It was a challenging enough dander up my bóithrín on Monday.
No matter the time difference, I knew the clock would soon be striking thirteen in Washington, DC.
In an act of mass complicity, everyone carries their own personal telescreen in their hand.
This is even after Edward Snowden told us that our large sibling at Fort Meade is watching.
Always watching…
Even the mere proles are under those watchful Five Eyes.
Consequently, it is easy to feel powerless as such a deluge approaches.
A long time ago, a comrade on An Phoblacht said to me, “Write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.”
Given what I knew of his revolutionary CV, he had plenty to get down on paper himself!
Over the past few days, I have thought of his comradely guidance as my phone filled up with images from the West Bank.
The photos and video clips showed young people being introduced to that most Irish of games, hurling.
UNESCO considers hurling to be a “global cultural asset”,it is over 3,000 years old and is said to be the world’s fastest field game.
Dear reader, it is a sight to behold to be in Croke Park and watch the teams compete for the Liam McCarthy Cup.
The skill and commitment of these so-called amateur players are breathtaking.
Liam was a London Irishman who was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
His own CV is worthy of a Netflix mini-series.
The featured image was sent to me by another proud London Irishman.
My friend and comrade Stephen Redmond.
It shows some hurling gear at the start of a training camp for kids in Ramallah on the West Bank.
Those hurleys and sliotars came from Donegal.
I know, I arranged it.
In the last months of 2024, your humble correspondent was in the hurley export business with Stephen.
A few key players wish to remain anonymous, and I fully get that.
My main contribution was to source the gear and make the introductions.
Well, between the jigs and the reels, the consignment got there.
In Ramallah, the youngsters were being introduced to the ancient sport of Gaelic Ireland.
For the avoidance of doubt, the following photographs are shared with the express permission of the officer board of GAA Palestine and the local community on the West Bank.
The fella who received the gear was Donegal lad Cathal Ó Gaillín.
He was home for Christmas when the handover was completed.
Getting it out there wasn’t easy.
Not all superheroes wear capes.
Some of them swing hurleys.
Cathal is part of a tag team at the training camp bringing the Gah to the kids in the West Bank.
The other superhero, Claire, is a mighty woman from the Banner County.
Camógaíocht sa Phalaistin!
Zionism can only ever win a total victory and create a Greater Israel ethnostate if it breaks the spirit of the Palestinian people.
Well, this crew don’t look broken to me!
Anything we can do to help, anything at all, is to be on the right side of history and, crucially, not powerless as awful events unfold.
The Israeli ambassador to Ireland did some media stuff here in the last few days.
She bemoaned the fact that we Irish just don’t get it about Israel and their Palestinian problem.
Actually, madam Ambassador, we get it more than you can possibly know.
Invasion, dispossession, occupation, humiliation and oppression.
Yeah, we really do get it.
It irks me beyond anything that I can write here that this state still has diplomatic relations with the Apartheid state of Israel.
Ach sin e scéal eile.
I’ll leave the last word on herself to the brilliant people at Waterford Whispers.
As these words blink to life, I look up, and there he is, a stern young hurler in 1940s Mayo.
My father was part of the “no foreign games” generation regarding soccer.
The ban was lifted the same year his mother bought her grandson a junior hurley in Westport.
I still have it.
The Mayo hurler’s son was brought up in the Hoops faith by the other side of the house.
It was just another fold in the garment of Irishness that we all are wrapped in, whether here at home or in the diaspora.
When my son was in South Korea teaching, it was as natural as breathing that he would seek out his own.
I know he’s very proud of his time as a cornerback for the Seoul Gaels.
You could say that we Irish have branches everywhere!
Whatever the match, whatever the code, it’s a part of us, and we can connect with others who suffer oppression BECAUSE we know our history.
I recall a talk by one Celtic historian stating that the initial discussions in 1887 was for Celtic to play Gaelic games instead of soccer.
However, Brother Walfrid wanted a new charitable enterprise to play the game that the Scots liked.
The rest, as you know, is unbroken history.
Tonight, Celtic Park will crackle with the atmosphere it is renowned for.
If there are Palestine flags on the show, then that’s part of the solidarity as much as the sliotars I sourced here in Dún na nGall that are now being knocked about on the West Bank by kids who want joy in their lives.
Our revenge over the Zionist apartheid state and their genocide facilitators here in the West will be the laughter of those children.
“Everyone, Republican or otherwise, has their own particular part to play. No part is too great or too small, no one is too old or too young to do something.”
— Bobby Sands
I’ve asked you before, but please give what you can to GAA Palestine.
You’ll be making a difference.
If we act in any way that we can, then we don’t need to be Winston Smith during Trump’s oligarchy bromance.
This is great to read, Phil. For a small country, it always punches above its weight. It’s depressing to read day in and day out the misery the Palestinian people have to suffer at the hands of a brutal regime.
Little things like this are powerful acts, though small, it’s a beautiful show of solidarity and you never know, one of those kids could be playing in an All-Ireland hurling final in years to come.
Well done!
Donation sent, Phil. Great cause and brave, brave people. Up the GAA
As a hurling and camogie coach in Ath Cliath, thank you Phil . An incredible effort from all involved.
Great article Phil, the Palestinian people have suffered from Imperialism and Colonisation since the end of the 2nd WW. It’s good to see the hand of friendship being shown from people whose forebears suffered the same injustices and racism for 100’s of years from the rulers of England along with some willing land grabbing Scots.
Democracy in the US and Europe is now under real threat, I’ve got close relatives in America and they are all worried that this guy and his group of far right people he has surrounded himself with, are going to tear up the American Constitution. You just have to look at the people invited to his inauguration and those who surround him to see the dangers they pose, The freeing of the people who attacked the Capitol building 4 years ago puts one in mind of Hitler and the Brown Shirts in 1930’s Germany.
As for the Immigrants? all Americans are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, except the Native Americans, and those of Black African ethnicity who were forcibly taken there as slaves. It is naked white racism nothing else.
True -he did it twice, I fear for the future; the climate , economies and the revelling in ignorance.
That’s a great effort phil, many thanks,donation sent after reading this.
Míle buíochas Brendan.
That’s mighty.
Go raibh maith agat Brendan. Yes, a really great write up. Viva Palestine, viva GAA Palestine
We saw, yesterday a blatant Nazi salute, how any American citizen could support such a situation is completely beyond me. I wish them well but I am appalled at their situation
That’s ridiculous. Sober up. He didn’t intentionally do a nazi salute. Jesus christ.
People like you should be ashamed of themselves. Yeah, he was clearing his throat 🤡
I think you’ll find that the “Nazi salute” is in an actual reference to the man who wrote the American Pledge of Allegiance.