Connecting the struggles: The Irish and the Indigenous struggles

Interview with Ruth Taillon, an old ally of the Native struggle and currently working on peacebuilding in Ireland. Ruth talks about issues parallel to both the Indigenous and Irish struggles, Leonard Peltier and Bobby Sands.

Tashunka Witko Brigade 1-17-2006 Program:
Connecting the Struggles – The Irish and the Indigenous struggles

Featuring: Ruth Taillon, Irish socialist feminist historian; Wanbli Watakpe, Tashunka Witko Brigade.

Ruth Taillon's over 30 years of struggle for political, economic and social justice, and women's rights, started around the time she joined the indigenous fight against the extradition of Leonard Peltier in Canada, before she moved to Ireland. Since then she has researched and written extensively on social policy and gender equality issues and the women's movement in Northern Ireland. She has a strong interest in women's history, and is a founding member of the Mary Ann McCracken Historical Society and author of When History Was Made: The Women of 1916. She works tirelessly to make community-based peacebuilding in Ireland a reality and to ensure economic disadvantage, social exclusion and marginalization of the Irish people are addressed as part of the peace process.

In this interview, Ruth talks with co-host Wanbli Watakpe about many issues parallel to both the Irish and Indigenous struggles for self-determination: protection of sacred sites (the ancient site of the Hill of Tara and Skryne Valley at the very center of Ireland, and sacred Bear Butte in South Dakota are both threatened by urban development), environmental oppression (Shell Oil’s plan to build a high pressure gas line through the Rossport community in Ireland), threats to traditional culture, and informers in the movements. In addition, she gives a unique look at Leonard Peltier’s struggle for freedom by talking about the rarely mentioned year he spent behind bars in Canada prior to his extradition, and how that struggle ignited the Native movement in Canada and raised many people’s consciousness. She ends by recalling Bobby Sands, the hunger strike that ended his life and the life of nine other heroes of the Irish struggle, and how that sacrifice laid the groundwork for the current peace process.

For more information on the movement to protect the ancient site of the Hill of Tara and Skryne Valley visit http://www.sacredireland.org . To find out about the Shell Oil high pressure pipeline through Rossport and the five men imprisoned for fighting it visit www.freetherossportfive.com

For more information on the Gathering of Nations to Defend Bear Butte or the Inter-Tribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte visit www.bringbacktheway.com or contact: Carter Camp at cartercamp@yahoo.com, Debra White Plume at 605-455-2155, or Vic Camp at 605-455-1122.

The Tashunka Witko Brigade (TWB) focuses on indigenous liberation and gives voice to the indigenous people, the elders, grandmas and warriors on the ground in this our continent. TWB airs on Free Radio Olympia on Tuesdays 3-5 PM PST (with live webstream at www.frolympia.org) and on Berkeley Liberation Radio and Free radio Santa Cruz anytime without warning.