national elements would undoubtedly target other Irish Republican monument for removal on the grounds of their being 'racist' or 'offensive' or whatever.
There is another issue that needs to be kept in mind arising out of the Russell controversy. The Irish state is now actively promoting the restoration of British Imperial monuments and memorials; such as the one last year in Mayo with Sergeant Coughlan's grave and this year with the memorial to British Royal Navy submariners in Carrigaline Co. Cork. There will undoubtedly be others to come in the future. Significant sections of the Irish political elite now seem hell-bent on restoring the British dimension to the 26 Counties. We Nationalists and Republicans need to be vigilant.” ENDS
The Irish National Congress seems to ignore the fact that Russell could not have been ignorant of the nature of the Nazi regime. It is not as if Kristallnacht or the invasions of Poland, Denmark, Holland, Belgium or France went unreported in the Irish press. Hard line nationalists also tend to overlook the IRA’s increasingly pro-nazi stance during WWII (see my previous post X's difficulty is Y's opportunity ).
What particularly piqued my interest was the Irish National Congress’s issue at the “promotion” of what it describes as British imperial memorials. I cannot find any reference to a memorial to Royal Navy submariners in Carrigaline, but if it has been erected I can only presume that its purpose is to commemorate the participation of Irish submariners in the Royal Navy – Perhaps in the view of the Irish National Congress such people were traitors to Ireland. I can only imagine what they think of the Islandbridge War memorial in Dublin.
I had never heard of Sergeant Coughlan before reading the above article. According to the Victoria Cross website Cornelius Coughlan was an Irish soldier awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the Indian Mutiny in 1857
Born in Eyrecourt, Co. Galway in 1828, he joined the Gordon Highlanders and served with the regiment for 21 years. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for bringing an injured Private Corbett, who lay severely wounded, to safety under fire. Later, during the siege of Delhi, when his officers were killed and he found himself in command, he encouraged his wavering men by word and example to return to the attack. This engagement resulted in victory and the Kabul Gate was stormed and taken.Coughlan died in February 1915. His funeral was a big affair but a year passed and nobody got around to erecting a headstone. After the Easter Rebellion the political wind changed, and soldiers who had worn the uniform of a British regiment were no longer welcome. As a result, Cornelius Coughlan lay in an unmarked grave for eighty nine years.
In 2004 a headstone was finally unveiled on Coughlan’s grave by Michael Smith, the Irish defence minister. "In fairness to Coughlan, and to the 60 other Irishmen who were awarded the VC during the military campaign that followed the Indian Mutiny, we should consider his actions in the light of the time in which he was living, rather than seek to judge him through the steely eye of complacent retrospection." Smith said
Like it or not, the participation of Irishmen in the British Empire is a matter of historical fact. To have continued to leave one such man to rest in an unmarked grave would do nothing to expunge this. One can take issue at the presence of an Irish government minister at the unveiling of Coughlan’s headstone but, like the recent commemoration of the battle of the Somme, it is perhaps an indication of a nation coming to terms with its past. To deny that Ireland’s fortunes were for so long interlinked with those of Britain is in my opinion to deny much of Ireland’s history.
History should be viewed in the round, warts and all. If doing so means that other forgotten Irish soldiers of the British Empire are remembered then so be it.
Russell
IRA
Coughlan
Victoria
Cross
9 comments:
Yes, all of a sudden showing monuments of "The Ten Commandments" here have been deemed hateful and bigoted. Instead, they erect statues honoring male prostitutes in drag that incited a riot in the streets of San Francisco in the 60's and injured several Police officers. I shat you not.
It's a sad state of affairs, jams. Righteousness is now bad, and moral relativism is now good. Valiant people being castigated post-humously makes me ill.
Some will look at my view of history and see it as somewhat reactionary. In reality what I am trying to do in my own small way is to be objective about what is an extremely subjective discipline.
I like some of the more obscure, murky backwaters of history such as
the IRA and its affinity with the Reich during WWII while tens of thousands of men and women volunteered to serve in the British armed forces.
What is heartening is that the Irish government is waking up to some areas of the past that have been buried over the last 90 years. Commemorating a man who served the "Brits" would ahve been unacceptable fo so long but many Irishmen did. It happened, don't sweep it under the carpet
Who gets commemorated and who doesn't is a lottery. For so long Florence Nightingale was seen as the "lady with the lamp" who single handedly gave aid and succour to wunded British soldiers in the Crimeam War. In recent years, Mary Seacole, a black woman who also did the same ended up being written out of history. It is eught and proper in y view that her story is being heard again. More on her in a later post.
I want a statue of me erected, to commemorate my blogging prowess, jams. With a cookie in one hand and laptop in the other. It shall be molded entirely out of cheddar cheese, and the base out of crackers, so that I may be enjoyed and bring happiness to others.
You know what I like about your blog, jams? You usually have a quick response, no waiting!
Hmm speedy responses? probably because I have no life and only half watch the tv! Cheese and crackers? It would be a temporary installation methinks
i don't understand the propensity of folks in modern times to hold folks in the past to the same standards as we have. it makes no sense. this man was brave no matter where or who he was fighting for. not to mention- he's dead and deserves the basic respect of a fellow human being.
I agree totally betmo. 89 years was too long for him to be in an unmarked grave
At east things seem to be changing a bit now. Her portrait now hangs in teh National Portrait Gallery. The Home Office, and a couple of universities now have buildings named after her. Rather belated (to say the leas) but there is now recognition of her work
There is a theory of history called 'presentism' which is a way of trying to interpret history by the standards of mores of our era, to attribute thoughts to people long dead about issues that are relevant only to the present day.
There was a discussion in Lambeth Labour Group a dozen or so years back and tangentialy the issue of the Tate Libraries came up. One of the more left wing embers stated that even though the 'Tate' name and family has unpleasant connections with Slavery we must preserve the names because it gives us the knowledge that a previous era was not bothered in the least by that connection.
Lambeth Social Services are HQd at Mary Seacole house. I found out who she was by reading a book in the primary school library when chair of govs and waiting to be interviewed by OFSTED. That was in 96.
Such an approach to history achieves nothing in my view gert. Many historical events may be repulsive but they have to be seen in the context of their times. Take the massagrees that used to take place after a successful siege: it was an accepted act at the time.Not pleasant but those were the rules of the game in those days
Another Mary Seacole House, excellent!
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