Irish Left Archive

Since we've posted our first podcast of 2023 this week, here's a round up of interviews we did in 2022.

We took a bit of a longer break this year, but still added interviews with some fascinating guests from different strands of the left.

Many thanks to all our guests who have given us their time to be on the podcast, and to everyone who has been listening! We have plenty more episodes to come, so we look forward to speaking to more guests this year, and hopefully widen the range of left activism and organisations already covered.

#IrishLeftArchive #Politics #Activism #History #Ireland #Podcast

To mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on 30th January, we spoke to historian Dr. Brian Hanley about the reaction in the Republic of Ireland to the events in Derry in 1972, when British soldiers opened fire on civil rights marchers, killing 14 and injuring several others.

https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/35-bloody-sunday-reactions-in-the-republic-of-ireland/

#BloodySunday #CivilRights #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast

In February, we were joined by Belfast anarchist Jason Brannigan, who discussed his political background, the anarcho-syndicalist group Organise!, Just Books, and the development of anarchism in Ireland.

https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/36-jason-brannigan-organise-just-books-and-anarcho-sy/

#Anarchism #AnarchoSyndicalism #Organise #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast

In March, we were joined by Mags O'Brien, who has been active in left campaigns and Trade Unionism since the 1980s. We discussed the divorce referendum campaigns of 1986 and 1995; her experience with the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2011 - which was captured at sea and the crew held in an Israeli jail; her work as a tutor with the SIPTU College and combining her activism and trade unionism; and her edited volume, Left Lives in 20th Century Ireland Vol. 4 –- Women.

https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/37-mags-obrien-divorce-action-group-gaza-freedom-flotilla/

#Divorce #Palestine #TradeUnionism #Activism #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast

We finished our Spring episodes with a discussion of the book, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh: The Life and Politics of an Irish Revolutionary, by Robert White, looking at the history of Ó Brádaigh, Republican Sinn Féin and the issues raised by the book with friend of the podcast, Charles Tuba.

https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/38-ruairi%CC%81-o%CC%81-bra%CC%81daigh-the-life-and-politics-of-an-irish/

#Republicanism #RepublicanSinnFéin #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast

We returned in November with an interview with Pádraig Mannion, who has been a member of Official Sinn Féin and then The Workers' Party since the 1970s. We discussed his politicisation as a student, and the many activist and electoral campaigns he has been involved in, as well as the politics and development of the Workers' Party.

https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/41-padraig-mannion-official-sinn-fein-and-the-workers/

#OfficialSinnFéin #WorkersParty #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast

In December, we had a special episode with Alan Kinsella of @electionlit@mastodon.online to introduce Snapshots of Political Action, a new joint project from Irish Election Literature and the Irish Left Archive, which aims to bring together material distributed at individual demonstrations, marches, rallies and protests in Ireland, providing a view of the different political strands and groups that come together in campaigns.

https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/42-snapshots-of-political-action-documenting-protest/

#Activism #Protest #SnapshotsOfPoliticalAction #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast

Finally, we finished the year speaking to Orla Egan and Megan Luddy O'Leary about their book, Diary of An Activist, which is an illustrated memoir of social activism in the 1980s and 90s in Cork.

https://www.leftarchive.ie/podcast/43-diary-of-an-activist-by-orla-egan-and-megan-luddy-/

#Cork #Activism #IrishLeftArchive #Podcast