Tuesday, December 30, 2008

REPUBLICAN COMMEMORATIONS : JANUARY 2009.


Dáithi Ó Conaill Commemoration , Thursday, January 1st 2009 (New Year's Day) : Assemble at the Gates Of Glasnevin Cemetery , Dublin , at 12.45pm . Main Speaker Tomas Ó Clerigh, Dublin.


Seán Sabhat Commemoration , Sunday, January 4th 2009 : Assemble at Bedford Row , Limerick at 1.45pm for Parade to Mount St Lawrence Cemetery.


Feargal Ó hAnnluain Commemoration, Sunday January 11th 2009 : Assemble at the Cathedral , Monaghan, at 2pm , for the Parade to Latlurgan Cemetery.







Friday, December 26, 2008

CABHAIR Christmas Swim , 25th December 2008 :



Nollaig Shona from Cabhair!



The 32nd Annual CABHAIR Christmas Swim was held yesterday at the 3rd Lough of the Grand Canal in Inchicore , Dublin , watched by a crowd of about 100 people.
Seven Special Branch men blocked both entries/exits and , between them , managed to deter at least another 100 people from attending , at one point threatening to arrest a 15-year-old boy and demanding that two adults hand-over their cameras until after the event . All three incidents were managed and dealth with by the CABHAIR representatives present. Apart from the State harassment , the day was a resounding success!
Six swimmers took to the waters of the freezing-cold Grand Canal between the hours of 10am and 1.30pm , with each of those brave souls diving-in at least twice , if not three times , each . As usual , CABHAIR had organised a mini-bonfire , food , drink , music and a raffle for the swimmers : both prizes in that raffle were won by two of the six lads , with one winner donating his prize , a wood-burn POW-made plaque , back to CABHAIR , asking that it be auctioned to the highest bidder and the money put in the kitty! So , between the swimming , the food and drink , the music and the craic , the crowd also had an auction to entertain them - and €35 was instantly added to the CABHAIR coffers !
The weather was kinder to us than we had expected - it was dry , a bit chilly
(even for those of us that kept our clothes on!) and overcast - cloudy , no sunshine , but no rain , frost or ice! So , no complaints there....
All-in-all , apart from the Special Branch harassment , it was a fantastic few hours spent , in a good Cause , on the banks of the Grand Canal on a Christmas Day: approximately 100 friends , all republican-minded ,sharing stories , exchanging presents , making arrangements around the fire , drink and mince-pie in hand , singing along with the Irish ballads ! CABHAIR are to be highly recommended for all their work in , once again, putting this event together , and the crowd recommended for ignoring and braving the pure thuggery of the State for again attempting to close this fund-raiser down . As one of those who helped the organisers said at the swim site in his speech -
" As long as the British military and political presence remains on this isle , there will be those who oppose it . And as long as there are those that oppose that presence there will , unfortunately , be POW's . But as long as there are POW's so , too, will there be Irish Republican organisations like Cabhair to assist those prisoners and their families..."

We publish some photographs of the 32nd CABHAIR Swim with this post , and more pics can be seen here and on these two 'Indymedia' threads. Go raibh maith agat agus slán go fóill anois!

'Support the prisoners' and 'Boycott Shell' posters.

Mini-Santa with some CABHAIR goodies!

Feeding the Canal Crew and Guests!

One of Santa's Reindeer !

"OH GOD ! What was I thinking...?"

"Hope this thing has a deep end..."

"Bring that wall over here , lads..."

(More pics on the above-mentioned links.)
Thanks, Sharon.






Wednesday, December 24, 2008

DON'T LET THIS...



...SPOIL YOUR CHRISTMAS !

Take yourself (and the shocked children!) to the CABHAIR Christmas Swim -



- 12 Noon , Christmas Day , Grand Canal , Inchicore , Dublin : opposite Kelly's 'Black Horse Inn' pub .

A CABHAIR Crew visited the site this morning (Christmas Eve) to check it over and sent us these two photographs -

Swim site , as seen from the end of the Naas Road....

...and as seen from the far side of the Lough.

- word is that two of the Cabhair Crew had to physically restrain their other two colleagues as they simply couldn't wait to jump in . So all four decided to cross the road to Kelly's Pub to 'quench their thirst' for sampling liquids....
MORE LATER - pic's and report to follow as soon as possible after the event .
Thanks!
Sharon.






Monday, December 22, 2008

UP THE REPUBLIC - OUR DAY WILL COME !

NOLLAIG SHONA DAR LEITHEOIRI !

Ar eagle an dearmaid ....

Ba bhrea an rud e siocháin bhuan bunaithe ar an gceart a bheith againn in Éireann . Is i an bronntanas is fearr a d'fheadfaimis a thabhairt duinn fein agus dar gclann .

Coinniodh an ceart agus an tsiocháin uainn le breis agus ocht gcead bliain , de bharr ionradh , forghabhail agus miriaradh na Sasanach. Socrú ar bith a dheantar in ainm mhuintir na hÉireann agus a ghlacann le riail Shasana agus a dhaingnionn an chriochdheighilt , ni thig leis an ceart na an tsiocháin bhuann a bhunu .

Ni dheanfaidh se ach la na siochána buaine a chur ar an mhear fhada agus an bhunfhadb a thabhairt do ghluin eile . Tharla se seo cheana nuair a siniodh Conradh 1921 agus cuireadh siar ar mhuintir na hÉireann e in ainm na siochána . Is mór ag Sinn Féin Poblachtach Éire a bheith saor agus daonlathach , an cuspoir ceanna a bhi i gceist ag Wolfe Tone agus ag na Poblachtaigh uile anuas go dti 1916 agus an la ata inniu ann .

Rinne a lan fear agus ban croga iobairti mora , thug a mbeatha fiu , ar son na cuise uaisle seo .


