In the 1970s, the Provisional IRA was in the early days of its armed campaign to end British rule on Ireland. In the United States, a small group of activists began organising on their behalf. They called themselves the Irish Northern Aid Committee, or Noraid—and they were looking for a fight.
Hosted by documentary filmmaker Nate Lavey, Foreign Agent is a podcast series about the connection between ordinary Irish Americans and a revolutionary socialist guerrilla group. In six episodes, travelling back and forth across the Atlantic over three decades of conflict, Foreign Agent explores how regular Americans became militant advocates for the cause of Irish freedom.
It’s a story of guns smuggled in furniture and wild plots to build homemade missiles. But it’s also about the political and material power that the Irish American community wielded, and how the intoxicating spell of nationalism created a movement out of seemingly irreconcilable social and political positions. And at every step of the way, the US government tried to shut them down. This is the story of the Troubles—as seen through American eyes.
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In the 1970s, the Provisional IRA was in the early days of its armed campaign to end British rule on Ireland. In the United States, a small group of activists began organising on their behalf. They called themselves the Irish Northern Aid Committee, or Noraid—and they were looking for a fight.
Hosted by documentary filmmaker Nate Lavey, Foreign Agent is a podcast series about the connection between ordinary Irish Americans and a revolutionary socialist guerrilla group. In six episodes, travelling back and forth across the Atlantic over three decades of conflict, Foreign Agent explores how regular Americans became militant advocates for the cause of Irish freedom.
It’s a story of guns smuggled in furniture and wild plots to build homemade missiles. But it’s also about the political and material power that the Irish American community wielded, and how the intoxicating spell of nationalism created a movement out of seemingly irreconcilable social and political positions. And at every step of the way, the US government tried to shut them down. This is the story of the Troubles—as seen through American eyes.
Foreign Agent Episode 2: The New World and the Old Country
Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American connection
53 minutes 21 seconds
3 years ago
Foreign Agent Episode 2: The New World and the Old Country
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
https://novara.media/ForeignAgent
Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American connection
In the 1970s, the Provisional IRA was in the early days of its armed campaign to end British rule on Ireland. In the United States, a small group of activists began organising on their behalf. They called themselves the Irish Northern Aid Committee, or Noraid—and they were looking for a fight.
Hosted by documentary filmmaker Nate Lavey, Foreign Agent is a podcast series about the connection between ordinary Irish Americans and a revolutionary socialist guerrilla group. In six episodes, travelling back and forth across the Atlantic over three decades of conflict, Foreign Agent explores how regular Americans became militant advocates for the cause of Irish freedom.
It’s a story of guns smuggled in furniture and wild plots to build homemade missiles. But it’s also about the political and material power that the Irish American community wielded, and how the intoxicating spell of nationalism created a movement out of seemingly irreconcilable social and political positions. And at every step of the way, the US government tried to shut them down. This is the story of the Troubles—as seen through American eyes.
