THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE took to the streets of Dublin yesterday to commemorate the centenary of the Easter Rising.
What did media outlets abroad make of things? We take a look.
New York Times
The NYT covered the Rising in a number of ways – ‘straight’ stories, opinion pieces and historical articles:
In its report on the Rising, taken from Associated Press, it noted:
Thousands of soldiers marched solemnly through the crowded streets of Dublin on Sunday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising against Britain, a fateful rebellion that reduced parts of the capital to ruins and fired the country’s flame of independence.
In the run-up to the event, it also had this fascinating article on the involvement of women in the Rising:
The picture emerging from this research is one of women who were not just committed nationalists willing to die for Ireland, but also longtime campaigners for social justice who had been fighting inequality on many fronts: land reform, labor battles and women’s suffrage. These women wanted a fairer society in which they would have an equal say. In 1916, they had reason to believe that the republic they chose to fight for was the surest means to that end.
BBC
The BBC covered the parade, and gave some contextual information for those not familiar with the event.
It also had a wealth of articles about the Easter Rising, including who the leaders were, and what the human cost of the Rising was.
BBC Northern Ireland’s Mark Simpson reported from the scene:
It is a rare moment in a large crowd when everyone puts down their smart phone and just listens. That rarity occurred when Captain Peter Kelleher, a soldier from Cork, re-read the 1916 proclamation of Irish independence. Social media went on hold in the crowd. The ‘selfies’ stopped. There was a Twitter ceasefire.
Washington Post
The Washington Post filled in its readers about what the Rising actually involved:
Its main article on the commemoration was headlined like this:
This was AP copy, similar to the New York Times story above.
Andalou Agency
This Turkish publication had a piece on how the organisers expected the commemoration “to be the largest parade in Irish history”.
The Telegraph
In one of the more unexpected pieces about the Rising, Charles Moore wrote a piece in The Telegraph headlined ‘Islamic State and the Easter Rising’ which even brought in the Brussels attacks to his discussion of the events.
The Guardian
Reporting from Dublin, Henry McDonald noted:
The rising is one of the seminal events in modern Irish history and took place in the middle of the first world war. More than 450 people lost their lives in almost a week of fighting between republican rebels led by the poet and teacher Pearse and British armed forces in the city.
The site also featured the fascinating stories of those involved in the Rising, told by their families.
One man, Bernie Duffy, recalled how his grandfather Barney Duffy volunteered as a messenger during the Rising.
But it’s difficult for Bernie to speak of Barney without remembering his other grandfather Johnny Quinn, who served with the RAF during the second world war. “Both my grandfathers played their role in history and I am proud of them for that, but neither were fighters and I’m grateful for that too.” For Bernie, the lives of both his relatives help reflect the complexity of feelings for Irish people when it comes to Ireland’s relationship with the UK.
Earlier in the weekend, Olivia Leary wrote a searing column about the role of women in the Rising, and the paper also included an editorial on the centenary. Both of them drew many letters from readers.
In its editorial, The Guardian said:
Meanwhile, a century on, the rising can also now be seen as a precursor of the modern fracturing of the United Kingdom’s internal cohesion. Yet in Britain, with some honourable exceptions, commemoration of the rising has been fitful at best. The lazy habits of closed minds are to blame here. Too few British people know anything of Ireland’s history, including about the rising, which is likely this year to be eclipsed by the centenary of the Somme, where, as it happens, many Irish soldiers died. No one who cares about the study of British history should feel content with this.
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