March Of The Irish Language Movement Will Not Be Stopped By Stormont, Westminster or Leinster House
This past week has been a momentous one for Irish speakers in the Six Counties. Following a massive march organised by An Dream Dearg in Belfast on Saturday, May 22nd, the process of passing an Identity and Language Bill began in Westminster on Wednesday, May 25th.
The Identity and Language Bill will see the appointment of a Language Commissioner for the Six Counties. The Commissioner will ensure that the Irish-speaking minority within the statelet have the right to interact with the state in Irish. It will also bring to an end a colonial era act of 1737 which forbids Irish being used in the court system of the Six Counties.
The Lá Dearg march drew huge crowds, with some estimating upwards of 20,000 people in attendance. Irish speakers from across Ireland mobilised, wearing the by-now obligatory red, signifying their anger at the denial of basic language rights.
A section of the Lá Dearg protest in Belfast that was attended by up to 20,000 people
Community groups that work through Irish, Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí, Irish-language organisations, trade unions, political parties, abortion rights campaigners, minority groups of different ethnicities and Irish speakers from Protestant backgrounds, all descended on the Cultúrlann on the Falls Road before making their way to Belfast City Hall.
To build to such a large and effect demonstration has taken many years. Indeed, the origins of such a display of mass people power can probably be traced back to the dedicated work of a handful of radical Irish language activists in Belfast from the 1960s onwards.
The foundation of the urban Gaeltacht in Bóthar Seoigh in 1969 and the first Gaelscoil in the Six Counties in 1971 planted the seeds for a working-class language revival that grew from below.
An Lá Dearg passes a mural featuring Bobby Sands on the Falls Road
Since then the network of Gaelscoileanna has grown, and youth clubs that function entirely through Irish have grown alongside them. The tireless work of the volunteers and employees who built that sector was clear to see during the Lá Dearg with the youthful demographic in attendance.
While the initial introduction of the Identity and Language Bill on Wednesday was a day of celebration for Irish speakers, An Dream Dearg activists have indicated that they will not simply cease their organisational work.
They realise that continued pressure on the British state apparatus will be needed to ensure full implementation of the proposed legislation. Indeed, they recognise the bill is but a “staging post” on a much longer journey.
As we see demographic shifts in the Six Counties altering the balance of political forces, we are also seeing the unravelling of the cultural conquest through the work of decolonisation. That work is far from complete, both in the Six and in the Twenty-Six Counties.
For centuries the British state attempted to eliminate every vestige of Irish culture, including our language, music, dance, sports and folklore - attempts that ended in failure
In fact, some Irish speakers in the Twenty-Six Counties believe that the type of grassroots campaign so successfully advanced by An Dream Dearg is needed to address the apathetic attitude of the southern state.
The linguistic erosion of the Gaeltachtaí continues unabated, while the growth of the Gaelscoil movement is being actively curtailed by the Dublin government’s Department of Education.
These problems are driven by the neo-colonial and neo-liberal Dublin government, as well as the continued intransigence of some sectors of the Six County statelet, will not go away overnight and must be challenged – a task that ordinary people must carry out.
Since the time of the Gaelic Revival over a century ago, grassroots activists have shown themselves to be the most effective defenders of, and advocates for, Ireland’s native language and culture.
The events of the last week demonstrate once again that the Irish language movement will not be contained by Stormont, Westminster or Leinster House.