A BOOK is set to be published about the life of a North Belfast man known for his trade union and Palestine solidarity work.
Eamon McMahon, originally from Oldpark Avenue, died in September last year.
Eamon also founded Trade Union Friends of Palestine 16 years ago after first bringing the idea to the Northern Ireland Committee of ICTU in 2006. From humble beginnings it has become the recognised Palestinian solidarity platform for the Irish trade union movement.
As Secretary of TUFP (North), Eamon was the driving force behind so much of the ground-breaking activity on BDS and on Palestinian human rights. Eamon was part of the historic ICTU delegation to the Occupied Territories, Israel and Gaza in 2007, and author of some significant strategic reports and action plans.
His former comrades are now inviting people who worked with him to contribute to a booklet on Eamon's activist life.
Eddie Whyte, who grew up with Eamon in North Belfast and now lives and works in Norway as a political advisor in youth issues in Sandefjord municipality, has penned his own contribution featuring his memories of Eamon.
"I was right in the middle of a speech in Brussels a few years back when I saw Eamon McMahon for the first time in 20 years. I was on the platform speaking to delegates on how the Norwegian labour movement coordinated solidarity work on Palestine when the Irish delegation entered the auditorium. The late arrivals caused a little wave of murmurs as they were quietly greeted by friends and comrades.
"I had been living in Norway for those 20 years and was on the national committee of Fagforbundet, Norway’s largest trade union. The conference was part of the European Trade Union Network (ETUN), which I later learned Eamon had helped establish.
"I approached him at the first break and we shook hands briefly, surrounded as he was by people. I hadn’t given him my name but asked how the trip had gone. When he heard my accent he was immediately alert.
"I had grown up with Eamon in the 1970s. He was a little older and a little wiser, an important role model for us younger ones. Although I had recognised him straight away, his demeanour showed that he was struggling to connect us.
"We had a bit of small talk about the traffic before I asked him how his brother John was, how Paul was doing and if his mammy was still living in Oldpark Avenue. I was enjoying my anonymity albeit brief.
"He was hesitant, sceptical but when I said my name and that we used to live facing Oldpark Place he replied: “Ach Marty Whyte’s wee brother, I remember you. For f*** sake, I thought you were Mossad or the Branch.” It was hilarious.
"Surrounded by European delegates from various countries, they understood little of the conversation that followed as we reminisced in Belfastish about the old days and arranged to meet later.
FRIENDS: Eamon McMahon and Eddie Whyte
"Eamon and I had lived in the same street for years. Oldpark Avenue was a long street in the Bone district of north Belfast with about 240 houses. No one described the Avenue as a part of the Bone when we were children – that badge of honour was reserved for the seven streets on the other side of the road. Now it’s all the Bone.
"We lived at the very top of the Avenue in number 14 and the McMahons lived at the very bottom in 126. It was in a way, two different worlds. The street was almost totally unionist in those days. Our respective families were some of the first nationalist families to move in. The young ones today find that hard to believe.
"Given the age difference (about eight years) and the length of the street – it was always going to be the case that whilst I knew very well who Eamon was, I was just one of a younger flock who probably all looked the same to him way back then.
"We met later that evening and exchanged memories. He was delighted when I told him that he cut quite the dashing figure for us younger lads in his hippy-like long leather coat and flares. 'I just loved that coat', he said. And he was flabbergasted when I told him that everyone knew very well who had painted 'Victory to the Vietnamese People' in an ugly yellow/orange colour on the Waterworks side of Solitude.
"Although we both struggled to find the exact year – I forced him to admit that it was maybe a bit silly that the younger lads who had done it with him had walked around the corner when he had gone and painted their own names in the same garish colour with a hammer and sickle back to front. It earned them the scorn of their pals for being so thick and a visit from the RUC, followed by a long series of indignant denials. He had forgotten that little escapade and I think he was genuinely pleased that someone remembered it all those years later.
"We learned solidarity in the Bone of the 1970s, a community under siege. Eamon’s friend and neighbour was confined to a wheelchair for life after being shot in a drive-by shooting and we lost numerous neighbours to the sectarian death squads and their cohorts in the British army. Eamon had also campaigned for the H-Block prisoners as a member of People’s Democracy, and was outspoken in defence of the besieged nationalist communities of Belfast.
"Reel forward some 40-odd years from the graffiti escapade and I found myself sitting in Solitude on a visit home to Belfast. The ground was packed for the Cliftonville – Celtic game in the Champions League and we were up in the main stand with a great all-round view.
"My old friend Pat Wilson nudged me and pointed over to the left behind the goal. 'Look there’s Eamon McMahon. What’s he up to?' Eamon’s house was over there in Cardigan Drive – about 200 meters up the road from the Avenue. He was at the Bowling Club end and now he was up on the roof. Alone as far as we could tell.
"He had a huge roll of material which we just knew would be a banner. He struggled with it as the fans looked on and had difficulty moving it around because of its shape and presumably the weight. People were honed in on it discussing what it could be. There were so many possibilities when it came to Eamon. Pat and I concluded with 'something to do with Palestine'.
For the last six years of his life Eamon and I worked together on Palestine, not knowing that it would be so short-lived. TUFP and UNISON invited me back to Ireland to talk about Fagforbundets Ambassadors for Palestine program, which eventually morphed into the UNISON/ICTU Champions programme.
"The crowd looked on in anticipation as he slowly unfurled it. Gradually the slogan came into view: 'Free Chelsea Manning!'. The club was none too happy and incurred a fine from UEFA but Eamon got a good round of applause from the fans and disappeared as quickly as he came.
"That was Eamon – 50 years of principled grass roots, practical activism whether it be sloganeering or writing position papers that would change the tactical approach of the European trade union movement to the occupation of Palestine.
"For the last six years of his life Eamon and I worked together on Palestine, not knowing that it would be so short-lived. TUFP and UNISON invited me back to Ireland to talk about Fagforbundets Ambassadors for Palestine program, which eventually morphed into the UNISON/ICTU Champions programme.
"The program sends active trade unionists to experience firsthand the situation in occupied Palestine. Having returned they visit workplaces and union branches and raise awareness, encouraging other trade unionists to get involved. I believe it is still in place.
"During our cooperative ventures, every conversation whether in person or online would be prefaced with a round of whatever happened to whoever before getting down to business. Eamon was all about getting down to business.
"He would often remark how strange it was that two lads from the Avenue ended up representing Ireland and Norway respectively in the European trade union movement, fighting for rights for the people of Palestine. 'It must be something they put in the water,' he would say.
"When he died it was a massive loss for friends and family but also the international solidarity movement. His solidarity with his own people was generously extended to the people of Vietnam, Chile, Cuba and of course Palestine. On his death, the ICTU described him as 'a true giant of solidarity who leaves a huge legacy of work which we must continue'.
"And so we shall Eamon. El pueblo unido jamás será vencido. Free Palestine."
