West Belfast erupts!
Belfast is to be blitzed again next week when the west of the
city sends out shock waves and reverberates to the tenth Féile an
Phobail. For a demonstration of energy, people pride, community
solidarity and hospitality, it is hard to match. Beginning with a
huge carnival parade on Sunday which converges on Woodstock,
Falls Park, the highlight this year will be a gesture of
friendship with four RAF skydivers nervously descending onto a
canvas painted with a huge dove in the football field. The
Festival ends sometime in the early hours of Monday week in a
mystical place called Springhill. Oasis begged to play there for
free but lacked the amplification. And talent.
Not that it's all party-time. This is a community which takes
itself seriously and knows why it is on the map. Demonisation
makes for victimhood, but West Belfast has long ago transcended
the tendency for introversion and is THE flagship in nationalist
confidence. Here the Irish language thrives, but humour is the
first tongue: the festival radio has a programme named after a
hangover tablet; another programme is presented by Memory Man,
Fra Coogan, who along with the legendary Finn McCool invented
soccer, long before the English discovered the wheel.
d speaking of sport there is the Bobby Sands Cup Memorial
Soccer Tournament in Twinbrook and the Mairead Farrell Comogie
tournament - two mainstay events in the festival.
There are concerts, plays, exhibitions, lectures and debates, too
many to mention, so I'll just single out some which I think to be
the most interesting. On Monday lunchtime in the Falls Library,
Don Mullin, author of the highly-acclaimed book, `Eyewitness',
will present damning evidence against the British authorities
over the killings in Derry on Bloody Sunday. On Monday night in
Conway Mill will be a screening of a documentary, `The San
Patricios', followed by a talk given by Janice Jordan, a San
Diegan activist. This fascinating film depicts the tragic story
of 500 former US soldiers during the US-Mexican war in the 1840s,
most of whom were Irish emigrants. Led by Captain John Riley from
Galway they abandoned the US army and fought for Mexican
sovereignty. Unfortunately, this event clashes with the Frank
Cahill Memorial Lecture which discusses the racism under our
noses - Irish attitudes towards Travellers.
Wednesday night in St Louise's School is a political must. On the
platform for `Questions and Answers' chaired by Carol Coulter
(`Irish Times') is Norman Porter (Ulster Unionist Party and
author of `Rethinking Unionism'), Gerry Adams MP, Sile de Valera
(Minister of Arts, Gaeltacht, and the Islands) and Bruce Morrison
(leading Irish-American poltician). Former Taoiseach Albert
Reynolds (tipped as a Presidential candidate in the autumn
election) will deliver the P.J. McGrory Memorial Lecture in St
Agnes' Parish Centre on Saturday, 9th August.
Throughout the week there will be a unique collaboration between
Irish muralists and painters from abroad, including two
Australian aborigines and Gary White Deer, a Native American from
Oklahoma. On a gable next to Culturlann on the Falls Road each
artist will make a contribution to a mural commemorating the
twentieth anniversary of the death of South African activist
Steve Biko.
For details on all events telephone Feile an Phobail at Belfast
313440. But don't mention the RAF skydivers. I was just kiddin'.
By Danny Morrison
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