#The Great Hunger
The Fields of Athenry
By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl calling
Michael they are taking you away
for you stole trevelyn's corn so the young might see the morn
now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
(Chorus)
Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing, we had dreams and songs to sing
It's so lonely round the fields of Athenry.
By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young man calling
Nothing matters Mary when you're free
Against the Famine and the Crown, I rebelled they ran me down
Now you must raise our child with dignity.
(Chorus)
By a lonely harbor wall, she watched the last star falling
As the prison ship sailed out against the sky
Sure she'll wait and hope and pray for her love in Botany Bay
Its so lonely round the fields of Athenry.
(Chorus)
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THE GREAT HUNGER
It has heartened the writer more than a little to hear the chorus
of the above famine ballad being sung at Parkhead and at aways games of
Glasgow Celtic.� Athenry, in East Glaway suffered terribly in the
great Famine of� 1845-48.� It's always been the British view
that the Famine was a natural disaster.� An Irish saying from the
time stated that "God sent the hunger.� England sent the Famine!"�
Throughout the period of the potato "blight" - where a mildew rotted potatoes
in storage thus robbing the native Irish people of their only supply of
food - the island of Ireland remained a net exporter of food, especially
grain.� Right through the blight on the potatoes Ireland continued
to export grain to British Cities.� This was no natural disaster.�
It was man-made slaughter, hunger was used as a weapon of war against the
rebellious Irish.� The 1798 rebellion was still living memory, although
the British regime in Ireland had banned the mention of that fateful year,
it was struck from the official records so that people would forget - that's
why the republicans call "Who fears to speak of 98?"� The Famine worked
in England's direct interests in Ireland in that time.� In 1845 the
population of Ireland was approximately 8.5 million.� During the Famine
years of 1845-51� it is estimated that about one million people died
of starvation and more commonly - the diseases like typhus and cholera
followed in it's wake killing people already weakened by malnourishment
- just like in contemporary Somalia, Ethiopia and the like.� There
too the colonialist uses food and hunger as a weapon of war.� In 1841
Ireland had a population of 8.2 million, at the same time in England and
Wales it was 16 million.� In 1976 the population of the whole of Ireland
was 4.7 million, in England and Wales 50 million.� You don't need
gas chambers for a holocaust.� England got fat while Ireland starved,
nothing accidental about that, no "Act of God" no natural disaster.�
It was a disaster but one of their making to suit their ends.� Sing
the song, sing all our songs.� Today the fields around Athenry have
only a shadow of the population that they could comfortably support, yet
still the Free State Politicians bend the knee to the Brits and collaborate
with big business in exporting Ireland's greatest resource - it's people.
People walked from the West of Ireland to try and find food.�
Many of them died by the roadside.� Mother's tried to feed grass to
their infants.� Two million people starved to death.� Though
you might not know it; if your name hails from the West of Ireland then
you probably lost relatives in the Famine.� Ancient History?�
Well, it's about three lifetimes ago.� If you're in your thirties
then chances are your great grandparents would have grown up with the Famine
in living memory.� Basically your Granny's Granny was alive at the
start of the Famine.� Not that long ago is it?.No holocaust?�
Is it just a coincidence that Ireland has only got half the pollution that
it had 150 years ago and many of us weren't born in our own land?
BOBBY SANDS WROTE "If they aren't able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won't break you.
They won't break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the
Irish people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people
of Ireland will have the desire for freedom to show."
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