Jeesnebkccxe (010s sr Loncan coLLNs RaTHLRENED sro ony sarions Loma arIBELAN ~_ E LEVEL: BY INTERMEDIATE IRISH PRIDE El lunes de Pascua de 1916, un grupo de nacionalistas rebeldes proclamé la Republica de Irlanda en Dublin: una ciudad clave para el Imperio Britanico, pero azotada por | a pobrez; EL historiador Lorcan Collins nos cuenta qué pasé desp!j “nationalist rebels }) stormed the General F> Post Office in the heart of Dublin. They also occupied the courthouse, St Ste phen's Green (a park), and bread ‘and biscuit factories?, But the heart of operations was the Genetal Post Office, or GPO. An Irish Republic was proclaimed from here. Sx days later, the rebellion was put down, and itsleacers executed” THE BACKGROUND With a population of 400,000 Dub- lin wes an importent city in the British Empire, though weak- df by the Groat Famine®of the mid-19th century. Many Dublin- ers lived in poverty. There were terrible slums‘, with large families sharing very little space. Diseases like tuberculosis were common. Child mortality was high, wages” were low, Among the working clase, social ferment was grow ing. Meanwhile, the middle and upper classes took a new interest in Gaelic culture, language end sports. FAILURE ‘The Rising lasted under a week —and failed. Why? The rebellion was @ David and Goliath scener io. The few hundred rebels were vastly outnumbered' by the Brit- ish troops: Rebellions need ams, and a ship with ams from Germa- ny was under way’. But the ship was intercepted and the arms never teached Dublin. Another problem was that many Irishmen were on the Con- ‘tinent fighting in the First World War on the British side. Was it ‘fair’ to attack Britain when she was down on her knees"? WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? [After the failed Rising, much of Dublin was in ruins, and hun- dreds of people nad died. The 16 leaders of the rebellion were ox ecuted. One of them, James Cor. nolly, was injured” and had to be tied to a chair for his execution. In tactical verms, this was a big mis- take by the British. Their brutality and lack" of compassion timed the rebel leaders into martyrs. 1t algo made many Irish who had not supported the Rising tum against icLossARy| 4 Toston: tom 2 FACTORY: (abrica 3 TOEXECUTE:cjecutar 4 TOWEAKEN: debiiar 1 FAMINE: nambruns 6 S1UM:barriopobre 7 WAGES: suelo 6 TOOUTNUMBER: obrepssar en nirneros 9 UNDERWAY: en camino {0 ON HERI KNEES: Ge rocllas 41 TOINJURE:herr,sesionsr ra Lack faltaglovesareoff- __comosifuesela Vaenserio.Sienel bboxeo los boxeatores letra t":por ejemplo dicen “nk” y" nuttin” sequitanles guentes, [nothing elcombatese vuelve Tough tuck! ~ realmente duro. Overwhetm - {Mala suerte! jSuerte Abrumar. También perral Tough luck lapronunciacién Quiere decirmala irtandess de ias ‘suerte, perohay una letras ‘Im’ es diferencia ontre bad diferente: dicen lucky tough luck Si sedice "bedluck’ a Fp otra persone, porto generates una forma deconsolarie, pero sile decimos “tough luck” estocontrario: Think, not escomodecirie ‘mals curiaso observer que ‘algunas irlandeses pronuncian ta “th” suerte, tendrés que aguantarte” the British. In this, the Easter Ris. ing prepared the ground for Inde- pendence a few years later. It also boosted" the Sinn Fein national- istpany at the 191 elections THE AFTERMATH ‘Three of the Baster Rising rebais later became Head of State, the most famous of them being Ea- mon de Valera. Spared™ execu tion in 1916 because of his Amer ican passport, De Veiera played an important role in the 1919-21 Irish War of Independence. That “overwhelum” y “fi Esta expresion significa “el inglés medio”. Yourno tiene aquiningin significado posesivo. ing - Es | was followed by a terrible Civil War. On one side were the sup- porters of the 1921/2 Anglo-Irish ‘Treaty, like De Valera. On the other wore the eupporters of full independence for the whole is- land or nothing, De Valera's side won, but the problem of the North never went away. The seed" for all this was the Easter Rising. © 13 TO Boost: 14 TOSPARE:salvar TESEED comilia DVANCED Troubled Times OnEaster Monday 1916, Irish rebels marched into Dublin's General Post Office and proclaimed that Ireland was a republic. The rising was failure ~it ‘was put down easily -and brutally -by British troops, butit did mark the start of rish independence. Ithas great syinbolic importance for Ireland, as LorcanColtins, atour guide who has written several books about the Easter Risina, explains: LoreanCollins (Dublin accent): Wel, what its, it's thefirsttime in the 20th century that we strike a proper, good blow'* against the British Empire. This is the story of Davia versus Goliath, the small number of men and women, and some children, who had a great heart, a big enough belief in themselvestthat they were capable of taking on" the mightiest" empire™ since the Romans. And they were going todo their best to strike @ blow while Britain wast war in Europe. There's anold phrase inthe irish Republican Brotherhood: “England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity.” Soonce Britain shouldbe at war, we should strike the blow. Somebody once said to me, it ‘wes a bit un‘air that we hither while they were al war. Well, took, tough luck! You con’twait untitthe British Empire builds itseif up tots former strengths again, you kickit while it's down. I would never pursue that policy* on aone-to-one basis with my fellow human, but when itcomas toan empire, all the gloves® are off.So its OK to stab" Engiand in her back during her time in need, ‘cause we were the weaker force, it’s only about 1400 men, women, and children who came out ‘on Easter Monday. We're up agains: 29,000 British soldiers by the end ol Eester Week. Sowe're the underdog, and that’s why people are dravin® towards this, NATIONAL HERO We then asked Lorcan Collins whether he hada personal hero inthe Easter Rising Lorcan Collinst! don’t even have to think" for a momento say it's James Connolly. Like from the first time I ‘heard about him, when Iwas maybe akid less than 10 years of age, you'd hear asongcalled “James Connolly atout this man who's strapped” into the char in Kilmainhem Gaol inorder to face the fring squac® James Connolly swritings are very accessible, | would have looked into them asan older fellowin my early 2s, |suppose, when | really started to read him properly. James Connelly'sieals areMarsist, except he never used that phrase, he never called himself aMaraist, he would call himselta “Socialist Republican’. He interpreted Marxior the Irish and for the working man. He wrote books suchas Socialism Made Easy, Which is what needed to be dore. Marx seems to virite books called ‘Socialism Made Difficult” - by talking about dialectical materialism, ‘and supply and demand”, and using facts and figures that overwhelm™ people, whereas James Connolly Used asimele approach. And, ashe was @ working-class herohimselt, he spoke the language of the working class, whichis whal Marxists can often miss, and they speak in too academic a language, instead of just Speaking tothe peopieas they speak themselves, GENOCIDE If James Connolly was the here of the Easter Rising, then the British were the ba guys, but Lorcan Collins is at pains to point out™ that the touris not anti-British: Lorcan Collins: Your ordinery English person has nothing™to co with Winston Churchill's paicies in Ireland, or even Margaret Thatcher's policies in Iretand. | would be very careful to see them as comrades, and as brothers and sisters. However, British policy irelane, forthe past many hundreds of years, has been appalling and abysmal, a country whese parliamentallowed '.25 million people to starve to death* Acountry who pursueda policy of genocide: although genocide isa 20th century invention, it was a form of genocide that was utilized against ourculture inthe 1840s. Well, Ime very forgiving*individual and i would certainly never bleme™ Engish people, so they come on thetour and ‘many ofthernjustlisten and agree with what | say. And I'l say one thing. ifyou have the history, fyouknow the history and yeu tellit property, people camot really disagreewith you, The facts are there, you know, the facts of poverty that wasin the streetsin Dubin, infant mortality rates that were a staggering” 142 per 1,000 births. Nobody could say that was not worth trying to change. And that's what James Connolly and Jim Larkin, thelabour leader, were trying to change in Dublin, ® eset) Aspen 1 Decide which word doesn't belong inthe grup. bow, rage, strike betters, writings, works «rising, eval, resentment overtake, overwhelm, overpower el dsqusiing, abysmal, terrible ‘forging, lerient, commencing 2. Unscramble the leters to create words sed in the interview. The first letter ofthe ‘words given to help you. buleper or reeim cl gonducre lherrhoboo inacedge Syeprew Answers ‘elrage, i letters, cleesentment dlozertate, ]sisqusting, {commending 1-alrepubic, 0 empire, cl underdog, A brotherhood el genocide, f povery. NORE EEROSES OND 0S 6 BLOW: geipe TOTAKEON: enfrentarse 2 MIGHTY: poderose EMPIRE: mperio TOUGH LUCK: mala suerte lverSpeak Up Explains) 21 TOPURSUE A POLICY: seguir una p 22 GLOVES: guanies (ver Speak Up Explains! + TOSTABapuralar + 26 UNDERDOG: e( que tiene iss de perder 26 TODRAW:atras! 26 TOTHINK: pensar ver Speak Up Explains) 27 TOSTRAP INTO}: suetar 428 FIRING SUAD:peloién detustamiento 29 SUPPLY AND DEMAND: sferiay demands 30 TOOVERWHELM:aqcbiar, abrumar iver Speak Up Bxolains] 31 ISAT PAINS TOPOINT OUT: 32 ORDINARY, NOTHING: ver Speak Up Explains 438 APPALLING: torrinable, i empena se ée hambre TOBLAME:culdar STAGGERING: increible, zcomtr 8 TOBE WORTH. vaiera pens