A soon to be released new book by Belfast historian John Quinn will pay tribute to those republicans who kept the flame of freedom alive in Belfast in the years from partition to the early 70s and the renewed conflict in the north.

The book will look at the period, the people and the political systems, North and South as it attempts to illuminate the sacrifice and commitment that so many republicans made in the decades from the 20s to the 60s.

`A Rebel Voice - A History of Belfast Republicanism 1925-1972', tells a story of struggle, of socialism and republicanism, Catholic and Protestant.

It highlights the events within Republicanism during the thirties and forties, a period that many in the Six Counties lack a clear understanding of.

Many of the stories are told by those few survivors who took part. They tell of a struggle against the odds, of experiences in jails North and South - the hunger strikes and prison protests. It covers the actions of Irishmen in the Spanish Civil War, the Stephen Hayes Affair, the birth of the Provisionals and the fall of Stormont. It destroys the myth of De Valera's wartime government being a neutral pro-Republican regime, and shows that De Valera co-operated with Britain and took a strong stand against Republicans.

This is a book that will stir debate among those with an interest in Irish and local history and it will serve to educate both communities about a period in history that many still do not fully understand or appreciate.

The launch will be on Thursday 4 March at 1.30pm in the Sean O'Neill Craft Shop, Conway Street Belfast where some of the main characters interviewed for the book will be present.





A week after Bloody Sunday an enormous civil rights march was held in Newry. It was a peaceful expression of anger and defiance after the murders in Derry. The number who marched that day in Newry would only be equalled during the hunger strikes in 1981 and Drumcree in 1997 - arguably the three defining moments of nationalist anger on the streets.

The march after Bloody Sunday was marked by a real fear that more violence would be visited on the demonstrators. SDLP MP Ivan Cooper said at the time: ``[Dublin government Taoiseach] Mr Lynch should position Irish troops close to the border on Sunday and if any attempt is made to repeat Bloody Sunday these troops should cross the border to prevent the slaughter of innocent lives.''

In the event British troops sealed off the town centre, preventing people from South Down from reaching the assembly point on the Camlough Road. And so two marches were held that day, one on either side of the town centre. The main march was estimated at 50,000 strong and it passed off peacefully after being re-routed into the town's Meadow estate.

This little pamphlet, compiled by two members of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Newry, describes the march in Newry that day. It also contains some of the eyewitness accounts from Bloody Sunday and an analysis of the Widgery Tribunal into the killings.

It is an excellent little publication.

By Brian Campbell