Brendan 'Speedie' Smith commented (recently via Facebook) on the symbolism of this poster: 'The idea of the 'Claddagh Ring' with a broken heart oozing blood & destruction (nuclear bomb cloud) came from the elected officers of the committee organising the campaign (namely Fintan Coughlan, Dermot Guy, Kathleen O'Driscoll & myself). The drawing itself was done by the brilliant artist Sam Hand. We used the 'Claddagh Ring' theme as it was a traditional symbol of Galway & was well known in Irish American circles; the 'nuclear bomb explosion' represented the new generation of US 'Pershing/Cruise' missiles being installed in Europe at the time to counter Soviet military weaponry (remember the great 1984 hit '99 Red Balloons' by German singer Nina?); the 'red blood' represented the massacres of innocents at the hands of the Contras & right wing death squads in Central America; the black background symbolised death. We borrowed the name 'Heartbreaker' from the Bee Gees song made popular in 1983 by Dionne Warwick.'
- The poster is from 1984, produced for the visit of Ronald Reagan to Galway. Here's something I wrote about it all 8 years ago — prompted by Reagan's death & GW Bush's visit to Ireland. It appeared on the Indymedia.ie blog, 12 June 2004.
.
Hey Ronnie Reagan, I’m black & I’m pagan,
I’m gay, & I’m left, & I’m free
I’m an unfundamentalist environmentalist,
Don’t bother me.
When told that Ronald Reagan was dead, the first thing that came into my head was a song — a Christy Moore song that was on many a lip 20 years ago. For it was exactly 20 years ago – the 1st Saturday of June 1984 – that the then president arrived in town to accept an honorary doctorate (in laws, of all things) from University College Galway (UCG). It was an election year, & an opportune moment to pose for Irish-American voters with a parchment in one hand & a pint of Guinness in the other.
We’d been planning our reception. For the previous 8 weeks, dozens of us [in the ad hoc Galway Campaign Against Reagan’s Foreign Policy] had gathered each Tuesday night in the Atlanta Hotel, separating into sub-committees in the several corners of the bar, & redividing into pint-drinking social groups afterwards [Brendan 'Speedie' Smith & Fintan Coughlan I recall, were particularly active]. Nuns, republicans, Labourites, trades unionists, ex-aid workers, human rights activists, academics, young Trotskyists all had their different strategies & objectives, but it was a period of comradeship & excitement.
During the build-up, one memorable stunt grabbed national headlines. A group of UCG academics organised a ‘de-conferring ceremony’ at which holders of UCG doctorates publicly burned them in protest. Among those who participated was the heroic veteran socialist republican & writer, Peadar O’Donnell, who had been awarded an honorary doctorate by UCG a short time before.
In the few days before Reagan arrived, sleepy old Galway was transformed: the town was invaded by secret servicemen with cropped hair & dark suits, who spoke into hidden microphones on their cuffs; the black Mercedes population trebled; the unusual helicopter activity was menacingly suggestive of ‘Apocolypse Now’. Those of us who had friends in the vicinity of the University were unable to visit them for a few days.
It was a fine Saturday as several thousand marched from Fr Burke Park towards the Cathedral car park — a space very near the University made available by bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey, who was boycotting the Reagan ceremonies himself. Suddenly, as the front of the demonstration passed the Atlanta Hotel, the heavens opened & we found ourselves in the middle of the heaviest rain our lives. We believed that the CIA was responsible for peppering the clouds from a helicopter with some substance or other — either to cause the more timid of the protesters to run for shelter, or to ensure that there would be no rain during Ronnie’s parade.
Twenty years later, it’s re-election time again, & another teetotal warmongering president is coming to pose with a pint of Guinness for the Irish-American constituency. The Atlanta Hotel no longer exists, but a new generation of unfundementalist environmentalists is coming into contact with veterans of the Reagan protests in other corners of other bars. At the very least, they will spoil his photo-opportunity.
Christy Moore is singing out against Bush as he sang out against Reagan twenty years ago – he is headlining the Irish Anti War Movement’s ‘When Bush Comes to Shove’ gig in Dublin on 19 June. And John Maguire, writer of ‘Hey Ronnie Reagan’ is currently a spokesperson for Anti War Ireland.
- Indymedia.ie, 12 June 2004