Irish patriot remembered in Brixton

by Theo Russell

Around sixty activists gathered at Brixton Prison in South London last Sunday to remember Terence McSwiney, the elected Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland, who died there after 74 days on hunger strike on 25th October 1920.
McSwiney, who was also an author and playwright, had been arrested by the British Government for possession of "seditious articles and documents" during the 1919-21 Irish War of Independence (the “Tan War”). After joining the hunger Cork Prison strike he was transported to Brixton gaol.
Thomas Gould, the  Sinn Féin  MP for Cork North Central, told the crowd that McSweeney was born in Knocknaheeney, Cork’s toughest working class district, and said “it’s brilliant to be here today with so many working class people, 105 years after his death”.
Gould recalled that the sisters Dolores and Marian Price were also on hunger strike in Brixton Prison, which lasted for 208 days because they were force-fed for 165 days.
He added: “What the Israelis are doing to Palestinian civilians, to women and children, it’s hard to believe that anyone could do these things to another human being. I would say this to ye, come out with your flags and your banners, come out and protest. The question now is does the Palestinian people have a right to exist?” he said adding that the solution to the Israel Palestine conflict lay in a two state solution.
Gould also welcomed the election of Catherine Connolly, who was supported by Sinn Féin and other left parties in Ireland, saying it was “a great day for Ireland”.
Frank Glynn spoke for the Terence MacSwiney Commemoration Committee about many other Irish hunger strikers, including Thomas Ashe, who died in Dublin’s Mountjoy Prison in 1917, and Michael Gaughan, who died in 1974 in Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of Wight, both of whom dying as a direct result of violent force feeding.
Joe Murphy and Michael Fitzgerald, who were Terence McSwiney’s comrades and also died on hunger strike in Cork Gaol in 1920; Frank Stagg, who died in 1976 in Wakefield Prison after 62 days on hunger strike; and of course the ten hunger strikers who died in the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland in 1981.
He also reminded those present that fifteen women in Armagh Women's Prison joined the 1981 hunger strike.
The singer Sean Brady and uillean piper Tom Lynch provided powerful songs and tunes.
The Terence MacSwiney Committee also organises for events at Parkhurst and Wakefield prisons to remember Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg.