Acción-homenaje a los hombres de Belfast y Derry que lucharon en las Brigadas Internacionales.  Realizada en Belfast y Derry en Febrero de 2014 para el evento Bel-Mad.

PARTITURA

El accionista espera a su público sentado sobre un montón de cartones. Espera unos momentos a que se hayan situado frente a él. Se levanta y comienza a decir, quizás leyendo:

– On the eighteenth of July of nineteen thirty-six, there was a fascist military coup in Spain against the legitimate government of the Second Republic. Since that day, many foreign volunteers came to join the republican side. Many of these soldiers were later organised into the International Brigades. Some thirty-five thousand members of the International Brigades took part in the war; over ten thousand of them were killed.

Recoge un cartón y escribe: Brigadas Internacionales. Recoge otro u otros cartones y los coloca en el suelo de manera que se acerca al público pisando solo sobre ellos. Continúa diciendo:

– More than three hundred Irishmen lead by Frank Ryan fought with honour, with an enormous sacrifice of lives.

Recoge otro cartón y escribe: Frank Ryan. Recoge otro u otros cartones y los coloca en el suelo de manera que sigue acercándose al público, rodeándolo o pasando de largo, según las circunstancias y, pisando solo sobre ellos, Continúa diciendo, escribiendo y colocando cartones:

– They fought in the Battle of Lopera (Lopera), as part of the Nine Nations Battalion (Batallón Nueve Naciones) of the Fourteenth Brigade (XIV Brigada); in the Defence of Madrid (Defensa de Madrid), as part of the Paris Commune Battalion (Batallón Comuna de Paris); and in the battles of Jarama (Jarama), Brunete (Brunete), Belchite (Belchite), and El Ebro (Ebro) as part of the British Battalion (Batallón Británico) or as part of the Connolly Column (Columna Connolly) of the Lincoln Battalion (Batallón Lincoln) of the Fifteenth International Brigade (XV Brigada Internacional).

Hace unos momentos de silencio y dice:

– On the other hand, some seven hundred followers of Eoin O’Duffy participated in support of the fascist side. They were sent back to Ireland in June of nineteen thirty-seven hardly having been in combat.

Escribe en un cartón Eoin O’Duffy y lo lanza lejos.

Saca de algún bolsillo cartones con estos 35 nombres: Dick O’Neill, Liam Tumilson, Danny Boyle, Bill Henry, William Laughran, William Beatie, Ben Murray, Thomas Kerr, Liam O’Hanlon, H. McGrath, Archie Bailey, Victor Barr, William Black, James Blaney, John Coleman, Hugh Dooley, William Falconer, Willie Fulton, James Hillen, Hugh Hunter, John Johnston, Steve Kenny, Jim Larmour, Bill Lord, Joe Lowry, Samuel Martin, James McKeefrey, Fred McMahon, Michael Mulligan, Patrick Murphy, Tom Murphy, Jackie Patterson, John Robinson, Patrick O’Hara, Patsy McAllister.

Y los va entregando uno a uno a diferentes personas del público mientras les dice en voz baja:

– Please, remember this name.

Vuelve al lugar donde comenzó la acción y recoge una mochila que contiene 37 latas de cerveza, se la coloca a la espalda, se dirige al público y les dice:

– Please, follow me.

Sale a la calle acompañado del público y se dirige a Writhers’ Square (unos diez minutos) donde hay un monumento a los brigadistas. Por el camino hace oír una y otra vez, a través del teléfono móvil, la canción Viva la Quinta Brigada, de Christy Moore. Una vez congregados ante el monumento, se despoja de la mochila y lee:

– On November eighth of two thousand seven, Bob Doyle, the last surviving Irish brigader, was here, in Writers’ Square, at the inauguration of this monument. Some months before, on February sixteenth, during the commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of the Jarama Battle, Bob Doyle said: «Looking at the world today, we cannot afford to be sentimental, we must look at the past if we are to learn anything as realists. And I have to ask: did my comrades sacrifice their lives in vain? […] What about the ideal that my comrades lived and died for? Can we say that it has triumphed in Spain, when in the last election, nearly half of the electorate voted for a party that is fascist in all but name?» To Bob Doyle, «the unity of all who share a hatred of Fascism and a desire for a better world is an essential element for a successfull struggle».

I would like to remember the example of those heroes and their united and internationalist response to fascism. I am doing this action, humbly, as one more memorial.

Abre la mochila, saca las cervezas y las entrega a las personas que han recibido un cartoncito con un nombre.

Coloca la penúltima cerveza y una lata herrumbrosa sobre o al lado de la estatua y dice:

– To those fighters whose name I do not know.

Abre su propia lata y dice:

– Let us open a beer and drink in honour of those Belfastians who took on the responsibility of taking action and joined the International Brigades: to Dick O’Neill, Liam Tumilson, Danny Boyle and Bill Henry, who died in the Jarama Battle in February of nineteen thirty-seven; to William Laughran and William Battle, who dead in the Brunete Battle in July of nineteen thirty-seven; to Ben Murray, dead in March of nineteen thirty-eight; to Thomas Kerr, who died in the Ebro Battle in August of nineteen thirty-eight; to H. McGrath, who died in September of nineteen thirty-eight. And to Liam O’Hanlon, Archie Bailey, Victor Barr, William Black, James Blaney, John Coleman, Hugh Dooley, William Falconer, Willie Fulton, James Hillen, Hugh Hunter, John Johnston, Steve Kenny, Jim Larmour, Bill Lord, Joe Lowry, Samuel Martin, James McKeefrey, Fred McMahon, Michael Mulligan, Patrick Murphy, Tom Murphy, Patsy McAllister, who came from Canada, Jackie Patterson and John Robinson. And to Patrick O’Hara, who fought with the POUM, the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification.

Bebe y dice:

– The fight continues.

La lucha continúa. Salud.

(Además de alguna pequeña variación en el texto, en la acción de Derry se utilizaron los nombres de los brigadistas de esta ciudad: James Campbell, James Donald, Jack Flynn, George Gorman, William McChrystal, Robert McDonald, Eamon McGrotty, Charles Mc Guinness, John Murphy, Herbert Pollock, Thomas Traynor.)