Κυριακή 24 Απριλίου 2016

Easter Rising

Children playing in a derelict site.
Maguinness's court, off Townsend Street,
Dublin, c. 1913
“You cannot conquer Ireland, you cannot extinguish the Irish passion for freedom. If our deed has not been sufficient to win freedom, then our children will win it by a better deed.”

This is what Patrick Pearse testified in front of the British Martial Court during the trial, in the aftermath of the Dublin's Uprising, which had been taken place in the Irish capital few days ago. Pearse, the man who, on Easter Monday 24th of  April 1916, read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic from outside the General Post Office in Dublin, was proved right. His sacrifice and that of the others who were executed lit the flame of Irish resistance to British rule, which ended with the formation of the Irish Free State in 1922. 

Weekly Irish Times.
May 1916
"We serve neither King nor Kaiser. BUT IRELAND".
Irish Citizen Army Group. Liberty Hall, Dublin 1914

POBLACHT NA hEIREANN
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH REPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND

IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN: In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom. Having organized and trained her manhood through her secret revolutionary organization, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and through her open military organizations, the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army, having patiently perfected her discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal itself, she now seizes that moment, and supported by her exiled children in America and by gallant allies in Europe, but relying in the first on her own strength, she strikes in full confidence of victory. We declare the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by a foreign people and government has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people. In every generation the Irish people have asserted their right to national freedom and sovereignty; six times during the past three hundred years they have asserted it in arms. Standing on that fundamental right and again asserting it in arms in the face of the world, we hereby proclaim the Irish Republic as a Sovereign Independent State, and we pledge our lives and the lives of our comrades in arms to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the nations. The Irish Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The Republic guarantees religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and declares its resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all of the children of the nation equally, and oblivious of the differences carefully fostered by an alien Government, which have divided a minority from the majority in the past. Until our arms have brought the opportune moment for the establishment of a permanent National Government, representative of the whole people of Ireland and elected by the suffrages of all her men and women, the Provisional Government, hereby constituted, will administer the civil and military affairs of the Republic in trust for the people. We place the cause of the Irish Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our arms, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonor it by cowardice, inhumanity, or rapine. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valor and discipline, and by the readiness of its children to sacrifice themselves for the common good, prove itself worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.


Signed on behalf of the Provisional Government:

THOMAS J. CLARKE, THOMAS MacDONAGH, SEAN Mac DIARMADA, EAMONN CEANNT
P. H. PEARSE, JOSEPH PLUNKETT, JAMES CONNOLLY 


The sixteen leaders of the uprising who were executed
in Kilmainham Gaol Dublin's Prison in May 1916
Kilmainham Gaol.
Dublin, February 2013

But the bravest fell, and the requiem bell
rang mournfully and clear
For those who died that Eastertide in
the springing of the year
And the world did gaze, in deep amaze,
at those fearless men, but few
Who bore the fight that freedom’s light
might shine through the foggy dew... 

"The Foggy Dew", Canon Charles O'Neill

Kilmainham Gaol.
Dublin, February 2013

In memory of the Irishmen and women who took up the arms in Dublin on the Easter Monday of 1916 (24th April 1916). Defying the might of an Empire, they stood up with true rebellious spirit, for an Independent Ireland...  

Tiocfaidh ár lá!

Κυριακή 10 Απριλίου 2016

Exodus

Τα κλειδιά του Μεσολογγίου είναι στις μπούκες των κανονιών μας κρεμασμένα... 

"The Sortie of Mesolonghi".
Theodoros Vryzakis, 1853

"We ended up in a situation that we have to eat the most unclean animals. We are terribly suffering from hunger and thirst. We have been attacked from various diseases. 1740 of our brothers have already died. The enemy has sent more than 100.000 bombs against us, destroying our parapets and houses. We are feeling the cold so intense as we are completely out of wood. Despite our hardships the courage and the high moral of our guard is remarkable. In a few days from now all these brave men they will be only shadows of angels, martyrs, in front the throne of God, of the indifference of the Christian world as this is its case too. In the name of all our gallant men i announce, under the sight of God, that we swear to defend inch by inch the ground of Mesolonghi. Rather to be buried under the city ruins than to respond to any offer for surrender. We are living our final moments. History will give us right and the people after us will mourn for our disaster. The thought that the blood of a Swissman, offspring of William Tell, will be mixed with the blood of the heroes of Greece makes me really proud."

