Exclusive Interview with Tim Pat Coogan - A policy of ethnic cleansing? Who’s to blame for the Irish Famine?

I wonder what Dev would have done? Slante9 & Portia777 good points.

slainte9, I wasn't aware that the British, tn the early 20th century, would confiscate the farm equipment and seeds of a rebel's grandfather. My father and uncles were known rebels and their farms equipment was not confiscated. But then again, British patrols were afraid to penetrate to my father's farm and they did burn down houses on my mother's farm three times before fleeing back. Her farm used three houses because the here 20 kids living on the farm (some by adoption from dead relatives).

Coogan provides abundant documentation of the genocidal intentions of the British gov't of the day; but he also bolsters the cover-up by blaming lack of charity instead of focusing on the direct cause of genocide; the Food Removal Sixty-nine of Britain's then-empire army of 137 regiments participated in that at-gunpoint removal of Ireland's food to its ports for export. Coogan's book has done much good, crediting John Mitchel, and taking the penultimate step toward complete truth. To learn which regiment starved your relatives see my irishholocaustdotorg and click on its map until its legiblity is maximized. It has been in circulation since 1995 or 1996.

How is it that so many families are homeless in the USA when a huge numbers of homes lie empty?

It has been a while since I read this quote: "This (the famine) is the final solution to the Irish problem." The statement was made by either Randolph Churhill (Winston's father) or Winston's grandfather. I would be quite appreciative if someone could give me the source for this quote or if you have read something similar.

for all of ireland's contribution in creating the usa isn't it sad. Marching for over 253 years and fighting irish nonsense - who knew?

The ethnic cleansing of Irealand was presaged by the Highland Clearances in Scotland. The demographic reality was that, with Catholic Celts making up nearly half of the the population of the British Isles, the demographic "imbalance" had to be changed to favor Protestant Anglo Saxons... and it was. With the Highland Clearances, colonization of Northern and Eastern Ireland, the Penal Laws, marginalizing the Catholic peasantry, letting the Celts starve off whenever possible and the Cromwellian genocide, featuring starvation, being the major tactics for establishing Anglo-Saxon hegemony. During the Irish insurrection in the early 20th century when they believed his son was a rebel, the British confiscated my great-grandfather's farm equipment and seed stock.

It was a genocide in the same manner as the American genocide of the native peoples. Identical to "to hell r connaght" times in Eire.Tim could even go back to the forgotten- deliberate of course- of the Irish slaves, rounded up and families split up- sold to British Colonies. It is just history repeating itself over and over even up to today. The Celtic Tiger - boom and then bust is a deliberate creation - it is a tactic used by grromers in fact- build you up and then pull you right down with a bang- causing serious mental torture- and oh these elite know how the mind works- then you bond with your abuser as in Stockholm syndrome because as Tim points out- learned helplessness and despair. So let us stop blaming those who commit suicide and place the blame where it belongs. 2012- there is no shortage of money in Ireland- money is paper- created out of thin air and made "legal" by elite. Dakota managed to set up its own peoples bank with plenty of money for its people and they did not loose their farms or property and kept the vultures out. So why cant we do similar? Oh Enda and Co know the solution- it was given to them last year- so there is no excuse for history to repeat and all peoples can get off the wheel. Let us Irish show the way.

this is the core of current government thinking..."if you ignore history then it didn't happen"...and the best thing about that is then you can use it on the ignorant...tell them any story that suits you..... most people seem to enjoy this kind of ignorance...

Coogan's essential thesis is correct. The reason the Famine dragged on for years is that it was backed up by British military force. A native Irish government would not have had the resources to put down the disorders that would have erupted (and they would have been much sooner, and more severe, because the people wouldn't have feared it as they feared the British state). An Irish government would have fallen in revolution--remember that 1848 was a year of revolutions throughout Europe. Anyone wanting an analysis form this perspective should read Mitchel's Jail Journal.