TOM PIERSCIONEK recommends a remarkable series of interviews with those few and brave Israeli citizens who refuse to do military service
Rita’s education
RICHARD RUDKIN recommends the extraordinary memoir of the late republican activist and politician, Rita O’Hare
Seven provisional IRA staff officers are among a group who escaped from the prison ship Maidstone in Belfast, January 24 1972. Speaking at a press conference are (l-r) Thomas Toland, 25, Thomas Kane, 24, Thomas Gorman, 26, IRA Chief of Staff Sean McStiotain, Rita O'Hare, Joe Cahill, Martin Taylor, 21, Peter Rodgers, 17, Sean Convery, 31, and James Bryson, 23.
[PA archive] 
The bard rests on his laurels, and swipes left and right
MARIA DUARTE cherishes the flashes of absurd humour and theme of community healing in a documentary set in a Soviet-era Black Sea sanatorium
ANGUS REID and MARIA DUARTE review The Courageous, The Cut, Christy, and On Swift Horses
TOM STONE sings the praises of one of the oldest open-air festivals in Britain
Chris Searle speaks to accordionist KAREN STREET
Rita - A Memoir
Rita O’Hare, Greenisland Press, £18
AS a former British soldier who was in the North of Ireland in the early 1970s, I have read many accounts from those involved in the Troubles, including former military personnel. Every now and again, a book emerges that stands out from the rest. Rita — A Memoir is one such book.
The life of Rita O’Hare was a remarkable one. Born in 1943 to a Protestant mother and a Catholic father who joined the Communist Party aged 17, Rita grew up in the middle-class area of Andersonstown, West Belfast.
Similar stories
From colonialism to the Troubles, the story of England’s first colony is one of exploitation, resistance, and solidarity — and one we should fight to ensure is told, writes teacher ROBERT POOLE
Remembering a dedicated T&GWU activist, internationalist and anti-sectarian