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
5
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 [email protected] 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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