Bernie Sanders hails legacy of Mother Jones on visit to Cork's historic quarter

The spirit of Cork-born union leader Mary “Mother Jones” Harris was never more needed than it is now, US senator Bernie Sanders said in a visit to Shandon on Tuesday.

“As Mother Jones said, ‘We mourn the dead, but we fight for the living’, and if there was ever a time in the modern history of our planet, now is the time to fight for the living,” Mr Sanders said.

The veteran progressive politician, who is the longest-serving independent in US congressional history, has been visiting Cork with his Irish-American wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders.

Mr Sanders has twice sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, in 2016 and in 2020, losing out first to Hillary Clinton and then to Joe Biden.

Mary Harris was born on the northside and was baptised in the North Cathedral on August 1, 1837. In her teens, she moved with her family to North America, first to Canada and then to the US.

She would go on to become a union organiser, and she was once described as “the most dangerous woman in America”.

For the past 14 years, the Spirit of Mother Jones festival has been run from the back room of James and Marie Nolan’s butcher shop on Shandon St, and Mr and Ms Sanders, retracing the footsteps of Mother Jones, called in to meet the locals.

“We have a very good sale today,” the famously gruff Brooklynite growled as he posed for pictures behind the counter.

Mr and Ms Sanders were presented with a bag full of Cork goodies, including a portrait of Mother Jones, bottle of Tanora, and chester cake - better known as donkey’s gudge – although they were warned to eat that before heading home, lest they incur tariffs.

Later, around the corner on John Redmond St, they visited the Mother Jones plaque, both spoke briefly before William Hammond of the Cork Folk Festival sang Joe Hill and Salonika – a post-World War I Cork song which was revived by Jimmy Crowley of this parish.

It was quite something to see the senior senator for the state of Vermont singing along to “Right away Salonika, right away me soldier boy”, but his words on the legacy of Mother Jones resonated with the crowd.

“We are seeing massive concentrations of wealth and power in a handful of multi-billionaires who want to literally control not only the United States but the entire world, who could care less for working people, for children, they want it all, and it’s important that we have a level of international solidarity that we have not seen for a long time,” he said.

“If you are concerned about what’s happening in the United States today, mark my words, it will be in Europe, it will be in Ireland tomorrow.

“So it is imperative that we all stand together and remember our common humanity, that all the children in the world have a right to live, to food, to education, to security, and that we strive for a world of peace and not war,” Mr Sanders said.

“There’s an enormous amount of work in front of us, let’s stand together and let’s do it.”