IRELAND , JANUARY 15th , 1920 : ELECTIONS .......
....... British 'Lord' Edward Carson of Duncairn was an interesting man , with a varied past - and a varied future ahead of him . He was a staunch supporter of the Irish (pro-Brit) Unionists .......
'Lord' Carson (1854-1935) was born in Dublin and became a successful barrister ; at 38 years young he was elected as a Unionist MP (to Westminster) for Dublin University and , again at that age , he was appointed (British) 'Solicitor General for Ireland' and served as the 'Solicitor General for England' from 1900 to 1905 .
At 57 years of age (in 1911) he was elected leader of the 'Ulster Unionist Council' (UUC) and helped to establish the 'Ulster Volunteer Force' (UVF) , a pro-British militia . From 1915 to 1916 he served as the British Attorney General , and was appointed as the 'First Lord of the Admiralty' in 1916 (until 1917) and was a member of Lloyd George's War Cabinet from 1917 to 1918 .
Westminster thought so highly of him that they were to offer him an even bigger 'prize' - but he considered it to be a 'poisoned chalice' .......
(MORE LATER).
Why We Ended The Hunger-Strike .
The full text of the H-Block Blanket Men's statement announcing the end of the 1981 Hunger-Strike .
First published in 'IRIS' magazine , Volume 1 , Number 2, November 1981 , pages 23 , 24 , 25 and 26 .
Re-published here in 18 parts .
(16 of 18).
" Rather than take action to secure an honourable solution and save lives , the SDLP occupied their time trying to make political gain by attacking those who did genuinely endeavour to end the issue honourably , namely the National H-Block/Armagh Committee and those councillors who answered our call to withdraw from the councils .
The SDLP should now be recognised for what it is - an amalgamation of middle-class Redmondites , devoid of principle , direction and courage . They are spineless and weak and are very capable of selling-out to Unionist intimidators for imperialist perks . ('1169...' comment - 'perks' such as seats in a British-imposed 'parliament' at Stormont , perhaps ...?)
Their whole leadership combined do not possess a fraction of the moral fibre demonstrated so valiantly by our comrades ....... "
(MORE LATER).
A CASE OF IRISH JUSTICE .......
By Maureen Armstrong .
First published in ' The Spirit of Freedom ' magazine ; An Independent Journal of Irish News and Opinion ' .
Volume 2 , Number 5 , May 1987 , page 3 .
Re-published here in six parts .
[6 of 6].
For the IRA it was a most remarkable feat : two British Army Observation Posts overlook this area . This fact , together with their extraordinary intelligence coup puts the lie to the British boast that they had defeated them .
Of course , we had the usual tirade from the slaves in Leinster House and in the religion circles . These same people were so strangely silent a few weeks ago when RUC and British Army forces kept a murdered Irish Republican from being buried for three days - there were no feelings of sympathy for the family of Lawrence Marley or for his little baby who is going to grow up without a father .
They were only native Irish Catholics - and , of course, after all the centuries of persecution , they were accustomed to death and humiliation .
[END of ' A CASE OF IRISH JUSTICE ... '].
(Tomorrow - 'The Extradition Fiasco' : from 1985 .)
