A friend of mine was telling me they watched a video on Youtube where a Sinn Féin TD is verbally attacked by a Blueshirt for wearing an Easter Lily. I went and watched the video and what annoyed me most was not the fact that the Fine Gael TD was an obnoxious so-and-so calling the lily an offensive emblem, but the fact that the Sinn Féin TD did not know that our national colours are green white and orange; he said gold instead of orange. Our national colours have significant meaning, which embody the Republican ideal and which anyone that calls themselves a Republican should know. The Green White and Gold description of our national colours was put about by Unionists after the 1916 rising, claiming that the green represented Catholics and that the white and gold represented Vatican City; Home Rule is Rome Rule etc. Anyway, the video brought to mind a proposal I made in 1997 to the Irish National Congress (INC), which was adopted and perused only to be killed off by petty party politics. In 2002 I was asked by the INC to write an article about the proposal for the INC News in the hopes that the idea could be resurrected. it wasnt. Heres the article for those that are interested: THE LILY AND THE POPPY In November 1997, I put forward a proposal to the INC’s National Executive to establish a new organisation, to sell a new Easter Lily. The National Executive supported this idea and a working title, The Lily Foundation, was adopted. The proposed aims and objectives of The Lily Foundation were: • To annually commemorate the 1916 rising through the sale of a three-dimensional miniature replica of the actual flower (similar in size to the daffodil sold by the Irish Cancer Society). • To allow individuals to express their nationalism in a non-threatening way and without giving allegiance to any political party. • To promote the ideals of Equality, Liberty, Peace and Reconciliation. These ideals would be reflected in the organisations that would benefit from the money raised, by the Lily Foundation. Suggested beneficiaries included: The Irish Refugee Council, Conradh na Gaeilge, The National Graves Association, Community Groups and Homeless Organisations. Initially, those we sent it to greeted the proposal with great enthusiasm. We met with a number of groups and individuals, and even managed to secure funding on the condition that others rowed in. They didn’t, misunderstandings and party politics intervened and the proposal was shelved. They had missed the point. This wasn’t about promoting one party while knocking another. In 1991, the INC had helped to sponsor and organise the highly successful events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the 1916 rising, including the parade and pageant, which brought tens of thousands of people onto OConnell St. in Dublin. This was done in response to attempts by the Irish government and the media to keep the commemoration low-key. That same year a poll carried out by the Irish Independent showed that: • 65% of the Irish people looked back on 1916 with a sense of pride, while only 14% regretted it. • 58% thought that the rebels were right to use violence, while 24% would have preferred that they had used peaceful means. • 66% believed that the leaders of the 1916 rising would be opposed to the campaign being carried out by the provisional IRA, while only 16% believed that they would endorse it. The primary objective of the proposal was to enable that 65% to visibly express their pride. At the time, I naively believed that this new Lily would be something that even John Bruton would be proud to wear (He recently admitted to being one of the 14% who regretted the Rising). The inspiration for the New Lily had come from Eoghan Harris, who had started l997’s poppy debate” by suggesting that Mary McAleese should wear a poppy at her inauguration as president, which coincided with Armistice Day. In doing so, he claimed, she would be showing her pluralism to the Unionists in the North and to the thousands of southern pluralists who wear a poppy every year. The wearing of a poppy is not, of course, an expression of one’s pluralism, but is in fact an expression of ones Britishness’, or more accurately British Nationalism. In Britain, where anyone who appears on television is obliged to wear one, it is a mild and inoffensive expression of that nationalism, commemorating all those who died to maintain Britain’s independence (especially during World Wars l and ll, but also those who died here and elsewhere defending the Empire). However, this was not the reason that our President didnt wear a poppy at her inauguration. The main thrust of the argument against her wearing one was that she would leave herself open to be asked at a later date to wear a more contentious flower - The Easter Lily. As an expression of Nationalism, the Poppy has an advantage over the Lily - it is non-party political. It is sold by an independent organisation, The Royal British Legion, and is worn by all shades of British Nationalism from Loyalist to Labour. The money raised from its sale is considered by those who wear it to be going towards a good cause. The Lily, on the other hand, is currently sold (in one dimensional flag form) by political parties and is therefore only worn by their supporters. It is to redress this situation that I again, propose the establishment of a new organisation to sell a new Easter Lily. In 1926, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Easter Rising Cumann na mBan, led by Constance Markievicz, introduced and popularised the wearing of the Easter Lily. The sale of the Lily was banned in the 30‘s by a Fianna Fáil government, who introduced their own emblem to commemorate the Rising; a flaming red torch. It failed to capture the popular imagination. The Lily has since been appropriated by Sinn Fein and sold in flag form to raise funds. It is also sold by Republican Sinn Fein in flag form and, for a period, by the Workers party in sticky back flag form. The use of the Lily by political parties limits its appeal to supporters of those parties. However, just like the Easter Rising and our National Flag, the Lily should not be considered the property of any one political party. As an emblem, the Lily has an aesthetic quality and the untapped potential for popular appeal. Being a flower it has no militaristic undertones. It is in season during Easter and is recognised internationally as a requiem flower and symbol of resurrection. More importantly it contains the colours of our National Flag and therefore has an overtly pluralist message - with green representing the older elements, orange representing the newer elements and white between them symbolising the union of different stocks in a common nationality, When presented to the public in this light by an independent organisation promoting the ideals of Equality, Liberty, Peace and Reconciliation and without any party political baggage, it cannot fail but strike a chord with the Irish people.
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 01:45:12 +0000
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