Opinion

Jim Gibney: Féile celebrates an inclusive and tolerant Ireland

Taking part in the Feile an Phobail parade along the Falls Road. Picture by Cliff Donaldson.
Taking part in the Feile an Phobail parade along the Falls Road. Picture by Cliff Donaldson. Taking part in the Feile an Phobail parade along the Falls Road. Picture by Cliff Donaldson.

The Great Hall at Queen's University was packed for the recent speech of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

In the hall were opinion makers from all walks of life in the north who were comfortable in the taoiseach’s company. I knew some of them and knew that they had made and still make a valuable contribution to the peace and political processes. All of them have been affected in varying degrees by partition and the conflict, some grievously.

The taoiseach chose Queen's to make his first speech in the north and this was very welcome indeed. Belfast is Ireland’s second capital and its people have endured much, as did the people of the north, as a result of partition and the ensuing conflict.

That evening the assembly hall of St Mary’s University College in west Belfast, was also packed for a Féile an Phobail tribute to the late Martin McGuinness, the north’s former Deputy First Minister.

Martin was a supporter of and a regular participant in Féile. I knew many in the audience. They supported Martin McGuinness when he led the IRA and when he made peace. Many had paid dearly for their solidarity.

Danny Morrison, Mitchel McLaughlin - a life-long friend and comrade - and TD Mary Lou McDonald, traced Martin’s role as a republican activist over five decades and his international status as a leader and statesman.

Even though I knew Martin for almost 40 years, his story, as revealed in the conversation, was spellbinding. His two sons Fiachra and Emmett and other family members, I suspect, learned more about Martin that night. I certainly did.

Queen's and St Mary’s are two of Ireland’s distinguished institutions of higher education with a long history.

The taoiseach’s presence rightly placed the north at the centre of national politics and there it should remain, regardless of who is taoiseach, until a new and independent Ireland has been achieved. St Mary’s, the host for Féile, and many other community events, is a model of how to connect institutions of learning with the community.

The taoiseach’s speech and the tribute to Martin McGuinness, in different ways, reflect the disastrous effects of partition and Britain’s continued interference in Ireland. They also reflect the urgent need for Ireland’s interests to be at the fore of all negotiations whether over Brexit or the restoration of the north’s institutions. One nation, one city, two events, enmeshed in a conflict not of our making. But at both events were people with the tenacity, wisdom and experience to navigate the way forward to a better Ireland.

There was a freshness about the taoiseach’s speech and a joy that he, as a gay man, uncompromisingly stood with the LGBT community in Ireland in its drive for equality and demonstrated this by attending a Pride event in Belfast.

A casual scan of Féile an Phobail’s comprehensive programme covering arts and culture and sport but especially politics, shows its claim to be Ireland’s biggest summer school to be fully justified.

It is in the good company of an Irish language Féile, centred in Culturlann and providing an assessment of current affairs as Gaeilge.

The new and independent Ireland of tomorrow is reflected in the events of both Féilte.

It is a bi-lingual and inclusive Ireland where being different is to be celebrated, not shrouded in fear and anxiety, whether you are a nationalist seeking independence; a unionist desiring to be British; a relative hurt by the conflict seeking truth; working class seeking a different society based on economic equality; a feminist seeking women’s rights; a member of the international community seeking a platform about the horrors of civil war in Syria as presented by the indefatigable Robert Fisk; a Palestinian seeking a state; or living in Donald Trump’s US and mobilising the myriad voices of ordinary people, using their experience, to argue for democratic change as Amy Goodman does through the ‘Democracy Now’ media network.

Wherever you are on the spectrum of political opinion in Ireland or internationally Féile is your home.

It has been tested in its 29 years and it has provided imaginative opportunities for Irish and other societies emerging from conflict, whatever its nature.

Féile’s organisers have good reason to be looking forward to celebrating their big 30 next year.

It promises to be the gig of all gigs.