Higgins’s reflection on Civil War highlights edgy issues
President was right to speak of the need to recognise the atrocities committed by both sides
President Michael D Higgins speaking at the Beal na Blath commemoration, Co. Cork Pic Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision
Some of those organising history discussions and conferences for the autumn are keen to keep the conversation about the 1916 centenary going, but with a twist. Next month’s Dublin Festival of History, for example, will host a discussion framed around the idea that this year’s 1916 commemorations were conducted with “dignity and gravitas” and succeeded in “igniting a public mood of pride and confidence”, but as the commemorative reach extends, the festival asks: “How can we sustain the positive tone in future commemorations?”
It should not be about a “positive tone”, however, but an appropriate tone. Of course commemorating the War of Independence and Civil War will create complications different to that of remembering 1916, but, as with the commemorations this year, there are also opportunities to broaden the parameters of our understanding, highlight new information, and expose propaganda masquerading as history, and deliberate selectiveness serving contemporary political needs at the expense of evidence and nuance.