The Echo Of The Thunder

Daniel Baker

A podcast about the history and politics of Irish republicanism featuring a range of interviews with historians, activists, writers and artists. Presented and produced by Daniel Baker.

Episodes

  1. 04/14/2025

    Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc on the rise of the Irish Far Right

    I'm back with a new volume of standalone episodes on the history and politics of Irish republicanism! In this episode I talk to Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc, author of Burn Them Out! a history of the Irish far right, recently published by Bloomsbury. Padraig has written several non-fiction books on the Irish revolutionary period, including bestselling The Disappeared, which explores all the forced disappearances arising from political violence in 20th-century Ireland, and Revolution, which was shortlisted for the 2011 Irish Book Awards. In November 2023, the Dublin riots shocked Ireland and the wider world. They were sparked by a knife attack by an immigrant on three children. Inflammatory online rumours spread in minutes. Part of the north inner city were wrecked, cars and buses torched, and protestors wreaked havoc on the streets for hours. Until very recently, Ireland had prided itself on having escaped the wave of far-right, xenophobic populism now rampant throughout Europe. That complacency has been rudely challenged. In Burn Them Out!, Pádraig Óg Ó Ruairc explores the long history that has led to this pivotal moment. He uncovers the pervasive anti-Semitism of the Irish political elite in the 1920s and 30s, the energetic efforts of Mosley and other British fascists to extend their movement to the North of Ireland, the IRA’s alliance with Nazi Germany in the 40s and the many ultra-Catholic, anti-communist Irish movements that were millimetres away from fascism As is befitting the nature of this podcast we will be discussing the rise of the Irish far right and its history within the context of republican responses to fascism. From the Easter Rising through to the Troubles and the recent, disgraceful, cynical appropration of Irish republican aesthetics by the fascist far right.

    1h 25m
  2. 10/02/2022

    The Yank: My Life as a Former US Marine in the IRA w/ John Crawley

    In this episode I’m delighted to welcome John Crawley to the show. John was born in Long Island, New York, in 1957, the son of a Co. Roscommon father and a Co. Kerry mother. Two years later the family moved to Chicago and, in 1972, John moved to the town of Castlerea, Co Roscommon, to live with an aunt. It was During this time he decided to become an active member of the republican movement and resolved to return to the US and join the Marine Corps in order to attain as high a level of military expertise as possible, with express intention of putting those skills to use for the republican cause during the Troubles by joining the Provisional IRA. His recently published memoir is titled The Yank: The True Story Of A Former US Marine in the Irish Republican Army and it is available from Penguin RandomHouse. It charts his extraordinary lifestory from his entry into the elite recon unit of the US Marines to his activity as a Provisional IRA volunteer operating around the border region, his interactions with key figures in the movement including Jim Lynagh and Martin McGuinness, his analysis of the Provisionals as a military and organisational force, his gradual disillusionment with the political strategy of the republican leadership, the gun running operation he was involved in back in the US which included a supporting cast of Boston underworld criminals, his arrest after an arms shipment was intercepted and much more. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/711889/the-yank-by-john-crawley/

    1h 22m

Ratings & Reviews

4
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

A podcast about the history and politics of Irish republicanism featuring a range of interviews with historians, activists, writers and artists. Presented and produced by Daniel Baker.