Life's Odyssey

Ireland is a country in which political turmoil has existed throughout its history with the occupation of such conquerors as the Normans and English. Political uprisings and thought, revolutions, and church inspirations have woven a confusing array of social inacceptance within the populace of both Northern and Southern Ireland.

The people of Ireland know their history. Even taxi drivers can tell you the lineage of the country, especially of the past two hundred years. They are a political people, speaking in high regard of the nation’s many heroes. These heroes helped spark what has become a terrorist movement in Ireland for the past several decades.

The first terrorist group of note was the Irish Republican Army. According to R.Killeen (1994), the Irish Republican Army can trace its roots back to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. These individuals attempted to resist the British by committing acts of harm, death, and property damage through bombings and murder (p.65).

Another event the IRA’s beginnings fall back to is the controversial Easter Uprising of 1916. Republicans led by Thomas Clarke, Sean MacDermott, and Patrick Pearse took control of several buildings in Dublin center. Pearse then stood on the steps of one of these buildings and read aloud a new proclamation of the Republic of Ireland. This was one of the incidents that formed the beginning of the Irish Republican Army, also known as the Irish Volunteers.

Pat Cooke (2001) surmises that the uprising proved futile when the British took back control of the primary buildings seized. Considerable damage had been done, and, with the execution of participants of the uprisings, things were only going to get worse (p. 35).

Michael Collins, Director of Organization and Intelligence, for the Irish Volunteers (IRA) lead the group against the English, and their designees the Black and Tans in 1919. This time period was Ireland‘s revolutionary and civil wars for independence.

According to Jonathan White (2006), Michael Collins used methods he had learned from Russian revolutionary tactics when it came time to fight the English.(p.25). During this time, he had studied extensively and taken the tactics transforming them to an even more powerful aspect of combat.

Throughout the world, people see Michael Collins, not as a hero, as many Irish do, but as “one of the fathers” of modern day terrorism. He deployed methods used by other groups previous to him. He perfected many of those techniques and has been studied by other terrorist organizations that want to commit violence to governments and other groups that appear as nonconformist to their individual causes. This may be political, religious, or some other narcissistic ideology.

Was Michael Collins a terrorist? He fought a guerilla war just as many leaders and nations before him. The methods he used were effective. Collins today would probably not approve of the level of violence being used by the current IRA and other so-called revolutionary groups in Ireland. P. Mac Lachlan (2001), relates from letters written by members of the failed 1916 coup that, in later years, acts of murder, assassination, and the use of bombs were prominent ways he got his point across, as did the British government in their counter attack against his group (p.213).

Is it any different than in the United States when its citizens fought for their independence? Maybe America played more by the rules than the British did during the American Revolution, but British tactics were not much different in the form of terrorizing the people than it had been against the Irish in the early twentieth century.

According to some people in Ireland, the government does not teach their children the “whole story” and, at times, covers up many pieces of the puzzle when it comes to the nation’s history, liberators, and political identity. They believe the governments of Ireland and Northern Ireland are afraid that the youth of both will take up issues and become sympathetic to the IRA, eventually joining or at least supporting their cause in some way, if not that organization, then one that is closely related.

For some time, the organization had quieted, but it began operations once more to catastrophe levels in the early 1970s. The Augusta Chronicle (2005) related in a list of attacks by the IRA that in July, one of the worst bombings, known as Bloody Friday, detonated on July 21, 1972, killing nine people and wounding some one hundred and twenty more. From this point on, the IRA has killed more than 1,778 people, not counting those who were injured from the attacks.

IRA members have made comments on their activities in the past. Some relate that they never thought about killing others or actually being killed themselves. It was as if there was some kind of high after the act was committed. This sparked a feeling of being a centralized figure in the group.

That high also came with the price of media attention being used as a force factor. Members oftentimes would return to their homes or someplace where a television was to watch the carnage and ascertain how much damage they had done. From these acts, it can be seen that provisional response was and is necessary within the confines of the United Kingdom to curb and stop the violence.

Reasons for continued attacks and the way law enforcement and government agencies are responding to the actual “crisis” can be varied depending on the methods that are enacted by the group or groups transiting their actives and methodology all the time. Remember, the IRA is not the only terrorist organization in Ireland. There are smaller groups that in recent times that have been labeled even more deadly.

