In the recently released film Black 47 one line of dialogue sums up the enormity of the genocidal enormity of An Gorta Mór.
Lord Kilmichael played by Jim Broadbent says that “this potato business has simplified matters considerably”.
If you think that An Gorta Mór was a natural disaster then perhaps this image will assist you.
During the Famine years, Ireland was a net food exporter while one million Irish people starved to death.
There was no food shortage on this island, but there was a shortage of sovereignty.
We were a colony of the neighbouring island which was the centre of the first trans-global imperium.
They feasted, and we starved.
Those two events were utterly connected.
Local people battled with the Crown Forces as they tried to obtain the grain exports that would have saved their starving children.
Apparently, this is hilarious stuff down Ibrox way…
The plot of Black 47 is simple enough.
James Frecheville as Martin Feeney is a former British soldier who returns home to Ireland in 1847 to discover his family members either starved or executed by the British.
He then uses his military training to exact vengeance of those he considers responsible.
Where the film scores big is using the bleak canvass of the An Gorta Mór to tell an age-old story of love, loss and revenge.
The message within the film is therefore universal, so you don’t have to be Irish to get Black 47, but it probably helps.
When I left the movie, I thought of the Famine Song choir and those who publicly defended them.
When I called out the genocide choir at Ibrox a decade ago, I also noted that Glasgow was atypical in that it was a major reception centre for Famine refuges, but it had no structure to respectfully acknowledge that event.
Now, it appears that it is about to have two!
The Council folk tied themselves up in historical knots about the proposal to have a Famine memorial in the city that received so many who were fleeing An Gorta Mór.
In the end, it would appear that they could not bring themselves to give the Irish in Glasgow something of their own.
The monument in Glasgow Green is an upturned boat, and it commemorates the An Gorta Mór and the Highland Famine.
The latter event did not cause an irreversible demographic change in Scotland.
The former did.
For the avoidance of doubt, the people of the Scottish Gàidhealtachd deserve their own memorial if they so wish it.
That is not the issue here.
Quite simply, the SNP led City Council had an opportunity to, finally, honour the Irish community in Glasgow in a very fitting way.
They chose not to.
One Scotland many cultures?
Really?
In response to this municipal manoeuvring, the Irish community in Glasgow decided to build their own memorial.
You can read about it here , and you can follow the progress of this project at @GortaMorGla
Coiste Cuimhneachaín are to be commended for their stoic determination in getting this far.
Comhghairdeas!
When I first started writing about this issue I wanted a city centre memorial that was secular and inclusive.
My ideal was to replicate the life-size figures on Custom House Quay in Dublin and place them on the Broomielaw
Unfortunately, the folk within the City Chambers had to give permission for the Irish community to build their own memorial on public land in Glasgow.
There is a currently a competition to select which sculpture will be in the grounds of St Mary’s in the Calton.
This one would get my vote.
If you want to support this project you can contact them here.
Sadly, the Famine Song choir are still with us.
They only long-term solution to that racist subculture is education, and that is best delivered by someone that the racist cannot readily other.
With that in mind a hat tip to the folk at Chelsea FC.
If at some future point there is another offender like Mr William Walls then they will not have that far to travel to be educated about the historical crimes that they find funny at Ibrox.
Britain and the people at large all over must learn more about the Irish famine. As a ethnic minority (visibly you know, with brown skin) boy, born and brought up in west of Scotland.
I had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Maybe at primary school it was briefly touched upon. Maybe In secondary school again but it was my parents who told me of British crimes in India.
I worked out quickly from tv dramas etc that Africa and Ireland and other places would have suffered too.
It is what it is, and people today English, British, Scottish, Welsh whatever must not be torn with guilt, for something that happened long before they, their parents, grandparents n their parents were born.
However they must know, to get a historical context. They must know that the people of the Indian subcontinent and Caribbean colonies came here post ww2, as they were invited to do so by the govt to help rebuild Britain with cheap labour. It was a quid pro quo.
