I learned a lot from Christy while doing time in Cork prison. Thanks to Noel the music teacher. Also learned mandolin and banjo. Never suffered racist shit but maybe cos I'm a scouser and the name
I’m English (albeit with some Irish ancestry like many English people). In 1981 I was 17, and - if I’m honest - until hearing about the blanket protests and hunger strikes, I had blindly swallowed the British govt line that IRA volunteers and POWs were criminals and/or psychopaths. But after seeing how these courageous young men were prepared to die an awful death for their beliefs, I began to question the official / Thatcher version of events. Especially since the special category status they were asking (and dying) for had been in place already since internment, until Merlyn Rees of the *Labour* govt abolished it in 1976 as part of the ill-fated ‘Ulsterisation’ policy. I enrolled on a local evening class about Irish history to find out more - and was amazed to learn of British colonial interference in Ireland going back 800 years. At the time, the area of London I lived in had a sizeable Irish community. I had a couple of Irish friends at school, but this class was brilliant, a mixture of Brits like myself, and some Irish men & women wanting to learn about their country’s history. Ever since then I’ve tried to educate myself about Irish history and the British in Ireland, especially the period after WW2. Seems to me that Sinn Fein’s allegations during the 1969-1998 war (aka ‘the Troubles’) have subsequently been confirmed, even though they may have seemed implausible at the time to people outside the North. Collusion between the RUC, UDR, British army and Loyalist paramilitaries; the shoot-to-kill policy; selective assassination; military pre-planning before the Bloody Sunday & Ballymurphy massacres (and the subsequent Widgery report whitewash); MRF plain-clothes murder gangs driving around randomly shooting civilians… the list goes on. And I bet there’s still more to emerge. An ignoble period of British colonial rule, but happily one that looks to be drawing to a close peacefully, as Sinn Fein’s continued political successes (both north and south of the border) suggest that a united Ireland may become a reality in the next couple of decades (especially after Brexit). And is it not the case that the Republican ‘ballot box & Armalite’ strategy began to be developed after the successful by-election campaign that saw Bobby Sands’ electiion as a Member of Parliament? I never thought I would live to see Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness cooperating and having a laugh together… or McGuinness shaking hands with the Queen… incredible! But true 😊
Im proud to call a few blanket men and women as friends, I've heard stories that would turn your hair grey. They suffer in silence to this day. Bless them. There must be justice for this tragic period, it was a war crime, nothing less. It's easy to taunt a lion in a cage but try doing it when the lion is free.
+UPTHERA --You Take Care wonder if you and your comrades would have had the same commitment when you see THE MORAL SHITHOUSE that now calls itself IRELAND. GOD BLESS.
H BLOCK THE BRITISH AUSHWITZ IN IRELAND WHERE 10 BRAVE IRISH SOLDIERS DIED BACK 1981 BOBBY SANDS WAS THE HERO OF THE H BLOCK PROTEST GOD BLESS HIS MEMORY
Never heard this song (the H-Block song), until just a few minutes ago. My heart wept to hear Christy singing those boys home still. I remember attending gatherings here in Oz at the time in support of the boys On The Blankets...
I was myself, I remember all the strangers in my house with strange accents. Making coffins for marching, I remember getting attacked by guards while marching(protesters), I can remember the guards raiding my house, I remember all the posters for the elections, all the anti British posters. I remember the days those brave men died....
I bought this as a tape, back in the late 80's/early 90's, to support the POW's... Never thought that 25years on the only thing that changed is the name of the internmentcamp. "From H-blocks to Maghaberry "
when I die, I will be greeted at the gates of heaven by not only my family and my wife, I will also be greeted by the victims of ballymurphy, derry, and the hungerstrikers. I was supposed to be the next hunger striker after Michael Devine, but halfway through my hungerstrike, it was called off, saying that the five demands were met. by this point, I was lying in a hospital bed; too weak to move. I was shown the document saying that the hunger strike is over. I was so weak, they had to feed me through a tube. I was released from HM prison maze four months before the prison escape. I was locked up for 10 years for a crime I did not commit.