The IRA is, of course, recognized as being as a large organized group. Because of this, they have taken strict efforts to enter the realm of international business, assisting them in gathering arms from different areas of the world. At one time, those areas of the world included the United States and Russia.

This gave authorities a way to understand the movements of the IRA and know that weapons were being shipped in. Take, for instance, the Real IRA, with a 2000 terrorist attack on an English headquarters in London. A rocket (RPG22) was used in the attack. Sometime later, it was traced to either Bulgaria or Russia and purchased in Yugoslavia. With this information, the investigators must be remember who was in power in Yugoslavia at the time. These actions, even though deadly, help officials understand areas that needed gathered information in an attempt to curtail the same thing from happening at another point in time. As the group evolves, the researching and government agencies have to evolve with it.

Over time, the British government has used force in an attempt to eliminate the problem of terrorism in Northern Ireland as well as the prospect of peace talks and negations. The negotiations lasted for awhile, and cease fires were accompanied by promises that, at the time, were void of any meaning. This can be contributed to both sides, meaning the British and the IRA representatives.

Although promises were sometimes broken, the peace process was ignited in a more adaptable light when the British gave measures that if the IRA disarm, it would do what was necessary to develop and maintain the peace process. This is an example of what happened in 2001 when concerns over IRA arms gathering stiffened. The IRA did, during this time period, express the utmost interest in continuing the peace process. Because of this the British government agreed to dismantle several security instillations, both sides were able to agree on terms. A process for dealing with the factors of terrorism is that a series of “evolutionary” reforms and ideas must be present to produce an effect.

At one time, the media around the world launched the belief that a great number of the Irish population was in favor of the activities of the IRA and other groups in Northern Ireland. This came over a period of time with improper reporting as well as incorrect interviewing and research techniques.

Because of this type of situation caused by the media, the IRA, whether they intended to or not, had a strong force multiplier in their arsenal. This would, of course, cause sympathetic feelings among the population and command a movement of some recruits for their cause. This problem caused by the media made the situation in Northern Ireland worse.

For years the British government, especially the efforts of Prime Minister Tony Blair have fought tooth and nail to keep peace accords in place. When talks broke down, those efforts stayed in place and resumed whenever possible. Finally, in September of 2005, those peace talks came bearing a new light for the people of Ireland and Britain when the IRA gave statement to the world that it world completely disarm. It was not only the persistent methodologies of the British, but also respondents from outside of Europe that helped issue in the aforementioned decision.

It was found the IRA had in their arsenal thousands of weapons, including flame-throwers, explosives, and surface-to-air missiles. This product of disarming themselves has been a great step in the peace process.

The future of Ireland, when it comes to how terrorism is handled, will be seen through the eyes of the world. It is a lesson learned of how to work through the process of violence with only the uttered voice of faithful decision making and not raising a fist in quick response to a long drawn out procedure.

Bibliography

Mac Lochlainn, P. (2001). Last Words. Ireland: Office of Public Works.

Killeen, R. (1994). A Short History of Ireland. London: Chrysalis Books.

White, J. (2006). Terrorism and Homeland Security. Crawfordville. R.R. Donnelley.

Associated Press. (2005, September 27). Outlaw IRA Lays Down its Weapons. Augusta Chronicle. P. 6A

Cooke, P. (2001). A History of Kilmainham Goal. Ireland. Government of

Enclosure

The topic of politics in Ireland has to be handled with care. It is an issue that is interwoven in a complex form that has to be studied to understand. I took a tour of the Kilmainham Jail while in Dublin. It is a must see for anyone who is going to visit that area of the country. Believe it or not, the history of the country, especially for the past 200 years, can be seen through the tour itself. I have written a piece on social justice and the political prisoners that were at Kilmainham Prison and the impressions that my visit left on me. Because the piece is long, I have divided it up into several different entries and chapters.

Kilmainham Jail: Social Justice and the Incarceration of Community and Political Prisoners

Social justice is often a hard concept to define, although, in a political hot spot such as Ireland its definition can be a ruse for inclement condition. One of the finest examples is the Kilmainham Jail.

