Larry Kirwan is the leader/lead singer of the band Black 47. In an email dated 11-07-01, he had this to say...
I'm in Wexford (Ireland) now, visiting my Father. I also took
the opportunity to do
a solo gig at the local Arts Centre (thanks to Denis, Niamh, Anne
and
Padraig for their support and hospitality). My visit coincided
with the
Wexford Opera Festival. Soft November nights with an occasional
gentle
rain, but more often clear skies with a waxing glancing moon
gazing down on
an old town sparkling with energy and an exultant joy in itself.
It was
great to run into old friends but, for me, this town is forever
full of
ghosts - rarely oppressive - just bittersweet with regret and a
silent
roiling memory. I love to walk the narrow streets late at night,
always in
the company of their whispers, their soft step behind you and an
occasional
chuckle as the wind from the tips of their fingers brushes your
hair. Old
loves, lost friends and fond relatives joshing with coweled
monks,
Cromwellian soldiers and Home Rule elders for your attention.
One morning, however, I was invited down to the Talbot Hotel
to meet some
people from the Ardoyne area of Belfast. This was a delegation of
the
parents of young children who are being harassed daily on their
way to
school by Loyalists from a neighboring council estate. Their
graphic
account of the insults and abuse inflicted on the children (not
to mention
the occasional tossed bomb) made you wonder that this kind of
conduct is
tolerated in any civilized country, let alone one that claims to
be
Christian.
It caused me to reflect on the cold egocentric nature of
fundamentalism. It
also forced me to confront the fact that until the ugly
"secret" of
Protestant sectarianism is hauled back out from under the carpet
and
exposed to the light of day, there will be no peace in the North
of
Ireland. This is, by no means, a politically correct point of
view right
now: we are all supposed to be putting the past firmly behind us
and moving
on to a new future in Ireland. And please don't think this is
coming from
some Catholic hardliner - we have bigots in our ranks too; but,
to be fair,
they are few and generally ostracized by the community. I have no
doubt,
also, that our Orange and Protestant brethren in the North have
quite
justifiable qualms about having anything to do with the Catholic
Church -
its positions on mixed marriages was scandalous, its continuing
head-in-the-sand attitude towards contraception is hardly
enlightened, and
its imperial and imperious stance towards other religions is
ill-designed
to gain it friends. But the Catholic Church is a waning power in
modern
Ireland. The people might still have an affection for it, but are
hardly
beholden to it any more. The Catholic theocracy that I grew up
with and
even embraced, as a boy, is gone. And good riddance. It may have
had a
surplus of certitude but was never renowned for its charity or
forgiveness.
The modern Irish Catholic Church now inhabits a changed landscape
and has,
for the most part, adapted to it. The priests, that I know, tend
to be
caring friends and compassionate social workers as much as
spiritual
advisers. The day of the bishop threatening all and sundry with
his crozier
is long gone.
Why then this awful hatred for Catholics in certain sections
of
Unionist/Protestant society in the North? What causes a Christian
to throw
bombs at 7 year old girls and call them whores? What kind of
religious
mind-set sanctions this and, even more to the point, what kind of
religious
leader does not outright condemn this behavior? I've heard all
the usual
excuses: retaliation, provocation and that the
Unionist/Protestant people
of North Belfast suffer from a siege mentality as the expanding
Nationalist/Catholic population surrounds them. But none of these
reasons
goes even part of the way towards explaining this particular
Northern Irish
pathological hatred of Catholics and Catholicism. And yet, before
we move
forward, this sore must be exposed to the light of day and be
either lanced
or given time to heal. If not, it will only come back to haunt
us, and the
cycle of violence will continue to curse and maim future
generations.
What is it with fundamentalists that they have such a belief
in the
righteousness of their God? And make no mistake about it, it is
"their"
God. It's definitely not the God of the great majority of the
rest of us
who try to cobble together some system of belief that gets us
through the
night; and this, despite the fact that there appears to be only
the
slightest circumstantial evidence to suggest that there is indeed
a God(s).
And what is Faith? Is it something divinely granted or merely the
fodder of
self-deluding fools? That's the eternal question, especially when
lying
awake at four o'clock in the troubled morning. But as the world
breaks down
into two great camps of insistent fundamentalism and all the rest
of us
inadequately wrestling with mortality, it's a question that will
have to be
faced both in Belfast and Kabul. And despite all the efforts for
co-existence in the North of Ireland, there will be no peace
until
fundamentalists come to terms with the fact that a belief system
which
causes you to hate other religions is no religion at all.
Of course, it's true that there are many other problems in the
North: some
of us want a united Ireland, a socialist republic, a pluralist
society, a
real democracy, autonomy, union with Britain, you name it; but
all of these
aspirations are open to compromise and political settlement. On
the other
hand, sheer unadulterated hatred of another person's religion is
beyond the
pale of civility. It knows no compromise; after all it is
sanctioned by
"their" God and, thus, has no need to abide by any
human considerations or
standards. The time for ignoring sectarianism is over. Rather, it
should be
taken out of its mean streets and dusted down, examined,
questioned,
debated with. It still won't disappear overnight. There are
politicians,
some of them men of the Church, who use it for their own gain.
But because
it hides behind a mantle of religion, it has been allowed to
fester and
feed in upon itself for centuries. The time has come for it to be
opened up
to the light of God's beautiful day. Perhaps, in that way, it can
make
peace with itself and let the rest of us get on with our lives.
Larry Kirwan
Hey Matt:
By all means, use any of those newsletters in whatever way
you would like.
I'm glad that the newsletters throw some small
light on the seemingly intractable problems in the North of
Ireland. Only by
throwing light on problems, can we identify them and thus,
hopefully, move on.
See you in McGeary's in December.
larry
Larry Kirwan is interviewed...
LK) Time is always ticking out in them. Time is ticking out for all of us. There is always that feeling that time is precious, everything is down to now. That is one of the few philosophies that Black-47 has on stage. Do every gig as your last.
DM) What do you do then, in your spare time?
LK) I read. I also have two children. When you have children, there's a certain amount of time that you'd want to spend with them, and you should spend them. As you'll find out when you have children of your own, it tends to take up a certain amount of your time that you normally spend doing other things. Pretty much the only occupation I have, besides writing, reading and playing music is reading. I would say at this point. I don't watch television. I'm an artist... there's no time. I find that time is really tight.
DM) What else would you do that you find is a waste of time?
LK) Watching television. I find television so manipulative. I find it an offensive medium. I find it a dangerous thing. You are ingesting other people's views in a very passive way all the time.
DM) How is television different from reading?
LK) Because reading is more of an active role. You actually have to concentrate on it. With television you can have a glazed look on your face and be off in a different world. Most people who watch television, I would imagine, are thinking about something else at the same time, so they are getting this passive influx of energy into themselves. Also, I find that television is there just to sell you things. I'm not against the medium itself, it's just that it's been so misused. I wouldn't refuse, point blank, to look at television that had advertisements on it. The occasional things I might watch might be on public television.
http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/interviews/black-47.html