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September 12, 2022

Fourth Post: Me and Queen Elizabeth

        

Some memories following the death of Queen Elizabeth II

 

The death of the Queen, we knew it was always bound to happen, like our own impending death, but it never seemed likely to happen until quite recently.

It does feel like something significant has happened, not least because most of us cannot remember anyone else as the Head of State of the United Kingdom.

Though I was born during the reign of King George VI in 1947, I have no memory of him, or his death in February 1952 when I was 4 years old.  I have no memory either of the death of Stalin at the beginning of 1953, partly I suspect because in those days our entry into the wider world outside our home was the wireless not television.  The Queen’s coronation was to change all that.

For it is the Queen’s coronation in the summer of 1953 which is my first Royal memory; and it is still quite sharp and vivid.

Like half of Britain we bought a television.  I remember one evening going down into Appleton Village close to the heart of old Widnes town with my Dad, for him to buy our very first TV.  It was black and white, of course, and there was only the one channel, the BBC, but we were able to watch the coronation from beginning to end on the Tuesday, 2nd June, 1953.  We had the day off school, naturally.

Sometime earlier I had been taken by my Dad to a shop in the centre of Liverpool.  He was about to order a large flag.  He chose the red ensign, the flag of the Merchant Navy.  Like so many other families at that time whose houses had a garden, we had a tall flagpole at the end of the garden and during the coronation period, the flag was proudly flown.

Of particular interest to us as a family was the man who actually placed the crown on Elizabeth II’s head.  He was Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher of Canterbury.  Before the war he had been the Bishop of Chester and had laid hands on my Mum’s head confirming her as a member of the Church of England.

Looking back over the years the purchase of the flag still surprises me.  Our family were not decidedly republican but neither were we fierce monarchists.  My Mum never expressed a view on the matter as far as I can recall and my Dad veered towards republicanism but it was not a priority for him.  At Christmas we listened to the Queen’s Christmas broadcast but did not do so reverentially but more as a small part of what in many English homes had become part of the ritual of Christmas.

So why the flag?  Partly, I suspect, because we had a flag pole and it seemed a good opportunity to fly a flag from it.  The more significant fact is that it was the Merchant Navy flag which was chosen.  We would have had no military flag as Dad had been a conscientious objector during the war. My Dad also liked being different, so that would rule out the Union Jack or the flag of England.  Bill Leathwood[1], his best man at their wedding, had served in the Merchant Navy and I suspect that was the main reason.

A photo of the Queen taken by my father, George E Percival, on the Queen’s visit to Widnes in May 1968. The building behind is part of Farnworth Methodist Church where I worshipped as a boy.

I never met the Queen though I remember in 1967 my brother Michael and I went down from Oxford one day to watch the racing at Royal Ascot and naturally we saw the Royal Procession as members of the Royal Family are driven down the racecourse from Windsor in an open coach pulled by a pair of horses.

My Uncle Eddie, married to my Mum’s sister Vera, was caretaker at the Racecourse and lived in a flat in the Racecourse itself.  We stayed there quite often when we travelled down to Ascot which is where many of my Mum’s relatives lived.

There was this enormous clock next to the flat in which Eddie and Vera lived which struck every 15 minutes making sleep almost impossible.  It was turned off when the Duke of Norfolk[2] was in residence next door, but he refused permission for it to be turned off when he was away.  Of such small things my nascent republicanism was born!

Uncle Eddie one year took us to see inside the Royal Box and where I had occasion to use the Royal toilet.  Suddenly we were ordered to duck down and hide ourselves from view: someone connected with the racecourse was riding past on a horse and it was strictly forbidden for mere mortals to be inside the Royal Box except by invitation of the Queen herself.

Both Eddie and Vera liked the Queen as they would meet her occasionally when she came down to Ascot.  They found her courteous and friendly. This contrasted sharply with Princess Margaret who was arrogant, snobbish and demanding and who would have little to do with “staff” or sympathy for them or their families.

Though I am a Republican, I understand the deep affection which many feel towards the Queen. She came over very much as a kindly Mother and a Grandmother and seemed at ease with herself and with others.  I do not myself share that love or affection.  It’s not a matter of disliking the Queen, more to do with the fact that I did not know her personally and I am very aware that the only view of her I have been offered is one mediated through a fawning and gushing media and the political class which rules the UK.

