TRIN ITY N E /S - Trinity News Archive

TRINITY NEWSNovember 2ls~, 1963Nc/, !!Vol. XITRINITY NEWSA Dublin University Undergraduate WeeklyThursday, 21st November, 1963Chairman: Hugh White.Vice-Chairman: David RidleyEditorial Staff:Elizabeth Bell, Gillie McCall, Jefferson Horsley, Daniel Ponget,Michael Newcombe, Alistair McEwan.Business Managers:Colin Smythe, Michael Gilmour, Arthur ParkeNo. 5THE GEORGE PLANT CASEThe juxtaposition in last week’s " Trinity News" of a photographof President de Valera, who had come to hear Mrs. Woodham Smith’slecture on the Great Hunger, and the article describing the trial andexecution of George Plant in 1941, was an unintentional piece ofirony. It was de Valera who, in self-righteous speeches in the Dail,personally defended the execution of Plant on evidence originallyrejected by the law as it stood before governmental tampering. Fiveyears later a young I.R.A. prisoner, Sean McCaughey, was allowed todie on hunger strike after four and a half years in jail. De Valerawould not accord him political treatment as this would have beentantamount to admitting a parallel with his own actions in 1922 and1923. In 1923, when the first delegates went to the League of Nations,Mr. de Valera sent a special team of Republican envoys to lobby theother delegations with the contention that Ireland partitioned couldnever take her seat among the nations of the world. De Yalerahimself had taken up arms in defiance of the expressed will of thepeople, and it was not until 1936 that he dared to declare the I.R.A.an illegal body°All revolutionaries, it is said, become conservatives when theyobtain power. As a leader, de Valera had many virtues, but ourrespect for an aged and dignified man should not blind us to theblacker periods of his career. The banning of the T.E. programmein which Mr. Con Lehane had described his part in the George Plantcase may have no connection whatever with the President or hisParty. Let us hope, however, that when the President digs the firstsod for the new Trinity Library he will be making a contribution notonly to free speech but to the service of the ordinary people of Irelandfor which he fought so bitterly.WOOLWORTHPAINTSSuperb ualitglBlack and WhiteMany people have been horrified to hear that Patrick Udenzi, astudent at U.C.D, who was wantonly attacked in Dublin recently,has lost an eye as a result of the injuries he received. Unfortunately,this is not an isolated incident.In the past six months therehave been about fifteen suchattacks on co!oured people, andall of the African students inTrinity to whom I spoke havelearnt to laugh off unpleasant incidents,too trivial to interest thepolice. Typical "was the story ofa man who leant out of his cart.o shout, " Go home, Black."Anti-African feeling is particularlyobvious when a white girlis seen with a coloured boy.Remarks are made in cinemas andon one occasion I was told byGeorge Amangala, who talked tothe "Irish Times" about theproblem, that he was walkingdown Oxford Street with a whitegirl when a man thrust himselfbetween them and said to her,"Why do you want to go outwith a bloody Nigger?"After the article appeared inthe " Irish "rimes," George Amangalareceived a letter saying that--Photo " Irish Times"George Amangala who is on theSociety’s Executive Committee.Theoclora4¸Christian doctrine teaches thatpeople should marry only withintheir own race and that, therefore,no coloured boys should ..............take out white girls, as anyassociation between them maylead to marriage. However, any --Photo " Irish Times "arguments which may be put for-Robert Serumaga, President ofward against mixed marriages are the Pan-African Society in Dublin.refuted by the number thathave succeed in spite of the their true friends. These attacksopposition to them from coloured are usually made by uneducatedpeople as well as white, people, often boys of aboutIncidents like these are particu- twenty. They do not show thelarly unpleasant to those Africans attitude of the majority ofwho have been brought up to people. One Nigerian was inmeet white people on equal London during the race riots in1958. Once when a procession ofpeople went by with p!acards say-ing, "Go home, Blacks," and" Keep Britain White," an elderlywoman apologised to !7ira for thebehaviour of her countrymen.it is when coioured people aretrying to find places to live thatprejudice