Kilmainham Jail in Dublin, Ireland, is an impressive stone and metal structure. Irish history of the penal system, prison reform, and the incarceration of political prisoners and everyday commoners within its walls casts a shadowy realization of the past. All in all, if one looks deep enough, the eventual freedom of Ireland as an independent country can be traced.

Why the prison itself? Through the doors have walked men, women, and children --some as young as six years old--who have witnessed and made aware to generations that atrocities did at times occur. Social justice--all men are created equal--is a concept that was overlooked more often than not with an indigenous nature of self sacrifice among the prisoners.

Political prisoners inhabited the jail from the numerous uprisings that span Ireland’s history. Included were prisoners from the United Irish Rebellion of 1796, Emmett Rebellion of 1803, Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848, Fenian Rebellion of 1867, Land wars of the 1880s, Easter Uprising of 1916, War of Independence, and the Irish Civil War. Not to be forgotten either is the Great Famine of 1845 to 1851.

The Beginning

The jail was built in 1796; dark and dank as all others in Ireland and Europe, it became a source of notorious social justice violations from its beginning. Prisoners were kept in small cold rooms with very little sunlight penetrating throughout the confinement area. Each prisoner was give a single candle that was to last two weeks before another was given. If the wick and wax burned down, then darkness was their only solitude. Did a prisoner save his candle so he would eventually have many or would he light it for some type of warmth when the weather became even colder? The decisions were hard for the little of nothing that was in their possession (Cooke, 2001).

Overcrowding was a problem from its beginning. This came in the form of the prison being used as a transportation base for prisoners being sent to Australia the penal colonies in Australia (Keneally, 1998). Causes for confinement were especially high for debtors. In a society that looks on the rights of man, being a debtor was a crime engrained in the backward forms of justice. A debtor was useless and looked upon as such. There was no trial for a debtor. His personal belongings and any other real property were taken from him when he was incarcerated. In this way the government, which was England (in control of Ireland) could overlook those not as important and influential as they (Cooke, 2001). The government would never consider a reform system to assist those “dregs” during the time. To make them equal with others was not even an afterthought.

Reformers built the prison as a new model in an attempt to stop the conditions of squalor that past prison systems had inhumanely ignored. The idea was to keep one prisoner per cell, but as the overcrowding situation worsened, nothing could be done but to let the situation fall to the wayside. Social reform to better the penal system was also ignored by in front of the prison inspector’s eyes. Overcrowding poisoned the prison until 1860 when a new wing was built with more ideas of how to reform those who had committed crimes and lessen the population problem (Costello, 1999).

Women in Kilmainham

Women were incarcerated in worse conditions because they were looked at as inferior to their male counterparts. Consequently, the list of equality on a number scale places women not only below the men, but at times below the children. It was also the woman’s place to care for the children while in confinement at Kilmainham. Social justice in the prison system is like a “slide ruler” depending on who you are is where your status will located.

Prison inspectors related that women were given straw to bed themselves, while men were supplied with metal beds. Even after the new wing was built, the women were no better off, as the men were also allowed into this new area of so called comfort. The addition did show an area of prison reform with every cell being visible from any point in the common room area where the guards kept watch. Each cell had a spy hole in the door so the prisoner could be watched at any given time as well as the floor outside being carpeted in areas so the inmates would not know their watchers were coming. On the top of the cell was an area that would let in light produced from a giant skylight. Victorian era principle held that light conquered darkness with the same being said for reformation. At least the inmates were given the opportunity to have outside light (Cooke, 2001).

Children in Kilmainham

Children were some of the most unfortunate “victims” in light of their so-called “crimes.” Considered no better than their adult counterparts, children were incarcerated for offenses that would be viewed as petty today. Society in modern industrialized countries today would frown on such treatment of children that were accosted in this way in nineteenth and early twentieth century. Some of their crimes were robbing apples, begging, vagrancy, stealing food and clothes, possession of stolen property (again food and clothes), and playing games with people in the area (Cooke. 2001). There were of course more serious crimes that had to be addressed such as assault. The ages of the children varied, but some of the youngest were six and seven years old. Sentencing opposed on these children were oftentimes crimes in themselves. Days or months at a time of hard labor, for example. Whippings and years in reform school were the standard (Cooke, 2001). A poem by a child, Julie Ann Colgan, about the jail reflects what life was like there; the last line reads…“many of us died, died, died.” Christopher Toole wrote in 1887; “I’m twelve years old…charged with illegal possession of four eggs…I only wanted to get food for my family”.