CEART . SAOIRSE. DAONLATHAS .

-----------------


A PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS TO OUR READERS !

Least we forget ....

A just and permanent peace in Ireland is most desirable . It is the greatest gift we could give to ourselves and our children . We have been denied justice and peace for more than eight centuries , because of English invasion , occupation and misrule of our country .

Any arrangement which , in the name of the Irish people , accepts English rule and copperfastens the Border , will not bring justice and lasting peace . It will only postpone the day of permanent peace , handing over the basic problem to another generation .

This happened before when the Treaty of 1921 was signed and was forced on the Irish people in the name of peace . Republican Sinn Féin cherishes the objective of a free , democratic Ireland , as envisaged by Wolfe Tone and all Republicans down to 1916 and our own day . Many brave men and women sacrificed a lot , even their lives , for this noble Cause .


JUSTICE . FREEDOM . DEMOCRACY .
(From the '1169...' Crew , December 2008. PLEASE NOTE : we are on a short break from normal posting , although we will post details of how the CABHAIR swim went and possibly a few other posts. We will return to 'normal' early in the New Year. Go raibh maith agat! Sharon.)






Saturday, December 20, 2008

CHRISTMAS TIME....

...when we all tend to get distracted by the prevailing pressures : but some of us keep our eye on the ball as well! Almost seventy years ago , a dedicated group of Irish Volunteers went on a Christmas 'shopping spree' with a difference - "...and when he stood up straight again he saw the muzzle of a revolver pointed in his face..."

At this time of year especially Irish Republicans remember those that give us our past -

LEST WE FORGET...

Thomas Ashe, Kerry, 5 days, 25 September 1917 (force fed by tube , died as a result).
Terrence McSweeny, Cork, 74 days, 25 October 1920.
Michael Fitzgerald, Cork, 67 days, 17 October 1920.
Joseph Murphy, Cork, 76 days , 25 October 1920 .
Joe Witty, Wexford , 2 September 1923.
Dennis Barry, Cork, 34 days, 20 November 1923.
Andy O Sullivan , Cork, 40 days, 22 November 1923.
Tony Darcy, Galway, 52 days, 16 April 1940.
Jack 'Sean' McNeela, Mayo, 55 days, 19 April 1940.
Sean McCaughey, Tyrone ,22 days, 11 May 1946 (hunger and thirst Strike).
Michael Gaughan, Mayo , 64 days, 3 June 1974.
Frank Stagg, Mayo , 62 days, 12 February 1976.
Bobby Sands, Belfast , 66 days, 5 May 1981.
Frank Hughes , Bellaghy (Derry), 59 days, 12 May 1981.
Raymond McCreesh , South Armagh , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Patsy O Hara , Derry , 61 days, 21 May 1981.
Joe McDonnell , Belfast , 61 days, 8 July 1981.
Martin Hurson , Tyrone , 46 days, 13 July 1981.
Kevin Lynch, Dungiven ( Derry) ,71 days, 1 August 1981.
Kieran Doherty , Belfast , 73 days, 2 August 1981.
Tom McIlwee , Bellaghy (Derry) , 62 days, 8 August 1981.
Micky Devine , Derry , 60 days, 20 August 1981.

"Dear Christ! the very prison walls
Suddenly seemed to reel,
And the sky above my head became
Like a casque of scorching steel;
And, though I was a soul in pain,
My pain I could not feel."

('The Ballad of Reading Gaol', by Oscar Wilde, written after his release from Reading prison on 19 May 1897.)




" Eighty-six years ago, in December 1922, the Curragh Camp was the scene of a terrible tragedy; it was the execution, by firing squad, of seven young men in the Military Detention Barracks, now the Curragh Prison. The full story of the events of the week from 13 December 1922, when the men were arrested, to 19 December 1922, when they were executed, is not now known. All of the people involved are dead, and with them their stories. It appears that all official records of the executions have been lost or destroyed....."
(From here)

FOR THE RECORD.....

Between 17 November 1922 and 2 May 1923 , seventy-seven Republican prisoners were removed from their prison cells and shot dead by order of the Free State administration . In this post we name those 77 men and list where each man was executed and the date of same : we do so in the hope that , after the search engines have archived this information it will be retrieved by those who , like us , are of the opinion that these men should not be forgotten.

1922 :
James Fisher , Dublin , November 17.
Peter Cassidy , Dublin , November 17.
Richard Twohig , Dublin , November 17.
John Gaffney , Dublin , November 17.
Erskine Childers , Dublin , November 24.
Joseph Spooner , Dublin , November 30.
Patrick Farrelly , Dublin , November 30.
John Murphy , Dublin , November 30.
Rory O Connor , Dublin , December 8.
Liam Mellows , Dublin , December 8.
Joseph McKelvey , Dublin , December 8.
Richard Barrett , Dublin , December 8.
Stephen White , Dublin , December 19.
Joseph Johnston , Dublin , December19.
Patrick Mangan , Dublin , December 19.
Patrick Nolan , Dublin , December 19.
Brian Moore , Dublin , December 19.
James O' Connor , Dublin , December 19.
Patrick Bagnel , Dublin , December 19.
John Phelan , Kilkenny , December 29.
John Murphy , Kilkenny , December 29.


