Irish Left Archive
@ila@leftarchive.ieDigital collection of political material from the Irish Left.
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An account of a 1977 Irish Women United action to buy and distribute the UK second wave feminist magazine, Spare Rib, in response to the Irish censor banning it as 'obscene'.
From the Irish Women United magazine, Banshee: https://www.leftarchive.ie/document/1894/
#IrishWomenUnited #SpareRib #Banshee #Censorship #Feminism #Activism #IrishLeftArchive
Banshee, No. 7 (1977) — Irish Women United
Irish Left Archive
![Scanned article headlined "Spare Rib" and reading:
A WEEK AGO THE CENSORSHIP BOARD BANNED SPARE RIB ON THE GROUNDS THAT IT IS OBSCENE AND INDECENT. ON SAT, THE 12th MEMBERS OF 1W.U. WENT TO BELFAST TO PICK UP 22 COPIES OF THE MAGAZINE, WITH THE INTENTION OF DEFYING THE BAN BY SELLING THEM OPENLY IN DUBLIN.
There we were, all 20 of us, bright and bleary eyed, aboard the 8.30 shoppers special to Belfast. Two and and a half hours later, we arrived in Belfast where a sister from the Northern Women's movement was waiting or us to lead us through check points and back streets to a pub where we settled down to a lunch of sandwiches and Guinness at 33p a pint. A couple of hours later more women Joined us with placards condemning the banning of Spare Rib, and we all s out o form a picket outside Board Failte [sic] which was conveniently situated right next door to the pub.
At 5.30 we were back on the train heading for Dublin with our precious booty of 200 Spare Rib. This time we commandeered the entire first compartment of the train and waited impatiently for customs officers to make their appearance at Dundalk. At Dundalk a custom officer walked straight through looking at his shoes; 3 of the women chased after hm, to inform him that they were bringing banned magazines through. The official turned his back, raised his hand and said "that's alright, go ahead." Next thing we were in Dublin station. We jumped out as soon as the train stopped, and linking arms formed lines of five and marched down the platform chanting "Lift the ban on Spare Rib" and “We'll read what we want not what we're told". At once, our sisters from the home team, awaiting us behind the ticket barrier, joined in the chanting and lifted placards for all to see.
The sisters from the train stopped at the barrier and let the other passengers through, with women both side of the barrier singing and chanting the whole time. We surged through the barrier and when a woman asked a guard if he would like to buy one of the copies he attempted to arrest her. We then began to chant "we are all selling Spare Rib". Totally unimpressed by this display of male legality we surrounded the Gardaí and our victimised sister and with sustained enthusiasm we linked arms and took him for a frantic dance across the platform chanting "one for all and all for one" and “would you like to buy Spare Rib". At this stage, police reinforcements arrived and one guard losing his cool together with his cap, seized a brief case from one of the women and tried to run away with it. Eventually he discovered that it contained none of the "obscene" material. He returned it to its owner. Then at last realizing that they were overpowered ideologically and physically, the gardaí gave up. As a sergeant later admitted to the press "An attempt was made to seize Spare Rib, the attempt failed".
And so we left, victorious in the first battle of the campaign.](https://posts.leftarchive.ie/attachments/thumbnails/19a3ea09fa646d5669ea03d2d9a6f07de78aff5bd348d1158bf34173cfa03ae3/irishwomen_united_spare_rib.jpeg)
Section 31 f the Broadcasting Authority Act in the Republic of Ireland prevented broadcasting of interviews with representatives of the IRA or Sinn Féin.
You'll find more documents on the subject here: https://www.leftarchive.ie/subject/2690/
For background and an overview, here is Wikipedia's outline: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland#Section_31
Censorship in the Republic of Ireland - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
New document:
Irish Reporter, No. 5, first quarter 1992.
"The Free Press and its Enemies". This issue looks at Section 31 and press coverage.
https://www.leftarchive.ie/document/6268/
#Ireland #Politics #History #IrishReporter #Censorship #Section31 #IrishLeftArchive
Irish Reporter, No. 5 (1992)
Irish Left Archive