This genocide is being live-streamed but nobody seems to care

I’M writing these words in the last days of August. Here in rural Ireland, it’s a time to get busy with those summer jobs that get the home place prepared for the dark winter months.

Driving the back of Errigal road from Gort a’ Choirce to Leitir Ceanainn, tractors pulling trailers laden with a load of turf are a familiar sight. It’s time to make sure roof slates are all in place and exposed gable ends get another coat of paint.

The GAA is the heartbeat of an Irish summer and this year in Dún na nGall, all roads led to Croke Park—Jim McGuiness was, once more, working his tactical magic.

On the day itself, his lads were ultimately undone by 45 seconds of Kerry sorcery. That’s the amount of time that David Clifford was in possession of the ball in the All-Ireland Final. Despite that fleeting moment, it yielded an astonishing nine points for the Kingdom. It was the corner forward’s second All-Ireland victory. No one here thinks that it will be his last.

In my beloved hurling, Tipperary, defeated Cork by 3-27 to 1-18 to lift the Liam McCarthy for the 29th time. It was truly a final of two halves. The Rebels had been ahead at the break, and it looked good for them. In the second of the two minutes of added time, Shane Barrett scored a goal for the Leesiders after running in from the left before shooting low to the right corner to put Cork into a six-point lead at half-time, 1–16 to 0–13.

In a second-half of high drama, the Rebels collapsed as Tipp motored past them. Tipperary won the second half by 21 points, with Cork only scoring two.

After the match, my social media feed was full of British people who were seeing Ireland’s oldest sport for the first time. In an era of pampered millionaire soccer players, who roll around holding their face pretending that they're hurt, they couldn’t believe that these lads were doing it for the honour of representing their county.

However, something was missing from this summer for those of us who have the GAA in our blood and know it just isn’t about a game. There should have been a Palestinian echo to the clash of the ash.

As some readers might know, I’ve been involved with an organisation called GAA Palestine. Late last year, I helped to source hurls and sliotars here in Dún na nGall and get them shipped out to the West Bank for the first-ever Gaelic Games training camp last January. It was mighty.

Then, a trip of a lifetime was planned for young Palestinian Gaels to visit Ireland. It took months of planning with many good-hearted volunteers here in Ireland and Palestine. I was part of the GAA Palestine crew for the North West part of the tour around our island. It was going to be mighty too.

However, someone in the Irish State had other ideas and blocked the visas for the kids. In the end, a training camp in Jordan was the fallback situation. For some of the kids, it was the first time they had seen the sea. I have video footage of them cavorting towards the water at the Gulf of Aqaba. It was a bittersweet moment as I could only imagine the wonder in their eyes had they seen, as was planned for them, the vastness of the rough and rude Atlantic on Ireland’s west coast.

These children and their families deserve to have lives of safety and dignity. Sadly, many influential individuals in the world seem determined to erase them as a people.

Unlike previous genocides in history, the digital revolution means that this one is live-streamed. Like our own history of mass extermination by a powerful predatory neighbour, starvation is being used as a weapon. This is An Gorta Mór for the Instagram age. No one can say that they weren’t aware. It’s just that they simply don’t care.

On a personal note, this is my last column. Many years ago, when I was playing my own part in the Expatriate Game, I always wanted to hear scéal from back home. So, I hope these columns have landed in the right place for you. For me, it’s been a joy. Slán Abhaile.

Phil MacGiolla Bháin is an author, playwright and journalist based in Donegal. He was a staff reporter and columnist on An Phoblacht for many years. His novel Native Shore, a political thriller with a strong Glasgow Irish theme, is available at Calton Books