1923:
Leo Dowling , Dublin , January 8.
Sylvester Heaney , Dublin , January 8.
Laurence Sheeky , Dublin , January 8.
Anthony O' Reilly , Dublin , January 8.
Terence Brady , Dublin , January 8.
Thomas McKeown , Louth , January 13.
John McNulty , Louth , January 13.
Thomas Murray , Louth , January 13.
Frederick Burke , Tipperary , January 15.
Patrick Russell , Tipperary , January 15.
Martin O' Shea , Tipperary , January 15.
Patrick McNamara , Tipperary , January 15.
James Lillis , Carlow , January 15.
James Daly , Kerry , January 20.
John Clifford , Kerry , January 20.
Michael Brosnan , Kerry , January 20.
James Hanlon , Kerry , January 20.
Cornelius McMahon , Limerick , January 20.
Patrick Hennesy , Limerick , January 20.
Thomas Hughes , Westmeath , January 20.
Michael Walsh , Westmeath , January 20.
Herbert Collins , Westmeath , January 20.
Stephen Joyce , Westmeath , January 20.
Martin Bourke , Westmeath , January 20.
James Melia , Louth , January 22.
Thomas Lennon , Louth , January 22.
Joseph Ferguson , Louth , January 22.
Michael Fitzgerald , Waterford , January 25.
Patrick O' Reilly , Offaly , January 26.
Patrick Cunningham , Offaly , January 26.
Willie Conroy , Offaly , January 26.
Colum Kelly , Offaly , January 26.
Patrick Geraghty , Laoise , January 27.
Joseph Byrne , Laoise , January 27.
Thomas Gibson , Laoise , February 26.
James O' Rourke , Dublin , March 13.
William Healy , Cork , March 13.
James Parle , Wexford , March 13.
Patrick Hogan , Wexford , March 13.
John Creane , Wexford , March 13.
Séan Larkin , Donegal , March 14.
Tim O' Sullivan , Donegal , March 14.
Daniel Enright , Donegal , March 14.
Charles Daly , Donegal , March 14.
James O' Malley , Galway , April 11.
Francis Cunnane , Galway , April 11.
Michael Monaghan , Galway , April 11.
John Newell , Galway , April 11.
John McGuire , Galway , April 11.
Martin Moylan , Galway , April 11.
Richard Hatheway , Kerry , April 25.
James McEnery , Kerry , April 25.
Edward Greaney , Kerry , April 25.
Patrick Mahoney , Clare , April 26.
Christopher Quinn , Clare , May 02.
William Shaughnessy , Clare , May 02.


The above-listed 77 men did not take up arms in the belief that they were fighting for the establishment of a morally-corrupt so-called 'half-way-house' institution , nor did they do so to assist the British in the 'governance' of one of their 'part' colonies : that which those men and many others fought for remains to be achieved . You can help present-day Irish Republicans to achieve that aim.......

....and , each December , you can help us in another way, too .
Thanks!
Sharon.






Wednesday, December 17, 2008


THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

An Economic and Resistance Campaign was re-emphasised in the updated 'Eire Nua' document and a committee headed by Post Office Engineering trade unionist Paddy Bolger was set up to devise a policy for the next Ard Fheis . The Economic Resistance Campaign forsees the involvement of Sinn Fein in trade union struggles like the PAYE marches and opposition to the 'National(sic) Wage Agreement', and to push Republican issues at grass roots trade union level . It also intends to encourage housing , unemployment and social agitation by the Republican Movement .

Those two developments reflect a political change in Republican thinking that is part and parcel of the IRA's 'long war' scenario : if the IRA must stay around to fight that war , say the 'radicals' , then Sinn Fein must have something other than the initially intoxicating but in the long term irrelevant slogan of 'Brits Out!' . ('1169...' Comment : the 'Brits Out!' slogan , when aimed at Westminster as is the case when used by Irish republicans , is not "irrelevant" - far from it : until that political and military 'connection' is broke there will be no political improvement in the Six County situation . And Sinn Fein has "something other" than mere 'slogans' to offer.)

But those two developments and in particular the Economic Resistance Campaign are at the root of conservative unease with the move leftwards : not only is the term 'Economic Resistance' uncomfortably reminiscent of the 'communist' Officials and their concept of a 'National Liberation Front' but it also smacks of the same politics that led to the 1970 split over recognition of the 'two States' in Ireland........

(MORE IN 2009).



BLACK PROPAGANDA AND BLOODY MURDER.......
British Army Captain John Colin Wallace.

First it was the Maguire family - claiming they had been wrongly convicted of bombings in London on faulty forensic tests and circumstantial evidence . Then the Birmingham Six were shown to have been the victims of another miscarriage of British 'justice' . Now , in the most bizarre case of all , a former British Intelligence officer , who served in the North of Ireland , has claimed that he was framed for a killing he didn't commit .
British Captain John Wallace , now serving ten years for manslaughter , claims that his conviction was part of a plan to destroy his credibility because he knew too much about covert operations in Ireland - on both sides of the border . Frank Doherty talked to Wallace and to another former British Intelligence officer , Captain Fred Holroyd , who is lobbying politicians to re-open a case which is as potentially embarrassing for the British Secret Service as the Wright case in Australia has proved to be.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1986 .

British military spy John Colin Wallace decided to contact his colleague Fred Holroyd, after seeing him on television , to look for help : " We were introduced by our Chief , Craig Smellie. I recognised Holroyd right away , even though in those days he wore a beard and dressed like a tramp as part of his undercover mission which took him south of the border . "

Holroyd revealed on the TV programme some details of the dispute between MI5 and MI6 to which Wallace traces his problems . Like him , Holroyd had been forced to quit his spy job , moving to Rhodesia where he became a Major in command of an Army battalion fighting black guerrillas .

Wallace says - " I wrote to Captain Holroyd that night , reminding him of the time when we met in the MI6 office in Ulster (sic) and asked for help in clearing my name ." Holroyd responded right away and , within weeks , he had turned up 'new evidence' to prove that Wallace could not have killed Jonathan Lewis . A vital witness , Amanda Metcalf , was interviewed by Holroyd who discovered that Metcalf had served Jonathan Lewis at her parents hotel , 'The Golden Goose' , on the A27 motorway close to the sea-side town of Arundel , long after police said Lewis must have been lying unconscious in the boot of Wallace's BBC car . Amanda Metcalf said Lewis looked grim and worried , and was with another man . Wallace believes that that man was the real killer - a business friend of Lewis who has a criminal record.......

