Activist Touring U.S. to Promote Reconciliation, Progress in N. Ireland : Ulster: Bernadettte Devlin McAliskey says that if walls can come down in Germany, why not in Ireland?

Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, the 1960’s firebrand defender of Catholic rights in Northern Ireland, is visiting several American cities in coming weeks. Her return to the United States after several years marks the rekindling of interest in Northern Ireland politics among Irish-Americans.

The eloquent Devlin is likely to strike a responsive note--in a way no other Irish activist can--among the faithful, who number in the tens of millions of Americans.

“People come out for Bernadette and get working in Irish issues who won’t come out for anyone else,” says Sean Prendiville, a San Francisco Irish-American activist. “She inspires people because of all that she has been through.”

Devlin’s political resume is dramatic. Elected to the British Parliament at 21--the youngest member since William Pitt in 1781--her maiden speech mesmerized a normally raucous House of Commons. She was dragged from the House floor after punching Britain’s home secretary, who had barred her from speaking about a 1972 massacre of Irish civilians by British troops. While a member of Parliament, she served four months in prison for inciting a riot.

Devlin’s activism ended abruptly in 1981 when she and her husband were shot by members of a Protestant paramilitary group at their farmhouse near Belfast. After a long recovery, she now leads the newly formed Irish National Congress, which sponsors reconciliation projects between Catholics and Protestants and lobbies for steps that may prompt eventual reunification of the island.

In a telephone interview, Devlin, 42, said the changes in Eastern Europe have spawned optimism for changes in Ireland. “The fervor for democracy and the rights of small nations that have been trampled on permeates Ireland despite (British Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher,” Devlin said.

Ironically, Devlin noted, while “everybody’s talking about it,” the comparison of radical change in Eastern Europe with the Irish situation cannot be made in the British press because of censorship laws.

That comparison is also being made in America. Susan Murray, an Irish-American activist who arranged a speaking engagement for McAliskey at Harvard University on April 5, says there is “a lot of excitement and cautious optimism about Ireland now because walls are coming down everywhere else. If it can happen in Germany, why not in Ireland?”

Devlin will visit Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles, three hotbeds of Irish-American activism. That activism, she said, has provided “a major contribution” in focusing attention on British human rights abuses and helping to curb Catholic unemployment in Northern Ireland.

She praised the MacBride principles as particularly helpful. The principles, the focus of Irish-American activism in recent years, are in effect in 14 states and 24 U.S. cities. Under the guidelines, funds controlled by the state or municipal governments are barred from being invested in companies that practice employment discrimination in Northern Ireland.

High unemployment among the Catholic minority--as much as 70% in some Catholic neighborhoods--has been one of the primary causes of the “troubles” that have led to thousands of violent deaths in the last 20 years.

Devlin’s U.S. visit comes at a time when there is renewed interest in Irish politics and culture among Irish-Americans. Tom Hansen, a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Los Angeles, says new Irish immigrants--as many as 200,000 in the last 10 years--and “popular culture” are inspiring new generations of younger Irish-Americans. He cites the songs of such pop groups as Stiff Little Fingers, Boomtown Rats and U2, and the growth of Irish-American clubs like the Ancient Order, which has grown from two to seven chapters in the Los Angeles area in the last few years.

In San Francisco, the Ulster Gaelic Club is a new organization made up of recent immigrants and younger second- and third-generation Irish-Americans. They focus on rugby and Irish politics.

Historically, Irish-Americans have played a key role in Irish politics--providing money and manpower for the Irish Rebellion in 1916 that led to a free Irish Republic. The first prime minister of the new republic was born in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Despite the high-profile arrests of Irish-Americans in recent years for gunrunning to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in northern Ireland, such incidents are not typical of the Irish-American political scene. Devlin herself is not associated with the IRA.

Irish-American activism mainly involves protests against British measures to contain the violence in Northern Ireland--including internment without trial, suspension of habeas corpus, and prohibitions against media reporting of anti-British views. Another goal is to allow opponents of British policies to speak in the United States.