I have enjoyed listening to the tributes to her from our political leaders over the past few days.  So much of it silly and over the top.  She did not change Britain, she was not the rock around which the country revolved, she was not one of us nor did she try to be.  She was a constitutional monarch who did what her government told her to do, including the illegal promulgation of Parliament in 2019 at the behest of her then Prime Minister.

Most of what she did was to go places, open schools and bridges, shake hands, smile, receive bouquets of flowers and ask polite questions before moving on to the next person.

It strikes me as being an unutterably boring job, which demands a degree of physical stamina and a few social skills.  In  so far as this is what a constitutional Head of State does, she did it well.  I have no complaints.  But it is also what the President of Ireland does at the end of a long and interesting career and with a definite time limit before the routine is passed on to someone else.

Now that she has gone, it will take time to adjust to the changes her death will bring. King Charles III does not yet come off the tongue naturally. Then there will be new coinage and bank notes introduced over time.  QCs will become KCs in our law courts and a debate about monarchy will undoubtedly begin shortly once the Queen’s funeral is over.

Maybe I will come back, after the funeral, to spell out my views on a Republic.  Until then I will enjoy the flummery of monarchy and feel a degree of sympathy for those who have lost a loved one.

My own prediction is that, unlike his mother, Charles will eventually choose to abdicate and enjoy the evening of his life amongst his flowers and vegetables.  He will be 80 in seven years time, a good time to go and to allow William to succeed.  By this time the burgeoning Republican movement will have grown to a point where it cannot be ignored.  It’ll be fun to see what happens.

 

 

[1] Bill Leathwood (1918-2011) had been my Dad’s Best man at his wedding in 1941. He worked for many years at Owen Owen in Liverpool and was later elected to the Cheshire County Council of which he was Chairman for awhile.  A member of the Liberal party.

[2] He had overall responsibility for the racecourse.

 

By Robin Percival
August 13, 2022

The Connaught Rangers Mutiny

This is an account of the Connaught Rangers Mutiny which took place in the Punjab, India in 1920. It highlights the role of “Jim Davis” from Derry who played a leading role in the Mutiny but who has for the most part been ignored, partly because of the mystery surrounding him. The Mutiny was a protest against the brutal Black and Tans being used by Britain in their failed attempt to suppress the IRA. It is slighted edited version from that which appeared on the Facebook pages of the Museum of Free Derry in July 2020.

Download To Read
By Robin Percival
July 25, 2022

Third Post: Orange Culture Can Grow if Regulated!

          One of the stupidities of what passes as Orange culture in the North of Ireland is that any attempt to regulate a problematic manifestation of that culture is seen as an attack on the culture itself.  Tradition dictates that on the night of 11 July, huge bonfires which have been assembled in some Loyalist areas are lit and presumably people sit and drink and watch the pyres go up in smoke.  Not too dissimilar to Guy Fawkes night in England which I use to celebrate when I was a kid.  There was the added dimension of fireworks, of course, for Guy Fawkes.

However bonfires are potential dangerous things.  If they are built too near a building there is a risk that building might go up in smoke.  Build them too tall and if someone falls off, there is a danger of killing them.

That is what happened this year when an experience bonfire builder slipped and fell and died of his injuries.

The previous year a young bonfire celebrant managed to set himself alight, suffered severe burns and almost died as a consequence.

In a normal society there manifestations would have been subject to regulation a long time ago.  Health and Safety is designed to protect life, not supress culture.

I remember when the Parades Commission was set up by Mo Mowlam in 1998 to regulate parades in Northern Ireland.  Many Unionists denounced it and claimed it was an attack on Protestant/Loyalist culture.

It certainly put restrictions on many controversial parades such as the parade down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown where it blocked the parade going down the Garvaghy Road and forced it to return to the centre of Portadown by the same route it had used to leave the town.

In Dunloy, Loyal Order parades have been restricted to a couple of yards outside the local Orange Hall.

But far from strangling the expression of Orange culture in the North, there has been a significant growth in the number of Orange parades, especially in what are called Band parades, since the establishment of the Parades Commission.  Indeed I shall never forget standing with Peter Osborne, the then Chair of the Commission, as the local Derry Apprentice Boys paraded around the walls first thing in the morning in August.  One of the participants shouted at me, “It gets bigger every year, Robin!”  I gave him the thumbs up.  I think he thought I would be annoyed.  But I wasn’t.  Why should I?  I have no problem with Loyal Order parades which are respectful of local communities and obey the law.

