Will Irish Unity mean the Empowerment of the People?
There is a new Page opened on Facebook, called “1 Million Voices for Irish Unity“, a thing we agree with. It has prompted the following comment: Let’s give some thought as to how unity is going to come about, to what purpose and on what basis? James Fintan Lalor declared he “had never gone into […]
Revolutions of the past still talk to us
Someone has asked why we should bother looking at history at all, wouldn’t we be better focusing on the future? We do not look at history for reasons of nostalgia or wishing that we might repeat what was done before, but correcting any ‘mistakes’. Our focus is, and should be, on the future, on finding […]
La Marseillaise
This marching song of the French Army of the Revolution has since become the National Anthem of France. Allons enfants de la Patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrivé; Contre nous, de la tyrannie L’étendard sanglant est levé, L’étendard sanglant est levé. Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Mugir ces féroces soldats? Ils viennent jusque dans nos […]
‘The Fool’, a poem by Pádraig Mac Piarais
The Fool Since the wise men have not spoken, I speak that am only a fool; A fool that hath loved his folly, Yea, more than the wise men their books or their counting houses or their quiet homes, Or their fame in men’s mouths; A fool that in all his days hath done never […]
Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen from 1793
There was an earlier declaration in 1789, this one is a more comprehensive statement. The French people, convinced that forgetfulness and contempts of the natural rights of man are the sole causes of the miseries of the world, have resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration these sacred and inalienable rights, in order that […]
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen 1789
A further declaration was written in 1793 The declaration was written by the Marquis de Lafayette, with help from Thomas Jefferson. Lafayette had assisted in the defeat of the British forces in the American Revolution. King Louis XVI of France signed this declaration, without much choice, but never intended to support it – he was […]