From Civil Rights to the Bailout:

Social movements, workers agitation, and

left-wing activism in Ireland, 1968-2010

Irish Centre for the Histories of

Labour & Class

Moore Institute

Hardiman Research Building

NUI Galway

19-20 June 2015

http://fromcivilrightstothebailout.wordpress.com/

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From Civil Rights to the Bailout: Social movements, workers agitation, and

left-wing activism in Ireland, 1968-2010

Irish Centre for the Histories of Labour & Class,

Moore Institute,

Hardiman Research Building,

Room G010,

NUI Galway

19-20 June 2015

Conference Overview

Friday 19 June

13.00-13.45 Registration

13.45 Welcome address

14.00-15.30 Panel 1: The context of Northern Ireland

15.30-15.45 Break

15.45-17.15 Panel 2: Varieties of Protest

19.30 Mechanics’ Institute, Middle Street: ‘Civil Rights and Union Rights: Veteran Voices

from the West of Ireland’

Saturday 20 June

10.00-11.30 Panel 3: Radical Politics

11.30-11.45 Break

11.45-13.15 Panel 4: Challenging legal and cultural constraints

13.15-14.00 Lunch

14.00-15.30 Panel 5: Engaging Beyond Ireland

15.30-15.45 Break

15.45-17.45 Panel 6: Preserving History: Oral History and Archives

CLOSE OF CONFERENCE

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Friday 19 June

14.00-15.30

1. The context of Northern Ireland

‘The People’s Democracy and the struggle for Civil Rights’

Matt Collins (University of Ulster)

‘“You can’t be neutral on a moving train”: Trade union responses to violence and

sectarianism in Northern Ireland’

Seán Byers (Queen’s University Belfast and Trademark)

‘Responses in the West of Ireland to civil rights protest in Northern Ireland, 1968-72’

Gerard Madden (NUI Galway)

15.30-15.45

Break

15.45-17.15

2. Varieties of Protest

‘Rural Identity and Protest Mobilisation: the case of the Turf Cutters and Contractors

Association’

Trish O’Flynn (Open University)

‘Save the Roundstone Bog’: the Environmental Activism of Tim Robinson

Derek Gladwin (University of British Columbia)

‘An interrogation of the character of protest in Ireland since the bailout’

Mary Naughton (University College Dublin)

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19.30: Mechanics’ Institute, Middle Street

Civil Rights and Union Rights: Veteran Voices from the West of Ireland

This panel in the Mechanics’ Institute brings together a number of veteran activists to debate

and discuss their reminiscences of activism in the west from the 1960s to the present.

Tish Gibbons will speak to Liz Walsh, Mary Cooke and Bríd Carr about their efforts in

unionising their fellow administrative workers at UCG in the mid-1970s in the teeth of

opposition from university management.

Cllr Declan Bree (Connolly Youth Movement / Sligo-Leitrim Independent Socialist

Organisation) and Cllr Seosamh Ó Cuaig (Gluaiseacht Cearta Sibhialta na Gaeltachta,

independent socialist republican) will discuss their careers as activists with John

Cunningham. Audience questions welcome.

Saturday 20 June

10.00-11.30

3. Radical Politics

‘When Irish anarchists faced the hangman’s noose - the case of Marie and Noel Murray’

Alan MacSimoin (Independent scholar and activist)

‘Youth in Revolt, Youth in Retreat: Labour Youth and the expulsion of Militant 1978-1989’

Cathal Malone (Independent scholar)

‘Saor Éire Action Group, 1967-1975: The vanguard of Trotskyist revolution in Ireland?’

Séan Ó Duibhir (NUI Galway)

11.30-11.45

Break

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11.45-13.15

4. Challenging legal and cultural constraints

‘The Political Economy of Workers’ Liberty in 1980s Ireland: On the right to strike, union

solidarity and the Talbot car workers’ factory occupation.’

Thomas Murray (University College Dublin)

‘Deconstructing the Irish Propensity to Constitutionalise Abortion: A Leftist, Feminist

Critique’

Charles O’Sullivan (NUI Maynooth)

‘Why Inequality Persists: Racial Stratification in the Labour Market’

Ebun Joseph (University College Dublin)

13.15-14.00

Lunch (provided)

14.00-15.30

5. Engaging beyond Ireland

‘Challenging Empires - EU Critical Activism & Emerging Identities’

Peter Lacey (NUI Maynooth)

‘Performing Activism: Theatre as a Political Space’

Tracy Ryan O’Flaherty (University of Sussex)

‘Solidarity Forever: Irish Workers and the Miners’ Strike in Britain, 1984-5’

Daryl Leeworthy (Cardiff University)

15.30-1545

Break

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15.45-17.45

6. Preserving History: Oral History and Archives

‘The Irish Left Archive: creating the informal Archive’

Ciarán Swan (Irish Left Archive)

‘“I knew nothing about the thing that I constantly declared myself to be – a socialist.” Oral

History and Left-Wing Activism’

Mary Muldowney (Alternative Visions Oral History Group)

This final panel will take the form of a workshop with the two speakers introducing the

session on how best to conduct oral history and preserve documentation, both providing case

studies of projects they are involved with. Audience participation and discussion is strongly

encouraged once the speakers have concluded.

17.45

CLOSE OF CONFERENCE

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Registration: €5

This will help cover the costs which include coffee, tea and biscuits to be provided at all

breaks, and a lunch of sandwiches to be provided on Saturday. If you would like to attend,

but feel you cannot afford the registration fee, please let us know.

In order to provide for catering, we need an estimate of the number of attendees. If you would

like to attend, please contact David Convery at david.convery@nuigalway.ie and please also

make us aware of any special dietary requirements.

This conference is organised with the generous support of the Discipline of History, NUI

Galway, and the Moore Institute for Research in the Humanities & Social Sciences.

For more information, please see the conference website at

http://fromcivilrightstothebailout.wordpress.com

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