Orange culture is not my culture.  I’ve seen too many parades over the years to like watching them anymore.  But I have no problem with other people enjoying the day and I wish them well.

We need the same for bonfires, including those few bonfires burnt by nationalists.  The problem is when the leaders of these communities turn them into macho contests in which the most modest of proposals are rejected and defied.  Maybe this would encourage more bonfires.  Who knows!

 

 

 

 

 

By Robin Percival
June 5, 2022

Second Post: A ceasefire Now!

            Many years ago, when I was staying in his flat in New York, the late David McReynolds told me a bit about A.J. Muste[1], arguably the most influential pacifist in the history of the USA.  He said that Muste believed that once the USA had entered the Second World War there was nothing very effective that pacifists could do except look to the future post war world and begin to seek to influence that.  As a result, aware of the enormous levels of racial discrimination within the US Army as well as in American society generally, Muste began to campaign against segregation and discrimination within the military.  The war over, this became the genesis of the Freedom Bus rides in the southern states which triggered the wider civil rights movement.

We are now entering the second 100 days of the war between Russia and Ukraine.  And like so many others, I feel very powerless. It is not an easy war for a pacifist or peacemaker because the West was not the primary cause of the war, though I think its current policies, arming the Ukrainians, fast forwarding their membership of the EU and perhaps NATO, are open to challenge.

Unlike some, I make no excuses for Putin and his invasion.  Yes, NATO has broken its promises not to expand eastwards; yes the Russian minorities in Ukraine have been badly treated; yes, there is a growing fascist/nazi movement in Ukraine which should concern us all.  But none of this in my view justifies Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. This is a war of aggression by Russia, not a war of self defence.

It is clear that most people in Ireland support Ukraine.  They want Ukraine to win and teach Putin a lesson.  You can see it in the little Ukrainian flags they attach to their twitter or Facebook accounts.  While UEFA and others can be criticised for the ease with which they abandoned so called sporting “neutrality” by allowing players to carry Ukrainian colours, there can be little doubt that this was a popular move in Europe.  As was Ukraine winning the Eurovision song contest (yes, it was a dreadful song!), though I suspect they have built up trouble for themselves in the future by such partisan displays.

I am no military analyst, but as I write it appears that though Russia has suffered some serious setbacks it is slowly conquering bit by bit more of Ukraine.  Weapons from the USA, the UK and elsewhere, are not actually giving Ukraine the decisive military edge but merely slowing down the rate of the Russian advance and prolonging the war.

So where does all this leave those of us who oppose all war, who believe that war does not (usually) solve problems but adds to them?  Or creates new ones.

I’m not sure there’s much we can do at the moment except await for the moment it dawns on the protagonists that a negotiated settlement is better than an imposed one.

Top of the list, therefore for peacemakers, is the demand for an immediate ceasefire followed by negotiations between the belligerents.  This will certainly mean Russia and Ukraine.  But it has been clear for some time that the USA, indeed NATO and the EU as a whole, have been belligerents, by proxy, allowing Ukraine to do all the fighting, bear all the costs and casualties, while the West’s arms industry provides a steady stream of highly expensive and very profitable weapons.

And here’s the rub.  While at the moment neither Putin or Zelensky seem that interested in negotiations, the USA, UK and EU seem even less interested. The West still appears to hope for a defeat for Russia.  Biden has called effectively for regime change, a standard policy for the USA whenever someone comes into conflict with the aims and objectives of USA policy.

Yet there are real dangers with prolonging the war. More and more of the land of Ukraine is potentially open to occupation and seizure by Russia.  More of its people and soldiers killed or seriously wounded. More destruction of factories and infrastructure.  Most importantly there are  real dangers of the war becoming nuclear which would be a monumental catastrophe for Russia, Ukraine and the West.

The forces for peace are weak at the moment.  The demand for a peaceful settlement is even under attack as those who want to prologue the war claim that only a Ukrainian victory should be the goal.  No doubt there are those in Russia who are saying the reverse

But as one of those who believes that wars rarely solves anything and that nothing is permanent, the demand for a ceasefire should be the immediate objective of peacemakers, and weak though the forces for peace are at the moment, overtime they will grow in strength.

 

5th June 2022

 

 

[1] A.J. Muste (1885-1967) From 1940 to 1953, Muste was Executive Secretary of the American Fellowship of Reconciliation. Later he was on the Executive of the War Resisters’ League.