(MORE IN 2009).



THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.

From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

On February 7th , 1980 , 32 women prisoners in Armagh Jail began a 'no-wash' protest : in an old jail like that , dirt accumulates far more quickly than in modern prisons . The women's periods were a particularly dangerous time for infection and several women did develop skin diseases and bowel troubles , yet their morale was higher than it had ever been .

While people on the outside were watching horrified , the women prisoners managed to remain completely united , supportive of each other , and determined to carry the protest through to the bitter end . And this they did , inflicting a defeat on prison governor George Scott's regime in the process .

The women's participation in the first hunger-strike further showed their determination : on December 1st 1980, Mairead Farrell , Mary Doyle and Mairead Nugent joined the fast . They remained on the Prison Wing , confined in an excreta-covered cell for almost two weeks , before they were transferred to the Hospital Wing of the jail . Their condition was deteriorating rapidly . The women ended their protest on December 19th 1980 , one day after the H-Block hunger-strikers , only after they had received official confirmation from the Republican Movement that the strike had in fact ended . The three women remained in the Hospital Wing until December 23rd 1980 , and were then removed and thrown back into their cells and immediately put back on lock-up , with no parcels allowed and complete loss of privileges . Subsequently the 'no-wash' protest ended in all the jails on March 1st 1981 , as Bobby Sands embarked on his hunger-strike . The women POW's were moved to clean cells where they maintained their 'no-work' protest.......

(MORE IN 2009).

(PLEASE NOTE : this is our last '3-in-1' post for 2008 - we are not quite finished yet for the year , as we will be posting CABHAIR Swim updates and other pieces , but we will not be posting any more '3-in-1' articles untill the New Year. We will , however , be back before Christmas Day and between then and the New Year with other comments etc - Thanks!)
Sharon.






Tuesday, December 16, 2008

POT. KETTLE. BLACK.


The Irish 'royal' is on the left. But only in the picture.

The 'President' of this corrupt wee Statelet , Mary McAleese , addressed her subjects yesterday from the comforts of Arizona , where she is on a mission to drum-up increased trade between our Fat-Cats and any other Fat-Cats that reckon they can make a few bob out of us. In an apparent attempt to get us to work for less than we need to pay our way , Mary stated that we were all "..."overwhelmed with greed..." ,and stated : "I think that every one of us would have to say with our hands on our hearts that we were all consumed by that same element of consumerism. Somewhere along the line we began to think that we weren't happy with deferred gratification. We had to have it now and in this moment, and I think that we have paid a very, very big price for that very radical shift..."
(From here. )

Indeed.

One wonders how Mary McAleese can find the time in her busy itinerary to visit Arizona especially when , as far as we know , her husbands colleague, Jackie McDonald, was not present . One also wonders if Mrs McAleese will receive an extra allowance , on top of the €6,613 per week which her spokesperson stated she receives "...for entertainment and personal expenses . The substantial proportion of this allowance goes to meet the cost of food , refreshments and entertainment.." We may yet have to do a collection , readers ......
Incidentally , Mary McAleese did not have an agreed proposer or seconder in 1997 when she sought the nomination for the position of State President from Fianna Fail . As she said herself at the time -
" Either of the candidates (Albert Reynolds and Michael O' Kennedy, on the left in this photo, anyway,) could have got rid of me , there and then ; they would have been perfectly within their rights to insist that we follow the rules . That would have been the end of me and I would not have been a threat to whichever one of them was elected . I was very grateful for their generosity ."
Martin McAleese stated at the time , in relation to that same Fianna Fail nomination meeting : " When Rory O'Hanlon (Fianna Fail Chairperson at the time) told us about the new procedure (ie that Fianna Fail were willing to forgo proposer and seconder) , I couldn't believe that Albert had left the door open for her like that . I can only put it down to overconfidence on his part . If I was in his shoes , I'm afraid I would have insisted on party rules being obeyed ."
The McAleese's and their like , in Leinster House and in the Free State Senate , are non-productive leeches that are living beyond our means. They jet-set around the globe like 'royalty' on a salary and expenses that those they are obstentially 'attempting' to 'drum-up' jobs for wouldn't see in a life time. They should do the 'patriotic' thing and resign . After apologising , and paying back the taxpayer the millions that they have fleeced.
Sharon.






Friday, December 12, 2008

VOTE 'NO' to Lisbon Two!

"Ní hea, No, Nein, Non, Nyet, Nope, Not, No Means No ..."
What part of that don't they understand ?

"The meeting and dinner heard how Ireland’s “intellectual mediocrity and lack of political courage” led to the rejection of the Lisbon treaty and included discussions of how to “cuddle and pamper” the Irish voter ahead of a new vote while at the same time “making pressures on them”.
(From here.)

This video gives an apt description of the type of morally and politically corrupt politician and system that are now demanding we vote 'the right way' on the already failed Lisbon Treaty. And this video shows what those bent career politicians stand to loose if we don't vote the way they want us to . As Republican Sinn Féin have stated - "The decision to re-run the referendum on the rejected Lisbon Treaty in the 26-Counties next October represents an attempt to subvert the sovereign will of the people.All kinds of pressure is being applied to those allowed to vote to ensure that they arrive at the result Brian Cowen and the EU 'élite' demand....."
(From here.)
Once again, this blog will be campaigning for a 'NO' vote on the Lisbon Treaty , for the same reasons : the "guarantees" which Brian Cowen has received have been given to him by similar unprincipled characters and , even if they were to be written in blood , would still be worthless . VOTE 'NO!' and help keep the lifts and corridors of the EU building free of more political rats , who scurry around trying to find the 'Sign In' book before they head back home to the political brothels they come from .
Sharon.






