You can’t Rewrite the Truth – by Michael Lagan

The issue is, he’s wrong, it holds nowhere near the level of patriotic charm or stature as Amhrán na bhFiann does.  Which by the way, is an actual literal rebel song about rising against the British, not to mention  our Irish national anthem: it’s just one more example of how blown out of all proportion those five words have become over the past few days.  All the furore over ‘Ooh, ah, up the Ra’ has been rather over-inflated by Northern Irish Unionists who, seeing a chance to throw the two fingers up at nationalists and republicans, jumped on the proverbial bandwagon in droves while completely ignoring the fact the IRA they speak of, the Provisional IRA, became extinct almost 30 years ago. More than can be said for the more than 12,500 Loyalist terrorists still roaming the urban jungle today.

What is being completely ignored in all of this madness over five words, is why the IRA even came into existence, why they lasted so long in the North and what the Celtic Symphony is all about anyway.  Contrary to what many are saying, the Celtic Symphony is a song about the Glasgow Celtic football club, not the IRA.  It’s a catchy little ditty telling the story of a Glasgow sailor possessed by the devil who travels the world trying to exorcise himself from the devil.  A visit to Celtic’s stadium in the East End of Glasgow seems to work for the sailor and the devil is exorcised on the walk to the stadium. 

The song has been sung on the terraces of Celtic park by fans ever since. Celtic fans are touted as being the best fans in the world with the lyrics ‘Ooh aah up the Ra’ actually referencing graffiti being seen on a wall in the song.  It has been sung in public for decades, at matches at home and internationally with no issue…until Ireland’s women’s football team sang it in their dressing room.  Celtic Symphony remains one of the most popular songs on the terraces, particularly amongst Celtic supporters who still display support for independence from the British government both in Scotland and Ireland.  One point to remember is this – conversations on unity were building steam rather quickly over the past few weeks and what better way to stifle that than to show the South of Ireland as some kind of sectarian state in which Unionists would not be welcome or happy.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.

The issue for Unionism is that young Irish people are retaking ownership of their history and while in a more abstract way, they have found new pride in their own country.  A history steeped in resistance to British aggression, terrorism and collusion.  Why shouldn’t we remember a proud tradition of resistance against what was a brutally oppressive, sectarian regime? Why shouldn’t we fly our flag? Should we now stop singing Amhrán na bhFiann too? What about the Fields of Athenry? Sunday Bloody Sunday?  Are we to lose our identity altogether?

It really was only a matter of time before both Unionists and the Southern Irish parties like Fianna Fáil started targeting attacks not on the Irish women’s football team, but on Sinn Féin leading many to believe all this hullabaloo was not genuine outrage for many, but a chance at political point scoring while utilising the public mood to heighten tensions even further.  Micheál Martin went so far as to say there was “something wrong” with the party of Sinn Féin.  Sinn Féin, a party which pivoted easily from a wartime political party to a party championing peace and reconciliation and is respected around the world for doing so.  Mr Martin said Sinn Féin had – “built its entire existence on honouring a campaign of violence but now attacks and sues anyone who claims that they supported particular actions within that campaign”.  This coming from Fianna Fáil which likes to see itself as a ‘nationalist party’ whose founding members carried out the same actions as the IRA.  Indeed the IRA of De Valera’s period provided security and protection for Fianna Fáil politicians and candidates.

Indeed De Valera didn’t wait too long once elected. Soon after Fianna Fáil took office the IRA was removed from a list of banned organisations, a move that seems extraordinary with hindsight.  Here was the government of the Irish Republic, those officials who were in charge of the Irish Defence Forces, legalising an armed militia they had no real control over who were essentially dedicated to the idea of armed struggle with Britain to achieve unification and the institution of a 32-county republic.  

So in a week when our Irish women were essentially branded ‘terrorist’ sympathisers by Fianna Fáil for singing five words from a song, the mind-blowing hypocrisy of Micheál Martin was on show to the entire country.  A man who attended Bodenstown to remember Wolfe Tone who led a rebellion which ended the lives of almost 55,000 people.  What’s the difference between Wolfe Tone and the IRA up until 1998? I’ll tell you what the difference is dear reader…those in the South didn’t have to deal with the British army, the RUC, B-Specials and collusion of all of the aforementioned with Loyalist terrorists against an Irish Catholic population which were seen as dirty and as second class citizens, if not worse by the same.

The furore wasn’t about ‘Ooh, ah, up the RA’…it was a chance at a sustained, concerted political attack on nationalism, Sinn Féin and anyone who dared to stand up and protect a history of rebellion against an oppressor, against the sullying of Irish history which admittedly isn’t always pleasant but we own that.  

“If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday then any leader can tell you anything.”  – George Santayana, American philosopher (1863-1952)