By Robin Percival
May 18, 2022

First Post

If you google my name, the first thing you will see is a reference to an article written by a Shane Paul O’ Doherty, entitled “Robin Percival: The Englishman who colonized Bloody Sunday.”  Like everything that Shane now writes, it is a hatchet job, an unrelenting stream of sarcasm and abuse directed at myself for the political work I have done, and have consistently done, over the past 50 or so years.

I learnt about this article not from the author himself who has never made contact with me.  A friend texted me to ask whether I had seen it and, of course, I hadn’t.

The lack of any contact from the author shows.  Most obviously there are the factual errors.  There are two whoppers at the very beginning of his piece.  I was not born in Prescott and I did not go to the non-existent Kings School in Bath.  Had he asked me, I would have told him the correct facts which are to be found, available for everyone to see, on my Facebook page.

Shane Paul O’ Doherty for those of you who do not know him is a convicted IRA bomber.  As a result of his activities there are people today who are without limbs, who have been permanently blinded and left mentally scarred.

As Shane was successfully destroying people’s lives through his letter bomb campaign in the mid 1970s as an Explosives Officer in the Derry Brigade of the IRA, I was quietly working with children who lived in the Brandywell, the most impoverished community in Derry.  Less quietly I was a member of the group which establish the British Withdrawal from Northern Ireland Campaign (BWINIC), 14 of whose members were tried (and acquitted) at the Old Bailey for trying to “seduce” British soldiers from their duty in Northern Ireland.  The day the trial opened in the Old Bailey, I and three friends distributed the same leaflets to soldiers on the streets of Derry.  A fact which O’ Doherty refers to with some surprise as if it is incongruous for a pacifist to seek to persuade soldiers not to get involved in a conflict which is not of their making.  It was one of the main stories on the BBC National News that day.

One of the most striking things about O’ Doherty’s article is not just his nastiness.  That is a trademark of all he writes. It is his ignorance and lack of knowledge of what he writes about.  He clearly doesn’t know the first thing about the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR), a Christian pacifist organisation, to which I belonged at that time.  He knows nothing about Quakerism other than a clichéd version and that they ran a visitors centre outside Long Kesh prison.

He misdescribes the FoR as a Quaker organisation.  It is not.  Indeed when I was a member of the organisation it had relatively few Quaker members.  Quakers tend to work inside their own organisations such as the Friends Peace and International Committee, based in London, or the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia.

And as for “neutrality” with regard to the Irish conflict, Shane is clearly unaware of the graves of dead UDR members in the Quaker cemetery attached to the Grange meeting House in Tyrone, or the origins of the Orange Order in Portadown.  Or the role of Bulmer Hobson, a Belfast Quaker, in re-establishing the Irish Republican Brotherhood at the turn of the 19th/20th century.  And though not a Quaker, Francis Sheehy-Skeffington, murdered by the British during the 1916 uprising in Dublin, is a perfect of example of how one can be both a pacifist, a socialist and a republican.

Another example of his methodology of trying to present me in as negative light as possible is his extraordinary dishonest sleight of hand in which he says “It’s odious to refer to a person’s nationality in a way that casts him as an outsider..” and then proceeds to do exactly that, claiming that I was guilty of the same by blaming “outsiders” for the problems associated with the Apprentice Boys Parades in Derry.  But the outsiders I was referring to and which everyone in Derry who was familiar with the parade would know I was referring to, were Loyalists from outside Derry such as Portadown, Ardoyne, North Antrim etc who would arrive steaming drunk to the parades, get involved in altercations with local people, would clamber on top of the walls which overlooked the Bogside to chant and shout abuse at the people who lived there, a problem which, unlike O’ Doherty, the leadership of the Apprentice Boys were aware of and wanted to do something about.

I could go on and deal with the whole article but I wont, at least not now.  But clearly whom I am and what I have done over the many years I have lived in Ireland is of interest to some.  Perhaps even more people after O’ Doherty’s article was published.

So the thought of a website where I could write about my experiences in Ireland and elsewhere began to take shape and this is what you see.

Over the coming months I shall post somethings which will be about my role in the Bloody Sunday campaign, the Bogside Residents’ Group, BWINIC etc.   It will also contain my musings, such as they are, on contemporary events and matters Irish.  I just hope it is a pleasant experience and that occasionally I may give you some food for thought.

By Robin Percival