Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American connection

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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 No


    • Jun 28, 2022 LATEST EPISODE
    • monthly NEW EPISODES
    • 38m AVG DURATION
    • 9 EPISODES


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    Latest episodes from Foreign Agent: The IRA’s American connection

    Foreign Agent Episode 6: One Last Job

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2022 56:10


    By the 1990s, a faction of Irish republicans were turning away from militancy and setting their sights on peace. A political future for the campaign would require more money, more lobbying, and even deeper engagement with the United States – though not with Irish Northern Aid, now tainted by its long association with the IRA. […]

    Foreign Agent Bonus Episode 2: Hollywood and the IRA's American Connection

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 21, 2022 22:01


    *Corrected file* Noraid has been portrayed on screen many times, usually in the background of stories about terrorism and gunrunning. While TV shows and movies like Columbo, Patriot Games and The Devil's Own aren't exactly high art, they do reveal how the class politics of Irish America were understood (and misrepresented) by Hollywood. In this […]

    Foreign Agent Episode 5: Our Day Will Come

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2022 53:25


    As the Troubles dragged on, IRA volunteers at the Maze Prison decided to go on hunger strike in 1980 and 1981. Their decision would change everything for the IRA — and for Noraid. The protest garnered sympathy from around the world and sparked outrage in the Irish American community. Noraid rallied outside the British embassy, […]

    Foreign Agent Episode 4: Lawyers, Guns and Money

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022 50:22


    For decades, a quiet armored truck driver living in Brooklyn ran thousands of guns to the IRA. He was born in Ireland and dedicated to the Republican cause. He was also a committed socialist, who believed the anti-imperial struggle in Ireland was connected to the struggle of African-Americans, Cubans and Vietnamese. When he wasn't handing […]

    Foreign Agent Bonus Episode: The IRA’s Technical Support

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2022 17:32


    For over 100 years, Irish revolutionaries hoping to drive the British out of Ireland looked to the United States for money and support. They also looked across the Atlantic for new technology that might give them an advantage, including homemade surface-to-air missiles and even the world's first modern submarine. In this bonus episode, we explore […]

    Foreign Agent Episode 3: Agents of the State

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2022 41:38


    After Bloody Sunday in 1972, Irish Northern Aid saw its power, influence and donations increase dramatically — but a higher profile brought new enemies. Secretly, the Federal Bureau of Investigation turned its sights on Noraid: auditing their books, cultivating informers and staking out meetings. On the public stage, Irish American politicians like Ted Kennedy, who […]

    Foreign Agent Episode 2: The New World and the Old Country

    Play Episode Listen Later May 26, 2022 53:21


    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 […]

    Foreign Agent Episode 1: The American Front

    Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2022 50:53


    When six suitcases full of guns are discovered on an Irish dock in 1971, suspicion falls on a newly founded organisation of Irish Americans known as Noraid. For nearly 30 years, the US, British and Irish governments accused the group of being a front for the Provisional IRA and of funnelling weapons and cash from […]

    Foreign Agent: Coming Soon

    Play Episode Listen Later May 18, 2022 3:22


    A new podcast from Novara Media. In the 1970s, many ordinary Irish Americans became militant advocates for a revolutionary socialist guerrilla group: the Irish Republican Army. Their weapons and donations allowed the IRA to go head to head with the British military. But they also built a real political movement in the United States, one […]

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