Our Revenge

“Our revenge will be the laughter of our children”, We often hear the phrase by Bobby Sands and it no doubt has a different interpretation for different people. I even learned the phrase as gaelige when I was 17 and it sounds more poetic and inspirational, it translates as: "Banfear ár ndíoltas amach leis an gháire dár ipáistí". The words are known all over the world, they have been seen on the apartheid walls in Palestine and on walls in China. It is a phrase Basque and Cuban revolutionaries are well aware of.

Now it dawned on me what that revenge will look like, it will not only be physical laughter of generations of Irish people. But it will be when the struggle for Irish freedom is finished and a new dawn exists. It will inevitably be the day when Ireland is free from the bondage of British domination. It will be the day every child has a roof over their head and they don’t suffer hunger. Our revenge will be ensuring everyone has a right to free and adequate medical care. It will be the day when the old sectarian divisions are gone and children can play together. It will be the day when prejudice no longer exists, where hate, discrimination and injustice is no longer. When people can live their lives free from exploitation and fear of poverty. When people are finally free from poverty, oppression, inequality and injustice that will be our revenge and it’s a revenge based on the well being and happiness of our people.

That’s what I see as being our revenge, one where equality, social justice and freedom has been achieved through our struggle of national liberation. I’m sure that’s what Bobby Sands had in mind too when he penned the phrase. Only when we have freedom from colonialism, inequality and injustice could we see the happiness of a people and the laughter of our children. Our vengeance for centuries of colonialism and oppression is the happiness and liberation of the Irish people

le Adrian Gallagher