Paul Bew came under some flak in the blogs for comments at the John Hewitt Summer School in which he likened the famous Burntollet March to the ‘spark that lit the prairie fire’ ie, started the Northern Ireland Troubles. I interviewed him about this for Sunday Sequence. Here is the uncut interview.
Posted by Malachi O'Doherty, Aug 08, 2008 07:09 AM
brian f farry wrote on Aug 08, 10:47 pm
In relation to the Burntollet march it is not often noted that there was limited support for the march in student quarters at the time. As a former Peoples Democracy activist in Belfast at the time I well remember the debates in Queens leading up to the march. Twice I recall proposals for the march to proceed were voted down by a well attended gathering of students from not only Queens but other Belfast third level colleges. Those votes were taken in mid-week. At the weekend however a cabal of individuals determined to get their way held another meeting. This meeting not surprisingly was much less well attended given the prediliction for rural students to disappear to their mammies to get fed and their ironing done!!The vote for a march was achieved at this weekend meeting and given the laziness of students was not challenged with any vigour when the main body of students returned to their colleges. The weather on the weekend of the march was nasty and as a result a rather small band of student activists headed out. Had the bone-headed gang of paisleyites at Burntollet read the situation better and ignored the march it would have made its way to Derry, nobody would have paid too much attention, and Paul Bew would have been denied his 'spark'.
joe hill wrote on Aug 09, 12:01 am
brian farry won't name names but i will - the person who manipulated the vote for burntollet, ie who arranged the timing of key votes to coincide with the absence on xmas hollidays of most students was one michael farrell who these days luxuriates in his position as a member of the southern irish legal establishment - back in those days farrell was an undisguised radical leftie - nowadays he wouldn't be seen dead in the company of most of those who went on the march, which is itself something of a comment on where we are and where we came from
Sean H wrote on Sep 05, 10:39 pm
Hello, I am a leaving cert history student hoping to give a balanced account of the burntollet march as a research topic as part of the course. I was just hoping that anyone that could help me or suggest any possible sources of information would leave a comment or e-mail me at s.hiney@hotmail.com. Thank you