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21 August, 2003

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Sean Russell honoured

BY ROISIN DE ROSA

Belfast republican Brian Keenan gave the main oration at the commemoration of Sean Russell in Fairview Park last Saturday, 17 August, where several hundred people came to pay respect to a native of Dublin who played so important a role in the IRA in the first half of the last century.

Analysing Sean Russell's life and his role in the Republican struggle, Brian reviewed the strange history of Sean Russell from his birth in Fairview in 1893 to his death at the end of the Second World War. He talked about the part Russell had played during the '20s and the '30s in the ideological disputes surrounding the Republican Congress and the formation of Saor Éire, and his role, as IRA Chief of Staff, in the disastrous campaign in England during the Second World War.

"I don't know," Brian acknowledged "what was in the depth of Sean Russell's thinking down the years, but I am sure he was never far from Pearse's own position, who said, "as a patriot, preferring death to slavery, I know no other way.

"There are things worse than bloodshed, and slavery is one of them," he said. "We are not and will not be slaves."

Also speaking at the commemoration were Marylou McDonald and Ciaran Mac Anraoi, who spoke articulately about the importance of of the party's election strategy over the coming year.

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