Spanish fascists attack memorial to Tyrone poet

(A slighly edited version of this piece was published in The Sunday World of November 20th 2016)

Spanish fascists have attacked a monument to Dungannon poet Charlie Donnelly, who was killed fighting Fascism in the Spanish Civil War. The memorial is in  Rivas-Vaciamadrid, on the outskirts of Madrid. The fascists threw blue paint over it. In Spain, the colour blue is associated with the far-right.

The City Council immediately repaired the monument. Eddie O’Neill, of the Irish International Brigade Memorial Trust, said local people are very supportive of the monument. “They have a great gratitude to the foreign volunteers like Donnelly who came to Spain to fight Fascism,” he said. “The monument contains a stone from every county in Ireland, and the main stone comes from Dungannon, near Charlie Donnelly’s home. The City Council gave the ground.” He said that, unfortunately, there was still an element in Spain who targeted memorials to anti-Fascist martyrs.

Charlie Donnelly was a major Irish poet of the 1930s, killed before he could fulfil his potential. He was born in Killybrackey, just outside Dungannon, in July 1914. The family moved, first to Dundalk then to Dublin. He studied briefly at University College, Dublin. He was expelled from the University, and twice jailed for left-wing activities. He was both writing poems and very involved in socialist movements. At 20 he was on the executive of short-lived left-wing organisation Republican Congress.

When a section of the army, with support from Nazi Germany, rebelled against the democratic government in Spain, he joined the  International Brigades. After short training, he was promoted to Company Commander. His unit was sent into the Battle of Jarama, where it prevented the fascists winning a decisive victory.  On 27 February 1937 he and his fellow-volunteers were taking cover among olive trees from heavy fire .  He picked up a handful of olives and said: “Even the olives are bleeding.” He never spoke again, because within minutes he was killed.

There will be a commemoration in Dungannon in February next to mark the 80^th anniversary of his death.