AIMSIR
Bhí sé fuar ach grianmhar for part of the day on our 493rd Saturday but remained dry beneath our feet tapping to the music coming from Mama Shia’s Nigerian food stall.
DAOINE
Bróna, Deirdre agus Diarmuid were the foireann today and the private tent-market was there again bringing life to the street, which is why we recommended the market be revitalised – though not by a private company but by the Council, like the traditional fruit, veg and flowers stalls.
As usual we collected lots of signatures and had many positive interactions with people, Irish-born (Dublin, Louth, Cork) and not. We took many more photos than usual and are therefore posting a bigger selection than normal.
One trio who signed were from very different places: young women from Czechia and Germany with a young man and South Africa (English-speaking).
An Irishman from Sligo whose partner is from Bolivia spoke to us a while in Irish, English and Castillian (she speaks the indigenous Aymara also but we don’t, sadly). We told her about our Ecuadorian and Irish couple friends (she also speaks Aymara) who would normally have a stall selling her hand-made jewelry but are away at the moment.
RAGE & INSULTS
As we were finishing a young man with an Ulster accent but an angry face came up to Diarmuid and, referring to one of our posters which shows a profile image of Patrick Pearse with “son of a migrant” on it, demanded:
“How is Patrick Pearse the son of a migrant?”
Diarmuid: “His father was a migrant.”
Angry man: “Where from?”
Diarmuid: “He was English.”
Angry man: “Of Irish descent, though.”
Diarmuid: “No, just English.”
Angry man: “What was his name?”
Diarmuid (puzzled): “Pearse”.
Angry man: “There you go, then!” (and with a few insults, storms off. He clearly thinks he has proven that Patrick Pearse’s father was Irish and thinks the surname “Pearse” is originally Irish, which it is not.)
Diarmuid calling out to Angry Man: “You should read up your history.”
Sad that some people think that those who fought in struggle for our nation had to be pureblood Irish (a very unrepublican outlook!) or even born in Ireland. Would they have expelled Erskine Childers, Eamonn De Valera, Patrick and Willie Pearse, James Connolly, Tom Clarke, Thomas McDonagh, Constance Markievicz, Eamon Bulfin, Thomas Davis etc etc? And have St. Patrick himself taken off the patron saint list for being of foreign origin?
EILE (repeated from previous weeks)
Our group is heading for its 500th Saturday on the street. In September 2014 Bróna Uí Loing, Vivienne Kelly, Diarmuid Breatnach and Mel Mac Giobúin met to begin a weekly presence on the street with a campaign table, leaflets and petition sheets. We consulted with other campaigners about the wording of the petition, of which the immediate objective was to prevent an exchange of DCC’s Nos.24-25 at the end of the 1916 Terrace to Joe O’Reilly for Nos.14-17 because otherwise he’d be able to demolish all buildings from No.25 to No.18.
Only Bróna and Mel had relatives who had fought in the 1916 Rising and/or the War of Independence but others with or without family connections to fighters in those two periods joined over the years for long or short periods, while others dropped out for health, employment or other reasons.
In November 2014 the objective we had set ourselves was achieved when the elected councillors voted to reject the speculator’s offer but we decided to continue our presence on the street until overall victory which is how we are now approaching our 500th Saturday, 10 years later.
YOU CAN SUPPORT US by sharing the information in our posts from time to time and signing and sharing our on-line petition.
