Dawn, Nos. 38-39

This edition of Dawn joins two others in the Archive and is a useful addition in terms of dating from before the other copies. As noted previously:

Dawn magazine (An Irish magazine on nonviolent action civil liberties and movements for change) was associated with the Dawn Group and was published on a monthly basis from 1974 to 1985. The Dawn Group later become part of INNATE .

As with the previous issues this is a thoughtful investigation of the concept of non-violence and the history of same in an Irish and international context. It examines O’Connell and nonviolence; Quaker nonviolence in Irish hoister; Michael Davitt and the Land League; The first boycott and other topics. There is a piece on ‘Peace Groups since the 193os’ which offers an important overview of the activity of those involved in such activities in Ireland during that period and after.

The introductory piece notes:

Nonviolence’ can of course mean different things. It can mean simply that which is not violent, without any commitment in the long term to continuing to use nonviolent means or to pacifism. By ·nonviolence’ we would mean a commitment to the positive use of nonviolent means, that means and ends are one. Some people would distinguish between the former kind as ‘non-violence’ with a hyphen, and the latter as ‘nonviolence’.

But as well as looking at past nonviolent actions, we believe that we should also look at past violent actions.

It is often said within nonviolent circles that ‘nonviolence’ is seen to have failed after being employed in a particular struggle for a couple of months, while ‘violence’ may have been tried for centuries without anyone saying ‘violence has failed’.

And:

The mythologies of the past still live with us. whether it be of the loyalist paramilitary organisation of 1912 or the republican rising of 1916. The loyalists of 1912 were prepared to fight the Crown if that proved necessary; though reactionary in the political and militaristic sense they were fighting to defend what they saw as their way of life, ‘the British way of life’ or, more precisely, ‘the Ulster Protestant way of life’. In the case of 1916, a small group were prepared to make a symbolic gesture, believing that the destiny of

Ireland was in their hands, that history would vindicate them. Those who participated in 1916 must be seen in the context of their times, and of the Great War which was supposedly fought over defending small nations. The idea of blood sacrifice was common throughout · Europe, even if the slaughter of the Great War was to make it somewhat more difficult to justify than before.

The rebels of 1916 were making a gesture without having a worked out social and political plan.

A graphic on the last page argues: Don’t Join Any Army – Legal or Illegal: Be a Pacifist.

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