Geldof: Jihadis, the Easter Rising and folly of ‘this false martyrdom’
SIR BOB GELDOF has criticised the leaders of the 1916 Irish Easter Rising for using tactics similar to those of jihadi suicide bombers.
The star argues the ringleaders of the insurrection who seized the Post Office building in Dublin martyred themselves in a bid to inspire others to take up arms.
His comments, in an exclusive interview in Event magazine with today’s Mail on Sunday, will prove controversial in the Irish Republic, which is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the six-day rising against British rule.
Dublin-born Geldof claims there is little difference between the rebels’ mindset and the warped ideology behind atrocities such as last week’s massacre of 73 civilians in Pakistan.
He says: ‘They [the Irish rebels] started writing these letters [to be read afterwards] which show clearly they knew “The only thing that will come out of this is that we get shot, we get to be martyrs, that’ll spur another generation”. What’s admirable about that, if you also don’t admire the guy who’s just walked into Pakistan and blown up 73 people at a Christian carnival in Lahore? What’s the difference?
‘People say, “That’s outrageous, it’s not the same thing.” Excuse me?’
Asked if the modern Islamic suicide bomber morally resembles the Irish rebel in the Post Office, he agrees, saying: ‘It does.’
Although the Irish insurrection – which led to the death of almost 500 – was successfully crushed, it is widely seen as a pivotal moment in the battle for Irish independence. But Geldof says there has been a tendency to mythologise those whose actions would subsequently inspire The Troubles.
He says: ‘You dignify it by saying it was martyrdom. If it’s a grievous mortal sin to commit suicide, why is it a lesser sin to hurl yourself upon a willing bayonet? Why is that a martyrdom? So much rests on this myth. How many murders have been sanctioned in its name? F*** off!’
Geldof says the real hero of the struggle for independence was the Irish poet W.B. Yeats whose words fostered the dream of a free Ireland.
Geldof, who has made a BBC4 documentary about Yeats, says: ‘Every place has a creation myth. Yeats said to the Irish, “This is who you are. You are noble.” The man sang the nation into being.’
Geldof says organisations such as IS and Al Qaeda are the ‘McDonald’s of terrorism’ because they use a franchise system, and that he has never known the world to be so on the brink of ‘something terrible’.
He says he is passionately in favour of staying in the EU because it is one of the best guarantees of peace.
A Fanatic Heart: Geldof On Yeats is on BBC4 tonight at 9pm.