Wednesday, December 10, 2008


THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

Visiting Irish Republican guest-speakers in America were instructed by NORAID never to refer to socialism , and one such guest speaker can recall discovering unopened bundles of 'Republican News' lying dumped in dustbins outside NORAID's Bronx headquarters : some aspects of republicanism were always thought to be too radical for the Irish-Americans . There are traditional , conservative forces within the Provos ranged against the 'radicals' within the same organisation and , although there have been symbolic victories for them , notably the fusion (or takeover as some see it) of 'Republican News' with the Dublin-based 'An Phoblacht' , the real political debate has centred on the Provos 1972 policy docement , 'Éire Nua'.

That document is identified in most people's minds with two traditional leaders , Sinn Féin President Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Vice President Dáithí Ó Conaill : at Sinn Féin's last Ard Fheis held in January 1980 , but actually 1979's Ard Fheis , that document was changed for the first time since the new policy document which was adopted 'Éire Nua - the Social , Economic and Political Dimension' , was more a change in emphasis than substance .

The language was more socialist than the 1972 document but some controversial clauses , especially relating to the right to land ownership , were merely changed or deleted by Sinn Féin's ruling body , the Ard Comhairle . But what that document did do was to set in motion a series of moves which the radicals hope will turn the Provisionals leftwards . A women's committee was set-up to devise a policy document to be debated at the next Ard Fheis - that policy will reflect the difficulties the radicals are having converting their more conservative and Catholic sisters . Women who have had abortions are not condemned but the system that forced them to is . Moral issues like contraception and divorce should , the committee decided, be left to individuals to choose.......

(MORE LATER).



BLACK PROPAGANDA AND BLOODY MURDER.......
British Army Captain John Colin Wallace.

First it was the Maguire family - claiming they had been wrongly convicted of bombings in London on faulty forensic tests and circumstantial evidence . Then the Birmingham Six were shown to have been the victims of another miscarriage of British 'justice' . Now , in the most bizarre case of all , a former British Intelligence officer , who served in the North of Ireland , has claimed that he was framed for a killing he didn't commit .
British Captain John Wallace , now serving ten years for manslaughter , claims that his conviction was part of a plan to destroy his credibility because he knew too much about covert operations in Ireland - on both sides of the border . Frank Doherty talked to Wallace and to another former British Intelligence officer , Captain Fred Holroyd , who is lobbying politicians to re-open a case which is as potentially embarrassing for the British Secret Service as the Wright case in Australia has proved to be.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1986 .

British spy John Colin Wallace was charged in August 1980 with the murder of Jonathan Lewis , whose body had been removed from the River Arun . The charge was reduced to manslaughter after the trial judge , Mr Justice Kilner-Brown, said it was doubtful if he knew Lewis was dead as the body slipped into the water .

Wallace proclaimed his innocence from the beginning and his ex-MI6 wife , Eileen , has always agreed with him . Wallace himself says - " The whole thing has been a nightmare . I'm not saying that Jonathan Lewis was killed to frame me and get me put in jail , but I believe that sinister forces who wished to discredit me took advantage of the situation which arose when a friend of mine died a violent death . You have to remember that I know about a lot of skeletons in the cupboard left there by British Intelligence in Ireland . Just as they tried to smear Peter Wright, the MI5 officer whose book they are trying to suppress , and John Stalker, who got too near the truth in the North of Ireland , they seized a chance to smear me . It was successful . Few people would be prepared to believe the word of a convicted killer about anything . " ('1169..' Comment : 'alleged convicted killer' or not , that is not the main reason why people would doubt his 'word' or , indeed , the 'word' of any Brit spy.)

After 45 hours of evidence and a four-and-a-half hour absence by the jury , Colin Wallace was found guilty of manslaughter and sent to jail for ten years in 1981 . For nearly five years he kept his belief that he had been framed under wraps . When there were changes in the top in British Intelligence he hoped against hope that he would be freed and that the nightmare would end quietly , with him being slipped from prison the way he had seen other prisoners released in Belfast on the say-so of the men who control the shadowy world in which Wallace once worked . His wife , now employed as personal assistant to the British 'Duke of Norfolk' - another old Intelligence hand - kept up discreet pressure to have her husband's conviction investigated by British Secret Service bosses .

After five years , Wallace gave up hope that the British Intelligence mafia of which he had once been part would do anything for him ; in Lewes Prison one night he watched a Channel Four 'Diverse Reports' programme which featured Captain Fred Holroyd, a former British Military Intelligence Officer who had worked with MI6 in Lisburn , County Antrim . Wallace remembered meeting him in the British Secret Service office on the second floor of military HQ in Lisburn years before and decided to contact him , asking for help.......

(MORE LATER).



THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.

From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

Charges of 'breaches of prison discipline' were made against the prisoners on the flimsiest excuse . Prisoners were left in their cells for hours after asking to go to the toilets . In May 1978 male Screws were used to baton-charge female remand prisoners engaged on a protest action against the removal of political status . ('1169...' Comment : How ironic that some of those protesting against the removal of political status would 'evolve' into constitutional anti-republican salaried puppets for Westminster and would themselves , in later years, remove political status from republican prisoners by calling for supprt for , and helping to implement , the 1998 'GFA'/Stormont Treaty! )

Such violence was an indication of things to come . Less than two years later , as tension had been slowly building up in the North's jails , the protesting prisoners were savagely attacked by male and female Screws . February 7th 1980 marked the escalation of the protest as the Armagh women POW's embarked on the 'no-wash' protest.

