Remembering Stephen Biko
Speaking of anger, it’s Sunday, and I always think of Sunday as a day of anger.
Apartheid is something that used to make me angry.
And at the same time Ireland’s Dunnes Stores Strikers were among the things that made me proud.
Much as it is fashionable to thrash your school and teachers if they were religious, I’ll always be grateful to the Brothers that taught me back in Dublin because they didn’t just theorize, they shared with us actual experiences from living and working in such places as El Salvador, the Phillipines, and South Africa.
The EP by Peter Gabriel with Biko on the A side was the first record I bought. It was 40p.
Here’s Christy Moore performing Biko Drum:
Black 47 are among those who have covered Gabriel’s song; they did so on their live album On Fire.
When Steve Biko was killed in police custody in 1977, he was arrested under something that was called the Terrorism Act.
Here are some ANCs reflections on Irish solidarity with the struggle against apartheid, including the Dunnes Store Strikers.
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
Thanks for posting that Eolai!
A year or so ago, I decided to check out what this Christy Moore fellow sounded like. I remember looking at cd cover after cd cover in Sheehan’s and finally taking a big handful up to the counter and saying “I’ll buy two, but which ones should they be?”
The first one I actually listened to had Biko Drum on it. I had planned to listen all the way through the cd without repeating anything, but when I got to that song, I had to listen to it at least three times in a row.
I have no idea why I never thought to look it up on YouTube and see a video. Thanks!
Amazing that we striked for this years ago and now there is a growing trend of society who only want Ireland for the Irish - bizarre
Yes Flirty, that was one of the horrible things about Ireland taht made leaving it eight years ago easier for me. I know racism exists elsewhere in the world, not least in the Kansas City where I live, but there was something unbearable about it being so ampant among your own.
April, I think you’re somewhat spoiled for choice with Christy’s body of work, and long may it continue.