The ages of the children varied, but some of the youngest were six and seven years old. Sentencing opposed on these children were oftentimes crimes in themselves. Days or months at a time of hard labor, for example. Whippings and years in reform school were the standard (Cooke, 2001). A poem by a child, Julie Ann Colgan, about the jail reflects what life was like there; the last line reads…“many of us died, died, died.” Christopher Toole wrote in 1887; “I’m twelve years old…charged with illegal possession of four eggs…I only wanted to get food for my family”.

This is what society can call achievements in social justice: innocents (children in the matter) who lost their innocence because of inequalities and a ruling government that did not see the masking scenarios that were taking place. It was probably seen, but soon forgotten because when one does not see a face then the likelihood of change can be a place as far off as Never Never Land.

The Great Famine

Famine came to Ireland in when the potato crops began to fail. Potatoes were not only one of the major food sources but also accounted for the economic foundation of the country. People became prisoners at Kilmainham for becoming debtors , not only to the state but also to society.

Robert Nozick, a criminal theorist, states in his Entitlement Theory of Justice three principles (Keneally, 1998).

1. How previous possessions that have not been owned by someone is acquired.

2. How possessions are transferred from one person to another.

3. If injustices arise from the first two principles, then there must be a way to correct the violations.

Nozick looks at the social injustice of the Great Famine in terms of accounting technology. During this time the government used accounting as a way of determining property rights, since under English rule the Irish government had to follow certain designs formed by Westminister. The British government decided who would receive assistance by using an idea that the government should step away from the business aspect of property rights during the famine, and furthermore, by enacting a role not to take the property from those in poverty, so as to have justice served in the most positive way (Keneally, 1998).

Since the government left the business side open, injustices were rampant within the population. Debtors were being thrown into prison in record numbers. Robert Nozick’s theory shows in its third part that injustices have to have a remedy. It would seem England thought it was placing a positive aura around social justice, but instead was just hiding from the truth and causing more injustice to the people who needed the most help in a desperate situation (Keneally, 1998).

People knew that the prison served at least one meal compared to what they had on the outside, so crimes were committed for the purpose of getting something to eat. Food related crimes were high as well with hunger driving those who had never thought of offending to break the law.

Because of the population boom, the inmates incarcerated before the famine began, were now suffering due to prison officials changing dietary needs to just bread and little else. Before, meals consisted of potatoes and bread with a small amount of meat on certain occasions. The other idea of such a small portion at meal time was to deter people wanting to come into the prison for a “free meal”.

The British looked at the thousands starving through Benthamite utilitarianism. Because of this no action on the part of the people was taken. It can be questioned as to how Benthamite theory would portray a “greater happiness for the great number”. As it turned out, social justice was only a metaphor for a ruling government that had no backbone or moral standing (Killeen, 1994).

With all of this tragedy facing the country, still innocents (more or less) were thrown into Kilmainham Jail, and others, literally thousands, left to fend and die on their own. A report of conditions was recorded in the Cork Southern Reporter:

“In a cabbage garden, I saw the bodies of Kate Barry and her two children very lightly covered with earth, the hands and legs of her large body entirely exposed, the flesh completely eaten off by the dogs, the skin and hair of the head lying within a couple of yards of the skull, which when I first threw my eyes on it, I thought to be part of a horse’s tail. I need make no comment on this but ask, are we living in a portion of the United Kingdom” (Keneally,1998).

Take a look at what John Rawls thought about fairness, and compare to it aspects of the Great Famine and how the Crown responded to the problem. Rawls pressured thoughts of other activists and potential listeners with the prospect that all governments should be activists in their endeavors to ensure equality. For example, during the famine the government built workhouses for the poor to have some type of employment, but the failure rate was greater than the success. Heads of the workhouses and owners benefited while the poor still starved and died of disease, working in a fifthly environment (Keneally, 1998). Overall, the government would try to set events in motion, but then would play no further part if it did not have to.