The prison administration's pretext was a Wing search for the black uniforms that had been used some days earlier by the protesting prisoners for a commemoration in honour of dead IRA Volunteer 'Dee' Delaney. The prisoners were set upon as they were queuing up to get their dinner ; they were beaten , trailed by the hair , thrown downstairs and finally dragged in front of prison Governor George Scott who punished all of them by putting them on complete lock-up - this attitude left the women prisoners with no alternative other than to call a complete 'no-wash' protest : all 32 women in that Wing were in agreement with that course of action . The 'no-wash' protest lasted 13 months , during which more attention was focused on Armagh Jail than at any other time during the decade . But the cost to the prisoners was high.......

(MORE LATER).







Monday, December 08, 2008

Front of 2009 Republican Calendar.


2009 REPUBLICAN CALENDAR : AN ALL-YEAR-ROUND GIFT !

Back of 2009 Republican Calendar.


In the last few weeks of each year ,the Republican Movement issues a calendar for the new year : this year is no exception . The 2009 Republican Calendar features a series of hard-to-get and/or seldomn seen Republican prints and , judging by sales so far , looks set to become a collectors item . Priced at €5 each , these calendars are available from the local Cumann or paper-seller in your area or by contacting the RSF Office in Dublin (223 Parnell Street , Dublin 1 , fón 8729747) or the Belfast Office (229 Falls Road , fón 90319004) : so keep up-to-date with the Republican Movement and stay 12 months ahead of the 'establishment' - order your 2009 Calendar today !

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


FAT CATS : No money for our pensioners or for our school-kids , but €400 billion found for the Banks!


On Saturday , 6th December 2008 , Republican Sinn Féin held it's monthly protest at the GPO in O'Connell Street , Dublin , in support of POW status for republican prisoners : half of the approximate thirty-strong group of protesting republicans stayed on that protest whilst , as pre-arranged, the other half joined-in with the 70,000-strong crowd that were protesting against State education cuts . The following five photographs were taken by an RSF member on that protest march -

"Our kids can't afford it - and neither can we...!"

Small kids , bigger classes...

"Don't punish our kids for your incompetence..."

School kids , parents and teachers - united in their demand: "No Education Cut-Backs...!"

" Hey ! Cowen ! Leave our kids alone....!"

"The development of the race depends on the development of the individual , and where self-culture has ceased to be the ideal , the intellectual standard is instantly lowered and , often, ultimately lost..."
(Oscar Wilde)
Congratulations and "Well Done!" to all those who took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday December 6th last , whether in protest against the Education cut-backs or to highlight the POW issue : both are honourable Causes!
Sharon.






Wednesday, December 03, 2008


THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

The bulk of Provisional supporters , especially in the rural , border areas are traditional Republicans : small farmers or country town merchants , what one Belfast member calls 'Fianna Failers with guns' . Their support which is reflected in the vote for the 30 or so Sinn Fein councillors is vital for the war effort , as they provide the training camps , the dumps and the safe houses . Many of them stayed with the Provisionals precisely because they thought the Officials were too leftist or Marxist .

Much the same can be said for the older veterans of the Movement : the men of the 'forties and 'fifties , many of whom sit on the IRA Executive , the body that acts as the repository of Republican faith and which in war time appoints the IRA Army Council . One such man , a Northerner in fact , who has spent 13 years in prison or in internment camps summed it up like this - " I don't like this word socialism . I wish they could find another word for it..." Others , like Billy McKee, a former Chief of Staff and Belfast Brigade Commander , have dropped out altogether . When McKee last came to Belfast in May 1979 to speak to a welcome home rally for released blanket-man Ciaran Nugent he was reportedly horrified at the number of foreign left-wing posters and pamphlets in the offices of the 'Republican News' newspapeer , the voice of the Northern left .

Another group whose dollars at least are vital to the Provos are the Irish-Americans and notably 'Irish Northern Aid', headed by veteran Irish Republican Michael Flannery. But even in the early days the Irish-Americans were a standing joke with Belfast Provos . It was common then for visiting Irish Republican speakers from Ireland to be taken by Michael Flannery for a new outfit of sober suit , tie and shiny shoes before being let loose on the Irish-American faithful.......

(MORE LATER).



BLACK PROPAGANDA AND BLOODY MURDER.......
British Army Captain John Colin Wallace.

First it was the Maguire family - claiming they had been wrongly convicted of bombings in London on faulty forensic tests and circumstantial evidence . Then the Birmingham Six were shown to have been the victims of another miscarriage of British 'justice' . Now , in the most bizarre case of all , a former British Intelligence officer , who served in the North of Ireland , has claimed that he was framed for a killing he didn't commit .
British Captain John Wallace , now serving ten years for manslaughter , claims that his conviction was part of a plan to destroy his credibility because he knew too much about covert operations in Ireland - on both sides of the border . Frank Doherty talked to Wallace and to another former British Intelligence officer , Captain Fred Holroyd , who is lobbying politicians to re-open a case which is as potentially embarrassing for the British Secret Service as the Wright case in Australia has proved to be.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1986 .

In around 1979 , British Army Captain John Colin Wallace , whilst working for the local council in Arundel , in Sussex , England , became involved in preparing a BBC 'It's A Knock-Out!' TV programme which was to be screened from the seaside town of Arundel . While the show was being organised he became friendly with Jane Lewis , who worked in the council office . " Jane and her antique-dealer husband , Jonathan , went out several times with my wife , Eileen , and I , " says Wallace , " Later , the police said I had been having an affair with Jane..."

On 5th August 1980 , Jonathan Lewis phoned Wallace and asked to meet him at 6.30 that evening for a chat before both couples went to a small dinner party in a local hotel , which was being held to celebrate the ending of the filming for the 'It's A Knock-Out!' programme . The former British Intelligence man agreed , and drove over to pick-up Lewis in a white Austin Princess which he had on loan from the BBC while helping to make the show . The police version of what happened next is that Lewis and Wallace had an argument about the relationship between Wallace and Jane Lewis and that Wallace hit Jonathan Lewis with an expert karate chop to the face , knocking him unconscious . Wallace , say the police , then dragged Jonathan Lewis outside , put him in the boot of the Austin Princess car and drove to the hotel , where he joined the dinner party .

