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Dove sono gli Spartani? Pensieri dal raduno Free Marian Price

Where are The Spartans?

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries an article by guest writer and former blanket man Thomas Dixie Elliot who attended Sunday’s demo in support of Marian Price.

Free Marian Price, Derry 22 aprile 2012I attended yesterdays rally, April 22nd, in support of Marian Price, where I met up and walked with several former Blanket Men, among them Willie G, my friend Sa and Davy Glennon. Just after the speeches a former Blanket man/Hunger Striker from Belfast, Hodgie, approached me and asked did I see the banner.

The banner he referred to was a drawing of Marian with the question above it … ‘Where are The Spartan’s?’ (sic)

The Spartans are how Richard O’Rawe referred to Blanket Men in his first book of that name.

Speaking for myself I must say I was angry that someone had gone to the bother of not only making such a banner but that it was held up beside the platform. And this while former Blanket men from Derry and Belfast stood among the crowd in support of Marian.

Indeed if the question was asked, ‘Where are the Spartans?’ I’ll attempt to answer.

In the years since the Blanket protest many of those whom Richard called The Spartans have died; quite a few killed by British forces or loyalist killer gangs, others have died of natural causes. In fact I’ve heard that at least 50 have died, maybe even more.

A few are now running the North on behalf of the British; pushing through Tory cuts and criminalising Republicanism. In the words of Bobby Sands they are now: “Systemised, institutionalised, decent law-abiding robots.” They have done well for themselves; they are landlords, business owners and have holiday homes in Portugal or Gweedore. The lesser among them are in jobs funded by Britain and they dare not speak of Marian or injustice, never mind protesting, for fear of being seen as dissenting and thus loosing favour and those jobs.

Then there are the former Spartans who are still imprisoned by the past and wasted years.

Last night in a bar with my wife we sat beside two young girls and got talking to them. Their surname brought back memories of a young boy who was just 16 when he went on the Blanket Protest. I hadn’t heard of the lad in many years even though he lived only a few miles away across the river. The girls told us that indeed he is their uncle, the brother of their father. He had got married many years ago in the US and the marriage lasted only 3 weeks. Today, they told us, he is still in jail. That jail is a small flat he only leaves to get a few messages. He cannot escape from the memories of 30 years ago.

In Derry I know there are many other former Blanket Men like that, worse even. Some find escape in alcohol, others have serious mental problems; like the lad who talks to the Hunger Strikers and phones a friend, another former Blanket Man, to ask him does he remember the time the screws came into his cell at four in the morning to beat him and his cellmate senseless.

I saw a former Blanket Man standing close to the platform, a big man who had just been operated on to cut cancer from his body. He leant on a walking stick and when I asked him how he was after the rally, the pain etched on his face as he spoke, said more than what he told me.

I’m told that there are many former Blanket Men going though what I described above in other parts of the North. I cannot speak for them but I hope I’ve answered the question asked by those holding up the banner as to the whereabouts of ‘The Spartans’.

Indeed the question should have been: ‘Where are all those who passed through the prisons since the Cages and Internment?’

Then again, maybe the answer is similar to that of ‘The Spartans’?

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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