The Colonial Dance

I have a confession to make; I was a bit of a nerd in school. I can’t say how much of a nerd, I’m probably not a good judge of that. But when I became a teacher, I looked out for those other little nerds.

I couldn’t help it. Having had that experience, I knew the ropes, the ups and downs.

Sharing is Caring

We all empathize most keenly with what we have experienced. We help people quickest when we feel their pain, to paraphrase a former president.

For example, at the height of the Irish Famine, unexpected help arrived in the form of $700 from the Choctaw Indian Nation. They didn’t donate because they were loaded and wouldn’t miss it. They donated because they had just experienced famine themselves.

In that same way, the Irish have been in the forefront of many social justice movements. Estimates show that 90% of the population of Ireland are involved in donating time and or money to charity.

In 1984, shop girls in Dublin refused to handle produce from South Africa. Their simple action sparked national and then European involvement in abolishing apartheid.

In 1985, Bob Geldof, another Dubliner, organized Live Aid. It was a global concert fundraiser whose aim was to fight the famine in Ethiopia.

Irish Government and Palestine

How could the current sight of starving children in Palestine not trigger a response from Ireland? That said, Ireland stood with the rest of the world in condemning the kidnappings and violence that occurred in October of 2023 in Israel.

Where the Irish government has had a growing problem is with the response to the attacks. The Irish government have stated that the acts of the Israeli government are targeted at citizens and not the perpetrators of the acts of violence.

Pro-Palestinian protests began to spring up in major Irish cities as time has gone on and the Mideast onslaught has continued. By the  autumn, the Irish citizens and their government began issuing statements. They called for a cease-fire and for letting the Palestinian people have access to food.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins is a social justice advocate. He calls it like he sees it. He promotes world peace. He criticized the recent actions of Israel.

They responded by closing their embassy in Ireland just before Christmas. The entire country has been labelled anti-Semitic and blacklisted by Israel.

Michael D. Higgins recently said, “If you criticize Netanyahu, you are called anti-Semitic, … Israel is initiating a propaganda campaign against Ireland… when we seek to meet with people from the US, they are told, ‘you must open by asking why is Ireland so against Israel’?”

The Irish response to this bullying is to be the first country in Europe to boycott Israeli goods. The Irish don’t buckle that easy. They would rather take a little heat than to not try to help.

They know what it is like to be told to do something or starve. The horrifying images that are getting out of Gaza despite the lack of foreign press, while worse, are reminiscent of the Famine soup lines. In the Famine, many times the Irish were told they had to convert if they wanted to eat.

Want to know who really gets it? The people in N. Ireland understand colonial rule. They have deep compassion for Palestine and Gaza. The Belfast rap group Kneecap has blown this issue up.

Kneecap

If you haven’t heard of Kneecap yet, get busy. I admit I am not really a rap fan, but this group is amazing.

Sprung from working class rebel Belfast, they have been making music for the last eight years. They rap in both Irish and English.

They started with two young men, Liam Og O’ hAnnaidh and Naoise O’ Caireallain. They met the third member when Liam was arrested and refused to speak English.

School teacher J. J. O’ Dochartaigh came to interpret Irish for him during his hearing. His career as an educator was just not meant to be.

They continued performing, mostly around Ireland and Europe. In 2024, their self-titled autobiographical movie went to the Sundance festival.
It was the first Irish language movie to be shown there. The film was short listed for the Academy Awards. but sadly, didn’t make the cut.

Now here is where things get really interesting. Kneecap performed at Coachella Festival in California this last April. During their performance, they displayed messages that said that Israel was committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

The audience at Coachella supported the band. But there was outrage from outside. Their visas to come to this country have since been revoked.

In May, a flag was thrown on stage at the O2 Arena in the UK. Liam was arrested on the prevention of terrorism act.

The charge maintained that by having the flag onstage, he was appearing to support Hezbollah. The group maintains that their focus is supporting the ceasefire in Gaza and getting food to the people starving there.

At the first hearing date on June 18, some of the charges were dropped. Liam joined a tradition of Irish patriots and demanded that he have an Irish interpreter at his hearing.

When many people only spoke Irish, holding trials in English was a way for the English to shut people out of their own trials. This was used to either get false convictions to remove people or to take their land.

The band are definitely suffering some consequences for their beliefs. But to paraphrase what Liam has said over and over again, he does not want to explain to his grandkids why he saw the genocide happening and did nothing.

The Irish have danced the colonial dance and the people in the North are still dancing it. They know well what it feels like to be pushed around. They also know how to push back. When the going gets tough, you dig down to the essence of who you are to fight back. Your culture is much more important because that is part of what they are trying to take.

Tiocfaidh a la’, or their day will come!