I’ve just finished watching Ken Loach’s latest masterpiece, Jimmy’s Hall, on Netflix and this excellent Jacobin article marking the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Ireland makes an excellent companion piece. The article places the rising in its historical context - the forces which shaped it and the consequences which flowed from it.
The uprising was jointly launched by Pádraig Pearse’s nationalist Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Irish Citizens’ Army under the command of the revolutionary socialist trade union leader James Connolly. Many women participated, notably Constance Markievicz, the prominent feminist and socialist who was a close ally of Connolly, and Elizabeth O’Farrell, an ally of Pearse’s who joined him in the occupation of Dublin’s Central Post Office. The radical principles expressed by the Proclamation of the Irish Republic read out on Easter Monday 1916 bore the imprint of Markievicz and Connelly in particular. It was addressed to both “Irishmen and Irishwomen” and declared an end to British rule and "the right of the people to the ownership of Ireland”. It guaranteed religious and civil liberty and equal rights and equal opportunities for all, including universal suffrage, two years before women in Britain won the vote. As we know, these principles, particularly the ones relating to gender equality, the separation of church and state, and public ownership were largely set aside by the conservative and clerical leadership of the Irish republic following the the war of independence against the British and partition of the country after World War I. This weekend’s official ceremonies in Dublin and elsewhere confirmed, as the article notes, that “one hundred years after 1916, many of the most radical events that made Ireland’s revolution a profound challenge to the social order will not be commemorated”. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/03/easter-rising-ireland-james-connolly/ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list pen-l@lists.csuchico.edu https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
