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Gaeilge

Celts Identity Crisis

REBELS IN SEARCH OF A CAUSE

Many of you may have noticed the prevalence of flags from stateless nations amongst the beggars recently, predominantly Palestinian and Basque. Now every 'established' nation contains ethnic groupings, people who see themselves as having a separate identity to that of the country as a whole. So why no flags celebrating the French Bretons, Turkish-Cypriots or Nordic Laps at the piggery? Simple really, none of these groups have carried out a catalogue of terrorist atrocities. As far as your twisted Tim mentality goes, there is no tangible 'cause' to latch onto.

So let's take a look at the Basque flag wavers. I have heard one beggar claim it was because Celtic played Athletic Bilbao in the early eighties and both clubs have had a mutual kinship ever since. At the risk of sounding dismissive, that's bollocks. Celtic fans wave Basque flags because it represents ETA and for no other reason and Yahoos believe that ETA and the IRA are brothers in arms fighting for a common cause.

Now the first thing any half-wit will realise is that the two terrorist groups are diametrically opposed as the IRA are trying to join two separate countries while ETA are intent on dividing a single nation into two, a tiny discrepancy which our beggar chums seem to have overlooked. There is of course one similarity that they both share; the IRA and ETA both use terror tactics to oppose democratically elected governments.

Terrorist flag-waving apart, are there a link between our 'ethnic Irish' chums and Basque Spain? Well yes, but it is not a period of history that the Tims would want us to dwell on. HISTORICAL REVISIONISM

There can be no other people on the planet who can claim to have such a successful PR machine as those lovable Oirish. On the face of it, they (as an island nation) have to tolerate such tribulations as, in the Republic, a 3rd world transport system, a Roman Catholic doctrine set in statute (condoms were only legalised in 1988, divorce in 1995 and abortion is simply exported to England) and enough corrupt TDs (MPs) to start a separate government. Northern Ireland's problems are known globally. And yet, to the world, it is a land of quaint old pubs, funny dancing and leprechauns.

On a political front, the yahoos would have us believe that Irish Republicans are anti-fascist activists to a man while having Unionist or Loyalist beliefs equates to being in the SS. This is a view propagated in no small part by the Scottish meeja with their much lauded analogy comparing the Orange Walk to the 'Ku Klux Klan marching through Harlem'. And yet, read the Roll of Honour in any Orange Hall and it becomes obvious that the Order's members were only too willing to make the ultimate sacrifice fighting the Nazis. But, as it has been said before, "Tims and Facts…" A trawl through any number Celtic websites and you'll come across numerous articles and posts declaring Celtic/Republican commitment to anti-fascism. But does history bear out these left-wing credentials?

Well, no. The Irish Free State has a definite pro-fascist history which, despite being in living memory, has all but been swept under the carpet. Just as many Germans refuse to accept that the gas chambers ever existed, the Irish deny the existence of the fascist Blueshirts in the 30s and the Free State's collaboration with the Nazis during the 2nd World War. Most of you will already know about U-boats being offered haven in Irish ports, the IRA's collaboration with the Nazis and De Velera's admiration for Hitler but the Free State's role in Spain during the Civil War may well be news.

The Blueshirts were the Irish branch of the European fascist movement which included Mussolini's Blackshirts and Hitler's Brownshirts. By 1931 they numbered 100,000, the largest fascist movement outwith Germany or Italy, but it wasn't until former police commissioner Eoin O'Duffy took over that it began to mobilise.

The Blueshirts embarked on a series of demonstrations and meetings to combat what it saw as the red menace of communism which it believed was sweeping the land. The Blueshirts journal claimed, "the founders of Communism were practically all Jews. This can scarcely be mere coincidence. It may appear singular that Marx, Engels, Lasalle and Ricardo were all Jews."

As with many other fascist movements, Jews and communists were interchangeable and sometimes homogeneous pariahs. The seeds of anti-Semitism had been sown but the sentiments weren't limited to pubs and street corners. Far-right politics found supporters in the highest echelons of Irish society and despite later revisionism, the Blueshirts saw themselves as part of the European Fascist movement, as a leading Cumann na nGaedheal member John A. Costello, who was later leader of Fine Gael and Prime Minister of the Irish Republic said in the Dail (the state's parliament), "The Blackshirts have been victorious in Italy and Hitler's Brownshirts have been victorious in Germany, as assuredly the Blueshirts will be victorious in Ireland."

These were sentiments which were echoed in the Dail in 1943 by independent TD Oliver J Flanagan "There is one thing that Germany did and that was to rout the Jews out of their country. Until we rout the Jews out of this country it does not matter a hair's breadth what orders you make. Where the bees are there is honey, and where the Jews are there is money." He was soon to join Fine Gael and remained a TD for them until 1987 briefly becoming Minister for Defence in the late 1970s.

SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Public opinion in Ireland was overwhelmingly pro-Franco, as was the Catholic Church and most of the press. Thousands were mobilised in emotional anti-communist rallies organised by Patrick Belton's Irish Christian Front. Local councils passed resolutions demanding the Fianna Fáil government break diplomatic relations the Spanish Republic.

In a total reversal of current belief, it is O'Duffy's men who left Ireland to the sound of cheering crowds and the blessing of the church while the [Spanish] Republicans and socialists embarked without fuss and often in secret. However, popular opinion would have you believe that neither O'Duffy or the Blueshirts ever existed, or if the did, they were not fascists.

The Spanish Civil War erupted just as Blueshirt support was beginning to wane. O'Duffy seized the chance to propel himself and his organisation back into the limelight but chose to promote it in more tangible terms that the Irish public could comprehend; as a struggle for the very survival of Catholicism itself. He formed the 700-strong Irish Brigade which would join with Franco's army, a force which was fervently supported by the Catholic Church as the Dean of Cashel put it, "The Irish Brigade have gone to fight the battle of Christianity against Communism. There are tremendous difficulties facing the men under O'Duffy and only heroes can fight such a battle".

Cardinal Macrory, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all-Ireland, while addressing seven thousand pilgrims in Drogheda at the shrine of blessed Oliver Plunket expressed his support for Franco. "There is no room any longer for any doubt as to the issues at stake in the Spanish conflict. It is not a question of the Army against the people, nor the Army plus the aristocracy and the Church against Labour. Not at all. It is a question of whether Spain will remain as she has been for so long, a Christian and Catholic land or a Bolshevist and anti-God one."

Fascist sympathies weren't restricted to the church or the Dail. They also found a medium in the Irish newspapers. A quote from the Irish Independent, which is still in circulation today, stated "It is well that the line of demarcation in Spain should be made clear. On the one side is a so-called Government which has abandoned all the functions of government to a Communist Junta bent upon the destruction of personal liberty, the eradication of religion, the burning of churches, and the wholesale slaughter of clergy. On the other side are the Patriot Army gladly risking liberty, property, and life, in defence of their faith-Fighting the same fight that our Irish ancestors fought for centuries for the same cause."

And despite history, the Tims and their meeja continue to publicise their anti-fascist masquerade. For those who are interested, there are a couple of good books you can look into:

"Irish Politics and The Spanish Civil War" by Fearghal McGarry

"The Irish and the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939" by Robert Stradling