They and all of us must know the poor polish fought against hitler the many polish pilots who fought in the battle of Britain against Germany. Without whom Britain would have been overrun by Germany easily, to then have their Poland bargained off by Churchill. To Stalin. They never found freedom till late 80s, cometh the hour comets the spark (yes pun intended!!) that was lech Walesa
Then they the indigenous of many generations here shall not abuse those who sold them their pint of of milk at 5am and their fags at 10.30pm when nobody else opened up shops, they shall not tell those of Irish connection that the famine over so go home. And they shall not castigate the polish man/woman.
I am a product of that, many of you living in Scotland are a product of the Irish famine. You are here, born here, but you have your Irish roots.
A proper memorial to the famine a stand alone one without mixing it up. Clear and simple.
With respect
Prior to the recent rise of the S.N.P. Glasgow City Council was dominated by people of Irish Catholic descent and almost all the M.P.s in West central Scotland were drawn from the same ethno-religious background. So why didn’t they erect a famine memorial, they had plenty of time to do so?
Can I watch black 47 in England
https://youtu.be/xvEcsN__VoI
Phil, the SNP aren’t perfect but I suspect that a joint memorial was more about it not being vandalised on a regular basis by the angry folk who frequent the dilapidated stadium in Govan. Do you forget about Orangefest and how Labour bent over backwards to host it in George Square? The chances of getting a memorial agreed by them would have been less than impossible.
Yes, something bigger, bolder and more appropriate would be desired but until a section of Glasgow’s population stop their sectarian nonsense, I doubt it would last more than a day before being hauled down.
I think PNB makes a very valid point. However, I would go further and suggest that since the famine and the subsequent plight of it’s many victims upon arrival in Glasgow are absolutely pivotal to the founding of this great club, why the memorial statue can not be erected outside the stadium beside the other historical figures there. I can think of few better, or more appropriate settings.
Wonderfully put
Hat tip to Buck at Chelsea. Wash your hat Phil, he’s just another Lord Kilmichael.
Excellent article. The idea of a potato famine needs challenging at every turn. There was no famine, just Britannia attempting gennocide.
I would disagree on one point,that the clearances didn’t cause “irreversible demographic change”. The techniques employed by the ruling classes were slightly different but no less effective. A drive round the empty straths and glens of Sutherland and other areas of the Higjlands can see the effects of this. In fact a stop off at Badbea reveals its horror, that and He work of one Patrick Sellar. Or even a watch of the marvellous play, The Cheviot, the Stag and the BlCk Black Oil. The result was the same but maybe a difference in magnitude. Saddened at the ignorance or fear of the SNP administrationninnGlasgow but they are no different in this area than the previous Slab incumbents.
I would consider Celtic Football Club to be Scotland and Glasgow’s first and best memorial to this period and event in history….
A few hundred kilos of bronze will look good, make a few stop and look and think, and will have a false air of permanence…
… but can there be a better memorial than an enduring sporting club founded for the benefit of those families forced to migrate (directly or indirectly) due to the hardships of ‘the famine’?
In these days of the ‘buy, develop, sell, profit’ mentality and big-business , big wages reality of CelticFC… it’s important not to forget why the club exists in the first place.
That “Club” sadly no longer exists bud.
What we have is a PLC paying lip service to all that that Club stood for and who’s primary objective is making money.
If you want that Club back then a fan controlled Celtic is the only viable option.
It’s the Supporters who keep the spirit of Celtic alive not those who look at returns and expenditure.
Sad but true.
HH
Well written Phil, a real bite yer, your swipe at the SNP City Council just spot on.
At least we managed to stop the Channel Four Comedy about the famine – so far anyway because even Cosgrove knew that would create bedlam – horrific noise from the filth.
The pictures are superb, not wanting to be fawning but this is a work of art.
Thanks John