According to the police , Wallace then pretended to be ill , slipped away from the party at about 10.15pm and drove to the River Arun , into which he dumped the still unconscious Jonathan Lewis . Four days later , the antique dealer's body was found downstream . He had been drowned .

Wallace's version of what happened that night differs dramatically from that of the police : he admits that Lewis and he talked at the Wallace home , that Lewis confessed he was worried about the rocky state of his marriage and that they had one drink each - Wallace had a beer and Lewis had a gin and tonic . Then , said Wallace , he drove the antique dealer back to his car at about 7.15pm and that , he claimed , was the last he saw of him alive . At around ten that evening , Wallace left the party because he had stomach trouble ; for the police , that was a crucial piece of evidence.......

(MORE LATER).



THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.

From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

The protesting female republican prisoners managed to pass a statement out from Armagh Jail : " At Easter 1978 , the then prison governor , Ernest Whittington, was replaced by George Scott. Unlike Whittington , who held an indifferent attitude towards the non-conforming stance , Scott , upon his arrival, immediately introduced measures to increase the hardships republicans were experiencing . He was determined to break the backbone of republicanism in the jail - the (IRA) company structure , which was by then firmly established among the increasing number of protestors. "

In an attempt to break the protest , George Scott decided by late 1978 to move most of the protesting prisoners to 'B' Wing , leaving only four short-term prisoners in 'A' Wing - Roisin Rouse (3 years) , Roisin Black (2 years) , Rita Bateson (3 years detention) and Maureen Gibson (4 years) . They were left in 'A' Wing , along with common law prisoners and some loyalists , while the rest of the protesting women POW's were moved to 'B' Wing along with four long-term loyalist prisoners .

However , the four POW's in 'A' Wing continued the protest in spite of their isolation and , 10 months later , after two had been released, George Scott conceded defeat and moved the other two women POW's back with their comrades in 'B' Wing . But the Governor and his staff were sore about having to give in , and petty vindictivness was soon back on their agenda.......

(MORE LATER).







Tuesday, December 02, 2008


(From here.) [Click to enlarge]

AN GORTA MÓR.


"An Englishman applauds and assists insurrection in countries where they profess to have for their object the freedom of the individual or of the nation; he imprisons and stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely similar, and the cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more valid...."

" You have heard, no doubt, of wholesale evictions; they are of frequent occurrence in Ireland—sometimes from political motives, because the poor man will not vote with his landlord; sometimes from religious motives, because the poor man will not worship God according to his landlord's conscience; sometimes from selfish motives, because his landlord wishes to enlarge his domain, or to graze more cattle. The motive does not matter much to the poor victim. He is flung out upon the roadside; if he is very poor, he may die there, or he may go to the workhouse, but he must not be taken in, even for a time, by any other family on the estate. The Irish Celt, with his warm heart and generous impulses, would, at all risks to himself, take in the poor outcasts, and share his poverty with them; but the landlord could not allow this. The commission of one evil deed necessitates the commission of another. An Irish gentleman, who has no personal interest in land, and is therefore able to look calmly on the question, has been at the pains to collect instances of this tyranny, in his Plea for the Celtic Race. I shall only mention one as a sample. In the year 1851, on an estate which was at the time supposed to be one of the most fairly treated in Ireland , the agent of the property had given public notice to the tenantry that expulsion from their farms would be the penalty inflicted on them, if they harboured any one not resident on the estate. The penalty was enforced against a widow, for giving food and shelter to a destitute grandson of twelve years old. The child's mother at one time held a little dwelling, from which she was expelled; his father was dead. He found a refuge with his grandmother, who was ejected from her farm for harbouring the poor boy...."
(From here.)



It is from the likes of the above that republicanism was born : not to seek ‘revenge’ , but to obtain Justice. That same quest for true justice continues to this day and will continue - for as long as necessary - until the root cause of the injustice is removed .
Please help us, if you can : we are a small but significant organisation , as politically determined as we always were but we need your help...

Go raibh maith agat!
Sharon.






Saturday, November 29, 2008

32 YEARS UNDER WATER........

....or 'A SWIM FOR EVERY COUNTY!'

It began - properly structured and organised - in 1976 ,as a ‘fundraiser with a difference’ combined with the need to gain extra publicity for a situation which was then - as now - making world headlines . Those that sat down together in early September 1976 to tighten-up the then ‘hit-and-miss’ affair were a dedicated team who fully understood that to fail in their business would not only bring derision on them and the issue they sought to highlight , but would give their enemy a publicity coup which they would exploit to the fullest extent . With that in mind , the team persevered - favours were called-in , guarantees were secured , provisions obtained and word dispatched to like-minded individuals in the near-locale . At the appointed time on the agreed day - 12 Noon , Christmas Day 1976 - a soon-to-be 32-years-young event was ‘born’…….



The CABHAIR Christmas Day Swim is , thankfully , still going strong and will be , as mentioned , 32-years-young on December 25th next!
Photographs of last years event can be viewed here and , if you can’t make it to the actual swim itself , you might consider posting a donation to the following address
(please note that all monies raised goes to the republican prisoners themselves and to their families - no expenses or admin fees etc are removed) :
CABHAIR
Irish Republican Prisoners Dependants Fund
223 Parnell Street,
Dublin 1,
Ireland.

Thank You,
Go Raibh Maith Agat.

Sharon.