Letter of Johann Jakob Meyer, April 1826

"Greece expiring at the ruins of Mesolonghi".
Eugene Delaqroix, 1827
"Καταντήσαμεν εις τοιαύτην ανάγκην ώστε να τρεφόμεθα από τα πλέον ακάθαρτα ζώα. Υποφέρομεν φρικτά από πείναν και δίψαν. Προσεβλήθημεν από διαφόρους ασθενείας. 1.740 από τους αδελφούς μας έχουν ήδη αποθάνει. Περισσότεραι από 100.000 βόμβαι ριφθείσαι από τον εχθρόν, κατέστρεαψν τους προμαχώνας και τα οικήματά μας. Το ψύχος μας βασανίζει λόγω της παντελούς ελλείψεως ξύλων. Με όλας τας στερήσεις ταύτας είναι αξιοθαύμαστον θέαμα να βλέπη κανείς το θάρρος  και το υψηλόν φρόνημα της φρουράς μας. Εις ολίγας ημέρας όλοι αυτοί οι γενναίοι θα είναι σκιαί μόνον αγγέλων, μάρτυρες ενώπιον του θρόνου του Θεού, της αδιαφορίας του χριστιανικού κόσμου δι' υπόθεσι, ήτις ήτο ιδική του. Εξ ονόματος όλων των ανδρείων μας σας αναγγέλλω την ενώπιον του Θεού μεθ' όρκου ληφθείσαν απόφασίν μας να υπερασπίσωμεν σπιθαμήν προς σπιθαμήν το έδαφος του Μεσολογγίου και να συνταφιασθώμεν υπό τα ερείπια της πόλεως, παρά να ακούσωμεν πρότασίν τινα περί παραδόσεως. Ζώμεν τας τελευταίας μας στιγμάς. Η ιστορία θέλει μας διακιώσει και οι μεταγενέστεροι θα θρηνήσουν την συμφοράν μας. Εμέ καθιστά υπερήφανον η σκέψις ότι το αίμα ενός Ελβετού, ενός απογόνου του Γουλιέλμου Τέλλου, μέλλει να συμμιχθή με το αίμα των ηρώων της Ελλάδος."

Επιστολή του Johann Jakob Meyer, Απρίλιος 1826

"Daughter of Greece",
Garden of Heroes, Mesolonghi, Jan 2008

Memorial to the Heroes of Mesolonghi.
January 2008

The night of 10th to 11th April 1826, dawned Palm Sunday, the remaining inhabitants and defenders of Mesolonghi, having no other choice left after 12 months under siege, they will try to break through the enemy lines of the Ottoman - Egyptian army, seeking their own path to Freedom...
The Exodus of Mesolonghi, one of the brightest moments of the Greek War of Independence, will stay in history as a fine example of heroism, valor and self - sacrifice.

Mesolonghi Lagoon, January 2008

Και βλέπω πέρα τα παιδιά και τες αντρογυναίκες
Γύρου στη φλόγα π’ άναψαν, και θλιβερά τη θρέψαν
Μ’ αγαπημένα πράματα και με σεμνά κρεβάτια,
Ακίνητες, αστέναχτες, δίχως να ρίξουν δάκρυ·
Και αγγίζ’ η σπίθα τα μαλλιά και τα λιωμένα ρούχα·
Γλήγορα, στάχτη, να φανής, οι φούχτες να γιομίσουν.

Είν’ έτοιμα στην άσπονδη πλημύρα των αρμάτων
Δρόμο να σχίσουν τα σπαθιά, κι’ ελεύθεροι να μείνουν
Εκείθε με τους αδελφούς, εδώθε με το χάρο.