MacD on Music: From The River To The Sea

The past few months (and the almost eight decades before that) have seen the mass slaughter of innocent Palestinians at the hands of Israel. It’s a cause that has always hit close to home for the people of Ireland due to our own history of occupation and oppression.

Since Israel stepped up its campaign of genocide over the past four months, there have been numerous concerts and fundraisers throughout the country to try and do whatever small part we can to help the people of Palestine.

This week I’m talking once again to Declan McLaughlin about the concert taking place in the Museum of Free Derry on the 25th of this month. The concert, featuring the Henry Girls, Jeanette Hutton, Eileen Webster and Siânna Ní Laithbheartaigh (of TRAMP fame), will be raising money for the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

Speaking about the event, Declan said: “It’s part of the [Bloody Sunday] anniversary and a lot of the stuff happening over the anniversary this year is focusing on what’s going on in Palestine. There’s always been that level of solidarity here. Just before Christmas we sent off £17,000 to the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.

"As I see it, it’s great to show solidarity but you do kind of have to be doing something.

“All the events I’ve seen around the town, the stuff that happened in Sandino’s, and even that gathering on the bridge on New Year’s Eve, it’s a long time since I’ve seen that amount of people out in that weather at that time of year. It’s a good indication of how people in Derry relate to it as well.

"I think people in Derry see what’s going on in Palestine and they relate to it, that’s why there’s such an outpouring. If you look at what’s going on, it’s a sin. I can’t even watch the news anymore because it just makes me angry.

"That’s why I think it’s important to put stuff on where people are actively contributing in a positive way, that they feel like they’re doing something and it’s not just standing holding a flag or listening to somebody making a speech, that they feel like they’re doing something that’s making some kind of positive contribution to it.”

“The fact that it’s an all-female line-up, there’s a full range, everything from Siânna from TRAMP, right through to the Henry Girls and Eileen Webster. Every genre is covered. The fact that we use this space is good. The museum shouldn’t be just looked at as a tourist attraction, it should also offer something to the community in Derry and it should also be politically active around other issues, not just Bloody Sunday.

"That’s important to me, and the Trust as well.”

Next, we spoke a bit about the museum itself and what other events it’s putting on: “Siddhartha Joag, who is an Indian-American artist, he’s really well known in America, he has this Nightmares and Landscapes, he has been going round helping artists living in areas of the world where there is conflict, but he also has been producing work from wherever he’s been.

"That exhibition is on the 23rd. We then have four Mexican artists coming. They have a piece of work called What Remains.

"Where it started was Monica Lozano, who’s a photographer based in El Paso but she’s from Juárez in Mexico and over the last ten-fifteen years she’s been going out into that border area and photographing what she finds because, what happens is, a lot of the people that are making their way across, they drop stuff. I went out and saw this stuff myself. It would break your heart.”

“That’s on the Wednesday, then on the Thursday we’re going to have a vigil over at the [Bloody Sunday] monument where we’re going to light up the monument in the Palestinian colours, then that night is the music night.

"On the Friday night the Pat Finucane Centre have an event on the impunity stuff going on with the British government trying to cover up all the stuff that happened in the past, then there’s the lecture that’s going to happen in Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin, and that’s Omar Barghouti, he’s the guy that was the head of the boycott campaign [BDS], he’s giving the annual Bloody Sunday lecture, then on the Saturday there’s going to be a workshop about what people can do and what Derry can do.

"A lot of people see this stuff happening at the other side of the world and they feel helpless, they want to do something, so we’re going to have a lot of different groups who are actively involved in Palestine and they’re going to talk about what people can do on a local level, on a social level, on a political level.”

And we have to leave it here for this week.

Now time for the socials. Declan McLaughlin can be found on Facebook and Instagram @declanmclaughlin_derry, the Henry Girls @thehenrygirlsmusic, Jeanette Hutton @jeanettehutton2019, Siânna @sianna_banana and the Museum of Free Derry @museumfreederry.