Foreign Agent Episode 2: The New World and the Old Country
Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American connectionShow Notes
In 1927, the Irish republican Michael Flannery emigrated from the quiet backroads of Tipperary to the crowded streets of New York City, swapping a life of rebellion for a humdrum career in life insurance. But the Irish American community hadn’t forgotten about the old country, and as the Troubles began in Northern Ireland, Flannery found himself at the heart of the campaign to end British rule.
In episode two of Foreign Agent, Flannery’s life story unlocks the roots of anti-colonial struggle in Ireland and how the Irish became white in America. We trace the history of Noraid, the organisation he helped to found, and the political tensions threatening to rupture the republican movement.
Further reading:
Irish America and the Ulster Conflict by Andrew Wilson
Noraid and the Northern Ireland Troubles, 1970-1994 by Robert Collins
The Provisional IRA by Tommy McKearney
Ireland, Colonialism, and the Unfinished Revolution by Robbie McVeigh and Bill Rolston
How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev
Black and Green by Brian Dooley
Enemies and Passing Friends by Pamela Clayton
“Irish Republicans in Inter-war New York” and “The Politics of Noraid” by Brian Hanley
The interviews recorded with Michael Flannery and Martin Lyons are courtesy of the Tamiment Library at New York University.
Hosted by Nate Lavey
Produced by Nate Lavey and Michael McCanne
Original music by Matt Huxley
More from Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American connection
By the 1990s, a faction of Irish republicans were turning away from militancy and setting their sights on peace. A political future for the campaign would require more money, more lobbying, and even deeper engagement with the United States – though not with Irish Northern Aid, now tainted by its long association with the IRA. Instead, Noraid was wound down, causing splits and divisions that linger to this day.
*Corrected file* Noraid has been portrayed on screen many times, usually in the background of stories about terrorism and gunrunning. While TV shows and movies like Columbo, Patriot Games and The Devil’s Own aren’t exactly high art, they do reveal how the class politics of Irish America were understood (and misrepresented) by Hollywood. In this bonus episode, Nate Lavey takes a look at on-screen IRA gunrunners and their federal agency enemies, as portrayed by the likes of Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt and Sean Bean.
As the Troubles dragged on, IRA volunteers at the Maze Prison decided to go on hunger strike in 1980 and 1981. Their decision would change everything for the IRA — and for Noraid. The protest garnered sympathy from around the world and sparked outrage in the Irish American community. Noraid rallied outside the British embassy, burned Margaret Thatcher in effigy, and made new in-roads with the American media.
For decades, a quiet armored truck driver living in Brooklyn ran thousands of guns to the IRA. He was born in Ireland and dedicated to the Republican cause. He was also a committed socialist, who believed the anti-imperial struggle in Ireland was connected to the struggle of African-Americans, Cubans and Vietnamese. When he wasn’t handing out flyers or walking the picket lines, he was running an international arms network which took weapons pilfered from US military bases and smuggled them to IRA volunteers.
For over 100 years, Irish revolutionaries hoping to drive the British out of Ireland looked to the United States for money and support. They also looked across the Atlantic for new technology that might give them an advantage, including homemade surface-to-air missiles and even the world’s first modern submarine. In this bonus episode, we explore two cases — a century apart — which show just how far Irish republicans would go to take the war into the air and below the waves.