Wednesday, November 26, 2008


THE IRA : the new IRA is younger , more radical and has seen little of life other than violence.......
By Ed Moloney.
From 'Magill' magazine, September 1980.

" The most successful radicalisation of the Republican Movement since the Republican Congress, and it didn't cause a split..." - that's how Sinn Fein Vice President Gerry Adams, the man most identified with that radicalisation , now describes the recent political changes in Sinn Fein .

The move to the political left hasn't , it's true, caused a split in the Provisionals but it has come very close to it : there is undoubtedly a division within the Provo ranks , and that organisation can be said now to be roughly divided between North of Ireland and South of Ireland , old and young , traditional and revolutionary , but essentially between political 'right' and 'left' .

The impetus for the move leftwards has come from a small group of Northern and especially Belfast radicals whose influence far outweights their strength . One Belfast leftist puts their numbers at no more than 30 or 40 , but it is almost entirely because the present 7-person IRA Army Council is like-minded , and are responsible for the military re-vitalisation of the IRA , that the leftists have exerted as much influence as they have . Realistically , the Provisionals have yet to move much further to the left before the radicals can say that they have successfully turned it into a socialist organisation . More so than most political organisations , the Provisionals consist of a delicate balance of differing interest groups - move them one way and the balance is upset . Most political organisations can withstand those sort of stresses and strains but less so an organisation that is also fighting a war of national liberation . The leftists have been able to tip the balance so far and even then only a little at a time.......

(MORE LATER).



BLACK PROPAGANDA AND BLOODY MURDER.......
British Army Captain John Colin Wallace.

First it was the Maguire family - claiming they had been wrongly convicted of bombings in London on faulty forensic tests and circumstantial evidence . Then the Birmingham Six were shown to have been the victims of another miscarriage of British 'justice' . Now , in the most bizarre case of all , a former British Intelligence officer , who served in the North of Ireland , has claimed that he was framed for a killing he didn't commit .
British Captain John Wallace , now serving ten years for manslaughter , claims that his conviction was part of a plan to destroy his credibility because he knew too much about covert operations in Ireland - on both sides of the border . Frank Doherty talked to Wallace and to another former British Intelligence officer , Captain Fred Holroyd , who is lobbying politicians to re-open a case which is as potentially embarrassing for the British Secret Service as the Wright case in Australia has proved to be.
From 'MAGILL' magazine , December 1986 .

British Army Captain John Colin Wallace claims that he was shifted from the North of Ireland to England because he was one of a team of black propaganda experts organised by the Secret Service chief in the North , Craig Smellie. According to Wallace , his title of 'Head of Production Services' was a meaningless cover for his real job as senior officer in the secretive 'Information Policy Unit' , a propaganda group run jointly by MI6 and the British Army.

" Most of the propaganda was directed against the IRA . Some of it was used on targets like Ian Paisley, Bill Craig and some Southern politicians, " says Wallace . He claims that he leaked information to 'The Times' newspaper after being instructed to do so by a 'a senior officer in [British] intelligence' . Files and papers concerning a special unit set up at Stormont Castle to discredit politicians were dropped through the letterbox of a Queen's University professor's home in 1975 - " It was me who delivered those papers, " Wallace says , " but I was acting on instructions from higher authority . Later , the reporter was visited at a Dublin hotel by a British Embassy official and threatened with prosecution under the Official Secrets Act if he used the information in the documents I had left with him."

The whole affair was part of the feud which had blown up between rival British spy agencies in Ireland . " I ended up with a civilian job in Arundel, Sussex, as Information Officer with the local council . Other members of the MI6 team in Lisburn were sent elsewhere when MI5 took over responsibility for intelligence on both sides of the Irish border . The head of the Secret Service team , Craig Smellie , was sent to Athens . He died there....... "

(MORE LATER).



THE UNDAUNTED WOMEN IN ARMAGH.......

The full story of the republican prisoners in Armagh Jail has yet to be told. It has yet to be sung , and properly described , other than as an after-thought in public speeches - "...and of course the women in Armagh.." Republicans have a right to be proud of those women who, from the Divis Flats grandmother doing six months for what an Orange judge called "riotous behaviour" to the young IRA Volunteer inside for the second time and not yet 25-years-old , have managed, whether they numbered 12 or 120 , to maintain their resistance to the most vicious prison system in Europe. The words that follow , says writer Patricia Collins , were written to encourage more of those women to come forward and tell their story , and are based on conversations with several
ex-prisoners , and on visits and letters from those women presently imprisoned. They were written in the hope of jogging the memory of all those women who wrongly think their contribution to Ireland's future peace is not worth mentioning.

From 'IRIS' magazine , August 1984.

Young women from Nationalist ghettos would be thrown into Armagh Jail , just like Brenda Murray was : Rita Bateson , from the Bone area of Belfast , arrested in November 1976 , then aged 16 : Peggy McCormack , sentenced to two years in 1978 , then aged 14 . In contrast to those teenagers , there were also women like Rose McAllister , from Ardoyne , who had done six months in prison for wearing a combat jacket in 1971 . Later , in 1976 , she spent a few months on remand which ended with her charges being dropped and , finally , in 1978 , she was sentenced to two years , which she did on the protest . She was then aged 40 and had four children . With these women a whole community was being criminalised .

Brenda Murray was on her own in the sentenced part of 'A' Wing for three or four weeks . Eileen Morgan , from Newry , then joined her and the two engaged in a 'no work' protest and , as a result , were put on 21-hour lock-up , with only one visit a month , loss of all privileges and loss of remission .

Other women were soon to follow : Roisin Rouse from Craigavon , then Mairead Farrell . By February 1977 , there were five protesting prisoners and two are still inside - Eileen Morgan and Mairead Farrell . By March 1979 , the numbers of protesting Irish republican female prisoners stood at 38.......
(MORE LATER).