The formation of the Irish in Britain Representation Group, a national grassroots-based community organisation in the 1980s, challenged the  traditional Irish organisation  – the Federation of Irish Societies  – and its toadying to the Irish Government over the relationship between Britain and Ireland.   

In  1984 on the lead up to an anti-internment march IBRG issued a press release calling  ‘on all Irish organisations and individuals to give full support to the Rally. We (IBRG) call on Irish people to stand up for their rights in Britain and join us on the march to show clearly that the PTA will not intimidate us or silence our voice. We ask them to remember the previous generations of the Irish in Britain who stood up and marched for Irish unity and freedom, and we ask them to march in that proud tradition. Let us all march together to show that we stand with the Irish people against British oppression and colonial rule in Ireland.’

IBRG March for Justice. credit T.Shelly

In this groundbreaking new book Patrick Anderson shows what we as an organisation (and those who supported us) were up against.   He examines the British media’s role  during the war by comparing how it reported the “Troubles” with a similar conflict in Algeria. He shows how the British press  were ( and are)  intrinsically conservative and pro- establishment and  were quite happy to take on the British government’s narrative with little questioning.  He also shows how most of the British Left, with some honourable exceptions, ignored human rights abuses in Ireland.

The British Army’s media campaign began in 1969.  According to Anderson:  “…by 1972 some 262 civilians and police and 1,858 army officers had received media training”.  Reporters who  went to Ireland and tried to report the reality of the War were threatened, harassed, and even told that they would face legal action for challenging the Army’s  version of events and killings. “Bernard Falk was imprisoned for four days under contempt legislation: Duncan Campbell was tried for treason under the Official Secrets Act.”

This is a complex and compelling study  of the war in the North of Ireland and the comparisons with  France’s  war in Algeria. Many activists on Ireland, like myself, will be surprised to find that politicians in Paris described Algeria as France’s Ireland and that a British cabinet discussed withdrawal under the code word “Algeria.”  It is not a surprise that the British portrayed themselves as pursuing a policy of “restraint” in their war while the French in Algeria  were seen as “ruthless.”

But this policy of “restraint” is  exposed by Anderson.  “Accusations of British torture were rejected as IRA propaganda or unavoidable excesses, even schoolboy antics. Official British sources were accepted and defended.”

Reviewing this book and looking at  IBRG history I see a major gap in that it fails to acknowledge the work of our organisation (and others) in challenging the  British narrative of acting as a referee between two warring communities and in exposing how the war in Ireland impacted and undermined the human rights of the Irish on both sides of the water, as well as the democratic institutions in both countries.

“Rewriting the Troubles” is a pioneering book, telling a complex and yet recurrent story of imperialism in  the Irish context. Britain is still involved in Ireland, the story is not over, even though most people on this side of the water may think /hope it is.  This book is an important contribution to understanding the complex story between the two islands.

Patrick has kindly donated a copy of the book to add to the Irish Collection at the Working Class Movement Library.

It is also available for loan from Manchester Public Libraries.

Buy it from women’s cooperative bookshop News from Nowhere.