ScoJoe19 as do it. I was a member of the PIRA, but I was arrested just because I went to the aid of a wounded comrade while I was wearing my balaclava. we were in a shootout with the SAS, when a bullet struck a civilian in the shoulder. I bravely went to his aid and I took a bullet to the leg. I managed to get the civilian to safety, but I was forced to surrender due to blood loss. I would have capped myself, but I had used up all the ammo for my guns.
+UPTHERA Funny how they were so quick to intern the likes of yourself yet The Muslims can walk about saying that they,l kill and maim Etc .I know that BGov has moved on from Internment but only under pressure .We live in a free country as long as we Kow Tow .GOD BLESS.
The English have an amazing ability not to see their own acts of terrorism while oh so quick to point the finger at other countries. And those that did know what was happening didn't care.
The homes of Donegal - only later to be England's Motorway and then borrowed to grace the greatest lyrics ever written. Bless you Christy and bless you Bobby, Francis, Raymond, Patsy, Joe, Martin, Kevin, Kieran, Thomas and Michael - and God bless your families.
thanks lads your sacrifice was the bravest thing that anyone could do never mind ten of youse and it's starting to look good for the north even if it has taken 30 years but we owe youse and the Gibraltar 3 so much thanks show me an English man or woman half as brave tiociadh ar la
You know I've met one or two ov the blanket men what a bunch ov chentalman I. Couldn't even say what I think ov men like this tal81 May God be good to them all the ones with us and the ones that passed and all the lady's ov Ireland youes are. The best ov them all.
Some of my very favourite singer/songwriters i would go as calling "bards". However, with Christy, he's something ellse. Not just a bard but an activist in the most pleasant form. His fame gives him influence and he has used that influence over the years with a good moral compass. Fair play to you Christy. Yer a Good man!
Nerve was touched, just been away working with loads of Irish from every part of the country and as a Dubliner with a normal Dublin accent who does play football not gaelic and that you do get treated like your not proper irish by the rest of the 31 counties yet i keep hearin northerns gettin their knickers in a twist when some does call them a nordie or that, as if their not part of the culchie club - which they clearly are. And thanks for keepin me safe in me north dublin bed, your a star
thats a very true song christy. god bless all the brave men and women who died for irelands cause. two get the brits out off r land. forever ya will never beat the irish.
Its on the album the lost recordings i think its called. Its in a black box with a hape of multicoloured lines on it and 5 or 6 cds. Hope this helps ya.
There is a guy on here with the user name UPTHERA (yea I know) but sometimes I end a post with UP THE RA, as I'm actually a Republican!!! The guy is a pure imposter... Says he was the 11th hunger striker, and in my eyes to lie about that makes you the lowest of the low. I have came across him on a few Republican documentary's so it's not a 1 time thing.. He uses words like "mom" instead of mum or Ma.. And "capped" instead of shot.... If that's not an American I'm a Loyalist .... Just giving you the heads up people!! I like a laugh & a Joke more than most BUT not about the Hunger Strikes .... SCUMBAG!! 🇮🇪✊🏻🇮🇪
dubs live ireland culchies are to busy with that chip on their sholder about dublin . everytime i hear someones story i back them all the way . then i hear if that happened in dublin
i agree and the southern government,not worth speaking about,couldnt run a piss house,they feather their own nests,always did no matter which one was in,but the people here cant see its time for change,and get someone new in,i give up
Patrick Wall The Lyrics as you say did not even come close to the Hell these men endured while all those Plastic Paddies in Dublin were singing About Tattie Fields This was and is Irelands Shame .
What about the abuse and the forced strip searches of republican p.o.w,s still going on in 2021 nothing has changed. Support the republican prisoners! 2021