affe:cs them mostclosely. So often when the)’answer an advertisement foraccommodation they" find that un-accountably it is not free anymore. Sometimes the landladywill say that her other tenantswill not tolerate coloured lodgers.It has even been known for whitepeople to be asked to leave be-cause they enterta.in Africans.The long-term cffec:s of a!l thisare bad, especially when it isrealised that racial prejudice isalmost unknown in France andSpain. It is quite possible thatAfrican governments will stopsending students to Dublin andit is bound to make relationswith Africaan countries worse inthe future.C.E.M.B.terms. Not all African countriesare like South Africa, and thebitterness against them, that theyfind in Dublin and, even worse,in London, is quite unexpected tomany students. Colour prejudicein London may perhaps be corn-prehensibie when it is realisedthat coioured people are often athreat to British jobs. But thiscannot apply to Dublin wherenearly all the coloured people arestudents. A typical unreasonedattitude is shown by the remarksof an elderly Dublin woman: "Doyou have blacks in your class?""Yes." "Oh, dear, that’s notnice, is it?" Colour prejudice inIreland may be explained by thefact that many Irish families haverelations in Africa to whom theAfricans were a servant race. Thisattitude may well have permeatedhome.When I talked to Africans Iwas continually told that incidentslike these were exceptional,They all had white friends andgot on well with individual Europeans,but said that sometimes itwas difficult to know who wereThrashbl;tFortunately I had a sober which gave most people muchchauffeur to escort me to Haas pleasure~particularly as Mickfor Rosemary’s Gibson’s party Roche and Brian arrived jacketlastweek because the drizzle was less so as to be one step ahead forhellish and I couldn’t bear the whatever scrap they managed tothought of trapesing up a long start. Hamilton (Gaffer) Goodd r i v e leaving my stilletoes was singing only semi-lewd songs,marooned in the gravel. I was but julian Gordon still had tofrightened of being over-dressed, have some prompting frombut seeing Rosemary in a sham- Debbie on the more difficultrock, chiffon, shapely sheath my words. Judy Monaghan continuedconfidence was restored and even her now habitual party antics--heightened when I recognised the sniff at the fresh blood, turn upLondon-cut of Grania Fitzgerald’s her nose and return to a semilapelledand revealing creation, conscious Richard Woodward.Having made concerted dives at Susan Lilias Turcan lookedCharles hah’y Apollo Edwards on happier, but Charlie Ray wasmy own behalflwas heart-broken sour. Ivan Pawle is alwaysto see that he had won Daphne splendid fun, but it wasn’t theAlexander over so I sought James music that was making DenisStarlight Brown for consolation. Kelly sing. The startling featuresJimmy was marvellous! He con- of Pete~" Bow!es were reflected intided in me about iyis middle several lovely ladies’ teeth, butname; apparently it applies to his Tony Richardson found it hardfirst girl friend who was so to get that i:ar down.dazzlin~ that her horses always It was with great pleasure thathad to wear blinkers. He is re- I read of Terry Brady’s engagemlndedof her at every race meet- ment to Charlotte Bingham anding and every c!oudless night, and we all hope that this ex-Playerthat’s why he is loathe to give will ~ive him his weed-hatingup the association of his middle fiancee as much amusement as hename.gave us. Congratulations also toBrian Bennetts was suitably the Rt Roy. Roderic Normanbeaten up by a bloke named Cyril Coote (ex-Trinity and ex-Bishopiof Grambia and Rio Pongas) andErica Lynette Stubbs who soonwill see what Trinity men aremade ot:.To-day’s B i r t h d a y: AnnRoberts~ 72.Wednesday’s Birthday: EsmondDevas, 68.CAJIPU "A member of London Universitywrote to us about the rules ofthe new Girls’ Hall of Residence.Apparently they aer allowed toentertain men in their rooms providingthat the beds are put inthe passage."Palatine," the Durham Universitynewspaper, published acentre page feature exposingblack magic rit~als in the area.It contains infra-red photographsof naked fern.ale demond- worshippersperforming variousritualistic acts.The vivid descriptions of theinitiation ceremonies have beencondemned by the Durhamauthorities as "pornography"and press suspension is ,.umoured.