Republican
Voices,edited by Kevin Bean and Mark Hayes, was
released to the public on the evening of Sunday,
12 August 2001, at An Cultúrlann in West
Belfast. Several of the contributors - Tommy Gorman,
Anthony McIntyre, and Tommy McKearney - were in
attendance at the launch to read some of their
own selected passages from the book, and to answer
questions put forth by members of the audience.
Republican Voices is a collection of personal
reflections and analyses written by these republicans
and their fellow contributors: Brendan Hughes,
Eamonn McDermott, and Mickey McMullen (forward
by Bernadette McAliskey). The book was compiled
for the purpose of giving voice to their unique
experiences in republican history, as well as
to examine the current stagnation in the struggle
and to provide present and future generations
with an antidote for ongoing historical revisionism:
“As
contemporary historians and political analysts
we are aware that the politicians’ bland
‘single transferable speech’, the controlled
thought of party newspapers and the anodyne platitudes
of the carefully edited autobiography do not always
make for the most revealing or useful of historical
resources. We hope that these interviews will
begin to provide a better source of historical
raw material and reveal some of the jagged edges
and harsher realities that underlay the smoothness
and sheen of public discourse.” (p. 18)
The
evening included the surprise announcement from
Tommy McKearney and John McAnulty that they would
raise the questions: "Is republicanism still
relevant?" and "Is republicanism socialism?"
with time allowed for contributions and questions
from the floor. (Mr. McAnulty was not a contributor
to the book. He has been active in Socialist Democracy
for many years.) The commentary of these two men
was devoted to circuitous semantic exploration,
the re-definition of old dogma, and a call for
mass movement.
Several
members of the audience offered thoughtful and
probing statements that unfortunately were not
generously addressed by the two-man panel. In
spite of that, the diverse audience demonstrated
the steadfast unwillingness of some members of
the community to be satisfied with the regurgitation
of stalling dogmatic rhetoric, or with the political
panhandling which is commandeering the republican
movement at present. They voiced the desire to
use their understanding and energies to develop
a forward-looking long-term vision, as well as
to implement short-term participatory constructs
for Irish republicans.
